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What is the best way to securing a mini while you are priming and painting?

I tried that bluetac stuff but that was complete failure.

Do you have it on the base or no?

I personally have started drilling holes in the bottom of the feet and attaching them to corks to be primed and painted. It lets you handle the model without actually handling it.

If you have the model attached to the base and it is falling over or something like that when you prime then I'd suggest a strip of double sided tape.

Pin and or glue them to corks, rods, sticks, lengths of sprue, or anything you can hold it by without touching anywhere vital.

If you attach them to a stick or rod of some description, have a box with holes in to stand them up in to dry, or a blob of bluetac.. something that enables you to put it down without touching it to anything.

Make base how you want.

Then attach miniature.

Glue small square of sheet metal to bottom of base.
(I use "fender washers" to add weight to my models.)

Use appropriate holder with rare earth magnet attached.

Added bonus: You can space magnets in a grid on sheet metal in a carry case and the models will not move.

I base my mini first, then use poster putty to attach it to an old thread spool.

i've always used pins, and then slide them into a pin drill or exacto handles...
i do this for all the seperate components...
in fact, i never know what my mini is going to look like until it all goes together at the very end...
it's always nice to see it all come together, after weeks of working on what seem like totally random pieces...

cheers
jah

Poster tack only really works on based models and wide handles (pill bottles, paint pots, etc.), where there is plenty of surface area for the stuff to grip. It actually takes a bit of prying to remove them, when I'm done painting. That's my go-to method, since I paint most model with their bases already attached.

Larger individual parts or loose bodies get long pins (cut down or removed for assembly, depending on the part/material), which are held in a pin vice. I've used holes poked into corks, but if the bodies have any weight to them, they tend to spin around as you try to maneuver them while painting, so I prefer the stronger grip of a pin vice. Tiny parts are usually tacked to the end of a toothpick, with a tiny dab of CA glue (which snaps/chips off easily, at the end).

Like oadie says, the Blutac method works well on bases which have a large surface area. If you have a set of tops that match a single bottle or jar, you can mount several models and swap them easily to do a production line painting method.

Some people use one of these...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rolson-Tools-60335-Helping-Magnifying/dp/B001BMSBD4/ref=sr_1_2?s=diy&ie=UTF8&qid=1379359469&sr=1-2&keywords=magnifying+glass

If I'm doing one at a time I hotglue them to my painting stand, an old pill bottle, and then just go outside and spray it.

If I'm doing a batch priming, I'll spray a coat onto a strip of cardboard then while it's still wet throw the figures onto it, as that coat dries it'll make a real weak adhesive to the cardboard. Then just paint and prime away, just be careful to not fling it around the room like a sword while you do it.

I use double sided carpet tape and have had very few minis fall away from it, just put it on some stiff card board and press the mini onto it.

I put on a latex glove and hold the mini by the base. The gloves are cheap and it gives you unparalled control of the mini.