Forward Base Habitat 3 construction process part 1

 This is the second Habitat 3 I've built from the Forward Base Kickstarter the new retail versions of which are available from Antenocitis Workshop. The new versions have some differences mainly in the replacement of the resin elements with MDF and acrylic parts.  One of the advantages of the newer design is that the door are operational while here, in this first generation model, they are not.  I like to think of these doors and windows as variably permeable adaptive solid holograms but the new doors are quite nice with a more traditional air-lock feel.

 Building on my previous experience with this kit I first looked at what accessories were available.  The build instructions assume the basic model without upgrades or add-ons. They do mention a critical area to leave unglued if installing the interior later or if it needs to be removed for painting.

The first step was to identify what acrylic accessories I had available and where they needed to be installed.

 Installation follows a familiar pattern: Cut out the location with a strong hobby blade. Remove the protective plastic film and pre-fit the acrylic part making any adjustments necessary to get the piece to fit snugly but not require the part to be forced into position. Usually these are slightly over-sized to the opening so some filing to actual size is needed.  Filing MDF is tricky so I tend to file the acrylic along the length of the edges.

 Before the final installation I paint the detail areas like door outlines, lettering, caution markings, and window rings then attach the acrylic using tiny amounts of Tacky Glue. With all these MDF projects use as little glue as possible and avoid getting it on the acrylic surfaces.  Tacky Glue works well because if a little glue makes it onto the acrylic it can usually be quickly removed without damaging the finish. NEVER use super glue for this as it will cloud the acrylic finish even if it doesn't directly touch it.

 After getting all the acrylic installed I add on some of the resin parts, like vents and power connectors, that require a hole be made in the MDF to avoid having to punch a hole in the assembled walls. I also paint these before gluing them on.  I use super glue for these resin attachments and would note that the superglue sets VERY rapidly between resin and this MDF so its important to get the placement perfect on contact.

Its time to start building the shell.

These models are pre-colored and I will have already painted the details on them. I leave the weathering until the end but doing it now would also work out.

For MDF to MDF joins I use Super Phatic glue which sets quickly and gives a strong bond with very small amounts of glue.

Starting at the top build the bay window.  The sides of the bay have a small "T" printed on the top most tab to indicate which should be on top.

As always dry fit all parts before gluing. The accuracy is generally very good but occasionally there with be a peg that doesn't gracefully fit and requires a little adjustment with a file or hobby knife.

Side walls next aligning with the floor detail.

Rear wall connecting the two side walls then the two front panels.  These are a little fidgety to get square and benefit from clamps on the inside walls and rubber bands on the outside walls as shown in the photo with the clamps... note the hard to see rubber bands on the outside edges.

Pre-fit the topmost long strips... DO NOT GLUE... you want these to fit right and to help hold the shape of the shell but will need to remove them to install the interior resin walls.  The bump out goes on the side of the bay window.  check the fit of the central roof panel to make sure its in the right place.

Next the top angled parts with the printed solar cell pattern can be glued into place.  They don't interfere with resin placement and will help establish the shape of the shell.

Next Flip the model and install the lower panels. These get glued in.

Thats all for this part!

Next time I'll put in the resin interior, build the add-ons, and do the exterior finishing.

Cheers

Build Day WiPs Kingdom Death

Even though the current projects on the painting desk need work I spend a bit of time building the next thing in the line.  Today its Kingdom Death.

The first Kingdom Death model I've ever built is this Kingsman.  The model is very cool but I just chose it at random from the Kingdom Death Monster 1.5 core set.

After working on it a bit I dug out the rules and started reading them....

We are definitely gonna play this game!

With that in mind its time to start working on a set of player characters.

The rules direct you to build the first group of four survivors and the White Lion to play the introduction so I rooted around in the box for a bit and came up with a sprue labelled "Prologue"  Brilliant!

Being an old metal mini guy I was reluctant to move into plastics.  I had worked a lot with resin and, while that had some advantages in terms of conversion and weight, they tended to be brittle, fussy when it came to taking paint and I wasn't sold on them as durable in the long term.  I then encountered Wyrd and the Death Marshals of Malifeux and was immediately sold on plastic!  There are just things you can do in plastic that are impossible in either resin or metal.

Now that I've worked with plastic for a bit I am able to appreciate the quality control that has gone into the Kingdom death line.The material is great with the right proportion of strength and hardness while being sufficiently flexible to take a ding during regular handling. The model cuts, sprue attachment points, and mold lines are well thought out and are often hidden on interior surfaces.  the external mold lines are very fine and easy to clean up.  There are some places, of course, where its just not possible to have the cut or mold line be invisible that will require some greenstuff but these are the exception rather than the rule.

Its easy to see why this line enjoys such support among painters.  Its got edgy topics but a lot of humor as well... its well sculpted and has high production values.  It takes advantage of the abilities that plastic has to create great depth in the sculpt and to be gravity defiant but remain solidly usable.

The game looks like its gonna be great as well.  More on that as we dig into it.

Building Keshyrii: Lust Elf Centaur Champion (SF) step by step.

Keshyrii is a great model and a fabulous leader for the Centaur group!

 After building the Centaur Unit... sans the command section which I've forgotten to get... or didn't make the Kickstarter stretch goal... I thought I'd do an assembly post with actual pictures of the process. 













This model was produced during a brief period where Raging Heroes (RH) was doing "Pizza Slice Frames"




These frames really protect the model prior to construction but has a much stronger sprue join to break and consumed a  tremendous amount of resin.

I ran these through an ultrasonic cleaner twice with a weak Simple Green solution, rinsed them in warm water... scrubbing them with an old toothbrush and then pat drying them with paper towels to prevent any residue from drying in the crevices.





Start by locating all the frames with "Point of Contact" parts.  Unlike the Centaur troopers the parts do not have an alphabet matching system.  Each frame contains a matched torso sub assembly: torso, head, arms and you must figure out where they should be placed on the main body so dry fitting is extra important here.



Remove the torso from the sprue and clean it. 

These parts will be hard to reach once installed so its best to do as much cleaning before assembly as possible.

Here you see the rib cage and abs which mark this as the front of the torso.

Working from the same sprue the torso came from remove the head.

Clean the head and glue it to the torso facing the front of the torso.  Each head is matched to its torso and when properly aligned will sit flush at the required angle.  This might look a bit strange at first but once you get into the flow of the model the importance of these angles will become clear.

 Remove the arms that have the large point of contact pin from the same sprue that you have been working from.

Clean these and glue them into place taking care to have the join be as perfect and seamless as possible.  This will result in the arms being in the correct alignment for attaching the model to a base.

Here its worth foot-stomping that you should always assemble these sub assemblies before attaching them to the main body and always assemble them in the order of:

Head to Torso
Arms to Torso

Adding the head after the arms is difficult... and adding the head after the arms while the torso is already attached to the main body is an actual nightmare... the unfortunate voice of experience!  Make of it what you will.

 Keshryii has three points of contact.  This makes the model very stable once constructed but does require some finesse to make sure that the mounting surfaces will all sit flush with the base.

Here you can see that I've got a slight mismatch in regards to the alignment of the perpendicular surfaces.  Thats OK its close enough. I'll just sort the difference with greenstuff.

 Now I apply a generous dot of paint to each of the contact points and orient the model to the base. Once in position press down gently and the base is marked for drilling.















The base shown here is not the base included with the model. RH supplies a nice plain plastic base.  This base is from Table-top Art from the same 8 pack I used to base the rest of the unit.

These are very nice bases and will be great for unifying the theme.

Model glued to the base.

There is a bit of a gap between the main body and one of the legs due to my minor misalignment of the torsos.  I'll fill this when I do the greenstuff around the points of contact.

 Next assemble the remaining two torsos.

As always... construct each sub assembly from a single sprue.   

These are not nearly as demanding in terms of required precision as they will be hanging free. 

Just line the arms up the way you prefer.

 Attach the remaining sub assemblies to the body and fill any gaps at this time.

Once dry do any filing or sanding of the putty before moving on.

 The arms are pretty cool.  This one shows the nested claw.  There are also two spikes that attach to the front of the torso forming tusks for the breastplate of the main body.  These are a great addition and make the main body a fearsome weapon in close combat!

Assemble the claw.  Attach the claw, the breastplate spikes, and the gun arm.

Because this model is also a game piece I wanted to reduce places where it could fracture due to handling.  One of these measures was to rest the gun on the top of one of the torso join pads making the gun firmly glued at both the shoulder and the gun itself.

 The head is in two parts and the fit is superb. There are little cut outs around the ears!

 The assembled head showing the ear area join and the immense mane of hair.

 This huge hair would be a major stress point if it were free standing but there is a small notch... not noticeable if you choose not to use it... that fits very nicely against the top of one of the rear torso joints giving a solid, well supported main of hair that still appears to be flying free.

The final piece is the tail.  This is a great looping thing that runs between the torso/legs and I've left it off to paint separately.  I'll add it as the last thing I do before sealing the model just to make everything a little easier to reach and paint.

Keshyrii ordering an assault from the midst of her troop of primed and ready to be painted centaurs!

Lust Elf Centaurs (SF ver.) assembled

I am guessing that Benoit over at Raging Heroes has some really, really, really scary nightmares...

Fortunately when he wakes up those demented dreams get translated into spectacular miniatures for all the rest of us!

I just finished building this unit of Lust Elf Centaurs and they are from some of the more disturbing of the nightmare creatures that have escaped his fevered dreams...

 These are the Sci-Fi versions and, if I'm clever, I'll build the fantasy versions next... right after the Sci-Fi Centaur Champion of course!  Reason being is that these are complex miniatures... really more accurately... model kits as each one has 23 parts (excluding the base) and it took me until the third one to come up with an efficient building process.

The first three models took me a couple of days to sort out then I got the hang of it and the remaining ones were finished in an afternoon.

The process I settled on is:

1. Keep each model separate from the others and do not mix the parts.  The models are shipped segregated in bags based on the number of points of contact with the base.  Each model has a unique letter system so you can safely build each bag out of the pile.

2. Completely build each model before moving to the next. Even when working out of a bag of two models.

3. Remove the parts from the sprue ONLY as they are needed.  The parts have letter codes that make construction much easier.  Just match the letters (M to M etc).  There is room for posing and variation within the matched parts and, of course you can swap some around but you'll want to get a feel for the way the models work before doing a lot of that.

4. Clean the part, prefit the part and trim if necessary,  and install it before moving to the next part.

5. The order the parts are fitted makes a huge difference.  This is why the first model took longer to build than the final three.

Here is my part building priority:

1. Find the point(s) of contact part.

2. If there is a single point of contact part construct the torso by finding the torso part with the same letter code as the point of contact piece.  Attach the matching head making sure that it is facing in the proper direction.  Just look for the ribs and abs and put the head on facing in that direction.

 Then attach the point of contact arms to the torso.  If you line the parts up to look as natural and seamless as possible you will likely be in the right alignment.  Its a good idea to clean up and/or fill this join at this point since access to it may be limited later.

Attach the newly constructed "leg" to the main body of the model being careful to fit it at an angle that will make your model stand the way you want it too.  The main body has channels and tightly fitting this first piece into the channels will usually do the trick but you can vary the attitude and angle quite a lot if you desire.

I used Super glue on one face and accelerator on the other which helped immensely but required rigorous pre-fitting before making the adhesion attempt.

 2a.  If the model has two points of contact build one just that same as if it were a single and attach it to the main body.  Build the second assembly the same way always following the pattern of:

head to torso
Arm of contact to torso
second arm to torso
torso to main body

When attaching the second torso assembly make sure the (2) points of contact share a level plain and glue the second assembly into place.

3. Attach the assembly to the base.

4. Build each remaining torso assembly (head to torso, arms to torso) and attach them to the main body.

5. Attach the upper torso.  These have a great alignment with the abs in the center while still having great dynamic twists in the upper shoulder area.

6. Add the arms.  These are one piece each.

7. Assemble the Head (2 parts)


8. Add the head.

9. Go back through the model and get any cleaning and filling that might remain.  There should not be much as you will have done this as you went... lots of fiddly bits to dodge if you skipped the cleanup during the build!

These are pretty large models that I will be using as proxies for Drukhari Grotesques... especially in Ynnari builds.  You can see Canonness Veridyan for scale.

Below is the group of six.

Today's goal... build Centaur Champion Keshirii (SF)

Then I might have to knock out building the fantasy versions of these while I remember how to do it!  I think there are nine of those plus the fantasy version of the champion... then... whew... back to painting!

I didn't realize I'd do a building commentary so didn't take pictures during the build. When I do the Fantasy versions I'll make some step by step photos.