After last week’s article, a lot of folks asked me for some tricks and tricks about assembling models as well. So here’s even more of my hobby hacks!
And I get it, trust me, assembly is not something I really enjoy. But it must be done and as tedious and boring as it is, a poorly assembled model will ususally result in a poor-looking finished model. You know who else is poor? Me; everytime Forge World releases a new Horus Heresy model, but that’s neither here nor there.
So I won’t delve into real details on what assembly is.I mean, cut from sprue, remove mold lines, drop pieces on the floor, glue stuff up, fill gaps, unglue your hand from your desk, you know the drill. One thing I’ll add is that assembly, for the most part, is best enjoyed listening to music/a podcast or the background noise of a movie and drinking a reasonable amount of beer.
Unto them tricks :
Super Awesome Assembly Trick Numero Uno : Step by step, oh baby.
The New kids on the block title aside, doing the same step on every model before moving to the next step is where it’s at. Batch painting works, so does batch assembly. Exhibit A : These horors, all 40 of them, are getting unclipped from the sprues before I even start to clean up the mold lines on a single one. Once everything is unclipped, then I remove all the mold lines, and so on.
This is not making it any more fun, but it speeds up time considerably because you’re not switching tools every now and them. Plus, when working with the same sprues over and over again ( someone say infantry platoon? ) you get a lot of speed going by knowing where everything is.
Super Awesome Assembly Trick Numero Dos : Gotta Keep’em Separated!
This trick I picked up because of step one and my aforementioned lack of interest/fun in assembling models. Get little containers and keep pieces from models separated while you work. This way, if you have to stop, everything is easy to find the next time and you don’t run the risk of a cat or kid mixing up all the loose pieces from your desk. I like those big pill dispenser things, the one like your grandma has to keep track of which she took that day. The much cheaper option is egg crates.
Cheaper might not be the case, but for your 2$ you get 12 eggs, so bonus. Assemble stuff : make pancakes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31QdEZNxqRM
Super Awesome Assembly Trick Numero Tres : What’s in the Box?
I’m sad I didn’t come up with a music reference for my tittle, but whatever. Aside from the egg crates, get small box and put it on your lap while you’re assembling. This sounds like the dumbest thing until you actually try it. The purpose of this box is to catch everything you drop. Looking for pieces I’ve dropped while removing mold lines or trying to glue them is the thing I hate the most. It stops your progress, you have to look around for it and half the time you end up on all fours under a desk. The litteral worst.
The box also catches most of the residue from your cleaning and allows you a nice space to keep your tools so you don’t have to look for them through the mess on your desk ( I know it, you know it, the desk is never clean, it’s a myth). It’s also a nice spot to put your tube of glue, so if you spill a few drops or it falls, you don’t ruin a desk or waste time cleaning it.
What’s your Super Awesome Assembly Trick?
