Basing Advice - Spiders

[MoonglowMinis 3219]

So i've got that trio of spiders from nolzur's.

 

 

They do not come with sculpted bases - unlike most of the nolzur's line.  This isn't a huge issue, except that these suckers have a bunch of tiny spindly legs.  I am worried about getting a good hold.

 

So I have a few questions:

 

1: how to fasten these guys to a base?  Just glue the legs and hope, or pin them through the body like a flightstand?

2: how to sculpt/or assemble, suitable bases to compliment their spindly nature and ensure a better hold.

3: how to attach the spider in a way that I can paint underneath it OR should I find a way to glue it down after both parts are painted?

 

So the webbed victim shown in the photo above I have decided to leave out as a piece of scatter.  There is a stone base (not pictured) that I have already glued to a reaper base for one of the spiders.  Each of the spiders has a slightly different pose with their legs - which is made worse by them being bent out of shape.  I'm hoping to use this as an advantage though, and pose each spider differently.  One is rearing back with front legs up (this one I plan to glue to the supplied rocky base with the abdomen glued to the ground for extra support.

 

Another spider has one side of legs kind of bent under a bit.  I'm thinking this would look good mounted sideways, crawling up the side of a fallen log (not sure if I should try to sculpt this, or find a twig to glue to the base).

 

The last spider is pretty neutral, but I was thinking of posing it climbing down something just for variety.

 

Any advice about sculpting the bases vs gluing organic material or mounting something with narrow points of contact would be tremendously helpful.  My indecision has lead to two weeks of no painting.

[ManvsMini 16714]

Looking at that photo gives me the idea of:

1. Figuring out which legs could be the most load-bearing.
2. Drilling holes large enough in the base for the tips of those legs to fit in just enough to hold them. Might make them look like they are stabbing into the ground to find purchase as they crawl.
3. Glue them into the base when you are done painting? Glue from the underside of the base so that any excess glue doesn't dry and fog up your paintjob. If you go this route, you could even epoxy/green stuff around the leg under the base, would have a good hold.

Some of the legs in the rendering look like they are this way. Not sure what type of base you are using (the included thin one, or a bigger one). This would probably work better with a thicker one, since you'd have more space on the underside, but might work with the base that comes with it.

 

As for painting the underside, I don't see a good way to do it while those are attached to a base; the legs will get in the way of a paintbrush unless you have them positioned so they are rearing back. I'd glue them on after painting.

[TaleSpinner 49227]

When I sculpted the big spider for Bones 5, I designed the base to do 2 things for this.  First, four of the legs just fit into a small sockets made for them in the base (the other four are in the air).  Second, the rocks in the center come up just enough to lightly touch the abdomen in one spot to support it and give a good glue spot. 

 

 

You can see my whole thought process in this posting: https://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/88957-the-making-of-arakoth-the-ancient/&do=findComment&comment=1906052

 

[MoonglowMinis 3219]

14 hours ago, ManvsMini said:

Some of the legs in the rendering look like they are this way. Not sure what type of base you are using (the included thin one, or a bigger one). This would probably work better with a thicker one, since you'd have more space on the underside, but might work with the base that comes with it.

 

Thanks!  This was a lot of good advice.  I'm replacing the thin base with a standard Reaper 1" round.  So there will be some extra room underneath.  The idea to drill holes for some of the legs is great!  I could even see myself dabbing some paint on the ends of each leg and placing it against the final base designs to get a perfect guide for drilling.

 

Also think I settled on grabbing some sticks to try as fallen logs.  I think I've read suggestions to bake organic material at 250F for at least half an hour to cook off an organisms.  I imagine I'll be able to drill into that alright.  Not sure how well super glue will hold to the wood though.

 

1 hour ago, TaleSpinner said:

When I sculpted the big spider for Bones 5, I designed the base to do 2 things for this.  First, four of the legs just fit into a small sockets made for them in the base (the other four are in the air).  Second, the rocks in the center come up just enough to lightly touch the abdomen in one spot to support it and give a good glue spot.

 

I specifically had your sculpt in mind while trying to figure this out!  These spiders are pretty light, so I'm not worried about them sagging, but definitely worried about those thin contact points breaking off.  I figured sculpting bases would be the best way to control the fit, but I have next to no experience sculpting bases - just blending integrated cobblestone bases out to fit a 1in round base.

[TaleSpinner 49227]

1 hour ago, MoonglowMinis said:

 

Thanks!  This was a lot of good advice.  I'm replacing the thin base with a standard Reaper 1" round.  So there will be some extra room underneath.  The idea to drill holes for some of the legs is great!  I could even see myself dabbing some paint on the ends of each leg and placing it against the final base designs to get a perfect guide for drilling.

 

Also think I settled on grabbing some sticks to try as fallen logs.  I think I've read suggestions to bake organic material at 250F for at least half an hour to cook off an organisms.  I imagine I'll be able to drill into that alright.  Not sure how well super glue will hold to the wood though.

 

 

I specifically had your sculpt in mind while trying to figure this out!  These spiders are pretty light, so I'm not worried about them sagging, but definitely worried about those thin contact points breaking off.  I figured sculpting bases would be the best way to control the fit, but I have next to no experience sculpting bases - just blending integrated cobblestone bases out to fit a 1in round base.

 

Rocks are fairly easy to sculpt.  You on Discord or Google Hangouts?  We could set up a meeting time some evening, and I can walk you through some basics of rock/base sculpture.  I've got my Vimeo teaching camera now, so I can show stuff. :)

[MoonglowMinis 3219]

15 minutes ago, TaleSpinner said:

Rocks are fairly easy to sculpt.  You on Discord or Google Hangouts?  We could set up a meeting time some evening, and I can walk you through some basics of rock/base sculpture.  I've got my Vimeo teaching camera now, so I can show stuff. :)

 

That'd be great!  I am on Discord, though I haven't used it for much outside of the voice features.  We can DM details.

[haldir 46803]

I've had these 3 glued onto the thin bases for quite some time. The material Wizkids uses is pretty sturdy & they haven't broken off yet. I just glued the tips to the edges of the base. Spiders are the Tre Manor sculpts of the critter world, ha ha.

[Rignes 1330]

On 3/17/2021 at 11:27 AM, TaleSpinner said:

 

Rocks are fairly easy to sculpt.  You on Discord or Google Hangouts?  We could set up a meeting time some evening, and I can walk you through some basics of rock/base sculpture.  I've got my Vimeo teaching camera now, so I can show stuff. :)

 

Along these same lines I remember an episode of Black Magic Craft where he was doing bases for these exact same figures.  He sculpted some rocks for them to be crawling over and then pinned them to the rock by the abdomen.  For the life of me I can't find that video.  The biggest hint I can think of is he put the pin in the spider and then pushed it into where he wanted to to be before the sculpting putty dried.  That way he could have a good seamless fit.

[Rignes 1330]

Found the video!

 

https://youtu.be/scgg5KlH2sY

 

Simple but effective way to get them securely on the base and still looking good too.