Steampunk Plates - Crunch Times!

Steampunk Plates - Crunch Times!

Steampunk Plates - Crunch Times! is not a display base but a set of decorative elements with a motif of plates and panels in the steampunk spirit. Its job is to stop the surface under the model from being empty and make it start telling where the scene takes place.

What a set like this is good for

A finished figure placed on a smooth surface looks as if it were floating above nothing. Decorative elements remove that impression. They give the surface scale, relief and a story. The motif of plates and panels moves the scene into a world of machines, workshops and mechanical structures, so it suits figures from fantasy and technological worlds better than earth or grass. In a photograph it shows immediately, because a texture appears under the model for the light to catch on.

Working with the elements in a composition

A proven approach is to start from the model, not from the ground. First decide which way the figure is looking and where it should stand, and only then lay out the elements so that they lead the eye to it. Several plates turned at different angles look livelier than a regular grid. Leave part of the surface free, because an overcrowded scene drowns out the model the whole composition was built for. Before finishing it is worth checking the result through the viewfinder. What looks good seen from above often reads quite differently at eye level.

Who the set is for

• Modelers finishing the surface under their figures
• Builders of scenes from steampunk and technological settings
• Those who photograph their figures and need texture underneath them
• Tabletop gamers reworking the look of their units