Hi there, first post on the forum (lurked on and off for a while though), but I thought I'd ask around here for some advice from all the seasoned 10mm modelers.
A while back I bought a bunch of the ratmen miniatures for a hordes of the things army. These all come with what appears to be a cast-on base that's between 1-1.5mm thick on the bottom.
Combined with the 2mm thickness of mdf that I'm using for the bases it adds a significant amount of height to the minis, I don't want the bases to look ridiculously chunky, so I'm wondering how you guys remove the excess material from the bottoms? (note, I don't have access to any power tools)
I guess I could sit there with a file and a razor saw, but I might end up going insane towards the end.
Thanks
Belt sander maybe, if you have access - otherwise perhaps a careful Dremel? Hand filing the base is likely to be a very long winded job...
Wotcha from Kent and welcome to the forum!
I suppose you could get what used to be called an eight inch bastard file, secure it to a workbench or similar and file the bases as well as the tops of your fingers off or...I fear insanaity beckons unless you can beg, borrow or steal a power sander or better yet a variable speed Dremel.
Where are you by the way?
Bu**er, tp got in first but I'm not changing anything.
I had this issue with some little miniature ships - as I was using wooden bases, I dremelled troughs in the bases instead!
That's thinking. :)
Now that's an idea! Careful with the MDF "fumes" though, you don't want to be breathing that in...
glue them to the base and build up the sand and flock. I never file any bases
Another option springs to mind, a variation of what Wulf said.
Using cereal packet card, mark around and then cut out the shape of the base. Glue the cereal card to 2mm -as opposed to 3mm- pre cut MDF bases, glue figures into holes and disguise the base that way. I can't really take the credit, Bob O'Brien used it on his Airfix Huns back in the early 70's.
...or...
go with Matt's idea, even simpler.
@Subedai - I'm from South Wales.
Thanks for the ideas guys, I think I'm going to experiment with putting holes partway into the MDF and fixing the minis into those after painting, then disguising the gaps with filler and basing materials. I originally thought about just building up the bases with filler, but it always ends up looking like my minis are carrying a portable hillock wherever they go (done well it wouldn't look like that, but I can't pull it off lol).
Once I get something done I'll upload the results so you can all see how it turned out
Airfix Huns? What did they start life as?
Huns - almost certainly Red Indians (I know not PC....)
But more bloody Welshmen - ohhh know :( :(
Welcome
IanS
I would use artist board, its just over 1 mm thick,. mount rats on that and then use texture paste to build the whole base up - it should blend in OK with the 2mm bases.
Quote from: FierceKitty on 21 July 2015, 03:02:50 PM
Airfix Huns? What did they start life as?
Everybody's favourite convertible Airfix cavalry...the ACW sets. I remember going to a Present Arms in Southend in 197? and seeing them. His (Bob O'Brien, that is) standards looked really good so I had a closer look -he was using printed football club logo's! Manchester City is the only one I remember for definite. Nice man who always had time for a chat about how he did things. He was one of the original WRG Triumvirate and wrote a number of conversion articles for Airfix Mag.
Welcome Mr Zero.
Welcome from me, too, LZ. :-h
(From SW Wales.)
Cheers - Phil
Hello and welcome
Never tried so I'm afraid I can't be much help there.
This however, is beyond true. MDF dust is f*****g awful, even with a mask on so be extra careful with that. :)
Quote from: toxicpixie on 21 July 2015, 10:36:31 AM
Now that's an idea! Careful with the MDF "fumes" though, you don't want to be breathing that in...
I think you may have misjudged your audience!
What are you trying to say, Norm ? :D
Cheers - Phil
I have a couple of Sandvik sand plates. They are metal with self adhesive backing designed to attach to a specific holder but can just go on the work bench (or a small sheet of ply) and then a fairly simple task to file the bases down a bit.
Hi Leigen_Zero, welcome to the Forum!
8)
OK, different period/subject, but I find cutting a trench into MDF bases makes the old PD Napoleonic Peninsula figs, (about 11mm), look great with newer figures. (|Love those old Brit sculpts!).
Hi, I have a thing about thick bases, especially for 10mm models, 2mm mdf seems out of scale for the figures.
I use thin steel bases, I think they're only about 0.5mm thick and have the added advantages of adding a bit more weight to a unit and sticking to the magnetic sheeting I use to line storage boxes.
Here are some Pendraken Templars facing some Pendraken Saracens based on stell bases.
(http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa242/danandsan/IMG_6217.jpg) (http://s198.photobucket.com/user/danandsan/media/IMG_6217.jpg.html)
If you want to file down figure bases then the best thing is a belt sander, everything else takes toooo long, but mind your finger tips :D