Drop the Base

The Death Giant needs to know where he stands. The cast base is okay, but he will need something more substantial so I decided to have a go at hacking out a wood base. I may just paint the base as staining it will make the end-grain look awful, plus I can then adjust color to best suit how the finished model looks.

Being that I had limited access to woodworking tools, I did everything by hand.

I found a chunk of wood (this was cut off of a wooden palette) and measured out a decent little shape to fit the footprint of the model.

A few basic cuts with a hand-saw and the block is in shape. The bolts are in holes going straight through (I'm bolting the Giant, not gluing him, onto the base).

I measured out an interior edge .25" from the outermost edge to create a little bevel. I notched in a series of diagonal cuts around the edge, and started carving down to that measured edge. Hiring a beaver would have helped, but the job got done nonetheless.

A kiss of the sandpaper and it's shaping up. That inner angle is a bit crap but I can shape that up as I go.

Not exact but I don't really shoot for exact anymore, it just leads to disappointment when it's not achieved! Call it 'folk' art.

And the headless Giant stands proud on his new footing. I'll share my bolting method in the next post. Cheers and happy Spring! (which always means it's getting to be excellent weather to spray-prime outdoors again!)