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Hi guys, my apologies if this is in the wrong forum.

I've stuck my Ghostkeel's legas and hips on the base, and due to its top-heavy nature and the ball and socket form of the ankle joints, the thing will not stand up no matter how long I leave the thing to dry. I live in terror of what will happen when I try to put the torso on top.

Have I put the model together incorerctly or something? Or is there some general thing I should be doing?

Thanks for any advice.

Have you tried plugging it off and on?

In all seriousness, have you tried pinning the joints with the model?

I have not worked with the Ghostkeel, however this is a pretty common occurrence with a lot of the Tau suit models (my friend complains about it a bunch). You may have to consider 'pinning' his legs, or giving him something to lean on.

Also, you may ask a mod to move this to the Painting and Modeling forum, they may have more tips for you.

 Zewrath wrote:
Have you tried plugging it off and on?

In all seriousness, have you tried pinning the joints with the model?

I tried whacking it. It works with my computer...

I'm about to show my lack of experience here. :( You mean literally sticking a sewing pin through the joint?

Brass rod, straight pins, and paperclips work best, but yeah, that's the gist.

All my battlesuit ankles are pinned. I personally also pin EVERY joint that isn't plastic on plastic.

Basically drill a hole through each part and run a short length of metal through the holes, as Jimsolo says.

The drill is called a pin vice (or pin vise) and can be bought at GW or any hobby shop/eBay. It's a tiny one-hand drill - be careful using an electrical drill on styrene plastic like GW kits, as the friction heat can be enough to melt the plastic. Makes metal models very hot too!

Brass rod to pin the joint can be bought at model railway shops (Gale Force 9 also sells it), but a length of paperclip also works on small joins.

It's a VERY useful technique for pinning metal to metal, l but has its uses on plastic (weak joints) and resin (big pieces or weak joints).

It's also easy to do and makes you feel like a DIY master...

Pin it, i do this even with full plastic models, extra strength and durable and if the thing breaks you still can use it by simply putting it in back in the hole for the duration of the game.

Old habits from white metal models.

Shame, its a great model

I just propped the hips up till the ankles dried - no issues since.

Momotaro wrote:
Basically drill a hole through each part and run a short length of metal through the holes, as Jimsolo says.

The drill is called a pin vice (or pin vise) and can be bought at GW or any hobby shop/eBay. It's a tiny one-hand drill - be careful using an electrical drill on styrene plastic like GW kits, as the friction heat can be enough to melt the plastic. Makes metal models very hot too!

Brass rod to pin the joint can be bought at model railway shops (Gale Force 9 also sells it), but a length of paperclip also works on small joins.

It's a VERY useful technique for pinning metal to metal, l but has its uses on plastic (weak joints) and resin (big pieces or weak joints).

It's also easy to do and makes you feel like a DIY master...

I also discovered while working on my project for the Secret Space Raid over on Dark City that an electric drill can snap pin vice bits in a nanosecond. At this point, I only use the electric drill for big bits and extended work. (When assembling an old Wrathlord, f'rex, I find it best to pin their arms and legs with a single piece of brass all the way through the body and out the other side.)

 Scott-S6 wrote:
I just propped the hips up till the ankles dried - no issues since.

Yeah, I didn't have any issues with my three... Not even the one I propped up to stand on one leg in a leaping pose.

I would suggest having everything except the angles done and partially dried, at which point you only need to put the feet on and onto the base in one go, quite rapidly.

What kind of glue are you using? For bigger plastic models I'll use plastic model glue, for really big stuff I use 2 part epoxy. Superglue just doesn't cut it sometimes.

changemod wrote:

 Scott-S6 wrote:
I just propped the hips up till the ankles dried - no issues since.

Yeah, I didn't have any issues with my three... Not even the one I propped up to stand on one leg in a leaping pose.

I would suggest having everything except the angles done and partially dried, at which point you only need to put the feet on and onto the base in one go, quite rapidly.

\

I think maybe the problem is in the position of the ankles relative to the legs? I mean that physics says that the weight should preferably go straight down into the join so as to increase support, but the way the thing is positioned the leg goes into the ankle at an angle, meaning that the weight goes down not directly into the foot.

Anyway, I'm trying repositioning it so the weight goes more straight down.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 greyknight12 wrote:
What kind of glue are you using? For bigger plastic models I'll use plastic model glue, for really big stuff I use 2 part epoxy. Superglue just doesn't cut it sometimes.

Just superglue. I've never had a problem before. Albeit the Ghostkeel has its weight a lot less well distributed than say my Imperial Knight.

Quite a basic tutorial but you should be able to get the gist of it. You can watch the whole video as it's only short but the part that probably applies to you more is from 1:10 onwards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjlqYUAJNSo

I hadn't pinned anything before a little while ago and was a bit nervous about drilling holes in miniatures. But when my Rogue Trader Land Raider turrets got snapped off pinning was the only way to fix it. My friend showed me how to do it and I feel comfortable doing it now.

Use liquid polystyrene cement. It dissolves the plastic on both sides of the joint.

You hold the parts in position for a few seconds and the solvent evaporates, leaving the joint essentially fused into a single piece of plastic.

Pinning is advised if there are thin joints or parts that won't bear the weight of the completed model, but it shouldn't be necessary just for assembly.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, I am moving this thread to Painting & Modelling.

For my Ghostkeel (my icon, gallery), I just set up a few items around the model to brace it and had no trouble at all. I know the issues with those ball joints but it wasn't a problem when I packed several of my paint containers against where the model was losing its balance before the glue set. Did the same thing for my Riptide and Stormsurge. I use Zap a Gap , medium, super glue.

For that joint, you'll want to leave it alone for a while to set, even with super glue. But in all of my experiences with Tau suit models, once the glue sets, you're good.

You may run into an issue where you already tried to glue a joint without success and you try again by adding more glue to a joint that already had some glue. I've found that a joint may not adhere properly like that. You, ll need to scrap some of the old glue off before trying again.