Pinning Miniature Models Tutorial

So I've had this baggie full of little Termagants who were all broken off at the toe... because they are the ones that were balanced on just one of their toes and have a tendency to break off at inopportune moments. So, grabbing some wire, a dremel tool, my trusty eye protectors, and some other stuff, I proceeded to set them all back together. Hopefully I did so in such a way that they won't fall apart again soon.

Please keep in mind that some glues are toxic and should have adult supervision. Also, wire shrapnel is bad for your eyes. Please always wear eye protection when working with metal cutters and files.

Materials Needed: 

Thin wire
Miniatures to fix

Two part Epoxy (plastic glue will not hold to the metal, and super glue isn't great for long term hold)

Tools Needed:

Dremel with tiny cutting bit or drill with very small bit
Wire Cutters
Needle Nose Pliars
Toothpicks
Paper towels
Eye protection

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Take a look at your broken miniature.

Look at how it's supposed to attach. In my case, it was the toe of the termagant to the base. Other cases may be models that have broken off at the arm, leg, or head. The principle is the same for metal and plastic. We are going to make it so this bugger doesn't fall off again!

Look carefully, you may need to bend your wire (before you cut it!), to make it fit the shape of the limb you are attaching. I drill a little bit at a time, then insert the (uncut) wire, pull it out, drill again, until I feel the wire will hold well when the glue has dried.

Before cutting your wire:

Drill both pieces
Bend wire carefully if needed

When cutting your wire, make sure you are wearing eye protection of some kind, as the pieces are likely to go flying. (Having to get an eye X-Ray before getting an MRI because I took metal shop when I was younger makes for a bit of a hassle - not to mention the idea of metal slivers being pulled out of my eyes at high speed to due high strength magnetism sounds horrid!) To minimize the risk of this, hold your fingertip to the end of the wire, pressing it firmly to the table. Then trim it to the desired length. Make sure your finger isn't near the wire cutters!

Okay! We are going to mix some epoxy. Pull out your paper towel. Fold it in half a couple of times, so the epoxy doesn't soak through it. Make sure you have toothpicks nearby as well as the parts of the minis you are fixing.

At this point, you should have:

Two drilled minis parts
A very short length of wire
Your work area prepped

Mix a less-than-dime sized amount of epoxy and hardener with a toothpick. Take the body of your mini, and apply the epoxy to the hole you drilled. It doesn't really need to get inside the hole, inserting the wire will do that for you. When you feel like you have enough (which really is not a lot), insert the wire you cut previously. Wait for it to dry (if you model is going to be at an awkward angle while drying.

If it's vertical, and you aren't worried about it's balance while drying, go ahead and apply the epoxy to the other hole, and stand the model on it. Use your toothpick to smooth out the epoxy so it looks good on the model. Let dry.

Once your main body wire is set, mix another set of epoxy, and apply it to the base/head/arm, etc. Insert the now dry body wire, and prop it up so it dries correctly.

Notes:

You can do multiple models in this manner if you have an hour or so to do it in. Doing one model doesn't take nearly as long. You can drill them all, line them up, measure and attach all the wires as a set, then wait for them to dry, mix some more epoxy and do the attaching (this is what I did).

Make sure you have enough room, light, and extra toothpicks/paper towels.

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And we are done! Happy Modding!

-Mad Doc Kala

Gaming Swap Meet

Yesterday, John and I went to the Great Escape Games gaming swap meet in Sacramento. They have a great venue for gaming, and lots and lots of space. I highly recommend them if you are in the area.

I picked up a huge quantity of neat bases from Secret Weapon Miniatures that hadn't passed their quality assurance tests (they are amazingly rigorous in their QA, by the way). They were very cheap, and I enjoyed talking to their VP who was there manning the booth.

They were $0.10 to $2.00 each!

I ended up talking with him for a while, talking about the pros and cons of some of their design choices. It was a rather interesting discussion. If you want to stop by their blog, here is the link.

We also some some very well painted Tyranids in a very rich brown scheme (sorry, I didn't take a picture, I appreciated the art too much!) and some very interesting design ideas for some other Tyranids. I saw some Zoanthropes with Warrior heads and back fins that looked very cool, and some other 'nids that were painted to look like the Aliens from AVP which were black with neon green ichor.

I also picked up another box of Mawloc parts because it was untouched and on sale for 35% off. Who doesn't need more monstrous creature parts, after all?

Happy Modding!

-Mad Doc Kala

Terrain thoughts

Since picking up the materials for working on terrain I've been working on a couple of things.

I've been sketching out some ideas for the doorway that will be in the building. So far I've really liked the second one I've been making. I think it fits the theme for the building better than the other two. I will see if I can get a picture up of the sketch at some point.


I've been using the curtain grommets. I've cut them in half with the dremel tool. After that I've cut toothpicks in half, then used the glue gun to insert them into the hollow ends of the half circles. Then I glued the rings themselves together. The idea with this is to create tiered rings that go up the sides of the building. I want to see if I can get them to look like they are flowing with energy, to make the building look more sci-fi. We shall see how it works out.

Grommets on a dark background.

Grommets on a white background.

Happy Modding!

-Mad Doc Kala

Completed Hive Guard Tutorial!

Completed Hive Guard Brood

So, I just finished adding all of the pictures to the Hive Guard Tutorial. Here is the link!

Hive Guard Tutorial

I think it turned out pretty well. I'm missing a few shots that I would have liked simply because the pictures turned out horrid. My apologies. I think I got all of the critical shots, however.

In the process of fixing up the photos, I discovered that I had also documented making rending claws from miscellaneous sprue because it turned out I had none for the third Hive Guard I was making. So hopefully I'll be able to put up a tutorial on that soon, as well.

Happy Modding!

-Mad Doc Kala

Picked up materials

In other news... I picked up materials so I can start working on some terrain for 40k. I currently have:

- A large stock of cardboard boxes
- Styrofoam pieces in interesting configurations
- Aluminum Cans, etc

Stuff I picked up:

- Basic craft glue in large quantity
- 1 1/4 inch plastic grommets (usually for making shower curtains) (x 16 - 2 packets)
- 3/16 x 3 x 36 inch balsa wood
- Clay (air dry variety)
- Glue gun
- 100 pack of glue gun sticks

DAS Modeling Clay

Sobo all purpose glue

 DAS modeling clay is nice because it air dries, so you can put it over things that can't go in the oven (although it's probably not a good idea to put a thick layer over something rigid, it might crack).

I picked up Sobo for cardboard, etc.

The general idea will be to use the two pieces of Styrofoam to make buildings, aluminum cans to make tanks on the roof, or on the the flat terrain near the outside of the building (depending on what looks better at the time), the balsa wood will be used to make an inset door in one side, and maybe bunker windows (depending on how ambitious I am feeling). The cardboard will be the base, and other miscellaneous parts I need.  The rings are to give some protrusions on the outside of the building a Sci-Fi feel. The clay will coat the Styrofoam so it will be less damageable. I don't know if I will need the hot glue gun for this project, but I foresee my need for it in the immediate future.

I'll throw some pictures up here eventually and show progress and whatnot.

Cheers!

-Mad Doc Kala

Hive Guard Tutorial Written!

Okay! I have finished writing out the Hive Guard tutorial. I have pictures, but I have not edited them yet. They will come later. I figured I'd at least get the written tutorial up.

Here is the link:
Hive Guard Tutorial

More to follow.

Happy Modding!

-Mad Doc Kala