Best way to gently scrape off embossed emblems?

[Olgerth Istaarn]

I'm thinking of picking up a few Dark Vengeance bits from eBay and bit sellers. However I see that the Librarian has the obnoxious winged sword on his chest piece, the limited edition chaplain has an equally obnoxious winged sword on his cloak, and all tactical marines have them on shoulder pads.

 

What's the best way to gently scrape these off without ruining the underlying surface too much? Especially on the cloaks and other cloth pieces.

[Grotsmasha]

For the cloth, it's going to be difficult, but my suggestion is to use the flat of your blade and slowly scrape away the defined edges, as these are what really define the shape. Once the edges have been smoothed as much as possible, you may find that the emblems won't stick out like a sore thumb.

 

Cheers,

Jono

[chromedog]

Acetone.

 

Soak the entire model in it for several weeks.

The goo will eventually not have any DA iconography on it.

 

Otherwise, if the sight of DA iconography offends thine eyes, DON'T BUY THE STUFF.

 

I'd use extreme care, a sharp blade (and my mail glove - got it from a butcher mate) and carefully shave them back. Then bog the gaps with putty.

Then, after realising that assembling some DA veterans and regular Tac marines would be cheaper, quicker, and much more satisfying, dump them all into the bucket of acetone and start again with those.

[Chaplain Hiltraud]

Personally, I think the Dark Vengence models will be too hard to scrape away insignia without damaging the model (or yourself!!)

 

That being said though, they are fantastic looking models and I can understand why you would like to convert them to your own liking...

 

My technique (as previously mentioned) is to use a fresh and sharp hobby knife and gently slice and scrape away the offending insignia, it's a little dangerous due to the slip factor but it'll get the job done, use some GS or LGS and a file/s to clean up. Generally I glue or sculpt my own insignia afterwards.

 

Search "Dark Vengence [Librarian] Conversion" and you'll see how other people have converted the models, you might get lucky with a tutorial :lol:

 

Yours in Honour, Faith and Blood,

Chaplain Hiltraud

[ShinyRhino]

If you're dead set on doing this, get some Testor's modelling sandpaper. It comes in a pack with a variety of grits.

Then get a kabob skewer or a drinks stirrer. Cut small strips of sandpaper and superglue them around the skewer/stirrer to make a "sanding stick." It can be used to more finely remove detail after you've carved as much as possible away with your hobby knife.

[The Angelus Sanctus]

Please make sure you keep your posts constructive and positive guys.

 

There shouldn't be any need to go off topic with feedback on how best to perform what the OP has asked for.

[FashaTheDog]

Dremels are your best friend for this kind of work. It will take a steady hand, a low speed, the proper bit, and some practice, but I have already appraised my set for conversion potential and I feel quite confident that with a conical grinding bit, I could remove every last trace of unwanted detail so the Dark Angels could belong to any Loyalist Chapter or Traitor Legion/Warband and not ruin the model.

[Olgerth Istaarn]

I love dual-purpose threads: they provide good advice and demonstrate without a doubt who the Village Idiot of the Day is. Bravo, thread!

 

Thanks for all the pointers. I just might try the dremel. I read somewhere that glue can be used to dissolve mold lines (and potentially unwanted detail). Anyone have experience with that?

[ShinyRhino]

Thanks for all the pointers. I just might try the dremel. I read somewhere that glue can be used to dissolve mold lines (and potentially unwanted detail). Anyone have experience with that?

 

It can be done, but it requires a thin, "hot" liquid cement. Hot means it melts plastic almost instantly, leaving little glue residue behind. It's used more by fine scale modellers and mecha builders. Standard Testor's plastic cement won't cut it. You'll justend up with blobs of plastic cement everywhere.

 

Be careful with the Dremel technique. One slip and you've likely ruined the model.

[UltraRich]

Evening

I did a load of work to the Space Hulk Terminators to make them suit my Ultra army. Some of their iconography was really prominent.

The above posters have got it right (mostly!)

 

For the flat/plate areas use a knife and then very high grit wet and dry sand paper. If this leaves a rough surface make a GS wash with liquid GS and water.

For the cloth scrape off what you can and then use rolled up wet and dry (or the scewer option - I must try this) to get in the folds. If you mess up either use GS or liquid GS wash to smooth it. The thing to remember is you are cutting back so you cant mess up as you can rebuild. Just take your time.

 

Ive got a Libby on the way so I'll up mine once its cleaned up

[Montuhotep]

UltraRich has the best method on balance, I'd say - no reason to go fast over a thing like this and the sandpaper will still leave a lot of cloak behind at a decent thickness, potentially chopping through the cloak is a danger.

 

In the same vein, don't whatever you do use a metal bit for grinding with a Dremel - the friction between metal and plastic will melt the plastic completely and cause it to 'ball' around the grinder, leaving some really nasty marks, potentially holes, a fouled up grinder and one Hell of a bad smell.

 

I know this. :P

[FashaTheDog]

Paladin, that bad smell is the microscopic particles entering your lungs and adhering to the interior.

[UpTheIron]

Great thread, confirmed that the method i was thinking of would work.

 

Im going in reverse though, Space Hulk BA into Dark Angels :confused:

[JeffJedi]

Even as a Dark Angels I've had to remove something and it's really quite easy.

 

I removed the Tactical Arrow from the shoulder pad so that I can use a few as Bolter Devastators. You just scrape off the symbol with your knife and use needle files to smooth out the surface.

[appiah4]

Acetone.

 

Soak the entire model in it for several weeks.

The goo will eventually not have any DA iconography on it.

 

Otherwise, if the sight of DA iconography offends thine eyes, DON'T BUY THE STUFF.

 

I'd use extreme care, a sharp blade (and my mail glove - got it from a butcher mate) and carefully shave them back. Then bog the gaps with putty.

Then, after realising that assembling some DA veterans and regular Tac marines would be cheaper, quicker, and much more satisfying, dump them all into the bucket of acetone and start again with those.

 

You realize that 10 DV marines go for 10 quids and a Tactical Squad goes for 25 right? I'll take the satisfaction of having satisfactorily converted the DV models to getting shafted by GW anytime.

 

I hope I can score some AOBR terminators before they go OOP..

 

Dremels are your best friend for this kind of work. It will take a steady hand, a low speed, the proper bit, and some practice, but I have already appraised my set for conversion potential and I feel quite confident that with a conical grinding bit, I could remove every last trace of unwanted detail so the Dark Angels could belong to any Loyalist Chapter or Traitor Legion/Warband and not ruin the model.

 

I happen to own a dremel but never used it for this.

 

I also happen to own over 200 bits for it. Which 'bits' would you recommend for sanding down chapter iconography on plastic and metal models?

[Bungicats]

I use a very honed diamond bit quite narrow and on low speed lest thee wants to also remove fingers. Never hold the stupid thing in a spot for more than a sec rather keep your touch light and gently go back and forth. I always tidy up with knife or needle files afterwards!

[lhg033]

i removed the tactical markings on a couple of aobr marines with a knife and needle file set - i think hard armour is going ot be easier to cover up mistakes than cloth areas.

 

another option is grinding down the full shoulder pads and putting standard blank ones in their place on the tacticals.

 

cloaks (chaplain mainly) - you could turn these into fur cloaks with a bit of green stuff. not sure it'd look so good to have fur on the tabards as well :S.

 

aobr stuff, and the box set are still available at several bits sites and independant stores.