I picked up a rush commission last night and, while prepping the models I had a flash of inspired genius. I was thinking of how I might prime and paint the meltaguns separately so I could more easily paint the chests of the marines. I looked to my right at my trash can (hey, divine inspiration shouldn't be questioned, so don't judge me for randomly checking my trashcan for ideas). There atop the empty food containers and other various basement-centric detritus, was a recently discarded sprue frame. The squared shapes and occasional cylinders of spare plastic merged with some paper clips in my brain and, like John Belushi standing in a Chicagoland church, I saw the light!
Some quick snips with the clippers gave me a small workable bit of frame that would sit flat on a surface and resist being scooted by spraying paint. Some easy work with my pin vice and super glue and the Gun Rack was ready for service.
I placed a tiny drop of glue on the end of each peg so the guns wouldn't fall off. Then I cut a bit of cardboard, secured some tape to hold the backpacks and the gun rack, loaded the whole squad out to the garage and gave it a blast of primer.
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| The accessories are ready for priming. |
The whole operation took less than 30 minutes and it can (and will) be reused again and again. This frame is rigged with 5 pegs so it will hold a whole combat squad compliment of weapons. I imagine it will also work well for heads or any other small bits that might need personal attention.
Let me know if you like this idea, or if you have a better system feel free to share. We're all in this together, right?