Repairing a Rogue Trader Era Space Marine Scout

When I dug out the Dark Angels I painted for In the Emperor's Name some years ago, much to my chagrin I found that a sniper rifle barrel was broken.

I am going to attempt to superglue it in place, but if that fails, I shall have to drill a shallow hole for the barrel to sit in.

Again, my Citadel Assembly Handle is coming to my aid, and it is actually fast becoming one of my standard go-to solutions for any kind of fiddly repair job - a sound purchase, as it turns out.

You will notice that I have added a rubber band - it is because the springs, or whatever it pulling the vise/clamp together around the mini's base, are not quite tight enough for smaller bases, but the rubber band is an easy and cheap way to mend that.

Knights of Minas Tirith Repairs

Several years ago, I tilted a box full of painted minis, and naturally some damage occurred.

Not until this past week I had the stomach for trying to mend this one-point-of-base-contact horse which broke its left hind leg just above the hoof at that occasion, but with my new Citadel Assembly Handle, I finally dared try my luck at this daunting task.

As you can see, it actually worked, much to my delight, as I had feared having to try pinning it - but as it turned out the Poly Cement seems sufficient, given the time to cure properly.

The other knight (bottom picture) was easily mended, as it was just a question of gluing the rider back in the saddle. He is a conversion using a plastic Warrior of Minas Tirith and a metal Knight, btw.

They are now both ready for when we need them in games of Age of Fantasy (the 250 points. list I have prepared for Emil's use Thursday includes one).

A Growing Contingent of Archers

I now have enough rebased Skeleton Archers to form two points of bow-armed warriors for SAGA Age of Magic. As I am soon also going to try out One Page Rules Age of Fantasy, I can have five 3-man groups out of these (and as I have two more, not in the pic, actually six groups in all), should I need that many.

The next couple of days, I have to finish a job application and prepare the appendices (I may get it completed tomorrow), and until it is done, I shall not have much hobby time, but I have another four models to rebase so that I can field two full units for God of Battles (and also 3 points for SAGA, to also be organized into two units of 12, including the Leader and Standard Bearer models).

It is quite nice to do units without having a set deadline for their use - does not feel as stressful that way 😁

Skeleton Archer Unit WIP

I managed to squeeze a bit of hobby time in today, so got the two broken models repaired, and rebased another four, bringing the archers up to 12 models - just enough for a God of Battles unit, and 1½ point of warriors for SAGA Age of Magic, for example.

I intend to get another 12 archers rebased, and then 12 warriors, before I start painting them (but I may start putting filler on some of the bases, soon, as I want to be able get some three-archer groups ready for OPR Age of Fantasy Skirmish rather soonish, which I intend to use as an introduction to fantasy wargaming for Emil.

Skeleton Archers WIP

The only work I have done on these until now is the rebasing. Part of a large Khemri job lot I purchased a couple of years back, they have been sitting idly in my Necropolis (large cardboard crate with unused Undead plastic), but with SAGA Age of Magic now almost ready to be played, and with My God of Battles Lords of Undeath in need of some ranged support, and the fantasy version of Mortal Gods 'Mythic' probably coming out later this year, now it is time to do something about it.

In addition to the above mentioned games, I have recently downloaded One Page Rules' Age of Fantasy Skirmish, and I  also have a hunch that I may have to get Warlords of Erehwon. 😏

One of the skellies lost an arm in the process, I shall have to poly cement it back on tomorrow, and I also got a wee tad overzealous with the Dremel, and cut of 1/4 of a bow on the last of these first eight archers; I think I shall just cut off the hand, and glue the hand form a spare archer arm on instead.

The observant reader will have noticed something new behind the Skeletons - it is also a work in progress, and I should have something to show tomorrow!

LotR: Orc Repaired and Rebased

During out last outing of Sellswords & Spellslingers, I found that this Orc's pick was broken just above the hand holding it, so I took the unfortunate Monster aside to do something about it at a later time.

First, I applied some plastic glue to the gap between the handle and the hand, and then gently pushed the pick into the right position.

Then I decided that I might as well get him a new base right away, and that did not take long.

When the filler had settled, I glued sand to the base for texture.

Then it got painted, drybrushed, and flocked, and the Orc is now once more ready to battle our intrepid adventurers.

Second Hand Rohan Archers: One step Closer to the Gaming Table

Yes, they are still ugly.

I finished rebasing them some days ago, so as soon as I can find a gap for it (mind it!), I shall start touching up the colours (and clean up the occational mold line) so they can get a wash and join my Anglo-Saxon/Rohan SAGA warband.

LotR: Second Hand Uruk-Hai WIP

These second hand Uruk-Hai are also among the minis I am clearing away from the prepping station. I already glued them to washers a long time ago, but now I have also started building the bases, so that I can get them moved on. That sword needs to be repaired, yes.

My back permitting, I shall continue work on their bases. Unfortunately, my strained back prevents me from doing any further work today (I had to arrange myself on the couch with some pillows supporting my lower back and the laptop... on my lap (which I hate, because it prevents me from using the mouse) to write these updates).

Rohan Archers - Ready to Move On!

Put the last filler on the bases of these ugly buggers today. If my back permits it, I shall glue sand on the bases tomorrow.

Rohan Archers WIP - Working on the Bases

Yes, they are still ugly. First helping of filler on the bases today. Has to settle, before I continue.

LotR: Second Hand Archers WIP

I put these on proper 20mm washers today, Yes, they are hideous...

LotR: The SAGA Continues

I was doing a major sorting of my boxes with LotR stuff earlier today, as I needed to locate some Rohan archers for my 'Anglo-Saxon' SAGA warband.

I came across these guys I got second-hand quite a while ago:

I am going to rebase them (and, of course, remove stray flock and dustballs), give them a dark shading wash, and then probably some matt varnish (if the wash does not remove the sheen, and that will be it, for now. They should blend in reasonably well after that treatment, and I really need the warband to be ready for squaring off against my Vikings. I can always paint some more to replace them, as I have droves of Rohan plastic.

With those done, next month is time to get som 1mm 25mm x 50mm pill shaped bases from Sarissa Precicion, I think, and start getting some horsemen based and painted for a proxy Norman warband.

Of course, both infantry and cavalry will also see service in God of Battles, and other systems that I should fancy playing.

Troll!

A couple of years ago, I bought some second hand lots of Citadel LotR minis, and among those was this painted Mordor Troll, which had lost its right hand and its left arm.

I have now glued the parts back on, and the big guy is ready to do service in games needing Trolls - like Sellswords & Spellslingers, which I expect to be playing quite a bit.

Repairing the Skylight

One of the handles on the skylight had become brittle, and was about to break apart, and as my financial situation is a bit strained at the moment, I had to find a cheap solution.

As you can see, the handles are hollow - which gave me an idea.

I used a caliper for measuring the inner diameter of the handle, as I figured a piece of dowel would fit inside.

As it were, the inner diameter proved to be 16 mm, and I asked my wife to buy a length of dowel that thick. I now have about 2.30 meters of unused dowel, as the DIY/builders' stores here do not sell smaller pieces...

Below you can see a piece of dowel glued in place in the intact handle (I decided to strengthen that one, too, to prevent it from breaking).

The broken handle also had dowel inserted, and I furthermore wrapped it with some cotton ribbon, to stabilize it further. Looks like shit, but I expect it to do the job for a season or two, until I can afford replacing the entire skylight.

The only things left to fix are the table tops of the 'kitchen' section, as they have been damaged by something falling on them - not absolutely necessary to use the caravan, being mostly an aesthetic problem, but I expect to be able to level the holes with some filler, and then cover the table-tops with some self-adhesive foil. More about that at a later time, though...

LotR: Repaired a Spearman

This model had some battle damage (broken spear), so I had to get it fixed.

It does not look all that good - if it snaps again, I shall have to drill the hand instead of just re-attaching the pieces.

Well, at least for now he can join the warband I am getting ready for SAGA.

I need to figure out if I have some unused plastic archers, somewhere, otherwise I shall need to acquire some (but I would be pretty surprised if I did not get any with some of the lots I purchased a couple of years ago).

GoB: Repairing an Old Musician

I recently found the missing right hand of this living impaired fellow.

It broke off a LONG time ago, and I thought I had lost it completely, but here it is once more.

Got it glued back on, and blocked out the colours, just need to give it a good wash or two, to shade and tone it, and he can rejoin the Skeleton Warrior unit I painted him for.

I really look forward to be able to field the 36 points Infantry Main Battleline I have planned and am now making the last two units for - six formed units forming an almost impenetrable phalanx, with the Necromancer safely hidden in a Chariot behind it, able to cast Miracles, and use his Raise Dead/Skeletons ability. Dead simple, and deadly!

I can then upgrade the army to 48 points by taking the Undead Knights, while getting three units of Skeleton Warriors (8 points each) ready for a smashing 60 points 9 units Infantry Battleline.

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

GoB: Skeleton Horde - Now with Music

Got the drummer cleaned up and glued to a washer - and some filler on the base of the standard bearer. I shall let the glue settle a bit on the drummer, and then put some filler on his base later this evening. 🙌

GoB: Basing and a Standard

This unit is now a couple of steps closer to completion. I have put the last filler on the bases, and in the holes of the washers, and I have cleaned up and glued to a washer the standard bearer. I am not a big fan of this stance, and, sadly, the other command group blister has the same model 😞

In a few minutes, I am going to put filler on the base of the standard bearer, and maybe start cleaning up the drummer.

I now just have to remove the excess filler from the rank-and-file models' bases (and maybe clean up a couple of them), then they are all ready for some white primer. I think I may reach the primer stage during this weekend, but I am helping Duregar/Ulolkish moving house tomorrow, so I am not certain, how much hobby time I shall be able to squeeze in before Sunday.

GoB: Still Repairing the Skeletons

Just glued the last arms on, and the unit is now short only of a standard and a musician. Some of these need to get cleaned up a bit, I shall do that in between prepping the metal command models.

Later today, I shall slab the second layer of filler on the bases of the other Horde, and then it is time to expose some metal to the diamond needle files...

GoB: Repairing the Skeletons

Been glueing arms (and in some cases, heads) tho the peasant levy Skeleton Horde skellies. I expect to get the few arms missing fixed in place tomorrow, and then I shall get some of the metal command figures cleaned (and put more filler on the bases of the other unit)!