On the open road . . . bike bases with Chalk Paint by White Metal Games

/ 0 Comments / /

Greetings fellow wargamers!  For your amusement this week are some specialty bike bases I painted up using chalkboard paint.  If you’re unfamiliar with this stuff, then the gist of it is:  it’s a paint you can apply to any surface to achieve a chalkboard like finish.  When dry you can actually use chalk on the surface, just like a chalkboard.  Great for roads, as you’ll see!

Downside . .  it’s pricy, about $20 bucks for a quart.  So only follow this tutorial if you have the paint lying around.  The basics of the tutorial will also work with a place base and white paint, if that helps, but I like the dry dusty look of the chalk.  So without further ado here’s how it’s done . . .


What you’ll need for this tutorial:

  • Bike Bases
  • Chalkboard paint
  • Chalk (white and maybe yellow)
  • A Que-tip and some water
  • Some basing material (grit, sand, flock)

 If you don’t have chalkboard paint, just bring your favorite white and black paint and a medium sized brush.

Plus whatever edging color you use for your base (and your completed ready to be glue on bikers, of course!)

Grab some bike bases (like above) and some chalkboard paint.  Apply a thin layer (doesn’t take much) of the paint to the base.  Paint it on smooth and allow it to dry, usually an hour or two.  I put it in front of a box fan to speed up the process. 

Once dry, take a chalk stick and mark out some dotted lines.  Now, in real life, the lines wouldn’t be this close together BUT we’re trying to evoke an idea here, not a real life representation.  One a few of the bases I even used a yellow line on the outside to simulate road edges/boundaries.  Don’t worry if you get them too wide.  We’ll clean it up in the next step.

If you don’t have chalkboard paint, not to fret.  Just grab a drybrush and overbrush some white streaks on the black bases.  Keep it as straight as you can.  Add yellow ‘boundary’ lines as desired.

Now, grab a q-tip.  Dip it in some water.  Use the tip to clean up the markings and make them as nice and uniform as you like. Make the lines larger than you think is needed . . . remember the bikes are going to be glued down on top of the bases so much of these lines will be covered. 

You could stop at this point and call it a day.  But for a little added effect and variation, we added some patches of grit to the bases, to make the roads appear old/unused and overrun with debris.  This will also help to tie the bases in with the rest of your army is you are already using flock material.

Finally, glue the models down to your bases and voila!  Rolling, rolling, rolling!  Keep those bikers rolling!  Rayhide!

White Metal Games is a full service miniature painting a conversion service.  Contact us at [email protected] if you are interested in setting up a commission. 

Until next time, PUT YOUR MINIS WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS! 

jdj