How to prepare Robotech Miniatures for painting
Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 11:45 am
Well its looking like we are only a few weeks away from seeing the first shipments of Robotech RPG Tactics arriving on our doorsteps. Therefore its time to start thinking about actually putting together this huge box of plastic bits. Now I'm not going to insult the lot of you by telling you what superglue is. Or explaining how to hold a hobby knife so you don't cut yourself. You know these things, and if you don't experience is a better teacher than I am. No worries though I hear gamer chicks dig guys with less than ten fingers!
Now I know some of you are just going to slap these together so you can get straight to the gaming table. But I am going to assume that the reason your putting everything together is to prepare these mecha for being painted to the best of your ability. So to that end there are some things you are going to want to be aware of. First and foremost these miniatures come in a lot of piece. This makes them a tad more intimidating to assemble than your average space marine. But don't let that dissuade you. However not only are there many pieces but a few of the UEF Mecha have some insanely small bits. In their quest for perfect detail Palladium made several design decisions that resulted in over detailing. From a modeling point of view this is wonderful, but from a gamer point of view this is beyond annoying when that piece that's 1.5 millimeters across goes flying across the room and your crawling across the floor looking for it. The bottom line is be aware that cutting these tiny pieces loose from the frames might go flying on you and be extra careful when removing them and keep them in a lid or some receptical that wont result in them getting mistaken for a bit of flotsam on the table.
So now your looking a 10+ pieces of plastic in grey or brown and your ready to glue it all together. WAIT!!!! Not so fast! you need to sand down the pieces to remove parts of the attaching sprew left on them. Leaving those little bits on the pieces can interfere with assembly and painting. What? O.C.D.? Look just because my family has a little German in us is no cause for you to be sloppy and ignore those hanging bits of plastic chaff that must be removed mein herr! *coughs*
Fine, ignore them if you wish. But for those of you who are perfectionist like myself let me recommend the following tools. When I first started working on these miniatures I was using a set of various metal files I have had for years. Unfortunately these are plastic miniatures. The metal files are too rough on them and just end up scratching the surface into ruin. What you need to use are nail boards. Or Emery boards. In addition I strongly recommend a finger nail tool called a Pedicure Shine Block.
Example:
http://www.dhgate.com/product/shine-acr ... 66725.html
This is designed to smooth a nail or remove small bits of it to help shape it. Its the perfect tool to shape and smooth out your plastic bits to your hearts desire.
All done? Its perfectly smooth? No seam lines? No little bits of flash remaining? WHAT!?!? I see one bit of flash! Start over! Do it all again! It must be perfect! *coughs* Excuse me. I'll try and restrain myself. Now where was I?
Its time to put it all together. Right! Lets talk about glue. Most of you are looking for your super glue and I would like you to stop for just a moment. Super glue is very nice and it will do a great job for you on these miniatures. But allow me to offer you an alternative.
http://www.plastruct.com/pages/CementGuide.html
This is a chemical product that actually melts the plastic allowing two coated pieces to be "welded" together. Forming a much stronger bond than super glue. Of course while you can generally desolve and break super glue apart with some effort your not as likely to get these pieces apart once they set. However the real reason I want to push this on you is to eliminate those unsightly seam lines we all hate so much.
I'm not going to spend the time running the who's, the whys, or the hows of how exactly these seams came into being on the miniatures. Whats done is done. Now lets talk about how to get rid of them shall we? *coughs* By using the plastic weld and applying pressure we can seal the seam as close as possible. Be careful not to get your fingers on any of the surfaces you coat with plastic weld as the melted plastic is vulnerable to fingerprints until it fully re-hardens. If you do get out your pedicure pad and sand! Sand until its perfect!! *coughs* Sand it down till its nice and clean.
Now a tightly welded piece will often do most of the work for you. But some of these peices are just stubborn. For those your going to need some greenstuff. Games Workshop produces a nice product called "Liquid Greenstuff" that can easily be applied with a brush and dries much quicker than traditional green stuff. Its perfect for filling any cracks and holes left in the miniature. Allow plenty of time to dry and sand away any excess with your nail pad.
Work carefully to assemble all of the multi-part pieces like the missile pods and the legs. Make sure your lines are clean as these will show up as rather unsightly lines when you start painting the mecha. Once you have all the half peices togather and sanded your ready to put the whole mecha together. Try and take some time to think about the leg positions of the miniatures. How you pose them can give them a good deal of character. At the very least you don't want them to look like some cookie cutter factory made them. Plastic green Army Men these are not! Make sure they fit onto the bases (unless you also have German ancestry and insist on painting them off the bases because the base must be a work of art unto itself. *coughs*)
Also be aware that some of the mechas legs were designed to attach only to specific hips. Not only this but some of the Zentradi Legs dont match. So if your pulling from a pile of pieces make sure all of them fit together before gluing or welding. And one last thing, make sure you get the UEF mecha legs facing the right way. I accidentally assembled a Tomahawk with backwards legs because I was not paying attention. Learn from my mistake, don't repeat it.
Alright if you manage to get to this point you have spent hours of work putting together perfect miniatures ready for priming to the highest standards of miniature art. PUT DOWN THE CAN OF KRYLON PRIMER! PUT IT DOWN!! SCHNELL!! *coughs* I would recommend any number of miniature primers but my favorite for detailed miniatures if Vallajo's brush-on / spray-on primer which is a little expensive but goes a long way and lays incredibly smooth on the miniature.
Allow plenty of drying time between priming and painting. Several hours at the least a day is preferable. you should now be ready to start applying paint but that's the subject of another post I think. Put down the trowel that IS NOT A PAINTING TOOL!!!
Now I know some of you are just going to slap these together so you can get straight to the gaming table. But I am going to assume that the reason your putting everything together is to prepare these mecha for being painted to the best of your ability. So to that end there are some things you are going to want to be aware of. First and foremost these miniatures come in a lot of piece. This makes them a tad more intimidating to assemble than your average space marine. But don't let that dissuade you. However not only are there many pieces but a few of the UEF Mecha have some insanely small bits. In their quest for perfect detail Palladium made several design decisions that resulted in over detailing. From a modeling point of view this is wonderful, but from a gamer point of view this is beyond annoying when that piece that's 1.5 millimeters across goes flying across the room and your crawling across the floor looking for it. The bottom line is be aware that cutting these tiny pieces loose from the frames might go flying on you and be extra careful when removing them and keep them in a lid or some receptical that wont result in them getting mistaken for a bit of flotsam on the table.
So now your looking a 10+ pieces of plastic in grey or brown and your ready to glue it all together. WAIT!!!! Not so fast! you need to sand down the pieces to remove parts of the attaching sprew left on them. Leaving those little bits on the pieces can interfere with assembly and painting. What? O.C.D.? Look just because my family has a little German in us is no cause for you to be sloppy and ignore those hanging bits of plastic chaff that must be removed mein herr! *coughs*
Fine, ignore them if you wish. But for those of you who are perfectionist like myself let me recommend the following tools. When I first started working on these miniatures I was using a set of various metal files I have had for years. Unfortunately these are plastic miniatures. The metal files are too rough on them and just end up scratching the surface into ruin. What you need to use are nail boards. Or Emery boards. In addition I strongly recommend a finger nail tool called a Pedicure Shine Block.
Example:
http://www.dhgate.com/product/shine-acr ... 66725.html
This is designed to smooth a nail or remove small bits of it to help shape it. Its the perfect tool to shape and smooth out your plastic bits to your hearts desire.
All done? Its perfectly smooth? No seam lines? No little bits of flash remaining? WHAT!?!? I see one bit of flash! Start over! Do it all again! It must be perfect! *coughs* Excuse me. I'll try and restrain myself. Now where was I?
Its time to put it all together. Right! Lets talk about glue. Most of you are looking for your super glue and I would like you to stop for just a moment. Super glue is very nice and it will do a great job for you on these miniatures. But allow me to offer you an alternative.
http://www.plastruct.com/pages/CementGuide.html
This is a chemical product that actually melts the plastic allowing two coated pieces to be "welded" together. Forming a much stronger bond than super glue. Of course while you can generally desolve and break super glue apart with some effort your not as likely to get these pieces apart once they set. However the real reason I want to push this on you is to eliminate those unsightly seam lines we all hate so much.
I'm not going to spend the time running the who's, the whys, or the hows of how exactly these seams came into being on the miniatures. Whats done is done. Now lets talk about how to get rid of them shall we? *coughs* By using the plastic weld and applying pressure we can seal the seam as close as possible. Be careful not to get your fingers on any of the surfaces you coat with plastic weld as the melted plastic is vulnerable to fingerprints until it fully re-hardens. If you do get out your pedicure pad and sand! Sand until its perfect!! *coughs* Sand it down till its nice and clean.
Now a tightly welded piece will often do most of the work for you. But some of these peices are just stubborn. For those your going to need some greenstuff. Games Workshop produces a nice product called "Liquid Greenstuff" that can easily be applied with a brush and dries much quicker than traditional green stuff. Its perfect for filling any cracks and holes left in the miniature. Allow plenty of time to dry and sand away any excess with your nail pad.
Work carefully to assemble all of the multi-part pieces like the missile pods and the legs. Make sure your lines are clean as these will show up as rather unsightly lines when you start painting the mecha. Once you have all the half peices togather and sanded your ready to put the whole mecha together. Try and take some time to think about the leg positions of the miniatures. How you pose them can give them a good deal of character. At the very least you don't want them to look like some cookie cutter factory made them. Plastic green Army Men these are not! Make sure they fit onto the bases (unless you also have German ancestry and insist on painting them off the bases because the base must be a work of art unto itself. *coughs*)
Also be aware that some of the mechas legs were designed to attach only to specific hips. Not only this but some of the Zentradi Legs dont match. So if your pulling from a pile of pieces make sure all of them fit together before gluing or welding. And one last thing, make sure you get the UEF mecha legs facing the right way. I accidentally assembled a Tomahawk with backwards legs because I was not paying attention. Learn from my mistake, don't repeat it.
Alright if you manage to get to this point you have spent hours of work putting together perfect miniatures ready for priming to the highest standards of miniature art. PUT DOWN THE CAN OF KRYLON PRIMER! PUT IT DOWN!! SCHNELL!! *coughs* I would recommend any number of miniature primers but my favorite for detailed miniatures if Vallajo's brush-on / spray-on primer which is a little expensive but goes a long way and lays incredibly smooth on the miniature.
Allow plenty of drying time between priming and painting. Several hours at the least a day is preferable. you should now be ready to start applying paint but that's the subject of another post I think. Put down the trowel that IS NOT A PAINTING TOOL!!!