Free standing o gauge figures for a kid

Plasticville people are good. Sometimes the Dollar stores have bags of military. Not scale but kids do not mind.

Another idea, John, is to glue small pieces of clear plastic, like used in packaging, to the figure’s feet.

Building on Artie's suggestion, I use Scotch restickable dots.   Search on Amazon to take a look at the product if you interested.  I buy mine locally at a store that carries Velcro, etc..  I have used these dots for years to help those vertigo-challenged citizens stay on their feet under my Christmas tree. They're flexible, reusable, and more or less disappear in use.  And, they can be trimmed down to smaller sizes with a pair of scissors if needed.

Dale

Lots of good ideas.  If I find some scrap material for a base I should probably glue the figures to the base so they can take "play time" and movement.

John

I bought a bag of the cheap O Scale figures from Ali Express or eBay and a bag of flat white game chips and glued them together.  They're both styrene so the bond is strong if you use a solvent glue or MEK,  even with the thin little feet, especially if you give them a brief sanding to make them even.

Almost all the figures on our Christmas layout linked below are those.

https://chicagovalleyrailroad....layout-tour.html?m=1

I let my kids move them whenever they want and allot of the figures have alternate paint schemes done quickly with paint markers.

Try going on the Bay and looking at heroclix figures. There’s a bunch of different types, and even some super heroes. Batman, Flash, etc. they are like a dollar or two. You can find bargains and they have nice bases.

Heroclix are a great source.  I forgot about those.  There are actually quite alot of civilian looking figures that aren't obviously armed or superheroes.   We discussed them a while back here:

Cheap Prepainted figures. Heroclix!?! | O Gauge Railroading On Line Forum (ogaugerr.com)

Once you pry off the heroclix base, they have a nice smaller molded on base.

Ebay is ok, but to save on shipping I recommend checking "Troll and Toad" and making a bigger order.  Set asside an hour and page through their heroclix pages.  You'll find a ton of figures.   Also, your local comic shop probably has a bin of "common" figures for around a buck each. 

I picked up a bag of clear plastic bingo chips in ebay a couple years ago and they work perfect. They're about the size of a penny and are barely noticeable on sidewalks etc.  A dot of superglue on the feet and you're citizens are ready.

Heroclix  or simply lego figures

@Gene H posted:

I picked up a bag of clear plastic bingo chips in ebay a couple years ago and they work perfect. They're about the size of a penny and are barely noticeable on sidewalks etc.  A dot of superglue on the feet and you're citizens are ready.

I like that idea Gene.  I looked at them, but they all appear to be colored.  Where did you find transparent clear with no color?

Thanks

John

If you plug "Clear bingo chips" into Amazon you'll get several options.  

I got inspired by this thread and bought a whole mess of figures from Troll and Toad.  I'm not sure what the deal was, but there was a promotion of some sort and shipping was really cheap. If you go to the Heroclix selection and click on "all hero clix" and then check the "hide out of stock" and sort by price ascending, you'll find pages and pages of civie figures for less than a buck amidst the heroes.

Picked up a set of ninja turtles too just for fun.  I'll blog the lot when they come in.  The Christmas layout is going to be bigger than past years so I consider the buy a "Christmas necessity".... :-)

@Eilif posted:

If you plug "Clear bingo chips" into Amazon you'll get several options.  

Thanks,

I found a single vendor who had non-colored transparent bingo chips.  They will be delivered in December.

In terms of the Heroclix, I already have the figures, but they are not freestanding.

John

@Craftech posted:

I like that idea Gene.  I looked at them, but they all appear to be colored.  Where did you find transparent clear with no color?

Thanks

John

I just sent the link to your email

Gene

@Craftech posted:

Thanks,

I found a single vendor who had non-colored transparent bingo chips.  They will be delivered in December.

In terms of the Heroclix, I already have the figures, but they are not freestanding.

John

You're welcome.

Which Heroclix do you have?  I recall some much older clix not having much base when you cut them off the clix dial.  The newer ones, however seem to all have a good sized chunk of vinyl under their feet similar to army man figures.  As long as the surface is level they stand just fine on their own without additional bases.

I might try the clear chip idea.  My previous (non heroclix) figures were based on white chips for the winter thing, but I might base some of the next batch on grey to blend in better with sidewalks and such.  

One thing I did back in the day to quickly make bystanders and minor out of heroclix for wargaming scenarios was to take wargaming bases and glue a layer of the vinyl brick street material (same as Christmas villages use) to the top and then glue the figure on top of that.  The vinyl figures and the vinyl street material bond very well to each other with superglue.   I'm using the same brick street material for my current Christmas layout so maybe I should put a layer of brick vinyl on some chips for figures that can blend into the street.

@Eilif posted:

You're welcome.

Which Heroclix do you have?

I have some MTH, Bachmann, and the assorted ones from China that I was looking to attach to bases for a kid to play with on his layout.

Thanks again,

John

@Gene H posted:

I just sent the link to your email

Gene

Thanks Gene, didn't see that option.

John

I got some at Hobby Lobby for my kids. They also have animals.