As part of a recent commission, I was asked to build a Brun Cragback & Lug set from Privateer Press’ Hordes line. Cragback is easy, just attach the arm. Lug? Not quite so easy if you’ve never dealt with a hollow mini before. I decided to snap a few pics along the way and share how I dealt with him.
Fill the Void
(I forgot to take pics of the raw pieces, sorry.) A quick review of the pieces to Lug yields 3, completely hollow sections: legs, torso, head. This is great for the casters as the reduced metal usage keeps the heat in the mold down, not to mention the metal savings. For the end user (in this case me) not so much. The thin edges don’t really provide a good surface to adhere together. Even hollow, this is a fairly weighty mini. One good knock and it will fall apart like a house of cards. The solution? Why, my old friend Apoxie Sculpt of course!
I could have used green stuff, but Apoxie is so much cheaper and dries hard so it will hold pins. In this case that’s a double win. I mixed up a batch and filled the voids in the model.
Now, I considered just sticking the whole thing together with the Apoxie while it was sticky. While I entertained that thought I also decided that it would defeat the purpose of the exercise. I let the Apoxie cure overnight for maximum strength and hardness. The next day, I came back and cleaned up to excess Apoxie until I could snugly fit the torso to the legs.
Now for the fun part. I drilled way down into the Apoxie and sunk in 2 brass rods. (Why pin now that I have all of this surface area to glue? ‘Cuz I’m a fanatic, that’s why.)
It took me 2 tries to line up the top holes so don’t be afraid to tinker with the fit if you decide to pin as well. If you mess up the holes too badly you can always fill them with more Apoxie and start over. 
Pretty close to the test fit and the long pins mean that there’s no way the torso will shear off from the legs during an impact. The process was repeated for the head, but I only used one pin.
Now for a little putty to clean up the gaps and he’s finished!
Not a bad mini once you get over the hurdle. I was sorely tempted to repose the head into more of a “roaring” pose, but that wasn’t part of the contract. Maybe next time…
–YW7–
And because I’ve been tinkering with slideshows lately I’ve decided to start doing a few of my minis for fun. Here’s the first one.
