Grimstonefire:
As with the Iron Daemon and the Deathshrieker Rocket I thought it would be handy for us to pool our experiences.
Much of the tips I have for this one are similar to the Deathshrieker.
Don’t attach the wheels until after painting.
Dry fit the crew. This is important because you need to be very careful how you place both the Cross Switches (Short) on the opposite side of the machine to the Magma Cauldron.
The top one has to line up with Crew 2’s hands. The bottom one I found I glued mine on so it was twisted round a tiny bit too high. This was a problem because the crew guy couldn’t sit flat on the platform edge. I just needed to twist mine a tiny bit so he sat flat on, but this could have been an annoying problem as I would’ve needed to cut it off and pin it back on to make sure it stuck.
I found cutting the Axle off the block was the hardest part of this model. One of the rings had a bubble where it joined on, so that snapped off virtually instantly. There’s a ‘tab’ thing that runs away from the ring that snapped off as well. :~ Not so much of a problem as it’s just there to go under the chassis. So I can quickly add a bit of plasticard and greenstuff to replace it.
As with the Deathshriker you have to be careful to try and avoid a twisted chassis.
Something else I remember is that it was a bit fiddly getting the magma cauldron in as you have to keep cutting out tiny bits here and there until it fits.
I wasn’t sure on this model whether to keep the platform separate or not… The magma cauldron cannot be attached without the platform glued in. What I did in the end was to assemble the whole cannon as one piece, the platform (with steps) as another, the cauldron and wheels separately. Undercoat them all then glue everything together bar the wheels. That way even if it is a little tricky to get the paintbrush in it’s all well undercoated.
The other issue I found with mine was that there was quite a gap between the platform and the chassis behind the magma cauldron. I just stuck a bit of plasticard.
Other than a couple of broken parts and a tiny bit of plasticard this was the easiest of the warmachines to put together so far.