Post by sgtslag on Jan 25, 2024 17:43:07 GMT
I bought a set of 30 pre-owned, OOP, GW Zombies, around 25 years ago. They were hard plastic, with different arms, heads, and such, to glue onto the bodies, to make them fairly custom in their final form. Sounds great, doesn't it? Each one, out of 30 figures, can be posed differently, such that no two figures will be alike -- similar, maybe, but not the same pose, after pose, after pose...
The arms (round head for the upper Humerus Bone) glued into the shoulder's slightly concave socket. Model glue dissolved the surface plastic, which should have created a solid fusion of the plastic bits... It did not -- they broke off, easily, in spite of careful application of the proper glue type.
This was my second such set of multi-part figures. I bought some detailed, Roman Soldier skeletons in the late 90's: separate feet (legs needed to be glued to the ankles atop the feet!); leg assemblies (thankfully!) attached to the torso; arms glued at the shoulders; separate hands holding weapons (yes, you had to glue the hands to the arms, at the wrist): and heads glued to the torso's neck (these were actually strong enough not to break, easily). They were so fiddly, so delicate, that I finally threw them into the trash, as they were only suitable for displaying, without touching them, or they would break off into multiple pieces. Seriously? Gluing the entire, assembled body, onto the feet, at a thin, small, ankle joint?... Being skeletons, they did not have much surface area at the glue points, so structurally, they were quite weak, in multiple places. I believe these Roman Skeletons went OOP within a year of release, due to how delicate they were, once assembled.
These GW Zombies appear to be really nice figures. They sat in my painting queue for around 25 years. I finally began working on them, a few months ago. I did some experimenting on them, using new painting techniques (applying a green ink wash, as well as paint), to see if inks could be substituted for paint, over gray primer -- mixed results), but they were good enough for ripened, decaying Zombies, at arm's length, on the tabletop.
I was matte coating them, yesterday, and when I moved them around inside the painting box (contains the sprayed paint, forming a cloud, which provides more even coating, while containing the over-spray quite well), I managed to snap off several of their glued arms, breaking off at the shoulders... Deja' vu!
Granted, these GW Zombies date from the late 90's to the early 2000's. Things have improved, a great deal, since then, for multi-part miniatures.
For example, I have purchased several sets of North Star's hard plastic Gnoll figures, which must also be assembled: poseable arms (plenty of surface area at the shoulder joint, to create a strong bond); multiple weapon options; and, multiple heads which can be posed at different angles and facings (this was quite fun to cock some heads at an angle, and turned, slightly, creating a comical caricature of a Gnoll -- great body language!). These Gnolls were marvelous to assemble, and they have withstood the rigors of tabletop use, without issue -- no breaking, after several games with various people handling them!
If you buy multi-part miniatures, stay away from figures with small, bony arms, legs, hands, feet; avoid figures with too many parts to assemble, as they likely won't survive more than very delicate handling... I would say this is primarily an issue with Skeleton and Zombie figures. Cheers!
The arms (round head for the upper Humerus Bone) glued into the shoulder's slightly concave socket. Model glue dissolved the surface plastic, which should have created a solid fusion of the plastic bits... It did not -- they broke off, easily, in spite of careful application of the proper glue type.
This was my second such set of multi-part figures. I bought some detailed, Roman Soldier skeletons in the late 90's: separate feet (legs needed to be glued to the ankles atop the feet!); leg assemblies (thankfully!) attached to the torso; arms glued at the shoulders; separate hands holding weapons (yes, you had to glue the hands to the arms, at the wrist): and heads glued to the torso's neck (these were actually strong enough not to break, easily). They were so fiddly, so delicate, that I finally threw them into the trash, as they were only suitable for displaying, without touching them, or they would break off into multiple pieces. Seriously? Gluing the entire, assembled body, onto the feet, at a thin, small, ankle joint?... Being skeletons, they did not have much surface area at the glue points, so structurally, they were quite weak, in multiple places. I believe these Roman Skeletons went OOP within a year of release, due to how delicate they were, once assembled.
These GW Zombies appear to be really nice figures. They sat in my painting queue for around 25 years. I finally began working on them, a few months ago. I did some experimenting on them, using new painting techniques (applying a green ink wash, as well as paint), to see if inks could be substituted for paint, over gray primer -- mixed results), but they were good enough for ripened, decaying Zombies, at arm's length, on the tabletop.
I was matte coating them, yesterday, and when I moved them around inside the painting box (contains the sprayed paint, forming a cloud, which provides more even coating, while containing the over-spray quite well), I managed to snap off several of their glued arms, breaking off at the shoulders... Deja' vu!
Granted, these GW Zombies date from the late 90's to the early 2000's. Things have improved, a great deal, since then, for multi-part miniatures.
For example, I have purchased several sets of North Star's hard plastic Gnoll figures, which must also be assembled: poseable arms (plenty of surface area at the shoulder joint, to create a strong bond); multiple weapon options; and, multiple heads which can be posed at different angles and facings (this was quite fun to cock some heads at an angle, and turned, slightly, creating a comical caricature of a Gnoll -- great body language!). These Gnolls were marvelous to assemble, and they have withstood the rigors of tabletop use, without issue -- no breaking, after several games with various people handling them!
If you buy multi-part miniatures, stay away from figures with small, bony arms, legs, hands, feet; avoid figures with too many parts to assemble, as they likely won't survive more than very delicate handling... I would say this is primarily an issue with Skeleton and Zombie figures. Cheers!