Essex horse bases

[John Meunier]

Help we (or me) of little talent.

I often find myself fighting with those little skinny bases that Essex puts under its horses. Even with a file and knife, I have a hard time getting the ponies to stand stable. Enough glue will hold them up, but then prying them up when I'm done painting becomes a challenge.

[Chris Brantley]

Sounds like you're talking about gluing them to a painting stick or nail head.

My usual method (using flat-headed roofing nails) is to put a big blob of white glue on half of the nail, and then put the horse on so that only 50-75% of its base is in the glue. If the base has been filed flat and if you keep the nail straight up and down, the horse should stay put long-enough for the glue to set. And when you need to pry it up, having a portion of the base unglued makes it easier to remove.

Another approach is to grasp the base with a good old-fashioned clothes pin and paint it that way.

[Paul A. Hannah]

After I have primed my figures, I use Elmer's white glue to affix them to cut up pieces (roughly 40mm x 20mm) of old, glossy blister-packs, e.g. Minifigs, Heritage, etc. They stay put while I'm painting them (even those Essex, skinny-based horsies), and then, when they're done, they pop off these re-useable, temporary bases rather easily.

[ August 28, 2004, 10:52: Message edited by: Paul A. Hannah ]

[Roland Fricke]

Use a hot melt glue gun for temporary basing. It takes hold in seconds and always prys off easily and cleanly. I used to use white glue for temporary basing and had the same problem with propping up figures. With a hot melt glue gun, I put a drop on the nail head press the figure in and as fast as I can put the nail back down into the foam board its dry. Do one at a time sinc ethe hot melt solidifies quickly. I make sure to use enough to get some squeeze out around the base. I spray prime as soon as I'm done mounting on nails. Prying off is easy - no tools required, just grab the figure and pry off, I almost never have to clean excess glue. Once in a while one may fall off and if I don't feel like heating up the glue gun I'll super glue it back onto the nail after clearing off the hot melt glue.

For permanent basing I use a good contact cement (not the stuff for paper) The contact cement, called Goop, is hard to rebase if you ever need to but it grabs hold instantly (faster than super glue and a more durable bond since it flexes) so no mucking around trying to get figures to stand up.

[ August 28, 2004, 08:34: Message edited by: Roland Fricke ]

[imported_Bryanmd]

I use good old elmer's white glue and put the beasts down onto tongue depressors, at an angle just off running with the grain of the wood.

When you are finished painting, you can flex the base of the tounge depresor to bend it with the grain of blade and the horses separate easily. These are reusable, of course. This also allows for conveyer belt painting of figures.

As a pediatrician, I do not recommend using used tongue blades, for obvious reasons. In fact, it may have been a contaminated tongue blade that wiped out the Incas in the 1500s DBA tournie in Peru...

Best,
Bryan

[Marcus Aurelius]

I find the hot glue gun very handy for fixing figures to 6-inch nails for painting. Have to watch out for long, fine "hairs" as you pull the gun off but they are easily removed, and if you miss one you see it once you've sprayed with primer.

I buy car-wash sponges, cut them in 2 lengthwise, and push the nails into them, 6 to 8 per sponge piece. They make great cheap racks for holding the nails while spraying primer or varnish and they're handy for keeping the figures while they're waiting for me to paint in the next bit of uniform.

[ September 01, 2004, 17:46: Message edited by: Marcus Aurelius ]

[Ivan]

Hot glue, definitely.

[SunTzu]

I've used the super glue method but I like the idea of hot glue. Now just to make off with the wife's glue gun with her knowing..... smile.gif As far as standing the nails in something I find using 2x4' acoustic ceiling tiles make great stand bases. In my office every once in a while they will replace the ceiling tiles for one thing or another.

I just tell the workmen I'll take everything they were going to toss out. I usually cut the tiles into 2" wide by 2' long strips. This way I can keep about 24 to 30 figures on a stand and work one stand at a time.

I've also used the 12" square tiles but they are tougher to put a nail in. The reason I use the 12" sq. tiles is that I can set the minis up in a grid and then paint each row and column a different color while sticking with a unified color scheme. This may seem to analitical to some but hey that's just me! smile.gif

Sincerely,

Trey