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What is the best solution for weighing down the base for a top heavy model? I know people use washers etc but the problem is that i have pinned my figures down through the base to hold them up and the pin sticking out through the bottom of the base is keeping me from being able to simply glue on a washer. (standard GW 22mm base)

Does anybody have any suggestions? i can't imagine i am the first one to encounter this problem. Thanks.

Try to glue down multiple washers.

OR "dont"deface a coin by drilling a hole where the pin sticks out.

Or just drill a hole in the washer where the pin sticks out (though you might ruin a weaker drill bit.)

Also if you feel like taking the time, you could pound out a piece of fishing lead weight into a pamcake, snip and sand the edges till it fits properly.

hm.. I definetly will consider "not" drilling a whole in a coin...

Washer might be a little harder to drill a hole into.

I was hoping for something more pliable like green stuff but HEAVIER.

Miliput will weigh down top heavy plastic or resin figures, cheap and easy. Just fill up the bottom of the base.

I melt down bullets for any weight correcting needs. Get a steel can such as a cat food can, melt the bullet in there, keep the can flat and add water to cool and lead is easy enough to cut with an Xacto knife. Obviously use any safety things needed since molten lead isn't really something to mess around with.

Now that I think about it, aren't fishing weights just lead as well? Could melt those down too. If you're comfortable with molten metals it's really very easy.

Its actually a metal SoB Seraphim piece so its actually quite heavy so i'm not sure milliput would do the trick. Not sure how i feel about molten lead...

the fish weights did give me an idea... maybe i will just go buy some small metal BB's and use milliput/glue to secure them? Not sure if there is enough clearance on the underside of the base. Anybody have some BB's laying around and can tell me if they will sit flush inside the bottom of a standard base?

I use lead fishing weights. They come in a variety of sizes.

No need to melt them down, if not quite small enough to fit under the base (some can be halved and fit just fine as-is) you can use pliers to squish them to the right height to balance out the figures. If you can only find the bigger versions, just hit them with a hammer and they will flatten right out.

Superglue or epoxy works fine to hold them in place. I've had some really side-heavy figures that I was able to balance by weighing down the opposite underside of the base with lead fishing weights.

They're also quite cheap, but if you have any friends who fish, they can probably give you a handful.

Thank you, i think I'm going to roll with the fish weights.

As always, Thank you Dakkadakka community.

Lead shot is much cheaper than fishing weights. Don't take it out of sporting cartridges. You can buy defective lead shot in bulk for the purpose of ballasting yachts and so on. It works fine for slotta bases too.

You can get line weights for fishing as well, normally get quite a few sizes in a small pack, they are like small ball bearings. I just put some glue in the base and pour them in, very simple and easy.

Tip I learned, on most 20mm bases, as long as it isn't a slottabase, a US nickel will fit perfectly without glue

Now that the models are mostly plastic, I use pennies and super glue on all my new space marine figures. Either that or I buy little washers at $.05 cents a washer. I've used putty, and bits of lead... but I really like pennies the best. Now a larger model like the SM flyers, I'll use the cool rocks my young son finds and gives to me. Or resin terrain on those larger bases, Armourcast makes some nice looking terrain that can be broken up to look like rubble, and to fit nicely on those larger bases.
Oh, and the sand, and rock help a bit too, I always use super glue since it won't peal up like PVA glue.

 AUGmaniac wrote:
Tip I learned, on most 20mm bases, as long as it isn't a slottabase, a US nickel will fit perfectly without glue

He pinned it so there is a thing sticking out.


If you can you could also try to use a flush cutter to remove it possibly.