PSC SdKfz 251, some discoveries...

Undercoated and ready to roll - note the masking tape loop
it's tacked on to.

One of the side-effects of yesterday's scenario writing is that I decided the German CO needed a SdKfz 251/10 (the 37mm PaK variant).

Usefully, I have a stash of Plastic Soldier Company boxes sitting on the shelf which includes at least 2 boxes of 251/D's, as well as the box for the conversion kit which allows you to turn the vanilla 251 into a Stummel (75mm short), 37mm, Flamm or 81mm mortar carrier.

Have to say, nice kit: goes together easily barring the external MGs, which can be a little fiddly to get off the sprue without damaging them. Still, it looks the part, and shouldn't take long to pretty up to tabletop standard. As an aside, the 250 kit is IMO slightly better as you get more variants (any at all, in fact!) in the vanilla box.

Discoveries:

1. a loop of masking tape, sticky side out in both directions, makes a great holder for a model when you're wielding spray undercoat. Tip nicked from the folks at Crimson Guitars, who actually usually superglue two bits back-to-back for the same effect - basically reasonably sticky but low tack tape.
2. Revell Contacta and PSC plastic is for some reason not a good combination - for me at least the solvent doesn't produce a sticky surface very fast - in fact it makes their plastic stick to fingers better than to itself
3. Thanks to Tom Webster-Deakin for the tip on how to unblock a liquid poly nozzle - hold it in a gas flame till it's red hot, and the glue vaporises, then dunk it in cold water. Works a treat.

That's better...

Trip to Trains4U completed, trader form for show dropped off, Plastic Weld and Revell Contacta acquired. and a bunch more Dark Ages figures assembled.

Apart from the fact that the Revell poly cement does my head in every time I put it down, because I try and put it down on the end opposite the needle....

Also installed another wifi security camera on the outside of the studio, as a couple of undesirables appear to have had a go at the door with a crowbar last night. :(

Little toerags. 

Gluing plastics

Meet Rogue.
Rogue is 'helpful'.
Rogue is also a certifiable headcase.

I've embarked on a massive bout of batch-assembly of plastic figures - specifically, six boxes of 28mm Wargames Factory Persian cavalry to stand in for Parthian horse archers. (That distant rumbling sound you can hear? Yes, that's a deadline approaching. For once, it's a whole two weeks further off than my usual!)

As it's <deleted> perishing out in the workshop, I've temporarily appropriated the dining room, which is great for being warm, but needs the door shut in order to both keep the smell of glue and paint out of the kitchen, and keep the cats from 'helping'.

On the left, EMA Plastic Weld.
On the right, Humbrol Precision.

This is the first batch job I've done in a while (since the El Cid army, I guess), and it's I think a slightly different plastic (Wargames Factory) to the one Conquest Games and Fireforge (and I assume, therefore, Renedra) use. Interestingly, this seems to mean I need to change glues.

Normally, I use Humbrol Precision, which comes in a nice yellow plastic bottle with a metal needle applicator. On the upside, it's very easy to apply precisely where you want it, and for the Renedra plastics it seems to just work. The downside is I /believe/ its base ingredient is methyl ethyl ketone, and in a closed enviromment like the dining room the fumes are enough I can only work on about a dozen figures before needing to take a break. Also, it doesn't appear to stick the WF plastics as well: this is fine for the horses, which have some pin/socket locator thingies to hold them, but is tricky when you're trying to attach arms,  heads and things like quivers that rely on the joint to hold them against the weight of the piece.

You may have seen me mention EMA Plastic Weld before - it's a different glue in that it comes in a bottle, and is applied with a brush. For some reason, it seems to work much better on the WF plastics than the Renedra-manufactured ones, providing an almost instant bond (10 seconds of holding the joint rather than a minute+). The Hunbrol is a bit slower to bond even on the Renedra/Warlord/Fireforge/Conquest plastics, but the ease of use tradeoff means I tend to use the Humbrol for those.

The Plastic Weld fumes also aren't quite as noxious in terms of light-headedness, but it is dichloromethane, which is supposed to be slightly worse for you (category 3 rather than 2 safety risk) with prolonged exposure. You also can't apply it quite as precisely, as it needs a brush. Its other downside is that it's very easy to knock over if you're a klutz like me! The short fix? Superglue (using the new Army Painter superglue I picked up at Hammerhead (thanks, guys from Warlord!), which is just awesome in terms of speed of bond) a beermat to the bottom of the bottle.