Bulldog Base & Mud Slinging!

A double update today as I'm on a serious roll at the moment! The base for the bulldog has been sorted out and as usual I'm using an Ikea picture frame. My idea is the bulldog on over watch so I've also selected a very nice Reality in scale middle eastern shop front as a suitable backdrop. This is brilliant as you also get a couple of decals and an air conditioning unit. It's cast in resin and the detail is excellent.

A figure has been sorted as well & I've used one from the master box modern UK infantryman set with a replacement head from the spares box. He fits the gun station pretty well I think. A start has also been made on sourcing accessories for the base & I plan on adding a few refuse sacks against the wall with plenty of litter strewn about. The only thing left is to decide on a tarmac or dirt road for the base.

Now onto the mud slinging! No it's not a rant but a test on the base work for the chieftain. I will be using a long tamiya base and want to have the model going over a stubble field. So to this end I've done a test piece using VMS's "smart mud system". This consists of three parts being a texture, resin & activator. You can get various finishes from wet mud to dry earth easily just by varying the amount of texture and resin. It also comes in various colours and textures from fine to medium & course, here I'm using medium. For this test I used a 50/50 mix.

It's easy to use by just combining the resin & texture then adding drops of activator until the mix is very stiff to mix. you can then spread it out and add any texture, ruts, wheel marks or anything else you want. Once I spread it out I used a brush to stipple one section and smoothed out the other area with a pallet knife.

Left overnight to cure the effect is ultra convincing and the colour is very good too. There is really no need to paint it with the only possibility being some pigments added or a wash to give it some depth. It also dries to a nice matt finish with this ratio. You can even use it to add mud to a vehicle's running gear. Also due to it's stiffness I think it will be very easy to add cut bristles for stubble when I tackle the base and being resin based shouldn't crack. It will also stick like a limpet to any surface you apply it too.
  

As ever another interesting and innovative product from VMS, who by the way are my go to choice now for pigments, CA, airbrush cleaner and other really useful bits. I'm all for the easy life and their products certainly help me achieve that goal. I'll do a more in depth appraisal when I start work on the base for you. Below is a link explaining the product.

SMART MUD XL