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I recently started making my bases before the mini's, and attaching them at the very end of painting. now, I'm using the texture paints for basing, how's the best way to attach a model to a base without it falling off?

I pin through it using floral wire of varying thickness and a small amount a super glue. Thats enough for infantry I find and you can get creative bending it under the base to counterbalance for larger or more creative poses like flight, etc.

Hmmm...what my friend does (I have never had to pin a model) is use a piece of a paper clip, drill a hole into the parts I want to pin, apply a small amount of superglue, and pin it where I need it pinned! easy enough!

You'll definitely want to pin through the top of the base. If you rely on superglue, alone, you're securing the feet to paint, not the solid base, which makes for a rather flimsy join that requires serious touch-up work when it inevitably fails.

Many people use paperclips, but the ones I find always seem to have an oblong cross-section. Brass rod is the gold standard for pinning, but it's a bit pricey, compared to perfectly serviceable alternatives. Instead, I just use a length of galvanized steel wire, which I always have handy in a variety of gauges.

Unless you have a ton of material on top of the base, the thickness of the plastic doesn't give a lot of surface area for glue to bond to, nor does it do much to resist torque. I recomend leaving pins a bit long, on the underside, and either adding putty or extra styrene (best added beforehand and drilled through, right along with the base) to give some extra 'meat' to work with. Alternatively, if using a sufficiently soft wire, you can bend a right angle where the pin emerges from the underside and secure the extra length directly to the base. Either method will greatly increase the strength of your join.

[edit: typos] Apparently, my 'n' key is somewhat unresponsive. We're talking about joinery, not whistful longing. Also, words generally haves spaces between them.

I use a large paperclip since they're a bit thicker than the smaller ones. They're pretty much the same size as the smaller of the brass rods I have.
Usually the same size pin vice bit I use for infantry gun barrels fits the paper clip thickness perfectly. Dab of super glue in the base hole and the hole in the model's foot (I pin both feet) and you're done.

I put a 90 degree bend in the pin and drill holes up through the foot/leg and the base. The bend allows me to glue or epoxy the extra length to the underside of the base, and it will secure even heavy models.

+1 for paperclips and drilling into wherever you want pinned. I dont have a drill, but have made a 'paperclip bit' which fits into the handle of my hobby knife-15 seconds of twisting and you've got a perfectly sized hole. Put in a section of paperclip, then glue it with superglue. Works great.

@oadie -- I'm with you on brass rod being the gold standard. There is a P3 kit that is quite cheap that comes with 2 drill bits and a bunch of rods. The bits are handy, since you kind of work your way through them as you use up the brass rods

I can't remember the actual price, but one pack lasts a long time (since how much of a brass rod do you use per pin ).

BairdEC wrote:
I put a 90 degree bend in the pin and drill holes up through the foot/leg and the base. The bend allows me to glue or epoxy the extra length to the underside of the base, and it will secure even heavy models.

I too use this technique, with larger sized paper clips.

Works very well.