Workbench

Workbench is where the Editor does his best to assemble, paint, and prepare some of the products sent to us here at The Miniatures Page.

He may be more of a perfectionist than you are - or he may be less of one! He's not trying to prescribe the One Right Way. He's just trying to describe how one guy happens to do it.

If you would like to write a Workbench article, or if you are a manufacturer and would like your products featured in Workbench, please view the FAQ.

Areas of Interest

General

Featured Hobby News Article

Jungle Terrain Available

Yarkshire Gamers April 2021 Wargames Update

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Simply Skirmish

Featured Showcase Article

28mm BeestWars Hyenas

Strangely intelligent hyenas for BeestWars.

Featured Workbench Article

The Camera Never Lies?

Editor in Chief Bill photographs the same figure, with different cameras and equipment.

Featured Profile Article

Report from Bayou Wars 2006

The Editor heads for Vicksburg...

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What Is Your Favorite Unconventional Christmas Movie (Final Round)

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Trying Out Chalk Board Stickers

Labeling base bottoms with black chalkboard-type stickers. [30 Oct 2024]

OTHER ARTICLES
Title	Description
Which Primer Should You Use on Your Model?	A paint manufacturer explains about primers. [5 Sep 2024]
Useful Ramekins	Another problem solved at the dollar store! [1 Sep 2024]
Of Scissors & Hooks	Scissors are useful, inexpensive and portable. [2 Aug 2024]
Storing Projects	Containers for when you need to sideline that project you've been working on, or maybe just not lose the bits you're not ready for yet. [1 Aug 2024]
Dusting Off Some Old Minis	When dust strikes, how to carefully remove it. [3 Jul 2024]
The Usefulness of Plastic Palette Knives	The pros and cons of plastic in palette knifes. [1 Jul 2024]
Handling the Little Stuff II	Those containers I told you about? They changed! [30 Jun 2024]
Round Bases, Round Labels	Using self-adhesive labels to identify your minis. [14 Jun 2024]
Handling the Little Stuff	Stop losing those itty bitty pieces! [13 Jun 2024]
Raising a Giant Succulent	Blocking line-of-sight and channeling movement through elevating a plant. [24 Nov 2023]
Fidgeting With Paint	Can a silicone fidget be your next paint palette? [19 Nov 2023]
Basing Winter Trees	Need some trees for your wintery tabletop? [7 Sep 2023]
Deep Dream: Can It Map?	Can artificial intelligence create useful maps for wargamers? [18 Apr 2023]
Deep Dream: Getting Personal	Generating portraits using Deep Dream Generator. [27 Mar 2023]
Deep Dream: Painting Picard	If the AI doesn't know the Vietnam War, does it know Star Trek? [25 Feb 2023]
Useful Wooden Products at Dollar Tree	Scratch-builders often need basic wood shapes. Here is what is available inexpensively at the dollar store. [21 Feb 2023]
Deep Dream: Full Metal Katie	We tried getting an AI to 'paint' a mini – but can it convert a person into a mini? [20 Feb 2023]
Deep Dream: Paint My Mini?	Could artificial intelligence take a photo of an unpainted figure and produce a 'painted' result? [10 Feb 2023]
Deep Dream: Editor Gwen Goes Air Force	Not just improving a photo, but transforming it using artificial intelligence. [9 Feb 2023]
Deep Dream: Manipulating Ellah	Using artificial intelligence on a portrait photo. [8 Feb 2023]
Introduction to Deep Dream Generator	Exploring picture generation using artificial intelligence. [7 Feb 2023]
Using LITKO's BaseMaker	Need custom bases? [29 Aug 2021]
Trying Out the LED Headband Magnifier	Editor in Chief Bill experiments at 11x. [18 Aug 2021]
Taming the Giant Succulent	Big vegetation at a small price! [17 Aug 2021]
Filling With 3M Wall Repair Compound	Editor in Chief Bill discovers a better way to fill in hollow plastic bases. [9 Jan 2021]
The Camera Never Lies?	Editor in Chief Bill photographs the same figure, with different cameras and equipment. [18 Aug 2020]
Taking the Spin Out of Magnetic Flight Stands	Can Editor in Chief Bill solve the rotation problem with magnetic flight stands? [30 Jul 2020]
Basing With Stucco Crack Repair	Editor in Chief Bill tries a stucco repair product to contour his bases. [28 Jul 2020]
Basing With FlexSteel	What's this FlexSteel we're always talking about? [18 Jun 2020]
Paint Your Paint Pots	Editor in Chief Bill has a tip to help with your paint storage (and recognition). [21 Apr 2020]
Making the Hells Canyon Battlemat	Need a canyon, fast? [1 Oct 2017]
Resizing Dungeon Tiles	Editor in Chief Bill wonders if he can resize 3Dprinted dungeon tiles to match his other dungeon tiles… [17 Sep 2017]
3Dprinting: Upscaling	Editor in Chief Bill "goes large." [10 Sep 2017]
3Dprinting Recessed Bases	Editor in Chief Bill experiments with using recessed bases for figures with cast-on bases. [3 Aug 2017]
3Dprinting Markers	Editor in Chief Bill wonders if he can use his 3Dprinter to make markers. [15 Jun 2017]
3Dprinting A River	Playing with rivers on a 3Dprinter. [12 Mar 2017]
3Dprinted Tiles	Editor in Chief Bill experiments with 3Dprinting tiles. [16 Aug 2016]
One 3D Model, Many Bases?	Editor in Chief Bill wonders why create different 3D models, if you can create one that can be customized? [19 Jul 2016]
Simple Magnetic Flight Stands	Editor in Chief Bill takes another stab at building a more perfect flight stand. [12 Jun 2016]
Printing a 3D Model From the Internet	Editor in Chief Bill finds a 3D model on the internet, and tries to turn it into a wargaming model. [29 May 2016]
Drilling Holes in Minis - Part III: Going Larger	Editor in Chief Bill weighs the pros and cons of using a power drill on the minis workbench. [24 Jan 2016]
Drilling Holes in Minis - Part II: The Screwdriver	Editor in Chief Bill learns to drill with a screwdriver. [17 Jan 2016]
Drilling Holes in Minis - Part I	Editor in Chief Bill experiments with Finger Drills. [10 Jan 2016]
Basing for 15mm Stands	Editor in Chief Bill shows one way to base 15mm figures on a stand. [5 Jul 2015]
Marking With the Silver Sharpie	Trying out the silver Sharpie... [13 Jun 2015]
How to Dip Wargames Factory Plastics & Old Glory Figures	Laconia Hobbies shows us how it is done. [30 Sep 2014]
Making A Building From Scratch	Gabriel Landowski shows how to build a structure from common materials. [9 Sep 2014]
Homemade Palm Trees	Dervel returns from Mexico with a new vision for making palm trees from scratch. [25 Jun 2012]
Basing with Two-Part Epoxy	One way to avoid the 'pitcher's mound' effect. [23 Feb 2012]
A Good-Looking Army in a Reasonable Amount of Time	Painting a wargaming army is a completely different beast from painting a single miniature for display. [1 Nov 2010]
Cheetahs	Wyatt the Odd paints some fast cats. [14 Oct 2010]
Painting Pintos	A guide to how Stronty Girl paints piebald and skewbald horses. [23 Sep 2010]
Crayola Bases for Trees	A simple way to make scenic bases. [13 Apr 2010]
Vegetation on the Cheap	Making terrain can be quick and inexpensive. [19 Oct 2009]
Painting Dapple Grey Horses	A guide to how Stronty Girl paints grey horses - specifically, dapple greys. [9 Feb 2009]
Jay Wirth on Caring for Your Palette	How do you clean dried ink from your palette? [15 Oct 2008]
Trees from Oregano	Pat Ripley is after something that has presence, that actually looks like a small stand of tropical bushes, and is cheap, tough and portable. [16 Sep 2008]
Painting Lions	Continuing our 'animals' theme, Stronty Girl tackles a pair of lionesses. [19 Aug 2008]
Forest Bases on a Budget	Holy Roman Emperor Joseph III shows us that you don't need money to have great bases. [22 May 2008]
Tree Base from Wooden Wheel & Clay	Basing an inexpensive tree with a toy wheel and some clay. [11 Feb 2008]
Flock & Turfing My Terrain Tiles	Something new in the world of flock? [4 Feb 2008]
Dancing with Greenstuff	Dances With Words demonstrates how anyone can get in on sculpting for fun... [30 Jan 2008]
Terrain Tiles from Vinyl Floor Tiles	Editor in Chief Bill takes Cold Steel's advice. [21 Jan 2008]
Not Just Any Christmas Elves!	alizardincrimson2 finds out what happens when Elves go bad... [25 Dec 2007]
Christmas Figures from Amazon Miniatures	These are not the seasonal figures that you might give your mother to put on the shelf! [25 Dec 2007]
Tree Bases with DAS Clay (Again)	Will "embedding" improve the treebases? [24 Dec 2007]
Tree Bases from DAS Clay	Is DAS Clay sturdy enough to mold tree bases from? [18 Dec 2007]
Stripping Paint from Resin Miniatures	miscmini 's preferred method for stripping paint from resin and plastic models. [11 Dec 2007]
From Flower to Sapling?	Can a plastic flower become a wargaming shrub? Or maybe a small tree? [10 Dec 2007]
15mm Base Contouring Round-Up: Four Materials	Can any of these products cure the dreaded "wedding cake" effect? [15 Aug 2007]
Playing with Renaissance Ink's Flocking Gels	The Editor experiments with two of the flocking gel products from Renaissance Ink. [29 Jul 2007]
Staples Online Printing & Web Binding	The Editor dabbles with online printing. [4 Jul 2007]
Basing with DryDex Spackling	Using pink stuff for basework. [27 Jun 2007]
Experimenting with SketchUp	When Ran The Cid says "SketchUp," the Editor listens... [23 Feb 2007]
Can These Minis Be Saved? Episode III	The Spacefarers are covered with some kind of lead disease! [19 Feb 2007]
Around the World in 80 Days	Everyone has a pile of shame - miniatures that you were all hot to get, had big plans for, and then never did anything with... [20 Mar 2006]
Making 28mm Scale Roads in Memory of Ian Weekley	combatpainter shows how to make roads, using the formula of the late Ian Weekley. [25 Feb 2006]
Building a Simple Data Set for Army Builder 3	Learning how to set up a new game system for use with Army Builder, the army design software from Lone Wolf. [20 Feb 2006]
Printing & Binding from PDF	The Editor learns about downloading, printing, and binding a ruleset. [23 Jan 2006]
Printing Scenario Maps with Poster Software	You've got a scenario map, and you need to create some hills. Is there some way to just print out the map in very large scale, so you can trace the outline of the hills you need to build? The Editor finds out... [28 Sep 2005]
R and R's Basing Method	The basing technique which was taught to Monkey Hanger by Mr Rudd. [15 May 2005]
Can This Mini Be Saved? Part II	What's wrong with Americ-Ann, and can she be saved? [15 Apr 2005]
Can These Minis Be Saved?	There is a lot of confusion about just what is lead rot, and what can be done about it. Therefore, we're launching a series of occasional articles to display "problem" miniatures, and ask for your diagnosis... [23 Nov 2004]
Visiting with Steve	While driving across the country, the Editor was fortunate enough to be invited in by Steve Smith - and a wargaming tour was in order! [9 Nov 2004]
Storage Cabinets Project	The Editor tries a new storage solution for his Ogre models. [8 Apr 2004]
Making Your Own Miniature Bricks	Reader Kevin Crider shows how to make miniature bricks with inexpensive materials. [15 Dec 2002]
Making Maps with Campaign Cartographer 2	The Editor finds out what it takes to make fantasy campaign maps using Campaign Cartographer 2, a map-making software package. [28 Mar 2002]
A Technique for Chip-less Plastics	Reader Mike Frang shares a method for keeping the paint jobs on your soft plastic figures. [27 Jul 2001]
The $1 Gaming Tray	Ever wanted a gaming tray to organize your armies before a game, or to store the "dead" pile? [25 Jul 2001]
Painting Up the Armorcast Trench System	A quick-and-easy project - painting up Armorcast's Starter Trench Set. [10 Mar 2000]
Adobe Buildings from Foam?	These structures, made of a light but durable urethane foam, have been sent to us by Epicast. [10 Mar 2000]
Resin Rocks	Tactical Conflict Systems lets the Editor paint rocks! [10 Mar 2000]
Resin Craters	Three sizes of battlefield craters from Tactical Conflict Systems [10 Mar 2000]
More 25mm Earthworks from TCS	The Editor paints up some 25mm Plank Earthworks. [9 Mar 2000]
25mm Hut from TCS	This hut has a removeable roof! From Tactical Conflict Systems. [9 Mar 2000]
25mm Bridge from TCS	Another easy project - a bridge from Tactical Conflict Systems. [9 Mar 2000]
Brick Ruins in Resin	A set of ruined brick walls in "15-20mm" scale from Tactical Conflict Systems. [9 Mar 2000]
25mm Earthworks from TCS	Speaking of "amazing," painting up these 25mm terrain pieces from TCS is amazingly easy. [9 Mar 2000]
Stumped!	A two-step painting process that puts stumps on your tabletop. [7 Mar 2000]
Scatch-Built Houses in 15mm Scale	Reader Brent R. Anderson reveals his techniques for constructing 15mm scale buildings using Sculpey. [7 Mar 2000]