Starting out. Part VIII

Well it's time for part eight. This is going to be a long one. Lots of pictures, assembling and painting. In addition most of the content for this post was done as part of a painting party that I hosted for members of the Slow Burn League. We are social creatures after all, and what better way to spend a Saturday than with friends and paint. Tips and opinions were shared by all. And pictures were taken. We can't forget the pictures.

I would like to take the time to mention on very important thing.
Read the warning labels on the materials that you are about to use. I do try to post warnings in a semi entertaining manner, but its always worth reading the warning label in case I missed something.

Now then where were we?
In part seven we finished up the base coat. Anything that will be red is red. Coal black for most of the metal parts and black for the remainder. At this point I am reminded of a question that i was asked last Wednesday. And is was this: How many coats of paint did you apply?
The number of coats in an average number are as follows.
KRB: 5
CB: 2
TBk: 1
You will notice that these are average numbers. However I also thin down my paint for ease of flow. Sometimes I add too much water. I hope that I managed to give the question a satisfactory answer. If you have any questions please ask in the comment section.
 So Are we ready to begin? Well you have been for over two weeks. Let's go.

While we were discussing this latest entry and warnings about glues and primer. The head of the Juggernaut snapped off. Thankfully I had some superglue on hand. And the following warning shot became possible.

It is a nice visual reminder of what Superglue was formulated to do.
So its time that we see the tools we will be using for the gluing of the models. I hope that it is not too redundant.

Glue is very useful when assembling a model. In this case i opted for super glue as I already have it on hand and it set withing 30 seconds.
Bear in mind, however, that cyanoacrilide based glues like ZAP-A-GAP will readily bond skin. As the previous image shows. If you end up with superglue on your fingers, just dip them in water for about ten seconds.






The other tool that I will use is a pair of tweezers.  They aren't necessary, but as they are made of stainless steel they can get a grip where your fingers can't. They are very useful for those stubborn pieces of masking tape.

I would also mention the hobby knife. However we already scored the parts before everything got sprayed with primer. And there wasn't any cleaning to get done. This is one of the very few projects where something like that happens. Now that I have introduced you to the tools for this part of the post I will move to reattaching the head of the Juggernaut. I probably should have pinned it to the body, but I am saving that for a later entry.
 So the first thing to do when trying to apply glue to a small area is to attach the pipette/ funnel cap that comes with some brands of glue. In my case it is ZAP-A-GAP and it is attached to the bottle by a plastic ring.

Once the smaller nozzle is attached to the bottle you can apply glue to a smaller surface with out the fear of spilling excess glue. The red arrows are kindly pointing out the nozzle and the area where glue is being applied. After that we attach the head. I also have the opportunity to change the direction that the head is facing, but I opt to keep it in the original position that I had chosen for it.

Now that the head is glued on we can move on to the Destroyer.

The Destroyer is, well, in pieces and taped up. And this is where the tweezers come in. As I have mentioned before, tweezers make it easier to grab the tape and remove it.
So to start things off I reach for the shoulder. I could have reached for any part but I grabbed the shoulder.

I tried to remove the tape with my fingers, but failing to get a grip on it. I grabbed my tweezers and use them to peel off the tape.

It takes some getting used to, but after a little while it becomes easy.

Sometimes you will need more than just the tweezers. Sometimes, the tape is stuck flush with the part. It is then that a hobby knife can come in useful. Should I post the warnings about sharp knives?

WARNING!!: Hobby knives are sharp and will cut you at the first opportunity presented to them. Use caution and have an Adult help you.

In the picture to the right you will notice that I am pushing the blade very carefully under the tape. this allows me to lift up the tape enough to be able to grab it with my tweezers and remove it.

And here are some more shots. As you will notice the tape has kept both the primer and paint off of the areas that we will use to bond to the arms.

And above is the torso. We will be using the same technique to remove the tape from all of the parts. Taking care to examine all of the pieces so as to remove all of the tape before we glue them together. Super glue can glue almost anything, especially skin. It also forms a strong bond albeit a bit brittle at times. I use that to my advantage and so should you. Now tape on the other hand, masking tape in fact, doesn't have the same hold. which is why we want to remove it before we put together the Destroyer.

One more Juggernaut?

This brings up an interesting question. What do you do with the tape? Well I save it for later, as I have more projects that are coming up and this blog will use them.
Now that all of the tape has been removed from the Destroyer we are ready to put it together.

Take the time to play around with various poses and pick the one that you like.
I am going to glue the legs to the waist. To do that I will add a dab of glue to the hips first.

And then I add the legs. Once done it should look a little like this.

It can even stand. If you pose it correctly the model will be balanced well enough to stand on its own without a base, but that is more an after thought than anything. That said I am going to attach the legs to the torso itself. But first I should glue on the head. It fell on the floor one too many times and its easier to attach it now than to have to maneuver it around limbs. The same procedure is used as reattaching the Juggernaut's head.

Take care to add just enough glue to the body. Too much and you will glue your fingers together.




It helps to listen to some music while doing this.

Now a little glue to the waist and we can glue it to the torso.

So now that the torso, waist, legs and head are a glued together I will glue the Axe hand to the arm.

This leads me to bounce back to the main body, as its time to attach the shoulders and eventually the arms. I already have a pose in mind for this model. One which is rather suitable to what it does in the game.

Now that the shoulders are in place I will add the arms and we will be ready to add the metal paint.

And now it is ready. Ready for action. Ready for more paint.

So now that both models are fully assembled it is time to get the paint. The Destroyer will need some touch ups with CB and TBk where the masked off areas are visible and after that we can just move on with getting the metallic paint on.

Sometimes you will need to touch up the paint.

 And now to introduce the next set of paints. Pig Iron, Cold Steel and Brass Balls. PI, CS (not to be confused with Adobe product line with the same initials) and BB respectively. I should have chosen to use a lighter metal than Cold Steel but that realization just hit me. (I actually used the Pig Iron and Brass Balls). This is also when I got to test out the Citadel detail brush that I mentioned earlier and to add to the complexity and fun at the same time. This next bit was done during a painting party. I think that I also mentioned that too. So I also get to write/ type about how fun it is to have friends over to paint with, share tips and share ideas.
And Since these are Warmachine Figs I wanted to add this:

Paint like you have a pair.

Look up page5.
Well that's it for now. I need to get some sleep and I am tired with arguing with my modem. Next post I will actually cover the metallic paints in depth and the Paint party.