Fighting the Gray Tide (Miniature Painting)

[payn]

I really like Jacguard airbrush paint myself. I think its both efficient and affordable.

 

[Aellic Mornbringer]

A question for the collective. I just received my Crooked Dice Drow Patrol kickstarter miniatures. They are metal with slotted bases. I've only worked with plastic minis so far, glued flat to the bases. What is the recommended way to fasten the minis into their bases?

I've read that gluing them in with a gel glue is step 1 and then after curing, fill the remainder with putty like Green Stuff. The splines(?) on the miniature leave a LOT of room inside the groove of the base so I'm curious how that works in regards to holding the miniature in position and just how much glue would need to be applied. Would it make more sense to add some of the putty first, slot the miniature into place and then apply a liberal amount of glue?

One additional factor, I will be attempting to finish the bases with a basing kit I got from Army Painter so if there are any tips to preparing the base for that work, I'm all ears.

Thanks all!

 

[abazaba]

A question for the collective. I just received my Crooked Dice Drow Patrol kickstarter miniatures. They are metal with slotted bases. I've only worked with plastic minis so far, glued flat to the bases. What is the recommended way to fasten the minis into their bases?

I've read that gluing them in with a gel glue is step 1 and then after curing, fill the remainder with putty like Green Stuff. The splines(?) on the miniature leave a LOT of room inside the groove of the base so I'm curious how that works in regards to holding the miniature in position and just how much glue would need to be applied. Would it make more sense to add some of the putty first, slot the miniature into place and then apply a liberal amount of glue?

One additional factor, I will be attempting to finish the bases with a basing kit I got from Army Painter so if there are any tips to preparing the base for that work, I'm all ears.

Thanks all!

Unfortunately I cannot help you with the 'mini on base' question, but I do want to say I like the look of these miniatures. They seem to be (deliberately) going for an 'old school' (in a good way) look ? I took a quick look at the website, and some (most ? all ?) miniatures seem to be in the same style.

 

[Aellic Mornbringer]

Yes, it is a very deliberate "old school" line. The short version is there was a company called Otherworld Miniatures that specialized in "1E" style miniatures. The owner retired a year or so ago and sold off most of the mold lines. Crooked Dice appears to have picked up the bulk of those lines and from what I can tell, they do a kickstarter release each time they bring back one of the old lines. (I believe you can actually search their mini catalog for "otherworld" and it shows all of the models they took over.)

I always loved the Otherworld Miniatures lines and am happy to find that most of them are still available. This was my first order with Crooked Dice and so far so good.

 

[Mad_Jack]

I always loved the Otherworld Miniatures lines and am happy to find that most of them are still available.

Now that is good to know...


Re: base question... Yes, if the tab on the figure is noticeably thinner than the slot on the base, the best bet is to pack the bottom of the base with Green (or other putty), leaving the slot area clear, and then let it cure. When it's cured, rub a bit of Vaseline or spit on the figure's tab to lubricate it. Put the tab into the slot and pack whatever small spaces remain with Green, making sure that the figure's standing upright at the correct angle, then remove the figure and let the putty cure. Once it's cured, glue the figure into the base and touch up the putty if needed.
Note: Unless you're planning to fill the inside of the base for the extra weight to stabilize the figure, you don't necessarily need to pack the whole thing full as long as you have some putty built up around the slot area. If you're in a hurry, you can jam a large wad of putty into the center of the base, slather a bit of superglue on the figure's tab, and push it down into the putty. It helps if you have the figure sitting on a scrap of wax paper or something similar, so you don't accidentally stick it to your work surface while it's curing.

If the slots on the bases have molded sides to them instead of just being a cut-out, so that you don't actually need to fill the whole thing, you can just pack the slot area with green and push the mini into the putty, then let it cure and cut away any excess putty that got pushed out.

Additional Notes: If you haven't worked with greenstuff yet, be aware that the green will stick to the metal fairly well all on its own as it cures, and you may or may not actually need the superglue. Also, any superglue that comes into contact with uncured putty will almost instantly harden the contact area and bond to it strongly, which can be very helpful when you're doing it on purpose, lol.

 

[Koloth]

I often cut off the tabs and glue the feet to a electrical box slug using JB Weld. One of those 3rd Hand gizmos is handy for holding everything in place while the JB Weld sets. Use sandpaper/emery cloth to rough up the slug a bit.

 

[MGibster]

I really like Jacguard airbrush paint myself. I think its both efficient and affordable.

I just picked up a Gaahleri airbrush that was on sale during Amazon days. I'll let everyone know what I think of it in a few days.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Ya know, it's never occurred to me to fill the gap in the base slot. Then again, I don't even paint the bases.

 

[Aellic Mornbringer]

Awesome, that is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks! Sounds like the putty has a little bit of a learning curve to it as well.

 

[MGibster]

Lacquer is supposed to be more durable, and it is, but when you fail to wait the two hours as instructed before heavy handling this is what happens. We’ll just call it battle damage.