New models

Spent some time this last weekend catching up on some modeling, and tackled a bit of assemblies. A couple weeks ago I picked up a discount box of Star Wars Legion Range Troopers, and I had a Bolt Action M3 Grant Medium Tank that had been on pre-order for a couple of months.

I recorded the assembly of both sets, hoping to put together painting and assembly videos in the future. For now, they join the armies of grey.

I also spent a little bit of time in FreeCAD, and designed my own bases for the vehicles. Although I have printed various models in the past, they tend to be overly “flat” on the top surface with no texture. Molded and modelled bases are good, those print fine, but generic ones are overly plain, and I had to deal with support material on the undersize.

However, it dawned on me that the textured build plate solved both of these issues. Printing the bases upside down puts the texture on the mini base top surface, and the orientation means no support is needed. A quick couple of tests later, and I have very workable Bolt Action vehicle bases, ready for painting and texture.

Side note – I have switched from superglue to Tamiya Cement (the green bottle behind the tank). For plastics, this is far superior. The superglue works, but tends to either blob up, run elsewhere, or just glue the fingers to the model. Tamiya instead melts the plastic, and re-fuses once it cures, so there is no sticky fingers. And the application brush allows the glue to be placed only where necessary. As a bonus, I found it actually cured faster than the super glue. Apply to the plastic, and it goes to work, and then it felt to immediately cure as soon as the mating part