[AltheAlchemist]

Yesterday I was playing a game of warhammer against my neighbor who plays dark elves & empire. And so while we were in the game he accidentally knocked the table over:O yeah that was basically my expression. The whole army came crashing down in a HUGE wave! For a moment I thought I was dreaming. I was suspended in disbelief. I looked down at the casualties:|. His empire army seemed okay. most of my soldiers were okay... "wait... NOOOOOOOOOOO my Skullapult!" :crying:...Okay, I didn't really cry but I came close to it. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah "Damn my flimsy table setup!" "DAMN IT TO HELL:curse:" I was one day away from making a more sturdy table setup why...WHY... WHYYYYY!!!!!!

So obviously yesterday could have gone better. However it could have been a lot worse. I origionally had my 15 pound pyramid (no joke it weighs that much) on the table but then I decided it took up too much room on the table. Good thing I did, if I still had that on the table the devastation would have been awful... I don't want to think about it! Also I didn't have my scorpion on the table because I was using ICFB. So things could have been A LOT worse.

Anyway I probably won't be playing tomb kings again until I fix up my Skullapult so I will be playing dwarfs this weekend. Rest in peace oh great skull chucking one, rest in peace!

RIP: Spencer's SSC, March 2009-April 17, 2009.:skeleton:

I think I will be giving a good look at the how to build a SSC and Scorpion thread again:search:!

 

[Fuzzyspuz]

Aww man you have my sympathies, i havent even been able to make mine yet so to have it broken must have been heartbreaking =( , sorry dude.

 

[AltheAlchemist]

Lol it's okay I just need to fix up my catapult and a few bowmen. Plus I've barely painted my army. I had most of it painted a while back but then I primed them and started over so it's okay. I've already moved my table and I'll probably go to my local gamestore for help on rebuilding my Catapult. (I don't even know how I was able to get it completed the first time :O) but these things happen. Thanks for your sympathy anyway BTW I added to your rep for it

 

[MC Bone Giant]

Bummer dude. You may want to look into pinning some of the major joints. I feel mine is exceptionally strong because of the pinning I did. Of course it hasnt taken a pounding quite like yours did, but it has fought of vicisious attack cats.

 

[AltheAlchemist]

How exactly do you pin a model? I've never done it before. Also, what kind of tools would I need to pin a model? Sorry if these sound like stupid questions but I'm not very good at glueing, modeling or painting.

 

[Phoenix]

Tbh i don't think pinning would save an SSC in a rather large fall lol. Small knocks maybe (like when i destroyed mine with my elbow hasnt been right since... damn karma...)

 

[AltheAlchemist]

Ha ha, speaking of karma I just remembered that at one of my friend's house I elbowed a necron tank pyramid thingy and it fell apart, my friend and I had a good laugh about it, but still those things are not easy to glue, since then I have been known as a clumsy idiot, however that may change because of this incident with my other friend.... hmmmm

Oh also I forgot to mention my basement has a concrete floor so this was no light fall! I guess I'll figure out how to pin models and when I do get my ssc assembled, I won't be taking it to the basement any time soon that's for sure

 

[MC Bone Giant]

For pinning you need a pin vice with drill bits and some wire. For wire I usually use guitaur strings, but you can find other stuff that works too. Basically, you drill a hole in both pieces so that the holes match up. (usually I test fit the pieces together first to approximate where I need to place the holes. Then I will drill one, test fit again, and drill the other one.) You want to drill in a little bit. Not too shallow, but you don't need to drill for oil either. After that, cut a piece of wire and test fit it in the joint. You'll probably have to keep cutting it down until you get it right. (watch out for flying metal pieces when you snip the wire. don't want to put out an eye) After that, stick glue in the holes, put the wire in, and put the joint togther and let dry. You can also help out with green stuff at this point to help hold while it dries and fill in any gaps. (or you can wait for gs til after.)
Wow, that was kind of long winded. Anways, there are few details or alternate techniques that I probably left out, but thats how I do it. I defentely like to do pinning on big pieces. Gives that extra strength.

 

[AltheAlchemist]

Thanks for the advice! I'll see if I can get ahold of the materials for it, and when I do I'm going to fix my catapult and bash it with a hammer to see if it still stands! Just kidding about that last part!

 

[Fuzzyspuz]

what you can do but its slightly overkill is when you pin it (i use paperclips) use an epoxy resin like araldite, since it sets extremely hard but not brittle like superglue, and forms a much stronger bond. Had a friend who dropped something he had araldited and the metal around the joint bent instead of the join breaking, its that strong.

 

[Jahi]

Oh no Al, even though the damage was kept to a minimum, that must've been an awful moment watching everything come crashing down! I know the feeling, one time my whole tupperware box of models went flipping end over end when I had to brake my car suddenly. It was like a rock tumbler...

But all is not lost! You will perform your incantations and your skullapult will rise again from it's grave Good luck with your dwarves this weekend!

Francois

P.S. You have a pyramid? Neat! I wanted to get one so bad but I never could save up for one, I just keep buying miniatures, lol!

 

[AltheAlchemist]

That's the pyramid that 305 miniature egyptian slaves died for!

 

[Jahi]

<a href="http://s589.photobucket.com/albums/ss331/althealchemist/?action=view&current=Photo33.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss331/althealchemist/Photo33.jpg" border="0" alt="Pyramid warhammer"></a> That's the pyramid that 305 miniature egyptian slaves died for!

Lol! It looks really good!

 

[MC Bone Giant]

Awesome pyramid! I have a couple built that I started for a Lustria Campaign. (havent painted them up yet) I used floral foam that I found at an art/craft store. I really probably should do some more with a high slope. (mine are not as high.) What material did you use for yours?

 

[MobiusPrime]

I found a good process to keeping models together without having to pin (which I hate having to do for the difficulty in getting the pin holes lined up right).

First, I score both surfaces that are going to be joined. That is, I scratch up the area with either sandpaper or my modeling knife (watch out, this can be dangerous!)
Then I put a small ammount of epoxy sculpt putty where the pieces come together (it's just like green stuff, except it isn't over godly cost, nor does it suck like green stuff).
Then I super glue the joint after I trim any excess putty away. I then hit the joint with some super glue activator which cures the bond instantly.
If the joint is very small, I'll then go back and put a very, very light coat of elmer's glue over it after it's been painted. Elmers glue cures extremely hard and is invisible when it does, and it won't dissolve the paint either.

 

[Jin Tkand]

i have had many many tragedies my first couple weeks of having a catapult so i feel you man... i feel you all to well.

but i learned a few ways to assist my cats sturdyness...

you know those nice little spires that stand up tall with the two guys strapped to it like salem witches? yeah i cut the guys off of it and used them as support beams for the rest of the cats sections lol.

 

[MC Bone Giant]

I think one thing that has helped my skatapults sturdiness is a pinned the launch arm up against to cross beam as if it just let loose a pile of skulls.
Of course, I also have the skulls leaving the hand. I attached the stack of skulls you get with the kit to a pin and then pinned it coming from the hand. After application of green stuff, its a pile of skulls with blue ethereal flame being launched from the hand.

 

[AltheAlchemist]

Lol, if your catapult is falling apart, put a corpse in the broken piece! If your car is falling apart, put a corpse in the trunk and everything will be fixed!

---------- Post added at 02:19 ---------- Previous post was at 02:12 ----------

I just got the Citadel Hobby Drill from my local game shop and I'm ready to pin! I'm going to try and cut paper clips (with goggles of course) to fit the holes I will drill. Also, how do you make sure the holes match up?

 

[MC Bone Giant]

Getting the holes to line up is the trick. Just test fit the pieces together so you can approximate where they line up. Then start drilling a hole in one piece. Then test fit again and see where the other hole should be. You also need to take into account the angle that you drill the hole in. You can gauge that by sticking the pin or drill bit in. If its straight, cool. If not, adjust your hole on the other side accordingly. Then once you have the other hole started, you can stick in the pin and make sure it lines up. If so, keep drilling. If not, you'll need to try to adjust the hole.
If you have some extra plastic around, you could try practicing on that. (even using sprues would work. Plastic will be easier to cut through anyways than metal.
Also see if you have any friends that play guitar. See if they have any broken strings that they can give you. I think paper clips can be a little hard and inflexible, which takes away some wiggle room. But you can make paper clips work too. I find having multiple pin sizes like different guitar strings is good. Allows for big and small jobs.
Good luck with it. I feel pinning is a valuable skill to have and will save you lots of headache.

 

[adhesivespatula]

I have found that with skull chuckers, no matter what you do or how well you pin the model, they always explode. Always. Someone manages to knock them over, or even just the simple process of setting down leads to a collapse. After many, many nights of gluing one of mine back together, and it collapsing for the upteenth time, I said screw it.

I now have a catapult on a base that looks like it was thrown in a trash compactor. Still lobs flaming skulls rather well though.