This Week's Top Tip!

Painting figures at the smaller end of the scale requires a good solid platform for holding the little beasties still whilst you apply that all-important paintjob. I think there must be as many different kinds of mountings out there as there are wargamers; bottle caps, steel washers, nail heads, etc, etc. I, however, like many others, have sworn by the craft sticks/tongue depressors approach, and stuck the figures on lightly, using a dab of the hot-glue gun or a weak generic glue.

I often found, however, that with the smallest figures, often the removal after painting could be quite stressful, pulling and twisting the little masterpiece to get it free. Then I recently had a brainwave! (Careful, now!) How about trying double sided sticky tape? 

As you can see above, it's easy to apply to the stick, and then to trim it to shape thus:

You then only need to peel away the top cover sheet and hey presto, you have a strong tacky bond to mount your figure bases on:

Now of course, you have to make sure that the bottom surface of the mini is filed nice and flat;

which for these Irregular Miniatures' 6mm IND40 Sikh Regular Infantry, as with a lot of their ranges, can require a bit of work, but then they will sit quite comfortably on their new paintstick:

The heaviest of miniatures probably wouldn't stand up to this stress test, but for these little chaps a firm shake in the photo above, whilst upside down, has done them no harm, and they are present and correct and ready for painting.

I've found this method to be cheap and fuss free, particularly as after painting, the sticky tape can be peeled away easily, and the stick re-used. If you're having a go with 2, 6 or 10mm figures, give it a try!