Looking out to see how many have done tabletop games with hard plastics before and if not, are you ready for it?

We cover this on the episode but just a hint of some tools you will need:

Detail Cutters(snips)

Exacto Knife

Plastic Glue or Super Glue and accelerant

Fine and Coarse sanding sticks

Green Stuff

Here is our episode about this and other tips for new players: https://podcast.thefifthtrooper.com/e/star-wars-legion-podcast-ep-50-so-fresh-so-fly-tanks-to-left-tanks-to-the-right/

In fact, Legion is the only one that has not brought me hard plastics, and I hate it.

XD

I've found nail clippers work well to free parts from the sprue too. They are cheap and available in different sizes.

My body is ready. I’ve been building complex plastic models for a while.

by the way, preach to all who will listen: use Tamiya extra thin glue. This stuff is amazing. Doesn’t work on the PVC for sticking stuff together, but if you run it over mold lines, it makes them easier to scrape off and doesn’t mar the plastic.

As long as you have some kind of clippers to get things off the sprue, I find little need for tools above what I'd use for the PVC models.

I think there is an argument for just clippers/knife and glue. Ensuring you don't end up making assembling or painting feel like a chore is pretty key, breaking out a file seems like overkill.

No.

Heck yes!

Sadly, I have practice with sprues from the Robotech RPG tactics kickstarter debacle.

If I can assemble veritech with an unnecessary amount of fiddly and minuscule pieces I think I can do battledroids easy peasy, lemony squeezy. Even Droidekas will be a snap.

“Hard” plastic?!? P’shaw! Bring me metal, that’s hard.

3 hours ago, That Blasted Samophlange said:

Sadly, I have practice with sprues from the Robotech RPG tactics kickstarter debacle.

If I can assemble veritech with an unnecessary amount of fiddly and minuscule pieces I think I can do battledroids easy peasy, lemony squeezy. Even Droidekas will be a snap.

I hope some other game company can pick up the Robotech license... I love that show and wish that mini game was handled better

4 minutes ago, Kardek said:

I hope some other game company can pick up the Robotech license... I love that show and wish that mini game was handled better

At least the RPG part has been given good hands, a Savage Worlds version and Strange Machine Games making another. So far companies have stayed clear if miniatures. But, time will tell now that Harmony Gold has renewed their licence for an indeterminate time.

3 hours ago, TauntaunScout said:

“Hard” plastic?!? P’shaw! Bring me metal, that’s hard.

You can have mercury. 😜

I bought a great little assembly kit for about $7 on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GH6B3Z6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). Snips, X-acto, tweezers, files, all in a small case. It's a perfect set of tools for mini assembly.

I find snips are quicker than an X-acto, but the knife is good for cleaning up mould lines, flash, and sprue bits.

7 hours ago, TauntaunScout said:

“Hard” plastic?!? P’shaw! Bring me metal, that’s hard.

Nah this lead is pretty chewy. And delicious.

Maybe it’s too soon to tell (until we get the product), but will my dollar store crazy glue work on the new plastics?

I love the ease of putting these models together.

Just finished putting together a bunch of minis from Necromunda, and that was just painful.

The lack of sprues is something I really like about this game, just think the plastic quality needs to be a little better. (though the newer releases seem to have a better quality of plastic)

3 minutes ago, lologrelol said:

I love the ease of putting these models together.

Just finished putting together a bunch of minis from Necromunda, and that was just painful.

The lack of sprues is something I really like about this game, just think the plastic quality needs to be a little better. (though the newer releases seem to have a better quality of plastic)

The newer quality plastic somewhat requires the sprues

I was referring to units like the DTs or PFs. Their plastic quality seems better than the core set units. Although that may just be better sculpts. I've played wargames with sprues for 20 years. I hate them, and think that the easy to assemble stuff we have is great!

5 minutes ago, ScummyRebel said:

The newer quality plastic somewhat requires the sprues

39 minutes ago, lologrelol said:

I love the ease of putting these models together.

Just finished putting together a bunch of minis from Necromunda, and that was just painful.

The lack of sprues is something I really like about this game, just think the plastic quality needs to be a little better. (though the newer releases seem to have a better quality of plastic)

Im with you on the ease of assembly. I’ve been doing this hobby for about 25 years, and one of the things that drew me to FFG games like x wing and Armada was the lack of hobby unless you really wanted to repaint. Legion though is a bit of a different beast. I don’t like the unipose models, especially on the unit leaders. It was a major issue I had with my Runewars minis. I love how quick they are to get together, but I think if you’re going to do miniatures like these the ability to model them a bit is just a requirement to get people really invested.

Im not particularly excited about spending more time assembling stuff at this point in my life, but I know I’ll be much more satisfied at the end result if I can pose and swap a bit.

I hope there aren’t too many put off by the switch. It’s actually rather enjoyable to assemble once you put a few together and as long as you’ve the time.

12 hours ago, joewrightgm said:

by the way, preach to all who will listen: use Tamiya extra thin glue. This stuff is amazing. Doesn’t work on the PVC for sticking stuff together, but if you run it over mold lines, it makes them easier to scrape off and doesn’t mar the plastic.

Definitely awesome stuff and it is amazing for joining small thin-walled parts; just assemble and run some glue along the seams and done. It runs into the seams so well without melting surrounding surface plastic. After getting back into the hobby after so many years off, I forgot how messy superglue could be, especially when you don’t notice that bit of squeeze-out on your finger and end up marring the fine surface details of a part...not that it has ever happened to me. ☺️. Plastic glue for hard plastics is the way to go, though superglue has its uses for sure.

Do wire cutters work?

29 minutes ago, Jabby said:

Do wire cutters work?

I have used wire cutters for some sprues on GW minis. They will work to some degree, but you will want to do some edge clean up with another tool because it won’t be perfectly up against the mini itself.

1 minute ago, ScummyRebel said:

I have used wire cutters for some sprues on GW minis. They will work to some degree, but you will want to do some edge clean up with another tool because it won’t be perfectly up against the mini itself.

Do nail clippers work to edge clean

9 hours ago, JediPartisan said:

Maybe it’s too soon to tell (until we get the product), but will my dollar store crazy glue work on the new plastics?

It works on everything. Only minis I've ever had trouble gluing, is that waxy plastic like really cheap historicals, and the 90's plastic Battlemechs, were made of.

11 hours ago, JediPartisan said:

Maybe it’s too soon to tell (until we get the product), but will my dollar store crazy glue work on the new plastics?

yes