Painting Better Every Day: by Kenneth Taba revised –5/2/2000
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ASSEMBLING YOUR MINIATURE
"or how to glue your hands together"
With multi-part miniatures you have to decide when to glue it together
If you glue before painting:
You might glue parts together because you will still be able to reach everywhere with your brush to paint.
Be careful not to get any on your fingers or tongue (which I've done and I don't recommend it)
If you glue after painting:
You would glue the miniature together after painting because:
If the miniature were assembled before painting, some areas would be too hard to reach with the brush to paint. Consider, places you cannot reach with your paint brush can still be seen
You are considered crazy by other people for doing it this way because you want to be able to paint all the parts whether or not they are noticeable or even visible so as to be totally thorough.
If you are painting your multi-part miniature before gluing. Cyanoacrylic Glue "superglue" gives off a fume when it is drying, this fume will collect on the surface and leave a permanent white film. To prevent this, place the glued miniature in front of a fan or blow dryer, and when you cannot smell the superglue anymore it is totally dried.
Plastic glue is for gluing plastic together (duh), so when gluing multi-part plastic miniatures together use plastic glue for the strongest bonds.
Sometimes or some people prefer to use superglue because they can snap the miniature
apart to change weapons later (after it's already painted?!! )
This should not be done for competition painting, you'd die if you were transporting your
painting entry and arrived at the contest with a box full of a broken miniature!
There are different types and consistencies of plastic glue. The old type is Testors model glue which comes in a squeeze tube and is thick (no sir, I don't like it). Then there is Model Master plastic glue, this glue has a needle tip applicator and is thinner and easy to control (I really like this one). The last type is a liquid, Plastic Weld is one brand among several, this comes with a brush applicator, (I prefer to use a disposable plastic squeeze pipette, or you can use a brush that you won't paint with). This type is good for building plastic model vehicle kits.
You might do some conversions to your miniature because:
The original miniature pose is too static, and you want a more dynamic pose, like changing the angle of an arm or giving the figure a different weapon or totally changing bodies, heads, hands, etc. or even adding them.
You just want to add things to the original miniature to make it look better, like different weapons, equipment, etc.
If you are going to be playing with a metal multi-part miniature or even if your not, especially if your painting something special, then you really should consider pinning the parts together so that the glued joints don't snap apart when the miniature is handled.
"Imagine, you've painted a Dragon and didn't pin the wings to the main body, eventually somebody is going to pick the Dragon up by it's wings or the Dragon will tip over. The wings will snap right off and then you have to repair the miniature. And every time you end up repairing the break, it gets worse." Imagine this happening to your favorite and most beautifully painted miniature that you spent "forever" painting. If you broke it you'd feel like dying. And if it was a friend who broke it, you'd be forced to kill them, and it's so inconvenient to dispose of bodies…
First you glue your miniature to the base. If your miniature uses a slotta base & tab, I recommend bending the tab so it fits snugly and gluing it in place with superglue. Then you should also fill the gaps in the slot with something like Squadron Green Putty or a 2 part Epoxy Putty.
Filling the gaps in a slotta base adds extra strength, also if you don't fill the gaps, they will be visible to others and will make the work you've done on the base look amateurish and sloppy
A friend of mine uses only the tiniest amount of superglue and does not fill in the slotta base. Many of his miniatures have come free of the base
If you are going to do an elaborate base, you may want to think about attaching the miniature to the base after you've finished decorating/modifying the base. i.e. treat the base as if it were part of the miniature that you were going to paint separately and attach after everything is completed.
Continue on to next section "Cleaning"
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to Index of Painting Guides
[Table of Contents] [Preface] [Tools]
[Model Preparation] [Assembling
Your Miniature] [Cleaning] [Environment] [Physical]
[Mental] [Bases] [Techniques] [Q & A and Other
Tips] [Improving Your Painting Skill and Winning
Contests]
