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

With baking soda in the joint, and a thin superglue, it's easy to let it run into the joint, which instantly bonds when it hits the baking soda, then use a bit of paper towel to soak up any overflow. As long as it's not excessive after clean up, it's not noticeable.

I will say, other than one of the Yudbots needing a lug trimmed, the new O12 Support Pack went together super easy.

Meanwhile, new Kunai is just like other Kunai, big gabs between a multi-part torso. Hrmph!

I use green stuff to theme my bases for each army, so ALEPH is on plain, O12 on cobblestone, PanO gets rocks, CA on rough.

 

Yeah she was a trap.

Yep - I do so mostly when working on models with the two-hands on gun grip or when I have the feeling,
I have to wait too long until the glue does its work.

This is a good practice, I can recommend. I to this when the parts are very tiny and I have the feeling it needs more stabilizing. Apart from this I am to lazy to clean up my minis, but the filing part is important.

 

Gel based is thick instead of being very runny. Personally I’ve not had much luck with it, but in theory it sets slightly slower and gives a small amount of extra time to position the pieces.

If your superglue hasn’t set in minutes, you need to get new superglue! This is a surprisingly common issue, even sealed tubes have a limited shelf life, and once the tube is opened and moisture is starting to get in each time you open it, if can degrade relatively quickly.

With runny superglue, if it’s a damp atmosphere, you’ve only got seconds before it starts setting, so definitely don’t hang around before putting the parts together!

 

Gel also allows wider gaps. Liquid ones work with small gaps only, 0.1 or 0.2 mm is too much for some of them. And gel is more targeted at "put glue, place part" while liquid works better for "place parts, add glue".

Store superglue in dry places, for example modern, no-frost, fridges.

GS with superglue or GS alone?

 

GS and super glue of course. GS alone would have the miniature fall apart during painting :)

 

Then you glue the three parts (that is another method of doing it, letting the GS cure first).

CA can go brittle, I wonder why in your case only with GS.

 

Because it's *two* glue surfaces attached through a somewhat permeable (and more flexible than metal) middle layer most likely. They usually hold really well for a couple of years before they shatter. The CA glue joints I've done with pure CA glue seem to remain shock resistant longer, provided they are properly glued in the first place.

 

Yes, but CA loves small distances, and hates shocks and lateral forces. The putty is there to reduce the gap and act as cushion. Also first time I heard GS is permeable (being a plumber's putty)... maybe it is really weaker than CA, and the reason it fails.
I did a handful, but reconsidering for future.

 

I've always preferred a tiny piece of single ply tissue in joints over putty, it absorbs the wet CA glue and sets like a mortar between the pieces, putty reduces the amount of Metal:Glue:Metal surface area which I think weakens the bond.

Not loo roll though, loo roll is designed to fall apart when wet, while tissue stays together.

 

Just tried out of curiosity, this one melts quickly in water, but not in superglue, and once dry it is thin plastic. OTOH, the small bumps (stamped pattern) could be a problem for distance. Tissues at hand are multiple ply, but can be disassembled easily, used them not long ago as filler for ("big") cracks, by twisting small long sections.

 

From watching Black Magic Crafts videos and a bunch of other sources on terrain making, those patterns are the bane of crafting. You can try removing them with a rolling pin.

 

For folks following this discussion, I put together a Google Forms survey to see what people do and don't want in a base. It's linked in this thread over in the Miniatures sub-forum, and I'd love your input. Thanks!

 

I really have some moments to mention. This is the right theme, I guess.
And remember one thing. I like Infinity despite things in my message. There are lots of good things.
I don’t want to create new themes without reasons. Ok, let’s start.

Spoiler: Pictures for visualization of problems.

№1
New bases are not good. Line of Fire looks fine, but it was better to chose it by myself.
Plus some of the models could not be set on bases properly.
Looks at the picture under spoiler. Number one.
There is a miniature, that could be set on new bases and looks not good cause of their plates under feets.
You could say, that I could remove them and put miniatures on their legs, but should I?!
It should be easy to assemble and put on bases, and not to fall form it.

So, new bases have their pluses, but for me there more minuses. It is good to have an option.
I hope, old bases still exist.

№2
The next moment is new flying miniatures with jump packs. And such miniatures, that are jumping and so.
Did you saw O-12 starmada guys? Their legs are stuck in some strange stones. If I would like to fix it, I am risking to make leg worse, to cut too much. I think, this is bad design.

№3
My favorite. Too much terrain parts on miniature, that could not be fixed.
For example shasvastii noctifers. New model in booster pack have lots of useless metal part. Terribly big like it was with old noctifer, but worse, cause old miniature could be used without that ugly peace of terrain. And the new one have it’s arm as part of THAT. And have not good pose to be used separately. New haiduk is better. Useless parts could be thrown away.
I hope, you’d understand my position now.

№4
And the last moment is about terrain parts. Bolders, boxes under legs, someone heads and so on.
Not a big problem if it is not too big.

- When there are a box or crate (fusiliers from the, ehem, box, Zoe, female irmandinhos, sniper taagma schemer...)
They are good! Boxes are universal things. They are something, that you army bring with them. And here you can decorate your base as grass, soil, asphalt and any thing. And crate would be good. Your army with their supplies.

- The next is the bolders and stones. It puts some limits on bases decoration. Here you can’t make minimalism base. May be I want just black plate! No urban base, no industrial theme. But with some peace’s of walls and stones there would looks even worse. And it is not an optional things sometime. (Bad Stones for example - riot grrl with missile...)

- and I HATE when design elements of other faction exists on the miniature of the other. I hope, it would be better, but NO! Look at avatar miniature with defeated Gorgos. Or Guijia with peaces of PanO tag under feet. And most annoying thing is Joan with umbra, that touched her leg. And Shona Carano with shasvastii piece... there in not an universal thing.


That’s all for now. That’s only my opinion (I think, I should not even mention it... but it’s 2021... who knows.)
So, I think, this position exists. And not only for me. If you are ok with things above - it’s fine, but others may be not, and their position is important not less...

 

"Old bases" are effectively any 25mm round, non-rimmed bases from any manufacturer. Including acrylic, plastic and MDF discs, if you prefer so. Both slot, cuttable slot and no-slot ones were easily available from any store catering to the wagaming crowd the last time I checked.

On the other hand, I've seen many, many unpainted armies on tabletop, with no LoS marked on their bases - due to the use of old bases.
Now, while I prefer to play against fully painted armies (I basically haven't fielded an unpainted model for many years), I can get along with the fact my opponent didn't had time, commitment or skill to piant their models (or money to burn on having someone else paint these for them). But if I can't tell where exactly is the model's front arc, well, that becomes an issue, sometimes a rather important one.

From that point of view, the new bases are an ideal solution for me.

• If someone can be bothered to assemble their models at all (using the "new" bases provided), then by default they get a LoS front arc marked on their bases. Fullstop.
• If someone, like you (and me, too) prefers to mark their LoS arcs themself, it means they have time / commitment / skil to actually do this. Sourcing plain plastic bases is inexpensive (though if someone is working on a really tight budget, I'm sure the LoS markers on the "new" CB bases could be trimmed down and filed flush with little effort), and you could just as well replace them with scenic bases if you wish (I'm using Micro Arts reisin bases for all my Infinity models).

 

I've yet to use the new LoF bases for any of my infinity pieces. Thanks to a large stockpile of older slottabases thanks to several decades of GW (and prior to that, the old Grenadier system which was more or less identical).
I prefer to paint the LoF markings on the bases myself.

I rarely use the full tab in any case.

 

I just cut off LoS markers from new bases, as
1. it's nearly impossible to slot all models in such way that they're facing right direction
2. new bases don't fit into tournament tray by Laser Army Scenery that I have.

 

Am I the only madlad out there who just cuts the arc markers off and draws my own like we used to?

Have you ever actually built a GW miniature? I've had to spend upwards of 30 minutes *per model* (for kits of 10-20 models) removing the ring of plastic mould lining that completely surrounds half their sculpts (which are usually 10+ pieces, all needing to be cleaned) before I can even think about assembly. Infinity? 2-4 pieces, requiring a couple fill ports to be scraped off with a pen knife and a handful of small mould lines along inner things and shoulders usually, that can be scraped off in seconds.

 

I do not miss needing to spend an hour per model to clean 15 parts just to get to the assembly phase for every model, that I have to do 60 of, where as infinity, barring the occasional model that needs a little extra work for what ever reason it's usually cleaned and assembled in 15-20 minutes max and there's probably only 4 of them to do.

as for arcs, I cant stand the new bases and have been using resin bases (so I don't have to spend time making bases), And I have a widget I had laser cut with a half circle cut out of it on each side which corresponds to the 3 main base sizes which makes it very quick and painless with a white paint pen.

 

I’m working on designing my own bases to be 3d printed (and possibly duplicated in resin) but in the meantime I plan to order a few of these to see what they’re like: https://www.cobaltkeep.com/products

My ideal base ditches the slotta design entirely in favor of a centered magnet well and two little notches for marking LoF, and is intended for use with tab pinning or similar methods of mounting models to bases.

The recent bases coming out of Micro Art Studios that have a bunch of little grooves for LoF marking mirror one of my custom designs, and they make sense when the base texture is integrated rather than a topper, but I think I prefer base toppers over a simpler universal base.