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I’m in the middle of building 2 valkyries and good God there are a lot of parts. How in the heck do some people build 9 of these? I’d need a sweatshop of 8 year olds with their fingers glued together to get all that done.

I blame all the GW mould lines.

I would rather build two Valkyries than a single Chimera. There may be a lot of pieces, but the Valk model is well-designed, stuff fits together really well for the most part, the interior is fully detailed, the molds aren't old and weird, and main body pieces aren't so thin that they bend strangely out of shape.

My only complaints:
--The instructions have some real problems:
>It is not made clear how the side doors go on, and if you assemble them out of order, it will take some serious hand strength to get them in place.
>Pieces that attach to the underside of the wings are never shown in a photo/diagram that actually shows the underside of the wing.
>The instructions include the attachment of a piece that does not exist to a non-existent feature of another piece.

--I'm not fond of the way the stand attaches to either the base or the Valk itself.

--Why, oh why does the model include a nose Heavy Bolter?

Haha prep work sucks on all GW vehicles >< for some reason land speeders give me all sorts of problems and they honestly don't have that many parts..

If you don't have access to a variety of files you should really go to your FLGS or Craft Store that sells model trains and pick up a set of iron micro files.

Personally i use my hobby knife to get large tags then a rough iron file and then move to a diamond crusted fire that LBursley was kind enough to gift me for smoothing it all out.

It really seems to help speed up the prep process if you can bring in the heavy guns when you need to.

I haven't built one myself but have seen someone give it a good try at my local GW. It seems to fit a lot better than a lot of their older kits which is quite pleasing. And I agree with the fact that it looks a lot easier than building a Chimera; I might as well have wooden arms when it comes to them. I have an unbuilt Chimera on my shelf and I'm seriously contemplating building the chassis out of plasticard rather than fight one of them.

SignsPoint2Fail wrote:Haha prep work sucks on all GW vehicles >< for some reason land speeders give me all sorts of problems and they honestly don't have that many parts..

For a kit over 10years old one would think with all the other SM updates theyve made adjusting the dashboard bits on the speeder so it fits right could have been fit in some where...


Personally Ive never had a problem with Chimeras. Some spots are a bit fiddly, but after a dozen or so it gets easy

After 10 Chimera's, 3 Basilisk's, 3 Hellhounds, a Salamander, and a "Saber" variant Laser Destroyer, the Chimera kit becomes a bit easy. Yes the rear is weak and prone to warping, bending the wrong way, the front hatch doesn't fit into the hull without trimming, getting the frame straight so it doesn't wobble when its finished, and those treads are always hell, but I'm now building my second Valkyrie and....

Im at a loss for words to describe how useless the "intruction box" is in instructing. Just a bunch of wordless CAD drawlings, heck, like mentioned earlier, there's even parts being shown that don't even exsist in the kit. GW's online "how-to" isn't much more help. I had to google and pour through so many links befor I found nice page with some good insight on putting it together. (and magnetizing info too!) Keeping some parts unglued until post-primer / paint was a real help, but if had been following the box or the "how-to" never would have known just how tight some amazing detail gets. It doesn't even mention or hint to that the wings are very stable just being pushed into its slot, not glued. Something that makes future transport so much easier.

All in all, it's an amazing looking model. A great buy for any IG player as it looks good, preforms well, and makes its point cost back easy. I'm think that Valk #3 for me will be even easier to make. Until then though, it still remains a great model with sucky instructions and fiddly parts.

-Deewalla

Doesnt anyone do a 'dry' assembly run using blue tak or micro dabs of ca glue?

Its a useful trick. Kept me from screwing up my first land raider years back.

A test assembly like that lets you see if you're missing the proper order to put pieces in, and shows if any thing is warped or needing major filing. Its one of those things like 'measure twice, glue once'

I second the note about what happens if you don't put the side doors on in the right order. Overall though, I was very happy with the way my Valkyrie went together.

niceguyteddy wrote:I’m in the middle of building 2 valkyries and good God there are a lot of parts. How in the heck do some people build 9 of these? I’d need a sweatshop of 8 year olds with their fingers glued together to get all that done.

I blame all the GW mould lines.

Lol I feel your pain. I just finished one bout a week ago. Damn instructions arent exactly clear either

Mistress of minis wrote:Doesnt anyone do a 'dry' assembly run using blue tak or micro dabs of ca glue?

Its a useful trick. Kept me from screwing up my first land raider years back.

A test assembly like that lets you see if you're missing the proper order to put pieces in, and shows if any thing is warped or needing major filing. Its one of those things like 'measure twice, glue once'

Lol I dont have money left for this stuff after buying the darn model. Lol. I just have to hold the pieces together with man second best friend DUCT TAPE! Like the guard I dont know if their is any problem that a massive amount of duct tape cant solve.


"Quantity has a Quality all its own" - Joseph Stalin

Mistress of minis wrote:Doesnt anyone do a 'dry' assembly run using blue tak or micro dabs of ca glue?

Its a useful trick. Kept me from screwing up my first land raider years back.

A test assembly like that lets you see if you're missing the proper order to put pieces in, and shows if any thing is warped or needing major filing. Its one of those things like 'measure twice, glue once'

I tend to favour white tack. It's stickier than it's smurfoid cousin, you don't need as much and it can be squished between two bits of plastic to almost nothing so WYSIWYG

I just want one Chimera kit where the back-end isn't so warped that it prevents me from making the rear ramp able to be opened. Every single Chimera-body kit I've built (5 Chimeras, 2 Hellhounds) has had significant warping in this area, usually with the bottom piece warped in one direction and the the top piece warped in the other. Hot water hasn't helped, and neither has a hair dryer. I'm afraid to move to the next step -- ye olde heat gun.

I agree that the Valk instructions are... marginal.. at best. I finally found the wing hardpoint mounts after building 4\5 of the kit. What annoys me the most is the prep that you have to go through for the pilots cockpit. Why they could not have designed a drop in (or slide up) area so that you did not have to paint it in stages I will never know.

I am about 1\2 of the way through my valk painting at this time, and while it is a slick kit I still dont know how I am going to manage the canopies. I think on my next two (because you have to have 3 you know lol) I will just paint the canopies opaque and be done with it lol.

For the canopies get some blue painters tape it works a treat don't forget the underside or they will be opaque

I love the valk model... pity it doesn't really fit blood pact fluff - too techy i think

Im considering a small guard army so i can get valks, hellhounds and 9 leman russ
(Minimum compulsory choices then max out on the vehicles)

I love tanks (and flyers)

Deewalla wrote:After 10 Chimera's, 3 Basilisk's, 3 Hellhounds, a Salamander, and a "Saber" variant Laser Destroyer, the Chimera kit becomes a bit easy. Yes the rear is weak and prone to warping, bending the wrong way, the front hatch doesn't fit into the hull without trimming, getting the frame straight so it doesn't wobble when its finished, and those treads are always hell, but I'm now building my second Valkyrie and....

Im at a loss for words to describe how useless the "intruction box" is in instructing. Just a bunch of wordless CAD drawlings, heck, like mentioned earlier, there's even parts being shown that don't even exsist in the kit. GW's online "how-to" isn't much more help. I had to google and pour through so many links befor I found nice page with some good insight on putting it together. (and magnetizing info too!) Keeping some parts unglued until post-primer / paint was a real help, but if had been following the box or the "how-to" never would have known just how tight some amazing detail gets. It doesn't even mention or hint to that the wings are very stable just being pushed into its slot, not glued. Something that makes future transport so much easier.

All in all, it's an amazing looking model. A great buy for any IG player as it looks good, preforms well, and makes its point cost back easy. I'm think that Valk #3 for me will be even easier to make. Until then though, it still remains a great model with sucky instructions and fiddly parts.

-Deewalla

Can you either link the page or PM me? I'll be getting into valk assemblies here soon as will a few of my friends and we could use help. I always know assembly is a real treat when GW includes instructions.

Out of interest, how many parts are there in a valkyrie?

109 Pars if you include building all weapon variants.

I built both of my valkyries back to back, but I think I should have waited on the 2nd one. I would have liked to have left off the jets and landing gear to be able to paint behind those areas a lot easier.

But since it's such a big model it also takes a while to paint, but don't rush it, it's a nice model so it deserves a little extra attention

I have some vets to put together next, then I will probably get my 2nd one painted.

To be fair assembly is an afterthought, I'd rather have a beautiful valk that was a bit tricky to build in the right order than a £35 mediocre flyer that was "easy to put together"

And right here and now, Dakka as my witness, I vow to never buy/touch/use/be associated with a push-fit model bigger than a dreadnought (AoBR FTW)

Any tips on building the base. Should I center the stand or figure the center of gravity on the model?