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Friday 20 January 2012

Avec mes sabots.....

Which piece of appalling French merely goes to introduce this short piece on basing now normally and for the last few years I base my figures on Dalerboard- its a thick art board used by chaps who paint in 2D and its splendid stuff. I also use it on the rare occaisons I make model buildings. Most of the previos pics on this blog show figures based on Daler board- although some of the smaller chaps are on somwhat thinner watercolur board. However. I've been looking at circular bases for some of the 40mm models. I tried 2p pieces but it didn't seem right somehow- Her Maj and all that - I suppose the nearest American similie would be using the Stars ans Stripes as a duster- not quite the ticket doncha know. . So I looked about and found plastic 25mm round bases. I tried these but somehow - having a hollow underside they made the figure a tad top heavy so again I looked about and found lazer cut MDF bases in all sorts of sizes and circular too. Not only that but detachable multi figure "Sabots" to place them in.
Sio the first pic shows rebased Drabant WSS figs in one of these Sabots which are approx 100mm by 50 mm and take 8 of the 25mm round bases as in the pic of the single figure
I terrained the bases so that they blend as much as possible which in the case of the Sabots is a bit of a faff to be honest as you must keep your holes clear or the bases won't fit properly, Still so far its been worth it.
So enthised am I with this that I'm thinking of using the same system for others of my 40mm models- at least in areas where the numbers won't leave me re-basing for a month or two so currently my 40mm Naps and ACW will stay as they are and IMHO this system does not suit my Dark Ages somehow so initially at least it will be 17th and 18th century 40mm that may get re-based.

6 comments:

  1. Really nice looking figures and basing!

    Best REgards,

    Stokes

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  2. The bases look great, quite like the idea of sabots

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  3. How does the song go: 'Je me marche par la Lorraine, avec mes sabots...'. Well designed sabot/bases Andy. Very handy.

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  4. I take no credit for th bases as I found them om ebay but I've always liked good basing. If you spend time painting an modelling the little dudes then it always seemed sacreligious just to stick 'em on a bit of green card.

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  5. Sensible, flexible system!
    Btw, "En passant par la Lorraine" is merely an opportunist adaptation of a far, far older song
    after the annexion of Lorraine by the Second Reich. Since the original song was long forgotten, the author of the late 19th C. pastiche dared to claim full IP and royalties!

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