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| Blackheart WIP - Having washed the pirate's sword I picked out and painted his red loincloth |
Having played another couple of matches of “Guild Ball”
by “Steamforged Games Ltd” over the past weekend I’ve once again found my
enthusiasm for this violent fantasy-based sport, and spent some time
concentrating on my union team’s captain, Blackheart. This Pirate King actually
proved lethal during the first of my matches, where he almost single-handedly ‘murdered’
my opponent’s Mortician’s Guild. However, despite this player’s prowess on the
field I really don’t like the miniature at all, and have found my motivation
consistently sapped every time I try and paint the model. I have though managed
to not only finish painting his red loincloth and brown leather tunic. But also
his arms and sword.
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| Blackheart WIP - Having finished the arms and leather armour, my model was decapitated |
Unfortunately, many of these very expensive models have
some extremely delicate joins, and much to my utter frustration, my squad’s captain lost
his head. As a result I’ve taken some rather extreme measures to ensure it doesn’t
happen again by drilling out both his torso and his noggin’ and then pinning
the two parts together using a spare piece of metal. Hopefully this’ll ensure I
have no more mishaps. Although the model now needs some major ‘touch-ups’
having been badly scuffed whilst I was re-attaching his head.
Sadly Blackheart isn’t the only model to have come apart
since I glued my team together, as I have had to repair my tiny Greede
miniature as well; something which has only dampened my passion for this figure
range even more. Indeed I’ve spotted at least one blog where the gamer has
assembled some very nice-looking ‘proxy’ miniatures and am now starting to wish
I’d done something similar.
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| Decimate WIP - Slight and feminine, this model sports a wonderful billowy cloak |
Having just recently bought even more “Guild Ball”
miniatures though, I guess I’m now wholly committed to the official “Steamforged
Games Ltd” range. Certainly I think the company’s Decimate model is very nice,
if not a little fragile. Though I was rather unimpressed with this female
winger’s performance on the pitch.
I use the metal from paper clips to pin miniatures when needed. The thinner 'rod' of the clip is far easier to accommodate inside of a figure than the steel pins that companies sell as either pikes or flagpoles.
ReplyDeleteI do go for paper clips myself from time to time. But thought this head needed a nice big piece of metal to sit upon. Of course now its dry I have a lot of repainting to do with the mini...
DeleteThe more I see of these miniatures the more I can feel my resolve weakening. Mind you just hearing of your construction issues is enough to put me off. I find pinning difficult, but treated myself to some new drill bits and it makes a world of difference.
ReplyDeleteI think these are more fiddly than the "Knight Models" for "Batman", Michael. So if I had my time again I'd probably go for some "Reaper" proxies or something. However, some of them, like Rage and Decimate are really very nice indeed :-)
DeleteI second Roy's idea of using paperclips to pin miniatures. It is what I use when I need to ensure a joint stays secure. Also, as Michael says, good quality drill bits make the world of difference. I've been using the drill and pin technique quite a bit with my recent conversions of zombies for Zombicide.
ReplyDeleteCheers Bryan. I'm certainly thinking I need to invest more time in pinning these models together, as simply super-gluing them isn't working. Of course Greede's leg was so thin that its almost paper-clip thin anyway, so I've simply tried to make as much of the ball socket connect with the main torso as I can.
DeleteThey are very nice minis and off to a good start. Looking forward to seeing the finished team. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Pulp Citizen. Hopefully I should be able to finish Blackheart this weekend after something of a set back.
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ReplyDeleteI've drilled and pinned head swaps on 10mm Pendraken figures using a small drill bit in a pin vice before, using paper clips.
I found it's not so much the thickness of the miniature but the steadiness of the hand holding the drill and positioning the placement of the drill bit - as the things always slip and move from the point you want to drill!
The real gits are when you're using 0.5mm drill bits on Langton Miniatures boats. A complete waste of time in my opinion, as they tell you to drill out this tiny hole for threading the rigging through but you can never get the thread to go through the hole afterwards!
Some people use dremels to drill with, but I just use a manual pin vice so I've full control over the amount of depth drilled out.
I always use a tiny hand twist drill to get my starting point done and then go with the drilling proper. What I probably need though is a chuck which fits my electric drill and takes the smaller finer drills.
DeletePaperclips are totally the way to go Bk! Then you don't wreck your paintwork over and over.
ReplyDeleteCheer Bob. Yes. Methinks a smaller drill size is the way to go, though this model was always going to need a decent sized pole to glue the head onto.
DeleteSkip the electric drill. A handheld pin-vise is the way to go.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a particular one you use Finch?
DeletePardon me for butting in: I had to buy a new pin vice the other month, bought one through Amazon
Deletehttp://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001AEB6EE?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s01
and got sent an Army Painter pin vice, featuring 3 reversible collets and 5 drill bits. Works fine so far and fits my 0.5mm drill bits.
Cheers Roy. I'll have a look at that one.
DeleteMine is pretty ancient. No idea of the brand. Roy's suggestion looks about right. The swivel on top is meant to rest against the palm while drilling. MUCH easier to use than the swivel-less variety.
DeleteThanks Finch. I'll pick one up next time I order with Amazon.
DeleteNice work as always Simon, as far as the "pinning" advice goesI usually try to make one hole oversized (the one that is easiest to do so in, say the body on your figure) and then fill this with a little greenstuff before gluing the pin in the other piece (the head in this case) then if you then attach the head while the green stuff is still soft you can move the joint about to perfect the positioning of the piece in question. Just how I do it. I tend to use florist wire unless it is a two big pieces then I'll tend to use rivet mandrels (like the ones I sent you last year), but you do need a fairly substantial area to fit these into.
ReplyDeleteCheers Roger.
Thanks Roger. Much appreciated as always. I think my biggest problem is that I tend to hope the glue will hold as opposed to pinning the pieces together before I start painting. I think I've finally learnt my lesson with Blackheart though :-)
DeleteI think if we're honest we've all been guilty of that at some point!
ReplyDeleteLOL Roger :-)
DeleteGreat start mate. I pin everything I can these days theres nothing more crushing than accidental damage when painting. I had a similar problem with Pulp Cities Ace of Wraiths in fact I think the figure is jinxed as I've dropped him about 3 times!
ReplyDeleteCheers Simon. Definitely a lesson well-learnt (I hope!!). Certainly something I'll be doing with my Batman "Knight Models" once I start to put them together, having been inspired by you and Sir Awdry's postings :-)
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