Big appeal to CB: Fix the new bases! Improve the assembly system!

Infinity figures are not begginer friendly.
I can't imagine how hard it would be trying to slot the tab into the base.... cutting the slot and all.
Its really unintuitive and hard for someone new to the hobby to know how to assemble the figures on to bases.
Let alone know which tools and hacks to use.

I usually cut the tabs except on one foot, and use that tab as a "pin" for which I need to drill the base with my dremel and get it to fit. But I have a decade+ of XP in the hobby already.
Try telling this someone totally new to the hobby...

 

I never touch a figure before infinity, and never had problems figuring how to put together the pieces or how to glue the figure to the base... And I started at the end of N2, where mostly all of the models were manually sculpted and the joint points were rounded...

People seriously need instructions?

 

You'd be surprised.

But I have a fellow in my local meta who has to have his models put together for him. Doubly so with the 2ed-era sculpts. Lack of fine manual dexterity, shaky hands, or something in that direction. I'm doing him the courtesy since I've seen some models he put together himself, many years ago.

 

You don't need to go overboard with the tools, I have a hobby knife, clippers, modelling putty, a couple of needle files, and I get by just fine

 

Yeah I've been in the hobby for over a decade and have been getting on just fine with even less than that lol

 

While i never have real problems with getting CB models together it is also never fun.

 

Yes you could get by with fewer tools, but why would you? Tools are toys for grown-ups. Collect them all. Anything is much easier to accomplish, and generally in less time with better results, with the proper tool.

A useful homebrew tool. Hate gluing your finger to a mini trying to hold a small piece in place? Of course you do. Get a T-head pin and snip the 'T' section off. The insert the pin, clipped side first, into a 3/8" dowel, 6" or so long. Use pliers to do this. Now you have a nice little probe, but also something that can be used to press the pieces into place. The sharp tip keeps the thing from slipping, which is why you use a pin instead a piece of wire or something blunt.

 

Sometimes obvious instructions are worse, when advanced methods should be the basic. Just like "use a bigger brush and do not let paint get beyond half the hair length, and of course never to the metal part", they are advanced because they are learned later, because the basic are more like wrong than basic. Do you know you can place parts, then let the (thin) superglue into the joints? Also with plastic "glue", AKA solvent, for plastic minis. Use a pin or needle to apply, if the bottle does not have one of those ultra thin tips. Gel supreglues and typical advertisments go against "place parts then flow the glue", yet that is a pretty good way to use some glues.

Blutac, plasticine and whatever you can find where you live help in those cases, holding in place, so you only have to press a bit once the glue starts to flow. Green stuff can also work as filler and cushion when the parts do not have a perfect match.

 

GS in joints is old trick. Works as cushion once everything is cured, and also makes the superglue settle faster, as the distance is reduced. And the heat from the glue cures the epoxy a bit.

You should keep the fingers away... read some posts above for tools and work methods that achive that.

 

I've found the green stuff trick especially useful in conjunction with super glue accelerator in a miniature spray bottle. I only need everything to stay together for a second or so, then a quick spray of accelerator and it's good to go. Or at least after the accelerator evaporates. I've never needed to pin or do any other tricks even with fiddly smaller scale Merovingians.

I've never put together GW or other minis but have assembled and painted a good number of Gundam models, which are 99% snap fit. They are flat out a pleasure to build. I hate to say it but if I wasn't told about accelerator and was having a frustrating time putting together minis, I probably would have just dropped the whole miniatures hobby. Life's is too short to be pissed at miniature soldiers so I'm all for easier assembly.

 

this is something I stooped to do time ago. Usually I do this when there is too much space between joins and there is not so much surface to glue. Now, most of the time I prefeer pinning. A 1mm hand-drill, a 1mm clip... and then joining 2 parts is easy (but I know drilling might be tricky). For smaller pieces I use 0.5mm drills and wire from bread bags (or similars). This is even trickier and not so easy (because I usually do it in really thin pieces). But in infinity... has been some years since I had to drill pieces to glue them (though I still pin the feet to the base).

other tricks (I don't recomend the first two, but I know people that use them):

• Instead of GS, a little piece of tissue. Can do the same, but done wrong might leave the tissue on sight.
• Instead of GW, the "3 component glue" (it was a joke): cianoacrilate (superglue), bicarbonate and saliva. You put a little drop of saliva in the surface to glue (dont lick the metal!), then soak a little of bicarbonate, put glue on the other piece...and join them. This is a really fast and strong bond, but be careful, if there is too much bicarbonate might leave a little of bubblegum-like surface, but strong as a rock. I don't recomend this method, because is dangerous for the aesthetics of the miniature, but the bond is one of the strongest out there.
• fast curing 2 components epoxi glue. This is my "to-go" usual option when I want a strong bond between pieces. There are different trademarks and options, I think this is a trial and error. The problem is that, this don't finish as fast as cianoacrilate, it is not recomended if there is no way to leave the pieces in possition (with pinning this is easier)
• cianoacrilate accelerator. Does the same trick finishing fast as the tissue/GW/bicarbonate, but without its downsides (for me is hard to find were I live, but there is internet). My way to go with cianoacrilate fast&strong bonding.
• Use the foam from the blisters to clean excess of glue from the miniature. Done it fast, the foam will absorb the glue and harder in a way that will make easy later to take out the hardened foam from it. It can also help dry the miniature for handling it and not to glue to your fingers.
• Also, as other have said, make sure to check the status of the glue. After some time, the bonding gets slower and weaker.

 

Saliva = water. CA reacts to humidity/basic pH... from what I know, too much water (or accelerator) ends with weaker bonds, touch surfaces with wet-but-not-dripping brush. Sodium bicarbonate (basic substance) alone will do for non flexible joints, reinforcement (classic "fix broken plastic box of device") or filling holes, but is tricky if you insist in joining with the glue already in place. OTOH, it can be cut and sanded.

 

I think by now all joints I've glued using a tiny bit of green stuff has broken and been repaired.
Edit: what I mean to say is that the joints I've glued using tiny bits of Green Stuff has become brittle over time and they are a PITA to repair when they break.

 

I've never used greenstuff in joints myself, but I've been working with metal minis since the late Eighties and if the parts don't fit (generally on older models) I carve and file the pieces to fit snugly first.

But excess glue is a bad sign! Superglue is by far at it's strongest when there is a very thin layer of it between pieces. If you're using enough that there is excess glue on the surface, something's already gone horribly wrong!

My construction sequence goes something like this:

1. Remove any mould line etc, trying not to touch the contact surfaces too much with my fingers.
2. Dry fit, and file etc. as needed until the fit is good.
3. If it's a conversion or has involved a lot filing I'll then scrub the pieces in soapy water and then rinse throughly, as the oils in your skin can leave residue on the models and cause problems for both gluing and undercoating.
4. Lightly score all contact surfaces lightly with a scalpel or craft knife. This step is NOT optional if you're not planning to use weird bicarb mixes etc.!
5. Dry-fit again.
6. Place a small amount of superglue in the joint and hold the pieces together.
7. Once dry, you can add more superglue to the joint via capillary action. put a small blob of glue on a waste surface (blister pack etc.), dip a pin or fine wire into the superglue and then touch it to the edge of the joint - the glue will be soaked up into the joint. If it's a big joint, repeat in a few places around the edge of the joint.

Other than conversions like Super-Jumping TAGs, I've not pinned an Infinity model in years, and only had two minor breakages.

Note that you can also skip step 6 in some cases, and only apply glue from the outside of a joint with a pin, which can also be handy on models with rifles held with two hands and it's hard to get the three pieces to line up at the same time - get it all aligned and held in one hand, then use your other hand to add glue to the edges of the joints.

 

Use a knife to cut lines into the surfaces that touch each other, this increases the amount of surface area the glue can form a bond with.

Less, I use as little as I can on one piece, putting it on both sides of the joint is unnecessary, usually the smaller piece. I generally use Gorilla super glue which is quite viscous and just squeeze out the smallest blob I can from the bottle for things like arms, heads, etc.

 

Also, using "thick" cyanoacrylate glue helps as well.

 

As someone who uses too much super-glue; that's too much super-glue. If anything at all gets pushed out of the contact surface when you press the parts together, then you're probably using too much. I don't think super-glue (cyanoacrylate) benefits from gluing wet-to-wet, so just make one surface damp with glue and press it to the other dry surface.

IJW's guide is good, the only thing I'd add is that you can probably benefit from cleaning the miniatures using a mild soap that you rinse off really well - or just water. You can also have a bit of isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) on hand to clean off fatty finger prints, just make sure the isopropyl alcohol is reasonably close to 99.5% so that it doesn't contain anything unwanted that it'll leave behind when evaporating.