Assembling the Alien Queen #1 for Alien vs Predator from Prodos Games - Assembly log
The assembled Alien Queen #1 miniature for Alien vs Predator range from Prodos Games company with custom base
image © Felix Wagner (Armag3ddon)
The Alien Queen #1 miniature from Prodos Games company for the Alien vs Predator range was assembled by Felix Wagner (Armag3ddon). He made photos, and took notes of the assembly process.
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Miniature: Alien Queen #1, Range: Alien vs Predator range, Company: Prodos Games company
Modifications: None.
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I assembled the Alien Queen #1 for a friend and took the opportunity to make some pictures for anyone interested!
The tools used:
- Nail scissors
- A small file
- A sharp knife
- Wire (and something to cut it!)
- Citadel hobby drill
- Superglue
First of all the contents of the box:
image © Felix Wagner (Armag3ddon)
The base on the top left is not included, it's from a series of sci-fi bases my friend wants to use for the game.
Beware that the models do need some work in order to fit. Sprue channels are often placed on joins which is both good (no details lost) and bad (a lot of precise cutting necessary).
This is one of the legs but all joins basically look like this:
image © Felix Wagner (Armag3ddon)
You need to cut away excess material and try make it resemble a half sphere.
Especially nasty is the neck. Here you need to hollow the half sphere out:
image © Felix Wagner (Armag3ddon)
Took me about one hour of work and careful application of scissors, knife and the file. Be wary of filing. The material is very soft. Even one misplaced stroke and you might lose some of the extremely delicate details. (Update: As revealed later, the softness might have been caused by the faulty material.)
After everything was done, I examined which glueing surfaces I distrusted the most, and wanted to augment by inserting bolts. I've chosen the tail, because that's a part people will most likely grab to lift the miniature and the feet for obvious reasons - a very small area attaches it to the base!
image © Felix Wagner (Armag3ddon)
In the back you can see that the arms fit even without glue. There's no room for variation in pose here.
image © Felix Wagner (Armag3ddon)
I strongly advice to glue on the head first. There also no variation possible, you can't decide where the queen 'looks' at. For later positioning of the legs, I found it crucial to have the head on, otherwise you might end up with the mini looking at the ground.
Here's two pictures of the glued on head. You can see the gaps. For a perfect, seamless fit, I suggest to grab some Green Stuff or similar modelling compound.
image © Felix Wagner (Armag3ddon)
image © Felix Wagner (Armag3ddon)
Mind you that I was very careful to not cut away too much of the neck, so I'm positive these gaps are not may fault!
Everything was ready now to be glued on. Fitting the legs was again a nasty task.
image © Felix Wagner (Armag3ddon)
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Update: Although Prodos Games sent a replacement model instead of this faulty one, I'll show you what happened with this Queen during the assembly.
One night later, everything is dry and disaster struck!
The bolted feet obviously weren't dried enough and the whole model slanted forward!
This wasn't the pose I was looking for and I swear yesterday the queen was standing upright.
image © Felix Wagner (Armag3ddon)
Right now, I'm thinking about trying to unglue the feet from the base and reposition it, this time letting it dry with sufficient support.
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Another day and the queen is even more bent forwards. After over 48 hours of drying time, I doubt this is because of the glue. When I compare the legs to my initial photos, they're definitely more bent than before.
I am coming to believe that this wasn't my fault at all but some kind of faulty material. The legs not being thick enough to bear the weight of the body.
The queen is now touching the ground:
image © Felix Wagner (Armag3ddon)
image © Felix Wagner (Armag3ddon)
I will keep the queen in a different position overnight and have a look if something changes:
image © Felix Wagner (Armag3ddon)
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One night later and the miracle has happened:
image © Felix Wagner (Armag3ddon)
Take this as a fair warning of whatever this blue stuff is (Update: polyurethane resin). I guess we'll write Prodos Games company and ask what to do now.
Update: The company answered promptly, telling me that it's due to a fault in their quality control - this was a first cast, that should have been discarded. Prodos Games quickly sent another Alien Queen model to replace this.
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Author: Felix Wagner (Armag3ddon)
Edited by: Kadmon
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Buying the product - Alien Queen #1 for Alien vs Predator: The Hunt Begins from Prodos Games
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Did you also assemble the Alien Queen #1 from Prodos Games? What was your own experience with it? Do you still have any questions? Tell us in the comments!
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