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.

I've started playing Tau recently, and my mom gave me her collection of Metroid-themed Tau conversions. Including two squads of half-finished "Galactic Federation Marine" Gue'vesa / Fire Warriors, a conversion of Shadowsun to Samus Aran, and a big squad of shaved "Chozo" Kroot.


Click to enlarge
These Kroot have been invaluable on the tabletop, holding objectives in ruins and forests and laying down a solid weight of fire. The problem I'm having is that their bases aren't solidly weighted. They're so unbalanced towards their rifles that I often end up making them point the opposite direction from their targets, just to keep them from tipping over on even slightly uneven ground.

I was thinking of gluing some US coins inside of their concave bases, like pennies or nickels. Whatever turns out to fit. Metal washers might also work. The idea is to adjust the centre of gravity more towards the base. I'm concerned that the metal might scratch terrain elements though, or even make the models more slippery.

Has anyone else done this before? Does anyone have suggestions, or things that I ought to consider before I mess something up?

It's a pretty common thing for top-heavy models. The best advice I can give is to make sure you don't get something that is too thick that sticks out from under the base. Coins work real well for this.

Yeah, coins work, or if you really want to weight it down, a friend of mine used to fill his bases with lead shot and a coat of superglue.

Lead shot and glue.

Steel washers of the right size

Coins.

The little cupped shape of the base can be helpful in some cases, like slanted or uneven terrain, so lead shot gets my vote usually, as it retains that shape but adds a lot of weight.

Hm, lead shot's an idea I hadn't considered! I'm a little iffy about working with lead, though. Maybe if there was some really dense modeling putty. Or maybe I could even coat the lead with that. Has anyone done anything like that?

Right now I'm considering putting masking tape over the coin, and then painting or priming it black. Maybe even using some gap filler on the edges. I'm hoping that'll make it look more like a single model than one which has a coin on the bottom, and maybe give it a bit of traction ...

Or you can just buy stone bases on ebay. I buy from a guy named eveonlineseller. Great stone bases with perfect weight and durability.

I would look at pennies or bits of round rubber magnets..(Personally i would start with a penny in each and a drop or two of super glue and then a nice chunk of rubber sheet magnet ..) the magnet is usefull with cheap dollar store metal trays to make a display /easy to use storage area..

Canadian Nickels fit perfectly inside 25mm bases.

What I use in my Hormagaunt bases is some small birdshot, with copious amounts of glue. Can NOT tip those things over,and you get very little wasted space in the hollow portion of the base.

Tried a coin, once, and hated it. I'm not worried about the metal damaging terrain, so much as the loss of traction. The hollow cup shape really does do a lot for stability on rough ground and traction on slopes. If possible, I use heavy basing materials (small rocks, metal bits and bobs) on top of the base as decorative counterweights - doesn't take very much weight if you're simply shifting the center of gravity laterally. If the pose is just too whacky dynamic, then I'll use lead (crushed airgun pellets, as my local source had them cheaper than a bulk bag of split fishing weights and I only need so much) on the underside to shift the CoG downward, while maintaining that concavity.

I used to use washers, until I realised it was cheaper and easier to use nickels. It's crazy, you can go to any bank and get like 20 of them for a dollar.