Assembly - Holy *&%^&^% ! Really? Holy hell.

[erc1971]

Arrived today...

I sat down and pulled out the model trees and decided to try and put together a few models tonight.

An hour later I have 2 pieces glued together and am at a total standstill. Really, this is freaking totally impossible.

Is each model even a single tree, or does a single model have parts scattered across multiple trees?

Are there any tutorial videos out there, cause without any help, this product is totally useless to me.

Eric

[LtPebbles]

Assuming by tree you mean the sprue, each sprue contains all the parts needed to build that model or models.

The VF guardians and fighters are single model sprues.

Most of the other sprues make two models.

The Battlepod sprue makes three models. Start there. They are the easiest to build.

There are some assembly videos on YouTube. This guy is doing some:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC43ilTrw-k

It seems really overwhelming when you first start, but gets down to only overwhelming as you finish a few of them. Towards the end, I was cursing the model designers less and less frequently. Only when the tiny small pieces would drop on the ground (say once an hour or so) would I actually curse out loud. I internalized the pain most of the time.

After finishing my Battle Cry, I still think there were too many pieces, and some of the models have really bad hips. The connections between leg and torso are just plain terrible on the destroids and Glaug. The 90° leg for the Battloid was not a good decision, but you can chop it up at the knee and glue it into a better shape.

In my opinion, they are neat models, but as gaming miniatures they leave something to be desired.

[Grabula]

Eric, take your time, use the assembly guides they give you for reference. There are a few inaccuracies ( I can only think of a couple on the scout regult) but overall they get you where you need to go. It took me about an 2 hours to assemble my first 3 regult pods but after that I got it down to about an hour for 3. The models that took me the longest were the Battloid modes but even those really only took a couple of hours for 2-3 and that was mostly setting time for glue.

They are a little complex for gaming models but they're not as bad as they at first appear to be.

[erc1971]

I am done with this game. I put several more hours into it tonight and glued 10 pieces together after combing the pieces over and over again until my eyes started bugging out - not even enough for a complete mech. Not even sure I am gluing the correct pieces together, so I might end up 20 hours down the road realizing I have just ruined the game by assembling them wrong.

This is what is needed ASAP...instructions that label each piece (A, B, C, AA, AB, AC, AD, etc.) - then a picture of the spruces (I called them trees) that tells which piece is A, B, C, etc.

Very disappointed

Eric

[GaiusHarlock]

I feel your pain Eric, but I plan to soldier on and slowly put them all together.... I really want to be able to play this game and for that I need to get the models together I completed my 5 Valkyrie in Fighter Jet mode (no ordinance) and am now trying to figure out the Guardian Mode.... then Battleoid... by the time I get to the Zentradi half I should be ok

[GaiusHarlock]

I agree, I wish they had given me a key to figure out what parts go where... but I am having small moments of I get it now as I look at the parts and diagrams together..... slow going but they are starting to come together

[jdarr5000]

oddly i find assembling the zentradi battle pods the easiest item to put together of it all.

[Jerell]

I put my first VF-1 together without even looking at the instructions. I'll probably glance at them before I give the pods a go, but it seems straight forward so far. It's a snap.

[Sakieh]

It takes me an hour to assemble any miniature. That includes cleaning.

What you need to do is, first, know what it is supposed to look like. Then you pick the
pieces for one model from the sprue, clip them and put them to the side. Then, you clean
them. Legs are legs. They have pegs that go into the hips, and only one way they can go
if you do those pegs. For the guardian mode on the valkyries, I have found that you need
to trim the top of the tab that goes into the slot on the bod a little(and sometimes, you
need to trim the slot.)

But, the easiest way to do things is: legs, hip assembly, arms, first, then torso. I believe
the OP might be running into trouble with the destroids, as the Tomahawk has something
like 6 pieces for the torso.

But, really, if you know what it is supposed to look like, and you are patient, calm, and take
your time, everything should be just fine. If this your first miniatures wargame, then..this
is going to be rough, as these are not done in a way that many others would set them up.
There are no numbers or letters on the sprues, and you will have to go by what the pieces
look like. However, that is just like when you were younger and trying to assemble Robotech
models from japanese instructions.

Also, if you think assembly is bad, wait until you get to painting! (I have learned that you
want to leave the legs and hips unconnected from the body, and the arms on the Phalanx
unattached until you have finished painting, as there are spots you cannot get to on them
if they are all assembled). Do you know about thinning paint? Using 3 shades of the same
colour and a wet pallete to do shading?

[Jerell]

However, that is just like when you were younger and trying to assemble Robotech
models from japanese instructions.

You know it. Talk about nostalgia.

[Gogal]

Funny thing about these models, I find the instructions WORSE than the actual kits. I have built quite a number of kits, but the instructions are the worst part of these.
Eric, I found the best thing to do is sit down with a picture of what the finished kit SHOULD look like and go backwards. I started with the Valkyrie Battroid (extra one from box) and muttled through in about an hour (and I used to build models). A horrible thing is that the parts aren't numbered, I recommend putting sub assemblies together (the legs, the forearms, torso, lower body) then decide on pose, then start gluing things together. I got SO frustrated with the instructions and the lack of numbered parts. Now, I found the destroids such a better place to start than the Valkyries. After building one, I was able to pop 8 in about 2 hours.
Stick with it.

[wilycoyote]

Thankfully - albeit too late for me - the assembly instructions that we really should have got with the kits are now all available on Drive tHru RPG