The Warhammer Models Thread III: A Brush With Death

[Lady Serpentine]

Weight the base with something (i use pennies) then drill through the weight and pin the legs to the base.

Worked for my running Deathjack (only one leg on the ground, that was a pain to balance.)

DM

Hm. Possibly. Though the bits I'm using as legs are rather thin to pin, if I'm understanding you correctly...

@Tychris:

1. Perhaps. Though given that they weren't so great at fitting the first time, I think I'll leave that as a last resort, since I really don't want to have to chip the superglue out of it and then try to get everything right again.

2. I'll look into what the local game stores have along those lines, or if nothing else, try to build a wall or some such. I'm not sure if it can be hanging onto anything, but that sounds like a good option if I can get something that works with this.

3. The closest I have to that is a dremel. So that option is out, I think.

On the bipedal look, it's got a very 'Alien meets steampunk' vibe to it. If I can track down a working camera, I'll see about posting some pictures.

[Cheesegear]

Imperial Fists' Shrike

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Deathwatch Salamander

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Yellow isn't even hard.

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[Mystic Muse]

I've got some fake grass that I was hoping to gover the bases of my minis with, and was wondering what the best way to do that is. I know there's got to be a way to do it, I'm just not sure how.

[Turcano]

I've got some fake grass that I was hoping to gover the bases of my minis with, and was wondering what the best way to do that is. I know there's got to be a way to do it, I'm just not sure how.

Well, the best way to use static grass is with an applicator that adds static electricity to the static grass, which makes it stand upright in the glue. The cheapest one I know of costs around 40 bucks.

[Mystic Muse]

Well, the best way to use static grass is with an applicator that adds static electricity to the static grass, which makes it stand upright in the glue. The cheapest one I know of costs around 40 bucks.

Actually, the glue part is what I was talking about. I'm not sure what to use to glue the grass to the base.

[Penguinizer]

Most people I know just use standard pva glue. I mainly tend to just put glue on the area I intend to put the grass on, put grass on it and then blow on the mini so the excess grass falls off. I think it also raises up the grass a bit. It's a tad messy though.

[Mystic Muse]

I've got a Tyranid Hive Tyrant/Swarmlord coming in the mail tomorrow. Does anybody know what size magnets I should use in order to magnetize it?

[Squark]

Another magnetizing question; Does anyone have any recommendations for magnetizing a Wolf Guard Terminator squad (mainly the heavy weapons guy, so he can be a CML, Heavy Flamer, or Assault Cannon)? And what about magnetizing a Necron Death Ray/Portal? The latter almost sticks inside without any glue or magnets, so it probably just needs one small one; I'll have pictures of the area up later today.

[Mattarias, King.]

Hey guys. I had given up on miniaures for a while now, but then the scourge, Hootman, gave me these fancy new Daemons made of... PLASTIC, of all things! And, the worst part is? They come in separate pieces!!! What sorcery is this?! I can... What's the word... POSE them!

..So... Yeah. o_o Currently trying to get used to these "models" made from this strange grey stuff that previously only tanks came in...

I saw their raptor-like legs, and instantly thought of making them more reptilian. Here's a mockup:

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Any thoughts? I'm thinking of modifying their faces (possibly by melting them a bit) to make them more stretched out and lizardy. But I don't know if that would work..

[Penguinizer]

I finally managed to finish painting my Decimator. I think it's actually the best model I've managed to paint. Now that I more or less have my entire army painted I feel like I can put more effort into single models as well as touching up the minis I painted in a rush to get things finished.

I apologize for the low quality picture:

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The front:


The back:


The left side:


The right side:

[Mattarias, King.]

I finally managed to finish painting my Decimator. -snip-

...Dude. That... Is awesome.


....I'm sorry, the only other thing I can say is how amused I am at seeing "Here's to your health!" In the background of this ferocious chaos-fueled killing machine.

[CreganTur]

3.2mm disk magnets are the smallest I have found that work well for magnetizing pieces. Magcraft is a brand name you can search for.

[TheSummoner]

Question since we're talking about magnets now.

I looked at the Magcraft magnets... What size would you reccomend for magnitizing bases for Fantasy? I was looking at the 1/4 in. diameter and 1/8 in. diameter ones (both are 1/16 in. thick) in particular, but I'm not sure which would be better...

Obviously they've got to hold well, I just don't want them to be so strong they pull the glue off the models. (they have 1.4lb and .7lb pull force respectively if that means anything to you). Does anyone whose done this before have any input?

[CreganTur]

If you're talking about magnetizing the base to something like an infantry tray, then you can go as simple as the adhesive backed magnetic sheets, which are really cheap.

If you're planning on doing something crazier, then an 1/8" diameter magnet is strong enough to hold a standard 32mm mini. If you have a big hunk of lead you'd need a bigger magnet, though.

[TheSummoner]

Just going to be magnetizing the bases to the movement trays. Magnet glued to the bottom of the base. Thin piece of steel glued to the tray itself. Don't really need the trays I suppose, but I already have them and I figure it'd look nicer.

~$10 for 100 magnets seems cheap enough to me and I'd imagine I could get them to stick better to the base than if I used a magnetic sheet... So the 1/8th should work then? Not too weak not too strong?

[thereaper]

So, do you guys prefer spray-priming your models or painting on the primer?

[Albub]

Hey guys,

I'm planning on putting my autarch on a jetbike and planting him in a unit of Shining spears, and I'm really at an impasse regarding how I get him on the bike. I don't wanna hack apart my lovely resin model until I know he will come through the other side looking ok. I was thinking using a set of guardian legs but I'm worried it will make what's left of his cape look very strange. Any suggestions?

[Eldan]

Isn't there already an "Autarch on Jetbike" model?

[Mystic Muse]

So, do you guys prefer spray-priming your models or painting on the primer?

I've never seen painting on primer in any of the gaming stores I go to, so I spray-prime. Lately I've been using black armory primer, though it doesn't work that well on metal minis. Works awesome on plastic, but not on metal.

[thereaper]

I ended up going ahead and trying to paint on my primer instead of spraying it, and it's working wonders for me. For some reason, I always end up using too much spray primer.

[thedavo]

I know I'm massively late to this, but why all the hate about Finecast? I just picked up Abaddon for my Chaos army and got him assembled in minutes. As a long-standing Ork player, the amount of pinning and re-pinning I've had to do of my metal Dreds and Kans is ridiculous, not to mention the massive pain in the backside that is the metal Zagstrukk model.

[Squark]

1) GW raised prices after taking a cost saving measure.

2) The real issue, though, is problems with the minis themselves. Wave 1 had no quality control whatsoever- Here's a couple of the worst examples; Bubbles everywhere, and getting the flash off tended to damage the model because the resin was so soft. Later waves used chemicals to keep the model from sticking to the mold- which kept paint from sticking to the model as well (Granted, there's soap and water for that, but it annoys people even more).

Generally speaking, most finecast models tend to require one or more touch-ups- My Arjac mini, for instance, had a huge bubble on the hammerhead that needed to be filled in, and the anvil and power line to the hammer also had damage.

[Zorg]

If you only watch one painting tutorial on youtube, make it this one.

[HalfTangible]

1) GW raised prices after taking a cost saving measure.

In fairness, according to an open letter to GW, this was a matter of poor timing for said cost-saving measure since prices usually went up around then anyway.

According to the letter. Personally i find it odd that a company would increase it's own prices every july.

2) The real issue, though, is problems with the minis themselves. Wave 1 had no quality control whatsoever- Here's a couple of the worst examples; Bubbles everywhere, and getting the flash off tended to damage the model because the resin was so soft. Later waves used chemicals to keep the model from sticking to the mold- which kept paint from sticking to the model as well (Granted, there's soap and water for that, but it annoys people even more).

Generally speaking, most finecast models tend to require one or more touch-ups- My Arjac mini, for instance, had a huge bubble on the hammerhead that needed to be filled in, and the anvil and power line to the hammer also had damage.

It's bloody annoying to open a model and find that the chainsword is friggen warped. (especially when people keep telling you that Vanguard Veterans are craptastic)

[thedavo]

In fairness, according to an open letter to GW, this was a matter of poor timing for said cost-saving measure since prices usually went up around then anyway.

According to the letter. Personally i find it odd that a company would increase it's own prices every july.

July is an odd time to have your annual price increase, however, it may just be how their financial year plots out.

Happens all the time in the (admittedly high end) consumer audio/visual industry - a lot of the suppliers I deal with at work raise their prices by 5-10% annually on current models which they aren't planning on replacing in the immediate future, or when the new version of the product comes out it's normally 5-15% more expensive than the outgoing model. This happens with anyone; smaller manufacturers (like Cyrus), right up to the behemoths of the AV industry like Yamaha and Onkyo. At my previous employer, when I started working there, the average home cinema receiver we sold was around £300-350. By the time I left after seven and a half years, it was normally around £500-600.

As a luxury product, GW obviously feel they need to do the same, to take into account (supposed) increased materials and labour costs, and inflation.

[mistformsquirrl]

Alrighty, I've begun working on my army in earnest - starting with one of the 2 Arctodus-class tanks >.> Soon as I can dig up some batteries for the camera I'll post a picture of the WIP tank.

For being a first time kitbash effort of a novice modeller, I think it's turning out quite well!

[mistformsquirrl]

Okay, here we go!

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These are taken with the superstructure of a Leman Russ for size comparison. Like I said, this is a first time trying something like this - first time in ages doing a vehicle of any kind, and my first attempt at scratchbuilding/kitbashing.

This is of course just the beginning - after I finish the other side and fill the small gaps near the rear, I'm going to start working on the tracks and suspension. I'm going to start out using the King Tiger's suspension, but then beef up the tracks with plasticard so they're both thicker and wider - that way they'll look like the kind of thing you'd see running across snow and ice.

I'm hoping I can keep the turret free of obstruction... it'd be nice to have it be traversable when all is said and done <._.> but we'll see how it goes.

[Forrestfire]

Seeing mistformsquirrl's post made me want to share the scratchbuild I'm currently working on.

I found some templates for a papercraft land raider, and decided to try to make my own version of a model that I've always loved, but has always been out of my price range: the Land Raider Achilles.

I've only just started, but I'm currently working on the basic structure of the tank, before going into detailing:

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I had started it out as a normal land raider before deciding to make it an achilles, and made the base out of foam board and foam sheets:


Then I used some cardstock and paper, and green stuff to make the superstructure of the main body of the tank:

[mistformsquirrl]

Shaping up nicely Forrestfire <^_^>b Can't wait to see it finished.

[mistformsquirrl]

Update on the tank in progress -

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So yeah, still progressing. Suspension is there, still need to do the roadwheels and tracks though. I've also got some gaps to fill on the sides and rear yet, and the front will be getting a new (better) lower glacis plate. I've decided the turret will be the absolute last thing I build.

Also included a picture of the body of one of my infantry - still waiting on those blasted helmets so I can start on them.