I am interested in buying the miniature by Jeff Grace DSM7415 Female Assassin from the Visions in Fantasy collection. I play D&D and need a female rogue/thief mini and thought this one was beautifully designed. I read they come in pewter and unpainted. I want to know how big the mini is and how many pieces will need to be glued together. I read you have to superglue and assemble it. I've never assembled one and need to find out how before I order it. I tried to email the website but it the email did not go through. Thanks!

I don't know offhand if the mini you're considering comes in parts or as a single piece, but if it comes in parts then here is basically what you need to know:

- To pin or not to pin
If the mini is going to be used for gaming as you say, I recommend pinning. Pinning is when you use a micro drill bit (usually with the use of a tool called a pin vise) to make a small hole on both sides of the join. The hole on one side lines up with the hole on the other side, and you glue a small piece of wire (paperclips, guitar strings, and brass rods are common choices) into the holes to strengthen the bond when you put the mini together. The holes should be just a little wider than the pins, leaving room for a bit of glue around the sides once the pin is inserted. Sounds tricky, I know, but when you're busy regluing your mini's arm back on for the 5th time after one of your players accidentally knocks it off the table again, trust me - you'll wish you'd gone to the trouble. It's an optional step, but one I especially recommend for gaming minis, or any that might at some point be handled by someone other than yourself. IIRC I got my pin vise (including a small selection of bits) for ~$7Cdn a few years back at a local hobby store. It's the type with the swivelling hexagonal handle end (like this), and I find it works quite well. Not an endorsement for that site BTW; just the first one that googled up when I tried to find mine online. Here is a great pinning tutorial. I've tried several methods that are commonly used throughout the miniatures/models hobby, and this is the one that has worked best for me in terms of getting the holes to line up properly on the first try. Feel free not to bother; I was assmebling and painting minis for years before I converted to pinning. I think one of those minis even has all its parts still attached... :o) Some of the minis Dark Sword makes have such tiny little parts that pinning may be a little tricky. I could see having to resort to using even smaller drill bits and wire for pinning some of their stuff, like lengths of unbent staples or what have you - whatever works.

- Superglue vs. epoxy
You can use either. I prefer epoxy, as I find it creates a stronger bond than superglue. A 5-minute epoxy is fine, but don't go thinking it's actually going to be fully bonded within 5 minutes - give it 24 hours to fully cure as a rule of thumb, before you go trying to wiggle it or anything like that. This stuff is much thicker than superglue, which is both a blessing and a curse - it's good because as a side-effect, it can sometimes work to your advantage by filling in some or all of the gap that can be seen between the 2 attached parts. Superglues need as much metal-touching-metal contact as possible to get the best bond (unless you use a gap-filling superglue like Zap-A-Gap, which I have been unable to find in Canada and about which I have read mixed reviews - though mostly favourable), and it's not always easy to get the parts to match up as seamelssly as we want them to, no matter how much careful work we do with our needle files and hobby knives to make the parts meet up flush. This can result in a weak bond. On the other hand, it can be a bit tricky to get the thick epoxy mix to go into a pinhole to secure the pin in place, whereas a superglue will pretty much flow into anyplace you put it. Completely up to you as to which type you use; hopefully I've said enough to help you decide.

- Gap-stuffing
Sometimes even if you use an epoxy, a visible gap will remain between the 2 parts being joined. Even at best, it's not going to be completely seamless (unless the mini was very clevely designed so as to disguise it, such as just underneath an arm-band or necklace, or up a sleeve). For a gaming mini, this is no big deal. But if it bothers you, or if you want to make it look just a little bit better, you can use a sculpting putty to fill the gap. These are, for the most part, 2-part epoxy putties that you have to mix equal parts of together in order to activate them. Most commonly used is "green stuff", also sometimes known as Kneadatite. It normally comes as 2 "ribbons" - one blue, one yellow - of putty side-by side. When it's mixed together, it turns green, hence the name. Green stuff is the same stuff the sculptors use to create the prototypes for most minis, though a few other brands exist. But the green stuff has been the standard for so long that even if another type is used that isn't actually green, the original sculpt is still often referred to as a green. When you see "greens" of minis that haven't yet come up for sale posted on the front page of this site, this is what you're looking at, painstakingly pushed around until it looks like ie. your female assassin. Filling gaps is much easier than scultping entire minis, luckily! All you need to do is mix up a very small amount of it by mushing the 2 parts together with your fingers until it's completely blended (don't forget to cut out the section where the 2 ribbons are touching - the putty there will have started to cure, so it won't mix well), roll it into a thin snake, and push it into the visible gap. then you use a tool of some kind (a sewing needle, perhaps) to smooth it out and make that gap disappear. Depending on the area where the gap is located, you may have to add a little texture to make the putty blend in with its surroundings. The point of that needle may come in handy here. Ideally, once it's primed, and later painted, you won't be able to tell it was once in several pieces. The stuff is very sticky, especially when it is first mixed, but you can dip whatever tool you use into some water to keep the putty from sticking to it. As time goes on after yuo mix it up, it gets less sticky and more stiff, until it's past the point of workability after maybe as much as an hour or so (depending on temparature and possibly other factors) You should be able to find green stuff at any decent gaming/hobby store. If you don't have a decent gaming/hobby store within a reasonable distance, you may have to try the local GW franchise. :o)

This is becoming a long post even for me, but that's pretty much the basics of assembling multi-part minis. I hope you find this helpful. Remember, gap-filling is strictly cosmetic therefore totally optional, pinning is optional but (IMO) highly recommended, and gluing is pretty much absolutely necessary. Enjoy!

I got this mini and it came in two pieces. I was able to file the end of the arm with sword piece with an emory board as it was maleable. It was easy to detach it from the extra metal that wasn't part of the mini by bending it back and forth gently. I tried to attach it with regular superglue which didn't work. I'm going to try the other glues you suggested. Thanks for your help!

with ref to pinning! great article btw, the best adhesive ive found is 'Flexi Cyano' better than ordinary super glue and has the added avantage of bieng instant and has the bond strength of epoxy its available inthe uk from star adhesive( they have an international web site) pinning on a 28mm/ 30mm mini can be a pain in the arse! i use a .8mm drill and fine piano wire! paper clips are un- practicle(Far too big)white metal is more forgiving than Resin! getting back to bonding the advantage of 'black super glue/flexi cyano is its rubber compound!( it acts as a filler too! and is very very strong! of thread a little, iam a painter only! and do not game! so my minis are for display and comps! so they get moved around alot! Jim! I think we need a Darksword Forum!! for painting tips etc!! what do you think? Kind regards to all: Gerry.

I'll have to keep my eyes open for that flexi-cyano stuff; sounds pretty good. As for pinning, I agree that paperclips might be too big for a lot of Dark Sword's stuff (realistic proportions make for very tiny hands/writsts, and on a lot of mine that is where they have to attach...), but they've served me well for pinning minis from most other (mainstream) miniatures companies, and they're very easy to find. I hear good things about pinning with guitar strings, which I imagine being no so different from the piano wire you mentioned. But I'm no musician, hard to be sure...

Jeff