Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

when i am assembling the guardsman; everything goes good until, i get to lining up the gun to the other arm piece.. Anyone have any advice on how to do it a quick and easy way thanks

You should have some wiggle room when you use plastic glue to get it right as it takes a while to set, but is sticky enough to hold in place while you adjust stuff.

Are you talking the Cadians where you have the right arm attached to the gun, and the left arm handless which is attached to the hand holding the gun? Apply glue to both arm points on the chest and to the wrist of the left arm. Stick the right arm on, stick the left arm on, wiggle it about until it's all in place.

The gun arms and support arms are lettered. If you look on 1 side of the sprue you will see that each pair of arms has a corresponding letter from A to H. You need to match up each set of arms to make em work.

That's why it's not a good idea to clip off all the arms before hand. Only clip them as you need them.

 Snrub wrote:
The gun arms and support arms are lettered. If you look on 1 side of the sprue you will see that each pair of arms has a corresponding letter from A to H. You need to match up each set of arms to make em work.

That's why it's not a good idea to clip off all the arms before hand. Only clip them as you need them.

This.

Since I clip and clean everything in batches and paint in subassemblies with pieces mounted on cork stoppers, I label matching arms with a fine point sharpie (where they attach to the torso) so I don't get them mixed up.

On the inner side of each gun there are little things bumps that look like buttons or lights. Each gun has a different amount of bumps that corresponds with their letter.

For example.
B has four bumps
H has one bump
G has four bumps, but it has a bayonet attached as well whereas B has no bayonet.

I clip and clean (and paint) everything before full assembly, but I dry fit before gluing to make sure everything matches up fine. I've never noticed matching arms to be a problem doing things this way.

ahh i did not realize they were all numbered and would only fit with such numbers... i'm usually pretty good at putting together models.. now i have 10 arms and misc guns that i have cut and now i have to mess with to figure out which fits right... guess i should always look at the instructions first...

Yeah I've been there. Cut matching arms or legs off and then realised they have to be paired. Make a pile of left arms and a pile of right arms, go through each right arm and find the left arm that fits closest, put them aside, continue until complete and hope you don't reach the end and find you can't match the last set!

If you do, spend a few minutes playing around with similar looking arms until you can match them.

If you can't match them perfectly and still have gaps, when gluing them together, use the superglue-greenstuff-superglue trick. Mix up a ball of greenstuff, place a dab of superglue on one side of the joint, a small(!!) ball of greenstuff on the superglue, then a small dab of superglue on the other side of the join. The superglue dries almost instantly when you press the parts together holding the join together, but the greenstuff takes a bit longer to dry, so you can wiggle the arm around in to the best position and the greenstuff will bridge the gap. After a few minutes, the superglue will have almost completely dried and if you need to add some extra greenstuff to fill any gaps.

You can dry fit the parts with a ball of greenstuff to get just the right size ball to perfectly fill the gap (then go a touch smaller than that because the superglue takes up space as well). Though it's best to use a bit less greenstuff than you need to completely fill the join and then just add more later, as cleaning up superglue and green.

It might sound complicated, but after you've done it a few times, you'll be able to pump them out pretty fast. I had to do this with my DKOK Grenadiers because the arms had bit gaps, only took me a few minutes longer than if I'd had no gaps.

Thanks alot guys for your help...I have one more question; another fun thing i'm learning is: getting the models off the spruce.. it's very hard to get them off the sprue with a complete clean cut especially if there angled...i have a variety of cutters and exacto blades. i can never seem to get it even close to perfect; even after trimming with an exacto blade... any advice?? thanks again guys...

What are your models doing on a tree? Sorry, couldn't help myself.

The best way to clip models off the sprue is to not cut near the model itself. Clippers are very indelicate tools. So if you cut close to the model you risk doing some damage to it.
So clip a part off with a little sprue still attached. Trim the sprue off with an exacto knife and clean up the point with the knife or files.

I hope that makes sense and/or is helpful. I don't always explain things in a way others can readily understand.

 Snrub wrote:
What are your models doing on a tree? Sorry, couldn't help myself.

The best way to clip models off the sprue is to not cut near the model itself. Clippers are very indelicate tools. So if you cut close to the model you risk doing some damage to it.
So clip a part off with a little sprue still attached. Trim the sprue off with an exacto knife and clean up the point with the knife or files.

I hope that makes sense and/or is helpful. I don't always explain things in a way others can readily understand.

Actually I've found that's the difference between good quality sharp clippers and crappy clippers. I have one set of clippers that mangles the part and I have to clip away from the part to not damage it, my other set I can cut right up against the model and it gives a clean cut (still have to touch up with the scalpel, but at least it doesn't physically damage the part!)

Hmm. I must have a pair of the crappy clippers (crappers? clippies?).

What brand are your good clippers?

My crappy ones are the now old citadel ones

The good ones, ummm, it was a long time ago, lol. They aren't labelled on them and I threw the packaging out many years ago. I got them from a mate who worked at Kincrome... but they weren't Kincrome, which makes it difficult. They might have been Sidchrome, the ones I can see on the Sidchrome site look the same as mine, but mine have a black handle and the one on the website have a red handle, so not sure.

Sidchrome ya reckon? Jeez they'd be frigging pricey then. And damn good quality too I'd imagine.

Sidchrome quality used to be solid when it was mostly made in Australia, these days it's all over the place, a lot of it is made in various parts of Asia now. Some of their tools are great, some not so much. Someone told me their clippers and other small tools are from France, some from Germany and if you're unlucky some from Taiwan.

When I was assembling Cadians, I cut marks into the attachment points so I could match up sets of arms; i.e. I'd score an X into one set, an H into another, a W into a third, and so on so I wouldn't mix them up.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
Sidchrome quality used to be solid when it was mostly made in Australia, these days it's all over the place, a lot of it is made in various parts of Asia now. Some of their tools are great, some not so much. Someone told me their clippers and other small tools are from France, some from Germany and if you're unlucky some from Taiwan.

My dad's got a set of Sidchrome tool's he's had for the better part of thirty years. Still work as good as the day he brought them.

on the topic of clippers, I have had great luck with the low cost red handled wire cutters from Harbor Freight, Pittsburgh brand "Micro Flush Cutter" can cut right up next to the model and not have a problem, works with plastic, resin, metal and a range of other stuff. got mine for under $2