Nippon Army (BlackEd)

[BlackEd]

Here is the tutorial for attaching the sashimono to the figures.  First, make or purchase the sashimono.  I bought quite a few from Pendraken, two of which are shown here:



Both have been cleaned up, but the one on the left is already bent at the end so that is can be attached.  The other shows that the banner pole is straight until I bend it.

The first step is to mark where on the back you want to make the hole that the pole will fit into.  I use a pointy sculpting tool to create a mark where I am going to dril.  This keeps the tip of the drill bit in place during the initial few turns to establish the hole. 



Once you mark the surface, you can start drilling.  Here I'm using a pin vise and a very tiny drill bit.  This bit comes from a "Drill Index, 61-80".  The cover says Huot, St. paul, USA.  Here I am drilling away:



So now that the monkey have holes for the banners, here's how I bend the banner poles to fit into the hole.  The next photo shows that my pliers are smooth.  I think I found these in the craft store in the beading aisle.



Next, I grab just the tip of the banner pole, then slowly bend the end 90 degrees:



Next step is to test fit on the gorillas.  I have shave a bit off the back of the helmets.  Once that's done, I use a drop of super glue, then press the hooked end of the banner hole into the hole.  I hold the banner in place about 5 seconds to let the super glue cure.






So there you have it!  I hope this helped clarify how I attach the back banners to the miniatures.  It really isn't such a long process.  I tend to clear up all the sashimono ahead of time and bend the tips if the banner poles.  Then I drill all the holes.  The the actual gluing in place seems to fly by.

Maybe next time I will think enough ahead so that I primes the figure with the back banner on it!

[AndrewChristlieb]

Looks like a solid start. Those are some hugh drums tho!!! They look like diesel gravity tanks .

[BlackEd]

They are big!  But bigger ones exist, so these aren't so outrageous!

Thanks for looking!

[Guthwine]

Wow very nice work, I wouldnt have the patience for such conversion!

[BlackEd]

Thanks Guthwine.  I'm not 100% happy with the drums, but I'm going with them anyway.

I don't think I envisioned all this when I started.  I just wanted a dias for the general to sit on, and it sorta grew from there.  Some one else had put taiko drums on the base with the general, and I thought it was a great idea.  I went for larger drums -- they are my favorite at the taiko performances. 

It is a struggle between wanting it done and making it look really interesting.  I keep thinking I am almost done when a new wrinkle comes up.  Now I want to re-sculpt arms on two drummers so that they look like they are playing the drums instead of shouldering a farming implement.

This will be one of my entries for the Pendraken painting competition as well.

[jchaos79]

wow it is awesome the tutorial, but it involves a lot of work for each miniature! 24 - 30 of them for a unit... 10-15 unit for a small army... wow

[BlackEd]

I'm finding that individually based figures in general seem to take more time to go from bare metal to completed unit.  Here are the steps:

Clean the figures -- remove flash, file underside of bases flat.
Glue figures to popsicle sticks
Wait for glue to dry (if whie glue is used)
Prime figures
Paint figures (this is the fun part!)
Remove figures from popsicle sticks - may require additional sanding of underside of the bases
Plan where the figures go on the bases
Glue Figures to the bases
Level the ground between bases -- green stuff or sand/white glue mix
Paint the levelled areas between bases
Flock bases
Spray seal Gloss
Spray Seal matte

I really dislike having to mount and then dismount the figures from the popsicle sticks.  I've seen posts in which people claim that you can use superglue, and then the figures 'pop' off the popsicle stick when you flex the stick.  In my experience (so far), this is unreliable and often results in splinters still glued to the underside of the bases.  Which then need to be removed.

And I feel compelled to say this:  While I hate GW's prices, they have the best 10mm figures I've seen thus far.  The figures are (almost) all well sculpted, the details are crisp, and the the metal used resists bending. 

However, the Pendraken figures are inexpensive and reasonably well made.  And the quality of their ranges keeps improving, especially the Fantasy line after they buy a new sculpt from me. 

I hope to be able to afford to check out some stuff from TLB and others this year.

[BlackEd]

A quick update:

The heros got flocked:




The general stand waddles toward completion:

[jchaos79]

Wow that is really AWESOME!

I do not glue figures to the bases, I use blue-tak to stick them, then paint and remove it. It is very quick and blue takk could be reused until it loss its sticky properties (and takes a long period of time).

[BlackEd]

JChaos:  Thanks for the encouragement.  I was inspired to spend another hour painting the general and finishing the bodyguards.  I'll snap another picture on Monday so you can see the progress.  I actually have Monday off from work, so I hope extra painting happens.

[Guthwine]

Cool scenery for the general looking forward to see it painted.

Also I love the flocked bases very striking and makes a great contrast! (if that makes sense. )

[BlackEd]

Thanks for the kind words.  I'm posting new pictures of mySamurai hero.  You may notice it looks a litle nicer now:





I'm posting three of these to the Pendraken competition.

[BlackEd]

More Updates!
















So as you can see, the bases are flocked!   

[Spectrar Ghost]

Great stuff.

[BlackEd]

Time for more WIP shots of the general:







As you can see, I'm making good progress.  I will have this finished this weekend!