Firstly, apologies for the radio silence since my last blog, which was also the first in a long while. Life is hectic and depression looms large.

 

Secondly, this was supposed to be up last night (Call to Arms Eve) but as I don't normally post progress reports till a week after, I figured it was okay.

 

I briefly mentioned my intent to magnetise a hive tyrant for the event, the centrepiece of my vow, and really, the whole army at this point. So, how did I get on?

 

Yeah...About that.

 

This is my first time building this Hive Tyrant kit, with my first being the 2001 metal plastic hybrid kit. I cracked the box and looked at what I had to work with, two sprues containing everything but with spaces abound unlike the jam packed efficiency of the current kits.

 

The advice I was given from a guy at my FLGS was to model the Tyrant body in its winged configuration and then magnets in every limb and head, allowing me the option of taking the normal Tyrant, the winged one, and the Swarmlord. It'd obviously look like the normal Tyrant and Swarmlord were jumping but that was acceptable. I was even thinking of trimming the claws on the flying legs down to the hooves of the walking one to better sell this effect. Thank god I didn't do that.

 

I started where the instructions said, and immediately ran into a problem:

 

These two pieces refused to go together, just when I thought I had it down, it split apart again. I couldn't find any reason for it either. After fussing with it for a bit longer, it seemed (heavily emphasise on seemed) to hold so I continued with the legs:

 

And the torso:

 

 

then altogether:

 

 

Now aside from the gaps that were present, things were looking good, then the figure fell apart at that join again (). This would be a pattern of how the rest of the build would go.

 

A couple of days later, to hopefully give enough time for parts to bond properly, I set about the drilling. Quickly I discovered the bit I had wasn't big enough and had to locate a bigger one, and then with that in hand, set to work in the head.

 

My prep work was to use a small bit of paint in the middle of each joint to work out where I needed to drill in each option. This worked better in some places then others. That said, I got my drilling sites for the neck and...

 

 

Success! The heads followed soon after.

 

 

This boded well, aside from the tail piece breaking again as you can see. Feeling like I wasn't going to mess this up, I moved to the arms, where things quickly went south.

 

I started simply with one of the scything talon 

Then went to the wing for that side and realised that I'd drilled the hole in the wrong place. I think what had happened was I'd forgotten to make adjustments for the fact I'd needed to move the wing go get it in the right place, but I still had some space to drill into, so I tried again...this time was even worse, and now, I'd no space left to drill.

 

Taking a moment to reflect, I realised that I had two options, either glue the wings in and live with it being a winged Tyrant or settle for it just being a magnetised normal version (one that could become a Swarmlord). Then disaster really struck as the magnet i had in the torso, disappeared into it, meaning in the scything talon I'd done was now useless (well, at least in terms of magnetising).

 

I was feeling pretty bummed at this so I decided to just forget about the magnets and make it a permanent winged hive tyrant...that could swap it's head if I wanted.

 

 

After that it was quickly primed and I reflected on the experience, watching that tail joint cautiously.

 

Was it daft for me to try and magnetise with so little experience? Probably yeah, but it was helpful. I've learned plenty of what not to do, plus I now have the opportunity to paint a proper walking Tyrant and Swarmlord...as soon as I buy a spare torso piece that is. 

 

I'll be saving this guy till last though painting wise, as i have a fun idea of what to add to the base, something that can't be put on till later...

 

Will hopefully settle into a weekly routine for the contest.

 

Time to grow the swarm!

 

Zerowolf