Basic tips on Gluing and pinning
Gluing
Always score each surface that you want glued. Glue’s are generally surface glues which means that they need a key help strengthen the bond. Scoring gives this key to an otherwise smooth surface.
- Using a sharp craft knife, score lines into the surface in one direction then repeat the process but cutting the opposite way, creating a diamond pattern. Repeat this process with both pieces that will be glued together.
- Apply glue to both scored surfaces then fix together and allow to dry.
Pinning (miniature to base)
There are many ways to utilize pinning techniques. Pinning is mainly used to reinforce weak joins or support heavy parts but this article covers the basics for pinning your miniatures to a base. This is the basic technique used for stacking a base for our multi-part basing kits (mentioned in a later article)
Pinning a miniature to a base.
- Drill a hole in each foot that is going to be touching the base. If the shape of the miniature allows it, drill a hole 5mm deep, 3mm minimum. The important thing here is that you drill the hole 90 degrees up from where the base will be situated. This makes sure that once the pin is fitted it will be vertical and give the best fit.
- Place a pin in the drill hole(s) to check that the pin(s) is at the right angle and to determine the length needed. Make sure the pin is long enough to fit into both the miniature and the base. If your not sure then its always best to start with a longer length than you need and cut off excess later. If using more than one pin (one in each foot) then make sure that the pins are the same length.
- Glue the pin(s) into the drill holes of the miniature and allow to dry.
- Now we need to determine where to drill the hole(s) into the base. Place a small blob of paint onto the end of each pin then carefully place your miniature over the area of the base you want it attached to. Gently press down on that area with your pins to leave paint mark. This is where you need to drill.
- Drill through the base using your paint marks as a guideline.
- Dry run the fit to make sure everything sits well.
- Score any flat surface that will be glued together (bottom of the feet and the area of the base that it will be attached to).
- Apply glue to both area’s and fix together.