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I've been watching a bunch of painting and minis videos on YouTube lately and many people seem to stick the base of the mini on a small block of wood, an old pill bottle etc to make it easier to hold. What are they using to stick the mini? Did I hear something called blue tack or something like that?
Blue tack / blu tac / blue tac / blu tack / etc. Here's an example, but there are many different makers:
http://www.amazon.com/Bostik-Blu-Tack-Blu-Tack-Re-usable/dp/B0006DPMSG
Basically, it's a squishy, silly putty-like adhesive, mostly used for hanging posters in teenagers' bedrooms.
I recently started to pin my minis to the bases with small metal rods. I often make the base afterwards, so I started to attach the metal rods to the miniature prior to painting, and stick it to a wine bottle cork. With blue tack the mini tends to move a little, but not when it's pinned with rods.
I use these little 1inch square adhesive things. Double sided sticky squares. A normal human sized mini can be held at all angles, even upside down. I also use poster tack putty. Mine's yellow, but there's also blue. Normally used to tack posters to walls instead of tacks/nails.
For really heavy minis, I just superglue the base to the top of a large pill bottle.
I use a #9 x 3" aluminum nail and hot glue the mini to the nail head.
Then just stick them into a styrofoam block when not in use.
Occasionally they come off, but I just hot glue it back.
Heavier figures require a small spot of super glue gel, it's fairly easy to snap the mini off the nail when done.
Makes priming & clear coating easy too, since I can just twirl the mini around in the spray.
I used to use steel nails, but they started to rust.
I use a #9 x 3" aluminum nail and hot glue the mini to the nail head.
Then just stick them into a styrofoam block when not in use.Occasionally they come off, but I just hot glue it back.
Heavier figures require a small spot of super glue gel, it's fairly easy to snap the mini off the nail when done.
Makes priming & clear coating easy too, since I can just twirl the mini around in the spray.
I used to use steel nails, but they started to rust.
I originally started by doing something similar to this. Nowadays I use 16-penny nails with a 3/4" or 1" square of plastic super-glued to the nailhead. I cut a square of double-sided carpet tape to fit the plastic square, peel off the other side of the tape square and press the mini into place, and away we go. I have a piece of 1x4 board drilled with a number of holes to hold the nails while paint or washes are drying; I found this takes less space than the styrofoam block plus the styro eventually begins to break down after being perforated multiple times.
I've also tryed using blue-tac to secure figures to the plastic squares, but I found the figures sometimes came loose in the middle of drybrushing. The carpet tape seems to avoid this. For particularly large or heavy figures a small drop of super glue will hold the figure to the square, and can be popped of after painting by inserting an Xacto blade between the figure bases and the square.
I hot glue my minis to soda bottle lids; hadn't thought about nails. It sounds useful for all the times you have have to turn a mini upside down and look at its crotch. (To paint it, you sickos!)
My styrofoam blocks are brick size (4" x 2" x 8"), I get a few years out of each, but getting new ones free has never been a problem- they're packing materials that I've saved.
If you have an ACE hardware, or similar old-fashioned "everything" hardware store nearby, you should be able to find some big, chunky rubber tub stoppers. They're excellent for every style of mounting. They taper, so one end is wider, so if you paint your minis already mounted on bases, you can fit a 20mm - 30mm base on one side easily, or a 40mm - 50mm base on the other, stuck to the stopper with blue or yellow tac.
If you like to mount your minis on pegs instead, you can sink the pegs into the rubber easily, and it is strong, so it doesn't crack or crumble easily.
The rubber makes gripping really easy. I have yet to drop one of these things.
My styrofoam blocks are brick size (4" x 2" x 8"), I get a few years out of each, but getting new ones free has never been a problem- they're packing materials that I've saved.
That works too. When I was using styro I worked for a company that cut it into various shapes for products and packing, so supply wasn't really a problem. For me it was the table space taken up, as having a dedicated board that could hold up to 52 miniatures at once occupied a whole lot less of my workspace. (At the time I made the board I was painting entire regiments of 15mm Civil War figures in one go.)
I have also made small portable stands from strips of corrugated cardboard to hold the nails - cut a strip 1" wide by 6" or 8" long, tape one long edge so the nails don't fall through, support it with a second v-shaped strip notched to hold the first strip upright, and off you go. These are good for temporary projects, extra space when you need it, and pack flat taking up little space should you need go somewhere else to paint your minis (like Paint Night at your FLGS).
I have used corks, pill bottles and soda bottle caps as mini holders while I paint them. Now I mostly use spring-loaded clamps that I get at hardware stores. They are much more convenient and I can put them on my desk where they will hold the mini up to dry. Since I frequently am painting a dozen minis at a time, I appreciate the convenience of the clamps.
However, I do admit that once or twice the mini has shot out of the clamp like a cannonball when I didn't get it on quite right.
When I'm working on a "special" mini, I tend to glue it on a cork...
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After reading this thread, I went to Best Buy the other day and happened to notice something like that Blue Tack stuff for 99 cents, so I picked it up. I figure I'll use upside down plastic cups (the disposable kind, but sturdy ones), and stick the minis to those while painting.
Now I just need to learn to paint.
Blu tac on the thick end of a chopstick. (a real chopstick, not a Panda Express one)
Craft tac works.
I had a heavy a block of wood with holes drilled in at different angles to stick a dowel in if i needed two hands. Need to find that thing...
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I like using baby food jars or wood finials (Pic Here with ticky-tak (the blue sticky stuff). If you get a finial, make sure the one end is flat and the finial is fitting to your hand, then just remove the screw if one is included. Pretty cheap either way - finials you can find at any Home Depot, Lowes, etc.
I like something more substantial than a chopstick. It's easier for me to turn the mini exactly where I want it with something like a pill bottle or a cork, and it feels more stable in my hand than with something like a chopstick.