Starting out. part II

So this is Starting out round two. Or episode two.
Previously in this blog I gave a quick overview on the tools and setup necessary for painting miniatures. Then I moved on to cover the convenience of starter sets and a quick plug for Privateer Press. Both for their miniatures lines and their P3 line of tools and paints. The latter of which I prefer above other lines.
Before I get started, I would like to introduce you to Bill. Bill is the local Press Ganger and the generalissimo of the Dragonslayer slow grow league. I call it the Slowburn league.
Now then. You got your miniatures. I presume the plastic starter set for your faction. If you got a metal set don't worry as I will be covering metal miniatures soon.
For this post I will cover the cleaning of the Juggernaut. I would try to hurry things along. However, I require the aid of Cat (pictured in previous post) to take the pictures that make this blog a little more interesting to read. Hopefully I will even post videos, but that requires a lot more effort and a video camera. I am working on it.
Now then technical and technological rants aside lets get to cleaning that Juggernaut.
I assume you bought that Khador Starter set. If not, no worries, the cleaning procedures still apply. For this session we will need the following tools:

• Pen knife or scalpel. Possibly X-acto, but that is up to you. I cant say this enough. Be CAREFUL with these knives!!! The blades are very, very, very sharp. And for that reason they can cut you without causing pain. I would hate for someone to bleed to death ( I am exaggerating. I hope).
• Files. For plastics I recommend steel cut files. brand is unimportant. Though I had good experience with the Testors Modelmasters set. Very versatile and good on plastics and metal.
• And of course the unsung hero of modelers, painters and electricians. Clippers also known as wire snips or cutters. The P3 ones I recommend as they can cut through brass rod. I haven't tested them on paper clips yet. (Paper clips are a good way to find out if you bought a good set of clippers. Considering how much they cost I always recommend buying a set that can cut through a paper clip with ease.) And the warning: Be very CAREFUL with these. This tool is both a cut and pinch hazard. Not only that, but the parts that you are clipping off can fly at unexpected velocities and cause serious injury. Like poking an eye out.
  

So these were the tools. Lets try to use them eh? Well. Ok, but first I want to introduce you to what it is that we are trying to cut, clip and file away along with an explanation as to why its important.





Sorry the clippers are trying to clip. ( Computer graphics humor.No? )

And here is our first model the Juggernaut:As you can see our Juggernaut is straight out of the box and in pieces. That and there are these ridges that seem to run across the pieces and the main body also has knob sticking out of it.
A brief explanation: The ridges are called mould lines. They appear where the two halves (in the case of a two part mould. Some mould have more parts) come together and are caused when material leaks out or is squeezed through. In metal miniatures this is because of the centrifugal force exerted on the metal during the spin casting process. In plastics and resins its because of the pressure of the injection casting process. Thermoplastics as i believe the case is here are cast like metal. The knob i mentioned earlier is either the main feed to the part or an extra large vent. More than likely its part of the feed that allows the mould cavity to be filled with the casting material. in the case of metal miniatures you will more than likely find the metal that got into the vents. these were cut into the mould to allow for air to escape the cavities.

Now lets start clipping our way to a clean model.
First we need to use the clippers for the feeds and any large amount of flash that needs to be removed. You can use a knife instead, but trust my experience on this. Clippers make the process go faster.

Flash: What is it? Well most of us currently recognize it as a web development tool by Adobe. In the case of miniatures it is the material that is not a part of the model that you are working on. It's presence is a byproduct of the manufacturing process and can be used to gauge the skill of a caster. The more skilled a caster the less flash the model has. Speaking from personal experience we have ways to reduce flash. Flash for the purposes of this blog includes vents, metal the sticks out along the mould line and feeds. I will show you more examples in the future.

Now that we have clipped the Feed off. Lets clean it up a bit with the knife to level the part and ready it for smoothing with a file.It's worth mentioning that my methods were learned from articles that I have read and questions that i have asked professional painters. Painters such as the studio pros at Privateer Press and some of the painting competition winners.
As an aside you should check out McVei studios, and read Mike's blog. He is a really cool guy, I even got to ask him some questions which he was very gracious in answering. I will add the link to Studio McVei soon. I will be on the side of the blog with the other links.
Moving along.
Now we go to filing the pieces. Although in some cases it is more expedient to use the knife. The following pictures illustrate what I did.

Hint: If you bought a large pack of files. (Not a bad idea. Really!) You will have various shapes and sizes. To make things easier for you and not take up too much space I will just give you the general principles involved. Use large flat files for smoothing large flat areas of a model. This will usually be the feet or flat parts that need to be joined. The round files are useful for cleaning the curved sections of a model. Believe me when I say this, you will use most of your files. the small square and triangular files get into places that the larger files can't fit in. Using the large files where possible will save you a lot of time.

Cleaning the boiler. (pictured below) Was quite a challenge. There were more mould lines than I thought necessary and they also intersected. For extra difficulty the boiler also has a lot of rivets and fine detail that looks like small tubes/ steam pipes. In a way it does make me wish that I was working on a metal model.

Cleaning the legs requires a combination of files and a sharp, but blood thirsty knife. I didn't cut myself, thankfully, the blade was still sharp though.

There is Sharp and there is very very sharp. In my personal experience I have found that it is best to use very very sharp blades. A cut heals faster if it was caused by a very sharp blade than a dull one. Needless to say it is best to avoid getting cut even if it means that you have to keep a vial of animal blood handy to keep your knife happy.

The rest pf the parts were a variation on a theme.

In the case of the Frost axe and the left hand i just need to use the knife. the arms themselves were easy as well. and the head barely needed any work. In short it was all down to cutting down the bit where the part was fed and smoothing and "polishing" the rest. The knuckles were a bit troublesome as it is a plastic modes and thus soft compared to a metal piece.

A shot of the pieces all cleaned up. Well with the excess material removed.
Next episode:
I will be covering posing for the Juggernaut and also explain what the sticky tack is for.

PS
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