Assembling your miniatures is a fun part of the process of creating your personal army but it can also be quite daunting.
Unfortunately we have yet to invent the “Magic Bag of Assembly”, where you simply pour miniature bits, glue and tools in, shake it hard and finally take out the assembled miniature … So, until we do, you will have to go old school and use tools and glue.
Fortunately for you, we have a lot of special tools making your life easier and enabling you to really enjoy this process – where you create the look and feel for your army.
PLASTIC, RESIN OR METAL?
Miniatures for games come in a wide variety of materials. From pewter to plastic and resin, knowing what material your model is made from and which tools to use is essential. The rule is: Use Super Glue for anything other than pure plastic miniatures, where Plastic Glue is recommended. You can tell resin from plastic by bending a piece of the sprue – plastic will warp before breaking, resin is brittle and will just snap. Watch our assembly video above to learn more.
How to assemble your miniatures
Some forms of plastic have a bit of chemical residue from the molding process, so it is a good idea to wash them in soapy water before priming and painting. Rinse thoroughly afterwards with clean water.
Clip the parts from the sprue with the flat side of the Plastic Frame Cutter facing the part. Using the back of the cutter creates bumps that need to be cut off afterwards.
Mold lines need to be removed before assembling as they can interfere with assembly and later painting.
Assemble the miniature and let it dry while moving on to the same part on the next miniature. Here we use Super Glue since the miniature is made of resin. If it is made of plastic, Plastic Glue should be your glue of choice.
Dipit says
The little details
For added detail, drill out the barrel of the gun with our Miniature Models Drill.
To fix gaps in the joints or other mistakes you can use a bit of Green Stuff. Make sure your hands are moist when mixing and wash them afterwards.
Use our Sculpting Tools to work the Green Stuff in to the gap and smooth it out. Let it harden for at least 4 hours.
Now your miniatures are ready for priming. Learn how to use our Colour Primers.
Basing before priming
A lot of people prefer to add a layer of basing material like our Brown Battleground or Battlefield Snow to the bases of their miniatures before priming. This helps create a texture you can paint and drybrush later, and the Primer will fix the material better to the base. But you’re not required to do so, if you do not feel like you know exactly how you want your bases to look yet. You can learn a lot more about our basing materials in our basing section.
Battlefield Basings
Using Colour Primers
Priming is an essential part of painting your miniature. With our signature Colour Primers you can save loads of time when painting while ensuring that you have the best possible foundation for a smooth and impressive paint job. In this section we’ll show you the do’s and don’t of priming and talk a bit about why we make our Colour Primers the way we do.
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Using Magnets
The best way to keep your models WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) for your next battle is to magnetize them. Swap weapon options, alternate heads, or make your larger minis more modular – we’ll show you how.
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Bases makes a difference
Completing a battle-ready base is a fantastic way to add theme and unity to your miniature or army. Guess how much it could add to the overall appearance if you were to add a few more techniques to really boost your basing? We’ll teach you how.
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