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Hey everyone,

I am looking for your suggestions on how to add some weight to bases.

More specifically I am in the process of bringing my old 2nd edition tyranid army up to date. So I got a bunch of the 'new' Hormagant platic models, mostly from ebay, already assembled.
Love them, look very dynamic and detailed.
But they seem to have some serious faceplanting-syndrome going on...



Yes, you can place them upright, but you have to carefully do so, or they just tip over.
Carefully placing 60 hormagants is not what I want to spend the evening on though. I'd rather push the whole bunch forward.

At the same time, these are tiny plastic models, they are incredibly light.
So I figured, if I added a bit of weight to their little 25mm slotted bases, it should help a lot in keeping them upright!


Do any of you have some great ways to go about this?
As I am looking at 60-100 bases here, it should involve some commodity items, which are easy and cheap to aquire I think.

Not sure how to weigh down the slotted bases... for the non slotted bases you could probably just glue pennies or metal washers on the bottom though.

A dense clay/putty type material might be your best bet placed on the underside at the back, there are two part epoxy putties like green stuff that are quite dense (they’re used in DIY) that might work and will dry hard as well as stick to the plastic base.

Failing that, some sort of scenery at the back rock wise might give enough weight to stabilise them.

Options are cut some pennies and glue em underneath.

Flatten some lead weights and cut them to fit between the slots and glue them in.

glue some small lead shot into the bottom of the base

glue a rock to the base.

One thing that can solve two problems at once is magnets and movement trays. You’re going to be moving huge swarms of these guys anyway, so why not stick them in movement trays? They’ll stay upright and you won’t take 30 minutes every movement phase.

Vallejo ground texture or similar products will add the weight you need to the bases and also provide the texture needed for your basing.

Secret Weapon Scenics would also provide a similar outcome (something like this: http://www.secretweaponminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=13&products_id=86).

Hmm, this seems to be basicly fine grain sand and some kind of epoxy.

I think I'll try a combined approach here: get Supershandy's epoxy from the hardware store, mix it with fine grain sand to add more weight/substance and fill up some bases.
Or maybe I could just go with wood glue instead of epoxy. I'm using that for the top of bases already and it's a sturdy coimbination.

Had exactly same problem with my wifes hordes of Hormagaunts, and my solution is this:
buy a soft gym weights (like ankle weights) - those are filled with realy fine grain metal "sand" (it is not lead as it is magnetic), which is a bit heavier than normal sand. Pour it into a container of sorts and then just paint your bases (bottom side) with PVA and dip them with some added force in this "sand". Two layers of this and no Hormagaunt have ever faceplanted again. It is also great for weighting top-heavy Tyranids like Zoantropes/Venomtropes, forward leaning Raveners and other such models. And is quick and easy to do.

Had the same problem with my hormogaunts. I used pennies and cut them in half with a pair of tin snips, glued half under each gaunt. Worked well

If my bases ever need more weight I just glue a coin to the inside of the bottom.

No wieght you are going to get will cost less than .01 per object.

I glue pennys to the bottom of my hormagaunts.

I've done Magnets which are great for moving hordes, and Pennies cut to size.

Also heard of people using bird shot and resin.

You could also base the mini with ballast sand or what have you which will help.

They’re not faceplanting, they’re attacking!

 chrispy1991 wrote:
Not sure how to weigh down the slotted bases... for the non slotted bases you could probably just glue pennies or metal washers on the bottom though.

I've actually bought second hand minis which have had pennies on the bottom of them. Washers are an alternative.

If you have metal sheers you can cut the pennies in half, maybe? Depends if that's treason in your part of the world... washers might cost more

Second the call for bird shot and epoxy. This works like a charm.

You can also stick a magnet in it for storage.

 Lance845 wrote:
No wieght you are going to get will cost less than .01 per object.

I glue pennys to the bottom of my hormagaunts.

I beg to differ! "Pennies" of less valuable currencies are worth even less. One Croatian lipa for example is worth 8 times less than a penny, and in fact, the metal required to make it is worth more than one lipa, which causes quite a lot of unnecesary spending by the government.

Just superglue pennies to the base. Like above, you won’t get anything cheaper

 Power Elephant wrote:

 Lance845 wrote:
No wieght you are going to get will cost less than .01 per object.

I glue pennys to the bottom of my hormagaunts.

I beg to differ! "Pennies" of less valuable currencies are worth even less. One Croatian lipa for example is worth 8 times less than a penny, and in fact, the metal required to make it is worth more than one lipa, which causes quite a lot of unnecesary spending by the government.

If I had access to "Croatian Lipa" for their value as currency I would gladly use the thing worth less than .01 a object. Sadly here in the states pennies is what I gots.

The following is a hypothetical statement.

Hypothetically I've always used pennies, largely because I refuse to comply to the draconian government doctrine of removing moneys from circulation. I used to use lead but quite frankly my lead was more valuable as fishing sinkers than it was as base weighters.

The government really tried to short change my people (get it?) by removing our precious pennies from circulation. Therefore I kept all my pennies, sorted out the copper ones (for the distant future where copper is scarce and road warriors fight to the death for it) and I used the zinc pennies from 1997 onward. Cutting it in half with a pair of bolt cutters is extremely tedious, and there are other options but that's what I went with since it was a bit easier to control.

In slotta bases I hypothetically use pennies cut in half but since I am still fearful of being pursued by government forces for defacing currency (which, again, seems circular since it's them that said pennies wasn't money now) I bury all my pennies in epoxy and spray overtop concealing all evidence.

You could also put rocks on the top of the bases, as far back as you can fit them.

I did this for my old metal swooping hawks, who needed all the help they could get to lower their center of gravity.

lliu wrote:
Just superglue pennies to the base. Like above, you won’t get anything cheaper

This. We germans use cents, though.

The 1 US cent does seem to be a perfect fit for the base.
Our 1 cent is smaller, but our 2 cent is the same size and weight.

As my supply of US currency is limited, I will go with the 2 cents for twice the cost(!), if I ever get to work on non-slotted bases.
But I don't feel like cutting them up in this case. I mean it is technically illegal to destroy them. No idea what the verdict is on superglue.

Btw. what's up with not writing numbers on coins? ^^'

America is dumb and getting dumber. Don't expect anything we do to make sense. Cents? Sense.

Actually, an American nickel is the perfect size to fit under a 25mm base and offers twice the weight. And you still won't find a better alternative than 5 cents per base.

I use #9 bird shot, superglue and resin. A finished 32 mm base weighs about 10 grams.

I do the same as above: lead shot glued to the underside of the base.
I use a thin layer of hot glue, then press the base into a bag of shot. If any excess sticks, I just scrape it off before it cools. Quick and easy , particularly for models like hormagaunts that are so off balance and so numerous. It worked well for my flying hive tyrant too.

Has anybody ever tried using a different base shape for hormagaunts? If an oval shaped base exists that's slightly longer than the small bases they come with but not as long as a bike base it might stop them tipping forwards. Not sure what the in game legality would be though

Cool models but they're terribly designed given how prone to falling they are.

Disagree on them being cool models. Hormagaunts and Termagants need an updated kit. Not as bad as some others for sure, but the 2 part heads and 2 poses (one foot down or the other foot down) is dull as dirt and the Hormagaunts being attached to the base by the tip of their toe is just incredibly bad design for stability and life expectancy of the model.

Ive started mixing up bodies between termagants and Hormagaunts just to get some more variety out of them. But I really wish someone would make some 3rd party gaunts and gants so I could get some better variety.

 Witchfinder General wrote:
I use #9 bird shot, superglue and resin. A finished 32 mm base weighs about 10 grams.

If you're having trouble finding bird shot nearby, you can also use fishing weights. The small beads are cheap.

Nickles + Super Glue