Your regiment trays for round bases?

[ShortscaleDave]

I'm dead set on using 25mm round washers for my human sized guys, and want to make movement trays that work nicely with them.  I've seen the various retail solutions available but the main concern I have is that the washers are about 1mm thick and most movement tray toppers are 2mm minimum.  So my ideal criteria here involves the following condiitons:

1.  The tray topper is the same depth as the bases, so that the flocking etc gives a unified look.
2.  The tray construction includes magnetic sheet
3.  Generally low profile look but solid enough for regular use.

Has anyone built this? Found a supplier that covers those (ahem) bases?  

I'm considering buying the 2mm toppers and base and placing a 1mm round magnetic sheet in each hole, but hoping there's a simpler more elegant solution that someone has already invented!

I'd love to see pics of YOUR movement trays especially if you base figures on washers!

[jthomlin]

Most places that do laser cut bases will also do custom jobs and they should be able to do 1mm cardboard to match your washers. You can then use a sheet magnet layer rather than individual pieces for each hole. You would probably need a third layer of a stiffer material to give the tray some stability.

My own basing system uses home cast resin bases with rare earth magnets embedded in them. This gives me more flexibility in base shape and design as I can have inset versions that hide integral bases and eliminate the 'everyone's standing on their own little hill' syndrome:



My trays are simply a 'topper' glued onto .5mm sheet coated steel (colourbond), the example here is made of card and balsa but the 'production' versions will be laser cut card or MDF:



Having a metal bottom to the tray means that the figures are solidly held in to the point that I can shake it upside down and the figures do not fall out, but they are still easily removed by tilting at an angle before lifting off. It also means that they 'adhere' securely to my magnetic sheet lined carry trays (custom laser cut):



The carry trays are designed to fit into cheap plastic containers for storage and dust protection:



Which are easily stacked making for efficient storage and transportation:



Cheers!
Joe Thomlinson

[psullie]

Check out War Bases: http://war-bases.co.uk/index.php?route=common/home
very nice guys who'll do custom work too.

[Captain Blood]

Very easy to make your own... 

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=26058.0

[julesav]

I've moved over to this system for basing all my 25/28mms. So I've not noticed any problem with base depth vs hole depth but this may be due to the texturing I've used on both bases and trays.

My trays have come from both 4Ground and Warbases and the figures have been based on washers, 2p pieces and 25mm laser cut MDF discs.

[PhilB]

I want to add my kudos to Warbases, they do excellent work for low prices.

My figures are the same: 24mm washers (close, anyway) so I went with 25mm diameter holes in movement trays from warbases. Since the washers are metallic, my first thought was to get a magnet in there somehow. My first idea was for magnetic sheeting to be sandwiched between the two layers of the base. The guys at warbases suggested instead that they custom cut movement trays with a small central well for a round magnet, and they were asking me for the diameter of magnet I was planning to use.

After consulting with guys here and on TMP, I decided that I really didn't need magnets. And really, as long as you don't put the bases on a steep slope or shake them upside down, the minis stay put without magnets.

About depth: my washers are 1mm thick. Most of the figures have integral bases, which I try to cover up using sand, washes of paint, flocking (and tufts of grass for my lizardmen). That brings most of them very close to 2mm in depth.

Look closely at the bases in this post:
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=80685.msg1001242#msg1001242

No, they are not seamless. Yes, there is a minor depth issue. But I like the added solidity of the 2mm movement trays. No doubt you could get them to do a 1mm special order. But I suggest trying at least one standard 2mm base before deciding.

PS: feel free to comment on the Dragontooth minis and basing, on that thread over there, if you feel so inclined. <g>

Cheers,   --- Phil the Dragontooth maven