2006-06-10 Imperial Guard Heavy Sentinel

Since I have last posted much has changed. I have relocated to a new job and new area. The unpacking and organizing is still progressing going on two months. It is not the big things that need to be placed but the small like my modeling tools and models.

I finally made a decision on my next step. It is a step back but a good step. I have been eyeballing how I intend to join the three sections of the Sentinel, the legs to the body and the heavy weapons to the body (and maybe the cupola to the body). The most direct approach glue and forget, I regret doing this on my IG Dread and now curbed my enthusiasm at completing the project. Throughout this process I have already made three basic Dreadnaught weapons, two laser cannons and an assault cannon. I have also made several custom weapons a heavy flamer, plasma weapons and dual auto cannon. I wanted a solution that could switch these in and out. I also wanted to be able to remove the legs from the body for transportation. At first I was going with the friction method the weapon has a dowel and hole and live with the glued legs to the body. I am still working on a possible solution for attaching the cupolas with magnets. Since this is an after thought the process is harder. My solution was something I have been reading about on several sites: Games Works Black Gobbo, Hobby Hawk, and the modeling sites: Boot Camp and Work In Progress to name a few. I used magnets, not just any magnets but Rare Earth Magnets.

I ordered my magnets from K&J Magnetics. They have a wide variety and from what I can tell so far great prices on a great product. I purchased 100 D21 and 25 D41. I will detail the usage later in the entry. I spent sometime about two weeks before ordering measuring, calculating and thinking about what I wanted from the modifications. I chose the D21 because of its general good usage and easy size to fit into tight spots. I chose the D41 first I wanted something with pull and second by grabbing a drill bit for size comparisons decided it was not too big. I received my $20 order last week and was again thrilled. I spent some time over the week visualizing my modification for the Heavy Sentinel.

The first sacrificial lamb was actually my IG Dread. I have had that beast almost done for months. Go here and see the blog. My first cut into the sentinels was into the connection for the legs and body. I quickly realized that 1/4” is just about the diameter of the half-sphere shape of the mold. There was no room for mistakes and I made a few.

I need to get a 1/4" hand drill of some sort that I think I will have to hand make, I mean I only need a handle to slip over the neck of the bit.

One comment, I did not have this happen yet but when using magnets check you polarity. Magnets have a negative and positive pole. When in doubt check, and then check again.

All my magnet work took so long because I averaged three checks per magnet. I first took the body of one of the sentinels. I filed the wheel down a little for the part that points inward on the tank the axel usually fits into it. This can be seen on one of my previous posts. I had to file off the lip and the piece of blue sprue. I placed the magnet right on top of the filed area. On my APEX model I found that by placing the magnet on the body or hull side raised and indenting the magnet on the weapon, the seating and securing of the weapon was easier and smoother. I then replicated the building process on the other two hulls ensuring that the magnets all had the same polarity directions. This allows me to swap weapons at will.


I worked on getting all the magnets on the weapon to be the same polarity direction. After the hull magnets were finished I was able to ensure polarity.
The weapons were a bit easier. I drilled the 1/4" hole in the side of the weapons, smashed greenstuff until the right depth was set, used the stack of magnets to extract the magnet and then glued the magnet back in place.

Next time on to the painting. I am using recommendation I have found on HobbyHawk to paint.