I thought they might be loosely based on the Imp. Officers' fruit salad, like so:

It's actually inspired by Mondrian's paintings, but googling for pictures of the Partridge family, I can see why you would think that.

It was my wife's idea, and I gotta say, it's turning out very nicely now, more pictures when it's completed.

I'd say the Partridge family bus was inspired by Mondrian. So I guess I was partly right! lol

I'm back! This time with more StarVipers.

My son promptly won his own Guns for Hire at the first tournament after their release, because that's how his luck is with door prizes. Sadly, the new pegs' fit are so horrible that we bent a wing trying to get it off of it. Learning from my previous magnetization experiment, we decided to try other ways to get dynamic Vipers. They all work:

Attempt #1: Magnets!

Scroll back up to my previous magnetization experiment to see how it's done. In my opinion, this rates as a failure. It's too fiddly and fragile. If you wanted more guns on your Viper, it is the way to go however!

Attempt #2: Shaving the posts

For those of you who are curious, Vipers are made up of 4 parts. You can take the wing assemblies off by pulling the cockpit off the front of the ship. I used an X-acto knife to get in the gap and wiggled it, it worked wonder on my old Viper.

Then, you simply very, very carefully shave the peg between both wings until they can move in a test fit, but won't wobble. My bottom wing was slightly overshaved and has a slight wobble, but nothing dramatic.

Attempt #3: Pinning the wings

I forgot to take actual in progress pics, but I can recreate the scene midway!

You'll need a sharp implement to chop the wings off (and the guns, if that's what you want), a pin vice with a drill bit the same size (or slightly smaller) than the paperclip you'll use. You'll also need something to cut the paperclip to size and to bend it, I used various pliers.

First, you cut the wings off, and get the surface more or less flat. To ensure a proper bend, use your cutting tool to cut the place where the wing meets the peg in the opposite 45 angle. Drill through it, making really sure you're perpendicular and glue a piece of paperclip in that hole.

Drill through the body, as straight as you can, and test fit the whole thing. You can slightly bend either side of the clip to correct any drilling angle mistakes. Cut the paperclip to the length you'll need so it doesn't protrude from your second wing.

Now, put glue only on the tip on the paperclip and put it into the second wing's hole. Align the wings carefully and move them to and fro slightly to make sure they're both gluing to the pin but not to the cockpit.

There you have it, a pinned Viper with movable wings! I magnetized my guns the same as with my first attempt, it flies faster that way

The repainted Viper is not done yet, it'll get its own post later!

Welcome back Lazarus, uh, I mean "drjkel".

Is there a method you prefer? Method #2 looks like it's the simplest.

14 minutes ago, Force Majeure said:

Method #2 looks like it's the simplest.

Pah!

I am on my third(!) attempt trying to just pry a model apart.

The previous two models had to be glued back together due to breakage

Am I just unlucky to have gotten the batches where the glue gun went into overdrive??

1 hour ago, drjkel said:

I'm back! This time with more StarVipers.

Thanks for the effort you've put in to share your experiences.

38 minutes ago, Force Majeure said:

Welcome back Lazarus, uh, I mean "drjkel".

Is there a method you prefer? Method #2 looks like it's the simplest.

Method 2 works when the glue gives. It did not on both Guns for Hires. It's a square shaped peg in a hole, liberally glued, getting mechanical pressure to break it didn't work even after a night in the freezer. Shaving the peg is also touchy, you have to get it just right.

Cutting the wings off and pinning them is really quick to do, like 10-15min per Viper with some trial and error. And if you're using the proper drill bit, the hole is the size of the paper clip.

I'd use pinning for any future Viper project, personally.

1 minute ago, drjkel said:

I'd use pinning for any future Viper project, personally.

This is what I'm ultimately learning, though I most want to utilise the shaving method.

Inspired by your update, I just now continued trying to pop open my third SV (a G4H copy)... a lot of inserting the blade on either side and wiggling - it eventually came apart, snapping the cockpit peg, but I'm OK with that (it's not a problem since it'll be glued back together anyway) - but to my despair, I find that the wing pegs are so well inserted and glued, it is actually difficult to even see the joins (well done FFG! ) - of course I can see them, but it's unlikely I'll be able to fix them out - so no shaving method this time.

So I may have to resort the twisting the wings of their pegs and going for the pin - but a last time I tried that I couldn't get the pivot point right and they wouldn't fold down over the guns, so then had to pin them back permanently in the open position (a lot of effort for nothing in the end ).

I think I need a finer drill bit, to stand a better chance of getting closer to the "sweet spot" that'll allow full pivot movement.

When clipping the wings, you lose a little material, making them sit slightly closer together. You'll need to either shim the joint or slightly alter the wings so they have clearance to fit.

First, I made the pivot point slightly further from the cockpit, so that it's barely below the top and bottom face. I similarly made the hole a bit lower on the wings.

Second, I cut a tiny little bit of the wings so the 45 degree angle goes the other way. A quick photoshop using the ever useful removable wings:

Keep test fitting until it works, basically.

Thanks for the additional tips!