"Steel washers for basing, filling in the middle with?..." Topic

Hey gents,

Just another basing question here.

I've used Bass wood, Balsa wood, round wooden discs(craft discs, square aluminum cut pieces, plastic vinyl, etc. all for basing minis. I've also used small coins like pennies for basing 6mm personalities and individual figures.

However I am doing more 25mm Civil War and Rev. War and I want to have more weight to my bases for individual figures.

I have seen many references on here to steel washers or steel discs of some kind. My question is this. Are you just using any kind of ordinary steel washer? And my other question is, what methods do you use for filling the center hole before gluing the figure to the base?

Can you use epoxy glues or things like Liquid Nails or Goop to attach figures to steel washers?

Thanks in advance,
Campaigner

Use "fenders" instead. They are used in roofing. Look like washers with smaller holes. You can get small sizes for 15mm figures. For 25mm figures, I use 1". I use larger fenders for larger figures. Simply put a bit of scotch tape over the hole and glue the fig on with super glue. I then contour the base with wood putty. The figs should not fall off. But do get "fenders" instead of plain washers. Any Home Despot or Lowes sells them cheap.

I use gap filling super glue. (Just finished a bunch of 25mm and 15mm figs today using this method.)

Love.

" Any Home Despot or Lowes sells them cheap."

*If* they have their ducks in order, and actually have complete boxes at the back of the hardware bins. I'm finding more and more frequently that they don't.

Available cheap in bulk online, too.

Allen

Oh, and I put a piece of masking tape *underneath* the hole, glue on the figure with Plibond wood glue, then texture/fill with rither more wood glue or acrylic matte medium and sand or ballast. If the figure base didn't completely cover the hole, the glue and sand mix fills it in solid. When dry, zip off the tape from the underside and you're done.

Allen

I use fender washers and cover the small holes. Be sure to prime them (on both sides) before attaching your figures. The same goes for any metal stands, for that matter. I've got some older figures who's unprimed bases rusted over time.

As Allen does, but I use stretchy electric tape. It seems to seal the bottom better. You can then use 5-minute epoxy, or what Allen uses.
Super glue gel seems to warp the tape.

BTW, if the figure's base is smaller than the hole, first fill the hole, and then lay some pre-cut card or paper across the hole. More glue on top of the paper, and then the figure.

I've neen using normal washers..

* Prime the washers both sides, as noted above

* Clean the figure and trim around the base at a
more-or-less 45-degree angle.

* sand the base flat, so the figure will stand up.
Any excess base can be cut off if desired. Cut small
grooves in the base for the Elmer's (below) to 'grab'

* a couple spots of super-glue on the base of the figure,
so that the glue avoids the hole.. Let these dry for
5 to 10 minutes.

* prepare a board covered with a poly-bag as a drying bed..

* using Elmers Carpenter's Wood Filler and a knife..

* First fill in the hole from the bottom and place
hole-side down on drying bed.

* if the hole was not covered by the base, wood filler
will push up thru. Use a flat brush to smooth it down.

* Next day, strip the figs off the drying bed and let
completely dry (say a half-hour). Now using more wood filler (which can be thinned with water if needed),
go all around the figure, covering the 45-degree slope.

Result: a solid figure, with a contoured base..
The dried wood filler can also be sanded or carved if desired.. or added to (ie for adding small stones,
etc to the base)

I tape the bottom of the fender washer then use epoxy. If the figure doesn't cover the hole I use more epoxy to fill the gap.

The next day I then texture the base with cheap indoor/outdoor caulking and dunk it in some fine sand. Wait another day and then prime.

I don't tape anything. I use fender washers, I get mine from my brother who buys them in bulk. I think I get about 100 or so of them for $4-5.

I just use hot glue to affix the figure. Turn the hot glue pot on, dip the fig in the hot glue, plunk on side of base and slide. Holds the figure pretty well and covers the hole no problem. Usually the figure base is big enough to cover the hole all by itself.

then I level all the bases out with durham water putty or some such thing. For 100 figures the whole process should only take you about 30 minutes or less.

Thanks all!

I put a garage-sale sticker over the hole, then slather on Elmer's Carpenter's glue, then afix the figure.

I just use Woodland Scenics Flex Paste when it dries, the hold is covered and the base is textured. Its win-win.

I don't think I've ever had to fill the hole (with fender washers). Integral figure bases, even the really small bases, completely cover the hole but still have enough surface contact with the rest of the washer for glueing.

Dave

I plop the washer on wax paper and then fill in the hole with Durham's Water Putty. Peel it off the wax paper when dry (comes out perfectly flat with the washer), sand if you overfilled the hole, mount/prime/finish.

I use 1 inch fender washers for my ACW infantry and dismounted cavalry. I use 1 1/4 inch washers for officers and larger (as necessary) for mounted officers. I try to find ones with the smallest holes in the middle.

I file the base of the fig smooth and then super glue the fig to the washer.I use Crazy Glue and I don't bother taping holes. At first I thought about filling them in somehow, but I have had miniscule problems, so I found other things to worry about.

I currently have 250+ figs based this way and maybe once or twice a fig popped off. I just re-smooth the figs bottom (base) and glue it again and touch-up the flocking.

Good luck with your basing!

Craig

I've found that with Fender Washers, the figure tends to cover over the hole.

As pphalen said, the figure tends to cover the hole in the fender washer. If not, I use ready-mixed lightweight drywall repair compound (aka "spackle") to fill in the hole.

the hole diameter of a fender washer also varies in size…so one can get a 1 inch diameter washer with a tiny hole in the middle….much smaller than the base of a 15/25mm figure…so no need to fill it in with tape et al.

much easier than filling. Of course you can not usually find them pre-packaged in all the various sizes, but there is a company near me that sells nothing but mechanical fasteners [wholesale & retail]. I buy fender washers from 3/4 in up to about 1.5 inch depending whether I am putting a Woodland Scenics tree on it or a mounted officer. I base my trees on fender washers too. Small 6mm trees on the 3/4 in. dia….larger 15mm trees on 1.5inch on up.
Usually buy them by the hundreds or thousands.

I just finished basing my 20mm U.S. and NVA figures on 30mm washers. 3 to a washer. I cut small pieces of 3x5 card and glued them over the hole with Elmers Glue-all. I used .99 cent store super glue gel to glue the figures on the washer. Cheap glue will have to work until the game store carries Warglue, the 100% glue:-)

I use metal washers a lot, especially for plastic figures, it makes them more stable. What I do is first stick them to a sheet of thin card, so that if I set figures on wood or polished surfaces it doesn't scratch it.

Then if the figures base covers the hole, I epoxy it over the hole.

If the base doesn't cover the hole, I fill to slightly overflowing and then seat the base into the epoxy.

With plastic or baseless figures (slottabases with the crossmember cut away) I pre texture the washer with a mix of filler and pva, then superglue the figure one it has dried, use a runny glue as it then seeps into the basing material.

If you can't be bothered to fill the holes you can buy round metal bases. I've seen them in the US – can't remember who does them though but in the UK PWS do them and they come primed.

I used round Litko ply bases with their magnetic material. They did a custom size for me.

I never fill the hole. I use zap-a-gap to glue the miniature onto the base covering the hole. Then I use a textured compound on top of the base for texture. My brand of choice is Utrecht Pumice. Let that dry overnight and you should be good to go. No other glue is necessary.

I haven't thought about sealing both sides of the washers. I might start doing that, just in case of rusting.

Fender washers ( Fastenal in USA a hardware bulk supplier) blue masking tape glue figure on with epoxy ( JB weld) . The figure will not come off . Texture top with putty of choice .

I picked up three sizes of washers from a hardware store going out of business when the Home Depot moved in.

So selecting a size with a hole small engough not to be a problem is good.

Wow, very complicated. I glue a piece of paper over the hole with the same glue I use when I glue the figure to the base. Paper goes on top of base, not bottom. This way it is one step.

Fender washers would be a better idea, unless you bought a bunch of non-fender washers already. Just don't make my mistake and buy more non-fender washers because it's easy to just find the same coloured box.

I had no idea this was so complicated. All these years I have just used Tacky Glue to attach the figure to the washer. No filler, paper, tape, or anything. Spray the washers green to match the figure bases and then spread glue or filler compound over base and washer, and flock.

Mostly, however I use US pennies, as they are cheaper than most washers. Wish I had a brother who got them wholesale :)

I use fender washers, no tape. I glue the figures on with Liquid Nails, then terrain the base with light modeling paste – I forget the brand name. Paint, flcok and play.

Since you are "buying" 2.5 cents of copper for a penny, I'd say you *are* getting them wholesale!

Washers wholesale

UK 2p coins work fine. No hole to worry about. Cheap too …

UK 2p coins work fine. No hole to worry about. Cheap too …

Really? How much are they?

Probably with the exchange rate, and overseas shipping to the US, we Yanks are screwed again.

:)

I usually just glue a bit of blister pack plastic over the hole then attach the figure over that. I've never had an issue.

Hi,

Fender washers work best.

3/4" circular stickers (like the kind with prices for grage sales) often appear at The Dollar Store and cover fender washer holes admirably.

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.
6mm-minis.blogspot.com