Magnetising Morrowan and Thamarite Archons

When I first saw the size of the Archons I knew that they would be tricky to transport and might cause placement issues during games. I loath to take my models off the table and replace them with proxy markers so being able to remove a weapon and keep them on the table is a great option for me.

(I don't normally upload video to the blog let me know if this doesn't work)

The Morrowan Archon is first up as was the first one I got and the model I figured this all out with.

For this I used:

Hobby knife, 1&3mm drill bits, dremel, clippers, super glue, 3x2mm magnets.

When drilling into the shoulder I first put a small nick using a hobby knife in the middle of the hole the model already had for the spear arms original plug. I then drilled into that nick using a 1mm drill bit. This was to help guide the larger drill bit (3mm) I then used to make the hole for the magnet.

Every few seconds I would test the depth of the hole I had drilled with the magnet. I didn't want to drill too far into the model as I knew I needed room for the magnet which would be in the back for the wings.

I repeated this process on the back in the hole meant for the wings to fit into. I tested the depth of the hole I was drilling regularly to make sure I didn't end up drilling straight through the front of the model. I wanted to make sure I had enough room for one or two magnets inside the torso as adding an extra magnet really makes a firmer hold for the wings later on.

For the spear arm, first I clipped off the peg that normally fits into the hole in the body. I then repeated the same method used on the body. Nick a small hole in the centre of the attachment point, drill a guide hole using a 1mm drill bit, then drill using the 3 mm drill bit.

I really took my time with this, as it is a lot harder drilling into metal compared to the resin, and pushing too hard could lead to drilling through the side of the arm.

I glued on magnet into the body, then the corresponding magnet in the spear arm. Before gluing - check the polarity of the magnet, then check it again! You really don't want to have to ruin your model digging a magnet out of the model.

With two magnets being so close to each other in the body there is potential for them to repulse each other. They are nearly at right angles to each other so there is no easy way to know which way round to put the magnet in the back. My advice is to dry fit with no glue both ways to see which one "feels" like it seats easier. 

The wings themselves are a lot trickier...

I cut into the joining parts of the wings to make "L" shapes to create an area to fit the magnet between them. I struggled to keep the wings lined up neatly while the glue dried however.
So I drilled a 1mm hole into each as you can see above to pin them together to make this process easier.

You can see here the magnet fitting between the two wings attachment parts

If when you attach your wings to the body you can still see the magnet you can use green stuff to cover this up and allow you to paint over it easily. (I had to do this on one of my Morrowan Archons)

The Thamarite Archon wings are actually a lot easier. They have a small bump and dent in each wing to help glue them together. I glued them, waiting until the glue was fully dry then drilled into the join with first the 1mm drill then the 3mm. This was far easier and quicker.

Drilling into the body was exactly the same process as with the Morrowan.

Here are my magnetised Archons!

I hope you found this guide helpful, if you did or have any feedback for me, please let me know as I appreciate hearing from you all.

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Model Review: Void Archon

Today I'm going to take a look at the Void Archon, this model will work in seven different factions, which is the most of any Archon I believe.
Privateer Press sent me to this model to review.

The model has a really interesting corkscrew shape to the sculpt, which I imagine might have been challenging to make from a practical sense. It really does enhance the "wraith" like look to the lower half of the model.

Resin injection ports are mainly on the bottom of the model again which is great, with one small one on the flat part on the back part of the flowing part of the model. Like I have said on previous recent reviews I think this is well designed from a production sense, minimising the clean up needed.

The upper body, especially the head really fit in with the aesthetic of the Convergence of Cyriss faction.

The wings attach into these two slots on the back of the torso, this is different from the other Archons I have looked at. Sadly it does mean that I can't magnetise these ones, I haven't magnets which are small enough but with enough strength to hold the wings on securely. Luckily these wings stick out the least of all the Archons I have looked at so far.

There is a mold line which also has come flashing running down the back of the swirling part, this took a while to clean up but will not be obvious once painted.

The wings come on a resin sprue, I advise cutting a small distance away from the actual wings to remove them from the sprue. This helps to ensure that they don't get damaged. Then clean up the area they attached afterwards.

One of the wings was slightly bent. To fix it I poured some hot water over it, straightened it then ran it under cold water.

The is slight resin flashing on the edges of the wings which came off just by running the side of a hobby knife down them gently.

The arms are the only metal parts in this model, they are well cast with very minimal mold lines 30 seconds clean up tops.

It did take me a few seconds to figure out how to attach them correctly, their is a triangle ish looking part on each one and they fit hanging over the models back sort of like a shoulder blade. I hope that helps.

And here the Void Archon is fully assembled and cleaned up. It really is an awesome looking model, with crisp clean lines. 

The Void Archon works for more factions than any other, it also has great rules on the table. For those reasons I expect to see them on the table a lot which is a great thing with a model this cool looking.

I hope you found this review helpful, if you did please be sure to let me know I always appreciate your feedback.

Model Review: Thamarite Archon

Today we will take a look at the Thamarite Archon, I was really interested to see if the sculpt was as good as the render that Privateer Press showed off a while back.

For transparency sake I was sent this model to review and paint by Privateer Press.

There are two big resin injection sites on the underneath of the model as well as a small one on a flat part of the cloth just under the right hip. Like a lot of Privateer Press's recent resin models this is great, minimal clean up/chance for details to be lost.

The main body is really nicely detailed with crisp lines, the legs and the flowing cloth around them have defined edges they don't blend into each other at all.

The socket hole the right leg attaches into is nice and deep, this will likely not need to be pinned.

This flat section is where a second resin part of the cloth will attach and flow out in a different direction.

The socket for the bow arm is also nice and deep, I would like to pin this but I doubt I will be able to as I am planning to magnetise the wings and any pin for this arm would need to go through where the magnet will be.

A medium sized mold line running down this part of the cloth, this will take a combination of work with a hobby knife and a file to fix.

The back of the cape has a similar mold line, which will require a little time to smooth out.

The wings are incredible, they are the only archons with feathery wings and these are big. 

I recommend being careful and cutting the resin sprues slightly away from the wings themselves to avoid damaging them.

The is a lot of resin flashing, this is easy to remove with the side of a hobby knife, but it does take time.

This is the second part of the cloth I mentioned earlier, it has one resin plug on the bottom edge, easy to remove, and next to no mold lines.

The Arms and one leg are metal, they are really well cast and have great detail. Like most of PP's recent metals they are really great quality.

The bow and quiver. The bow is a lot beefier than I expected it to be, so I am a lot less worried about it bending and eventually breaking that I thought. The quiver fits on the back of the model. It took me a little while of dry fitting to find the place it fit the best as the quiver has curved groves which line up with the cloth and belts on the body.

That is the worst mold line on the whole model. And it took me less than a minute to fix. 

And here the model is fully assembled! It went together very easily and I'm so impressed with how it looks. I think this might actually be my favourite looking Archon.

It is worth mentioning that I have heard/read a few people mention that their Archon was made from rubbery resin. This one is slightly rubbery, there is play in the tip of the hat, and in the cape part which flicks off backwards from the base. I tried putting that part in the freezer over night to see if this changed anything but it didn't.
I went ahead and fully assembled the model anyway to see if the weight of the full model with its metal parts, the added magnets and wings would cause the model to slowly droop. It didn't, it has been a few days now since I assembled the model and its still looking perfect!

I will add though that the more I handled the model, for example when I was removing the mold lines, the more flexible it became due to heat transferred from my hands. This means I will have to be careful not to leave this model in direct hot sunlight or in the car in summer or it will likely bend in the heat. (Lucky for me I live in the UK and its rarely hot!)

I love the post of this model. The fluid nature of the sculpt conveys motion better than most minis I have seen. I highly recommend this model and have ordered a second myself.

There was more clean up needed on this Archon than the Morrowan one, but not to a level which I felt it was a problem. I didn't have to green stuff repair any mold lines, which is what I have had to do in the past before to some models.

I hope you found my review helpful, if you did please let me know its always great to hear from you.

Like I said when I reviewed the Morrowan Archon, I am working on a guide on how to magnetise them I will likely roll the two Archons into the same guide now, give how the way their wings attach is the same. I did briefly consider magnetising the bow arm but decided against it due to how well the piece attached and had no overhang from the base.