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HOW YOU GUYS DOIN!?

So, I purchased Karchev the Terrible AND a Khador Behemoth warjack a few months ago and I am finally getting around to putting them together. I got them both at a great price of 35$ (they are $49.99 and $59.99 from the manufacturer) because they are both used, and, to be honest, whoever had them before me did not do a very good job of putting them together. It appears as though they used elmer's glue to assemble them, which did not hold up at all. They also broke the behemoth's arm in half (dunno how).

Anyways, I had a discussion about a good bonding material with some people on dakka a while back in the warmachine section. I had brought up the idea of using JB Stick weld to hold these notoriously difficult-to-assemble pieces together. I had just gotten done repairing a broken Transmission mount on my buddy's pickup truck with the stuff, so I figured it was worth a try.

Here are some pictures of some of the pinning I did using 12gauge copper wire and JB weld.

Basically I drill a hole, clip off the right amount of the solid copper wire. Then I take a small piece of JB weld and put it in one of the holes. I then push the copper wire into the hole, usually until JB weld starts being pushed out of the hole. I let it set up for 24ish hours before attaching the other piece onto the copper wire.

In the pictures below we have the Behemoth's broken arm that I pinned with a short piece of copper (although not short enough) and some stranded wire for a bit of looks. The JB weld was given around 26hrs to harden and I dont think you could break the bond with your bare hands, I tried. I belief you would brake the pewter and bend the copper before the bond created with the JB weld broke.

The other two shots are of my slight modification to Karchev's axe wielding arm. I wanted him to have a pose that made him look as though he was swinging his giant axe, so I shaved off a section of the underside of his shoulder armor to allow me to rotate his shoulder joint forward. This will position his axe arm in an upward facing direction. I also bent his axe arm so that it is straight, so that it looks like he is swinging it in a very high, downward sweeping arc.

I got a new camera for this stuff with a nice macro lense, so I am very excited about taking all these close-up shots.

Going crazy learning how to use this macro lens. I have some more shots of my progress.

I Attached the lower torso to the upper torso of the behemoth. I also inserted copper pins into the upper torso and lower torso for the arms and legs respectively. I finished the broken behemoth arm, but I dont really like it. The threaded copper wire slipped out of the weld and the solid wire is too long, but oh well. I can change it later if it really bothers me that much. I dripped holes in the lower and upper torso where they bond together, then I JB welded a piece of copper into them and then placed a small blob of JB weld between the two torso halves, both filling the slight gaps and creating a very strong bond. I actually held onto the bottom torso while I used a utility knife to cut away a section of the upper torso. I didnt realize I was holding the bottom part because it didnt budge at all.

I added a blob of JB weld to the palm of the broken hand so that I can attach the "thumb". I altered the palm so that the third appendage would be positioned open. This will allow me to put something in the wide open hand later, maybe a tree, or telephone/light post...or a person hahaha.

The steam stacks on the back section had HUGE gaps, it looked terrible, so I stuck a large blob of JB in the opening, then cut off the excess while it was still wet with a utility knife. I will look better after I smooth it out when it is hard.

Finally - I attached the axe shoulder for karchev with some pinning and a good sized blob of JB. After cleaning the excess off, it looks pretty good...and strong. I drilled the lower and upper torso on karchev the same way I did with the behemoth, inserted a long copper rod, and filled it all up with JB weld. The lower torso on karchev just does not fit well, it is the only bond that I am actually worried about. I kept having to move it back to the position I wanted until the weld started to harden. I may have to redo it later if it proves too weak, or put something on his base that will help hold the upper torso. I also drilled out the shaft of his axe (a very tedious process, as the drill bit is about 1-2 mm smaller than the shaft itself). Some copper rod and JB weld, and it is good to go.

KingKodo I will love you forever if you can do a good explanation of how to get Karchev's legs right. I've torn out what little hair I have left trying to get them at the right angle.

Hahaha, Karchev and Behemoth Leg

the thing that makes me curses when i am assembling

I havent put them on yet as you can see. However, I did notice that the pegs that are on the torso and legs are terrible! I took them off with a metal file. This gave me a flat surface to work with which I then drilled and welded a copper rod into. Now, When I attach the legs to the torso, it will allow me to move the leg quite a bit and I dont have to worry about it holding since JB weld seems to be able to create such a powerful bond. Also, I put the foot in a wooden vice and actually bent the entire leg so that it is straight, mine were horribly curved, like they were taking a dump on the battlefield or something. However, drilling and pinning with JB weld should give me plenty of room to move the legs how I want.

Another thing about my process that you have to keep in mind, is that I got these models used for 35$. Each model is more expensive than that on itself if you picked it up retail, so I dont mind taking risks and bending and cutting and drilling parts that most people probably wouldnt do.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Another thing I like about JB weld, is that once I drill and pin a piece, I can go and bend the copper pin however I want after the JB weld is hardened, and the bond wont break. This means that I can now bend the copper rods when I put the legs on to get them how I want them/.

Well I havent been able to update lately because I have been out, but I did manage to get some work in the other day.

I attached one of the behemoth's legs and one of his arms the other day. I must say, the leg had me worried, but I checked it today and the bond is very strong, although I used too much JB and didnt want to risk cleaning it up and breaking the bond before it was secure, so it looks kinda messy. Oh well, I can clean it later. I also attached karchev's MASSIVE axe wielding arm! That thing is HUGE, I didnt realize how massive his hand and axe are until I put them on.

So far, the bonds are very solid, I even dared to lift the behemoth by his one leg, and the bond held strong. I also attached Karchev's head and his open fist, although I realized that I am missing the thumb on his open fist D:
Pictures to come tomorrow when I wake up!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I have tried to flex Karchev's legs a little with some vices but they are very difficult to mold. I do not understand why PP forged them at such odd angles. I did manage to get them straight, so that he will look like he is standing straight up and down, but the area just above his foot still looks a little odd. The area where the leg connects to the lower torso seems to be a severe issue as well. The little nub is actually raised and angled. This will cause karchev to stand at an awkward angle. I simply filed the entire bonding area flat, nub and all, since I am pinning them together. we will have to see how it turns out, maybe I can bond them tomorrow!