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Does anyone have any experience with mounting metal slottabase minis on non-slotted bases? I'm thinking about cutting the metal tabs off an entirely metal army in order to either mount them on some detailed resin bases or to at least mass-produce flat plastic bases with texture and paint and then mount the minis afterward.

Will this be too weak? I'm worried about in-game damage from drops and topples. Without the metal tab in the slot, will the weight of a metal model and the limited contact of two smallish feet (Battle Sisters, not big ol' Space Marines) rip the model from the base?

Any advice about gluing on top of paint and texture materials vs. gluing feet straight to resin or plastic? I'm assuming super glue, probably thick, unless someone knows better. My goal is to speed the process by painting bases in bulk, so if the caution is to glue directly to the base and then paint, I'm back to square one.

Thanks!

For durability + aesthetic: keep the metal tab and use green stuff to sculpt up a scenic base.

For durability and speed: buy/trade for slotta bases. Maybe some green stuff for gap filling in the slotta. Base after gluing

For aesthetics only: Make all your scenic bases in bulk. Clip the tabs. Pin the feet.

Choose any two:
- Fast
- Quality
- Easy

Pin them. I chop the tab off my metal minis and pin with large paperclip thickness rod (resin bases). I usually pin both feet. If they're particularly large chunks of metal, I'll throw a little greenstuff in the hole, pin through it, and put a small blob on their feet as well.
This is Guardsmen/Necromunda models, so slightly bigger feet than Sisters probably

None of mine have come off the base yet from normal topples and jostles, and I think they only way they would is if I dropped them off the table or something drastic. Even then I'd be more worried about the rest of the model coming apart rather than the base.

Yeah I do i all the time, I just snip off the metal bit, file it down and then Pin it to the base. I've never had any problems with it personally.

I've done this a bunch, as a lot of old metal models snap off their tabs when I remove them from their old bases. I just snip off the tab and either pin their feet to the base, or snip off all but a small chunk of the tab and hollow out the base so that tab can fit through a hole and glue through there. If there's a gap I fill it with green stuff or what have you.

Great thought all around... Thanks!

The tabs-as-pins option has some merit. Since the whole army only has a dozen or so poses, I could clip the tab down to the two pegs, dip it in paint, and use it to stamp the finished bases for every model with that pose. Then drill each base with a bit slightly smaller than the feet, backfill the holes with green stuff, and then push the pegs through. As long as my holes were aligned, the GS would accommodate any variation in peg shape, which saves me time clipping them down with accuracy. I could probably turn the whole army around between monthly games... This will be 80+ models, which is why I'm looking for shortcuts.

If the models have flat feet, just cutting the tab off and supergluing the model's feet to the base is often sufficient.

For models that won't have as much surface area attached to the base, the tabs-as-pins option is generally my go-to.

^ What Insaniak said.
I often "Tab pin" (cut the tab into one or two smaller pins (to the feet) and make small holes in the base for these to go into).

Whether it's a plastic base or a resin one makes no difference in this case. There's enough surface area for it to grab.

If you're gluing onto textured bases, I'd pin, just because the contact are will be reduced by the texture. I usually just use a single pin through one foot - it's easier than trying to align two holes.

If you paint first then glue the models on, the only thing holding the model to the base is a few layers of paint, and I've never heard anyone say that acrylic paint is a very good adhesive.

I don't bother with the 'tabs as pins' method, personally - seems like more work than a clean cut and a quick pin (or two, if the balance is precarious). For speed, I'll sometimes glue the model down, first, then drill through the base and into the foot in one go, adding a glue-covered pin at the end.

It depends on the model. I have a few models where I cut off the tab completely then used epoxy glue (5 min araldite) to glue them down and they aren't going anywhere. But some models have a small attachment point relative to the size of the model, so it's a judgement call as to whether it needs pinning.

It might be worth mentioning that if any of said models are rare and fetch a relatively high price on eBay (some of the Rogue Trader era Bestiary, Games Day and White Dwarf Exclusives, etc) the metal tab on the bottom influences the resale value of the mini and should be preserved.

Tabs also add a little weight to the base, which helps prevent drunk tippy over models.
If you clip and pin, remember to either weight the bases or keep the figure central.
I have a beautiful Master of Ordinance that my partner painted, but unfortunately he's mounted on the back rim of the base and goes diving off roofs.

I put all my de-tabbed SoB's on 32mm bases and just superglued them straight to the base (no pinning, except for the seraphim who were all de-tabbed and pinned into flying positions) and then built up the textured base afterwards.

Haven't had a single issue with any of them other than needing some extra weighting on the seraphim bases 'cause they're up so high.

There's not a huge amount of surface area to them either, with generally only 1 foot being flat on the base, but it seems sufficient so far (at least, since the 32mm bases came out).

One foot planted firmly on a flat base will usually hold if you use a good superglue or epoxy, but might be a little fragile under stress.

Pinning is really the best way to create a join.

Depends on the footprint. I have some old Bloodletters with big feet. I took em off and had no issues.

 timetowaste85 wrote:
Depends on the footprint. I have some old Bloodletters with big feet. I took em off and had no issues.

good ot know! I have about 20 of the old metal Bloodletters, and I'm thinking about using them as a unit of abyssal for KoW.

I have superglued House Escher Necromunda minis onto scenic resin bases, before painting - used the heavily in gaming - and never had to reglue them.