All things Gnome! Construction, Assembly, Painting, & m

fen

Ok, well personally I wouldn't assembled the models with magnets as I'm more of a painter than a player. Also it doesn't really matter which arms are on the various models.

Additionally, some of the weaponry, especially the spring boxing arm and the cannon are so long the 1/8" magnets can't stop them "drooping". Also I think the magnets may have lost some of their strength because some magnets hold well while others are a smidge weak.

As such I am having some difficulty painting them, I've had to resort to painting them in pieces which has slowed the process down for me as I'm not used to painting this way.

I'm planning to paint up one more contraption after I've finished everything I have to do for Impact!, but go whole hog on him. Pin the model, sculpt a base and paint him in NMM.

As for the Gnomes themselves, they're not that difficult to paint to be honest, I've painted smaller. The ones with Goggles I enjoyed painting most of all. Especially the coach model, I think that one came out very nicely.

Ted Striker

well... polarity polarity polarity.

I was drilling my drivers last night and installing magnets. I was sure I tested the polarity of the magnets.

Then I got up and used the restroom and returned to find my 2 year old sitting in my chair with contraption pieces in his hands.

I glued in the magnets and this morning 1 contraption body and 1 driver were reversed from the other 2 sets. So evidently the little munchkin flipped my magnets around.

So this morning before I went to work, I glued two magnets to a piece of plastic (opposite poles of course) and labled them Body and Appendage. So now I will be testing all of my magnets before the are glued in for proper orientation.

Be sure to check the polarity of all your magnets before you glue them or you will have some contraption pieces soaking in acetone to dissolve the glue.

And then your wife will call you at work and yell at you for leaving a jar of acetone on the bathroom sink :).

Stout Youngblood

At least you didn't have a three year old finger paint with a dozen pots of Grandma Wendy paints.

Ted Striker

well looks like I'll be keeping my own thread busy....

Is nobody else building contraptions?

I finished my contraptions last week. I used 1/8" magnets for the arms and drivers and used 1/4" magnets for the torso. I like the rotation abilities I get with the magnetic torsos. They feel more "robotic". I also have to second what Fen said about the arms. They do tend to "slump" a bit depending on the center of gravity of the arm. Still, I am thrilled with the way mine came out and don't think I would like pinned arms. But the cannon and boxing glove do droop a bit.

So on to storage. I'm a big fan of the Impact team cases. I really want all my Gnomes in one case. So that means 3 contraptions, an Imp crusher, 4 modular arms and 9 Gnomes all in one case. While that seems like a lot, I came up with a layout that works for me. Unfortunately that means custom cutting the foam insert. So a couple of questions....

How do you cut and/or glue foam. I need to either glue the pre-cut squares in place and then cut new shapes or I need to buy a new foam tray and custom cut that. Any suggestions? I googled foam cutters and have seen the wire style cutters people are using to make scenery. Will these work on the less dense "spongy" type foam found in the case. My gut is telling me it will just make a melty mess. I tried cutting a scrap piece of foam with a hobby knife. That worked well enough but I didn't get the nice clean lines I would like. It looked like it was hand cut. How are nice clean squares cut in the foam trays?

How thick are the Impact pre-cut foam sections? (I'm at work and can't measure mine).

And a question to Fen. Did you paint the magnets on the contraptions you did? Have you noticed any wear at the joints. I'm thinking that it would be best not to paint them as eventually the paint is going to come off the magnets. Any thoughts?

As for painting, after Fen's advice on the pain in the neck of painting the models in pieces, I think I got a neat solution. I grabbed an Allen wrench from my toolbox, and grinded the end flat (it was a ball end allen). I then stuck the part to the allen wrench. I did some test "brushing" on it with my paint brushes and I didnt' have any problem with the magnetic pieces staying on the wrench. I was also able to move the part to any position for painting. I did get a little rotation, but not too bad. I'm a very slow painter, but I think this may be the answer for holding these pieces.

Any info/insight to any of these questions would be appreciated.

GalakStarscraper

The middle foam layer is 3/4" inch thick.

And I think you've suggested some great ideas.

Tom

brownrob

Yeah, Gnomes are on my "to buy" list as well, and they are 2nd from top! Ive promised myself I wont be buying anymore until I get this commission finished (I always say each one is the last!)

But the Impcrusher is probably one of my favourite Impact! minis to date, its just so darned cool, and I think the paintjob that fen did on it was simply awesome

bouncergriim

I have the gnomes on order and am thinking of using the 1/4" mags in the body and then using some sort of ferrous metal in the arms to allow them to stick to the body without having to worry about polarity and to not need to buy extra magnets.

Any thoughts/pointers on how to make my gnomes more modular. I went ahead and got the big team deal. I plan on using them in a league of that other game as some largish fellows with the gnomes as some tiny bogerlings.

So any pointers here will be appreciated. Any ideas on what I might use as the ferrous bit in the arms? What does impact! put in the balls to make them magnetic?

GalakStarscraper

Ted Striker

I also considered iron instead of magnets. At the time, I was looking at steel keystock. Mainly because it was flat (more surface area for magnets to adhere to), magnetic, and I had access to a mill and a journeyman machinist that would cut/shape it for me for free (well not completely free.... he worked for after-work beers). But then in planning, I came to the conclusion that it really didn't save me anything. I mean you are still drilling and gluing a piece of metal in your model anyway. Why not just use magnets? If you buy the Impact set of magnets, you'll have plenty of magnets to do the whole team with enough left over for other projects. So metal isn't saving you labor, it really isn't saving you that much cash (the magnet savings is pretty much going to be offset by the cost of the metal stock). So the only thing ferrous metal saves you over magnets is the polarity. And if you are careful before you glue, that isn't an issue. Or, like I did, glue two magnets down as template magnets to test on. Polarity solved. Just my opinion, but I would just go with magnets and not worry about extra metal.

Another pointer I would give is leave your magnets raised slightly over (not flush with) your model a few thousandths (you don't have to measure, just use your fingernail). That way the only part of your model that is touching is the magnets. Then when you paint your models, you won't have 2 painted surfaces rubbing on each other when you interchange components. No paint chipping. I plan to not paint the mating surfaces of my magnets. This has the added bonus of giving "rotation" to all of your magnetic joints. There is just something satisfying about lifting up the punching bag arm and letting crash down on the ball carriers head :).

Oh and one more thing, drill a small starter hole in the model at the precise center of where you want your magnet to go. This will keep the bigger drill bit from slipping and will keep your magnetic placement accurate.

Good luck with your assembly. It takes a lot more time and patience than a standard model, but I found it challenging and fun.

bouncergriim

Will the .25" magnets work on the arms or do I need to get some smaller ones?

And did you just use a standard drill or did you use a dremmel or other smaller tool.

Ted Striker

I used 1/4" magnets for the waist joints. 1/8" magnets went in the arms and under the drivers. I bought a "can" of each size that Impact sells and had plenty to do my team.

For drill bits, I started with a small one I use for pining models (sorry I don't remember the sizes, I'm at work). That was my centering hole. I drilled that by hand with a my pin vise. I then moved a step up, somewhere between pin size and 1/8th. I then drilled a bigger hole. Again by hand. For the 1/8" hole, I did drill by hand as well, and it took forever, and then I did switch to my Dremel for the 1/4" hole. If you use a Dremel, the centering hole is a requirement, as the bit will drift if you don't. I felt like I had less control drilling with the Dremel, but the 1/4" bit was too big for my pin vise.

I used standard drill bits. I did experiment with an 1/8" end-mill (again, because I had access to one) to "drill" a flat bottomed hole. But in the end, the taper that a drill bit would leave was desirable for a place for the glue to hold.

Speaking of glue, I used 2 part epoxy for all of my magnets. I wanted a really strong bond.

Hope that helps.

bouncergriim

I have not worked with two part epoxy before, is there any particularly better brands? And where can I purchase it?

Ted Striker

not sure of any brands. I don't think it really matters that much. The stuff I'm using came from Walmart. Hardware stores have it too, it really isn't hard to find. Pick a type that has a short cure time. Usually it will say "5 minute epoxy" or something similar. 5 minutes is about right, any less and it will set too quickly, any more and you are holding parts together forever. It was like 3 bucks or so in cost. Relatively cheap.

It comes in a two chamber syringe style applicator. You just push down on the plunger and it squirts out in a fairly close to 1-1 ratio. You can just squirt out as much as you need. Just mix it up and use. It bonds rock hard. Anything you use this stuff on is not coming apart!

I buy "Snack-Pack" puddings or Yogurt for the kids lunches and my daughter brings them home from school for me. Works great for mixing the stuff in, you can just throw them away when done. I use a flat tooth pick to apply it.

Crank Case

This may be a month too late for the OP but maybe others can make use of it. With regard to epoxy, 5 minute is the best for model builders, but also look for "crystal clear" epoxy. Crystal clear epoxy sets up super hard and I have never had a "resin" or oily plastic feel from it when other normal epoxy has had this issue. It also has the beneft of drying crystal clear (literally) and can be used by the more daring to create water or spitle/drool/snot effects on your minis.

bouncergriim

I have finished constructing my Gnomes (still need to paint them) 3 are completely modular can change legs, bodies, arms, and drivers. The other 3 are only partialy modular just can change arms.

I found that you really need the .25" magnets to keep the arms upright, I only use the smaller magnet on the underside of the driver.

So far so good.