WarFactory - Crates

Materials

Construction

Cut two identical rectangles of foam board. Glue them together with PVA, face to face. These will be the basic structure of your crate

Cut rectangles of balsa sheet and stick them to the sides and top of the foam board box with PVA. You can use the foam board box to measure out the rectangles before cutting.

Score 'planks' into the balsa wood. To do this, you can use the opposite end of a scalpel blade to the one you would normally cut with, but be careful not to cut your fingers.

Glue reinforcement strips to the lid. Just use two small strips of balsa of the same thickness as the sheet.

Painting

This painting technique is suitable for all wood effects, and can be used on metal figures as well as actual balsa wood.

Base coat with black. With an absorbent surface like balsa wood, you should add plenty of water to make the paint flow into the cracks more easily..
Dry brush with a rich chocolate brown. As this is the first layer of drybrushing, the brush should be fairly damp, so that the majority of the surface is coated. I used to use Citadel Bestial Brown for this, but more recent pots of this have been a bit orangey. To get it to the old colour, I pour a little dark purple and a dash of dark green into it.
Dry brush with a lighter brown. Mix a little cream colour into the basic brown. This time the brush should be dryer, so that a reduced proportion of the surface is covered.	( 1 x + 1 x )
Dry brush with an even lighter brown. Mix more cream colour into the previous colour and drybrush with less pressure and a still dryer brush.	( 1 x + 3 x )
Dry brush with cream. Each time you apply more paint to the brush, work it vigorously backwards and forwards over the edge of a piece of card. This will just leave a trace of paint on the bristles.
Drybrush with white. For the final highlight use white, although by using the same brush you will add a trace of brown to the white, which will soften it slightly. Drybrush very delicately indeed.