The lost art of metal slotta models

I bought a few Tallarn models direct from GW back in the day but I bought most from ebay (when they were about £3 a model). I rather suspect that one factor motivating GW to change from using metal to plastic for their models is the fact that the longevity of metal and the ease of stripping paint off metal models allows the second hand sales of models to continue decades after their manufacture. 

It is always interesting to see the state of second hand models. The paintwork can be very good, but it is just as often laid on thick without the benefit of primer.  

I presume the the slotta base was a GW innovation from the 1980s.

I prepare the models by stripping the paint off using a solvent; then cleaning with a brush which usually removes any stray metal.  The metal tag is usually a poor fit for the slotta base and I usually bend the tag so that is a tight fit.  After adding superglue to the slot and allowing to set I fill the slot with some sort of filler to stabilize the model.

If I do come across a broken tag it is not too difficult to drill a hole up into at least one of the legs so a wire can be glued to the model to enable it to be fixed to a base. I see that some modellers do this for most of their models as this facilitates the holding of the models during painting and allows the use of scenic bases.

I don't push the model all the way in to the slot but have the boots of the model raised about 1mm above the base; or rest the feet of the model onto a piece of plastic about 1mm thick.  This is to allow the addition of texture onto the base without the model having the appearance of sinking into the base.  I do this by brushing polystyrene glue onto the base and then sprinkling on a mixture of different sizes of railway modelling ballast.  The weak glue allows the brushing off of any grit in the wrong place.  The ballast is fixed in place by dropping a 50:50 mixture of PVA glue and water from a syringe onto the base; the watered down glue will spread over the base.  I allow the glue to dry over night before spraying the model and base first with Halford's Grey Primer and then GW's Chaos Black and then Zandri Dust.