ponders getting some of his 28mm fantasy figures off the shelves and onto the tabletop.
As you may recall, my Foundry Ogres - which in the old days used to be big Orcs - have been painted up and based. I want to operate them as a unit of 2 ranks, 6 figures wide - and with such heavy figures that tend to crowd and knock against each other, I'd really prefer to use a movement tray.
But a quick check, and I can't find anyone who makes that size of movement tray...
So I made a custom order with Litko, and one of their movement tray kits soon arrived:
The kit consists of a wooden bottom, three wooden rails, and an instruction sheet.
The instructions first tell me to wipe the laser-cut edges, in case any "sticky wood resin" has seeped out. (There's no resin in sight.)
Now it says to lightly sand the tops and bottoms, which I do - but I can't tell if I'm accomplishing anything. They looked smooth when I started.
Then I use white glue - Aleene's Tacky Glue, specifically - to glue the rails in place. I decide to glue the side rails in first, making sure they fit all the way flush to the back; then I add the front rail. (I figure if there is any gap between the rails, I can easily fill it.)
I clamp the rails down while the glue dries.
Now I don't know much about working with wood, and the instructions don't say anything about painting, but I decide to spray-paint the tray using Krylon Emerald Green Gloss. To prevent warping, I paint one side, let it dry to the touch, then flip it over and paint the other side.
I thought I'd cleaned the tray up enough after I sanded it, but when the paint is dry I can see lots of "dust" in it. Next time, I'll wipe the wood with a damp cloth.
Also, maybe I should have wiped harder with the laser-cut edges to remove any residual resin - they aren't taking paint very well. Or maybe it's just because they're dark. I was going to leave the tray sides green, but now I think I'll flock them like the tops.
The surface of the tray bottom seems to have roughened after painting. I consider sanding it down and giving it another coat of paint... but on the other hand, a movement tray with slick surfaces really isn't that functional! So rough will do just fine.
The next day - after giving the paint plenty of time to dry - I apply Tacky Glue to the tray side and rail tops, and swish the tray around in my flocking bucket until it's coated.
When the glue is dry, I seal it down with a spray of watered-down Matte Medium from Scenic Express. Then, because I'm uncoordinated and seem to have knocked half the flock off when handling the tray, I flock it some more and seal with Krylon Matte Finish.
And that's it! Now my Ogres have a place of their own...
