Make Me Learn Stuff!

My first ever ‘make me learn stuff’ article goes out to some of my best friends, one of whom bought me a pack of Necron Warriors around Christmas ’07 when he and the others were getting into Warhammer 40k (the tabletop edition). I’ve never wanted to get into it, and I haven’t got the steadiest hands in the world, but this is what Make Me Learn Stuff is all about – being thrown in the deep end!

So I set about building this miniature undead army; using just the directions on the back of box, a little common sense, and Google.

1. Setup a workspace and collect some tools

First things first, you need a good area to work in. You also need some time and patience, but I can’t tell you where to buy that. As for tools, my highest recommendation is a pair of wire clippers – I got some good spring loaded ones in a hobby kit along with some pliers and a bunch of other stuff I’ll never use, but they were so worth the AU$14 alone. I also got a nail file from the girly section of the supermarket.

For the workspace I used the top of a filing box I had lying around, and I also found that an empty egg carton is perfect for storing the little bits (edit: sorry, apparently they’re called ‘bitz ™’) in while you’re working.

Now, grab a beer (any will do, but for maximum enjoyment make sure it’s a James Squire Amber Ale or maybe a Beez Neez!) and grab a seat. Oh, and put a towel on your lap, unless you don’t mind a crap ton of plastic dust on your pants.

2. Cut everything out using the wire clippers

Try to get as close to the edges on the item you’re clipping out as possible, but if that’s a problem, instead cut far away then cut it again later. Mostly I didn’t pay *that* much attention to minute details of the so called ‘flash’ (the bits left from the moulding process), because I figure it’ll look like battle scars in the end. Also, at one point I did actually cut too far into a skull, but it’ll turn out okay I’m sure. In fact, I think I’ll make that guy the squad leader.

Make sure you put everything in its own container, and clip them off the plastic sheet thing in a way that they won’t flick off under your desk. If you can’t do this, get a big bit of plastic cling wrap or something and put it over your hands while you clip things out.

Once you have everything clipped out, it’s time to start file’in! Yay! It’s actually just as boring as it sounds, so get another beer.

3. File away the excess plastic that isn’t meant to be there (‘Flash’)

Mostly it’s easy to figure out what is part of the model and what isn’t, but if you have trouble check the back of the box. I started systematically going through each type of part and doing this, but I got extremely bored after very little time (did I mention I’m not the biggest warhammer fan in the first place?). To mix things up a bit, I decided to skip ahead a bit and do some gluing… so I filed some plastic, then stuck stuff together, then filed some more, stuck stuff, etc. It was much more fun that way, and well into my second beer and midway through a dethklok cd I actually caught myself having fun. Huh!?

I stuck things together in the following order after filing off the flash of each part to be stuck together;

1. Legs to base
   (use the small bases, even though the feet go off the sides)
2. Chest cavities to backs
   (try it without glue first, because I had the chests upside down to start with. Spikey bits go up!)
3. Scarab stands to their bigger bases, 4 to a base
   (i had some extra larger bases left over, but the box did say 4 scarabs to a base, so *shrug*)
4. Skulls to chest cavities
   (this tripped me up at first, but angle the skulls ‘up’. Remember, Necrons hunch, hence they have almost no necks. Also, make some look in different directions, it’s creepier)
5. Arm-with-gun to gun-bit-with-pipe
   (The pipe bends down, and do it without glue first to ensure you have taken the bits of flash off. I had a few where they didn’t fit together properly until i filed away more flash)
6. Scarabs on their stands
   (Be careful, these things don’t really fit onto the sticks, but the glue should be gummy enough for you to not have to hold them in place for more than a few seconds)
7. Chests with skulls onto legs
   (Don’t make them all the same, hunch some over more or twist them around. Go with whatever works with the way you put their skull on, if that makes sense.)
8. Left arms into left sockets on the chest cavity.
   (THEIR left, since Necrons all seem to be right handed. The arm should always bend out to support the not-there-yet gun, but personalise the angles a bit)
9. Right-arm-with-gun to chest and left arm
   (Carefully dab glue on both the stubby left arm and the right socket of the chest, and hold the gun arm in place so it sticks to both bits. You might have to hold this one for a few seconds till the glue gums up a bit.)

Putting the last bit on (#9) was a lot easier than I thought. If you put all the left arms on, then go back to the first Necron and start putting the right arms on (so the first one’s left arm has been drying for about 20 minutes by now), then the glue on the left arm is still flexible enough to carefully twist or move into place on the barrel of the gauss rifle, canon, thingo. Dab glue on the shoulder joint, then the socket on the gun part, then you can kind of click the shoulder joint in first and then manuver the gun and left arm together. Hold it for a few seconds, then release slowly, and do the same for the next robot.

After that, leave them overnight, then it’s time for some paint!

4. Painting the Necron squad

The next day I went out to Mastermind at Stones Corner (map) and grabbed some paints, including a giant doesn’t-come-in-any-smaller-sizes can of ‘Chaos Black’ spray paint. Hohoho boy, adding the word ‘spray’ onto anything makes it 10x more fun that it’s non-spray counterpart, and paint is no exception! I packed up my platoon and headed for my garage, where I then constructed a catcher / stage style thing to spray into.

Previous experience watching spray paint artists told me not to spray them directly, but rather lightly pass the can back and forth maybe 3 times or so before turning them around to get the other bits that were still plastic-grey. I inspected my work, touching up here and there, then I left them for another night to dry completely.

The next day I painted the green bits, and made their eyes red, and finally I glued in energy bolt in the guns and I had my first set of Necron Warriors!

One Year Later: I now own about 4000 points of necrons, including 3 Monoliths. Don’t start this as a hobby unless you want to seriously get into it, it’s addictive and fun, I especially enjoy modifying the units to look unique!