What to do with heavy arms of Warmachine Warjacks with sockets?

[Tengumaster89]

Hi everyone,

I just recently bought a pin vice and have been doing my first pinning. I have had a lot of success pinning arms of Warjacks so far, but all of those I completed have the ball-type shoulders (Reckoner, Redeemer, Revenger). For those of you not familiar with the models their shoulders are large orbs and you position the arm wherever you like on those orbs, as the connecting area has a cup-like shape. I am now building a reckoner whose arms instead go into a socket-like part of the torso. I tried pinning them in but it doesn't seem to work as well with that shape of socket. Any Menoth players on here who remember what they did? Lots of glue just spills out of the socket and makes it ugly.

 

[Einion]

I am now building a reckoner whose arms instead go into a socket-like part of the torso. I tried pinning them in but it doesn't seem to work as well with that shape of socket.

I'm not sure I see the problem - pin sticks out of arm, hole is in socket, pin goes into hole, right?

What are these cast in BTW, white metal? If they're only resin or plastic you could probably get away withut having to pin.

Lots of glue just spills out of the socket and makes it ugly.

Use less glue ^__^

Einion

 

[Valander]

"Less is more" is really a good maxim to follow when using super glue. You'll actually get stronger bonds if you don't cover too much.

As for the ball-and-socket joints on the arms, they are fairly easily pinned. My suggestion would be to start with the pin in the socket, then figure out where you want the arm and drill the hole to line up with the pin. If you pin the ball first, it's a little harder to figure out where to get the pin in the socket to line up.

 

[Countersunk81]

Well, I've built a Castigator, which is a variant on the same chassis, so I know what you are are saying...

Basically, what you are looking to do is just make it so that any leverage applied to the arm won't instantly break it loose again.
To this end, drill and pin each part as normal, but NOT dead centre of each piece - if you do that the arm will just spin in the socket with the pin as a pivot point!
If you slightly off-set the holes, the actual socket will hold the arm in place, but the pin will actually stop the joint from being able to be twisted in the socket!

I hope that this makes sense. I have done this, and plan to do the same with my Reckoner. So far, after literally years of having the Castigator built and in use the arms have stayed solid

 

[Jbickley00]

Another approach, if pinning is difficult, would be to use a five minute expoy. This is more of a headache than pinning the mini, but i have used it pretty successfuly in place of awkward pins. Of course the above points make v. good sense too.

 

[Einion]

Basically, what you are looking to do is just make it so that any leverage applied to the arm won't instantly break it loose again.
To this end, drill and pin each part as normal, but NOT dead centre of each piece - if you do that the arm will just spin in the socket with the pin as a pivot point!
If you slightly off-set the holes, the actual socket will hold the arm in place, but the pin will actually stop the joint from being able to be twisted in the socket!

Good point.

Einion

 

[bronzeback40]

When i did my ball-socket jacks, I drilled for the pins and did the pinning in two parts.

1. Roll a bit of greenstuff. Add a touch of glue to one end of the pin, then roll a bit of greenstuff onto one end. Add glue to outside of greenstuff and insertinto shoulder. Remove excess glue and greestuff from outside of shoulder hole. Allow to cure overnight.

At this point, you will have a pin sticking out of the shoulder/ball joint.

2. Clip the pin so that the arm will stick on with the arm sitting flush against the ball/shoulder. add a touch of glue to the pin, wrpa a bit of greenstuff ( a small bit, just enough to cover half the remaining pin) then attach arm over pin. If you did this right (you probably won't the first time you try this), the arm will glue flush to the ball joint on the shoulder without GS sticking out of the join. Allow to cure overnight.

I did all my ball joint jacks like this. I had one drop 3' onto a hardwood floor. The only damage was a bit of chipped paint.

 

[Shawn R. L.]

I've done a bunch of Warmachine stuff and the ball socket joints have so much surface area that you shouldn't need to pin them.