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Hi. I've got a problem. My first set of Eldar DA's I'd gotten came only on the sprue (no pics), so when I assembled them the right arm was holding the gun pointing out and the left arm just looked silly and was also sticking out or slightly across the abdomen. Since I acquired another set of DA's that had already been assembled, it dawned on me that the left arm is supposed to SUPPORT the weapon. I'd like to correct the problem before I prime & paint them, and have managed to remove a few of the arms, but the majority are glued on really solidly. Does anyone have any advice as to how to weaken the bond so that I can get the arms off so that they can be repositioned? I thought I'd heard about someone boiling the minis and then putting them in ice-cold water right away, and then getting plastic components off that way - but I'm worried I'll turn my DA guys into limp noodles if I do this. Any recommendations are welcome - thanks in advance!

Well if it is superglue, you can put them in the freezer for an hour and they should snap right off. If it is plasticglue then the only choice is the break it off.

Dude, you're FAST! Thank you very much for the quick suggestion - I'll try it this afternoon. And yes, it was superglue.

Trouble is that can weaken the plastic, you are in danger of braking the conponent, particularly if it is spindly, what I prefer to do is get some clippers, line them up along the joint, and give it a quick 'jerk' snip, pinging the big clean off with minimal damage or residue, imo, this works better than the freezer method

I dunno how securely you put the arms on, but usually I'll take pliers and try to pry them off unless I think it's gonna break the model. Otherwise, I'll take a pair of scissors and try to work it into the joint, and then "push" it out.

Dunno if there's an easier/safer method though.

Andilus - they were glued on REALLY secure - I tried wiggling the arms close to the bases to weaken the bond, and managed to get around 4 of the arms off that way (have 20 to do). I think that the glue was both on the joint of the arm and under the armour overlying the shoulder - so there's a good bit of glue in them! Thanks for the suggestion.

I swear by my method! Hasn't failed me yet

Winner - I've got a small pair of snips that may fit under the shoulder armour, will try your method as well! I've got 8 DA's left with one or both arms still attached, so I'll be able to try everyone's suggestions and see which works best for me.

You can sometimes put a razor knife to the joint and apply a nice even pressure to get the blade into the join and then give it a twist to pop the part off.

Freezer works though, recommended method by me as well.

You can use nail polish remover to dissolve superglue. It will also dissolve some plastics, so try it on a piece of scrap before using it on your models...

Also use it in a ventilated area.

I'd heard about the nail polish remover, but know it will dissolve the model details. I'd rather not try that one. If it was in a visible location, I'd be willing to give it a go, but since it's in the shoulder I'd rather not! Thanks anyway.

Freezer, gentle wiggle, freezer, gentle wiggle.

I can vouch for the freezer method; I've had models spontaneously pop their glue bonds just sitting in the trunk of my car this winter, so a freezer should certainly be cold enough!

Wait a minute there!

Avoid aceteone at all costs! They'll eat your plastics like a Tyranid eats biomass D=

Stick to the freezer and hobby knife.

Failing that, Nail Polish remover, as was said; use an acetone free or "soft" one.

I've tried one from a pharmacy that cost me 4€ and dissolved plastics, and tried another one from a supermarket that cost me 1€ for roughly the same and turned superglue into a slosh to be removed with an x-acto.

Otherwise, it will just ruin your plastic. Use some test models, though. Or plastic from the sprues to see if it eats through.

Good luck!

looks like the DA is collecting 'protection'.

Pay me the money and I might not shoot you.

Freezing works, but you have to ensure that it only breaks where you want it to (thin styrene also tends to be brittle when cold.)

chromedog - be careful! Once I've got their arms on right, they should be pretty formidable! Thanks for your vote on method.

chromedog wrote:looks like the DA is collecting 'protection'.

Pay me the money and I might not shoot you.

The one on the right, for the one on the left looks too tempted by Slaanesh whisperings xD

OK, here's an update. Had the guys in the freezer for an hour, only got 2 more arms off (actually have a unit of Guardians that I've got to reposition arms on as well). Turns out that the cold makes the plastic more brittle as well, and two arms are ready to break off at the elbows because of the pressure. Lots of shoulder armour buggered up as well because of this - snippers didn't help at ALL, nor did the Xacto knife. Looked for nail polish remover w/o acetone, couldn't find any. Next step is going to be to leave them in freezer overnight and try to find some pliers to wiggle the arms off with tomorrow - but my concern is for the damage they'll do to the arms.

Question for all readers - better to have the arms buggered up and positioned properly for painting, or to leave them as they are so that the details aren't messed up for painting? I KNOW that I used SuperGlue and not a plastic glue. From now on I'm not going to use as much of it!!! Grrrrrr.

It's all relative. I used to paint the arms before I glued them, but then, as I'm not a good painter, it makes little difference if I glue them first,. and saves me time.

Still haven't used my method!. Just get the clippers into the joint, and apply a little pressure, it pops clean off

winnertakesall wrote:Still haven't used my method!. Just get the clippers into the joint, and apply a little pressure, it pops clean off

I DID try your method, and it didn't work for me! Even with the guys frozen! :-(


Automatically Appended Next Post:
OK - FINALLY have the arms off of my DA's! Final working solution was: freeze the dudes overnight, and then I put them in hot water (as hot as my hand could stand it) for ~10 minutes, and then I used the nippers to dig into the shoulder joints and pry them out. I've got some glueing to do of some thumbs and some of the pod/fin things that stick up from the back shoulder, and only one arm snapped in mid upper arm - that won't look too pretty, but at least they're APART!!!!! Hopefully this thread will help anyone else who buggered up their minis when assembling them. Thanks to all who gave suggestions, as I think the final solution was a little bit of everyone's suggestions.

Really? that works every time I nhave tried it, plastic glue, super glue, everything, takes the joint off. Did you use a lot of glue?

Yes, I had - but from now on, I'm NOT using too much!