THE CLUBHOUSE

Looking good.

Lurking...

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Quickly "redirecting fire" like the legendary Battleship Yamato did off Samar Island in October of 1944, I retrained my "modeling guns" on a new target following last nights success with the Torosaur/Triceratops bashes ...

... the (not quite as legendary) Sauroposeidon 1/18 BASH!!! Specifically - its BASE.

This gave me the opportunity to use up some stuff I've had for over a decade, as well as crack open some recently acquired goodies - deciding on a desert scene, given the HUMONGOUS size of this beast, suddenly those cacti I got at Michaels back in CA looked .... appropriately sized ... then I added 3 PVC rocks recently acquired from AliExpress ....

*BUT* In my haste, I started using mod podge glue and pouring out an old (like more than 15 years) bag of rough Michaels sand that only had a bit left ... then realized that in my haste I had neglected to first paint the base a darker color ... ... well, I might touch up the edges once its dry to cover up any protruding light wood ...

Well, I moved forward ... mixing up a liquidy scenic spray cement bottle until .... I realized the sand would run out ... so then I finished off a second long-standing medium coarse Michaels sand bag, then opened up the newly acquired Hobby Lobby Coarse brown dirt, and then Medium green dirt on top of that, using just a little of each ... til the base looked ... passable ... then I sprayed it with scenic glue spray cement til it was nice and soaked ... hopefully the wood won't warp ... Nothing to do but wait and then secure the rocks and cacti to the base ...

... and THAT should motivate me plenty to get back to completing the painting of this monster!!!

I think by Using all those different ground effects it makes the base look more realistic

barad_dur wrote: ↑February 14th, 2026, 8:56 pm I think by Using all those different ground effects it makes the base look more realistic

Thanks Joe! Yes, I agree - and a valuable lesson is learned for the future!!!

PS The sand even got glued to the rocks in some places ... which I think enhances the realism so ... I'm gonna keep it there

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Drilled a couple of holes for the cacti, glued them in, glued in the rocks (Gorilla Glue, of course), then sprayed the entire base with a liberal second covering of Scenic Spray Glue til it was SOAKED. This morning its dry and the sand glued down. Now on to painting the monster!!!

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Here's one from the "Two Steps Forward, One Step Back" category ... The base warped overnight ... (who coulda seen THAT coming? Of course, it was obvious. Except to a maroon like me. )

So now I've sprayed the BOTTOM of the base with water, then secured it with a 2x4 and a 20-lb dumbbell (with a sheet of parchment paper in between). Thank you Copilot

In 24-48 hours we will see if the warp can be reversed ... Stay tuned ...

Been there…
Hope the dumbbell technique works for you !

barad_dur wrote: ↑February 15th, 2026, 9:54 pm Been there…
Hope the dumbbell technique works for you !

So do I!!!

*UPDATE*

The "straightening" seems to be making some progress ... but likely a second "treatment" will be necessary ... to be applied tomorrow night (each one takes 48 hours)...

In the meantime let me tell you what a PAIN in the arse it is to try to paint up something this HUGE and weirdly shaped ... you can't just put it on your lap and move it around - this problem is GREATLY compounded by the back spikes (Memo to self: In future, "spike" the critter LAST, after the painting has been completed)...

Wish you luck with your flattening.

tay666 wrote: ↑February 17th, 2026, 1:06 am Wish you luck with your flattening.

Oh yeah , the joys of huge kits…
That is one seriously awesome dino though!

barad_dur wrote: ↑February 17th, 2026, 12:53 pm Oh yeah , the joys of huge kits…
That is one seriously awesome dino though!

Thanks Joe ... currently mulling over whether a darker (blue-black) or perhaps lighter (goldish) patterning/spots on the back & sides is the way to go ... any suggestions?

I'm all ears!

The problem using wood bases.. is they can and warp easily just with a little moisture....
Happened alot of the times.. I would of sprayed with gloss sealer..
At least few coats... sometimes they do seal wood bases ..
yours is bare wood one not pre-sealed
You may have to start over.. Sorry about this..

Maybe a super sculptly base .. covered with with apoxie sculpt.. Or use sculpty air dry clay and then cover it with apoxie sculpt..
Or paper mache.. make sure you seal it first.. I would bake the air dry clay for little..

UPDATE:

Round 2: After 48 hours, the warp is flat enough now that the Sauroposeidon stands firm ... applied another water spray to the bottom, added and redistributed the weights ... per Copilot, 48 more hours should flatten it out completely ... Scuzz, you are soooooooooooooooo behind the times!!

Glad to see your process is working

Now you will unleash man eating termites from 50 thousand years ago.. oh well..