writes:
Dark Sword's Sea Dragon is a nice miniature kit. Cast in metal, it consists of five parts: the main body, the tail, the right forearm, and two small fins that attach to the lower, rear part of the jaw. Except for a small seam-line on the side of the fin on top of the head, the miniature cleans up nicely. (It took a little more time to remove that particular seam-line.)
Assembly was straightforward, with the forearm and fins requiring minimal gap-filling. After I attached the tail, I came to two conclusions. The first was that the tail joint would likely be a weak point. The second conclusion was that I would have to do something to conceal the join between the two parts.
Drilling a small hole in the two parts and inserting a metal pin is an easy solution to reinforcing the joint. This, however, does add to the problem of concealing the joint! I took the easy way out by sculpting a "rock" out of two-part putty, to hide the joint area.
I bent a small piece of wire into an "L" shape, and inserted the pin horizontally through the two parts - so that that the vertical part of the pin could serve as a support for the "rock." Once I'm finished with the construction, I clean the miniature with soap and water to remove any contaminants, and then give it a shot of Rust-Oleum Clean Metal Primer.
