Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Big Nuts: Customized

To affix a heavy mini to a wooden display base, I need to somehow thread the base. This is done by placing a customized nut into one of the existing cavities of the mini's sculpted base, and securing it with either resin or epoxy. I first hack a bunch of notches into the nut (in this case it was a square one) with a file and hacksaw: this 'keys' the nut for the epoxy to lock into.
The griffon's base is actually two pieces, and quite difficult to place together, much like a 3-dimensional puzzle. I had to strap the whole thing to a block of wood, to create a flat plain, while adding some pins and epoxy. Everything worked out, but gaps needed filling all over.
A smaller bolt was nested into the metal (after having been drilled and milled) for the back portion of the base. Two points secured to the display base made sense for a mini of such significant weight. Ultimately it worked out well and the beast is now ready for wing-attachment and priming.
But first - the ears need some attention - as cast they are not so imposing, so a little Kneadatite Green Stuff Epoxy and the bird has more attitude.

Friday, December 1, 2023

Bird Brain: Grenadier Dragon Lords Giant Griffon

I got abducted by aliens. I didn't take it personally. But I'm back, and so, striking back into working up some old minis, I turn my attentions and affections to the Grenadier Giant Griffon, a Dragon Lords branded release, obtained for about $40 (which I thought was a dandy price for such a massive and heavy piece). It was glued a bit here and there by previous owner, so I scraped that off. Now - to join these big chunks together as solidly as possible:

Holier Thank Thou
This thing is seriously solid metal, a few large bores are done, half to reduce the weight slightly, half to allow space to install some anchor pins between the parts...
Screwed
...which in these case were just some large screws with the heads cut off.
A little padding of Aves Apoxy Sculpt in between to make sure the two mate-comfortably (...oh... to mate comfortably)
And then the parts come together, with some two part epoxy, making sure the threads of those screws are really soaked.
That's all for now. Hopefully that light outside the windows tonight is not my 'friends from the stars' back for more... and more progress will be posted soon.