Little Diversion... Assembly!
Well this is a Painting blog but for many figures you first need to work out the assembly long before you get to the painting. As with most of the other bloggers on here I’ve got a pretty heavy focus on Privateer Press figures recently. Just last week I got a new Shipment in from the Warstore and I set about to assemble the Skorne Cataphract Cetrati.
Privateer metallurgy is actually not the best. They do a pretty good job but sadly their “white metal” seems to be a bit more brittle than the competitors (particularly GW and Reaper, Rackham is an entirely different story with their lead figures). Now usually it doesn’t matter. But when working with Pole arms the metal matters a lot. And, of course, the Cetrati have pole arms. I’m tackling these the same way I tackled the last set of Privateer pole arms. By replacing the weapon shaft with 0.057” Music Wire. Stronger than brass rods this stuff is cheap and hard as hell. When I first started working with it I destroyed a pair of wire cutters on this stuff and I only got a minor scratch for my efforts. So now I saw it off with a cutting disk on my dremel and it works pretty well. I follow that up with a grinding wheel to get a flat smooth edge to maximize surface contact area for best adhesion.
There are numerous site out there that offer a lot of good info on replacing weapon shafts (most notably Brush Thralls) but once you’ve got the new shaft you have to cut out the pieces of the weapon and hands, then drill holes in them and re-assemble. A fairly time consuming process but one that results in a miniature that will not be wielding a broken spear in battle.
Jeff M. got me started in using JB Kwik Weld on my figures. This is a 2 part 4 minute epoxy intended for use on metal and stone, “dries” in 4 minutes and “cures” in 30 min. So now I’m “tacking” figures together with super glue, then going back and lining the grooves of the joint with this epoxy. The super glue holds plenty strong to ensure a stable joint while the epoxy cures. After the epoxy dries I can go back with an Exacto knife and cut away the excess. Or wait for it to cure and file/sand the excess away. So now I’ve got the joint filled and I’ve got extra adhesion power with the joint filler. This is working much better for me than trying to keep the joint stable in my caffeine deprived shaking hands for 4 minutes while the epoxy cures. And I’m hoping that I can cut out some time from pinning figures as I used to always do. For whatever reason figures just are not staying assembled for me with only superglue anymore.
Privateer metallurgy is actually not the best. They do a pretty good job but sadly their “white metal” seems to be a bit more brittle than the competitors (particularly GW and Reaper, Rackham is an entirely different story with their lead figures). Now usually it doesn’t matter. But when working with Pole arms the metal matters a lot. And, of course, the Cetrati have pole arms. I’m tackling these the same way I tackled the last set of Privateer pole arms. By replacing the weapon shaft with 0.057” Music Wire. Stronger than brass rods this stuff is cheap and hard as hell. When I first started working with it I destroyed a pair of wire cutters on this stuff and I only got a minor scratch for my efforts. So now I saw it off with a cutting disk on my dremel and it works pretty well. I follow that up with a grinding wheel to get a flat smooth edge to maximize surface contact area for best adhesion.
There are numerous site out there that offer a lot of good info on replacing weapon shafts (most notably Brush Thralls) but once you’ve got the new shaft you have to cut out the pieces of the weapon and hands, then drill holes in them and re-assemble. A fairly time consuming process but one that results in a miniature that will not be wielding a broken spear in battle.
Jeff M. got me started in using JB Kwik Weld on my figures. This is a 2 part 4 minute epoxy intended for use on metal and stone, “dries” in 4 minutes and “cures” in 30 min. So now I’m “tacking” figures together with super glue, then going back and lining the grooves of the joint with this epoxy. The super glue holds plenty strong to ensure a stable joint while the epoxy cures. After the epoxy dries I can go back with an Exacto knife and cut away the excess. Or wait for it to cure and file/sand the excess away. So now I’ve got the joint filled and I’ve got extra adhesion power with the joint filler. This is working much better for me than trying to keep the joint stable in my caffeine deprived shaking hands for 4 minutes while the epoxy cures. And I’m hoping that I can cut out some time from pinning figures as I used to always do. For whatever reason figures just are not staying assembled for me with only superglue anymore.
posted by Stahler77 at
9:56 AM
2 Comments:
This comment has been removed by the author.
By
Aaron, at 10:46 AM, April 17, 2007
In the case of the PPS minis, I find they are getting more and more sloppy with how they cut the master to fit into the mold. The new bloodtrackers have moldlines THROUGH THEIR HAIR. It is very frustrating. They tend to have fairly clean casts (little flash), but man, I don't think they plan very well at all.
By
Aaron, at 10:47 AM, April 17, 2007
Post a Comment
<< Home