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Post by onemonkeybeau on Feb 21, 2009 13:54:30 GMT -9
Hey Dave,
Is there a 'bulge' where the tabs from the figure meet underneath the base tops... it seems to me there would be a little bulge, but I don't see any in your pics.
onemonkeybeau
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Post by tonsha on Feb 21, 2009 14:59:53 GMT -9
Beau
Yes - there is a small 'bulge' but it really isn't that noticeable. I can live with it.
DaveA
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Post by kane on Feb 21, 2009 22:08:41 GMT -9
Dave, looks great! Will do my best to get pictures tomorrow. Looks very similar since I base the same way. The bulge is virtually non-existent.
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Post by abaddonwormwood on Feb 21, 2009 23:07:58 GMT -9
If the bulge is getting on your nerves you could always add static grass and basing sand/grit to hide it and shift the focus.
Lord Abaddon of Wormwood
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Post by Aestelon on Apr 6, 2009 18:35:07 GMT -9
I wound up trying GOR's trick of cutting off the tabs entirely and just running a line of glue along the feet, and it really does work surprisingly well.
It was actually unintentional, as I was assembling a couple of TF special weapon guys when I realised I'd glued the whole unit together without scoring the backs of the tabs (so I can separate them and glue them to the base)! So rather than throw the whole unit away, I thought I'd give it a go. I glued the bases flat (F&T Slag2 25mm octagons), cut the tabs off the feet, loaded my brush with neat PVA and ran it along the edge, then planted the feet on the base between the top halves.
A touch of grey paint on the slot and base edge and they look great!
I switched to Slag2 since it made more sense than the grass I was using before. I'm starting use a fair bit of F&T scenery now with the Sci-Blocks and now the Slagtown I bought yesterday.
I'll try and snap a photie or two tomorrow once I've assembled the rest of the squad.
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Post by onemonkeybeau on Apr 6, 2009 19:02:36 GMT -9
Hey Aestelon!
That's the method I've adopted as default now too. Looks very good and holds up surprisingly well!
I'm looking forward to seeing some more F&T pics... I haven't been sold on most of the scenery yet (although I am looking forward to Glenn's Egyptian stuff!), but your pictures are beginning to sway me... darn you.
;D
onemonkeybeau
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Post by godofrandomness on Apr 15, 2009 20:42:54 GMT -9
I wound up trying GOR's trick of cutting off the tabs entirely and just running a line of glue along the feet, and it really does work surprisingly well. I'm glad others have started to develop this method as well. I really would like to hear others' preferences on types of glues and paper and how well those work out with this method. |
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Post by abaddonwormwood on Apr 15, 2009 20:57:53 GMT -9
I would really love to see someone do a tutorial on this method - something that could be pdf bound and hosted by Jim so all can work through it.
I am looking at moving to this method with the Sci-Fi range as that is a smaller, no ranking system.
Lord Abaddon of Wormwood
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Post by Aestelon on Apr 16, 2009 4:57:40 GMT -9
I'll see if I can do something like this next time I make up some figs.
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Post by josedominguez on Apr 16, 2009 7:59:29 GMT -9
I'm just printing base circles onto magnetic paper. (just circles filled with Jim's textures). Then PVA the fig to the base. Give it a quick spray of varnish and sorted  |
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Post by godofrandomness on Apr 23, 2009 18:22:50 GMT -9
Ive noticed an issue with big miniatures and this method. I am having a hard time getting the mini to stand straignt while the glue is drying. Human size models give me nop trouble, but the iron and stone golems for example don't want to stay standing up.
The issue might be the paper too. I normaly use 110lb cardstock, but I ran out and had to use matte photo paper. It seems that tacky glue might not like that paper too much.
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Post by Aestelon on Apr 23, 2009 18:57:34 GMT -9
Yeah, I've found that PVA has trouble adhering to the matte photo paper, too. Clearly it's not porous enough to take the glue properly.
Bear in mind there's several ways to do flat basing. There's the way we've recently been advocating, whereby you cut the tabs off entirely and just run a bead of glue along the feet, which has worked absoulutely fine for human-sized figures, as you say.
If it doesn't hold on larger figures (and I can totally see why it may have trouble), try the method I used previously, which works as follows; it's a little more involved, but looks about as good, and should be more stable.
Before folding, score the centre of the tabs as normal, but also score the backs of the tabs where they meet the feet. I find the easiest way to do this is to push through with the tip of a blade either side of the base of the feet, then turn the card over and use the new holes as a guide to show where I need to score.
When you fold the figures over to glue them, make sure you don't apply glue to the tab.
When the glue is dry, trim off the bottom of the tabs, just enough to allow you to separate the two halves.
Take a standard base and cut off the tabs that are designed to hold the figure. When you score and fold the sides over, you should be left with a small gap between the halves of the top.
Take your figure and glue the backs of the tab to the inside of the base; you can then fold the top sides over and glue them over the tabs. Burnish them well and they'll look about as good as if you'd just glued them onto a plain base. If there's a little white still showing through, try dabbing a little paint of a roughly matching colour along the gap.
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Post by luckyjoe on Apr 24, 2009 6:42:46 GMT -9
Here’s how I do my figures with flat bases. After printing out the mini, I cut it out, removing the base tab right at the soles of the mini’s feet. Then edge it. Next I lay it on a sheet of wax paper (usually several minis at once, up to 16-18 minis at a time). I hold the mini down with a toothpick, then seal the upper surface of each mini assembly line style with Matte Decoupage with a brush. Usually by the time I have sealed the last mini, the first one is dry (That's why I try to do a bunch at once). Then I go back to the first mini, flip it over so the unsealed side is up, and then flip over each mini in sequence. (allows a little more drying time) If you try this you may notice that the minis tend to warp upward a little as the first coat of decoupage dries, don't worry though, coating the other side will get rid of that.
Then go back to the first mini and repeat the process of decoupaging the side now facing up. I usually repeat this process 6 times, so each side of the minis gets 3 coats. That really increases the strength of the minis and makes it easier to flat-base them.
Basing. - Use whichever base you prefer. I tend to use 1/2 inch round magnets for 15mm scale, GW 25mm slotta bases for 30mm, and 3/16 foamcore for bigger models. I attach some texture to the base with Tacky Glue, usually WWG Hinterlands groundtiles and allow to dry. Then I take a low-temp hot glue gun and apply a bead of glue to the mini's feet and quickly stick it onto the base. Once again, do this assembly line style through all of the minis needing basing. By the time the last mini is based the 1st one done will be dry and set. I then apply decoupage to the base of the mini, being careful to cover the join between the hot glue, base and mini. Once again, assembly line style, usually repeating the decoupage coating 3 times. Then you’re done. The mini now has a strong protective coating and is firmly seated on it’s base, with additional protection for the weak point at the junction of the base and mini. So far it’s been working great. If you don’t like the way the hot glue looks on the base, you can always disguise it with a little flock, too.
I used this same method for the Stone Golem in full size. The only thing I did differently was to insert an old off-cut of coverstock between the front and back of the mini for extra strength prior to gluing and cutting. That's especially important for photo paper because it is a lot more flimsy than card or cover stock. Especially with the big full-size Stone Golem.
Anyway, hope this is helpful.
Luckyjoe
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Post by godofrandomness on Apr 25, 2009 19:38:43 GMT -9
I found a simple solution for my tacky glue/matte photo paper problem.
1. Grab any 2 leftover HP 95 or HP 97 ink cartridges (or anything else L shaped)
2. Cut off tab of mini and apply glue to bottom.
3. Hold in place with ink cartridges.
The L shape is just perfect for keeping the fig centered without getting stuck in glue and making a mess. I just put some tape over the spot where ink is susposed to come out to prevent any mishaps on the fig.
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Post by boromirandkermit on Apr 25, 2009 22:15:19 GMT -9
I just use super glue - works a treat.
I only have to hold the model there for about 15 seconds.
The largest model I've tried it on is the Mutant Horse and it works great. You can see how it turned out in the gallery.
Cheers,
Ben.
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Post by godofrandomness on Apr 25, 2009 22:39:13 GMT -9
I just have had issues with super glue keeping its hold it seems. I ahve had to rebase several figs because they fell off when I used superglue.
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Post by gawd on Apr 26, 2009 3:27:42 GMT -9
I changed the bases on all of my figures to flat basing ... took a while, but it was worth it. I just superglued them onto the flat base, using loctite brand. Worked like a charm.
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Post by godofrandomness on May 21, 2009 0:45:30 GMT -9
I recently changed how the bases I have been using are made. Previously I had been taking Jim's blank bases for the size I need, removing the tabs that normally cover the tab under the model's feet, coloring in the central blank spot and folding the rest underneath. Well one day I decided I got tired of all that excessive folding and tried something else. I currently am jsut drawing circles of appropiate size, and filling a 8x10 page worth, and am glueing a sheet of black cardstock onto the backside both for extra support and to take care of coloring in the bottom (previously I had been coloring in the bottom with a sharpie). Here is an example:  Even with the second page glued under, it nets me more bases per sheet than my previous method did, though I do think GIMP has been resizing my images when printing, and I cannot seem to reduce the margin at the bottom enough to avoid cutting a small piece off the bottom row. That may be a limitation of my current printer (HP PSC 1610; it's not supported for vista 64 by HP so I thinik I had to trick it to using a generic or xp driver if I remember right) |
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Post by Aestelon on May 21, 2009 3:36:05 GMT -9
I've found, too, that I can't always rely on GIMP to print at the size I want it to; a Print Preview feature would help immensely with that. That's why, although I've migrated to GIMP for a large portion of what I do now, I still print through Artweaver.
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Post by luckyjoe on May 21, 2009 4:11:19 GMT -9
That's a cool method, GOR. I have taken to printing out one of Jim's texture page and cutting out bases from it. My methods kind of wasteful of paper and ink, though, and I have to draw a grid on the reverse side. I should try your method. Its a lot smarter. I have a suggestion you may find useful. Get a hole punch for cutting out your circular bases. I've started using a 1/2 inch circular punch for my 15mm minis and it works great. It was taking me forever to cut out the circles by hand. Now I can just whip through a bunch in no time. They have them in various sizes and they're pretty reasonabley priced at between 3-5 bucks. I found them in the papercrafting section of Hobby Lobby. Luckyjoe |
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Post by Aestelon on May 21, 2009 5:30:42 GMT -9
One of the advantages to using octagonal bases - they're a lot easier to cut out...  |
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Post by onemonkeybeau on May 21, 2009 6:15:45 GMT -9
Yeah, I've completely switched over to octagonal bases... you get the same aesthetic feel but they are MUCH easier to cut out, especially when mounting them to Matte Board.
onemonkeybeau
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Post by kane on May 21, 2009 6:17:53 GMT -9
Hmmmm...my shadows done single sided glued onto black matte board...thats a thought...
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Post by godofrandomness on May 22, 2009 14:53:07 GMT -9
That's a cool method, GOR. I have taken to printing out one of Jim's texture page and cutting out bases from it. My methods kind of wasteful of paper and ink, though, and I have to draw a grid on the reverse side. I should try your method. Its a lot smarter. I have a suggestion you may find useful. Get a hole punch for cutting out your circular bases. I've started using a 1/2 inch circular punch for my 15mm minis and it works great. It was taking me forever to cut out the circles by hand. Now I can just whip through a bunch in no time. They have them in various sizes and they're pretty reasonabley priced at between 3-5 bucks. I found them in the papercrafting section of Hobby Lobby. Luckyjoe Actually I was already ahead of you on that. A couple weeks ago I picked up a 1 inch and 2 inch hole puncher from my local michaels. They would work great if GIMP had printed like it should have. That is how I realized GIMP doesn't always size things up right. |
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Post by josedominguez on Jun 11, 2009 9:14:30 GMT -9
I made a sheet of bases on paintshop, gave them a black outline to match the figures then printed them on magnetic paper. Nice and sturdy, back side is already black and so is the edge. Good weighty feel to the figs. Then I just flat glue the models to the bases. Working fine so far.
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Max
Initiate
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Post by Max on Dec 11, 2010 16:58:22 GMT -9
Sir, could you please tell me where did you get your predator set? Thank you, Sir |
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Post by Tommygun on Dec 11, 2010 17:27:50 GMT -9
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Post by cowboyleland on Dec 12, 2010 6:32:07 GMT -9
For those trying to avoid waste, square bases are easiest to cut out, while hex bases also interlock and are less . . . well, square. BTW why aren't figs made with the fold for front and back at the head and then the base drawn around the feet?
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Max
Initiate
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Post by Max on Dec 12, 2010 20:17:05 GMT -9
Sir, could you please tell me where did you get your predator set? Thank you, Sir What he said Oh, I'm just looking for "the predator minis" set. But Tommygun has show me where. Thanks again. |
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Post by nishidake on Oct 24, 2011 15:31:32 GMT -9
I flat-base my minis on white foamboard. Then I run a colored sharpie around the outside edge of the foamboard. The colors correspond to my DM dice so when I roll, I know who it's for, and it's easier than using numbers to keep track of baddies.
I can take a few pics if anyone is interested in seeing it.
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