This is a Guest Post by Erik Holz
I spotted Erik's original post over on Warseer where he was describing how to retrofit a Mk II Rhino into a Mk I; in it he had a small section on making rivets. I asked him if he would like to write up the rivet method for FTW and he agreed.
Required Materials:Small glass beads
Zap-a-Gap Super Glue
Hobby Knife
Pin Vice
Pin or needle (for applying the superglue)
STEP 1
The first step in creating rivets for your models is to use the hobby knife to create guide holes for your pin vice.
Use the point of the hobby knife and spin it in order to create tiny holes.
These holes will prevent your pin vice from slipping and creating a hole where you don’t want it.
Step 2
Once you have all the guide holes drilled into the model in question, you can use your pin vice to create a small “crater” in the plastic.
To create the rivet “crater” you don’t want to press down on the pin vice so much as let the weight of the vice itself press into the plastic. You do not want to create an actual pin tunnel, you just want a hemisphere that the little glass bead will sit into about halfway.
Step 3
Once you have all your rivet “craters”, you want to take some super glue, squirt it somewhere useful like on a spare piece of plastic, and keep it handy.
You then want to use a pin or needle to transfer a tiny bit of super glue from your glue puddle to the rivet “crater”. Personally, I use Zap-a-Gap for this because it flows very easily into the rivet craters and doesn’t dry too quickly.
Once you have the zap a gap in your crater, you want to take one of your glass beads and push your finger into it so you get it to stick to your finger.
You then want to roll your finger against the plastic so that the rivet "falls" into the rivet crater.
You DO NOT want to press the bead in, because you will get glue on you and create a mess. Instead, roll your finger off into the crater.
Once the rivet is in the proper hole, use either the other side of your fingernail, or the flat end of the hobby knife to press the bead into the crater to ensure a nice strong bond.
There you have it, rivets that will last you in quantity and quality.
These are much more durable than PVA rivets which easily fall off from continuous gaming. I’m unsure if they have the beads (pictured above near the supply list) in the UK or elsewhere around the world but I'm sure a large craft store would have something similar.
If your search proves unfruitful, an alternate option is to use the plastic beads found in a Brita Water Filter.
I'd like to thank Jon for finding this and Erik Holz for allowing us to post his tutorial here on FTW and share it with the 40k blogging community - Ron.
Additional related links:
Rivets: with greenstuff, by Santa Cruz Warhammer
Rivets: with greenstuff, by Ithmaril's Wargaming Blog
Rivets: how to make them, by Exponent Wargames
Rivets: with PVA glue, by Santa Cruz Warhammer
