Basing miniatures : glue

[pmcnix 4]

How do you all glue your minis to the base ? Sometimes you have a good large and sound surface to bond to the base and sometimes not.

[Clearman 11591]

As you say, circumstances will be different from model to model. 

 

Though, tbhe two common points in all my model to base joins are at least one pin and superglue. 

[MoonglowMinis 2348]

If you don't have a lot of surface, like maybe someone standing on one foot with no integrated base, then i recommend pinning.  Use a small mini drill to insert a wire into the leg of the mini and bend it into an "L" shape to give yourself a larger surface area to join the mini to the base.

My favorite basing technique is to use superglue and baking soda.  It instantly hardens in a dirt-like texture that's great for securing the mini and blending any existing base into the rest of the base.

[Glitterwolf 202438]

Usually I put a little blob of Greenstuff / Putty on the base and then glue the mini with superglue on the blob.

Then hide with paint/flock/sand etc...

If it's a bigger or fragile mini, I will also use a pin. ( most of the time I use a paperclip cut into pieces, drill holes and use putty and glue to put that in place.

[WhiteWulfe 40459]

Pinning and two part epoxy putties are my usual go to for such things.

[pmcnix 4]

8 hours ago, MoonglowMinis said:

My favorite basing technique is to use superglue and baking soda.  It instantly hardens in a dirt-like texture that's great for securing the mini and blending any existing base into the rest of the base.

 

Will look into that. I guess I need the gel version of superglue because it's thicker ? Mine is like a tiny film

48 minutes ago, WhiteWulfe said:

Pinning and two part epoxy putties are my usual go to for such things.

So you glue only contact surfaces or you kind of embed the mini in an epoxy pool, in a kind of "hollow" base ? Like this this 1" hex base : https://www.reapermini.com/search/bases/latest/72252

[WhiteWulfe 40459]

26 minutes ago, pmcnix said:

 

Will look into that. I guess I need the gel version of superglue because it's thicker ? Mine is like a tiny film

So you glue only contact surfaces or you kind of embed the mini in an epoxy pool, in a kind of "hollow" base ? Like this this 1" hex base : https://www.reapermini.com/search/bases/latest/72252

It all really depends on the mini. Most of the ones I've been working on as of late have slotta bases, or slot tabs built into their feet, which makes it rather easy to glue them down...  But that's how Corvus Belli does their Infinity miniatures. 

 

As for the hex bases, i rarely use those unless its CAV minis, at which point most of them have a nicely sized insert for such bases, giving you plenty of contact area. 

 

Now, if it's a mini with a built in base, I'll usually trim it somewhat in order for it to fit the plastic base, glue it down with gel superglue (I almost exclusively use LePage Gel UltraControl, aka Loctite), and then use a combination of a mixture of apoxie sculpt and green stuff alongside Vallejo terrain paste to re-blend the whole base together. 

 

I probably have a few examples of this back home, but I'd have to wait until later in the day to double check such. 

[pmcnix 4]

Lot of good advices from everyone, thanks. I think I'm good to go for all my Reaper minis. 

 

Last question, I have a couple 2" large Wizkids preprimed miniature with the underside of the figure that's supposed to be flat but it's REALLY uneven. It comes with a slim 2" disc so can't pin anything here and I don't have yet a thick enough glue/gel/putty to fill all those gaps. I tried with Craft Glue and it was a mess. What about using a belt sander to fix the figure, get a flat underside and then use CA glue ? Otherwise I need to order some new thicker bases for pinning and embedding.

 

[rubegon 2850]

2 hours ago, pmcnix said:

Lot of good advices from everyone, thanks. I think I'm good to go for all my Reaper minis. 

 

Last question, I have a couple 2" large Wizkids preprimed miniature with the underside of the figure that's supposed to be flat but it's REALLY uneven. It comes with a slim 2" disc so can't pin anything here and I don't have yet a thick enough glue/gel/putty to fill all those gaps. I tried with Craft Glue and it was a mess. What about using a belt sander to fix the figure, get a flat underside and then use CA glue ? Otherwise I need to order some new thicker bases for pinning and embedding.

 

 

I usually sand the bottoms of my bones minis to get a flat surface when I want to glue them directly to a flat base.  I don't have a belt sander - I just sand by hand on a flat sheet of sandpaper on my hobby mat.  That usually goes pretty quick.  I think you could definitely use a belt sander, but just be careful you don't remove too much.  I think you'll remove material pretty quickly.

[mikem91 1088]

gel superglue could work.  i don't think i've seen something so bad loctite gel couldn't close the gap.  but, wizkids preprimed sometimes are in their own world.

 

you could also try gluing it to the base with regular superglue, then filling the gap with baking soda and then hitting that with superglue.

[MoonglowMinis 2348]

8 hours ago, pmcnix said:

 

Will look into that. I guess I need the gel version of superglue because it's thicker ? Mine is like a tiny film

No I don't use a gel kind. Just typical dollar store super glue. I recommend practicing and playing with it if you try the baking soda/super glue trick. You can fill gaps by packing in baking soda first then letting the glue fill it, or do the reverse, fill some glue and sprinkle baking soda. I also have used it for basing uneven things. Set the mini on the base and place glue under the edges then sprinkle baking soda around and it kind of fills the gaps.

 

For bigger bases I often use other materials though, just to not waste do much glue. Instant grout is a good option for rocky terrain. And better value than similar hobby-brand texture pastes.

[cmorse 1112]

7 hours ago, pmcnix said:

Lot of good advices from everyone, thanks. I think I'm good to go for all my Reaper minis. 

 

Last question, I have a couple 2" large Wizkids preprimed miniature with the underside of the figure that's supposed to be flat but it's REALLY uneven. It comes with a slim 2" disc so can't pin anything here and I don't have yet a thick enough glue/gel/putty to fill all those gaps. I tried with Craft Glue and it was a mess. What about using a belt sander to fix the figure, get a flat underside and then use CA glue ? Otherwise I need to order some new thicker bases for pinning and embedding.

 

 

You could also try flattening the base using hot water, the same way you would for a bent weapon or arm.

[SotF 349]

A lot of the time I use superglue, varying between normal and gel types depending upon what I need to keep the mini in position.

 

If it has a thicker integral base that I can't get rid of, I then go with some patching compound and work around it and smooth it to the actual base after the superglue has cured. I often work some of the small stones into the base as well at the same time.

 

Normally, I then use superglue to add sand to areas.

 

10 hours ago, pmcnix said:

Lot of good advices from everyone, thanks. I think I'm good to go for all my Reaper minis. 

 

Last question, I have a couple 2" large Wizkids preprimed miniature with the underside of the figure that's supposed to be flat but it's REALLY uneven. It comes with a slim 2" disc so can't pin anything here and I don't have yet a thick enough glue/gel/putty to fill all those gaps. I tried with Craft Glue and it was a mess. What about using a belt sander to fix the figure, get a flat underside and then use CA glue ? Otherwise I need to order some new thicker bases for pinning and embedding.

 

Normally, I switch the bases out on those with the reaper 1" and 2" bases.

 

I really don't like the overly thin ones that WizKids use for minis as it pushes use of the mini for moving them around, the taller base adds options there. It also adds room to fit a washer in underneath for the less balanced minis which are, sadly, very common in the Nolzur's and Deep Cuts lines where they aren't that stable.

 

I've largely used the WizKids bases for small scatter terrain bases where the lower profile just blends the terrain into the board itself.

[golldan 1125]

For what it is worth, I have used 1" wooden disks as bases. I now have switched to Reapers 1",2", and 3" bases. I have found that the craft glue E-6000 works well, for adhesion and filling gaps.

 

[Aestivalis 164]

Ok, so reading about this topic makes me want to chime in. But let me back up a bit...

 

My first miniatures (back in high school in the 80s) were the old Grenadier D&D miniatures. Since they had integral bases, and I only used them for D&D, adding additional basing material never occurred to me (or my other gamer friends). The first time I remember seeing miniatures with separate bases were the old Citadel "beaky" space marines. I guess I just never noticed anything with separate bases before that.

 

I eventually got into those Citadel/Games Workshop miniatures in the early 90s, and I based everything using superglue. I didn't know any advanced basing techniques yet, and I never even bothered to fill in the gaps in the slotta-bases. However, to give the metal minis a little more stability for gluing, I would put a kink in the miniature's slotta tab with needle-nosed pliers, so when inserted into the base, it would touch the sides of the slot (front-to-back), and give the glue more contact points.

 

And that's as far as my basing skills progressed throughout the 90s.

 

Then in the early 2000s, Warmachine came out. When I built my first warjack, there was a lot of open space in the base from the slot of those first models, and I did not like it. But I also wasn't at a point where I wanted to do scenic bases either. So I planned to fill in the slot after the model was completely built and glued to the base. But I didn't know much about putty or greenstuff yet, so I planned to fill it with superglue.

 

It took several attempts of fill-and-cure to get a decent fill, but I eventually got there. I had access to brush-on glue accelerator for an intant cure (from my work), so that helped the process. I ended up with a bead on top of the slot gaps, which I then scraped and sanded down with a couple of custom tools I made. The results look something like this...

By the time I finished the starter army box and a few single units, I had the process down pretty well. To cover larger areas of a gap, I came up with a clever trick; cut a strip of masking tape the width of the area you want to cover (either between the feet or on either side), brush a little glue accelerator to the adhesive side of the tape, then apply it to the base (probably with tweezers). Then flip the model over and pour superglue into the slot. When the glue hits the accelerator on the tape, it rapid cures. Wait a few minutes and remove the tape. now you have a relatively flat surface of hardened superglue.

 

I would apply a bit more accelerator to the top side, and then a bit more glue with a toothpick (which would be sanded flat and smooth later). I learned to only apply the accelerator to the top surface. The glue needs room to expand, and if you cure the top and bottom surfaces, the glue can only go outwards (sideways) from there (possibly spreading the slot a tiny bit, and loosening all of your work up to that point).

 

I got heavily into the Warmachine/Iron Kingdoms setting for D&D, and I began buying Reaper fantasy miniatures to use for those games. The Warlord line was fairly new at this point, so I decided to base those miniatures with the same 30mm rounded bases as the Warmachine stuff (so it would all match). Here's a sample...

There were some Dark Heaven Legends minis that I planned to use as well, but since they had the integral bases, I wasn't sure how to proceed. I wasn't familiar with pinning feet to bases yet, so that wasn't an option. But I did have access to a belt sander (again, at work), so I carefully sanded down the bases to have just a very thin remainder, and I glued them to the rounded bases like that. Here's a sample...

I then started buying a lot of Reaper DHL minis, and based them all like that (30mm rounded bases). All of my metal fantasy minis are on these bases, but my sci-fi stuff is still all on 25mm regular bases. I have a few unbuilt Warmachine minis that would totally fit in a sci-fi RPG setting like Starfinder, so I'm debating if I should mount them with their included 30mm bases, or go full sci-fi and just put them on regular 25mm bases?

 

I've also gotten into Infinity recently, and those minis are so pretty that I don't want to even see the tab or the slot. So I have been cutting off the tab in between the feet, and filing it into two individual foot "pins" that I use to mount the mini. I then have to make matching holes in the base. Tedious, but I looks great with no seams.

 

**Edit**

 

I didn't have any Infinity miniatures currently in the works at the stage of making pins out of the tab, but I was in the process of working on a Reaper Chronoscope Nick Stone. Since I had extra Infinity bases, I figured I would just do the same for him and show you guys...

I find the desired position and make a few marks on the base, then I open a hole through and form it with a round needle file.

 

(also re-basing some Bones Chronoscope stuff from a previous Kickstarter)

 

I like the Nick Stone miniature a lot, but I felt that the Bones version lost a lot of detail (at least, compared to my Infinity Miniatures), so I went and bought the metal version.

 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2020 by Aestivalis