The Hammers Industries iMiniForge system

[Hammers]

uhum

[Hauptgefreiter]

eh?!? 

[OSHIROmodels]

How bizarre 

cheers

James

[Operator5]

Seems pretty normal for Hammers. 

[Hammers]

It's just a marker. I had to leave the keyboard in the  middle of a thought and with a subject title like that, well, you know...

[fastolfrus]

It's a telepathic topic.
If you can't see the pictures, you aren't one of the Xmen.

[Hammers]

It's a telepathic topic.
If you can't see the pictures, you aren't one of the Xmen.

Exactly. So by inference: if you can see the below you're a mutant freak with rather mundane capabilities...

We here at Hammers Industries are proud to introduce a system to the public which e have been testing and developing during the last oh so many years or so. We've been calling it the miniforge for some time but our marketing department has been urging us to conceptualize the whole thing by slapping a lower case 'i' in front of it in the hope that we'll be selling off the whole shebang to venture capitalists for 19 billion dollars in a year or so.

The truth is that we, well I, quite often replace or add weapons and other details on miniatures with items crafted from brass. While pinning and brass rod banner poles conversions are common as muck among wargamers I have seen very few posts on how one makes a spade, spear, oil can, the horn of a phonograph or rope bridge with the help of brass materials and a solder.

An opportunity has risen for me to patronize you with another tutorial as I need to replace a pick axe and a shovel in a chain gang set from Brigade Games. I know there are some of you who find  my tutorials long winded and self evident. What can I say? I never forgo an chance to wind Plynkes up. Plus, *someone* has to cater to those  who still have their mothers tying the strings of their sneakers. Jim Hale, please let me know if it is easier for you to read if I use ALL CAPS.

Anyway here are the main tools I use for the iMiniForge system:



A butane powered torch and soldering iron. Or, as our French readers knows it, the gadget one uses to melt the sugar on top of the creme brulee. I use it both for soldering and to heat the brass to make it malleable. It is so to speak the very furnace of the iMiniForge. I  also have an electrical soldering iron. Both variants have their advantages.



Solder and flux. The flux, here in both paste and fluid form are used to improve adhesiveness and flow of the solder onto the metal. I prefer the paste. The tag on the bottle probably just says something uninteresting about lethal toxicity.



A vice and 'second hands'. Both are vital. I have a larger vice to but this small watchmakers vice I inherited from grandpa Hammers. It has a little anvil thingy on it. You could of course use any lump of reasonably flat iron but the vice/anvil combination is very handy. The second hand thing is familiar to most people who work with soldering irons. If you don't have one you'll soon find you need one when you do this kind of work.



Needle nose pliers, scissors, cutters, a watchmakers hammer. Wooden blocks. Pliers are needed to bend the material and to hold it, because it gets hot, hot, hot. Thin brass sheet can be cut with nail scissors, which is preferable, since the cutters tend to warp the sheet metal in ways which is less than desirable. A small hammer like this is a bit of a speciality tool but I find it hard to do without since it gives you better precision. The heads on this one are  screw on and comes in different shapes and materials. The wooden blocks are of oak and cork, materials which doesn't burst into flame as easily as other types of wood.



An assortment of needle files. To shape and tidy up the brass and to remove excess solder. I also have a Dremel tool with various 'business ends' which makes some tasks a bit easier.

What else do you need...? A pot of water. Your wits about you. Good insurance against accidental fires.

To be cont...

[OSHIROmodels]

Nope, still can't see anything 

 

Seriously though, this looks like it's going to be a cracker of a tutorial  I'm eagerly waiting for the next installment 

cheers

James

[Christian]

Speaking of mutants and odd powers... Just this morning I was just thinking of emailing you to ask about the grammophone. Freaky...

[carlos marighela]

Hmmmmmmmm. Sorry, I lost concentration and zoned out after you mentioned creme brulee. hmmmmmm creme brulee.......

[Ulu Elsomalien]

A butane powered torch and soldering iron. Or, as our French readers knows it, the gadget one uses to melt the sugar on top of the creme brulee.

Hmmmmmmmm. Sorry, I lost concentration and zoned out after you mentioned creme brulee. hmmmmmm creme brulee.......

Sad that you, non-french readers, use "creme brulee" instead of "crème brûlée", because that's  where all the flavor IS. 

Like this tutorial, french pastry is better when slowly eaten.

[Plynkes]

It's only because our keyboards can't make those funny signs without delving into Windows Character Map.

You French fellows get all kinds of cool hats to put on your letters, the Germans get umlauts and the Norsemen get to do funny little crossed out 'o's and shit.

Us Brits don't get nuffink but Pound signs on our keyboards, localisation-wise. And we use loads of words with accents that we nicked from you, our friends across the Channel. 

[carlos marighela]

It's only because our keyboards can't make those funny signs without delving into Windows Character Map.

You French fellows get all kinds of cool hats to put on your letters, the Germans get umlauts and the Norsemen get to do funny little crossed out 'o's and shit.

Us Brits don't get nuffink but Pound signs on our keyboards, localisation-wise. And we use loads of words with accents that we nicked from you, our friends across the Channel. 

Ah but we can: Different language, similar set of funny hats and appendages, vis: candomblé, Itapoã, Antônio, calçada etc. Unfortunately if I change the keyboard settings to French my computer sounds like Sacha Distel.

[Ulu Elsomalien]

Us Brits don't get nuffink but Pound signs on our keyboards, localisation-wise.

I've got a key with pound and dollar sign. You invaded our keyboard  with you highrated exchange currency ! Better to buy miniatures on LAF though.

Unfortunately if I change the keyboard settings to French my computer sounds like Sacha Distel.

Only Georges Brassens should be known as a French famous singer (childrens should learn french just to understand how brilliantly he tells funny/moving or both songs). Not the illiterate (funny fact that in french :analphabète could be anal[same in english]+fat[old word for conceited]+bête[dummy]) crap that french rap/r'n'b "artist" make. (only 22 and I already think as a granny)


Hmmm, I'm quite off topic. 

[archangel1]

It's only because our keyboards can't make those funny signs without delving into Windows Character Map.

You French fellows get all kinds of cool hats to put on your letters, the Germans get umlauts and the Norsemen get to do funny little crossed out 'o's and shit.

Us Brits don't get nuffink but Pound signs on our keyboards, localisation-wise. And we use loads of words with accents that we nicked from you, our friends across the Channel. 

View halloo! Yoicks! And all that! To the rescue...here's a link to a chart of how us proper English speakers can communicate in foreign with them folks across the Channel (or Pond, in my case!).  And, at no time, do your hands leave your wrists!

http://www.typeart.com/special_characters.asp

Printed off a copy long ago and use it all the time, maybe because I can get a bit anal about spelling.