In the July/August 2024 FineScale Modeler, Robert Raver wrote an excellent article about what to consider in making a bases for your models. It was an introductory piece that included base basics and thoughts about composition.
Here’s a link to the issue.
I saw this image online earlier today.
It’s by street photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. He chose the site, composed the photograph looking down a staircase with iron railings into a street in Hyères, France, and then waited for something to happen. Boom! A cyclist! And he snapped the photo.
Let’s start a conversation about composition, adding interest to models via setting and context. Do you base your models? Why or why not? What do you look for in a base for your models and why? What are your rules of thumb?
Go!
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I have not…yet. I am interested in doing this for the same reason you mentioned in adding interest to a build. It’s one thing to have a built model of a piece of armor or an aircraft but it’s a whole new level to have a story behind the build.
Good thread @Tim_Kidwell1
I always recommend using a base, to airplane modelers dealing with tricycle-geared aircraft and tail-sitting. Use a base and attach the nose wheel. I first saw that in Shep Paine’s diorama tips for Monogran’s P-61. He used a small bolt, catching the head of the bolt between the halves of the nose wheel. No worry about weight, or additional stress on the landing gear.
Even if the base isn’t a diorama base, but just a piece of wood finished nicely, you can do this.
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@the_Baron We must have read the same Shep Paine diorama sheet. I actually still have all of those pamphlets for the Monogram airplanes. And I did use that technique on a Monogram HU-16 Albatross I did, as well as a Tamiya Me262. To date those are the only dioramas that I have done with aircraft (did another with an X-Wing from Return of the Jedi).
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I enjoy using bases for my ship models to put them in the proper setting. A U-Boat looks great when the North Atlantic’s waves are crashing down on her or the Cutty Sark with all of her sails set "gliding"through the waves. Even though it’s been a while since I made an airplane model, I enjoy seeing them with wheels up and in flight and if the wheels are down on a base that reveals something about the setting like palm trees and Marston matting down for the South Pacific
I would love to make bases for my models. I have to find a place to display them. My wife doesn’t want them on shelves, she wants to hang them all. So, a base won’t work.
I am trying to make a base for my ICM OV-10A to memorialize my father and his service in Vietnam. I messed it up and haven’t had a chance the ability to clean it up (due to my garage being a storage locker) to complete it. I also haven’t put the final touches on the model as it would mean I’m done and it’s one of the few things I use to keep my father in my memory. Sorry, sappy moment there.
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fxst, you’ve raised an important issue, shelf/display space. Do you make a generic base that can be used for multiple models or do you make one specific base for each individual model?
I would love to make a diorama base but have not started yet! I don’t know too much about building a base, but preferably I would like a grassy one (may be hard trying to make tread marks in it…)
This is really cool and beautiful 
My great-uncle served in WWII (Burma) and the Korean War, and I would also like to pay tribute to him in some way.
I don’t make a habit out of it,I guess I’ve done two,mainly time and space are the issues havent really investigsted the techniques involved.For this one i purchased a resin base and just painted and weathered it,and added the street light.I was thinking about adding some rubble around at some point.I still have couple of small bases that I have not used yet.
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Interesting topic. Personally, I think there is a difference between base, vignette, and diorama.
In my mind this is how I define the three.
Base - A simple platform for attaching and/or displaying a model
Vignette - a small detailed scene where complexity can vary greatly
Diorama - Larger scene often involving multiple models and elements.
Bases being the easiest to build as they can be as simple as a piece of wood, or a platform with some form of ground image/simple texturing to represent various surfaces.
I have not considered adding a base to any of my models. Mostly because my focus has been on the creation of the model rather than the display of the model.
When considering a kit for purchase I automatically put it in one of three mental categories. Standalone, vignette, or diorama. The majority of my kits fall into the standalone category.
I have not yet built any vignettes or dioramas because my focus for the last 5 years has been honing what I consider to be my basic modeling skills. Assembly, clean up (fixing imperfections), painting, and weathering. For myself, building those skills compliments the skills/knowledge for building and rendering a scene. I believe I’ve finally achieved the level of expertise I was aiming for in my basic skills. My next project will likely involve creating a diorama. I’ve had an idea waiting in the wings for many years now and look forward to starting it.
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@fxsti03-42 A base like that could easily become a wall hanging. Dual purpose!
There’s the rub…
If it is a wall hanging is it still a base?
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@Tojo72 your tank scenes reminds me of something I read somewhere. The difference between balance and symmetry. That balance looks natural in a scene while symmetry does not. Symmetry is created by mirroring. While balance is more of a visual equilibrium.
I think your scene has balance. While you have similar numbers of actors on each side of the tank they are spread out differently. Then you have the barrel of the tank pointing opposite of the lamppost. Everything looks very natural.
Just curious if you had something like this idea of balance in mind when you were setting up the scene.
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I agree with this statement.
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Truthfully,no.I just put it together so that it looked good to my eye.
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@keavdog when you are working on a figure do you start with a scene already in mind, or is it something that reveals itself as the work progresses?
Some of the Jaguar kits come with bases - like the British WWI officer. My father-in-law who was a great woodworker did the wooden part of the base. Others I have an idea in mind like the 1/35 German - that was spawned from finding the resin destroyed wall corner.
keavdog, your figure painting/work is outstanding and I see what you mean that a base is necessary for displaying your figures.
