Terrain Tips and Tools – Cobblestone Base Inserts


Welcome to the first in a new series of hobby articles where we will be posting new hobby content, like quick tips and tricks, project logs, tutorials, and other cool stuff. Our first article is a project to make cobblestone base inserts for your army. This is an easy way to make your army stand out and give it a uniform look.

Cobblestone Base Inserts

Start by sketching some ideas before you begin to sculpt. When you’re ready, cut a 1.5˝-diameter disc out of thin styrene. Use a Formula P3 Hobby Knife to score the top of the disc so the sculpting putty will adhere to the styrene. Test fit this inside a 40 mm base just to make sure your disc fits nicely.

Roll out a bunch of small balls of Formula P3 Brown/Aluminum Putty, and press those down onto the styrene disc. At this point, you don’t need to worry about them overlapping the edge of the disc. These will be trimmed back later. To help with the process, you can use doublesided tape to attach the disc to something like a spraypaint cap to help hold the piece while you sculpt.

Use a sculpting tool from the Formula P3 Sculpting Set to further define and smooth out the stones.

At this point, use a hobby knife to trim back the excess putty. Then, stick the disc onto a 40 mm base to see how it fits. It’s a good idea to use a rock to add some more stone texture to the base. This is a quick way to add realistic texture to your putty.

Some of the definition between the stones will be squished and messed up after pressing the rock into the putty, so you can redefine and tighten up some of the edges again with your sculpting tool.

After your putty is dry, you can remove your insert from the base and add whatever other details you see fit. Finally, you can use sandpaper or a nail file to tighten up and straighten some of your edges one last time. All that’s left is to glue your insert onto your base.

There you have it. Now you’re all set to make your own cobblestone bases!

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