My photo
Being a modeller for quite a few years now, I decided to explore the endless possibilities that the world (through internet) offers, and come up with a series of ways of building, modelling and painting fast (but not hastily), to create the worlds I was seeing in history books since I was little. . .If you care to join me. . . This is the place to be! And, I promise you to find the way (or ways)!!

Thursday 16 August 2012

Sandbags making and painting tutorial


Hi everyone,



While waiting my reinforcements from post to come home and help me complete my 5.5’ gun Battery, I thought of making some small terrain pieces that would complement my unit. In my previous post you’ve seen some photos of the command troops that would be responsible for directing the fire of the guns, by taking coordinates from a forward observer and his companion radio man.


These men, would normally be protected and covered. With this in mind I thought of providing them the cover of some homemade sandbags (I have another special one-of-a-kind, but it’s not yet finished – stay tuned for the forthcoming post).


For this reason I bought a box of Milliput’s Standard Yellow-Grey epoxy putty and begun playing with it.

After combining pieces of the two pieces provided (Yellow & Grey), I rolled a ‘’sausage’’ of some millimeters (I can’t remember its width – sorry for that – you can always use the standard ‘trial and error’ method, depending the size of figures you are using), and then begun cutting with my modeling knife small pieces, one sandbag at a time. 


I then put them side by side (no need for glue, as the pieces can bond together on their own) and made these four piles of sandbags. When putting one next to the other, you need to press gently their edges with you fingers, as if they are sewn, as they are in reality. Be careful not to overdo it though! While drying, I drew some marking lines on the sides of the sandbags, with my modeling knife, in order to represent their seams (as if I hoped to!). 

You need though, to keep your hands moist, ‘cause this putty tends to get sticky if it’s not applied quickly. For this reason you need to have a small bowl with water next to your working space.





It took me almost 2 hours to make all these four ‘’corners’’, so be prepared for a rather time consuming task.

I then let them aside to dry (some hours are required – I begun painting them the day after). While waiting you can always paint something you’ve been neglecting for a while (come on admit it, we all do things like that… ;-) )


While searching the web I came across to this page where a tutorial of how to paint sandbags is being given. Nice page, wouldn’t you say? :-)
God, I love internet! 


The painting procedure I followed for my piles of sand (I didn't follow all the steps the page was suggesting to, but, it's up to you what painting method you want to use):


1.       White Primer.


2.       Devlan Mud wash.




3.       Brown paint (diluted in water) wash.




4.       Beige and White drybrush, to give that dusty look.




5.       Devlan Mud wash (light).





And that was it. Easy peasy!




You don’t have to pay money for buying ready made pieces of terrain.  You can always make them on your own! :-)

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.



Have a good w/e everyone!

T.

47 comments:

  1. Epic sandbags Thanos!

    Lovely mate.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Excellent sandbag modeling, Thanos! And the tutorial is a boon to other modelers, thanks for your hard work, Sir.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If only I was as good as in my job! Hehehe! Thanks Jay!

      Delete
  3. They look excellent..well worth the two hours of molding them.
    Cheers
    paul

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Paul. :-)
      You need to be boring, otherwise you will never get the job done! :-)

      Delete
  4. Excellent sandbags and very well painted. Thanks for sharing this.
    Regards
    Bruno

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My pleasure Bruno!
      Thanks for your kind words. :-)

      Delete
  5. Thanks for sharing this Thanos!

    I had an other project in mind where I need a lot of sandbags and now you come up with this. I must confess I was thinking to make them with clay. And the painting tutorial is also very usefull! Thanks again!

    Greetings
    Peter
    http://peterscave.blogspot.be/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If I was to make out of my hobby, then something would be wrong with me. :-)
      Thank you Peter!

      Delete
  6. Those are excellent thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anything for my fellows! :-)
      Thanks Dan!

      Delete
  7. Thanks for the tutorial Thano's, always appreciated. These came out looking great and have a sense of realism about them. I've got some Milliput but have been too intimidated to try to use it yet.

    You have less than 2000 pageviews to go to get to 100,000!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Anne.
      It's really easy to use milliput. I had the same back thinking while buying it, but in the end it turned out an easy material to work with.
      If I surpass 100.000 visits I'll buy you drinks! ;-)

      Delete
    2. I have to make a pillar for an interior scene and I found a tutorial on how to do it, now I need courage! And I'll take that drink!

      Delete
    3. You're Irish, courage is your middle name. :-)
      Good luck Anne, I ll be waiting to see how it ll turn out! :-)

      Delete
    4. "584,339"
      here you are ;-)

      And Thanks for the painting tutorial !

      Delete
  8. Great sandbag tutorial T, I'm picturing those at the edge of trenches on a beach in Normandy. Yes the mg nest at the top of the dune in Saving Private Ryan's beach landing scene. A+

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sth like that Greg...nearly sth like that.
      Thank you!!! ;-)

      Delete
  9. Now they look nice!!! Well done Thanos!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Supreme Master of the Universe! :-)

      Delete
  10. I'm very impressed with how those turned out T- great work & thanks for sharing how you did it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. forgot to ask, what are the approximate dimensions of your sandbags in milimetres- will be making some myself soon.

      Delete
    2. Thank you John. They'll fit the purpose I guess.
      The dimensions (approx.) are: L: 1cm - W: 0.6cm - H: 0.2cm. Hope this can help you. I want to see your work as well! :-)

      Delete
  11. Thanks ! generally, I don't need sandbags, but the technical way could be useful for other bags...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As long there is creativity, you can use it in any way you want!
      Thank you Sam! :-)

      Delete
  12. By the dice gods that's good work Thanos!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you Fran!! :-) its because I get ideas from your works and your blogs!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Simply wonderful Thanos. I will keep these in mind.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Replies
    1. Thank you Richard! Another brick in the wall I'm trying to build. :-)

      Delete
  16. Replies
    1. Thank you Michael! You exaggerate a bit, but you made me smile! :-)

      Delete
  17. Really nicely done Thanos, I wish you had done this last year when I had some sandbag emplacements to paint up! Yours make mine look very poor.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you!
      I am sure that yours will be as good as the ones that exist in the market. Cant you re paint them? I do it all the time with terrain pieces, when I find sth that I think its interesting. Give it a try! :-) thanks again!

      Delete
  18. I'd rather not repaint them, as there was some flock involved so I'd have to strip them completely and start completely from scratch. Mine are OK; yours make them look worse than they probably are.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Never saw such realistic sandbags. Thx for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Nicely done - as always.

    Tony

    ReplyDelete
  21. Brilliant. I have just got in to modle making and this was a great starting point for me. Although mine don't look as good as yours for my first attempt I'm quite happy with them. Thanks for the walk through. ��

    ReplyDelete
  22. Very well done. Absolutely brilliant information. I'm in love with this blog. they always provide such a great information.wheel chocks

    ReplyDelete
  23. Very well done. Absolutely brilliant information. I'm in love with this blog.they always provide such a great information. builders mix

    ReplyDelete