How-to: Perfect Pauldrons for MKVI Beakies

There are no free lunches in life, or so the saying goes. And the molecular-bonded left pauldron on the plastic MKVI Corvus Armour kits from Games Workshop is a clear example of this - perfectly hemispherical studs at the complexity of a two-part component.
Treat yourself to a hobby free-lunch voucher by watching this video, where I demonstrate my technique for creating perfectly seamless and smooth MKVI pauldrons using some readily available tools and equipment you'll probably already own.
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[@leakycheese]

So, that very good reason why the pauldron is split in two: the molecular bonding studs are perfectly hemispherical. To get these out of a steel mould that is only possible by having the stud at a low angle i.e. two fairly flat pieces. Otherwise, it's necessary to have an under-support which gives an oddly shaped, asymmetric stud (see the MKIV plastic marines from the Calth boxed set).

[@nicholassinnett2958]

Yep. The under-support/backfill basically fills in an area that would become an overhang in the mould and trap the parts in there otherwise (this same trick is why some of the new Legions Imperialis Marine infantry have those weird distortions or flat plastic chunks around the bolters and backpacks). Unless GW decides to invest in cored/3+ part moulds, this is the only way these pauldrons can be done without backfills, or using a material like resin that can be cast in a flexible mould. The way they avoided this issue in the '80s with the RTB01 kit is kind of funny. They just kept the studs in a strip running down the centre line of each pad, and didn't put any on the side facings where backfills would've been needed.

[@CrimsonTemplar2]

I made some sprue-goo to fill that gap. After it’s fully cured I’ll clean up the overflow with a hobby knife.

[@adamfox1669]

Oh … someday mr. LC- I’ll have the disposable income to commission some building- as your Forgeworld build’s the prettiest artificer wrought arms and equipment in the galaxy! Truly. Great tips great modeling

[@Soyanide]

Pretty similar to how I do it. I just skip the Tamiya extra thin step and go in with a file when the glue is cured. Its a little bit fiddly to get between the bumps, but the end result is similar to 11:10. Once undercoated it looks perfect, no hint that it was ever two seperate bits!

[@stormycatmink]

Some interesting context to think about: Different types of glues, like shown, are designed for different model qualities. Back in the 80s we had that real thick stuff like molasses in a tube, because the models had big gaps, so needed the solvent to stay fluid for a while to really dissolve and eat into the plastic, and had fillers to help fill the voids. They'd have you rubber band or clamp them overnight to make sure it fully evaporated out and let the plastic repolymerize. Then we get into the 2000s and the glue like Citadel and Revell, where the models were still not great, but the seams weren't quite as bad. Still not a perfect fit, so the cement was more fluid with smaller applicators. But the expectation was still that the seams would need gap filling and would have rounded edges. Then the Japanese really put their soul into perfecting injection molding for their model kits (as they tend to do for everything), and got the process and mold making so fine tuned that gaps were simply non-existent. For that level of quality, you really don't want any fillers, nor do you want the solvent eating into the plastic much and deforming that perfect seam. So they developed these extremely low viscosity cements that dry very fast.. so fast the idea is you press the parts together, brush the cement over them, and capillary action pulls the cement into the tight bond. When you have high quality models, that's the glue to use. However, Games Workshop has their Citadel cement. Several years ago, when they started really upping their game in the model quality department.. you saw them get to a point where the seams were vanishing, and you'd want to use the Tamiya and other extra thin glues. But their own cement was now ill suited to their new models and their higher quality. I noticed on the very latest models from GW, they started basically making worse seams, with slightly rounded edges now, where you HAVE to use a cement like the thicker Citadel, and squish it out a bit like shown, to fill the gap. Kind of a shame they didn't opt towards just releasing a new glue, but I can see where this does give you some flexibility (and makes their older, less precise models still viable with the glue). This will also get you a stronger bond than the thinner cements that can't penetrate as deep (because they evaporate off so fast). And as a side-note, if you use the extra thin and get it on fine detail, if you blow on it to evaporate it off faster, it'll be less likely to eat the detail. But in the end, the model kit and the glue used need to work together. So when you dry-fit (and you should ALWAYS dry fit), if you're going to have a visible seam, you need to use a glue with some fillers so it can depolymerize enough of the plastic to push out and fill the gap.

[@eatadick4127]

It's funny, they really are taking a step back lately with the gaps, all the while nearly erasing mold lines. At least in the case of the new HH range. The new primaris stuff like the Jump Intercessors still have atrocious mold lines

[@stormycatmink]

@@eatadick4127 Yeah, I noticed that as well with the new models that've come out in the last few months. Suddenly they have intentional gaps. You can look close and see they are very perfectly formed and precise gaps; not random aging of a mold. I'd already been noting that their glue wasn't suited for the models any more because the gaps were so tight, so had been thinking about this for a while.. and given how GW operates, wasn't surprised at all when I noticed my latest models from them had intentional gaps.

[@leakycheese]

Good thoughts there on how kit design influenced glue formulation. I built a lot of kits in the 80's and the big gap thing was certainly an issue for most Airfix kits. However, even back then there were manufacturers who were ahead of the curve e.g. Matchbox, Imai and I remember their models going together very well. Then Tamiya and Hasegawa came on the UK scene which were better still, I seem to recall the first time I had liquid poly was for a Tamiya MI Abrams that my Uncle bought for me at Beatties in Watford. GW's early plastic vehicles were super-basic kits (Rhino, Land Raider) and most reminded me of a Tu-95* I got that was produced in the USSR and exported to the UK in the Glasnost / Perestroika era. These were the models that old thick cement was made for! *Imported and sold, you guessed it, by Beatties!

[@designjobber]

Great tutorial! I waited 30 years for a new quality MkVI kit (Which I never thought I'd ever see again) and I'd pretty much left the hobby when Primaris came out so I was overjoyed to see the MkVI leaks back in 2021. I wasn't disappointed and I got my hands on some day 1! It is a quality kit and I didn't even mind the shoulder pad seem but this really helps as I'll be buying more and more beakies for future projects.

[@gafrers]

Wonderfully explained and shown

[@leakycheese]

Thanks gafrers!

[@JDSG360]

This building technique is how I like to build my tanks to hide where the armour joins making the illusion that the tank is one piece of material

[@Wijkert]

Happy to see a video on this subject! My process is similar. However for display stuff I rather not smooth anything with ultra thin cement, because the end result tends to not be as smooth as I like it to be (although smooth enough for most people's standards and use cases off course). I use high grit sanding sticks instead of metal files (also little sanding sticks I make myself out of round toothpicks and sanding paper). What I will take away from this video is to put both pieces on the cutting matt and push them together. Looks so much easier compared to holding them in hand.

[@robertjensen1438]

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[@leakycheese]

loooool XD

[@brians4016]

Lovely video, thank you! My technique is similar - use the overflow when mashing the two halves together to fill the seam, then use extra thing tamiya to smooth it out. But then I'll usually do a few passes with a brass wire brush to smooth out any ridges that were left.

[@LurksNoMore]

Well that's smooooove! :)

[@danicar9654]

I have 60 MK6s and the studded shoulder pads has driven me mad. Along with the mould lines going atop the power pack. As annoying as they are to fix, it looks great when they're smoothed out. Good video, I've seen a lot of people unsure how to fix it.

[@leakycheese]

Cheers danicar, hope it was helpful and agreed on all these things MKVI.

[@M0U53B41T]

micro filler primer after plastic glue

[@eatadick4127]

I did something similar but what I did was plomp a couple of blobs of my sprue goo, slightly thinned and smeared down the seam with xtra thin. Then on the following day scrape it all down level with my blade then with rolled up 2K grit sand paper sanded the affected areas down super smooth to where it looks effectively the same as yours but with more plastic like sheen. Figure I'll give your method a go on my Assault Marines