How To Make Sturdy Bases?, For chariots and giants.

[Wazoo]

Hi all,

I have to put together a few bases for my models, namely my chariots, doom diver and an old marauder giant. But I don't want to buy them, I was thinking about making some myself. The problem is I am not sure what material would be cheap, easy to get hold of and quite sturdy.

I normally use corrugated cardboard for my terrain and that could work, but it just doesn't seem strong enough. I also thought of some kind of plastic but I don't know where to find it. I had thought of ice cream box-tops but that is probably too thin.

Any ideas?

Wazoo

[Morkmillian]

i think the main problem with most plastics (and card) is it warps when glues.

ofc you can prewarp it to avoid this but i still dont like it to much.
but im in much of the same boat.
i need about 6 or 7 chariot bases atm and im planning on making them from multiple cavelry / large monster bases (50mm / 50mm ones).

you can buy 1 chariot base from gw for 2.55 or 5 large monster for 2.55....


but avoiding gw i have considered a 50m wide 2m thick or however thick the bases are strip of wood (however long you think youll need) and just chop em up at the 100mm marks for multiple chariot bases.

im pretty sure im gunna piece mine together out of gw bases to keep the army uniform tho.

This post has been edited by Morkmillian on Feb 22 2012, 12:07 AM

[amysrevenge]

You can get pretty thick plastic card at model railroad shops. Like 2-3mm thick. Makes for really sturdy bases.

[Anton]

Modular Movement Trays are great for custom sized bases and pretty cheap. You can get 16 Chariot bases out of a single pack and they have 25 and 20 mm base patterns so you don't even have to measure the size and angle yourself.

[Grotfood]

Sprue is close in thickness to a regular base.
Build a sprue frame then glue balsa or plasticard on top.

[Morten C]

Wow... some really nice ideas inhere! I actually like Anton's the best. It's both simple and relatively cheap

[Groznit Goregut]

MDF boards work. You can get them in hardware stores. Lowes is better than Home Depot in the US. It's the same material as a clipboard. It's basically pressboard (wood fiber pressed together for a thick density). It's pretty cheap. There are even companies that sell pre-cut base sizes pretty cheap, too.

You can see one I bought at Adepticon in this picture:



These bases were done with them, too:

[Wechselbalg]

I used the foundation board of old lockers/wardrobes.
Link
Itīs easy to work with and will be sturdy enough.

[Xellpher]

I used three cavalry bases to make the bases for my pump wagons. I cut out most of the sides which touched each other, then glued some other cut up pieces under the base tops to join them together. the gaps were then filled with green stuff.

During each drying time I made sure they were on a flat surface with some weight on top of them.

These guys are pretty cheap if you want to go the mdf route Sarissa Precision

[Warlord Ghazak Gazhkull]

I made some of my chariot and warmachine bases with some left over wood.

Cheers,
G

[Giblit]

If you are planning on using wood I would go with MDF as someone suggested or Basswood which can be gotten from hobby stores in different thicknesses. The thin basswood warps if you use too much liquid glue but anything over about 3/8" works very well. It is what I use on all my larger bases, ie chariots, warmachines, manglers

[Groznit Goregut]

Oh, yeah! Some Wal-mart even carry little bags of balsa wood trays. I used my drehmel to cut them down to size. I've used them before.

[Wechselbalg]

Sprues work well also. Iīve made all my regiment bases out of that. Cost nothing and will recycle all that leftover stuff you usually "throw away". Balsa is allways nice to have tho. But as the nickel nurser I am, using balsa for regiment bases is not ok. Plus I already spend a lot for my GW stuff so GW might give me the the stuff I need for my regiment bases as well as my miniatures.

[Craze_b0i]

I used 2mm plasticard, but I really hate cutting it as it takes sooo long. Cutting up plasticard movement trays of the same thickness is actually way easier as the knife already has a groove to follow.

[GitillaDaHunter]

If its bases you want then just grab some thick plastic, I think I used PVC (polyvinylchloride to those in the know) works a treat I just cut it down with a hack saw (large one for a chariot base, but obviously you could still use a mini hack saw it just wouldn't work as well) It worked really well and only needed a little sanding on the edges! I used it to base Grom and a old metal giant both worked really well! Its also quite cheap and you might have some lying around, plus it can be used to make movement trays at a fraction of the cost of GW ones!!