Incorrect. I don't think there has been an infinity model I have that hasn't needed pinning. I have been using superglue, usually Zapagap green label sometimes selleys sometimes generic but none work without pinning. I have never used fancy bases until the last couple of weeks
I haven't needed to pin EVERY infinity model, but I've certainly taken the pin vice and drillbit to most of them, if only to enlarge the mount holes that the little nubbins slot into (like hands/wrists). With the right tools, though, even the tailfins on the tsyklon remotes are pinnable, though.
I don't know how clearly it shows the scale but the mini in the background is the female Fusilier from Op Icestorm.
I tried using 0.3mm drill bits and 0.2mm wire and I could barely fit the drill bit into the tentacle. To say nothing of breaking something like 9 drill bits on this one mini. I had to stop work until I could get some more. $31.50 in bits on the one mini tends to increase the unit price of Infinity minis
I don't collect combine (the aesthetic design never appealed) so I never got to experience that. I've used down to a .3 drillbit without breaking one before, though. Have been using these tools for several decades now. One learns the "feel" for them.
You need better glue, or to prep your joints better. I don't say this trivially, I've assembled over 250 Infinity minis, 80% of which got shipped across the Atlantic by sea with only a single breakage! Not one of them were pinned. P.S. This includes the Icestorm Fusiliers and several TAGs.
Apart from the three fusiliers from Op Icestorm all of the Infinity models are the old ones purchased about 8 years or more ago. 67 minis at last count not including the three newbies and even after washing in hot water with detergent and then rinsing in fresh water, scoring the join spots where possible (sometimes the join points were too small to get in with a scalpel or craft knife blade) using mostly brand new superglue it has still been next to impossible to get a joint that didn’t require pinning and no model did not require pinning somewhere.
Almost certainly crappy glue then, or possibly using too much glue, my collection goes from 1e Ariadna and PanO to the Beyond boxes and everything in between, all assembled without a single pin.
I have used three different glues, two of them name brand glues multiple different bottles/tubes all newly bought when I started and new or old using micro spots or encasing like a fly in amber makes no difference. I had hoped that the new models would be less frustrating after all I have heard that a hobby is supposed to be enjoyable. But not to be.
Like I said, I've made a lot of Infinity minis, of all ages, without having to pin, if you're finding it necessary to pin things just to hold them together then you either you need better glue or you're not prepping things right.
What would you suggest in terms of prepping? Like I said the glue does not seem to be an issue, it glues everything except minis just fine.
You are either using way too much glue, or you're using a crappy set of watery glue instead of a more gel based one. What are you using? I've been doing everything from Aragoto, to Celestial Guard, to both Su Jian this week. The only pins in these models is to a custom base that's it.
You are applying way too much pressure and/or drilling too fast/erratically if you're snapping drillbits like that. Slow down. On this model I wouldn't drill a pin into the tentacle itself, I would drill out a slot in the main body where it's supposed to connect and use the tentacle itself as the pinning agent. It would be a much easier way of doing things.
I am not using a power drill, just fingers and very little force, most of the time the drill bits just shear from torque stress when the lubricant either wears off or is insufficient. Drilling erratically i won’t discount as it is hard to keep the drill lined up with the mini with hands as large and unsteady as mine but 0.0118 inch drill bits are unforgiving. But yes that suggestion about drilling the socket is well taken I will try it when I go to assemble the second drone. Should help with the tentacles at least.
