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In a lot of the tutorials i often see the models mounted on what looks like a wine cork or something while painting. How would one go about making one and how do you mount the figure to the actual holder, i've seen a couple that looks like tack while other seems to be pinned? I'm running into the problem of holding the figure and touching it when i shouldn't have and smudging it up.

Thanks.

What I've done at times is just used a pair of forceps to hold onto the base of the model. I've seen other people put stickey tack on the base and then put a pencil in that.

A gob of bluetack on the models base will do the trick mate, then stick it on an old paint pot so you can hold it.
If having a base on your model is going to get in the way while painting, drill a small hole in the models foot (carefully, dont go through the top of his foot with it) with an approx 1mm drill bit, a drop of glue on a thin piece of wire and stick it in 'is foot. Now shove it in a cork and you're good to go.

I have one of these;
http://www.back2base-ix.com/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=371

You can bluetac slotta bases to it or magnetise them (magnets is better for me)

I also bought some cork cones from these guys; http://shop.greenstuffworld.com/sculpting-armature-corks#intro

Drill holes in the feet and glue paperclips in the holes, buypainted does that and it works really well.

I use the caps off Gatoraide bottles and some bluetac (poster-tac).

I'm on a few medications. When I'm done with the meds I clean the bottle and use a couple of dots of hot glue to glue the base to the cap of the Rx bottle. To get it off when painted I just ease a knife under the miniature base and it pops right off. I also use corks if the miniature has to be pinned or is odd shaped (like a dragon wing).

Be a man, use them sausages you call fingers soldier!

Alligator clips work a treat for me.

Thanks for all the responses, definitely gonna give a few of the responses a try. Im doing SOB and they have itty bitty feet so i'm a little afraid to pin them.

I will for sure run out and get some blue tack and try that.

Yeah, I have seen coke bottles used with blue tac. But for me it seems unwieldy, the paint pot suggested by FleshTearer is a good bet. Easy to turn the model. The coke bottle is good for spray painting though. Stops you from getting smudge marks on the model from your fingers. Pour water into it to lower its centre of gravity so it will not fall over, or you can just hold it.

FleshTearer5000 wrote:
If having a base on your model is going to get in the way while painting, drill a small hole in the models foot (carefully, dont go through the top of his foot with it) with an approx 1mm drill bit, a drop of glue on a thin piece of wire and stick it in 'is foot. Now shove it in a cork and you're good to go.

I do this. Works wonders and gives you lots of freedom for positioning.

If the model is based, I use poster tack to attach it to either an empty pill bottle or a craft paint bottle. Both are a bit taller and thinner than a GW-style paint pot, which I find makes for a nicer handle while remaining perfectly stable.

Unbased models get a pin in the foot. While some sculpts have very small, flat points of contact (running humans, especially, with bent feet), you can generally still get a pin into tiny feet if they're standing flatfooted by aiming for the heel, allowing you to drill up into the ankle where there's more material.

I'm not really a fan of wine cork handles, though. Heavier models that have offset contact points want to rotate during manipulation, so I use a cheap double-ended pin vice (poorly suited to drilling, so I'm glad to have a use for it) as a handle. Much stronger grip on the pin without needing to use glue, although it won't stand freely on its own. I just drop the handle into the hole of a spool of wire on my desk when I need to set it down, but others use a block of wood or foam with holes punched/drilled in to accept the various pins and handles they use regularly.

I put a pin in their feet, then use PVA to attach them to a wine cork. It stops them spinning, but it's easy to snap them off when you've finished painting.

Plywood_Slayer wrote:
I'm on a few medications. When I'm done with the meds I clean the bottle and use a couple of dots of hot glue to glue the base to the cap of the Rx bottle. To get it off when painted I just ease a knife under the miniature base and it pops right off. I also use corks if the miniature has to be pinned or is odd shaped (like a dragon wing).

Me too. I use empty asthma inhalers and blu-tac under the base:



If you aren't basing the mini, you can embed one of the mini's feet in blu-tac and paint the foot later, but I find the embedding isn't very secure after a while.

Corks, empty paint bottles etc. all work but I really like using one of these which allows me to rotate the model with my thumb whilst keeping my hand stationary. Keeps the model much more stable.