Basing miniatures

[Adamwest]

Hello all
So i glued my carthaginians down and to my horror my miniatures had 'frosted' from the glue! Its gorilla glue. Is pva glue adequate to glue miniatures to the mdf bases?

[Last Hussar]

I use superglue, just a spot.

I also pva the base, superglue on the figure base, then flock while pva still wet.

[rct75001]

I only use PVA now all the way from 6mm, 10mm (of course) through to 28mm

Have not had a problem.

Richard

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Dot of supergule or UHU hold mine, UHU is more comon, but it does depend on the material, both base and figure,

[fsn]

UHU or anything of that ilk works for me. Currently using "Hyper Tough" which I think I got in Home Bargain.

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

I get all my glues in Pound Land

[steve_holmes_11]

I've started using epoxy resin.
No problems with the little fellows dropping off.

It's also a handy blocker against falling into the insanity of rebasing.

[FierceKitty]

I've started using epoxy resin.
No problems with the little fellows dropping off.

It's also a handy blocker against falling into the insanity of rebasing.

Messy and pricy, but it works.

[mmcv]

I've started using epoxy resin.
No problems with the little fellows dropping off.

It's also a handy blocker against falling into the insanity of rebasing.

You say that but having dug a number of figures out of milliput recently I'm not so sure...

You do have to be careful with superglue as it can frost but a small dab under the model is usually all it needs and any frosting out the sides can be covered in flock easily enough.

I have been moving to more PVA based basing after advice from others in the forum (fred in particular) mixing paint and PVA and smothering the bases and adding the figures to that then sprinkling on sand. It does result in better coverage, a firm hold and less PVA stuck to the figures than super glue then trying to PVA around them. It does however take much much longer to dry and can be a little fiddly to position without knocking over so tweezers are recommended!

[jimduncanuk]

Superglue, in all its forms is the WRONG type of adhesive to use on figures. It does not like close contact with paint, both acrylic and enamel.

Use a contact adhesive as it is much friendlier and will cause less problems.

PVA is OK if it is of good quality and your bases are neatly filed flat.

[DaveH]

I've pretty much always used PVA as it is strong enough, cheap and if I do need to rebase is possible to release without damaging figures.

I also have started to use PVA and sand to build up the bases round the figure bases.

[Westmarcher]

For what it's worth, mainly UHU especially with figures with larger bases. Unlike Superglue, UHU doesn't set immediately so it gives you more time to slide the figure around until you get it into the right position and facing. I also use Superglue but only for figures with tiny bases and for the likes of artillery or wagon wheels where the contact point between the wheel and mdf base is minimal and so a stronger grip is required. I also texture the remainder of mdf base with Milliput primarily because I don't like to see the figure's own base standing proud of the mdf base but also to give some extra support and build up the 'ground level' so that the bottom of the artillery or wagon wheel is raised to the same level as the soles of your figures' feet. Thereafter, I more or less follow the method set down in the Baccus 6mm basing system with sand/grit and static grass.   

[John Cook]

I use, mainly, plastic bases and superglue.  Make sure the underside of the figure is flat and use just a drop of glue.  I squeeze out a small amount onto a ceramic mixing palette (a white tile left over from when we refurbished the bathroom!) and dispense it with a toothpick.  PVA works fine on MDF bases.  Same procedure.  Not sure if PVA works as well on plastic.

[Last Hussar]

mmcv appears to do what I do, except I use flock.

[mmcv]

mmcv appears to do what I do, except I use flock.

I do use flock too. Depends what I'm basing. E.g. my Chinese I've mostly used sand with static grass tufts, but the Aztecs use a mix of flocks and scatter. Just depends how "lush" looking I want it. Vary the colour of paint used as well, from sandy brown to a darker richer brown.