How to Assemble Your First Warhammer Miniature

A freshly assembled model

If you’ve never picked up a pair of clippers before, it can be scary to work on plastic for the very first time. There’s usually the worry that you’ll damage your precious new purchase in some way, and this first hurdle is a source of procrastination for many.

In this guide, we aim to provide new hobbyists with a set of clear instructions for assembling their miniatures. In order to achieve a standard that you can be proud of, it’s important to begin your dive into this hobby by learning good habits. As long as you pay close attention to the tools you use, develop an eye for detail, and put in an effort right from the start, you’ll quickly learn that it’s not so hard to assemble miniatures after all.

Follow us as we help you turn that pile of grey plastic into the beginnings of a grand army for tabletop gaming!

What You’ll Need

The basic tools you’ll need

There are a universal set of tools that you’ll need for assembly. They are:

• Clippers/Nippers
• A sharp Hobby Knife
• A cutting mat, or any surface you don’t mind damaging, such as newspaper or cardboard
• A sanding stick, or sandpaper for filing
• Some sort of adhesive, such as plastic cement or superglue — preferably both
• A source of good lighting

Once you have a set of these tools prepared, it’s time to set up your workspace. It’s always a good idea to assemble in a well-ventilated environment. Wearing a dust mask never hurts too, as you’ll be churning up plenty of plastic particles as you sand and file your way to perfection.

Step 1: Open the Box and Set Up Your Workstation

An assembly workstation

When you open up your first box, you’ll come across countless plastic sprues, with your unbuilt models hanging off them. This first impression is a far cry from the battle-ready armies you’ve likely seen on the shelves of your local games store.

The first step is to set these sprues aside and create an effective workstation for yourself. This station can be as simple as a cutting mat on a desk, in an area of your home that’s easy to clean up and vacuum once you’re done.

Next up, you’ll want to get your tools in order, all within arms reach so you can swap between them efficiently. As you find your rhythm, you’ll eventually notice yourself rotating between different steps of the cleanup process, and a well-organised workstation will make things easier for yourself.

In order to make out the finer details of your plastic models, you should invest in some sort of light source. Working in a well-lit area with a comfortable chair can significantly reduce eye and back strain while you assemble your miniatures.

Step 2: Read the Instructions

A Space Marine sprue

Before you make any hasty cuts, always read the instruction book that comes with your box. Sprues made by Games Workshop are always numbered, allowing you to organise your pieces more efficiently as you go along.

Make sure that you don’t blindly cut everything off the sprue at once, or you might end up losing track of your parts. It’s a good habit to remove them one by one according to the instruction booklet. If you’re working on a sprue that has multiple smaller figures on it, you can cut away just enough pieces to fully assemble one model. And if your first model is a huge vehicle or monster, work in sections and go part by part.

Step 3: Find and Clip Your Parts

Clipping with a sharp tool

Once you’ve identified the parts you need to remove, the next step is to do the actual clipping. This step can be intimidating for new hobbyists, as every single cut feels permanent and impactful. In order to ease your mind, you need to understand how the clipping process works.

When you cut into plastic, the clipper needs to crush the material in its path. We recommend using blunt pliers to perform a test cut on a spare piece of sprue frame. You’ll then notice that white stress marks are left behind on the plastic from the cut. The act of squeezing the clipper blades together transfers force into the plastic, and this can damage delicate parts of your model. This is why it’s important to use sharp, high-quality clippers, and to know the right place to cut.

If you’re working with a thick portion of plastic, you should be cutting several millimeters away from the actual piece you’d like to separate. That way, the stress marks won’t travel far enough to reach your model. If you’re confident in the sharpness of your clippers, you can cut closer and closer until you have a relatively small nub of plastic left behind. The next step is to shave this nub with a knife.

Step 4: Clean Up the Nubs with a Hobby Knife

Carefully cutting away nubs

There will always be a little bit of plastic left behind after you cut. To fully remove it, you’ll need to make a small cut using a sharp knife. Always be sure to cut AWAY from your face and body, and ensure your fingers are nowhere near the area where you’re working. Plastic is relatively soft, so using slow, predictable movements is enough to get rid of those pesky nubs. After carefully shaving the leftover plastic, you should have an area that’s level with the surrounding part of the sculpt.

Always make sure your knife is firmly capped when you’re not holding it, in order to prevent accidents. Younger hobbyists should take this step slowly and carefully, or seek guidance from an adult if they don’t have the confidence to handle a cutting edge safely.

Step 5: Smooth with Sandpaper and Scrape Mold Lines

A model with extremely obvious mold lines

Warhammer miniatures are manufactured in a factory by injecting plastic into a cast mold. As a result of this process, older and more degraded molds tend to leave gaps during the injection process. This results in mold lines appearing at the midsection of a plastic sprue. When you paint up your army, these lines can be extremely obvious, and may even ruin the look of your models.

As such, it’s always good practice to remove these lines. There are specialised tools for removing them, which may come included in certain sets, but the back of your hobby knife will usually do the trick just fine. Gently place the non-bladed edge at the beginning of the mold line and shave at a slight angle, to peel the mold line off in a smooth curl.

Using a sanding stick

Next up, you can sand or file any sites that have residual material. This step is particularly important for sections of a model with a large surface area. For example: the rounded shoulder of a Space Marine, or the flat panels of an armored tank. By using a sanding stick, a file, or a square of sandpaper, you can get rid of blemishes and achieve a smooth finish.

Step 6: Assemble and Glue Your Miniature

Assembling a push-fit model

Finally, after snipping, cutting, cleaning, and filing your parts, the long-awaited assembly step is here! Before you make any permanent attachments, be sure to re-read your instruction book and dry-fit your pieces together. Dry-fitting involves pushing the plastic pieces into place without glue or sealant, in order to figure out the ideal positioning.

This step is important because there are often parts of the miniature that are difficult to align correctly. You certainly don’t want to experience the sinking realisation that you can’t fit them into the right spot before your superglue dries. Or even worse, you don’t want to glue two pieces together, only to find out that a third piece was supposed to be locked between them.

Joining two push-fit pieces

Once you’re confident in being able to put the pieces together, it’s time to assemble them with glue. There are two main types of adhesive used for models: Superglue and plastic cement.

Superglue is great for recessed areas and tight squeezes. In order to reach those areas, it’s advisable to use a brand with a micro-nozzle that you can squeeze into the right spots. Superglue is a simple adhesive that polymerizes to keep parts sealed together.

Plastic cement, on the other hand, is a chemical solvent that melts certain types of plastic — including the sort that Warhammer miniatures are made of. When you apply it to a miniature, your goal is to liquefy the material it makes contact with, so that you can bond it directly to another piece.

Fully sealing the wrist gap with plastic cement

This makes plastic cement ideal for closing obvious gaps in a model and connecting small but flat areas. Once the cement evaporates and the residue cures, you’re left with a fully intact limb or weapon.

If you aren’t eager to work with glue and plastic cement, Games Workshop has also been making push-fit kits in recent years. Models in their push-fit range are often only found in starter sets, but allow you to assemble them without the need for anything extra.

Step 7: Celebrate Your First Completed Model!

A finished model!

Once you’ve followed these instructions, you’ll be met with your very first Warhammer miniature! By meticulously cleaning up the nubs, sanding parts till they’re smooth, and filling up the gaps with the proper type of glue, anyone can create a model that looks tabletop-ready. Once your models are assembled and set on a plastic base, you can start using them in games of Warhammer 40,000.

A high-effort model vs an improperly cleaned one

But your work isn’t done yet! You’ll probably want to paint your models eventually. Once that first layer of paint goes on, any imperfections become all the more obvious. In this photo, you can see what happens to a model if you leave too many nubs and rough portions unattended.

As a new player, it’s vital to start out with good habits, and put care into your assembly process right from the get-go. That way, you can remain proud of your early results even as you get more and more comfortable with the hobby.