Metal minis won't stick to glue very good over long periods of time. All my earliest metal minis fell apart over the years, the last one's arms popped off yesterday!
This is one small reason why I prefer plastic minis to metal ones, but sometimes this technique is helpful for plastics, too!
Any time you need to glue a metal mini, support a delicate piece, or assemble a part of a mini who will be grabbed by human hands a lot, you can do something called "pinning" or "to pin it".
The gist is to use a very tiny hand drill, called a "pin vise" and drill holes in the mini parts, then glue straight little pieces of paper clip inside. Like metal rebar in concrete.
Here's a step-by-step guide to pinning metal minis to plastic bases (for a very rough hands-on tabletop game like BattleTech). Pinning to bases like this prevents the mini from shearing off the base if it falls off a building or rolls down a hill or people grab it wrong.
First, clean your metal mini with some dish soap and an old toothbrush. This is VERY IMPORTANT, it'll remove any oil or lubricant left over from the miniature's manufacturing process. These oils are used by the factory to make them pop out of their casting molds easier. Paint and glue will not stick to these oils over time! But luckily they clean off very easily with some soap and scrubbies.
Take your pin vise (the tool I'm holding) and select a drill bit that will just barely fit the wire from a paperclip.
Find good places for the holes and test fit some wire bits. You'll need to drill holes in the bottom of the mini AND matching holes in the base. The paperclip wire will sit in both, granting your completed mini their support.
Once happy with your holes, using a drop of superglue, stick the pins in the holes and let them dry.
Let the pins dry in your mini, test fit several times with your base's drilled holes, and little by little cut the paperclip pins down to size.
Finally, with drops of superglue on the bottom of the pins and the bottom of the mini itself, stick them onto the bases (making sure the paperclip pins fit into the holes you drilled in the bases!). Let them dry thoroughly, and you're done! They're much more stable now.
Once the glue is very dry, feel free to spray paint some primer on them and get painting.
This same technique is the current "best practice" for attaching delicate parts to minis, like arms, guns, flags, etc. You can use this technique for anything that might be fragile with only glue holding it together.
This is one small reason why I prefer plastic minis to metal ones, but sometimes this technique is helpful for plastics, too!
Any time you need to glue a metal mini, support a delicate piece, or assemble a part of a mini who will be grabbed by human hands a lot, you can do something called "pinning" or "to pin it".
The gist is to use a very tiny hand drill, called a "pin vise" and drill holes in the mini parts, then glue straight little pieces of paper clip inside. Like metal rebar in concrete.
Here's a step-by-step guide to pinning metal minis to plastic bases (for a very rough hands-on tabletop game like BattleTech). Pinning to bases like this prevents the mini from shearing off the base if it falls off a building or rolls down a hill or people grab it wrong.
First, clean your metal mini with some dish soap and an old toothbrush. This is VERY IMPORTANT, it'll remove any oil or lubricant left over from the miniature's manufacturing process. These oils are used by the factory to make them pop out of their casting molds easier. Paint and glue will not stick to these oils over time! But luckily they clean off very easily with some soap and scrubbies.
Take your pin vise (the tool I'm holding) and select a drill bit that will just barely fit the wire from a paperclip.
Find good places for the holes and test fit some wire bits. You'll need to drill holes in the bottom of the mini AND matching holes in the base. The paperclip wire will sit in both, granting your completed mini their support.
Once happy with your holes, using a drop of superglue, stick the pins in the holes and let them dry.
Let the pins dry in your mini, test fit several times with your base's drilled holes, and little by little cut the paperclip pins down to size.
Finally, with drops of superglue on the bottom of the pins and the bottom of the mini itself, stick them onto the bases (making sure the paperclip pins fit into the holes you drilled in the bases!). Let them dry thoroughly, and you're done! They're much more stable now.
Once the glue is very dry, feel free to spray paint some primer on them and get painting.
This same technique is the current "best practice" for attaching delicate parts to minis, like arms, guns, flags, etc. You can use this technique for anything that might be fragile with only glue holding it together.
