Hurry up Golden Rod!

A couple of Saturdays ago I went up to Chuck's Comics (localing gaming store where a couple friends work and usually where I game when away from my own abode. Dave asked me to come up and I said I'd give pointers or help if anyone needed it. Someone was gluing a metal banner to a model and was having troubles. His first trouble was he was using Plastic glue and the second was it's metal and heavy which we all know can take a while to grab. He was complaining about it so I looked over and said "you'll probably have to pin it, that's going to take awhile". He looked at me quizickly and said "pin it?". So that got me thinking, I wonder if people getting into the hobby really know about pinning and the help it can be. Which lead me to writing this up. There are many reasons to pin a model; it's metal and heavy, you are working on a model and want to test fit the final position so you don't want to glue it, you want to mount models to a different base and want to be sure they stick, really the list goes on and on.. 

Here's the basic idea of what pinning is ..  You form a mechanical bond between the two pieces which is much stronger then a surface bond. You also typically don't have to hold it while it dries 8)

Drill out the two sides and glue the pin into one side. Then glue them together.

Here are a few Tips or Hints and Info ...

• To start off you'll need a Pin Vise Drill. This is basically a small hand drill. Works great for drilling into plastic or resin but can be tough in metal.
• You can also get one of these http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/tam/tam74041.htm . It's a Tamiya Hand Drill, it works great for what it's used for. But be forewarned you have to build the actual drill, takes some time but is kind of fun in an erector set kind of way. You can use a standard drill as long as your chuck is small enough to handle micro bits.
• I use standard paper clips as my Pins. They are the perfect size and are cheap and available. Take your bits and hold the clip up to the rear of the bit to match size. It should be either the same size or just slightly bigger.

If you are going to Pin something to mount it to a base removed the tab on the bottom with snips then drill holes in at least one foot. Be careful where and how far you drill as you don't want to pop through. Then line the pins up on the base making marks where they are. Drill the holes in the base. Not only does this make for a more solid mount but you can also paint the model off the base and then mount if you choose. Pic above with Dragon's Pinned feet. Below the dragon mounted and a BA mounted to a larger cork base.

You can also Pin bits of the mini.

This can help with posing and painting models that may cover sections of themselves. Then adding them on later.

Pinning on Banners is also a good idea. They stick up and can easily be knocked off. The Pin adds a lot of strength to the bond as there is now a shared mechanical bond instead of just the surface bond. Below I pinned the banner before I glued it to the dread. I don't have a pic of the actual pinning but you get the idea.

The other option would be for heavy metal Minis .. I was looking for a picture but unfortunately I can't seem to find any on my computer. But it's the same .. just with metal dudes  8)