Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Does anyone have any advice here? I'm a long term collector, and have pretty much always just stuck models on the bases they were given, or if they needed bigger, got a bigger one before hand.

I'm almost exclusively fantasy and as a collector I want my models to match up, which means I need to get a lot of round bases, and start rebasing everything (also does anyone know anywhere I can get round bases for some big Forge World stuff? If I got bigger things I'd just glue them onto movement trays).

So how do I get the models off the bases without breaking them all?

Thank you

It's pretty hard, especially with skinny things that have been plastiglued to the base..
I'd personally mash at the bevelled edge and cut somewhere close to the feet with clippers leaving the model on a flat amoebic shaped base.
File the bottom flat by rubbing on a sheet of coarse sandpaper then attach to a round base.
Add a few rocks, sand etc and make a few more slight rises on the round base.
Smooth out the transitions with milliput and finish basing as per usual.
Your models will stand a touch higher but it saves any chance of breakages.

Break the Base not the model.

Otherwise if you are good at it,, take a exacto chisel blade and take it nice and slow. change out the blades often.

You can always take a table mounted belt grinder and sand the whole base off to the feet if you are careful .

I've done it before by laboriously shaving off as much of the flock as I can and then using a Xacto saw blade to saw the feet off under them.. it worked ok but I have a few scars from my ordeal. I am thinking about rebasing for AoS also, and I think this time around I'll use my sprue clippers and just cut the base away around the feet.. that will leave a thin piece of black plastic from the old base under the feet, but it should be easier to trim away any excess after the rest of the base is removed.

I did it once. I used a clipper to clip of as much of the base as I could, then I used a knife to cut off the rest.

Depending on the glue you used I just put a handful of models in the freezer last night and some simply snapped right off. Others I clipped around and then knifed the excess. It's a long process. Don't rush it or you'll end up with some serious cuts.

Want to know what I do?

I saw the base. Just cut up the base sides and as much of the flat circle off as I can, and glue it to a new base. If you do it right and base it afterward you won't be able to tell.

For metal in a slotta base, I flex the base slightly, listen for the "crk" and then snap the base in half away from the figure.

For plastics and resin, I pretty much do what Orock said, or I freeze the mini if it was super-glued, and try to pop it off the base.

Have just rebased a few models.

Plastic stuck to metal with superglue, or metal stuck to plastic I guess - chuck in the freezer for an hour and the glue goes brittle.

A few months back rebased some plastic Helf, off plastic bases onto metal ones. big pair of clippers, destroyed the bases except a small black bit stuck to each foot, just sanded than a bit then stuck to the new base - leaves them a mil or two high, perfect for then basing round them.

have used a fine saw before but was far too much work

leopard wrote:
Have just rebased a few models.

Plastic stuck to metal with superglue, or metal stuck to plastic I guess - chuck in the freezer for an hour and the glue goes brittle.

A few months back rebased some plastic Helf, off plastic bases onto metal ones. big pair of clippers, destroyed the bases except a small black bit stuck to each foot, just sanded than a bit then stuck to the new base - leaves them a mil or two high, perfect for then basing round them.

have used a fine saw before but was far too much work

^^^This. All of my old Space Marines are on the 25mm bases. When I picked up my Space Wolves Project, I had a unit of Wolves on 25mm bases and they were cut off without too much hassle.

Metal models can usually just be popped off.

Plastic models, if they're attached with superglue rather than plastic glue, can generally also just be popped off the base.

For anything with a more secure bond, carefully sliding an xacto knife blade under the connection points will usually do the job.

By coincidence I am currently recruiting basing my warhounds as proxies for flesh hounds for 40k. Here is what I did. Chopped the rectangle bases and transferred to 50mm rounds.

Switch out your normal x-acto blade for a flat-tip with the edge on top. Does the trick for anything that isn't plastic-glued.

If the model's legs are not thin, just use force one the base. I got my Space Marines away from their bases easy enough, without breaking the Marine or the base. I used plastic glue (the GW stuff however, which isn't the best glue).

A heavy flamer and a prayer to the emprah works most of the time. On the rare occasion, i will usually use a simple blade and a lot of caution and patience.

I've just brute forced it with a heavy knife blade. Put the base on edge on nonslip surface, apply pressure and off they pop. Used on non slotted bases plastic models attached with plastic glue. Little if any damage to the feet the times I've done it. That'll probaby work for most rank and file. Maybe use more finesse on special models. Knife I used isn't particularly sharp.

Since I want all my minis to be playable for oldhammer I intend on keeping square bases, plus Mordheim while not explicitly requiring square bases does benefit from having them in that it's easier to do the face up/face down thing with a square base.

If your minis haven't been glued with hobby glue then you might want to try the freezer method. A bit of water and a stay overnight in the icebox will break most superglue bonds much more gently than any other method, but you run the risk of having the whole mini come apart, something which may or may not be appealing.

Other than that I would go with the aforementioned method of clipping the old base away so as to prevent any damage to the mini itself. If you try to pry or saw the feet off the base you may be rewarded with a bloody digit and a broken toy.