Topic: Base Fetish ;)

[jmanwarhammer]

No, I don't really have a fetish for bases (you pervert!) .
I have a question about bases, whenever I paint my bases with the green I use (Ceramacoat Jubilee Green) it seems to pell of after awhile, I hope one of you knows why it's doing this or how I can fix it. Even if you just say what you do on your bases it would be most welcome.

P.S. I don't have any kind of fetish for bases or anything, however it is my favorite part of making the model

[Archaon]

Well, usually most people use modelling or builders sand, painted with brown ink. But it all depends on your taste in bases. I myself, in my chaos army do a blackish brown base, with snow.

[Tanker]

@ jman: Do you prime the bases first?

[mthorn]

Maybe try giving your bases a quick going over with sand paper or a file normally gives the paint something to adhere to

Cheers

[fredrik]

I use wooden bases myself, of about half the height of GW's plastic bases and without bevelled edges. The advantages of this approach is a.) paint does not ever under any circumstances peel off from the edges, and b.) when ranked up you don't have the unsightly "gaps" between your models bases that you get with GW bevelled bases.

Furthermore, since the bottom of the bases are flat, it is very easy to attach magnetic tape which, combined with steel movement trays, prevents your models from falling over. It also makes storage much easier and cheaper (a simple metal box will suffice).

[Fafnir]

Care to elaborate on that fredrik? For instance, where do you get these wooden bases?

[fredrik]

Care to elaborate on that fredrik? For instance, where do you get these wooden bases?

I buy them from East Riding Miniatures (www.eastridingminiatures.com.uk) in the UK. I'm told Litko Aerosystems supply something similar in the US.

The bases are 2mm thick MDF, cut to size. 16 20x20mm bases will cost you £1, but you can order pretty much any dimensions you fancy. The cut is very precise, I've used hundreds of ERM bases for various wargaming projects and each one has been top quality product. I have never had any problems with the MDF warping, even on very large bases (100x100mm are the largest I've used). I just can't recommend these enough.

Edit: I noticed you're from Norway, Fafnir. I'm from Sweden myself, and so I'd like to add that as far as delivery times go it usually takes about three days to get the bases from the day of order, even for very large orders.

[Fafnir]

Now that is very interesting. Have you got any pictures of your miniatures with the bases in question? I am eager to see how they look. Also, what do you do with metal miniatures?

[fredrik]

Now that is very interesting. Have you got any pictures of your miniatures with the bases in question? I am eager to see how they look. Also, what do you do with metal miniatures?

I have some pictures on my gallery page ar http://www.lassekongo.net/gallery - unfortunately no 28mm figures (yet), only 6mm historicals. All figures in those galleries are on ERM bases, 30x30mm for the WW2 microarmour, 60x30mm for the Napoleonics and DBA 25mm standard bases for the ancients stuff. I'm working on some Foundry Landsknechts for my budding WHFB Empire army (doubling as a WAB Holy Roman Empire army) so hopefully I'll have some pictures of 28s using these bases by the end of the weekend.

[Fafnir]

Those are some nice miniatures, and some very nice basing. But what do you do with metal miniatures? Do you remove the slottabase thingy? I haven't had much success with that in the past.

[fredrik]

Thank you very much, glad you liked them!

Regarding metal GW figures, I cut off the tab and file the bottom of the figures feet with a rough file. However, I rarely buy GW figures so it's not much of a problem for me, especially not GW metal figures - I'm not paying three times the price for a third of the quality of say Foundry, Perry or Artizan.

[Fafnir]

That is true for Empire, yes. But for other armies with no other alternatives...I will look into this base thing. Maybe I will order a few and test it out.  

[jmanwarhammer]

I prime the bases first.

I have not tried sanding the bases, but intend to.

And lastly I was talking about the sides, on top it's fine but on the side, it peels away...

[PLAY4FUN]

Perhaps you have some residue left from molding or handling - you could try washing in dilute detergent followed by clean water before priming to minimise the problem.  
If you handle the base a lot during painting consider using something like a plastic film canister as a handle - use masking tape folded back on itself to hold the model to the canister.

[Konrad von Richtmark]

When it comes to the Empire, I have actually found myself to fancy the approach of just glueing static grass to a goblin green undercoat. Hey, I could make bases with sand and stuff, but I feel the verdant grassy field is just the place where the ideal Renaissance battle takes place. If I want to make it more complicated, I add a few broken weapons and other random thingies littering a battlefield.

[fredrik]

As promised, here are some pictures of the wooden bases I mentioned: http://www.lassekongo.net/gallery/Renaissance Enjoy!  

[PLAY4FUN]

The bases look very good, I'll have to look into getting some.  The artboard I use for cannon/mortar bases is OK, but is never quite flat.

Nice work on the figures themselves too, the striped colour scheme has come out very well.

[fredrik]

Thank you, glad you liked them.