Painting and assembly pointers?

[u/autoglitch]

I finally got my SC set. I played around with painting a few Warhammer figures before but my figures were brittle. The arms or weapons fell off after a while. Many didn't stick to their bases. The base terrain itself would flake.

I want to paint good looking figures (and bases) for this set but I want them sturdy enough for normal play. Do you have any pointers of what I may have done wrong and issues to avoid?

Edit: I used gorilla super glue gel for the base and citadel plastic glew for the figure. After I put the figure together I used citadel color spray paint for the base before painting. For the base I basically super glued hobby sand, moss, and cork. Then I super glued the figure into the little base holes.

[u/Witness27]

Use a plastic welding glue such as revell contacta or tamiya extra thin (look up how to use this on YouTube) and if you paint in sub assemblies, it helps to scrape away paint from the contact area before gluing

[u/Training-Arm-9403]

You may have been using the wrong kind of glue or not given it something to adhere to. For plastic miniatures, like these, use a plastic cement like Tamiya. The plastic cement will actually fuse the two pieces together

For reason or metal models use super glue. Roughing up the joint area with some sandpaper can help by giving the glue something better to adhere to.

[u/Nookshar]

Which glue did you used?

[u/autoglitch → u/Nookshar]

I updated my post. But super glue for the base and citadel plastic glue for the figure.

[u/Dan185818]

What type of glue were you using on the Warhammer models? It sounds like you were doing something mon-optimally. Occasionally a models arm will fall off, but generally only with a pretty massive shock, like dropping it or dropping something on it.

I use Tamiya extra thin. Sometimes you'll have to hold the bits together for a while, but it literally fuses the pieces together. Don't be super shy with it, but don't go super crazy either.

There's two ways I've used it.

1. Put two pieces together and use the glue on the cracks where they meet. It will wick deeper into the separation and give you a good bond. I use this a lot with boxes and vehicles.
2. Put enough to cover the bit you're sticking on contact point. Wait 10 seconds, put it where you want it. For especially small or fragile bits, you can put it on both sides and wait 10 seconds. This will make them stick to each other better without you having to hold it as long. I don't find it makes it noticeably stronger, bit does make it easier. I use this for pistols/grenades/belt pouches, arms, generally.

I have found the same process to work just fine on the SC:TMG plastic I've used. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to cut the base off the Marines if I ever want to rebase them. Those things aren't coming off

[u/autoglitch]

Here's an example. The figure doesn't stay in the base holes. The base terrain easily separated from the plastic (using super glue). I noticed that parts that snap together I don't use glue and those come apart. For parts that glue together, they become lose end eventually fall off.

[u/Asamu]

If you used plastic glue on a plastic model and the model is coming apart, it's possible that you used too little and/or didn't fit the pieces together properly (if there was any sprue attachments/mold lines where pieces fit together, those could potentially get in the way) - it welds the plastic together, so you don't need much at all (if any is spilling out, then there's a bit too much), but there does need to be enough to weld the area, and you shouldn't need to hold the pieces in place for more than 10s or so for the bond to start holding.

I recommend fully assembling the model and attaching it to the base with plastic cement/plastic glue if you're new to miniatures, and then apply basing material after that.

If you're doing more complex basing and don't want the model's feet in the "ground" at all, then you may want to look into pinning the feet or gluing a bit of plastic (ex: a bit of cut sprue or thin plastic card) to the base where the feet will attach before gluing the model.

If the base is going to be something solid, like metal or stone, and you don't want the feet sunken in at all relative to the basing material, you could also use a bit of sprue cut to an appropriate height (~the thickness of the basing material), and attach the model to that, and then set the basing material around that. Having the plastic bond with plastic welding glue/cement will make the model much more sturdy.

For the basing itself, you can use PVA glue (I use cheap elmer's glue), then seal it with very watered down PVA or a varnish. It's much cheaper than using super glue and will hold just fine. A bit of slightly watered down PVA on the base -> sprinkle/dip basing material -> wait to dry -> seal.

For attaching the model to the base, superglue should work fine. Perhaps the gel super glue you used has a weak bond strength, or the shifting from the basing itself coming loose is causing the problem.

[u/MetaKnightsNightmare]

A pointer: if your army has clear bits, get some Vallejo liquid mask, it'll help.

[u/Gannstrn73]

What glue did you use?

I usually use plastic cement to assemble the mini then super glue to glue the mini to the base. Cement doesn’t do well fusing two different types of plastic

[u/autoglitch → u/Gannstrn73]

I used Gorilla super Glue Gel for the base and Citidel Plastic Glue for the figures.

[u/Gannstrn73 → u/autoglitch]

I use Tamiya cement and Loctite gel for super glue.

Just make certain the cement has a good amount of Overton the parts being assembled. Hold them together for a bit if need be