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Hi all ones again, as most you know I have a bunch of smapfit marines that I bought and I'm in the process of converting and preparing.,...
The thing is I don't have any bases for them.
I have access to 32mm plastic piping,
My q is.,..
If I cut those into pieces and fill them with normal recon (the stuff at the hardware store) would it work? And if it did ,how would be the best way to prime the base and affix my model to it?
I'm talking about normal recun (for surfboards) to make a quick fix.

Look on ebay, you can find bulk 32mm bases on the cheap.

$$

KINGPIN54 wrote:
$$

Do your research, you will be surprised.
(the fact you posted this tells me you have not checked yet - yes, it is worth your time. I got them for less than 10 cents each).

I have checked, thus the $ reply, unfortunately I'm in a country with junk status as currency. Hence the question about the resin that will be cheaper.

recon? I dunno that stuff.

If it's like the resin I've used, you'll be fine. I dunno about expensive but it could be fun to play with. That is, you could do some stuff with your bases maybe that you couldn't do if you just bought some flat ones. Might have to experiment

My worry would be cutting all of them the exact same width.

RE: priming etc, once you've let them cure fully, wash the bases off with soap and water (like any resin). Let dry thoroughly, then prime. I've not had any issues with mine.

Try a test few maybe first?

I promise you, the plastic bases you can find any number of places is going to be cheaper than casting your own.

KINGPIN54 wrote:

If I cut those into pieces and fill them with normal recon (the stuff at the hardware store) would it work? And if it did ,how would be the best way to prime the base and affix my model to it?
I'm talking about normal recun (for surfboards) to make a quick fix.

Are you talking about some sort of filling putty?

That might work, although it leaves you with the same problem that most resin bases have - flat bottoms that don't stand neatly on terrain.


A better idea might be to cut your sections of pipe and top them with a circle of cardboard or thin plastic.

Here are wood bases from china with world shipping;
http://www.ebay.com/itm/20x-MDF-Bases-32mm-Round-bases-Basing-Laser-Cut-Wargames-wood-/162527496581?

Here are plastic bases from hongkong with world shipping;
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-20-PCS-32mm-Round-Bases-Black-Antiskid-Silico-Model-Bases-For-Wargames-/401296055283?

Here is a lot of bases from china, with cheap shipping to south africa;
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-Of-60-32mm-Round-Slot-Bases-For-wargames-table-games-/263051082308?

Here are 100 bases with international shipping;
http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-x-32mm-round-plastic-base-same-as-Games-Workshop-Warhammer-40k-Space-Marine-/222113886736?

Thanks for those links, my Google must suck.

As a couple of others have already mentioned, there are tons of (cheap) options. Most far cheaper than using a pipe, cutting that up into rings, and filling the rings with some other material. This does, of course, give you the option to highly personalize your bases. Want a miniature on top of a minor hill? just model it with cheap clay or something. Want the model to 'look heavy' ? Just press it down into the clay a bit more, so it will have its feet pressed into the filling material.

Also, when you do get, say, a bulk load of 32mm bases from the internet, there are many options to go about basing as well. You might just prime the bases, and paint them green, brown, or whatever other colour to match your prefered game table surface. Something I found out through the internet; cheap texture paint. GW sells this stuff in small pots, barely enough to base a squad or two if you really want the base to be textured. I am now experimenting with cheap Acrylic paint (Burnt Umber coloured), mixed with a bit of white hobby glue and sand. If you tend to hit that 'right mix ratio' this works wonderfully, maybe even better than GW's formula. Imagine the cost of getting enough pots from GW to cover my four 2-by-2 terrain tiles, all the texture paint needed to cover that 4x4 feet area...

Besides that, I have also been dabbling in making my own scenic bases, pulling a silicone rubber mould from them, and casting those bases in two-components resin. While this works, it is more expensive, as the rubber and resin can hurt your wallet. The advantage to this method is, that the base is solid, and therefor it has slightly more weight to it, meaning the models become slightly more bottom-heavy, and tend not to fall over as much.

As for solid bases sliding away, simply use some cheap (super)glue on the smooth bottom, and dip the base in a tub of sand. Seal it of with a coat of thinned PVA or other hobby glue, and your solid bases will have a very rough bottom, unlikely to slide off model terrain unless the angle they are in is too much to handle anyways.