Lockdown Hobby: Back to Basics Part 1: Assembly — Wayland Games Blog

As many sit grounded at home at the moment, some getting stuck into Board Games, some playing with LEGO and others tackling miniatures to clear the hobby backlog, what better time than now to put together a back-to-basics hobby article?

The aim of this series will be to guide you from assembly to all the way to paint. This will be a sprue-to-glue-to-blue type article (though other colours are available). Keep an eye out for smatterings of tips here and there, coming from this 25+ year veteran hobbyist!

Step One: Getting Models off the Sprue

Your models are on the sprue. They need to come off the sprue so you can assemble them. What do you need? A good pair of clippers. You want to look for a nice set of clippers with a straight edge; this will allow you to get the clippers as close the piece you are clipping as possible, cutting it carefully from the sprue.

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Time to stick this Necron Gaus Blaster Together, easy does it…

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Clip round bit by bit taking particular care of fragile thin bits.

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When it comes to small bits I use padding and keep my finger over it, time spent finding lost pieces is less time doing the good stuff!

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Et Voila!

AL'S TOP TIP! When cutting a small piece lean the sprue on something soft whilst clipping to reduce the chances of the piece rocketing off into a dark corner somewhere, never to be seen again, or eaten by the dog.

NEVER use a knife. The force you will need to apply to cut through the thick sprue can very easily cause injury if the knife slips - the lack of sensation in my left index finger bears testament to this. Do not learn the way I did.

Step Two: Cleaning up the Model

Now you have the parts you need off of the sprue it's time to slap some glue on and get this sucker assembled. Right? WRONG. First, you need to clean up the model. Though this step is technically optional and takes a little extra time and effort, it is well worth it. Even the most beautifully painted model in the world will look awful if there is a visible mould line or a great big lump of flash on it. Trust me on this one.

You can use a hobby knife to clean off any flash or burrs left from the sprue. Always cut away from yourself and use a sharp blade, a replacement blade is not expensive and much preferable to slicing bits of yourself off or getting blood all over a piece. Khorne may not care from where the blood flows, but you do, and your mum/wife/partner will too if it goes all over the carpet. Anyway, you can then use the side of the knife blade to clear up noticeable mould lines on the model.

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A Space Marine scout here, what’s that? A MOULD LINE? The Emperor would be most displeased….

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Fear not! A few passes with my trusty mould line remover tool…..

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And the mould line is gone! just need to do the top of the pad.

AL'S TOP TIP! Alternatively, you could, and should, get a mould line remover tool, these are brilliant as they take the mould line off without removing chunks of detail which is a real possibility when using a sharp blade.

Step Three: Assembling the Model

Pieces removed from the sprue, all cleaned up, ready to rock, right? Well, ALMOST.

Just before you commit to slathering on the glue and sticking it all together, do a quick test fit. A test fit will make sure all the pieces fit together OK - particularly important if the build has lots of parts. You could even use some tac-putty to see how the pose will look before you commit to glue. Once you are happy that everything goes together nicely, it's time to glue up.

So now, you have two choices of glue, Superglue and Plastic Glue and they work differently.

Superglue bonds the pieces together but they are still two very different pieces meaning you can break them apart if you need to. Superglue is dead easy to use; add superglue to one piece, join it to another, hold for a few seconds, and boom! Glued.

Just remember to keep the amount of superglue you use to a minimum as it's several times better at gluing skin together than it is plastic (after all that's what it was originally used for). Doing so will stop it from getting all over your fingers.

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Oh no! This half painted Scout’s hand has snapped off.

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Superglue to the rescue! Apply a bit to one side, making sure that the surface is clean.

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Again, hold the two pieces together firmly. The bond can take longer to form than plastic glue depending on how clean the contact between the pieces is.

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Job’s a good’un! You’ll be seeing more of this chap in the future…..

AL'S TOP TIP! Made a mistake? You can free the affected parts by putting them in the freezer - the sub-zero temperature will cause the superglue to become brittle. You will then be able to snap the pieces apart without too much difficulty (are these tips great or what?!).

Plastic glue (or Poly Cement) works by actually melting the plastic you apply it to. Because of this, it's entirely different to superglue and will ONLY work on plastic. Unlike superglue, it will not glue your fingers together; however, it will dissolve and melt detail on your models so once again use sparingly.

The way to use Plastic glue is to apply a bit to either side of the join, wait for a moment so it can start melting the plastic, and then press the pieces together and hold them until the bond has formed.

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With plastic glue you want to coat both sides, you don’t need a lot, just enough to coat the surfaces to be bonded.

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Plastic glue won’t bond your fingers but it will melt any plastic it touches so take care as you use it.

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Wait for a few moments for the solvent to work and then press the two parts together firmly. It will not take long at all for the bond to be formed.

AL'S TOP TIP! Made a mistake? Well, tough. My tip is NOT to make a mistake. Plastic glue provides a join as strong as the plastic itself. If you catch the mistake within 10 minutes (or so - actual time might be brand dependant), you should be able to pull the pieces apart, but you will have some damage on the joins. If you don't notice the mistake, and it’s fully bonded, then you will need to cut the parts apart carefully with a sharp knife or hobby saw. Plastic glue is forever, not just for Christmas, like a dog, just not quite as slobbery.

Congratulations! Your model is assembled. Note that sometimes you will have sub-assemblies for ease of painting, and depending on how much you care about getting to all parts of the model, you might want to leave things like arms off the figure till later. Your mileage may vary.

Still, you're on your way, on to the painting!