¹⁄35

Sparrow

Figure Assembly

These figures are nice Verlinden Production (VP) figures and I have grown to expect an easy assembly from VP. I removed the parts from the ziplock bag found in the traditional camo green box for inspection. The pieces are nicely molded with a lot of detail. Detail in the beards on the clothing even down to the arm pit of the guy with the vest. I was not surprised with the quality here at all.

I washed the parts to remove any residue or release agents still left behind. This is a good practice to get into for all you plastic or resin models. It can only help, it take just a short time and if nothing else if gives you a chance to inspect your parts and sprues. I use a kitchen strainer for kits that are not on spures so that nothing goes down the drain (literally).

One nice molding design in this kit is that the hands are separate pieces. This may sound like a negative feature at first, after all you have more to assemble and more seams to deal with. Over the many figures sets I have built one of the common adjustments I do is to cut the hands off and reposition them. Manufacturers will make the parts a bit easier to produce by positioning the hands (and feet) in slightly less aggressive angles or in stronger (for the part material) positions. This makes the mold making easier and the de- molding process easier. It leaves you with the task of repositioning to better represent a figures action. This is not the case here; you get them separate already.

hand and feet – hole and pin Connecting hands is a simple process that takes care to perform. The basics are to make a hole in either body part and insert a wire pin to hold them together.
You need to take care that you don’t compromise the hand or wrist when drilling. This is accomplished through a number of steps. The first is to select the correct gauge of wire. Base your decision on how thick the wrist is and how much material you have in the hand to drill into. The next decision is how deep to drill your holes. Be very careful on the hand side. There usually isn’t more than 1 – 2mm in a 54mm hand to drill a hole. You don’t need much room, just enough to support the hand.

Here is the procedure I use to execute this task.
I drill a hole in the wrist: 1-2mm deep. I insert my wire stock and cut it off so 1-2mm (sometimes 3mm) is hanging free.
I then test match the wrist to the wire. I envision the hand connected to the wrist in the angle and position I desire. I then push the hand into the wire to mark my drill point. I drill a shallow hole in the hand. I am very careful not to drill out of the opposite side of the hand (usually the palm). I do not drill the hole as deep as the wire is long. I want the wire to be too long at this point. The reason for the long wire is this: test positioning. With the wire a bit long I am able to test fit and test position. With the hand placed (not glued) on the wire I will do a final bend of the wire. I also check for any filing I need to do on the ‘short’ side of any bending. For example, if I bend the hand backward the top side of the hand or wrist needs to be file down a bit to make a nice even joint. If your wire is not long enough you won’t be able to test this type of positioning as well.
I make any final adjustments to the parts by sanding or filing. Then I cut the wire down so the parts fit as closely together as possible. I use a bit of CA or two part epoxy to glue the wire to the parts.