Newbie..

[Moore]

I have several Warhammer kits and I am new to this side of the hobby.
I paint historical military miniatures.

I have this one I am putting together now... Canis Wolfborn
I would like to know a few things..

1. Does 5 minute epoxy hold this heavy metal together. Is it strong enough.

2. I want to put this on a base with some landscaping. Would I just drill a hole
up in the 3 legs on the wolf that are on the ground. Using maybe a small brass
rod ? I did this before on Cpt. Jeremiah Kraye's horse and broke the hoof off and
it is still laying in pieces in a tray. I might have used too big of a brass rod.

3. There are gaps when 2 parts join.. it's not a perfect or good fit. I assume I would
just use a filler like I fill my resin figures with .

These so far are my 2 favorite figures.... but can't get past assembly.

Any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks
Dee

 

[DarkStar]

Heya, I'll just answer to your points above.

1. 5 minute epoxy should work just fine. I've used tubes and tubes of the stuff in this hobby for all manner of assembly large and small. Just mix properly according to the directions.

2. Pinning the figure in that manner via a drill and pin technique is pretty much par for the course. You can combine that technique of pinning with epoxy glueing or super glue or any other specialty glue like Gorilla Glue and get a solid pairing between the figure and it's base with not much hassle. Just test fit your pieces and use a strong pinning rod, brass is fine. A pin vice comes in very handy when doing this. If you don't have one they're usually sold together with bits the size you'd need for minis online or at your hobby shop.

3. Gaps can be filled various ways. The techniques used in military modelling are the same here. Putty and two part epoxies are the most used fillers at this scale. I like Magic Sculpt but Green Stuff (Kneadatite) is most widely used overall by miniature hobbyists. Miliput is a good choice as well. If you use Green Stuff to fill gaps, you can smooth it down with a dental tool, metal spatula or clay shaper and vaseline or water. Then after it's set clean it with alcohol or soap and water to remove the residue if you used vaseline.

 

[Einion]

Does 5 minute epoxy hold this heavy metal together. Is it strong enough.

Could be, but you'd be safer to pin as well (same deal with any large or heavy parts).

I want to put this on a base with some landscaping. Would I just drill a hole up in the 3 legs on the wolf that are on the ground. Using maybe a small brass rod ? I did this before on Cpt. Jeremiah Kraye's horse and broke the hoof off and it is still laying in pieces in a tray. I might have used too big of a brass rod.

Try paperclip wire instead?

There are gaps when 2 parts join.. it's not a perfect or good fit. I assume I would just use a filler like I fill my resin figures with .

Filler or epoxy putty (e.g. MagicSculp). Epoxy putty allows for more intricate filling and resculpting of detail if needed. Stronger too.

Einion

 

[Moore]

Hi Einion.... I see your posts on TL and PF... thank you for your reply.. and yes it was Magic Sculp that you and Dark Star mentioned. I could not think of the name.

Dark Star... thank you also.. I guess you guys have reinforced to me that I am on the right track and similar to painting the military figures....

Pinning is not my strong suit.. but I will give it a try.

Thank you very much
Dee

 

[Einion]

Welcome. When you say you have problems with pinning, anything in particular? Pinning can seem a pain, but FWIW the more you do it the more routine it'll feel (versus how tedious it is early on!) and it is a simple process at heart. I think for smaller-scale stuff one of the main difficulties is in finding bits thin enough for things like joining a hand to a wrist.

I guess you guys have reinforced to me that I am on the right track and similar to painting the military figures....

Yeah, when it comes to building/construction there's really no difference in the theory. And some people paint historical and fantasy subjects exactly the same way too.

Einion

 

[Moore]

Hi Einion,

When I pin anything.. be it my military figures or fantasy... I can never get the hole lined up. I have been told to make it larger than the pin
so there is some room to move around. But I am not very successful. I was taught early on to pin just about everything. Then I see others
that don't pin at all and they have never had a figure fall apart.

I have another questions. On this Wolfborn... I have it all filled.. and I got to the head last night. There is very little surface to glue the head onto
the body. It kept falling off. I used the 5 min. epoxy, I tried super glue. Nothing. So my last resort was to try to pin it... could not.. the head is
hollow.. so not much material to drill into. So I decided to try to fill it with Magic Sculpt. I checked this a.m. and it seems to have a good hold on it.
BUT.. is Magic Sculpt just a filler ? My husband said. .if it's just a filler.. it will not hold. I was going to fill the 'cavity' with 5 min. epoxy.. but this
Magic Sculpt seems to be OK.

Thoughts anyone on what else I could have done or do I need to try to pull this off and use something else. I am thinking of long term.. will it hold.

Thanks
Dee

 

[freakinacage]

best way to pin and not have to worry about the holes:
drill first hole, then smooth some gs or blu tack (not thick) over the second surface. press the two bits together and there will be a little nub of putty where the hole is. drill through that et voilà!

 

[Einion]

When I pin anything.. be it my military figures or fantasy... I can never get the hole lined up. I have been told to make it larger than the pin so there is some room to move around. But I am not very successful. I was taught early on to pin just about everything.

For an arm joint for example I would drill the hole in the arm so the wire is a snug fit. There are some techniques to help get the second hole lined up properly (as in freakinacage's post above) which can work. But IME you won't get a perfect mating angle every time even with a trick like that, so then enlarge the hole in the shoulder because you need to.

When glueing, with a hole that's just a bit larger than the wire superglue is okay. But if there's a lot of play it's better to use epoxy.

Then I see others that don't pin at all and they have never had a figure fall apart.

Or at least so they tell us

It is just a security measure most of the time and not something you have to do, but I'd prefer to not take the chance - before I pinned I had parts fall off things during handling and moving and I've seen it happen with other people's work at shows quite a few times.

Same deal with cleaning castings: some people don't and some do, but there's no denying it's safer to clean before priming to ensure a good bond; again, I've seen the differences firsthand so I know it's not just a theoretical problem.

I have another questions. On this Wolfborn... I have it all filled.. and I got to the head last night. There is very little surface to glue the head onto the body. It kept falling off. I used the 5 min. epoxy, I tried super glue. Nothing.

Not sure what's going on with this, and I don't know the way the kit breaks down. But is there a possibility the underside of the head wasn't sitting flush with the bottom of the cavity? Either superglue or epoxy should be able to bond even a very tiny mating surface - like 1mm x1mm, or less. Epoxy of course takes longer to 'grab' but if both the body and the head were touching the glue it should have made a bond.

BUT.. is Magic Sculpt just a filler ? My husband said. .if it's just a filler.. it will not hold. I was going to fill the 'cavity' with 5 min. epoxy.. but this Magic Sculpt seems to be OK.

MagicSculp is an epoxy compound and it's very strong when properly cured. You could definitely use it to fill a hollow part and then drill into it for a wire if you wanted to.

Einion

 

[supervike]

best way to pin and not have to worry about the holes:
drill first hole, then smooth some gs or blu tack (not thick) over the second surface. press the two bits together and there will be a little nub of putty where the hole is. drill through that et voilà!

Frick! That's so simple....much better than my current method of cutting my finger on the pin, and seeing where the blood ends up....

 

[Moore]

Freakinacage.... thank you. I will try your method.

Einion.... thank you for going through all my questions. I have the head on.. and I filled it with Magic Sculpt. I didn't think about drilling into that. Shoot.
But.. I think it's secure.

The way the head mounted onto the body was.. there was his "fur" and I tried to file a very few spots flush.. but not very successful. So there was just
a very small "ledge" for the glue to hold onto. OK. .next one I will try all these tips. Will try both ways for arms or legs.
Maybe my epoxy was not mixed just right for it to secure the head...

I have learned a lot here from you guys... thank you so very much. Now I just have to see if I can paint the darn thing.

Thanks
Dee