Remove flash from across the back of the hull, especially between the projections. Make removal cuts horizontally to prevent damaging the ridges on the projections.
Remove flash from across the front on either side of the projection. This is hard to notice, but if not removed the paint will make it more visible.
Along the sides: I usually leave this, since its hard to remove without damaging the details. This flash, if it is flash, almost looks like an intended detail. If its particularly bad I lightly scrape the edge of the blade along the side - this removes the flash, rounds off the details (bad), and dulls the knife, but I use a break-away blade anyway.
Remove flash from the back of the turret.
Sometimes the gun needs to be straightened as well.
When gluing the turret on don't put the glue on the post or hole - its fairly loose and doesn't make good contact. The flat spot on the underside right underneath the main gun *does* make good contact, so that's the spot to put a drop of glue. Because it makes good contact, some glue will squeeze out, so have a toothpick handy to remove it and keep that joint crisp. Otherwise the turret looks like a bump on the hull instead of a movable turret.
Some people leave turrets loose so that they can be aimed. I may do this when SJ Games starts selling spare turrets. I plan on taking my minis to conventions as often as possible.
First, look at the main body from the front and sides and straighten out the lift pods so that they're level and symetrical. Look at it from the top, too.
Remove flash from under the nose.
Remove flash from the bottom edge of the rear deck, all the way around.
Remove flash from between the pods and the body. I hold the model upside down so I'm looking at the bottom, and stick the blade up into the gap from below and cut it away. Pay particular attention to the waist.
You might try trimming the flash from the little bitty pieces while they're still on their tree. The back of the turret often has some flash, and that's very hard to remove without the tree. The flash on the front of the fins is very visible, make sure it's smooth. Its also important to make sure the bottom of the fins is smooth and flat: gluing on the fins is tough enough, you don't want a bump there.
Gluing the turret is easy. Gluing the fins is the hardest thing in this whole project, but I think I have a trick: cut a piece of index card stock or paper about 1/2" by 1", put it on your work surface, then put the finless GEV on top so that the back half of the vehicle is on the card, and the front half is off. Then fold up the parts of the sides of the paper so that they are parallel to where the fins will be. Coat the bottom of the fins and the fin receiving surfaces with CA, and let it sit a minute to get tacky. Place each fin, and then fold the paper inward to support it until it dries. If it falls off, *fine*, the next time the glue will stick to glue, instead of bare metal, and you should get it.
Save the tree the fins and turret come on. You can use them in clever ways with your infantry, see
Remove flash from bottom edge of the nose.
Remove flash from rear of hull, especially between the protrusions.
Remove flash from the edges of the missle pod.
Fill the hole in the underside of the missle pod with Superglue. Because of the small size of this hole superglue will form a bubble at the top and there will not be enough glue. Poke it with a toothpick to get glue all the way to the bottom.
There's flashing around the circumference. I also take the edge off the upper and lower corners - they're very sharp, which means paint will chip off easily. rounding them a bit won't hurt their appearance, and will help the paint stay on.
Its critical to smooth the seam along the top of the barrel and the workings, and the seam runs around the underside also. Seams on round surfaces *show*, and when you look at the HWZ, you look at the barrel.
The carriage may have some flashing around the base.
Cut off the tree that connects at back center, but since this requires a pretty forceful cut be careful not to go too far and cut off the little round projections on either side. The forward portion will have molding lines on either side. The top and leading edge of the fins need a scrape, too.
Don't you love one piece miniatures?
Remove flash from the back edge of the track component.
Remove flash from the back edge of the upper hull, especially on the right.
I tried gluing on the posts underneath, but they don't fit well enough to use a thin glue like CA. I tried gluing the front and rear edges, that took a fair amount of glue and two tries. I tried gluing along the longest edge on the side, and that worked great.
Save the little U-shaped tree the guns come on - makes a great little foxhole thing for your infantry.
Wire cutters will seperate the figures, but leave stretched, pointed edges that don't fit in the bases. You could cut that off, of course. I chose to cut the figures apart with a knife. This requires heavy pressure, and sometimes a piece flies off. A clever person would use eye protection. Make sure they fit in the base when you're done.
There are three ways I can think of to allow for the need of "ones," "twos," and "threes" during the game. First, you can not glue the figures into the bases and remove men as squads are eliminated; in to my mind this means that you will soon have nothing but ones. Second, you can glue all three men in, and then indicate the loss of one or two squads with a die or paper marker; in my book that's a nuisance. Third, you can create a one and a two for every two threes that you make. That means instead of buying four bases and four strips of three men for $3 to field four platoons (75 cents per platoon), you get six strips and eight bases for $5 ($1.25 per platoon).
Of course, the ones and twos have extra space on the base and a couple big holes. I filled these with spackle, bcause I had it around. Worked okay. Then I build mini-dioramas, see
After priming and spraying them with red, then blacked the bases, and made the guns and backpacks black as well. Try to get the cable that connects to the gun. I painted the helmets white, then painted one little black stripe across the face. This little visor-look really makes them look more like people.
I wasn't too excited about this figure when I first saw the picture on the web; after all, it looks like just another turreted AFV. But the proportions are cool when you see it, the range is twice that of a SHVY, and heavy terrain slows movement but doesn't shorten weapon ranges...
Bad news - lots of flashing all around the outer edge. Good news - the side projections are higher than the ranger, so you can get rid of the flashing without taking off those little boxes. A square needle file does a nice job between the two rear vents, and you can scrape or file the front and rear of the tread housings. The only tough part is the mesh on the rear vents. Good spot for the ceramics spoon. The top has lots of neat details and no junk.
The turret has a seam on its side and front surfaces. It was small on all four of mine, but that's a curved, prominent surface, so take the time to get it right. Ideal spot for the ceramics spoon, careful on the front edge. Resist the urge to use a file, you'll create a flat spot. Sides of the barrel are obviously critical. End of the barrel is a mess - interesting flat spots, lots of flash. I think I will even paint those flat spots a different color - it wouldn't be hard, and its vaguely evocative, but scraping the flash off will round the edges if you're not careful.
I'm still not sure how to store those turrest so that the barrel doesn't bend. They're awfully delicate.
I love these things. Serious and quick in appearance, they echo the Ranger HVY in the little nose deal. They also have that little semisphere sensor on the forward hull which I like to paint gold: it goes with every color and gives you something to look at.
Flash all the way around the outer circumference. Like the MHWZ the little boxes along the sides are large enough that they will stop your blade, allowing you to scrap the flash without rounding the corners on the boxes. The rear can be done neatly with any of the mentioned tools - run the tip of you blade along the grooves in the vent thing to clear the flash without removing the grill. Use a light hand in removing the flash from the under side of the nose - too much off and you'll change the view from the top.
I'm going to get myself a bunch of these.
Deluxe Ogre includes: Ogre Mark III, Combine Defense Force (Command Post, 6 GEVs, 4 Heavy Tanks, 4 Missile Tanks, 1 Howitzer, 21 Infantry Squads, 10 Infantry Bases)