Cygnar Firefly

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Back Story:  We have moved into our new house and I have finally unpacked enough boxes that I don't feel guilty when I walk by my hobby room.  To celebrate, I went to the local craft store, picked up a few new paints, a nice pack of brushes on for half off, and headed home.

I spent the first couple of hours digging out mini's and organizing my area.  It is still small but I think it will work.  I dug out all my Cygnar mini's that still need paint and lined them up.  Then I got intimidated and nearly packed them all back up.  I decided that what I really wanted to paint was a warjack and then I realized that I have them all painted!  So I went to the game store and purchased a Firefly.

Firefly:  This is the first Privateer Press plastic model I have gotten and I have to say I like it.  I was surprised by the number of pieces, especially in the right arm with the spear.  If you want to pose this guy, the right arm will be heaven.  I checked online and found Guts N Gears video of how to put it together (here).  I like these guys podcasts and the video was incredibly helpful.  They mention the amount of flash on their model and mine was similar.  The mold lines were very clean but the place where each piece was connected to the pour had to be cleaned and it was little tricky around some studs and other details.

I really liked how 95% of the pieces fit together.  The legs and back furnace didn't even have to be glued, though I did.  The arms each fit together really well and could have been glued without any pinning.  If you have built the metal warjacks before, you can understand my joy.  Of course, I couldn't just glue it.  I wanted to be able to swap arms.  Sometimes, you just need an extra Lancer, or you can pull an arm off when it experiences combat damage.  And I wanted to play with my magnets!


I started by tracing one of the magnets with a mechanical pencil.  I then used my Dremel tools to hollow it out.  It took a while to get used to how the tip of the Dremel removed material but it really was the best tool for the job.  Once I got the circle the right size, I was able to remove more material deeper without changing the size of the circle.  I was aiming to get the magnet flush with the plastic.

I am very glad I started with drilling out the body.  It is much easier than the arms.  The arm sockets happen to be about a hair bigger than the 0.250" diameter (6.4mm) and 0.063" thick (1.6mm) rare earth magnets that I have on hand.  I basically removed everything out to the studs and as deep as I could without busting through.  I could literally see daylight through the bottom of the piece when I was done drilling!

Note for others:  You can do it the same way I did.  It obviously works.  But, you could save yourself some grief and either get smaller magnets or or just cut off the arm piece with the studs and glue straight on the hydraulics.  A smaller magnet would work because the pieces are plastic and they are holding virtually no weight.  Cutting off the studded collar would work, though you lose detail and there is less material to glue to.

The rest is still a work in progress.  More pics will be coming soon.