Zhiv does Legio Astorum and Legio Mordaxis.

[Zhiv]

You guys rock, I preordered my Maniple box and I'm wondering, how much space is there within each of the torsos?

 

I want to try fitting them with LEDs so the eyes light up. Think there's room inside for a small battery and switch?

 

Rik

 

As long as you have a good dremel / drill it should work.  Many of the ball joints that connect heads to the bodies are thick so getting wiring through them is awkward. With warhounds, the head is empty for the most part, leaving some space for small LED's.  Warlord is similar, though the head pieces have... wonky eye configuration which might make it hard. 

 

The reaver is the most tricky, with the 'eyes' being really small and in an awkward spot. 

 

Also as noted, no pulling wires through the legs as they are not made for that.... at all.  So you'd need to hide your switch somewhere clever.

[Mendi Warrior]

So I got myself a warlord with volcano cannons in preparation for the upgrade sprue being released.   

 

Determined to magnetize the thing, I am recording here my solution in case someone might need an idea how to go on with it.

 

1) The head.  Simple.  Shave the round bit of piece 37 until it is flat. Apply glue and 5 mm magnet.  Cover with green stuff to keep it in place, but make sure you don't spread the green stuff too widely

 

Next, slap keeping piece 89 to yourself, assemble head as per image 34 without the back.  Then sink 3 2mm magnets into the hole in the back of the head.  Use the magnet on piece 37 to check for polarity.  Then, when everything is dry, glue 89 to the head.

 

 

2) The hips.  This is bit I found to be vexing.  Assemble the warlord torso until step 18. The stuff plasticard / green stuff / stuff inside the torso until you get the magnet where you want it.  Use bits 26 and 28 to dry fit your stuffing so that you leave enough space for bit 26.  I ended with plastic and super glue as well as green stuff on my fingers. ;;;

 

Yeah. The stuff the 26 with green stuff, apply magnet while checking the polarity with the torso and close the bit 26 with more green stuff.  Let both of the sub assemblies dry for 24 hours.

 

Nice work.

 

Do I understand correctly that you have used 3 magnets to sink into the back of the head (piece 89)? Wouldn't it have been easier drilling a hole into pieces 37 and 89, then adding the magnets so they are in direct contact? Or did you wanted to hide them?

[Rik Lightstar]

These guys do a kit explicitly for the Armiger, but I'm not up on the sizes of the AT kits, how does a Warhound or Reaver compare in size?

 

https://www.smallscalelights.co.uk/product/warhammer-knight-armiger-lighting-kit

 

Rik

[Zhiv]

 

Do I understand correctly that you have used 3 magnets to sink into the back of the head (piece 89)? Wouldn't it have been easier drilling a hole into pieces 37 and 89, then adding the magnets so they are in direct contact? Or did you wanted to hide them?

 

 

Yes.  I have some bad experiences with exposed magnets with one pulling the other out, thus requiring me to glue them again. I mean, I have it happen twice. Because of this, I prefer to sink my magnets in such a way that they cannot come off.

 

As for the strange triple magnet trick, I first tried sinking one 5 mm magnet into the 89, but this didn't work out well, as I would have needed to widen the hole within the 89. Also, with 5 mm magnet I could not quite turn the head without it snapping back in place.  Ball magnet would have been ideal but since I don't have one, I made a 'stick' magnet with 3 x 2mm magnets, allowing the head to have uniform magnetic field at different angles (which the single 5 mm magnet would not have). 

 

Having an uniform magnetic field over an angle allows me to turn the head left/right / up /down a bit, something I find aesthetically appealing.

 

[Mendi Warrior]

Yes.  I have some bad experiences with exposed magnets with one pulling the other out, thus requiring me to glue them again. I mean, I have it happen twice. Because of this, I prefer to sink my magnets in such a way that they cannot come off.

 

As for the strange triple magnet trick, I first tried sinking one 5 mm magnet into the 89, but this didn't work out well, as I would have needed to widen the hole within the 89. Also, with 5 mm magnet I could not quite turn the head without it snapping back in place.  Ball magnet would have been ideal but since I don't have one, I made a 'stick' magnet with 3 x 2mm magnets, allowing the head to have uniform magnetic field at different angles (which the single 5 mm magnet would not have). 

 

Having an uniform magnetic field over an angle allows me to turn the head left/right / up /down a bit, something I find aesthetically appealing.

 

Makes sense. For my reavers and warhounds I used a magnet in the torso and a steel ball in the head, drilling for both so they are in contact. Warlords' heads are not assembled yet, I am planning to use a magnet instead of a steel ball for the head.

 

Having a uniform magnetic field is great. I had looked into ball magnets but read someone had not such a good experience with these as the magnetic field was not uniform. Hence I discarded the idea.

[Zhiv]

I am going to glue (pin) the warhound and reaver heads.  A little bit of lazy, a little bit of saving money.

 

<.< but now I am tempted to try to put LEDs on my warlord #2.

[Mendi Warrior]

These guys do a kit explicitly for the Armiger, but I'm not up on the sizes of the AT kits, how does a Warhound or Reaver compare in size?

 

https://www.smallscalelights.co.uk/product/warhammer-knight-armiger-lighting-kit

 

Rik

 

Measurements are imprecise as I have already built my different models, and as I took the measures from outside, the "walls" thickness must be deducted. For the central hollow part I have approximately:

• 20x38x35mm (Width x Height x Depth) for the warlord (beware the inside shape is not a perfect cube),
• 17x15x31mm for the warhound, and 
• 20x18x35mm for the reaver.

I think it might work for the warlord, as its torso gives you the most volume of all 3. Best would be to try with a lighting kit, or if you don't have one, make a mock up with its exact measures so you are sure it can fit before buying one. 

[Captain Semper]

LED? Now this is getting very, very, exciting... :yes:

[Zhiv]

Never done a model with LEDs so, that'd be a first!

 

Anyhow, a more boring update.  Warlord has been posed.  Armor plates seem to fit.  Praised be the Ommnissiah.

 

Also, the upper arm - gun join felt really, really fiddly.  Or maybe I am just paranoid.  Anyway, I did this. 

 

[Fajita Fan]

It'll hold with plastic glue, don't worry. I dropped one of mine and it was okay.

[Chaeron]

I like the pose Zhiv! LEDs would be exciting, but I'd worry about getting them in and being able to turn them on and off - it's naturally easier with bigger models!

[Fajita Fan]

The body cavities of Warlords are just barely too small to fit a CR2032, battery holder, and the smallest switch I could wire in there without serious grinding and hollowing. I have four so I gave up.

[Mendi Warrior]

LEDs would be extremely cool but seems like a lot of work.

 

As pointed out by Fajita Fan if not mistaken, best way would be to have the wires go into the legs, with the battery and switch into the base. A few holes to drill here and there. The lower part of the legs doesn't have a lot of room, carving out a path for the wires would be required. The Armiger LED kit might be a start but the wires definitely would need to be lengthened.

 

I read someone mentioning fiber optics as a potential alternative to LEDs. Maybe worth exploring.

 

The eyes are the first place coming to mind but the plasma annihilator and the reactor area would be cool with LEDs too I think.

 

I don't know if magnets and a battery would go nicely along.

[Fajita Fan]

Magnet should be fine, you just need a really small battery that can still deliver 3v. Most LEDs require 2.2v-3v of current and I didn’t spend much time finding one smaller than a 2032 which is 20mm wide. I almost mounted the switch in the recess of the Warlord’s boarding hatch.

 

Going down the legs to the base is actually doable if you disguise the wires as hydraulics and the battery/switch can go in some terrain. I got impatient and wanted to spray my stuff to get painting but I also realized I wouldn’t be able to carry the theme with the Reavers and Warhounds if Warlord was cramped.

 

It’s still doable with a lot of work but once I mocked it up I also knew I needed a resistor in there because it was just too bright. A 3v blue LED at AT scale looks like a giant blue searchlight so the brightness needs to be toned down. I tried a 430ohm resistor which looked okay but then I needed shrink tubing to insulate wires, a heat gun, etc and the project would’ve pushed me out of the Northen Virginia Fall Spray Priming Window (which consists of mid Sept to mid Oct).

[Captain Semper]

Warlord looks good, the posing works and as long as the armour fits, you're good to go! 

 

No let's see the paint on it! :D

[Zhiv]

Warlord looks good, the posing works and as long as the armour fits, you're good to go! 

 

No let's see the paint on it!

 

When one of the two things happens. 

 

A )  I buy an airbrush

B ) It gets to +10 C here, so April XD

[Captain Semper]

Yeah, something I really don't have to worry too much about... 16C is cold over here. ;)

[Parweke]

yes, cold... -2 now, just snowed about 5-8cm, +16 is june temperature if we are lucky :)

[Zhiv]

Well, I found out a way to use my rattle cans in the bathroom in a way that doesn't suffocate me while I am painting nor does it annoy my wife (like defiling her kitchen and kitchen hood would have).   So I started undercoating the metal bits.  

 

<.< of course I am missing the relevant blue I want for my Astorum...  even if I own three blue rattle cans.  This problem too would likely be solvable with air brush... 

[Burni]

Yeah, undercoating is a pain at this time of year. I getting all the dust cloths out to try and make it possible to get mine done in the garage.

 

Good luck with the bathroom plan and can’t wait to see the results!

[Zhiv]

We will walk eternal, shiny and chrome!

[Brother Dallo]

Witness!

 

Nice to see these guys progressing. Do you have any plans to differentiate the two?

 

Dallo

[Mendi Warrior]

Nice progress indeed. I also like the drilled barrels. (did the bathroom survived?  )

[Zhiv]

Bathroom survived and wife didn't mind the lingering smell of the paint.  

 

Speaking of the barrels, it looks like GW cannot agree on how they ought to be drilled.

 

The Mortis reaver has way bigger caliber on the gatling blaster when you compare it to the gryphonicus reaver.   

This had me puzzled, so I dove into the internet for references. 

 

Eventually I drilled mine according to this - the forgeworld 28 mm reaver. 

[Fajita Fan]

Those are battleship-caliber guns so they need a thicker barrel, I drilled mine with my smallest drill.