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Stage 1 - Read new Tyranid Codex and realise Hive Tyrant is the only HQ unit of any worth
Stage 2 - Purchase shiny new Hive Tyrant boxed set and admire cool pic of immaculately assembled and painted miniature on front of box
Stage 3 - Beam with enthusiasm at wife whilst showing her shiny new Hive Tyrant Boxed set. Wife shakes head in despair and mutters something about an unfinished High Elf Dragon she saw at the back of the warhammer cupboard the other day
Stage 4 - Ignore wife's trifling remarks and open shiny new Hive Tyrant Boxed Set. Ponder as to why Bonesword might be bent at a 45 degree angle
Stage 5 - Attempt to bend Bonesword back into shape. Realise with mild annoyance that achieving perfect straight edge is impossible task
Stage 6 - Discard Bonesword for the time being (will prfobably go for scything talons anyway) and examine other parts. Ponder as to why all parts have giant lumps of mishapen metal attached to them
Stage 7 - Begin arduous task of removing giant lumps of metal. Attack each lump with cutters. Manage to remove part of lump. 90% of lump still remains. Discard cutters and pick up file.
Stage 8 - 30 mins later, have successfully removed one lump of metal. Return to Stage 7 & repeat with next lump
Stage 9 - Several hours later and all unsightly lumps of metal have been removed. Examine parts with satisfac... hmm, what are those small spiky bits of metal?
Stage 10 - Begin filing and cutting away small spiky bits of metal. Ponder as to why boxed set was not assigned patience rating. Decide that nobody would buy boxed set with patience rating of 6 billion.
Stage 11 - All small spiky bits of metal removed. Examine parts with satisfac... bugga! Poxy mould lines still visible!
Stage 12 - File all mould lines away. Ponder as to why wife is directing an annoyed glare at the new sofa. Ah, small lumps of metal and silver filings everywhere. Placate wife by fetching vacumn cleaner
Stage 13 - Finish vacumning the sofa. Examine parts with satisfac... Scream! Right hand side forward spore chimney is slightly out of alignment. Attempt move with fingers. Spore chimney refuses to budge.
Stage 14 - Attack spore chimney with pair of pliers. Hah! Now looks perfe... Oh for feth's sake, pliers have left scratch marks on spore chimney. Refuse to care anymore. Spore chimney has cleary incurred damage from bolter fire.
Stage 15 - Assemble model with blu tac to get rough idea of final appearance. Ponder as to why so many gaping holes are visible between parts.

Elect to continue tomorrow once fellow Dakka members have imparted wisdom over the fine art of assembling metal models

That's why I have a Dremel with a sawblade attachment and a vice.

Feth you clippers! Hahahaha

note to self
buy ye not a big metal nid model

sounds a bit like your kit was the product of an of an old mould gone bad there Flash my old fruitbat :(

I definitely suggest a Dremel if you're going to attack a project of that size... but I'm amazed that you made it that fare. The lack of large metal models was one of the reasons I went with Guard.

Kanluwen wrote:That's why I have a Dremel with a sawblade attachment and a vice.

Feth you clippers! Hahahaha

Yes, it never occurred to me that powertools would be required to put together a model kit, though if it continues to get on my fething nerves, I might attack it with a blowtorch

1. Don't play Tyranids - ever.
2. If playing SM, DON'T buy that misshapen lump of gak called a TFC (which is known around here as "that frakking cannon").

3. LRN2 use a dremel. They are your friend.
4. Learn how to metal cast. Then if your large metal model refuses to co-operate - melt the bugger down and use the metal for something else.

pray you never have the urge to play ogre kingdoms, or if you do, dont get the urge to build a scraplauncher.

Go to Safeway.

Buy a 4 pack of Skol's lager.

Drink one can.

Dying brain cells give clarity in such projects.

Giver with power tools.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em

Drink can number 2.

Admire handy work.

drill and pin.

Drink can number 3

Take nap.

Prime model.

Drink can number 4.

Get ready to paint.

Take nap.

It might take a while, but slow and steady wins the race.

Trade Hive Tyrant for plastic Carnifex.

Convert Carnifex into Hive Tyrant.

PROFIT!!!

My Dremel Stylus is the best 75 bucks I've ever spent on a modeling tool.

It has a collet that holds pin vice bits, so it makes pinning quick and painless (except when the metal model heats up from the drilling.)

It also has attachments for cutting, grinding, sanding, and smoothing. I'd never work on a large metal model without some kind of multi/rotary hobby tool.

It's even useful when pinning plastics - use a lower speed, and you'll drill your pin holes faster than you can type "drill your pin holes".

If fiddly metal kits bothers you, don't also buy and metal PP kits from the past couple years. Ol' Rowdy and Lynch gave me flashbacks to 2nd edition Tyranids.

I didn't have nearly as many problems with mine as you describe, however, I did notice the giant gaps and was more than prepared to fill them in with GS. I already had it mixed together and sitting in a pile next to me waiting for the time to come. The way the thing fit together, I just saw it being an inevitability.

Crap, I have just decided to buy Inquitisitor Lord Karamzov. One big metal model. Damn.

Stage 1. Realize a Tervigon can be fielded as an HQ.
Stage 2. Realize that a Tyranid prime is very good when used with 3 zoeys in a pod to drop high S low AP templates or pop tanks.

Zoeys can soak up some fire & the prime (Being t5) can take the S8 & 9 shots that they will inevitable draw (and will insta death the zoeys).
Also the prime is good when used to boost the stats of a large brood of warriors.

So off topic but the Tyrant is not the only good HQ option

Back on topic though I completely understand your frustration with metal models though. I avoid them as much as I can lol.

lol... it's funny that when I read your post title I immediately thought of the hive tyrant and how trying it was for me to piece together.

Metal models, especially models with TONS of parts are the biggest pain. Still, I buy my share because they look so *COOL*

Even so, this model sounds worse than most. HOLY COW. You've come this far, though, don't give up! When this is all over, you will have EARNED your Hive Tyrant!

Some say GW models are expensive, but when you add up all the hours of fun you had assembling and painting the model, it really is a great return for your money.

Back from a long day at Uni, so can't face the intricacies of pinning this evening. Thank you for the kind words of support. I have vowed to finish this beastie (if only to prove the missus wrong) and once I get a bit further, I'll put it on P&M Blogs. I don't it's any worse than normal in terms of casting (I have never opened a GW metal kit and not found things slightly mishapen or bent to some degree), but I think the problems were exacerbated due to the large number of parts!

@ Shas'O Dorian - Show me the nice easy to put together model for the Tervigon and I'll quite happily go for this HQ choice instead. Given the stress I having with a pre-moulded kit, do you think I have patience required for a conversion project?

Wow good on yer for sticking with it though, I would have thrown it at the nearest wall!

I'm trying to think, and the biggest metal model I've made was probably the old Carnifex and Hive Tyrants, which had plastic arms... Still, getting them to stand correctly was a long rocess.

Basically, go slow, expect to be stuck watching TV for 10-15 minutes while glue sets and the only thing holding the model together is your glue-soaked fingers, and don't hesitate to switch to another project to let the model really firmly cure for a day or two.

Also, don't let your coworkers give you grief about raw, glue-marred fingers the next day.

When metal is being annoying, take a break and come back to it later.

Nothing annoys me more than metal components that just WON'T STICK. but leave them alone for a while and I guarantee you'll have the patience, the willpower, and the energy to complete it in less time than if you'd just kept on hitting yourself in the face by continuing before

To be honest, I have arrived at the stage in my life where I really couldn't give a toss if there are gaps where arms / legs / weapons fit. I will clean off flash and mould lines and I will paint to the best of my ability but realistically speaking, I will never be able to paint much better than the standard I can now, so spending what little hobby time I get faffing about with putty is akin to a Sunday league pub football team player attending a trial for Arsenal.

Really? People have this much trouble with metal models?

Maybe I'm just used to it from all my thousands of 'Mechs, VOR Growlers, and Hordes Trolls, but metal isn't that bad.

Hordes trolls are a lot easier to get together than most GW stuff though. The warbeasts, anyway.

Mattlov wrote:Really? People have this much trouble with metal models?

Maybe I'm just used to it from all my thousands of 'Mechs, VOR Growlers, and Hordes Trolls, but metal isn't that bad.

VOR Growlers? Ohh... Haven't seen those come up in ages!

After trying (and failing) years ago to put together the Egrim Van Horstmann on double-headed Baudros model, and managing to epoxy the old Slann Mage-priest (fat frog) model together despite the fact that they gave me two left-side sets of bearers instead of a left and a right side...

Yeah, I'm glad that GW is getting a lot more plastic-heavy in the new releases. Metal is just too much of a pain in the ass without lots and lots of drilling and pinning!

Step 16: Discard metal HT and browse Forge World
Step 17: Buy Forge World Tyrant
Step 18: Assemble Forge World Tyrant
Step 19: Admire your shiny new Tyrant
Step 20: Discard the old metal Tyrant into the warhammer closet where your wife will soon find it a few months later.

Step 21: I will pray with you and help you through this hardship!

Im going insane from assembling -_-
so far 3 Long Fang , 1 Ven Dread , 1 Armor Clad Dread ,
1 Grot Battle Wagon done.

The plastic cement is killing my brain cellllllll

Commissar Molotov wrote:After trying (and failing) years ago to put together the Egrim Van Horstmann on double-headed Baudros model, and managing to epoxy the old Slann Mage-priest (fat frog) model together despite the fact that they gave me two left-side sets of bearers instead of a left and a right side...

I had few problems with my van Horstmann but mine was an older lead version. I think that's one of the advantages people forget about lead miniatures, they are easier to cut, file and drill, the white metal is hard stuff to work with. I never used him in a game because he was 1200 points or something daft.

i dont care about the gaps, and i would use magnets for the arms anyway :-) that way you can change them. so there are always gaps in my models

also zip set works wonders, a little spray sets the glue in about 3 seconds then leave it for a while before painting to make sure its fully cured.

Valkyrie wrote:Step 16: Discard metal HT and browse Forge World
Step 17: Buy Forge World Tyrant
Step 18: Assemble Forge World Tyrant
Step 19: Admire your shiny new Tyrant
Step 20: Discard the old metal Tyrant into the warhammer closet where your wife will soon find it a few months later.

Wife discovers that joint cost of models was £75.00 resulting in extra gardening chores.

And anyway, isn't resin just as much as a pain in the arse to work with?

I did like the brood nest on FW website though...