Post by PitYak Studios on Feb 21, 2007 11:23:02 GMT 12
These are made from a mild steel wire, which is stronger than white metal or plastic, and more likely to bend under stress rather than snap. If your spears are bent they are easy to straighten:
Find a piece of hard wood, metal, toughened glass or any other hard surface (even your desk or bench, unless you still live with your mother / wife). Lay the spear on this surface with just the tip hanging over the edge, then get a steel ruler or something similar and roll the shaft straight. This is much easier to do than describe
If the spear is already fitted to a mini, the same principle applies, you just have to think a bit: If it's the bottom half that's bent, treat the hand the same as the tip in the paragraph above, that is let it hang over the edge while you roll the shaft. If it's the top half, you are going to have to let the hand and the tip hang off your surface; try using the corner.
If the tip is bent, carefuly press it onto your hard surface. Carefully, it won't take much to push it back in line.
Unlike white metal which is fairly inert and plastic which is completely inert, steel as I'm sure you know will rust in contact with air. Not a problem if you are painting the whole spear, but if you want to leave the tip bare metal you will have to protect it somehow, varnish or a coat of light oil should do the trick.
As some of you have found out, these things can be pretty sharp ;D but if you want them even sharper (who knows why?) you easily hone the edge furhter with afile, stone or emery paper.
Fitting the spears is fairly easy: Lop off the offending weapon then drill a hole down the hand. If you are as highly skilled with power tools as I am, you might want to use a pin vice for this. High speed drills and melty plastic are a recipe for disaster. With plastics you can often get away with heating up a pin and pushing this through the hand. Once you've got your hole, slide the spear in (need I say butt first?) but stop a couple of milimetres before it's where you want it. using a pin or a brush, place a small drop of superglue on the shaft , and push the spear the rest of the way home. If you've gone overboard on the hole this won't work, and a bit of putty will be your best bet.
The knurled shaft of the spears are easy to paint; mid brown , with darker washes and lighter drybrusing. the tip can be apinted however you would normally paint steel, or can be left bare for a rather convincing steel colour.
Then line your doods up and impress your mates.
One final note: if you have a unit of plastic spear armed men and you accidentally put your hand on them, that's your spears knackerred. If you do this with steel spears, that's your hand knackerred.
And not a tip so much as a suggestion; plastic and metal figures will come with weapons that are generally too fat and too short. With the steelies you can choose from a range of gauges (and suggest more if I don't do what you want), and any length. I think units of pikemen look super cool, why not go for some really long pikes? The mediavel European pikes were in the region of 20' long, or about 120mm in 28mm terms. Massed ranks of them would have your opponents cavalry thinking twice!
Find a piece of hard wood, metal, toughened glass or any other hard surface (even your desk or bench, unless you still live with your mother / wife). Lay the spear on this surface with just the tip hanging over the edge, then get a steel ruler or something similar and roll the shaft straight. This is much easier to do than describe
If the spear is already fitted to a mini, the same principle applies, you just have to think a bit: If it's the bottom half that's bent, treat the hand the same as the tip in the paragraph above, that is let it hang over the edge while you roll the shaft. If it's the top half, you are going to have to let the hand and the tip hang off your surface; try using the corner.
If the tip is bent, carefuly press it onto your hard surface. Carefully, it won't take much to push it back in line.
Unlike white metal which is fairly inert and plastic which is completely inert, steel as I'm sure you know will rust in contact with air. Not a problem if you are painting the whole spear, but if you want to leave the tip bare metal you will have to protect it somehow, varnish or a coat of light oil should do the trick.
As some of you have found out, these things can be pretty sharp ;D but if you want them even sharper (who knows why?) you easily hone the edge furhter with afile, stone or emery paper.
Fitting the spears is fairly easy: Lop off the offending weapon then drill a hole down the hand. If you are as highly skilled with power tools as I am, you might want to use a pin vice for this. High speed drills and melty plastic are a recipe for disaster. With plastics you can often get away with heating up a pin and pushing this through the hand. Once you've got your hole, slide the spear in (need I say butt first?) but stop a couple of milimetres before it's where you want it. using a pin or a brush, place a small drop of superglue on the shaft , and push the spear the rest of the way home. If you've gone overboard on the hole this won't work, and a bit of putty will be your best bet.
The knurled shaft of the spears are easy to paint; mid brown , with darker washes and lighter drybrusing. the tip can be apinted however you would normally paint steel, or can be left bare for a rather convincing steel colour.
Then line your doods up and impress your mates.
One final note: if you have a unit of plastic spear armed men and you accidentally put your hand on them, that's your spears knackerred. If you do this with steel spears, that's your hand knackerred.
And not a tip so much as a suggestion; plastic and metal figures will come with weapons that are generally too fat and too short. With the steelies you can choose from a range of gauges (and suggest more if I don't do what you want), and any length. I think units of pikemen look super cool, why not go for some really long pikes? The mediavel European pikes were in the region of 20' long, or about 120mm in 28mm terms. Massed ranks of them would have your opponents cavalry thinking twice!