Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Setting up the Helping Hands and Gluing Sophie's Bike.

Both of the Helping Hands came from Amazon today. I actually opened up the mail box and saw this box in there and couldn't remember for the life of me what it was. So I got inside and opened it up to see them laying in there. Which meant I needed to crack them and play with them. The ball joints seem pretty tight and I can adjust them w/ the wing nuts on the joint themselves. The only thing I was worried about with them was if the alligator clips would mar the surface of pewter minis and/or if they would chomp right on through plastic ones. Super deal and at $6 a piece I couldn't pass it up. 


Both Helping Hands next to my Ultramarine Dreadnought for size reference.
Alligator Clip holding a Hammer. I'm not sure how I feel about this.
So, after looking over test pieces for 5-10 minutes, deciding it the clips were going to eventually damage something or not. I decided to just be proactive and rig a way to pad the clips. So, taking a piece of foam from a Warhammer Skaven blister pack, I went to work. 

I cut the foam into strips, and then using electrical tape I wrapped each part of the jaw of the clip. Once I got the first one done, I tested it with the hammer again and it seemed to still hold it tight and I didn't see any little teeth marks in the metal.

Foam padded protection!
While I was working on the foam, I also decided to remove the magnifying glass from the second unit. I'll keep it in a box in the tool drawer, in case the other one gets damaged down the road. But I doubt I'll ever need it. The magnifying glass on my work lamp is 10 years old or better and it's not broken yet.

Completely modified Clamp tools!
I had thought about mounting one of the other clips on to the other in place of the magnifying glass. But I decided that it wouldn't really help me. I might change my mind later. But I'll see how these work out as is first.

With the tape and foam in place I decided it was time to finally get Sophie's bike glued together! I did some tweaking on the handle bars to get them to line up with her arms. And I'll tell you right now, these things are gonna make my life much easier. I had tried to glue the bike together before and it was a pain in the ass getting everything lined up. But now, I just had to clamp the bike in place then I could use my hands to hold Sophie and the handlebars in place to make sure everything was going to meet up. Then it was just a matter of clamping the front wheel down and gluing away.

Gluing the bike!
Now that the bike is drying and seems to be holding together well. I should be able to prime the bike and get started on painting it. I was hoping to use the water slide decal paper to add a few touches that I can't do by hand. But my printer doesn't print ultra fine images, at all. And all it ends up with is a bunch of blurry dots. Sadness.

Anyway, I should be able to get the paint going soon. I have to decide how fancy I want to get on the base as well.