I just thought I'd write to let you know of a handy little device I discovered while basing some figures at the weekend. It is a cold glue gun made by UHU. The glue comes in the form of sticks which are inserted into the 'breech' of the glue gun. The glue gun can then be plugged in and left to heat up (the only part which gets hot is the 'muzzle' where the glue is extruded) and, because the gun is cold, it can be left plugged in and unattended while you get on with basing and undercoating the figures. In addition, because the glue is cold it doesn't distort the card you're using for bases. The glue begins to harden very quickly and I found that I was able to handle the based figures within perhaps a minute or so. Even top-heavy figures (no sniggering now!) such as standard bearers were bound to the base and could be left unsupported in less than a minute - mind you, I was basing 15mm figures, you might want to leave 25mm or bigger figures slightly longer. The glue does have a habit of 'stringing' at the slightest provocation, but because it hardens quickly and because it is cold, it can be removed from the model without damage. My models looked like an insane spider had been at them, but it took very little time to pick the string off and I didn't have to use a knife or cutters to do so. Best of all (for those of us who normally end up sticky-fingered at the end of a gluing session) the glue does not adhere to flesh - although it binds metal to card quickly and without bother. I would suggest an old saucer or tile to rest the gun on though, to make sure that you don't get glue on the best tablecloth (or worse yet, table). The glue gun and sticks are fairly cheap and, because they are made by UHU, readily available in most decent stationers. Make sure you don't get the hot glue gun, which requires rather more attention because both the gun and the glue get hot. On a separate note, I enjoyed Jonathan Aird's review of Salute 2001 in the December LW. I was there and I did wear my badge, but I was stuck working at the Leisure Games stand until fairly late in the day so I didn't get much of a chance to look around. I'll be working on the Leisure Games stand again this year, so if Jonathan does brave the crowds (tip - come after 14:00) I'll be happy to have a chat and maybe even an excuse to get away for a quick beer! Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #138 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by Solo Wargamers Association. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com