Who sells moulds for metal bases?

[FramFramson]

Or even fine ground lead mixed you could then mix with epoxy to fill the holes?

[Ramshackle_Curtis]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I talked it over with my friend who has experience casting various materials regarding making our own molds and his analysis was that the setup required would not be worth it for the number of bases I would need.

Boo and pish! Dont listen to the nay sayer. You can melt the metal on a camping stove or cheap 1kw electric heating element. Get some casting sand or the heat resistant cold cure silicone. Both are easy to work with. The sand would let you make 50 bases in an afternoon! The problem will be the bottoms wont be flat.

You will get immense satisfaction from having a go. Remember  that this is a craft hobby, so have fun and experiment!

[Schlumpfsa]

I agree with Curtis, just have a go.  I've mucked about with casting pewter in moulds made from silicone caulking out of a tube (for windows, bathrooms etc from the hardware store) and from simple moulds made of MDF not unlike in this instructable (http://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-Pewter-casting/#intro). 

I used damaged pewter mugs from the opp-shop melted down in a coffee pot on an electric hotplate.  I tried making barrels (with the silicone moulds) and name badges (unrelated to the hobby) with the MDF moulds, with reasonable success.  My main problem was air bubbles.  The moulds do deteriorate over time, the MDF scorches, and in my case I damaged it because the pewter got stuck, and I found the silicone got a bit burned and sticky after a few goes.  Miscasts can be thrown back in the pot to try again, and since bases are large and flat without many fiddly bits you shouldn't have too much trouble getting the metal where it needs to go.

Using these materials I'm sure isn't as good as the proper casting kit, but it's a lot cheaper; caulk here is about $6 a tube, the pewter mugs were $2 each, I also got the hotplate and coffee pot second hand as well, if memory serves I think the hotplate was $8 and the coffee pot would have only been $1-$2.  MDF I have lying around.  Unfortunately I did this some time ago and don't have any pics for you, but I reccommend you give it a go. Worst that can happen is it doesn't work satisfactorily, if it does though make sure to take piccies for us!

[eilif]

Was checking my older threads and now you (Curtis and Schlumpfsa) have got me thinking that I should give this a go.  I'll keep my eye out at the resale shop for a hot plate and coffee pot.  The silicone caulk makes the moldmaking a very risk free from a $ perspective.

If it works, I'll have even more reasons to make bulk offers at Little Wars on those sad looking bins of old/broken lead figs.

[surixurient]

I use galeforce nine square magnetic bases (come with slots and without) and they are very heavy.
http://www.waylandgames.co.uk/gale-force-9/magnetic-basing/mbs-20mm-slotted-square-36-/prod_14177.html