How To: Make Linoleum Bases

Welcome back to my “How To” series! I know it's been a very long time since I've done one of these but I thought it would be a good time to start up again.

Today, I'm going to show you how to make my linoleum bases. I use these bases exclusively for my “super hero” minis, because I like the way they look with the colorful costumes and all of that. While I haven't finished up too many of them, I can imagine it easily. Enough rambling, let's get started!

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

At least one miniature with a plastic slotted base of your choice

Pin vise (or Drimmel)

Brass rod (1.2mm is what I use)

Superglue (or epoxy of your choice)

Hobby knife

Plastruct (I'm using this in our example)

 

Step One: Pick You Mini

For this example, I'm going to show you one that I've already started on, Jackhammer from Reaper's Chronoscope line. The others are also from Reaper's Chronoscope line and I needed to get them done as well. There's Candy, Sugar, Frank Russo, and Cobra, Modern Ninja

If you want to do this, you want to avoid minis with integrated bases, as it's hard to cut those off. You'll want to either pick plastic miniatures that don't have anything on their feet or metal/resin miniatures with a simple tab on the bottom.

Step Two: Prep Your Mini

Once you've selected your miniature, you'll need to do the normal prep. That means cleaning it off, trimming flash and mold lines, and all that good stuff. The last part of preparations is to cut off the tab and drill the hole you need to pin it. However, if the model has very small feet, more common on female miniatures, you'll want to keep the bit of tab directly under the foot instead of trying to drill a hole.

 

Step Three: Pin Mini

Take your adhesive of choice (superglue or epoxy) and glue the pin in there. If you've never done this before, my advise to just shove the end of the brass rod in the glue and let it set. Once it's done, you can cut the pin to length.

 

Step Four: Cut Plastruct

Take your hobby knife and cut a piece of the plastruct that's big enough to cover the base you're going to use. If you're going for a 30mm base and the same type of plastruct I'm using in this example, you'll want to cut the plastruct into a 4x4 square, giving you roughly one square inch of plastic. It won't completely cover the base but also won't overhang it too much, so you can get in base to base contact with other miniatures.

Step Five: Drill Plastruct And Glue Down Mini

What I do is figure out where the pin needs to go through the plastruct and mark it. I also try to put it at a corner of the grid pattern. But, you'll want to make sure that the pin can fit below the plastruct, so try to make sure that your hole will be over the slot in the base or that the base dips down rather than lays flat. 

 

Once you know where you want the mini, you can use a pin vise or just your knife to drill a hole through the plastruct. If you're not using a pin, and instead using the remains of a tab, I strongly suggest using the pin vise to drill the guide hole and then use your knife to expand it for the tab.

When gluing, I also strongly recommend gluing not only the pin/tab but the other foot as well. Because this will be a lighter base than say, resin, the model will be knocked over a lot more and you don't want the mini to pop off of it.

Step Six: Glue Plastruct To The Base

This is the last, and easiest, step. Now that the mini is on the plastruct, you can make sure it'll fit on the base. I suggest doing a dry fit, just to be sure, then you superglue around the base rim, and then putting the plastruct and mini down. I do the whole rim that way I can move the plastruct around if I need to before it sets. Once you've got it set, just wipe off the excess and let it dry.

 

And now you've got a cool looking base that shouldn't cost you too much!