SNOT Rockwork Base Tutorial

This guide covers a useful technique for an irregular rock base.

While you could build the entire base sideways, I found it simpler to have a studs up core. 2×2 plate modified with stud are the vital element for this design.
Some plates and bricks make up a simple framework around those. I would recommend using more of the 2×2 modified plates than I’ve shown in this example, for better stability.

This particular base will have two sideways studs of rock, so the studs up frame needs to be five plates high to match.

Since the 2×2 plate modified are two plates thick at the front another couple layers of one wide plates are used over those.

Then the base is ready for the final layer – tiles in this case as I wanted the building to be easily removable. I included a few 1×2 plates to hold the building in place.

Then it’s time to start building the rockwork. I used sideways 2x bricks to give a bit of depth before building the face of the rock. Two levels of slopes with the bottom row always a little farther out gives a nice impression of layered rock.

At the corner you can overlap the bricks and slopes to get a smooth fit.

I wanted to have a few grass stalks on the rock in this build, so I incorporated some headlight bricks in the rock layers.

Depending on the look you want to achieve, you can easily go completely studless or leave a few studs exposed for texture as I did here.

The other sides of the rockwork were built in a similar fashion

All four sides can be taken off or on easily, which is nice if you need to make adjustments later on.

Naturally more layers could easily be added with this design to give a thicker base.

Ready for the building!

And that’s the basics of how to build your own SNOT rockwork base!

If you are interested in more rock building guides, we’ve covered a few other designs previously:
Slanted Rockwork Tutorial
Simple SNOT and Studs Up Rockwork Tutorial
Technic Rockwork Tutorial