"How The H--- Do I Remove Figures Cemented to Steel Bases??!?" Topic

Friends, I freely admit not being the elephant in the stampede, but I made a dreadful mistake years ago when I used some sort of Contact Cement/Liquid Nails/Other "permanent" glue to fix my 15mm figures to steel bases. And now I have up to 600 individual figures that must be re-based--painted figures, mind you, by no less than our Sri Lankan Friend, Fernando.

Complicating the original idiot move, the bases have been flocked, neatly hiding the delicate figure bases. I don't give a fig for the flock, nor even the steel bases. What I need is to rescue these lovely miniatures from a miserable fate of being abandoned to the back shelf.

Any reasonable suggestions, preferably from veterans of any similar problem, will be deeply appreciated. E-mail to TVAG@att.net, or PM if that's easier.

Relying on the kindness of strangers, I am a shamefaced

TVAG

A few things come to mind

First can try heating the metal bases – use a vice grip and a soldering iron – when the base gets nice and hot – try using a small screwdriver or paint scraper to pop it off

Second get a small bowl with enough mineral spirits to cover the stand and flocking and leave for a 2 – 3 days and then try popping them off – try scraping the flocking off first

Note both methods can screw the paint job up a bit if not done carefully- so test before doing too many

Or Lastly -- sell them to someone who can use the same basing scheme you were

Good luck

Hmmn, maybe soak them in warm water overnight?

Try scraping off as much of the groundwork as you can, and then brush nail polish remover along the seams where the figure meets the base. Do this for a good couple of days, it should loosen them enough where you could gently pry them off. Good luck.

Stick them in the freezer for a couple days, then remove
and place the bases in a hot cast iron fry pan.

The expansion/contraction may loosen the figs enough
that they pop off. I've used this technique to remove
figures cemented as you describe.

In my case, it was about 70 % effective the first time
and took several iterations to get all the figures
loose.

I have had luck putting the bases in the freezer for 30 minutes and then popping them right off with an Exacto chisel blade

Years ago I based figures on metal bases with 2-part epoxy. I later removed them by bending the metal bases with pliers. The figures popped right off, although the metal bases were destroyed in the process.

Take them right from the freezer into a dish of very hot tap water.
Repeat if necessary. You want thermal shock from the glue and two substrates.
Even soaking in hot water often works.

They are pretty small, so an hour in freezer should be long enough.

I would worry heating the base to much could heat the figure. I have a heat gun and that might be the answer

If the freeze/heat shock cycle works, that's brilliant. That's going in my toolbox of tricks.

Can we have any more hints as to what kind of glue it was? "Contact cement" usually refers to "rubber cement", which is permanently flexible and not very strong (and easy to remove), whereas "Liquid Nails" is an actual brand of construction adhesive which is quite difficult to remove.

If it comes to using tools, I suggest first finding some way to sheath the figures, because no matter how you pry or chisel at them, you need to protect the paint from collateral damage. Maybe foam wrapped with packing tape, or a non-oily polymer clay?

The active ingredient in nail polish remover is acetone, and that's a good suggestion. I always try acetone first, because it softens a wide variety of self-curing polymer adhesives (like CA glues and epoxies), so it might work on the one you used. Cavcrazy is exactly right that this might take days of effort – it's pretty much impossible to get it to attack the glue in the super-narrow gaps between miniature parts (or miniatures and their bases) when the glue used was especially thin (like CA glues), so repeated attempts with only gentle prying to test and weaken the bond are what works best. If the miniatures have especially tall pedestals cast below their feet, you might be able to grab them with vise-grip pliers and apply constant pressure while you soak the base in acetone.

If you used a construction adhesive, this Liquid Nails FAQ has a few suggestions that won't work, but suggests that petroleum jelly or oil will soften the adhesive, which might help scrape or file it off. If you do need to apply heat and the freeze/heat shock doesn't help, you might try applying a soldering iron to the spot right under the miniature long enough to soften the adhesive but not soften the pewter, and then pry at it.

- Ix

Get a narrow blade wood chisel. Invert it from its' normal handling position with the bevel flush with the base. GENTLY push the blade against the glue and work it up and down trying to dislodge the outer perimeter of the glue. With luck, the glue will spall, allowing you to get a purchase under the base itself. Again, GENTLY work it up and down. With luck, the figure will shift slightly. Work the blade deeper under the figure until it works free.

This works very well against cyanoacrylate glues. Not sure if it will work with what you used. If it works, you should be able to free a figure every 10-15 seconds. If it doesn't, your blade will likely slip, and you'll be out 1 figure, and know to try one of the other methods.

REMEMBER: BLADE SAFETY. Losing a figure is one thing. Losing a finger is quite another. Besides, a trip to an Emergency room is a pitiful waste of an entire evening of hobbying.

Getting blood on the miniatures is almost as bad as splashing paint on them, too. Don't ask how I know that.

- Ix

I pop off figures on steel bases all the time…but the method does depend upon the adhesive. SUper Glue is absolutely the easiest to deal with. It has very little strength to torsion and shear forces. I use 11 inch needle nose pliers..the nose is bent, 45 degrees. Don't use 6" or 8" needle nose pliers you get more of a moment arm torque with longer pliers.

Just one from each side, twist the wrist to create a twist force, back and forth, left/right and up/down…pops the figures right off [in fact too much twist, and they go flying across the room]. Now if water based glue was used, it helps to soak overnight, and the twisting back and forth is required. They won't pop off, but easily pulled off. Not sure what Liquid Nails or other construction adhesives are like. I get my pliers from Harbor Freight [Chinese tools]. Fairly inexpensive…Seems they are $3.99 USD at this time.
link

Soak in warm water overnight, then gently pull them off the bases.

Liquid Nails (aka construction adhesive in various brands)is a rubber/latex based adhesive with lots of inert filler to make it thick and gooey for gap filling. Unfortunately the filler helps to make it very resistant to solvents – probably more than any paint on the figures.

Heating the glue up does however make it more flexible, so you may be able to gently heat the bases until they are almost too hot to handle then try prying the figures off the metal sheet. Keep some cold water handy for scorched fingers, dunk fingers until they are very cold then it will take longer for them to heat up again (damhik).

I'd go the freeze route.

Try the freezer first. At least it is least likely to damage them. If unsuccessful then try something else.

x42

I haven't actually done this, but if all of the above suggestions fail, you might try sawing them loose with a razor saw (the kind sold for miniatures and modelling work in hobby stores). That, of course, would be pretty labor intensive.

I've seen a number of posts using the freezer method, which has been recommended, that is what I would do.

I used to base metal figures with two part epoxy, and I;e rebased loads of them. I just cut them off using a stiff, thick bladed knife between the figure base and the base base. Once you get the tip of the knife under the edge, it comes off pretty easily.

Mind your fingers though.

I did have couple of figures I had to resort to literally sawing the bases off with a razor saw, but they were exceptions.

Oh, My Brothers!

I never expected such an outpouring of support. No matter how things turn out, I will remain beholden to this community.

Regarding the specific glue used, I confess I've forgotten--It has been six years or more. However, I have long used Liquid Nails (TM). I did not use cyanoacrylate, nor any water based glues--though now I wish I had!

I, too, have considered heat, but couldn't think of a means that would not potentially damage or destroy the figure.

The suggestions for an overnight soak in hot water makes me wonder how the water is kept hot overnight?

Then again, what if I just dropped the figures on their flocked stands into a pot of boiling water, three-minute-egg style? Obviously, any recourse to heat presents the question of how to handle the steel bases. Gloves would help, but they don't make a clumsy left hand grip of an old tremulous man ideal for the right hand's attempt to pry the beggar off.

I gotta say the freezing idea certainly sounds both the easiest and safest, so I'll have to try that first.

If anything I've added here suggests other ideas to anyone, please don't stop posting them to this thread. After all, it's not only a great help and favor to me, but I see that at least one other soul has benefitted from this thread, and I'm sure others will as well.

I'll report back on the freezing attempt on this thread, or a new one if necessary, but I'm going to keep track of this one as I suspect I may have to run the gamut before I find a practical solution. It's some 600 figures I have to remove--intact--and it will be an added complication to running TVAG and such life as it leaves me!

But, the goal is worthy, and in ways that will permit a closely related project finally to reach publication. So, the incentive is there, now I just need to find the key!

So, on to the freezer!

TVAG

How thick are the steel bases? If not too thick, why not just trim off the excess with a pair of snips and rebase them on multibases using a spackle or similar ground covering to raise the level to an appropriate height? Seems less likely to do harm to life and limb or to the paint on the figures.

That's a snazzy idea, 22ndFoot !

Uh, a good pair of pliers takes care of the heat issue
to fingers. You don't want a straight pair, but a
jointed pair with an angled head.

Vice grips (two pair, working together to twist the base)
is another approach with which I've had some success.

I only ever used wood bases and Superglue but I remove them with a razor blade.

After I retrieve the figures from the freezer, I smack the base onto a table or kitchen counter and some of the figures will fall off.

Freezer figures warm back up to room temperature quickly, so I only take a base or two at a time from the freezer to work on them. Then when done, I grab a couple more bases from the freezer.

I have pried figures from metal bases that had been attached with cyano-acrylate (freezing helps) and from wood bases that had used contact or another construction adhesive.

Thinner based figures such as Outpost required more care.

If the heat can be controlled, most adhesives deteriorate at about 250d F, well short of melting or paint damage. With that the thermal shock would be a good first step. If not successful then presuming a weakened adhesive prying would be the logical step. The edge of an Xacto or utility knofe would be the choice.

I use the freezer/x-acto chisel blade technique mentioned by others. One key step: after removing the stand from the freezer, I hold it with pliers while I work the blade under the figure to pop it off. This has two major benefits. It allows the figure to stay colder longer, since you are not directly exposing it to the heat from your fingers. When the blade slips, which it will, it saves your fingers from a cut.

Also, wear eye protection! The blade is subject to a lot of flexure, and can break. I recommend replacing it after a certain amount of time/figures.

Rick