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Proper bases for heroes and villians


Seaorgrudy

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Just wondering as far as painting and basing the figures are concerned. Would there be some sort of consensus as to what sort of terrain to base certain heroes and villains with? Like I would think everyone from Nordheim would get based with snow and so forth but that's an easy one. 

 

I think the mummies would go best on sand but that's an easy one too...

 

Any thoughts on this?

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I'm doing both of those above. However, for basing my focus is a little different. I want some variation so not everything is the same. I have some cracked mud paint, some red iron earth, some rock, even some stumps. My goal is to provide a setting for the miniature but not to overshadow it. It has to sit in the visual space behind the miniature and frame it. To this end I've mostly used muted earth tones, occasionally greens or reds. But I use the color scheme of the miniature and think about what would look good framing it. Most of the time, my default choice is earth tones if I don't want to think about it much.

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For an unprimed surface, cyanoacrylate (super glue) is really the best. I used polyvinyl acetate (PVA or Elmers) on a base once and had it looking incredible. Got finished and it separated in a perfect thin disc. I ended up using super glue to fix.

 

For a primed / painted surface PVA works better. Super glue can appear very glossy if there is any excess. I generally try to get it all set with PVA, prime. Then for grass tufts cyanoacrylate, and static grass PVA. If you have any contrast washes PVA will dissolve. So make sure you're painting is done before any PVA is used.

 

I personally buy stuff mostly from Green Stuff World. I don't know who's the best. I've picked up things in hobby stores and they didn't work as I envisioned. I threw them in my growing 'bits box'. Later they worked perfectly in some other context. So try things. Some will work, some won't. If you really want to make sure of a new technique, just prime some empty bases and experiment.

 

Take all this with a grain of salt, I'm still learning and am by no means an expert. My models are far from perfect, but in those spare moments of time mixing a little paint I find it very relaxing. There's been a few "nailed it" moments that I've let go about and my wife and I make up a story about how they could have ended up in such bad shape, "Well that one was out all night at the club and got hit by a motor bike on the way home."

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On 9/25/2020 at 9:53 PM, Seaorgrudy said:

What is the best glue to use and static grass brand in anyone's opinion? 

I'm just now getting my supplies in order.  This hobby is any awesome but there are many parts to it.  

 

For holding down most basing materials: Aleene's Tacky Glue (It's a PVA glue that is much stronger than traditional white PVA glues.)

For Holding down larger objects (stumps, larger pebbles, etc) I use Zap-a-Gap or another hobby-brand super glue. (I recommend not using generic, dollar store super glues or crazy glue due to their lower shear strength). Also, super glue (cyanoacrylates) cure faster the more humid it is.

 

Several tips:

1. Lightly score or sand the surface of the base prior to applying glue.

2. Do NOT thin out (water down) your PVA glue when applying.

3. Do not shake off excess flock until the PVA has had at least 10 minutes to cure.

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This sounds like really good advice.

 

Nice, I'll give the tacky glue a try. Be ware that most PVA's that are stronger contain formaldehyde  or something similar as a solvent. So no eating the glue!

 

I also like to buy the smallest tubes of super glue possible (I currently have 12 tiny tubes of it). The bigger bottles just gunk up beyond belief. I got one with changeable tips and I never could those to work properly.

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I pulled the MSDS for Aleene's glue just to see what made it different. It's a standard PVA glue like Elmer's and is not one of the formaldehyde enhanced ones. I noticed it's pH is low (4.5). I looked this up and the pH of PVA glue is dependent on fiber size (lower pH ~ smaller fibers). This indicates a fiber size of around 275nm. This results in tighter bonds than brands with bigger fibers. So the difference is that they've filtered it down to include the better bonding small fibers. I've now ordered some for my work table.

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I've re-based all my Conan painted minis with clear acrylic bases, to solve the issue of "visual consistency with the boards".

However, re-basing with acrylic takes almost as long as doing a regular textured base.

I believe that it you do a somewhat generic basing (for example, a bit of stone, a bit of earth, a bit of wood, a bit of grass), it will match most of the boards.

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