Over the last couple of months I have mentioned a number of times how I use a simple cork stopper as my miniature holder while painting figures. I thought it was time I gave more details.....
The simple cork stoppers or bungs were bought via E-bay and are 38mm - 40mm tall with a diameter (at the smaller end) of 30mm (please note that these do vary). I have included this link to give details;
As you can see I use Blutack to hold the mini in place. However this is not the whole story as I have coated the top with superglue, allowed it to go hard and then sanded it smooth as the cork is a bit 'squashy' and the superglue helps to make the contact area a little harder and the Blutack hold better.
The corks had a tendency to topple over when a metal miniature was Blutacked in place and so I have added a large metal bolt to the bottom. I drilled out the hole with an electric drill and epoxied the bolt in place. I used two-part epoxy as I thought it would be a better fix, but I could just as easily have used my Hot Glue Gun.
The cork miniature handle/holder is now very bottom heavy and much more stable. Since taking this image I have used Milliput (spare Milliput, left over while sculpting or adding texture to mini bases) to tidy up the gaps around the bolt and fill any gaps.
The final image shows the cork bung alongside the resin Boche conversion, detailed in an earlier post. As you can see from this image, it has already had numerous coats of paint - Tamiya grey primer, Black spray paint as well a acrylic paint and has stood the test of time.
I currently have six similar miniature holders and some additional Champagne/Cava cork prototypes that I regularly use as well as many bought and specialised miniature holders. I can confirm that these simple Cork Stopper Mini Holders are without doubt my favourite mini holder.
I'd be interested to read what others think and what do you use to hold your minis?
Tony
Well, if it works for you (and it clearly does!), use it.
ReplyDeleteI've got a tool that I bought from an advert in Military Modelling back in the 70's or possibly early 80's.
It comprises of a plastic handle with a perspex square base on it with two very basic clamps tightened with a screw and bolt, with the clamps needing to press on the base of the figure.
So I can't texture the base until the figure is fully painted and I can only paint one 28mm figure at a time but that's how I like to do that scale.
Most of my wargaming stuff is 10mm or 15mm and for that I use fizzy bottletops and blue take.