Imperial Fists Mastodon Part 1

Hello guys and welcome to the first installment of my Imperial Fists Mastodon build. 

Darien and I were amongst the lucky few to get our hands on one of these fantastic new kits. 

Why the two build posts?

Well it's fair to say that with all new kits there are some differences in people's experiences and issues with building them. So as the good wide reaching blog that we are Darien and I hope to enable everyone who ventures into building one of these with the widest depth of knowledge on potential issues pitfalls and work arounds so you all have an enjoyable experience. 

We have some shared issues and some slightly different ones so hopefully this will help everyone :)

First up the wash!

I didn't have many issues in this area in fact after an overnight soak and then a brush up with a nail brush and a tooth brush all parts seemed to be clean of any  mould release. 

I started with some of the easy stuff to get it out of the way and not in necessarily the order in the instructions. 

This is a personal preference as it means I don't have to worry about it and go back to it later. 

So I cleaned up and then 'heat shaped' the track sections to fit the main track assembles. 

I did this by heating them in a bowl of hot water *be careful kids* and then pressing them into the recesses to ensure a nice fit and that the track sections blended into the main assembly. 

Next up was cleaning up, cutting, shaving material off, filing and test fitting the floor sections.

This took forever and I didn't take WIP shots of his process.  

I also fitted the doors and the hinges to the sides including the additional interior detail. I've purposely left off the hydraulic rams as I'll be painting the inside I wanted to make sure I made it as easy for my self as possible. 

A point to note is that fitting one side to the floor sections is a good way forward not only is it advised in the instructions,  Blake Spencer himself advised both myself and Darien on the intricacies of the main hull section. Once that's built the rest goes together fairly easily, he said lol. 

As you see this dry fit shows that the kits aren't perfect and so some heating of parts maybe required to ensure a good fit. 

The superstructure was a bit of a pig for me and took a while of shaving material filing and sanding to get the fit just right. 

Unfortunately this is an 'after shot'. What I've done here is to modify it slightly, as with Darien's, my rear ramp doesn't fit. So I've taken the alternative measure to remove a small lip on the lower part of the super structure either side of the 'V' section very carefully so it looks to be normal. 

As a result the rear ramp now folds up into the superstructure a treat :)

 

I'll be following up soon in part two with additional build parts I plan on make the turret next so that everything is ready for priming and base coat.

I hope this helps and if you have any questions or comments below feel free.

Until next time, The Emperor Protects!

- Tylar

Making the Very Best of Versatility

After the most recent WIPR on the blog a few people asked after my magnetised Phalanx Wardens. 

Now I guess I hadn't thought that this was anything other than normal. I forget myself sometimes and that I've been doing this a very long time and therefore I've had a lot of practice. 

So how to get the best from versatility. 

This can be transposed to any models really. Especially the new BaC minis if you want to run different weapons on a Vet Squad. 

The key to this is patience. And picking the right parts. 

Apologies for the pics it's quite hard to get decent shots one handed.

So here you can see I've substituted in a plastic right MK IV arm from the BaC minis. This was to provide a better platform for inserting a magnet. And it would marry up to the majority of the weapons options. 

Here you can see I've taken one of the small 2mm x 2mm magnets and I've added it to the one already fitted to the arm. I do this everytime to ensure the polarity is correct then the weapon hand will always fit. 

You'll need:

2mm x 2mm Magnets! I buy mine from Tabletop Tyrant/Gifts for Geeks (same company). They also make their own carry cases too. 

A 0.8/0.9mm drill bit and pin vice to complete the pilot hole. This I also use for paperclip 'pinning'. 

A 1.0/1.2mm drill bit for widening the hole if you wish. 

Then a 2mm drill bit for the required hole size. 

Drill the pilot hole. 

If you want feel free to widen it. 

I personally go straight for the 2mm bit as the plastic is soft. 

Here the 2mm hole is widened ready. At this point I'll offer it up to make sure it's a snug fit. Then apply a tiny amount of super glue. 

Magnet fitted. Leave to dry for 5-10 seconds. 

One Phalanx Warden with a shiny new Combi-plasma :)

I've done this for two of my Wardens as for every 5 I have that option of a special weapon or combi-weapon. I could have also done it for my Vet Sgt in hind sight but as I have several Vet Sgt options this wasn't an issue. 

Again as I said you can do this for any mini really especially using the BaC minis. 

I hope this was helpful to you all out there and if you want to see more or have any questions fire away and let me know. 

Until next time 

-Tylar ;D