Chest of Colors forum

Hey all. I'm new to the forums and to mini painting. I've been reading up on a lot of basing articles and think I get the idea, but I never see anyone say HOW to secure the fig to the base. Do you drill holes with a pin vice directly through the rocks, etc you put on? Is that a secure hold if you're using cork? And do you paint both the base and the fig seperately and then put them together in the end?

Thanks for any help and clarification!!
-Newbie

Welcome in the chest:)
Answering to your question I always drill holes with a pin vice directly through the rocks, etc . and its very secure ( I usualy use 2 pins), and again yes I paint base and the fig seperately then put them together in the end(I'm rather mesy painter:D )
I realy hate when base is an intergral part of miniature:/

Hi and welcome!

Basing is really fun and a nice part of the miniature-hobby. The way you do it is up to you. Sometimes I paint both base and mini first before assembling, sometimes I put the mini on the base before painting anything. A few things I always consider:

- do I need to drybrush the base? rocks are easy to drybrush, but if your mini is already attached to it and also painted, you can mess up the nice paintwork on the mini. If you want to place the mini on the rock before painting anything, paint the rock first and then the mini (be careful when painting the feet )

- can the mini be easily attached to the base? If this is the case, and no major putty work is required for a stable connection, I paint mini and base separate. No chance of messing up, only a bit of paint can dissolve when you glue the mini on the base.

The way you attach your models to the base is also up to you. If you don't want to use the tab (which is the most secure way to glue it on a simple base-with-slot I believe), one or more pins through the feet are quite secure. My experience with cork is that it gives enough support. But that depends on the thickness of the cork I guess, you can also drill a hole through the cork AND the base, and glue a long pin through the whole thing. The only problem I have had: very small feet, making deep drilling impossible.

Anyway, have fun and show your minis!

Thanks for the tips!! Hopefully I can find some time this weekend to put them into practice.

I've also found that if you need really strong but thin pins to hold something upright (like a figure balanced on the front of their feet), you can use sewing needles or pins. You will need stronger cutters, but they work very well and are fairly cheap.

Another thing you should be careful about drilling is that some minis with thinner legs tend to break. I have several minis, most of them Rackham, that have broken legs. Some already broke when I tried to cut the thick remains of the mold channels off, other held until basing. It's pretty difficult to repair them then.

Do you find that minis with tiny feet or other difficult things to pin really need to be pinned to the base or will zap-a-gap do just fine? I won't be using mine to game, just for display, so they won't be handled too much after painting, but I'm not sure how good a hold that is.

You're right Endrem, these fiannas are a pain to pin to bases...

Tanya - that's a pretty good idea. I used pins before as they are thinner than paper clips and very durable. Never used needles though...

If minis will only stand in a display cabinet adn won't be moved around, pinning may be unnecessary - but when a few people take them in their hands, you may have to reattach the bases pretty soon