Let's face it, the Blasting Pikes on the Iron Fang Pikeman are fragile! White metal is a great material for casting miniatures with, 95% of the time. But dependent upon the piece's shape, the metal will likely cool into a pliable, easily breakable piece. The IFP models are an example of this scenario. While it is possible to leave the models "as is", you'll have a great risk of one of many things occuring: dropping the model, banging it against another model, the errant cat swatting it around on the floor, etc. etc. All of these situations will likely result in a bent or broken Blasting Pike. With a little bit of Brass Rod, and a lot of patience, this situation can be avoided!

The starting piece:

Below is an untouched blasting pike, fresh from the blister. Looks fairly straight, but without modification, that won't be the case for long.

The end piece: (fuzziness optional)

By the end of this tutorial, you'll be able to easily replicate what you see in the photo below. Brass rod is quite sturdy, and much more difficult to bend or break at this length. Your IFP will wield Might Blasting Pikes, rather than a silly LARP-flexible version!

Tools required:

Pin Vise, X-acto knife, and wire clippers:

Brass Rod, 1/16" diameter:

Before beginning, how about a little song?

"One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?"

What the heck is Bradd Rod, anyway?

Step 1: Cut brass rod

Before hacking the pike arm, you'll want to cut a piece of brass rod to the necessary length, using the original for a guide. The length of brass rod should extend a little bit past where the blasting head and spike butt-end are, as they will be drilled out.

Step 2: Cut the pike

Cut the pike arm into 5 pieces, cutting off as much of the pike shaft from the hand/tips as possible. The pewter shaft isn't useful - toss it, or save it for your bitz box.

Step 3: Drill the tip/butt

Here's the fun part (not) - drilling a hole in the tip and butt of the pike. I recommend making a guide hole w/ a small drill or X-acto before trying to drill the full-size hole: there's not a lot of extra room on the butt piece! Drill a hole in the blasting head piece as well (not shown).

Step 4: Drill the hand

Mind your fingers! I drilled at least one nice hole into my thumb due to a lack of complete focus to the task at hand.

After you've drilled the hole in the hand, you'll need to take your X-acto knife and cut off the last remnants of the old blasting pike.

Step 5: Assemble and glue!

When assembling the blasting pikes to the hand, keep in mind one of the basic tenets of using super glue: the less you use, the faster it dries. Typically, we want to abide by the fact. But, since we are sliding a rod through the hand, I have discovered its actually better to put a larger dollop of glue on the rod, to ensure the glue doesn't 'instantly cure', and your rod is out of place. Just make sure you wipe off the excess glue once the rod is in place.

And below, the fruits of your labors. After a bit of practice, you'll be able to modify a minimum unit of IFP in about 45 minutes.

Mind your fingers!

--elakin--
--Serpent Six--