Basing Ifantry

[Hoth_902]

Not sure where I had the conversation about what people used to base there infantry. Really have not had time to look through the post to find it.

In that post, someone said they used white glue to hold ground cover on.. I was wondering how dorable the clue is.. Does it flake off over time or does it pretty much last a while since you seal it with a clear coat.

I am about to make my first attempt at basing some infantry. Thanks in advance.

[Guroburov]

Hi Hoth,

Yeah what Uncle Fireball said. I do that too. My bases are only a couple years old so no idea about long term durability but they've been good so far.

-Steve

[BurtWolf]

I do the same - affix infantry with superglue then flock using white glue, My only complaint is that it is a pain to get around small spaces in between figures using this method, and I try not to get the flocking on the figures themselves.

[Hoth_902]

Fireball,

Do you use wood glue on a metal base? Does it work just as good as white glue in that regard?

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and advice. With luck, I will start my first group of infantry soon. Just have to figure out what color I will paint the uniforms. I would like to do a more modern uniform. Like the ones with whitish background and faded green shades for the rest.. have not figured out the color yet. However, the more I look on line, I realize that the US uniforms are not very "uniform" . It appears that the US uses a variety of patterns.

I guess its best to just get going and do something. LOL.

[pvt64]

Hoth,
I base just like Uncle Fireball too. I use metal bases and the only difference is that I thin the flue with water so that it flows more easily. A tip that I picked up from model railroading. Works fine on metal bases.

[7.62]

I have not done that many based troops.
For a few I too used the above method.
For most I painted a penny or plastic base with the required colour of the terrain I was using at the time.
When dry Krazy glued the figure on, then second coat of base colour and dropped on ground cover while paint was still wet.

Next day use a spray bottle with a mix of white glue/water or clear coat from a can.
Both fixers seem to work OK, white glue/water maybe a bit better (time will tell).

[redleg]

I use the lazy man's technique for basing my dismounts. I spread some gray pumice on a penny and then stick the boys down into it. Once it dries the troops are stuck and I can paint. A coat of brown on the dried pumice first and then dry brush in tan to get some decent ground. No vegetation though - it's all mud!

[Mk 1]

A squad of my GHQ Romanian Infantry.

US Pennies are my standard bases. I find they are cheap (I get as many as 100 for a dollar). They are very sturdy -- they don't bend or break, and provide significant protection for the figures mounted on them. Also they are readily available -- I find few things as frustrating as having a unit 90% finished, and then finding myself short of some item I need to complete the job. I have discovered that I can always mine for pennies between the cushions of the sofa as needed, and have never failed to finish a unit for lack of a few pennies.

I mount 4 figures for a standard squad, 3 figures for a full-sized special purpose squad (larger gun crews, combat engineers, etc.) and 2 figures for half-squad teams (support weapons, command elements, etc.). I am now considering moving to Euro Pennies (much smaller) for the half-squad teams, but haven't done that with any of my forces yet.


Artillery FO group consisting of observer team and commo team. As my Romanians use mostly field telephones (not radios) the commo team might not be as mobile as the actual observers. Commo team is kit-bashed from a 2-man light mortar tea, and consists of a field telephone operator and line man with a back-mounted line reel.

I use acrylic medium gel to mount the figures on the pennies. I learned this trick from ACWBill. Acrylic medium is basically un-colored acrylic paint. Gel is thicker than acrylic medium liquid -- almost the texture of pudding. Many household "non-toxic" glues are just acrylic gel. It has very high adhesion to these little metal treasures -- if it didn't the paint wouldn't stick to them as admirably as it does!

I add a couple drops of acrylic paint that is my chosen earth tone, and voila, I have a gel I can lay on as thick as I choose, that will serve not only as paint for the ground around the figures, but also as glue for the figures and anything else I want on the base.

I paint the figures first. The cast-on bases are painted the same earth tone color as I use in the gel. The pennies are also under-coated with the same earth tone paint. I use a cheap acrylic paint from the local craft store for my earth tone.

I put a generous amount of tinted gel on the penny, generally almost 1mm deep, and work the figures into it. I carefully dab a bit around the edges and even up on to the cast-on bases of the figures, so no gaps appear between the figure base and the textured ground on the penny. Once all figures are on the penny, I put a few model RR talus pebbles and shrub bits around, and bury the whole thing in flocking (sometimes using 2 colors of flock, but in this case only one).

As the acrylic gel dries, I can pick up the stands of infantry and tap off the excess flocking, and they are ready for a dullcoat sealant.

So far this technique has worked very well for me. I quite like the results.

-Mark

[paul]

I glue the infantry to a penny and once dry paint it with a brown. Then add the details to the uniforms and guns. At the end use some white glue and flocking to cover the base.

[Hoth_902]

Paul, if I remember, your infantry looked good. Thanks for your input.

[Hoth_902]

Cama, post a few pics of your infantry.

[Mk 1]

I use super glue, and clear 20x20mm bases. I like the look of non-flocked Infantry

Yes, some pics if you please, good sir!

I tried clear plastic many years ago. Didn't work out like I had expected. But it may well be that my skills were not up to the challenge, and I never invested much effort into figuring out how to make it work well / look right.

What I found:

1) The cast-on base of the figures stands out more than I like. One thing I focused on with my own technique, as shown in the pics above (pics, see? pics! hint hint...) is building up the "ground level" on the base to surround and even wash over and hide the case-on base of the figures. Just don't like to see each man on a 1 x 2m "hoverboard".

2) Glue shows clearly on the clear plastic. I used super glue. It dries into a white crust. Each man on a hoverboard was on a little piece of what looked like ice. So maybe they were surfing on a hockey rink? Now here, I may clearly have just never developed my skills well enough. Might well be possible to clue down all the figs such that I never ever have the super glue squish out past the edges of their hoverboards. I never achieved such perfection, but then I didn't invest much in trying to learn how.

3) The whole idea of the clear plastic was to not see the base, and to instead see the terrain beneath. That was my whole plan. Guys on a paved road, or a dirt road, or a cobble-stone bridge, should not carry a bit of green fields around to stand on. But the problem was that on game day, as I move around the table edge, I am at constantly varying angles from the bases on the table. The light comes down from a constant direction, and as I move around the light reflects off of different bases. In essence the bases flash at me as if they were a bunch of small light-houses signalling "HERE I AM OVER HERE". No matter where I placed myself, I found some of the bases appeared as bright white as if I had put the figures on the lens of a flashlight. So despite my intention to reduce the visibility of the base, I actually increased it.

It may be that different matted plastic surfaces would eliminate this effect. Don't know. Gave up pretty quickly on the whole concept. But would be interested to see how others have worked it and what they have achieved.

[traveller]

Hi MK1 thinking of using Euro ! cents for your bases? Be quick as there will not be any one cents soon as they are being phased out. The bill total is added and then the total is rounded up or down to the nearest five or ten cent.

[traveller]

Hi MK1 thinking of using Euro ! cents for your bases? Be quick as there will not be any one cents soon as they are being phased out. The bill total is added and then the total is rounded up or down to the nearest five or ten cent.

[traveller]

Hi MK1 thinking of using Euro ! cents for your bases? Be quick as there will not be any one cents soon as they are being phased out. The bill total is added and then the total is rounded up or down to the nearest five or ten cent.