Wednesday 30 April 2008

Of slate, glue and drill bits

On Sunday I managed to find a gap in my relentless schedule of being unwell and I set about doing the bases for the Maidenhead babes.

This is the first time I have used slate for bases so it was a learning experience for me. I decided to work on the heavy infantry. For some I just stuck chips to the base, others I clipped one foot from the base slot and repositioned the miniature slightly so one foot is up on some slate, for the rest I went the whole hog and clipped and pinned both feet to the slate. The slate drills nicely but it is a bit labour intensive with just a pin vice and drill bit. I think it would have been a lot easier with a dremmel.

On Sunday evening I had sore hands and my fingertips were covered in a mixture of slate dust and super glue, I think it was worth it though as the end result does look nice. Next up I need to wash them and glue sand to the bare sections of base prior to priming.

Still no sign of that £$%#ing camera. :(

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

When I've been working with slate (on the Tau bases), I've stuck the slate on after painting, and tried to keep its natural colour.

Suppose doing it before undercoating means that you can have odd colours and aren't prey to those moments when you spray on the varnish, just to find the slate dust on the surface of the chunks has, having mixed with the varnish, changed the colour of the slate.

Maccwar said...

I decided that I would be painting the slate so I've tried to get it into the equation as soon as possible. I am also planning on putting snow effects on the bases too. When they're done they should be quite funky. :)

Anonymous said...

I've not dared try drilling slate yet. Is it just a case of going slowly and carefully?

I've been thinking about more Forgeworld stuff (all the gorgeous Nurgle stuff for one), but I've still not got the hang of prepping resin properly. Accursed release agent... This will of course be only once I'm up to date with the Pledge (which will be after the Iron Warriors and the test model heap, and somewhere in the middle of the Epic army I reckon) and once I've raised the funds through ebay sales...

Maccwar said...

Drilling the slate was easy enough but it hurt my hand. I don't have one of those nice pin vices with a rotating butt mine is double ended so when your are applying pressure and drilling it tries to dig a hole in your hand. I ended up holding a plastic bottle cap in my hand to spread the pressure.

Seen the Ultraforge Nurgle stuff? Should be going on sale tomorrow and for a darned site less than the FW stuff.

http://www.ultraforgeminiatures.com/

Anonymous said...

I love my rotaty butt pin vice. Not quite as much as my side cutters, but there's still some unwholesome attraction...

These nurgle bits:

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/rennurgpreach.htm
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/dgpa.htm
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/dgterm.htm

I've got the fatboy daemon prince to lead them. He's getting an upscaled jump pack fitted to theme with the 2 squads of Plague Raptors...

I've also got a very old Unclean One, and an ancient 80's Plague Elemental that'll make an awesome Harbinger.

PLAGUES FROM THE PLAGUE GOD! Etc. :-D

Space Hulk Enthusiast said...

I actually use a type of bark (or mulch) from my yard instead of real slate. It's much softer and easier to work with it seems like and once I give it a coat of superglue, it dries fairly hard and sturdy.

I've also heard of people taking plaster and and mixing it with paint colors (earth tones) and letting it dry in small blocks of varying thickness. Then it's just a matter of breaking off a little chunk for use on a base and the color is already in the plaster... and if you chip it, it doesn't matter because the whole piece is colored.