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I recently purchased the Khador battle box so that I could try my hand at the game (that seems to be a pretty common thing, based on the most recent posts). I've almost finished sanding and removing the mould lines, so I'm beginning to think ahead to priming and assembly. I currently play Warhammer, so I'm used to pinning my models, but what's the opinion on pinning in Warmachine? The warjack arms use a ball/socket connection, and on my Tau battlesuits I didn't pin and it held fine. The legs have a built-in peg to attach to the hip. What about the shoulders to the torso? Head to torso? Hands to arms?

My second question is regarding assembling before or after painting. The pieces seem to fit together in a manner where I could paint them prior to assembly, which I like. It's always easier to get all the places this way - yes, I even paint the areas I know nobody will see. I know they're there. Does anyone else do the same? Have they run into any issues doing this?

Opinions and advice are always appreciated .

I tried using numerous types of assembly. I tried super glue. JB weld. Pinning in combination with both of those. Job weld formed the strongest bond but you have to be able to hold the pieces in place without them moving at all until it cures or the bond won't hold. I now use two methods that are superior to all others. My method for small pieces is to laser weld them together. I use neodymium rare earth magnets for larger pieces such as arms, legs, torso etc. You drill a shallow hole in each piece that you want to hold together, put a small drop of super glue or job weld in it then set the magnet. 1/8th neodymium magnets from McMaster have a pull force of around 1-2lbs I believe, more than enough for any model. Its by far the best wayto assemble these models and it lgets you change poses and switch between different war jacks.

As far as painting models before putting them together, I've had no trouble in using such an approach with my Rhulic 'jacks, although they are the first models I've tried painting before assembly.

Regarding the actual assembly process, I've found that between the use of superglue and occasional applications of green stuff, I haven't had a need to pin any of my models. That's not to say that there aren't a few that I've pinned just in case (the Buccaneer, for example), but for the most part I haven't found it to be completely necessary. YMMV, of course.

Plastic models are fine with just super glue and no pinning. Make sure you use super glue, NOT plastic glue. The plastic PP uses is a different kind than what GW uses and plastic glue will NOT work on it. Super glue on the other hand has regularly left me with models I've been unable to break back apart when I later tried.

grayshadow87 wrote:As far as painting models before putting them together, I've had no trouble in using such an approach with my Rhulic 'jacks, although they are the first models I've tried painting before assembly.

Thanks, it's reassuring to hear that someone else has done it successfully. With the Khador warjacks I couldn't figure out a way to get the plating on the forearms painted well after assembly because the plating on the hands overlaps.

AduroT wrote:Plastic models are fine with just super glue and no pinning. Make sure you use super glue, NOT plastic glue. The plastic PP uses is a different kind than what GW uses and plastic glue will NOT work on it. Super glue on the other hand has regularly left me with models I've been unable to break back apart when I later tried.

The plastic felt different when I was sanding it, I'm glad that you confirmed that it is - I was feeling crazy. I normally use super glue, so I should be good.

Thanks to everyone that responded, you've been (as always) extremely helpful.

One thing to keep in mind is that quite a few of the WM models are still metal (thank God). And will need to be pinned (looking at you Nyss Huntters).

Let me know when you pickup your IFP and I'll shoot you a link to the tutorial on how to swap out the pikes with brass rods.

Good Luck and welcome to the Mother Land.

Pft! I don't pin Nyss Hunters, I just use good glue. I've built four units of them, and will be building two more next week.

 AduroT wrote:
Pft! I don't pin Nyss Hunters, I just use good glue. I've built four units of them, and will be building two more next week.

uhhuh.........

I'm actually serious about how many Nyss Hunters I've built. I built a unit for myself, and then after I said it wasn't really all that hard, I had three people over time bring me theirs to build. Then enough people locally and online have started to copy my replacing their ugly heads with sweet Dark Eldar Witch heads idea that I decided I needed to do something different, so I traded my unit of assembled Nyss Hunters for someone else's unassembled Nyss Hunters plus $20, and next week I'm going to be assembling that new unit, plus yet another person's Nyss Hunters, and head swapping both units.

 AduroT wrote:
I'm actually serious about how many Nyss Hunters I've built. I built a unit for myself, and then after I said it wasn't really all that hard, I had three people over time bring me theirs to build. Then enough people locally and online have started to copy my replacing their ugly heads with sweet Dark Eldar Witch heads idea that I decided I needed to do something different, so I traded my unit of assembled Nyss Hunters for someone else's unassembled Nyss Hunters plus $20, and next week I'm going to be assembling that new unit, plus yet another person's Nyss Hunters, and head swapping both units.

Can I send you mine? They are still in the box ...

 AduroT wrote:
I'm actually serious about how many Nyss Hunters I've built. I built a unit for myself, and then after I said it wasn't really all that hard, I had three people over time bring me theirs to build. Then enough people locally and online have started to copy my replacing their ugly heads with sweet Dark Eldar Witch heads idea that I decided I needed to do something different, so I traded my unit of assembled Nyss Hunters for someone else's unassembled Nyss Hunters plus $20, and next week I'm going to be assembling that new unit, plus yet another person's Nyss Hunters, and head swapping both units.

If you can fix swordsmen being shirtless snow jerks I'd be in on that

Some of the metal models may need pinning, quite a few models have WWS(weak wrist syndrome), but the plastics should be fine with nothing more than super glue.

here is a link to magnetising khadorian jacks the easy way.http://quietlimit.blogspot.com.au/2010/07/magnetizing-khador-warjack-easy-version.html I tried it and it works.
I didn't use clippers but just sliced away what i needed to with a hobby knife.