Tips and Tricks
Making Large Round Bases
by TinGuru
Here’s a technique I came up with that will give you sharp, finished looking bases at just about any size you would need for your miniatures using just a few supplies.
This is what I used…
Sheet styrene about .045 thick
Channel plastic strip stock .125 wide
.125 x .030” plastic strip stock
CA Glue
Dividers
Channel stock
is like strip stock but has a shallow groove on one side.
Note that the maximum size
of your base diameter is determined by the length of the channel stock.
(Length divided by pi).
If you do not have dividers a
compass that can use two points will work.
Set the dividers to the desired radius and scribe a circle in the plastic. You may want to go back over the scribe a few times. The deeper you make the scribe the better.
Gently snap the circle you scribed free from the remaining plastic.
Test wrap your channel stock, with the disc inserted into the groove to be sure that it goes all the way around the disc.
Since the disc is not as thick as the channel stock is wide, when glued together the disc will end up with a lip. This is useful if your miniature has an integral base.
Heavy models will weigh down on the disc and distort its shape if it is not supported. On a disc this size the weight of a miniature will probably not be a problem but this will show you how it’s done.
You want to glue the disc to the channel so that the edge of the supported side of the disc runs along the edge of the channel.
It will help if you lay the disc support-side down and tightly wrap the channel stock around the disc gluing as you go.
Once cut to fit you can glue the end in using the same flat surface that you glued the starting end with in order to get a matching radial bend.
I’ve used this technique to make bases as large as a single piece of the channel stock will allow. I suppose you could use two channel strips for larger bases, I just haven’t tried it.
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