Help: Pinning Wings to Dragons

[Mr.Wizard]

Hello All,

Normally I would just teach myself this pinning stuff via trial-and-error, but these minis cost a few bob a piece, so I'd at least like to get in the ballpark the first try.

 

So:

1. How do you drill holes such that you get good alignment and the angle you want?

1a. Do you use a jig of some kind?

2. What kind of wire do you use? Coat hanger, K&S brass rod, or other?

3. Which adhesive do you recommend? Cyanoacrylate, JB Weld, epoxy, Altoids, saliva?

4. Is this the appropriate forum for this question, or is there an article to which I can be referred?

 

If this has been covered elsewhere, I'm happy to read it, just gimme a direction.....

 

Thanks!

[Humansquish]

1. I eyeball it. For dragon wings I would like to put 2 pins in, but I usually don't get them aligned right and the wing doesn't go all the way in. So I just put in one, but make it as long as possible.

 

2. Paper clips. I've heard a lot of good things about guitar or piano wire though.

 

3. I use JB quick weld. Definately use an epoxy putty for a dragon, especially the big ones.

 

4. I think there may be some threads in the painting tips and advice area, but I'm too lazy to look.

 

If you're nervous about trying it for the first time on your dragon, get a CAV mini if you can and pin all the pieces together as practice. Good luck!

[Sergeant_Crunch]

Yeah, after pinning a couple CAVs, you'll have the process down pat.

[smokingwreckage]

I mount a single pin and get it right, then align a second pin after that. The pins don't always have to be a snug fit. I use a combination of superglue and two-part epoxy putty for parts that don't fit snug but which don't need pinning.

 

http://www.heresyminiatures.com/howtomake01.htm

 

Here's an article on pinning from Heresy, who specialise in great big metal kits.

[Mr.Wizard]

Thanks Humansquish and Sgt. Crunch for the perspective. I have some less expensive dragons I can fiddle with. I guess the eyeball-method is the way to go.

 

Thanks SmokingWreckage for that article. It's a real Rosetta Stone! I think I'll email the author with my compliments.

[Sergeant_Crunch]

Another thing you can do is once you have the pin set on one side, put a small dab of paint on the exposed tip of the pin. Then touch that to where it's supposed to go. You end up with a nice dot to show where the drill bit goes.

[Rastl]

Depending on what I have to pin I've gone through from the outside, as it were. Wings can have some horrible angles for pinning so I just drill straight through and then clean it up with diamond grinders to remove the extra pin.

 

I'm a big fan of paper clips personally. They're nice and strong but if you need long pins they won't work that well. Then again I prefer a few thinner pins to one large one.

 

I also use a Dremel for drilling my holes because my hands just don't have what it takes to use a pin vice drill. So drilling all the way through isn't all that difficult for me.

[Dirk]

Hi Mr. Willard!

 

As there have been quite a few helpfull answers allready, I just want to add a few images of a kind of "advanced pinning" I once did on a miniature.

(An old classic of mine, called "Hippogryff Rescue")

Well, just for your pinning inspiration.

 

To pin this miniature I had to remove the whole lower leg and had to adjust a piece of spring steel wire to it.

Then I resculpted the leg with Magic Sculpt and was able to fit the steel wire into the base for a much better fit.

 

Just click the thumbnails.

 

 

Regards

[TaleSpinner]

I discuss how I pin step by step in my Cinder WIP.

 

Hope it is helpful.

 

TS

[Mr.Wizard]

Wow, I sure came to the right place!

 

Talespiner's work-up on Cinder was an epic tutorial, thanks for putting in all that time.

 

Sgt. Crunch's suggestion for alignment makes a lot of sense. I guess it really is that simple.

 

Thanks Dirk for the reconstructive surgery photos ;)

 

Well, time to bust out the Dremel and get to work.....

 

Thanks again!