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This article will assist you in assembling your Cold Navy starships. It is meant merely as a guide to assist you in building your ship and get the best possible results from your naval investment. If you have any questions or comments, please, contact us!
Getting the right tools for the right job is perhaps one of the most important aspects of working with any miniature model as much as a starship model. Below is a quantitative list of the tool we use to clean and assemble our miniatures.
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 1. Simple Green- This product is used to clean the miniature of chemicals, mold release and normal body oils from handling. You can get this stuff at any grocery or department store. 2. Super Glue- This product is used to assemble the various parts of the miniature together. You can get some of this at your local hobby shop or here. 3. Paper Clips- These are used to pin various parts of your model together. You can get these at any office supply store. 4. Epoxy Putty Tape (Greenstuff)- While not completely necessary to assemble our miniatures, this product can be useful for some conversion work and to fix minor gouges and casting defects. This stuff can be acquired from your local hobby shop or here. 5. Files- Having a set of files on hand is essential to any cleaning your miniature of flash and excess metal. You can get these from your local hobby shop, any hardware store or here. 6. Pin Vise- This handy little tool is used to drill small holes into your models so that you can "pin" them. This make the bond between two pieces on the model much stronger. You can get this tool at any local hobby shop or here. 7. Hobby Knife or Exacto Blade- This is used to trim off flash, start hole to drill and a host of other tasks. A very invaluable tool. However, care must be taken when it's being used, it'll slice through flesh much easier than it will metal. You can get one of these and replacement blades (also a must) at a department store, office supply store, your local hobby shop or here. 8. Model Clippers- Essential for removing large pieces of flash and sprews. This tool is as important as a good set of files if not more so. You can get one at a hardware store, department store, your local hobby shop or here. 9. Sculpting tool- This tool is used to apply and smooth out greenstuff on your model. You can get one of these at your local hobby shop or here. 10. Work surface- You might not think having a study and resilient work surface is important. But, try to glue a model on the bare surface of your wife's dining room table and you'll realize it's importance. Make sure the work surface is somewhat portable. That way if you have to move it (believe me, you will), you can without too much trouble. A TV tray or a simple piece of particle board will work grand. Or you can go with this.
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Now, let's discuss preparing your vessels for assembly. This is a very important step as it will make your models look outstanding in the long run after you have painted them. This step involves first inspecting the miniature for excessive damage, miscasts or missing parts, trimming and filing away flash and excess metal and washing the miniature with soap and water.
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Take some time to look over your miniature purchase. Make sure that the miniature is complete (has all of the parts) and has no unworkable defects (miscasts or broken pieces). Click this link to see what comes in each Terran Ship Blister. Click this link to see what comes in each Mauridian Ship Blister. Click this link to see what comes in each Kharadorn Ship Blister. If you find that you are missing a part, please contact us and we'll rush a replacement part out to you pronto! If you notice that your model is damaged you can refund this damaged ship by simply following our simple return policy.
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Even the best cast miniatures will have some minor flaws and defects. These being any number of things. For instance:
The clippers are the easiest tool to use in the cast as the get the job done quickly and they are quite safe. However, they rarely cut with any precision. Usually, cuts made by these will be required to be filed down further. Cutting sprews can also be a judgment call. In some cases it's advantageous to cut and trim the sprew as a last step before assembly as it allows you to handle very small parts easier. This decision is up to you. A good set of clippers should last you a long time. These I have here have been with me for years and I've cut items from paper clips to actual miniature appendages. Needle files are great tools as they give you more precision with even greater safety. I use these tool to remove minor excess metal outcroppings and for general mold line and flash clean up.
Finally, I love the hobby knife for precision work. Removing excess metal in hard to reach areas with a file can easily be cleaned up with the tip of a sharp Xacto blade. The metal of the miniature is also soft enough for the sharp blade of your hobby knife to cut small piece of the miniature away.
I can't stress enough how care should be taken in the use of this tool. Xacto blades are very dangerous and they WILL cut you if you are not careful. Take time now to fully clean and file away all of these minor casting defects off of your models. Investing the time now to get a clean miniature will definitely pay off when it comes time to paint and play with the miniature later.
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Perhaps the most ignored part of cleaning your miniature is washing it with warm water and soap. Yet, this is a very important part if preparing your miniature for assembly and painting. A miniature will have all sorts of dirt, oil and chemicals on it. Mold release chemicals from the caster, body oil from your fingers, dust and dirt from just being in the outside air. All of these items can wreck a great paint job as it'll conflict with the primer and cause it to crack and not set correctly. This is where the Simple Green come in. This cleaning solution is cheap and quite effective at cleaning a miniature of dirt, oil and grime. I also use an old tooth brush to help brush the miniature clean. Under a tap of warm water, rinse of the miniature or it's parts. Spray a mist of Simple Green onto the miniature and scrub the miniature with the old toothbrush. Rinse off the Simple Green with warm water and repeat as desired. Once finished, allow the miniature to sit overnight to completely dry.
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Now, we'll discuss everyone's favorite part of this process- Assembling the Model.
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For this article, however, we will discuss assembling and using the acrylic flight bases provided us by the great folks at Litko Aerosystems.
One is the 2.5" [63.5mm] hex base. This base is used with our larger vessels (3" [76mm] or larger). We use this larger size to help keep our ships stable on the tabletop. The second is the 1.375" [35mm] hex base. We use this base for all of our smaller ships (under 3" [76mm]).
Note that this new acrylic base is a Wave 1.5 upgrade over the wooden bases of the same size we provided with our Wave 1 ships. We love these new clear acrylic bases and we hope you do too.
First,
insert the flight peg into the center hole of the hex base. It'll
be a difficult fit, so use a hammer or base of a screw driver to gently
tap the peg into the hole. Be careful not to hammer the peg too hard or
you'll break it. If inserting the peg is too tough, then bore the
center hole out with a large bit in your pin vise. Next, you'll want to drill a hole down the length of the flight peg. Not very deep, just around 1/8" [3mm] or so. Just enough to glue a piece of paper clip into it. This will later allow you to pin the ship onto the base which will be much stronger than using a simple plastic nub. To start drilling the hole, you'll want to start the hole by using the sharp point of your hobby knife to gouge out a small divot in the center of the flight peg. This will prevent the drill bit on your pin vise from skipping around and allow you to drill a clean hole where you want it. Secure the flight peg between your fingers and gently drill a hole down the length of the peg. Try to keep the drill centered and drilling straight. It doesn't have to be perfect, but you don't want the hole crooked either.
While the base drys, drill a mating hole into the bottom of your miniature using the same diameter drill bit on your Pin Vise. You'll notice a small hole already there. This may be enough to hold a larger diameter paper clip, but we recommend using this hole to start the smaller hole you will drill to accommodate the paper clip you just glued to the base.
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Once your model is clean and it's base ready for assembly. Now, the fun begins. In most cases, Cold Navy miniatures are single piece models that can easily be assembled in no time. A few however, have several parts and can be a tad complex to build. Make sure you test fit each piece before gluing. Trim and file as appropriate to assure a snug and secure fit. Use just a small drop of glue. Nothing more than the size of a pin-head. Too much will cause the miniature to adhere to your fingers and will make a huge mess of your model. It's super glue, a little goes a long way! Click this link for detailed instructions on building your Terran ships. Click this link for detailed instructions on building your Mauridian ships. Click this link for detailed instructions on building your Kharadorn ships. Once you're finished assembling you miniature as apporpriate, gently insert the model onto the flihgt using the matching holes you drilled in the step above. Again, just a little pit of glue to seal the flight stem to the ship, with the paper clip inside for strength
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And, Viola! There's your Cold Navy miniature ready to be painted in your favorite fleet colors!
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This is where your clippers, needle files and hobby
knife come into play. These tools will help you trim, clip
and smooth out your model such that it will come out clean and free of
defects when you paint it.
I like to start by using the largest most imprecise
tool first to do the toughest jobs first. This is removing sprew
material and large excess metal outcroppings.
And,
if you get the set, you have access to a number of different file
styles. Many of different uses, from general filing out surfaces
to removing excess material from panel lines.
The
perfect panel lining tool, you can drag the pointed blade along the
panel line of your model to clean them free of excess metal and flash.
The preferences for basing your miniatures are as
extensive as the choice in miniatures themselves. Some prefer to
use retractable flight stands like the
Firstly, we provide two types of hex bases for use
with our Cold Navy ships:
We opted for hexes to make it easier for those
players interested in hex gaming. It also makes it easier to
determine facing of the vessel with a hex.
Finally with a small drop of glue, insert a piece of
paper clip into the hole you just drilled. Set the base aside to
dry.
OK, I hear you asking- Why drill and pin these
flight bases? I have plenty of flight stands and pegs at home with
pips that fit into the hole. The reason is simple. The metal
paper clip adds a lot of strength to the flight stand where it meets the
miniature. Much more so that just a straight plastic stand.
