Miniature Prep

I have a bit of a collector's problem. If I see a really good sale and some other bits of nonsense logging around my brain, I tend to buy even if it's not something I need or something I'm playing at the moment. Take the golem up above in four pieces. Miniature Market often has sales and clearance items. This guy is from The Hell Dorado game. It's also in French. Not something I'm not unused to as Confrontation, prior to being a kick ass game in English, was actually some kick ass miniatures in French. But I'm always up for a large figure and it comes with a spellcaster that controls him as well.

So in prepping this guy, what were the stages?

1. Preassembly. I tested each part to make sure it fit.

2. Sanding. I use some fine sandpaper to give it a shallow surface cleaning as well as make sure that when I do glue it, that there are some teeth or marks for the glue to settle in.

3. Wash it. Hot water, soap, and an old tooth brush with patience. I'm not sure that it does all the wonders people say it does but... I figure its only going to add a few miniatures to the process, this is a big figure and if there are oils and other bits from release agents from the mold, get them out now.

4. Super glue! I'm terribly lazy. I should use some pins on him because he is a fairly decent sized figure and it wouldn't take that long to pin. I should especially pin the center as there is a lot of mass there. But there's the lazy thing again. Fortunately this isn't like some nightmare pieces I've had an after cleaning a bit on the chest piece on the bottom, he fits very well together. If I wind up using him a lot and breaking him, then the pins come out!

5. Adjusting the base. I throw some Army Builder rocks on the base and some sand.

6. Attach! Then the big guy gets glued to the base. I have to fill in the area where he didn't fill the tab all the way and I'll need to add some glue to those areas to compensate for the missing basing material but after that...

7. Set. I'll let him set for 24 hours. I know you probably don't have to but I tend to do it anyway. I have plenty of material to work on in the meanwhile.

So after that, I'll still have to prime and paint him. Good thing though is because he's just basically a large walking pile of rock, he'll be easy to paint up.