Cork Bases

I really do love making bases. It’s a fun little vignette for your figures and you can choose to take as much artistic license as you’d like. You can do so much more than just applying globs of glue and sand.

Here is one of my favorite techniques that looks great yet is easy enough for army building. I start with a ⅛-inch thick sheet of cork from a craft store. Next, I simply tear off bits with my fingers or a tweezer and then attach them to my base. I personally like to use several small pieces for each base and then fill the cracks and crevices with sand and small stones. The end result is a base reminiscent of a scarred landscape like the desert. The best part is that the base is entirely level on top making attachment of the figure absolutely trivial. I tend to pin the model to the base but a dollop of a strong adhesive like epoxy will work, too.

Shown above are a set of bases for my Ork army. I chose muted colors to ensure the model on top will be the central focus. I painted the entire surface Olive Skin from Reaper, followed by Blacked-Brown along on the sides of the cork. I later applied a brown ink wash and drybrushed with Terran Khaki and Yellowed Bone. I stippled a bit of Palomino Gold in there, too, but the effect is somewhat lost under the drybrushing. The edge of the base is Olive Drab.

Tamiya X-21 and X-22 for Clear Coats

Update (10-Aug-2016):

It's been two years since my original post. I realized I should write an update based upon my experience when working with plastic model kits rather than game miniatures.

Try lacquer thinner.

Consider using Tamiya's lacquer thinner instead of Tamiya's acrylic thinner. In fact, I now favor the lacquer thinner, espeically for gloss coats; it doesn't seem to matter much for semi-gloss or flat. I've discovered that the gloss finish is generally much smoother and avoids the dreaded "orange peel" look that you can sometimes experience when using an airbrush. Definitely give it a try on a piece of scrap and judge for yourself.

Apply no more than 2 light coats and allow to dry.

Go easy when spraying flat coats. If you build-up multiple coats during a single airbrush session, you may be at risk of applying too much and creating a milky white finish. Disaster! It won't be obvious until after it dries. Try to spray no more than 2 light coats and allow to dry overnight. You can always apply more the next day. Honestly, this milky effect can happen with any flat finish product including the popular Testors Dullcote. I've learned this the hard way. I routinely apply a "wet coat" for a smooth finish when painting as I wrap-up any given airbrush session. However, I've learned to avoid that practice with any clear flat finish and I've had good luck ever since. Sorry - I should have shared that insight in my original post.

It may sound like a lot of effort getting to understand these products, but I think it's worth it. In my experience, I personally believe the Tamiya finishes are much stronger when compared to Dullcote or other acrylic products. That's an important consideration for weathering. But who knows? Try to remain open minded for new products. Maybe the next great thing is around the corner!

Original post:

Not sure why this pops up in forums so often, but here is how you can use Tamiya’s products to airbrush a clear coat. I generally prepare a 50:50 mixture of paint:thinner and spray at 10 to 20 psig.

The following table describes the mixtures using volumetric percentages:

Finish	Acrylic Thinner X-20A	Flat Base X-21	Clear X-22
Gloss	50%	0%	50%
Semi-Gloss	50%	5%	45%
Flat	50%	10%	40%

And this table describes the mixtures using volumetric ratios:

Finish	Acrylic Thinner X-20A	Flat Base X-21	Clear X-22
Gloss	10	0	10
Semi-Gloss	10	1	9
Flat	10	2	8

Flat base is not at all intended to be used directly; it must always be mixed with another paint. More information may be found here on Tamiya's web site.

I generally prefer to use Duplicolor gloss clear spray as a durable finish for game miniatures, followed by a light dusting of Testors Dullcote. However, once the cold sweeps in, I can no longer spray paints outside. Tamiya clear is a nice alternative and I can airbrush it indoors. I do believe a lacquer-based clear is stronger than acrylic, yet that may just be my own perception. Honestly, I have no way to really measure this and can happily say that both techniques have held up well over the years.

Good luck!

Using a PS3 controller on your Mac

I'm pretty late to the party on this one, but I thought I would share the good news that you can pair a PS3 controller with your Mac. This allows you to play games using a widely available and (relatively) inexpensive controller.

I enjoy the classic titles available on gog.com but they're kind of a drag to play without some sort of controller. I'm typically a console player so using a traditional mouse & keyboard with some games just felt awkward. A quick search suggested that I could use a PS3 controller without much fuss. Well, it was a bit more fuss than I was expecting so I thought I'd share my experience. I had a few annoying pitfalls but it was pretty easy in hindsight. Here's what I did to get up and running.

Getting ready:

I'm running OS X v10.9.2 on a MacPro 2.5 GHz Intel Core i7 with 8 GB of RAM. The PS3 controller is from Sony, not a third party. I can't say that these details matter, rather I thought I should share the equipment that I used for reference.

You'll need a USB 2.0 5-pin Mini Type B male to USB 2.0 Type A male cable. A new controller may not come with a USB cable (at least mine didn't).

If this is a new PS3 controller, charge overnight on your Mac, not a wall charger. I was first scratching my head wondering why the controller wouldn't charge, only to learn that this was a common mistake. The 4 red LEDs on the front of the controller will slowly blink when charging.

If you're using an existing PS3 controller, you'll need to press the reset button with a paperclip. It's a small (about 1 mm), black, recessed button located near the left trigger on the bottom of the controller.

Pairing the controller with your Mac:

Don't try turning on your controller yet.

Navigate to the Bluetooth settings within System Preferences.

Turn on Bluetooth.

Connect the controller to the Mac vis a USB cable. The controller will appear on your list of Bluetooth devices but may not yet say it's connected. The 4 red LEDs will blink; the controller is charging.

Press the PS button on the controller and then disconnect it from the Mac. The 4 red LEDs should now blink faster. The controller is trying to pair with the Mac.

The Mac will prompt you to enter a password to pair with the controller. Use four zeros (i.e., 0000) and click pair.

You're done! Now don't panic: the 4 red LEDs will continue to blink while in use. I thought that was odd, but apparently it's normal.

When you're done using the controller, you can't turn it off directly. Rather, you have to disconnect it from your Mac. The Bluetooth preferences should be available as a short cut on the bar at the top of your screen. Simply disconnect the device or turn off Bluetooth altogether. You'll know it's off because the 4 red LEDs will stop blinking.

Mapping buttons:

You're not out of the woods yet. You'll need a utility to map the buttons on your fancy new controller. I use Controller from VividMachine. A demo version is available on Apple's App Store. For $5 you can download the full version which allows you to create/save profiles for each game you play. It's worth it. Note that you can only download the full version directly from the developer's web site, not the App Store. You'll need to open Controller and choose a profile before starting a game. Just leave the app open while playing.

I like Controller a lot but you'll need to do a little reading first. Be sure to check out the Help link on the developer's web site. Trust me. In particular you'll need to disable Apple's app nap feature for Controller. I was having peculiar behavior until I did this; I kept thinking the button map was lost. Instead, Apple was essentially turning off Controller while I played my game.

Additional reading:

Article 1. Pairing controller with your Mac.

Article 2. Pairing controller with your Mac.