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Other Stuff => Workbench => Topic started by: dijit on 23 September 2010, 10:14:46 AM
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I've just finished basing a load of 20mm WWII troops on 50øre (2p) coins, it's the first time I've ever used coins and it feels rather weird. I know a lot of you guys also use coins, don't you find it a little weird too?
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Nope, feels fine :)
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No lol
I do always ensure the Queens head is facing down though for some reason ;D
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Coins are generally too thick. I like thin steel washers better.
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Chilean 1 peso coins, perfect for individually basing 6mm figures. Pretty much the only use they have.
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It's all I use for single figures, though I use wing washers for cavalry bases, MGs and the like. Pennies if the figure will fit, tuppences for big fat figures like Renegade and some of the Copplestone Ngoni (the ones who are sort of leaning into their charge with their shield out in front have a tendency to topple over if only based on a penny).
Being staunch republicans, my nephew and I can never agree which way up to base them. He says Queen facing up, so the figure is stamping on her face, I have proposed face down as an equally good alternative, as then her face is being ground into the dirt.
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No lol
I do always ensure the Queens head is facing down though for some reason ;D
I'm the same.
Always the head facing down.
Does't feel weird, they are cheaper than buying bases, when it comes down to it. However, I quite like the GW style slotta bases, that so many of you hate! ;D
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I nearly bought some of Peter Pig's bases and then realised that I could get 100 for a £1 from my pocket................
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Being staunch republicans, my nephew and I can never agree which way up to base them. He says Queen facing up, so the figure is stamping on her face, I have proposed face down as an equally good alternative, as then her face is being ground into the dirt.
lol *checks himself* For shame...
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Purely symbolic face-stamping, you understand. I would never condone actual violence against the monarch (after all, she's family: for as you know I am of the Blood Royal - though it's tainted with bastardy ;)). I leave that to Oliver Cromwell and our unruly cousins across the Channel. :)
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That's all I use for single figures since I found that my original plan for washers was more expensive.
Which reminds me - I must go and buy some more bases from the bank this weekend!
vT
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Constant size, $0.01 per base, I will always be able to get more of them...get that sort of deal from GW, I dare you.
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I use and have used 2p (UK) coins for my Flintloque collection, I try to have the Queen's face facing down, but am not too bothered about it!
I have also used old 1d (again UK, but pre-decimal) for some Typhoon or Greek Mythology basing,
I don't have any issue with basing on coins!
Tony
http://dampfpanzerwagon.blogspot.com/
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I far prefer the thin edge of a steel washer to the thick edge of a 2p piece. Even though 25mm washers actually cost me 6p each! ;)
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I far prefer the thin edge of a steel washer to the thick edge of a 2p piece. Even though 25mm washers actually cost me 6p each! ;)
It is how God wants us to base our miniatures.
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I use 2p coints pretty regularly as theyre always available.
When I came back from Norway with a pocket full of change I used the 1Kr pieces to base my WW2 Norwegians on - why not, you cant exchange them .
Then when I got my hands on some 1938 Czech figures I also got some Czech coins to base them on!!
Its a little idiosyncratic I know..but hey ;D
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Always use washers. Stick nicely to magnetic sheeting in the box, so no spills in transport. And they're not that expensive. With as much as I pay for miniatures, it's worth putting them on a nice, solid base.
Why crank out the money for the figs, but be a cheap skate when it come to the base?
-J
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It has nothing to do with being a cheapskate. For me a washer has no advantage over a coin, so why do I need to seek out something else when on my sideboard there is already a bowl full of pocket change?
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Because...
It is how God wants us to base our miniatures.
;)
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I use pennies. They only cost 1 cent :)
AND I don't need to hit the hardware store either, where inevitably I ALWAYS come home with more then washers
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Because...
;)
Who'll be the first to blow himself up to stress this point?
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Well, here in the US at least, coins aren't magnetic. So I have to use washers to stick to my magnetic sheeting.
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Do any of you have trouble with the paint chipping off the sharp edges of washers or coins? I have had this issue with painted metal in the past that has defined edges. Just wondering.
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I've used both, but I think I'll stick to steel washers in the future. The ferrous quality is more important than the cost and inconvenience to me. Not only do I store and transport figs magnetically, I also use a bunch of telescoping magnetic tools to secure them while I paint.
http://www.toolking.com/specialty-tools/magnetic-tools-magnets/grip-53390-pen-style-telescoping-magnetic-pick-up-tool-holds-5-lbs/
I protect painted metal base edges with a thick coating of clear polyurethane floor varnish. When dry the shine is reduced by the overall matte varnish the figure gets. Since most of my basing is in the brown/yellow spectrum, it doesn't bother me if it discolors slightly with age, and it serves as a pretty tough coating.
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Penny coins as bases? Yep, that's me too.
Head usually down because ...... and at risk of sounding like a mildly obsessive thinks too much about it dweeb ..... the only time I've had superglue detach from a coin (while washing before underocating) was when the mini was stuck to the Queen's head. I'm guessing that the superglue grips better on the obverse due to the sharper profile of the portcullis, whereas the Queen's head on the face is smoother and more convex.
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I do find it odd how the best deal for bases is to use tuppences (2p UK decimal), quite incredible when you consider what a slotta can cost.
Aside from that, no emotion...
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I find that 1 cent (Canadian or US) where too small to base "big" 28mm figures… I then started gluing figures to 5 cents pieces, gluing the figures on the Queen’s face because the beaver on the other side is a little too well feed and the surface wasn’t flat enough… Now I use Litko plywood (1.5mm thick) 7/8" in diameter which cost me about 26 cents each but have a much better finish (at least that’s what I think).
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I also use 2p coins: perfect size for the usual 25/28mm fig. Don't tend to think too much about which side to score before gluing - I fear the Queen has been on the receiving end of many extreme facial ex-foliations at my hands.
I like the brass/copper edge left bare around the base, and tend to choose newer/shinier tuppences for character/special figs. For small figs, like familars and pets, I use pennies.
For bigger figs I use thin steel washers with the smallest central holes I can find ('fender washers' from Canadian Tire).
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For small figs, like familars and pets, I use pennies.
I find a standard Canuck/Yank/UK penny will base almost any individual 28mm figure I've found, even some of the more energetically posed Pulp Figures ones, providing I'm OK with a heel or toe poking over the ege of the base slightly. If you look at the painted specimens of his own figures that Bob Murch has up on the PF website, he uses even smaller bases than pennies - tiny squares of plastic card mostly.
Smaller bases make figures so much easier to fit into terrain (especially buildings) that it's worth letting the occasional toe hang over, I think. 25mm/1" bases (round or square) are Too Damn Big, especially those hugely chunky slottabases from Evil Empire and others.
Besides, as others have said, you really can't beat a penny for price.
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It is illegal to deface the Queen's coinage, so can we expect a call from the Queen's Coin Squad at some point?
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The 1936 Coinage Offences Act (which had a section on defacing coins) was repealed in the 1981 Forgery and Counterfeiting Act. So defacing coins is apparently no longer a crime.
It seems to be illegal to destroy by melting or breaking them up, but sticking a little lead figure to them isn't either of those.
Bear in mind I am not a barrister, solicitor or any other kind of lawyer. So if it turns out I am wrong and the Royal Mint send the Filth after you, "Plynkes said I could do it" probably isn't a very good defence. :)
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"Plynkes said I could do it" probably isn't a very good defence. :)
Shit, I've always relied on that...
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The 1936 Coinage Offences Act (which had a section on defacing coins) was repealed in the 1981 Forgery and Counterfeiting Act. So defacing coins is apparently no longer a crime.
It seems to be illegal to destroy by melting or breaking them up, but sticking a little lead figure to them isn't either of those.
Bear in mind I am not a barrister, solicitor or any other kind of lawyer. So if it turns out I am wrong and the Royal Mint send the Filth after you, "Plynkes said I could do it" probably isn't a very good defence. :)
I recall seeing a plaque at one of those "coin stamping" machines at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry (grand place, btw, lots of of lovely engines, locomotives and airplanes), that specifically pointed to this act, although it was not strictly clear if it was just for this purpose or for all instances of "reusing" coins.
This did picque my interest (along with earlier instances of the "coins for bases", and I took a look at the statutes concerned; interestingly, the 1981 Forgeries and Counterfeiting Act does not mention the topic at all, apparently, and the 1971 Coinage Act makes special reference to "melting and breaking" (section 10), but not to "defacing" in general (although there might be previous legislation still in force, and it would probably take a legal professional with more interest in the matter than myself to sift through all those older acts - which are refreshingly brief, though, compared to German laws...).
Anyway, I'm not too fond of coins as bases, much in the same way as I don't like thin (i.e. less than 2mm) steel washers - I prefer to move figures by their bases to avoid chipping and chafing as much as possible, and for that, I want the bases to be thick enough. I even like slottas and their ilk, although I mainly reserve them for Scifi stuff (so I can combine all my various factions if need be), and projects which had progressed so far as to render re-basing too tedious to be considered (i.e. my Colonial T&T armies). Since I also like the look of black base rimes (painted and varnished, that is), I don't really mind the thickness of the slottas.
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Since I also like the look of black base rimes (painted and varnished, that is), I don't really mind the thickness of the slottas.
Slottabases are Satan's steel washers!
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Chris, if you look at the 1981 Act there is a section that repeals the 1936 Coinage Offences Act in its entirety without going into specifics. That is the act which outlawed defacement, or so I am led to believe.
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The issue in the past was not defacement, but coins were originally made of silver and gold. Clipping them and melting down the filings was a hanging crime as the coins were worth their weight. Paper money today promises to pay the bearer, on demand, the sum of £---, a meaningless offer, and this is a residue of those days.
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The issue in the past was not defacement, but coins were originally made of silver and gold. Clipping them and melting down the filings was a hanging crime as the coins were worth their weight. Paper money today promises to pay the bearer, on demand, the sum of £---, a meaningless offer, and this is a residue of those days.
And for that reason paper isn't considered to be 'real' money at least in the UK (plastic on the other hand is the only way to go;) )
It seems like I'm in a minority of people that feels a little odd about it, guess I'd best just get over it, as they are after all the cheapest bases known to man. When a coin is worth less than it's value surely there's no real need for them over than letting shops charge you £9.99 instead of £10
Duncan
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And for that reason paper isn't considered to be 'real' money at least in the UK (plastic on the other hand is the only way to go;) )
It seems like I'm in a minority of people that feels a little odd about it, guess I'd best just get over it, as they are after all the cheapest bases known to man. When a coin is worth less than it's value surely there's no real need for them over than letting shops charge you £9.99 instead of £10
Duncan
The nominal worth of coins are today in many cases not worth their own metal weight, not with today's price on copper.
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In the US there are a lot of those touristy places that have a machine wherein you insert two quarters and a penny, select a design, and turn a crank, thus squishing the penny into something thinner and oblong, with the likes of Mt. Rushmore, the Lincoln Memorial (?!), the Lord's Prayer, etc, embossed onto the ex-penny's surface.
That, plus the fact that a penny now costs the government more than $0.01 to make, leaves me unworried about the ramifications of my $15 worth of pennies currently used as bases.
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I find that 1 cent (Canadian or US) where too small to base "big" 28mm figures… I then started gluing figures to 5 cents pieces, gluing the figures on the Queen’s face because the beaver on the other side is a little too well feed quote]
Thank you Calimero for that, I have only just stopped laughing, the thought of the Queen's beaver on the other side of the coin. lol lol lol
But UK 2p coins are great for basing, and cheaper than anything else. The only downside I have encountered is that you cannot rebase figures should you want to. But that is a small downside at best.
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I find that 1 cent (Canadian or US) where too small to base "big" 28mm figures… I then started gluing figures to 5 cents pieces, gluing the figures on the Queen’s face because the beaver on the other side is a little too well feed quote]
Thank you Calimero for that, I have only just stopped laughing, the thought of the Queen's beaver on the other side of the coin. lol lol lol
It is funny, esp. a "well fed" one, but I am not sure it was intentionally so.
I present to you Her Majesty's beaver:
(http://www.plasticless.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/five-cents.JPG)
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Well I did know that my post may cause some laughing with that expression… but it is what it is, I can translate it to a better wording... lol
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I use pennies sometimes, and 20/25mm round plastic bases other times. Queen's head faces downwards (I'm a Monarchist in a limited sorta way - mostly 'cause I'm a sucker for pomp and ceremony).
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I am deeply sceptical if that is actually a Beaver Royal and not a Francocanadian Fifth Columnist gnawing away at the foundations of British America.
;)
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Even if this was immortalized on a coin, I think we crossed a line somewhere...
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I use souvenir rings. Usually the kind that are ground from a single piece of decorative stone (hematite, agate, quartz, etc.), but sometimes I'll use a patterned metal one if I find one that looks like it would suit a particular figure in my lead pile.
Upsides are they have a very classy proper display base look, and make for very sturdy, weighty bases.
Downsides are they're not as cheap, not always very easy to source, they're taller than slottas (I don't care about this, but some may), and not very uniform from one example to another. Great for characters, but probably a big pain in the tuchus for armies*.
I hate slotta bases because they always look exactly like the cheap plastic they are, no matter how well finished, and I dislike most resin bases for emulating this look. Coins don't look as bad as slottas, but in my experience they also tend to look exactly like what they are no matter what. Washers are like coins, only with uglier rims. After putting all that loving work into a figure, I can't just toss it on a cheap cookie-cutter looking base.
Coins also look proportionally way too thin to me, aesthetically speaking, and from a practical perspective I really prefer being able to pin the feet or imbed the tab for maximum strength.
*I'm not an army builder/gamer, so all this is naturally biased. I can see how you'd want something super cheap and super simple if you had to grind out 30 identical figures, and/or wouldn't mind the looks if you weren't lavishing on each individual like you might with a character figure.
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Even if this was immortalized on a coin, I think we crossed a line somewhere...
This is not the only indignity Canadian coinage inflicts on Her Maj.
We feature her bare behind, too. Well, a bear behind, but what's a little spelling between friends?
(http://pective.com/m/canadian-two-dollars-toonie)
The Canuck two dollar coin has Lizzie on one side, and a bear behind, as pictured above.
We're wicked, wicked colonials. Although less overtly republican than the Aussies.
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In Denmark it doesn't make much sense to use coins instead of washers.
The cheapest coin is the 50-øre and a washer from Bauhaus the same size is only 20 øre.
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In Denmark it doesn't make much sense to use coins instead of washers.
The cheapest coin is the 50-øre and a washer from Bauhaus the same size is only 20 øre.
Hmmm now you tell me! I went in both silvan and xl byg were they were roughly 1kr a piece. Still we've not Got a bauhaus near here.
Duncan
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This is not the only indignity Canadian coinage inflicts on Her Maj.
We feature her bare behind, too. Well, a bear behind, but what's a little spelling between friends?
(http://pective.com/m/canadian-two-dollars-toonie)
The Canuck two dollar coin has Lizzie on one side, and a bear behind, as pictured above.
We're wicked, wicked colonials. Although less overtly republican than the Aussies.
Is there one showing tits to?
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Lophophanes_cristatus_Luc_Viatour_4.jpg/260px-Lophophanes_cristatus_Luc_Viatour_4.jpg)
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I used pennies to base some of my figures, and wasn't entirely sold on them. They felt a little, small, I guess, but it's hard to argue the cost! I've tried different types of washer as well, and just haven't made up my mind how large I want the base!
Anyway, very interesting thread with everybody's input. I thought I was the only coin-baser!
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I haven't based miniatures on coins per say. However, back when I played 40K many of my Space Marines had a nickel glued under their base to give it more heft.
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Is there one showing tits to?
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Lophophanes_cristatus_Luc_Viatour_4.jpg/260px-Lophophanes_cristatus_Luc_Viatour_4.jpg)
Sadly no. We had a series of bills based on birds (http://"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_Canadian_dollar#Birds_of_Canada_Series") but the closest to a tit is the pine grosbeak on the $1000.
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Is there one showing tits to?
Nope, but we've got the loonie bin covered.
I base my figures with plastic bases, washers and foreign coinage (gotta' find some use for that American stuff :P). Plastic and thin/light figures tend to get based with washers and metal figures with plastic bases. They are free with many sets anyhoo.
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Sadly, Australia did away with copper coins years ago, the old 1 cent and 2c disappeared about 15 years back. I remember being a bit sad about the loss of a good basing source, when I finally got through the enormous jar of the buggers I had salted away. As 1/4" washers are 5c a throw and 3/4 " are 10c a piece there's no advantage to coin basing and the silver ones won't adhere to magnets.
I wouldn't dare do it in Brazil because the fucking coinage is an even more invidious eyetest than the US dollar bill. Why in God's name there have to be multiple version in different sizes and colours of the same denomination and why differing denominations have to be the same size is anyone's guess. Almost as fun as trying to break a R$50,00 note at a corner store.
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Sadly, Australia did away with copper coins years ago, the old 1 cent and 2c disappeared about 15 years back. I remember being a bit sad about the loss of a good basing source, when I finally got through the enormous jar of the buggers I had salted away. As 1/4" washers are 5c a throw and 3/4 " are 10c a piece there's no advantage to coin basing and the silver ones won't adhere to magnets.
I wouldn't dare do it in Brazil because the fucking coinage is an even more invidious eyetest than the US dollar bill. Why in God's name there have to be multiple version in different sizes and colours of the same denomination and why differing denominations have to be the same size is anyone's guess. Almost as fun as trying to break a R$50,00 note at a corner store.
Fancy that... The world is such a diverse and wonderful place seen from the distance and elevation of neatly ordered Sweden. ::)
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I wouldn't dare do it in Brazil because the fucking coinage is an even more invidious eyetest than the US dollar bill.
What about just using the regular coins instead?
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Shipping costs would be the final determinator to sending, er, um, Lendlease penny's for basing to other needful souls! American pennies are now just copper washed (plated) zinc now for several years.
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I had related woes today, I wanted to base some individual power armors in 6mm and the only base I could come up with small enough was a 1 euro cent coins, the problem is that they were pretty much dropped down here in the Netherlands, instead all payments are rounded to the nearest 5 cents. It is still legal coin but not distributed any more nor will one get them as change. So I was somewhat disappointed when I could rake up 6 where I needed 8 in total.
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I am more than happy to export a range of fine UK bases, approved by her Majesty (so much so she has her face on them).
Cost of the 1p base is ....face value plus postage.
Cost of the 2p is double.
Why are you charging 4p for the 2p? :D
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Yeah sorry ...the cost is double the 1p charge. So will be two pence per 2p.
You live in Wales. Am I correct? ;)
You are correct. :P
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Hmmm now you tell me! I went in both silvan and xl byg were they were roughly 1kr a piece. Still we've not Got a bauhaus near here.
Duncan
In the great land of the free, you can buy washers by the kilo at byggmax, I haven't used them for serious stuff like basing, just as weights. I can't make it to Horizont due to vindictive-wife syndrome, but if you're really interested we can probably sort something out :) I think the washers were something like 50 kronor per kilo.
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My mate sold a "lucky penny" on ebay for £5 to an american.
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My mate sold a "lucky penny" on ebay for £5 to an american.
lol
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Is there a market to export 1p coins? I think it could be cheaper for some countires and I like the idea of Brazilian figs on British coinage. We conquer by underbase means....
Your first task would be to find some Brazilian figures. Apart from some lead toy soldier types and a couple of chaps making some sci fi in Rio, who seem to have disappeared,I can't think of any. Conquest has already taken place by other means. Purchase a plastic kit in Brazil and look at paying 3-5 times the RRP you would in the UK, Europe and even Australia. Seventy percent import tax and a tiny domestic market will do that for you.
Technically speaking, toys are a prohibited item to mail to Brazil so you need to be creative when labelling the items. Whatever you do don't try and pass them off as jewellrey, as apart fromn the fact that it's also a prohibited item to post, the chance of it being robbed by the postal service will multiply by a factor of ten.
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Hhmmmm perhaps have them labled as fishing weights.... lol
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History education appliances?
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I just remembered that our new coins (NZ) can be stuck to magnets. I'm going to use some ten cent coins as bases for my Britannia Sailors, they measure 20mm across. I'd use the 50 coins to base my WW2 figures but I think that would work out more expensive than washers.
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I'm doing some re-basing (from lipped bases to hungarian 10 forint coins - those are like the 1p coins). Didn't do any kind of preparation last night, just glued the figures on the coins, PVAd some sand on them, painted the sand, drybrushed it -- and today the sand is already coming off and the coin's surface shines through.
So I'm doing it all over again, but this time before I glue the figure on (don't want to pin a coin), I put primer on the coins, than a black basecoat, THAN I glue the figure on, pva the coin, put sand on, and paint the sand.
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Untill recently i used to base my miniatures on the wellknown slotted bases. I still have a whole plastic full of them from the time when you used to get several of them in a blister with one miniatures. However, while basing my TAG in country miniatures i have started making my own bases using sturdy cardboard drenched in polyurethane (varnish) and covering it with DAS pronto. Works quite well for me.
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I always base my two pence pieces with a miniature whenever possible.....
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I always base my two pence pieces with a miniature whenever possible.....
Sorry, but I have to ask, especially with the ....... at the end. When is it not possible? :o
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Sorry, but I have to ask, especially with the ....... at the end. When is it not possible? :o
When some idiot uses the two pence pieces as currency!
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My first minis were pre-warlord Bolt Action and their website suggested mounting them on pennies, adding some sand, then painting and flocking, all fixed with superglue, which is what I've been doing ever since......
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Truely, twrchtrwyth, you didn't think he would run out of miniatures, did you lol
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When some idiot uses the two pence pieces as currency!
As currency!!! WTF! lol
Truely, twrchtrwyth, you didn't think he would run out of miniatures, did you lol
lol
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I have decided to make a future soldier army and have basically started it with 10 guys done so far. I had decided to use 2p bases....but now Im in spain! I think 5 euro cent may be the best choice.
I like the feel of the resin figures based up on coins. It gives them some wight, and makes then bottom heavy, which is good for balance and anti-damage (they tend to land coin-base down when I drop them...)
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I have been expanding quite a bit on my 15mm armies and 1 2 and 5 eurocent coins are proving to be pretty ideal for infantry and power armour models. For larger models or weapon teams the good old washer is king.
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So I'm doing it all over again, but this time before I glue the figure on (don't want to pin a coin), I put primer on the coins, than a black basecoat, THAN I glue the figure on, pva the coin, put sand on, and paint the sand.
Score the surface, cut it up with a strong knife. THat way the glue holds the cuts and doesnt come off.
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will try that, cheers! Even tho out of frustration I bought 2 packs of 50 Renedra bases, hopefully won't have to screw around with those... :)