"Plastic Miniatures" Topic

I just purchased a box of Wargames Atlantic Age of Reason Minuteman. They age beautiful designed figs. The problem,, as always, is in the assembly. The parts never quite fit. I use Crazy glue. It gives a little wiggle room. The work is somewhat tiresome, but worth it. What do the members think? Dennis Morley Reseda, Ca

I just purchased a box of Wargames Atlantic Age of Reason Minuteman. They age beautiful designed figs. The problem,, as always, is in the assembly. The parts never quite fit. I use Crazy glue. It gives a little wiggle room. The work is somewhat tiresome, but worth it. What do the members think? Dennis Morley Reseda, Ca

I purchased the .stls for their Burgundian pikemen. I printed some initially and had the same assembly problems you did. I'm sure finished they will be lovely figures, but not really worth the effort.
It would have been better to design them with less requirement to assemble. Opportunity wasted.

I'm surprised. I've bought and assembled probably 10 boxes of WA plastic minis, fantasy, sci-fi and historical and never run into any fit problems. Sorry to hear about the trouble!

If it involves more than gluing on a head or a backpack, I'll just go with metal for building armies.

I use Crazy glue.

Is that a super glue (cyanoacrylate)? If yes, then it is not ideal for glueing plastic parts together.

As far as I can tell, Wargames Atlantic uses polystyrene (as most plastic manufacturers), and for that you really want to use a proper plastic glue (polystyrene cement), it makes assembly easier.

My current favourite glue for assembling plastic figures is Contacta Professional from Revell. It comes with a handy applicator tip, allowing one to apply small amounst of the glue at a time (you do not need much to provide a good bond).

Can't comment on the figures, but I can comment on a better glue for plastic figures…

I use E6000 Premium (red tube, not gray), referred to as E6k Premium here on, for plastic figures made of softer plastics, likely HDPE or LDPE -- the plastic used to make Army Men figures, and various toy figures. It is available in most craft stores (larger tubes, typically; I recommend the smaller tubes -- see below).

Until I tried E6k Premium, I could not find any glue, other than Hot Glue, which would bond with any strength to these plastic figures.

I cut off and re-positioned the horns on a plastic toy dragon figure using E6k Premium glue: original toy horns; the re-positioned horns with E6k Glue, rotated downwards, alongside the face, to match an AD&D Black Dragon; finished, painted toy Dragon figure. Worked superbly, and it has a high shear strength which makes it my new go-to glue for all bonds, not just plastic.

My first, trial tube, was a large tube. I am switching to the small tubes which come in a 4-pack: less waste, easier to dispense. Just be aware that the instructions advise the application of petroleum jelly to the threads, before replacing the cap -- this glue will bond the cap onto the end of the tube without it! Incredible glue. It is recommended that you use it as a contact adhesive, but I use it as regular glue, and it works beyond my expectations, every time…

FYI:

I use E6k Premium as a filler and for minor sculpting. I have applied it using a Q-tip cotton swab to form it. For my toy Dragon conversions, I needed to add a flesh comb (as in a chicken's flesh comb) to the head and neck region as a part of the conversion process; I applied some E6k Premium glue over the top of the paper comb, after it had been soaked in PVA Glue to harden the paper (of course I waited until the PVA Glue was completely dry before I applied the E6k Premium). This also created some texture on the paper surface, as well as permanently bonding it to the plastic body of the figure, ensuring it will never separate. Here is a profile picture showing how it worked out in the end.Cheers!

I don't think "crazy glue" is best for plastic. Either use a plastic model cement or I prefer contact cement. A little dab on the body a little dab on the arm. Let it sit for about 10 minutes then stick them together and they hold well you got a few seconds to position. t Test the fit before you put on the glue.

I truly dislike multi part figures, especially with lots of little pieces to put together. Just make the bodies and arms and legs and heads all together. Even though that gives less variety, it makes easier of production.