Modding a plastic Timber Wolf with IWM parts?

[Colt Ward]

I have . . . at least . . . a binary of Timber Wolves between old IWM, CGL anniversary, premium TC, and CGL plastics.  Huh, maybe a Trianary, but half the old IWM metal ones are unbuilt and some of those have the 1 weapon apeture arms.

SO . . . I have IWM ATM9 missile pods that I was going to mod one of the old IWM Timber Wolves . . . but thought the plastics would work better- more room to anchor/pin the missile pods.  But I can use the IWM weapons arms to represent the ERLL arms of the Timber Wolf E . . .

Then I thought about going all in to repose to change up the legs . . . but before I started cutting, I remembered I have those extra premium Timber Wolf TC legs.

Anyone used IWM parts or premium TC parts on their CGL plastic Timber Wolves?

[Draco]

Not a Timber Wolf specifically but I've done a couple other kitbashes of the new plastics using IWM parts. Generally the same rules apply as any other cutup job, pin the parts and make sure there's a good fit before gluing. In the case of adding metal parts to plastic, just maybe a bit more pin into the plastic than you might otherwise. The Stormcrow below is plastic with the arms cut off and replaced with the extra TC arms from a IWM Stormcrow B/TC sculpt, and the Nova uses the forearms from the IWM second sculpt Nova H pinned and grafted onto the CGL plastic upper arms.

As for the Premium sculpt legs, the one I got is scaled just slightly smaller than the plastics. If you swap out legs to repose, do both legs and any scaling difference probably won't be noticeable, but one plastic and one resin leg and you may see variation between them in part and detail sizes. Also remember to be careful when working with the premium parts, the resin is more brittle and may snap. Probably wouldn't need to pin resin to plastic though I prefer to just for a little extra strength. Styrene or thin aluminum rod works well in those cases where the weight of the parts isn't an issue.

[Crimson Dynamo]

I have an IWM Timber Wolf E/Z, and I can confirm those IWM launchers will go on (and look) just fine. You could always pin the ATMs low and on the side so they pin into the top of torso rather than the shoulders.

Also, Draco, I demand group shots of your Star Adders, I've seen at least three of them and they are excellent!

[Luciora]

They work well.  For some reason I have no love for the premium legs, even though you can change the poses with them.  They feel pretty simplistic.

[Colt Ward]

The premium legs are simple, for the assembled TC, I cut the toes off to have the left leg stretched back, then glued the toes in place on the hex base.

[Joel47]

The SRM-6s on my D model (and the poor unfortunate BA) are metal. The only issue is that it's a bit tippy -- I still need to add some weight to the base to keep it from being knocked over easily by clumsy players.

[Colt Ward]

Good call on the weights, I had not considered that part yet.

[Teejay75]

They work well.  For some reason I have no love for the premium legs, even though you can change the poses with them.  They feel pretty simplistic.

I've not yet learned to tell a PPC from a gauss rifle. What is the weapon that you used replaced the large laser and where could I get these pieces? Can I order substitute arms and missile pods from Iron Wind, or Fortress or Aries? I used to love to customize my ultrasmurfs and this looks like a lot of fun! Also, where would be the best place to learn what the different weapons look like? Would that be Sarna?

[worktroll]

Short form, there is no one consistent appearance for any weapon. Clan weapons can sometimes be similar, but mainly within the original 3050 Clan Omnis. What I find best is to keep all the parts from your mods, and build up bitz.

Some general rules apply - AC20s & variants tend to have wider bores and shorter barrels, Gauss Rifles tend to be longer (except for the Pillager & Thunder Hawk, see what I mean), UACs have multiple barrels, PPCs may show a coil-like effect, or feature glow panels, but for every trend there's dozens of exceptions. Find a part that looks like what you want, and use that - there's no PPC Gestapo out there ready to crash your house & confiscate your minis ;)

[Luciora]

Mine represents the -W config. 

It has modified metal Koshi SRM-6s (bottom removed), the left arm was drilled out and has the dragonfly lasers added for the twin ER Meds.  The right arm looks like I used the Urbanmech AC/20 arm instead of the usual clan UAC arm.

I use the scrapyard to order parts and modify them as needed.

There is on online gallery with the original omnimechs and various loadouts i use for reference.

https://bg.battletech.com/gallery/omnimech-image-gallery/

I've not yet learned to tell a PPC from a gauss rifle. What is the weapon that you used replaced the large laser and where could I get these pieces? Can I order substitute arms and missile pods from Iron Wind, or Fortress or Aries? I used to love to customize my ultrasmurfs and this looks like a lot of fun! Also, where would be the best place to learn what the different weapons look like? Would that be Sarna?

[worktroll]

Good call on the weights, I had not considered that part yet.

If you're using the standard new black plastic hex bases that come with the new plastics, trim up some bits of sprue and glue them underneath. This will help with the balance.

[Joel47]

If you're using the standard new black plastic hex bases that come with the new plastics, trim up some bits of sprue and glue them underneath. This will help with the balance.

I finally bought a big magnetic storage box, so I'm adding a magnet to the base. It probably won't be enough, so yes, my bag of metal sprues will come in handy for more than being cut up and used as paint bottle agitators.

[Colt Ward]

So I have everything in pieces now . . . and just holding it together it looks pretty good . . .

BUT . . . the better/easier attachment for the missile boxes would be to put them at 45 degrees from the 'normal' missile pods.  It lets me drill the place for the pin more towards the center of the box into the center of the torso rather than along the edge.

They would be angled more like the Cauldron Born's missile pod but up against the TW's torso.

[Colt Ward]

WIP Update.

The missile boxes had to stand straight up, easiest way to get them on.  I decided against diagonal and thought I would place them wide, but drilling for the pin spot favored going for height.

I am using a Demolisher to prop up the body, but you can see the missile pods attached- and GREAT call out about the weight, I had one pod attached and it was spinning the body around.

I am going to fill in the leg slots with green stuff then glue the posts into them & remove the excess green stuff from the joint area.  The cut left it a little uneven and this one came a bit knock-kneed so this lets me resolve that problem.

[Luciora]

Looks good so far as it is.

[Colt Ward]

I need to clean up the green stuff filling in on the hips a bit more.

I am probably going to add another weight on top of the hex, throw more green stuff over it as if it was a mound of dirt, just to be sure.  I do not think it is badly balanced but with the mix of parts I do not want to have anything happening.

[Luciora]

If the plastic base is mostly hollow, you can stuff racing weig or putty weights underneath as well.