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Rebasing to 32mm


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Yeah, I did it for ~200 Marines.


My approach was:

  • Cut the 25mm base rims off with a Dremel. I wasn't super-precise or neat about this. When you're done, you shouldn't be able to see the edge anyway.
  • Remove all the embossed product code/copyright info/casting bump/etc. from under the resulting disc with a file. This was just so it would sit flat on the new base and be easy to glue, you could probably get away with skipping it.
  • Glue the whole thing to the top of a 32mm.

A squad of 10 would take me around 20 minutes.

I did most of that while watching TV. Just make sure you spare enough attention to keep your fingers away from the cutting disc. Safety glasses are probably advisable: it can get hot enough to melt the plastic and spit drops in your face. smile.png

Then blend the new base with the edge of the old one with sand and gravel, paint it to match and add static grass.

I did that in 3-4 big batches over a few evenings. Pretty mindless stuff, you just need to randomise the new basing material enough to disguise the edge of the 25mm disc.

If you have a complicated basing scheme, no Dremel, or want to remove the figure from the base altogether for some reason (potentially damaging the paint job around the feet), I could see it taking a lot longer.

I did it now with around 30 Marines and a couple of Characters and Termis. I do it almost like Lucien Eilam only that I cut the rims off first with a side cutter and go on smoothing it with the dremel and remove all codes and stuff underneath it with the dremel as well. What actually takes the most time (for me) is cleaning the rest of the base afterwards with a hobby knife and then actually basing and painting again (depends on how extensive your basing method is).

For me the whole rebasing has major advantages and is totally worth it. The bigger bases really do the marines models justice as they present them far better then the small ones and as a welcome side effect the marines not only appear bigger but also gain height as they now got virtually two bases beneath them. I'm in the process of rebasing all my marines and plan on glueing plastic card under those who I put directly onto the new 32mm from now on. This is IMPORTANT if you use the method of Lucien Eilam or me if you want your new marines on the same seize level as the "old" ones.

Oh and I do almost all hobby related stuff like painting, assembling and sculpting while watching (internet) TV or listening to music or audio books and dramas. For me it's the perfect arrangement of spare time and the epitome of leisure...but that's another story. smile.png

I'm torn on this.

Every single one of my officers and an entire command squad are all pewter and this have a small tab slotted into the old base style...

That would definitely be more work than the modern plastics...

I had some of these too. You can either mill the tab completely off or mill a slot into the 32mm bases. I would highly recommend the latter. But yes, it's a little more effort...

Yeah, I guess that's a consideration too.

 

I've always cut the tabs off to give me complete freedom in positioning (an old habit from playing Warhammer, where it's the only way to get anything to rank up), so it made no difference to me whether the Marine was metal, plastic or resin.

I just ripped the guys off their old bases... They sometimes took a bit with them on the bottom of the foot but marines have such big chunky boots anyway it doesn't matter so much, just blend it into your basing scheme!

 

Unsure if you can tell but I did it on these guys, they were all old models on smaller bases I ripped off and gave a new home:

 

http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah177/nevscorner/20150614_153908_zpsx2hkrhpb.jpg

Rebasing to 32mm is totally worth it. I did it for about 50 space marines, I think it took me not too long (2 hours, maybe 3). 

 

The method suggested by Lucius Eilam (2nd post in this thread) is quite good and this is also what my wargaming buddies suggest to each other. However I think that is too much work, I just (gently) ripped my Space Marines off their 25mm base. What I did was I took the citadel plastic cutter thing (what you use to remove the bits from sprues) and cut into the bases towards the feet. In half the cases the foot will simply come off clean by itself and the other foot then follows as well (the plastic glue bond between foot and base, is not as strong as the physical forces working on the legs to try and keep in the same shape). In the other half of the cases, the foot would come off, but it would keep a bit of the base, stuck to it's footsole. I would then take a hobby knife and kind of hack and cut away at this bit to seperate the foot, from the piece of base. Of course this is not a very safe thing as hobby knives are sharp and the cutting motion requires quite a bit of force. Any children reading this: DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS WITHOUT PARENTAL SUPERVISION. I cut myself pretty deep once while doing this.

 

The marines that come with slotted bases (I have a couple of Dark Vengeance marines) are actually the most easy. Just use the cutter thing to cut from the edge of the base towards the foot and you can just break off half of the base (trust me it's weaker than the model). Repeat on the other side and you will have your miniature, with the plastic bar still connecting the feet. Cut it off the feet with a hobby knife like prescribed above.

 

These are 10 of my Space Marines, all of them rebased. Some of them used to have slots to their feet. I don't really notice anything ugly about their feet. 

 

Sometimes a piece of foot might come off by accident. Just use some extra grass or sand to cover up the fact that Mr. Billy the Space Marine is missing all of his toes.

 

http://i62.tinypic.com/30m4wmp.jpg

Totally in love with the new 32mm bases, but I won't be rebasing my Flesh Eaters unfortunately. Too much effort!

I will however be rebasing my Black Legion (as they are mostly unpainted ohmy.png ) For dudes with slots (esp pewter) I am going to be using THIS type of saw cutter(a 25mm version) to drill out the 32mm bases which are apparently rigid enough to take it. There was a tute on here somewhere which gave me the idea but I can't seem to find it sorry!

Im about to take the plunge myself, its whats been keeping me from getting on with my Marines Errant.

 

 

 

For anyone interested, DarkSphere have recently added Citadel 32mm to their online store. I've just ordered 50 and the new codex, saved myself a tenner even with postage. :)

I recently started some Minotaurs and they're all going on 32s. I saw a great deal on ebay (250 laser cut bases for a tenner). However I have around a hundred Red Scorpion power armoured models plus thirty or so berzerkers/chaos marines, the thought of rebasing that lot is a little daunting but I do intend getting round to it.

This is just a warning to anyone who's contemplating this....

 

I have found mixed results in doing this. Does it look better? Maybe. That's individual taste I suppose but there's something I definitely don't like about it...

 

My Grey Knights are 100% 32MM or bigger (Termies). What I found is you can't 'hide' behind a rhino nearly as easily. Also deep striking sucks. A larger 32mm squad deviating is riskier for sure.

 

Finally, I found some stores/tables' terrain is made with 25mm in mind.... or just small for whatever reason. I found it harder to fit squads where I used to find it snug, they just plain don't fit anymore.

 

So what I'm doing right now is keeping 'larger' squads on 25mm like Tacticals. Squads that are historically smaller... stuff like elites, Sternguard, Assault marines, etc, are getting the 32mm.

 

Just wanted to offer my experiences for your consideration.

Im about to take the plunge myself, its whats been keeping me from getting on with my Marines Errant.

For anyone interested, DarkSphere have recently added Citadel 32mm to their online store. I've just ordered 50 and the new codex, saved myself a tenner even with postage. smile.png

Thanks for that, was going to order from GW as I had been looking at Dark Sphere for some time but was never able to see any 32mm bases. Saved me some money, I promis to make a Marines Errant corpse as an objective marker in your honour for the Badab thread.

At this point in my gaming career (which is "not currently gaming"), I don't see the need. Do they look better on 32mm? Eh, maybe. That's all subjective. Until GW says they must be based in 32mm, I'll hold off. Although the new kits I have are larger...boy this is going to irk me...dry.png

At this point in my gaming career (which is "not currently gaming"), I don't see the need. Do they look better on 32mm? Eh, maybe. That's all subjective. Until GW says they must be based in 32mm, I'll hold off. Although the new kits I have are larger...boy this is going to irk me...dry.png

I'd say even if you're mostly in a modeling phase as opposed to a gaming phase it's totally worth rebasing. I guess it's subjective, but I'm willing to be that you and a majority of players will think it looks just a lot better. I'm in the process of converting my whole Blood Angel force and I'm just shocked at how much better it has made them look, individually and as a group. If you're "not currently gaming" all the better an opportunity to get it done! :)

I have a bunch of unbuilt marines, however this is the first I am hearing of people basing marines (especially bare tacticals) on the 32mm. Why exactly would anyone do it? Are the new marine models being based on these slightly bigger bases? Is it just to look cool? Does it really interfere with gameplay as well?

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