Big appeal to CB: Fix the new bases! Improve the assembly system!

I was wondering what's wrong with the new bases since I had no issues with them at all. It took me a moment to remember that I saw off the bars during cleanup. It really takes one hobby saw and like 30 seconds per mini to get rid of them. Try it.

 

I consider building and converting miniatures my biggest pleasure when engaging in this hobby, so here are my 2 cents:

1. I always cut off the bar on the bottom of the miniature. I've done it differently in the past, also coming from GW metal sculpts where the pre-slotted bases make it seem an intuitive thing to do, but boy I will never get back to that. Stuffing the inevitable gaps between the metal bar and the base is a much bigger hassle than just clipping off the bar and filing the soles flat. Also, with the bar cut off, you can alter the miniatures pose easily by carefully applying pressure to the legs. Sometimes the angle is just not quite right or you want the stance of the miniture to be a bit more "open", so this enables you to achieve just that, while the bar pretty much prevents it.

2. The thing about the magnets I can confirm. I had to switch to slimmer magnets due to the protrusions under the base. Prevously, I just glued the magnets on, with the 2mm variants fitting just fine, but now I do use a bit of modelling putty as a buffer for the magnets. Then I turn the base around magnets down and press it on a flat surface to make sure all magnets are level.

3. Miniature design is a difficult matter and I'm sure CB do consider optimization of assembly when designing new sculpts. So far very few Infinity miniatures have given me actual problems (hello, Tuareg sniper lady), but then again I consider myself to be pretty handy with this stuff and I also have small fingers, so I can totally see people having issues assembling certain kits. Some of the more recent kits have tried different systems (like the Daiyokai, the Zulu Cobra Jammer and the Taagma Sniper), but they also produced a whole set of new issues where pieces just wouldn't fit together perfectly and leave ugly gaps.

I still prefer the classic legs/torso with detached arms and possibly head, because it's nice and simple and allows for easy conversions. Sometimes, a head swap is all you need to "fix" a miniature or give it your own little twist, so I like it when those prominent features are seperate pieces. Same goes for weapon arms, where a bit of bending can often produce a more satisfying result.

 

I usually cut the bar down so that it results in 2 spikes on the bottom of the feet. Then you can make nice small holes in the base to glue those spikes into and be a little more stable.
That said, mostly now I'm just getting some green stuff to fill the top of the base and stick the mini to that, no real intricate patterns or whatnot, but provides a more flexible base than cutting into a plastic base.
Not perfect jobs, obviously, since the green stuff doesn't fill the base perfectly, and you can see where I should have trimmed a bit more off the foot before spiking it. I may at some point go back and change my bases on the O12 guys, but meh, it's perfectly functional as is.

That said, I haven't gotten around to messing with the magnets yet, but certainly the bar doesn't change anything and I can always trim the underside's stuff to make room for magnets since nothing major extends below.

 

Same clipper you use to cut plastic sprues can be used to clip the pewter tabs on CB minis.

Its what I use. Then I cut the excess. And file flat. Same tools I use for GW minis.

 

CB assembly has also come a long way since Icestorm and Red Veil, compare something like the recent Druze or Wildfire boxes and it's night and day.

A lot of people also struggle because:

1) They use the wrong glue, or glue that's too old. A small amount of good gel superglue (like gorilla glue green tip) will quickly hold a piece in place, you can also use an accelerant to make it hold immediately.

2) People don't realise that you can bend metal pieces, and that sometimes pieces get bent in transit. My JSA Daiyokai didn't fit properly at first, so I gently bent the two large pieces back into shape until they fit, the same with models holding guns in two hands, sometimes you need to gently and carefully bend them into place.


They'll never be as easy to assemble as GW models because they're metal, you need a different set of skills, but I can crank out Infinity minis pretty quickly and easily now.

 

What I do is take my hobby knife and press it down on the bar next to the foot and rock the mini back and forth until it slices through. The blade is thin enough that it doesn't really move the legs very much... unlike my clippers, which tend to bend the legs a lot when clipping the bar. That said, you can use the clippers on the other side once the bar is cut once. Then I use the tabs that are left as pins in the base.

A hobby/jeweler's saw is just a small saw with very thin blade, but I don't think it's required if you don't already have one.

As for putting minis together... I think CB has greatly improved with their newer sculpts and they seem to be even simpler with what they showed with Defiance.

 

Have someone print this for you : https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2267335 it should be cheap as chips as they say ( really it costs cents to make this thing, so anyone charging more than a dollar for it is an asshole IMO ). You will never again have problems with marking LoF. I threw away all the new style bases with LoF premarked because of the issues you mentioned. I knew this is going to be an issue as soon as they announced these new bases, without having product in hand.

 

I used to use clippers and hobby knife to turn the bar into pegs, and it's definitely fine, but I was so much happier when I switched to a saw. I find it faster, easier, more accurate, and no worry that the clippers will push the metal apart and bend the legs out of shape.

Google "razor saw" on Amazon and you'll find a good one for under $10.

 

Sprue cutters work fine, the metal is pretty soft, but it may dull the edge after a while. I just used some wire cutters I had around. Just cutting it in a v shape under the foot and maybe trimming the point down. To remove the entire thing, just cut it in pieces to remove the main lug, then remove the bit under there until you can just file it.

 

A lot of the minis are also sort of ball and socket, so I use baking soda in the socket and a little super glue on the ball and the bond is instant and strong. So long as you don't mis align something during assembly. :)

 

I really like the markers on the new bases, but it is really annoying how most models are posed facing diagonally and the slots are an offset cross.

I've been a big critic of the new assembly system. Even if it is more efficient. It's become a nightmare to do weapon and head swaps. And arm swaps have largely become impossible.

I've always used large sized nail clipers for sprues and taking little metals bits off, or recently clipping the bottom bar off on one foot.

 

My two cents here

As other people here, I do my own bases and allways cut the labed below the miniatures feet. I also prefeer old bases because I want to preserve my way of putting the LoS, so I might end changing bases or buying bases from 3rd companies. I do not magnetize my bases, so I will not touch that topic.

GW assembling is tricky. There are a lot of bad unions that need extra work with green stuff (or liquid one) if you want a good finish, and some of their models are falsely "multi option" since some time ago. I agree that CB assembling is not perfect, but is the best one in metal miniatures at the moment (while the way GW does it now is just a copy from the one from wyrd and KD:M, and is a direct result from doing it in plastic, if they were in metal, I'm pretty sure they would go CB's way)

 

I tried those small hobby saws with removable razor-like blades, but found them too fragile. Now I use the Army Painter hobby saw and I 100% recommend it. I've had it for around two years now and it's still working well.

 

Alternatively, something as simple as remembering that your models tend to be designed on a diagonal pose could have been utilized to avoid the necessity for people to have to add another step of cleanup.

 

I got some 5mmX1.5mm magnets, they fit perfectly in the little area there. One is enough to support the regular guys, though I put 2 (going diagonal from the fenced in spot) for some bigger guys just in case. Meh, I'll just put two in for all of them, just to be sure. They fit in any of the quarters, it's just easiest to put them in the fenced one since they snap in and are easy to glue from there.

 

I've had about 50/50 where I've been able to use the bottom bar in the slot.

Unless you mean drop the bottom bar from the miniature entirely? I'd imagine that makes the casting and production of the miniatures slightly more difficult.