How to turn a picture frame into a display plinth

Hello and welcome if you are new and welcome back if you are a regular reader! 😊

Today I will show you how to create a very simple and very cheap display plinth for scale model tanks (Example 1), airplanes ships or dioramas. You could even turn it into a squad display (Example 2) if you are into wargamers.

The very long list of requirements for this is:
A dollar store beveled picture frame.
That's it.

10*15cm beveled picture frame 

For this specific display, I picked a 10cm x 15cm frame, but you can pick whatever fits your project.

So first remove the back of the frame and the glass that is supposed to cover your picture.

removing the back of the frame

Get rid of the stand and any other bits they might have added to hang it on your wall or anything.

Place the back of the picture frame in front of the frame like shown in the picture.

I used a sturdy sculpting tool to remove the metal bits

Now place your model(s) on it and start planning how to build your base. Thus could be an ocean, beach, landings trip, a simple road or a more elaborate scene. Whatever you want. If you want, you can paint the whole thing in a uniform color to get a better idea of how it will eventually look. 

Final result!

Example 1

Example 2

I hope you found this article helpful! What do you use for plinths? Please share any tips or questions you might have in the comments!

Good luck and happy painting!

Cheat edge highlights

Edge highlights... You either love them or hate them.

Personally, I love them on some parts of miniatures and hate them on other parts. But what I really hate about them, is having to paint edge highlights. It is one of the most fiddly, time consuming parts of painting a model. Your brush tip must be near perfect, your paint should be diluted to get a nice flow but not too thin and some area's are really, really hard to reach and not paint on other parts!

That is why, dear readers, in this article I will tell you how I cheat my edge highlights.

In historical scale model you see people using graphite pencils to create metallic welds and edges. This gave me an idea and I set out to my art store to buy artists watercolor pencils.

I used a pencil sharpener to get rid of the protective coating on the tip. Now, as you would with a brush, run the side of the tip over all your edges. Its really quick and easy! You can even erase errors using an eraser or a wet brush. You won't have to mind paint drying in the tip of your brush or paint drying on your palette.

** Make sure to varnish after applying the edge highlights. The watercolor pencil is not very durable!**

Some examples of my first trial run:

Overall I think this is about four times faster then using paint. I bought a bunch of different colors so I can have several stages of edge highlights.

The watercolor pencils could also be used to draw a sketch for if you want to freehand. You can blend out the pencil drawing with a wet brush or just paint over it.

I hope this quick article helped some of you.

If it did, feel free to share your experience in the comments!

As always, thank you for reading and hobby on!