After some work I completed a prototype. A very crude prototype; but an okay proof of concept nonetheless.

I got a small scrap piece of wood to act as a backing block (because the base it’s self it only 0.8mm thick).

I took two hexagon shaped 3mm thick pieces of plywood into hexagon (pre-cut by Litko) cut them in half to make a little jig. I used super 77 to glue the pieces into place and a bit of tape just for good measure (because I was impatient and didn’t want to wait for the glue to dry).

Then I took another 3mm thick hex base (25mm across) measured and tapped where the holes should go. I ended up not drilling all of the whole as I didn’t feel a piece this size would stay together.

Then I made two hexagon demo bases from a 0.8 mm think piece of plywood. I didn’t have any laser-cut bases this thin - so I had to make my own by using a 3mm base as a template. A little sand paper and no problem.  *I will be buying these precut because DIY is a little too time intensive.

Next I shoved my  thin base and my template into the jig and drilled.

I used a 15/64" drill bit. this it not ideal (as you can see from the pictures) a drill bit is a bit too rough around the edges. unfortunately my local hardware store didn’t have a selection that went small enough in a hole saw; so, I will need to order one to do this “for-reals.” Also 15/54s is about perfect in size and just a hair (0.05mm) smaller than the target 6mm.

Once I drilled out my demo bases, in a pattern I liked, I sanded the jaggies and put a laser-cut piece of self-adhesive magnetic sheet.

Lastly, put the models in the holes and tada!  Bugs on hex-bases.

The base thickness is pretty good; they could be a hair thicker but I like the models to be flush even though after adding texture to the base it might not matter too much.

At least now I know how I’m going to base my Tyranids…