 John the OFM  | 27 Oct 2025 9:04 a.m. PST |
Etsy has some intriguing figures. Chinese gangs, can-can dancers, etc.
however, they come without bases.
Now, all you guys who love that and like clear bases, hear me out! 🙄 Personally, I hate that. I've glued some to war hammer bases with superglue and they snap right off. Superglue has notoriously bad shear strength, particularly if you use an accelerator. That's my experience, anyway. So, what is the best glue, and of course what is the best base?
The dancers are dancing on one leg, so naturally unbalanced. I don't want to "invest" in them and have them snap off the base while painting. Let alone during play. Etsy has some interesting Mexican bandits, gunslingers and so on. I don't want to not get any if I'm going to have predictable issues. |
 Herkybird | 27 Oct 2025 9:11 a.m. PST |
I stick mine on thin plastic bases and stick them on with UHU glue. They need bracing if unbalanced till stuck, but its worked a treat for me! |
| myxemail | 27 Oct 2025 10:26 a.m. PST |
I mentioned it before….
Walther's Goo. It's marketed to model railroaders. I have been using Goo basing my figures since the late ‘70s. It's a great product, and I have never had a deserter. If I need to change or rebase the figures, I can use a good utility or Xacto blade to slice through the cured Goo |
| myxemail | 27 Oct 2025 10:28 a.m. PST |
So John, to answer your point directly, I used Goo to recently mount 3D printed Trench Crusade figures to their 3D printed bases. The figures are still doing great |
| Phillius | 27 Oct 2025 10:32 a.m. PST |
I use Superglue Gel for fixing my 28mm resin prints to printed resin bases or bits of plastic. |
| rmaker | 27 Oct 2025 12:16 p.m. PST |
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| Korvessa | 27 Oct 2025 12:19 p.m. PST |
I bought bases from Warlord and use Gorilla Glue Gel.
I have no complaints |
| aedwards | 27 Oct 2025 1:12 p.m. PST |
About 80% of the time super glue is all I need. If they come with puddles/bases of their own a bit of sanding might be helpful. When you inevitably get someone who's bare feet / small feet / single foot or boot won't quite stick with super glue, I use a little bit of green stuff to help. Then it is about 50/50 if the green stuff alone is sufficient. If it fails it at least has left a good imprint that a drop of superglue then holds it tight. I have yet to print a mini that the above two steps doesn't work, usually the leg/ankle breaks before the putty + super glue fails. |
 Dye4minis | 27 Oct 2025 1:12 p.m. PST |
I'm a big fan of UHU (in the yellow flasch(bottle) but finding it in the USA is like a snipe hunt. I still have a bottle that I bought last visit to Germany 3 years ago. really good and thick stuff but has a smell but not really all that unpleasant. Works on all my modelling projects. |
| JMcCarroll | 27 Oct 2025 1:38 p.m. PST |
Crazy glue gel. Surrounding the base/arm/leg with plain Elmer's glue. You never know when you need to re-base it. |
| Lascaris | 27 Oct 2025 2:16 p.m. PST |
cyanoacrylates, i.e. super glue, is the correct choice. A gel works best for it. |
 gamertom | 27 Oct 2025 4:29 p.m. PST |
I use E6000. You may have to brace a figure until it dries. |
 Sgt Slag | 27 Oct 2025 5:25 p.m. PST |
They're very likely very brittle, but you won't know until you try… 1) UV Resin, from Amazon, comes with a UV LED Pen Light to cure it. 2) E6000 Contact Adhesive: red tube, apply same as glue, no need to do the 2-part application; sets to full strength in 72 hours; strong odor, put it somewhere warm to cure. Cheers! |
 Wolfshanza | 27 Oct 2025 9:27 p.m. PST |
I use LocTite super gel (Black and blue plastic squeeze bottle) and it always works well for me. |
| Martin Rapier | 28 Oct 2025 12:27 a.m. PST |
Another vote for UHU, Al hough I sometimes mix it with superglue. Sticks anything to anything, including stupidly little bits of resin and figures without bases. |
| Andrew Walters | 28 Oct 2025 8:28 a.m. PST |
CA glue should work. Was everything clean? Definitely use a gel version. E600 and that family will obviously work by may interact with your paint in undesirable ways. Epoxy is a nuisance but should work. The UV resin is an interesting idea. If resin printed minis are brittle try curing them less or use a different product. Some are tougher and more flexible. Zombiesmith has one they use that's awesome, but I forget the name. You get so many minis out of a bottle there's no point in buying a $20 USD bottle instead of a $45 USD bottle. Use the cheap stuff for big pieces like terrain, but the better stuff for figures, especially dancers. Dancers are the worst. Or sword persons posed like dancers. |
| robert piepenbrink | 28 Oct 2025 8:48 a.m. PST |
Best base and best glue are not independent variables. I've had pretty good luck gluing resin 3D printed castings to hard plastic bases with Testor's non-toxic, which I rearely use otherwise. I generally let it dry overnight. General note. Think carefully before using a very powerful glue. It's irritating when castings come loose from a base--but better the bond gives way than the casting breaks. |
| DeRuyter | 28 Oct 2025 9:10 a.m. PST |
To glue resin figures on wood bases I use a combination of white glue and basing putty (Vallejo). I try not to use any kind of superglue when basing however I would use it for clear plastic bases. |
| Cavcmdr | 28 Oct 2025 9:32 a.m. PST |
I am wary so this topic is useful to me.
However, I paid for some STL files for my friend to print for me on his machine. I asked about glues and he said his mate could add bases so they were printed complete.
I am very happy with the results. Two hundred Russian infantry and 24 Hussars that I don't have B….r about with and glue them to my fingers. Have fun. |
