Making pole weapons

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I'm making a bunch of counts-as Nostraman Chainglaives for a squad of Cataphractii terminators, and thought this might help some other VIII Legion/Night Lords players out there, or people who want an easy alternative to pole weapons.

 

Materials:

• The weapon you want at the end of the haft, preferably with a hand attached.
• 1/16" brass tubing. That's .0625 inches or 1.58 mm.
• Pin vice with a 1/16" drill bit and another to match the size of your pinning rod.
• CA glue, aka superglue
• Hobby knife
• Ruler and pencil

Here's the first one of these I did a while back:

 

http://i.imgur.com/QVNep8i.jpg?1

 

This haft for this one was two pieces of brass rod pinned through the hand, and while it seemed like a good idea at the time, it was something of a nightmare getting the thing to stay together.

 

Here's the test I did for my new Cataphractii using the technique I'll detail here:

 

http://i.imgur.com/dM6wR3n.png

 

I decided to make the haft 30mm long, but ultimately that is something for you to decide based on the needs of your model. Measure and mark the brass tube with a pencil.

 

http://i.imgur.com/8dOI1n8.png

 

To cut the tube, I'm not a fan of those vice-like circular cutters as it seems to frequently bend the tube, so I use a hobby knife. Note: Do not use a fresh blade for this as it will dull the edge very quickly! When I change out an older blade for a fresh one, I keep them around for things like this.

 

Line up the blade with the mark, and while applying pressure down on the tube, slowly roll the edge of the blade back and forth.

 

http://i.imgur.com/8V8IZAt.png

 

It won't take long to cut through, so don't go too fast. If you use too much pressure, you can bend the tube instead of cutting it, which is bad. You'll want to keep your other hand over the length of the tube you're cutting off, as it might go flying once the blade cuts through. The cut edge will have a little bit of a lip on it and may not be completely straight, so use a file to even it out and clean up the edge.

 

Next, take your weapon of choice and cut it away from the handle, as well as cutting the hand free of the handle.

 

http://i.imgur.com/0s67xH2.png

 

Drill a hole in the bottom of the weapon with a drill bit matching the size of your pinning rod, and then drill a hole through the hand with the 1/16" drill bit.

 

http://i.imgur.com/2CvMzQE.png

 

Glue the pin into the weapon and test fit the new brass haft - the hole in the tube will rarely be dead center, so you might have to rotate it around until it lines up with the weapon.

 

http://i.imgur.com/ysTRIJ1.png

 

Once you're satisfied, glue the haft to the weapon. Since the rod and the drill bit you used on the hand are the same size, you might have run the bit through a hand a few more times to open it up a little more so the brass rod can slide through. It should be snug enough that you don't have to glue the hand onto the rod.

 

http://i.imgur.com/T3Vpr94.png

 

 

Here are some other examples of how I've used this technique:

 

http://i.imgur.com/oJ6iqMf.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/xAFdmUk.png

 

(Note, this was also a split handle pinned through the hand and was a real pain to do)

 

http://i.imgur.com/qY4qtpw.png

 

http://i.imgur.com/s6EOewe.jpg?1

 

http://i.imgur.com/pecejBu.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/OhuBqvx.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/2Q63wXB.png

 

You can also make really long gun barrels!

 

http://i.imgur.com/bEpJkAU.png

 

This one had the brass rod decorated with some greenstuff to give a very simple weapon some more visual appeal.

[Forté]

Great tutorial BKC :tu:

[+DAN+]

Thanks for sharing kage. The sniper marine really stood out to me....any pics of him painted?

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Sure do.

 

http://i.imgur.com/XwXHoEl.png

[Aeternus]

I'm definately going to use the ideas here, thanks!

 

With the sniper, although I love the adapted stock and main body, looking at the scope and I can't help but feel it might be a bit too big?

 

Though I must ask, and sorry if it is already answered elsewhere, what did you use for the cloak?

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

The short story I wrote to accompany that sniper figure has him shooting at something from a very long distance which is why the scope is so big. His cloak is made out of tissue (Kleenex, facial tissue, etc), and did I tutorial for that as well. http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/286080-tutorial-capes-made-from-tissue/

[JGeils81]

Inspiring work! will definitely be using this for ideas.

[markham82]

Excellent, thank you very much you give some very good advice.

[Warsmith Aznable]

http://i.imgur.com/qY4qtpw.png

This dude is rad!

So much character coming across without resorting to a super busy design. Great stuff and good tutorial!

[Brother Alanticus]

Did you sculpt the heads yourself? The guy reminds me of someone from skyrim.

[Doctor Perils]

Great tutorial !

 

If I were you though, I'd probably reverse the axe head for making the chain glaives : this would give them a more "halberdy" aspect, which I find is more suitable for this kind of weapon (a glaive after all is more akin to a spear than to an axe). But of course, that's only how I see the weapon in my head, and your rendition is great.

[Urauloth]

This is a great tutorial and I appreciate the time you took to make and post it but what I really want to know is - what's the deal with the space dovahkiin? Is he some kind of iron-armored heresy-era saxon warrior? He's awesome.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

You can see the original post on him here: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/278032-bcks-thread-of-stuff-etl/?p=3835871