How to Lash whip and Bone sword

  Disclaimer: This post is about bone swords, so practically everything I say is something she could have said (that's what she said!), please bear with me.

A blast from the past!

  So after playing a few games using an old Broodlord model as a Tyranid Prime, I decided scything talons and rending claws were just not cutting it.  So I decided it was time to make an actual prime and to make it have some bone swords (3+ armour was just ruining my prime's effectiveness).  So first I'm gonna tell you how I made my bone swords and lash whip (I'm making all the arms magnetic so as to have more options).

  First thing I did was draw a to scale sketch (by tracing a spinefist onto an index card) of what I wanted my bone sword to look like.  Then I cut the sketch out and used it as a template for cutting two bone swords out of plasticard.
  After I had cut out my bone swords, I whittled down the hard edges (but cutting along the edge very lightly at a 45 degree angle to the flat surfaces), and I used a file to sharpen the 'blades' of the swords.
  The arms are spinefists.  I cut off the front of the fist (everything past where the dangly tubes meet the hand) and glued an armour plate from the gaunt kit to the front.  Finally, I cut a groove into the top of the fist and fitted my bone sword into the groove.  Then you're done!  Now for the lash whip.

  So here's the lash whip, I've since done some green stuff work on it, but the principle is very much the same as for the bone sword.  I've got the same arm setup (so it matches) and I've glued a green stuff whip shape to it instead of a bone sword.  I recommend rolling out the lash whip on your work bench or whatever and letting it dry, then fitting it onto the arm.

  So the other thing I've done worth talking about here is that I've magnetized all of these arms so I can have basically every option worth bothering with.  In doing so, I've discovered some stuff about magnetizing limbs that I will pass on.

Posing on the model was very important for the deathspitter

As you can see, this guy's arm is at a funny angle

  I started of course by drilling out sockets on the body for each of my magnets.  Once I'd glued the magnets in (CHECK POLARITY BEFORE GLUING!!) I stuck a magnet to each of the freshly magnetized sockets.   I feel like the posing of the arms for this guy worked out way better than it has in the past (a Carnifex and a Warjack).  The reason is that I cut out a big chunk of the shoulder of each arm, then glued it in the pose I wanted to the magnet stuck to the torso.  This occasionally results in your arm being glued to the torso or the magnets becoming glued together, don't worry too much about this, just let it dry and then cut it apart with your hobby knife once it's all set.  After gluing the arms to the magnets, I pulled them off and green stuffed new shoulders on.  With some armies I'm sure this would be more difficult, but it's kind of a breeze with Tyranids.

On to part 2!

A Hello to Arms