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I'm converting a bunch of AOBR marines, and its become necessary to remove the bolter from the hands. This part is usually done easy enough, but the hands that I am left with are essentially cubes of plastic.

The only solution I have for turning them back into regular hands that another weapon can be sat into is by carving them out with an exacto blade. This is tricky because its such a small piece of plastic and the razor blade is... well, its razor sharp.

I'll be civil and say its not the most ideal situation. I'm typing this one handed as I nurse my bloody thumb (again).

Are there conversion bits? A better way? Please, someone help me wash the taste of shame (and iron) out of my mouth.

Why don't you take the hands from a regular tactical Marine - just the bolter grip hand and the hand holding the trigger - and glue those in the arm's place? They're visually identical and don't have a gun sculpted on to them.

...

You're kidding me.


That of course is a very obvious solution.

Any place you know of where I can order the arms, or just the hands>

Shaving the whole arm off wouldn't work, makes my thumb nervous.

The arms are separate pieces on tactical Marines - you can just cut the hands off at the join. Searching on eBay for "tactical Marine arms" gets all kinds of good stuff, such as this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Space-Marine-TACTICAL-FIRING-ARM-x10-bits-Warhammer-40k-/320721743092?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aac816cf4

I don't know why you wouldn't already have a set of standard tactical Marines though!

To remove stuff like this, I use my sprue cutters. BUT, I make sure and leave lots of wiggle room, as using those snips can distort the plastic you don't want to. So you may want to try clipping off the majority of the gun, then carefully shave away the excess plastic.

I've got cuticle snips, which I feel do the same job as sprue cutters for about two bucks. You're right when you say they distort plastic on inside cuts like this. So break out ol slicey...

SRM- because I got AOBR marines for about a dollar each. I normally play fantasy, so this was a cheap buy in to 40k games @ the FLGS.

well, if your cutting yourself i'd recomend cutting away from yourself

A saw is a good way to cut plastic.

Why not sculpt a hand in Green Stuff and mould as many copies as you need?

I usually cut my nobs at the wrist then add another hand with what I what in it.

For gunz I remove the arm usually

Kilkrazy wrote:A saw is a good way to cut plastic.

Why not sculpt a hand in Green Stuff and mould as many copies as you need?

I shuddered a tiny amount reading this at the thought of "If I cut myself with a razor blade what horrors will I visit on myself with a razor saw.?"
Its also somewhat of a fiddly operation, so I think a saw is right out.

Im unsure of how to cast 3d items like that. I've done some press molds for details on my IG tanks, but that has a flat side. For something like a hand im unsure of how to get the part out of the mold, as my GS press molds had rigid sides. Im sure the answer is in a rubber/silicone mold, but searching dakka for info on this I realize talking about it is about as safe as shouting advertisements about my magical poultices in 1692 Massachusetts.

"Are you a replicator of GW intellectual property/ a witch? How long have you been in the snare of the Devil? Confess!"

If you're looking for tips on how not to cut yourself with an exacto blade then I can help. I've had a lot of experience with the blades when I was designing 3D mock ups for my theatre work. One thing that really helps, but is very specific, is if you have any old strips of weathered leather, you can actually use that to protect your fingers. Barring that, you need something to hold the hand for you. A clip, or a vice or something. Itll be a pain, but itll let you cut without having to keep your hands near it.

gpfunk wrote:If you're looking for tips on how not to cut yourself with an exacto blade then I can help. I've had a lot of experience with the blades when I was designing 3D mock ups for my theatre work. One thing that really helps, but is very specific, is if you have any old strips of weathered leather, you can actually use that to protect your fingers. Barring that, you need something to hold the hand for you. A clip, or a vice or something. Itll be a pain, but itll let you cut without having to keep your hands near it.

I actually have a pair of heavy leather gloves I've picked up at the local hardware store that I have chopped all the fingers off of to use explicitly for this purpose. I don't use the glove, just the finger.

Be careful?

Nevermind. Game and thread now over.

I went out to lunch at this place I frequent and was talking to my buddy who owns/cooks for the place.
His solution, provided to me for $10 and ordering fajitas for two, is what he uses to protect himself from larger, much scarier knives than my exacto.

Won't the tip of the blade go right in between those links?

Nope. it does, but not enough of it makes it through to puncture skin.

Trust me, I tried. I stabbed the blade at it a few times and laughed.

Nice!

Its also chainmail. Im not sure why, but that appeals to my inner nerd on a primal level.

He could have told me it cost all the money in my wallet and I would still get stabbed by exactos. I put this thing on and underwent some kind of bizarre transformation. I grew a snout. I scared other patrons of the restaurant with my howling excitement.

I have a system for cutting which I would describe as kind of similar to peeling a potato. I try to arrange the knife and the part I'm cutting in such a way that all the force comes from slowly squeezing, rather than pushing hands across each other. It's almost impossible to cut yourself this way because there is very little energy being stored up behind the blade, even if a part suddenly slips or gives way, there is just nowhere for the blade to go.