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How to Make a Beat-Up Tarmac Display Base |
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Too many models these days are displayed on pristine-looking tarmac display bases. What about those old cracked, weed-infested parking spots at the far end of the airfield? I played around a bit and decided to take a more fun approach to the basic "paint a picture frame a concrete colour then draw the panel lines".
I first got a base (can be anything. In my case it was a car display base with the clear plastic lid) and sanded it down to roughen the surface for the next step. I then got some coarse grit sandpaper and cut it to shape. I then applied it to the base with contact cement.
Next I made sure the sadpaper was laid properly by rolling it with a tube I used as a rolling pin. Next I masked it off for the poly filla. It's a drywall filler, similar to plaster. I masked the shape of the corner of the tarmac, and decided on squares of 10cm for my 1/48 models. I then mixed the polly filla according to the instructions and spread it onto the base
Make sure you don't trowel the poly filla flat while it's still wet. Remember, we want IMperfection. Before it does dry, though, I put some rough textured bits of rock and concrete into the plaster to give it some pits and texture here and there. Once everything was dry, I pulled everything out and left a lunar-looking paved area. Next (not pictured) I sanded the whole thing flat with some rough sandpaper on a block of wood. But now the texture was nice and smooth. What to do? I took a dish towel, soaked it and let it soak into the top surface of the dried tarmac. Once the surface was soaked and now slightly soft, I took a square of the coarse grit sandpaper and held it to the newly-carved squares in the concrete and burnished the texture into the concrete.
Now that the concrete itself is
done, you can start adding grass or dirt as you like and paint the concrete. I
put lots of grass growing between the cracks and in the big pits in the
surface. I weathered with pastel chalk and some dry brushing. I added my grass
with some white glue diluted in water.
John Gosselin
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Photos and text © by John Gosselin
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