STRAIGHT OUTTA MICRONIA | Zentraedi Regults Part 2

Robotech RPG Tactics

Zentraedi Regult Assembly Part 2

Regult Tactical Battlepod

I started working on assembling my next round of 24 Regult Tactical Battlepods. What follows is the first part of a simple yet effective plan for mass assembly of more of these multi-part miniatures.

A New Method to Cut and Clean

A few months back I got the energy to finish assembling my remaining Zentraedi Regults. I have enough sprues for a count of 24 Regults. Somewhere I got an unexplained extra Regult sprue adding three additional Regults to the lot. I lost three feet for two Regults, so two would be left missing feet. A lucky break from a player in Germany netted me two extra feet so only one Regult should be left missing a foot. I can deal with one missing foot a lot easier than three missing feet.

I only need 24 Regults to go along with my previous assembled 24 Regults so the extra are in limbo as to what to do with them. I believe if some of the legs match, I can turn two of them into artillery battlepods. I can always leave the one with the missing foot to have a foot blown off or made as an objective marker of some sorts. Assuming I can create two artillery battlepods a lone extra Regult is unneeded and will probably never get used..

I started up Netflix and got to work. Normally I work on one sprue fully assembling three Regults as a time. Be honest this got tiresome real quick. I previously posted before each sprue contains roughly 45 pieces and I had roughly 180 pieces to cut and clean. I decided to change things up a bit and that was to cut and clean all of the parts prior to assembly. This took a long time and to avoid confusion down the line I used a combination of separating certain parts and gluing certain parts. Below is a picture of all of the parts separated to their respective bags and after is an explanation of the method to my madness.

Cut and Clean Order

I wanted to keep speed in mind and keep myself working. I also wanted to be able to stop at some point and pick up where I left off another time. I planned to do this over a period of a week, but to be honest this lasted longer than I expected. The idea still worked for what I wanted it to help me with. 

I cut, cleaned, glued all of the parts listed in the order listed.

Top left bag

Upper torso and Lower torso

Upper torso pieces are glued together. Lower torso pieces are glued together.

Bottom left bag

Side Thrusts

Dual Light Air Defense Lasers

Dual Heavy Particle Cannons

Dual Auto-Cannons

Leaping Swoosh

Top Right bag

Walking/Running legs and feet

Left leg and foot are glued together. Right leg and right foot are glued together.

Middle Right bag

Standing legs and feet

Left leg and foot are glued together. Right leg and right foot are glued together.

Bottom Right bag

Walking/Running legs and feet

Left leg and foot are glued together. Right leg and right foot are glued together.

Now all of the part are cut and cleaned along with partial assembly I have a plan in mind to mass assemble all of the Regults at once.

Plan for assembly

Plan for assembly is all follows to make the mass assembly process as smooth as possible.

Glue all upper and lower torsos together

Glue six leaping swooshs to torsos

Glue all leg pairs to torsos

Glue leaping swooshs to bases

* Glue all feet to bases

** Glue all upper torso parts to upper torsos

* Gluing feet to bases is probably the longest part and more difficult part in assembly post mold line removal. Getting the upper torso to line up exactly to the middle of the base can be troublesome so using gel glue helps to wiggle the feet into a desired position. Keeping parts off the upper torso is another bonus. I use a straight flat end file to act as a measuring tool. I use the file to align the front of the upper torso with the front of the base and to align the back of the upper torso with the notch on the back of the base.

** Gluing all of the upper torso parts is much easier once all other major parts are assembled. This gives you the ability to grip the upper torso easily while attaching feet to base. This also removes accidental snapping off small parts from the torso ahead of attaching feet to the base.

Conclusion

What does all of this mean to anyone in the end, probably nothing. For those who have assembled a box of Robotech RPG Tactics miniatures they know all to well and might find this post entertaining or useful. Some never make it past the first box, worse some never make it into the box. 

Warzone Announcer

"Players need assistance, we are loosing players to the Robotech RPG Tactics miniatures."

For this reason I make these posts to help those in need.

Assembling Robotech RPG Tactics miniatures is a downright chore and challenge. For some dumb reason I cling to this game and try to find interesting methods of tackling this challenge. I guess that is what this post is about anyway, just my way to assembling all and one day painting all of my Robotech RPG Tactics miniatures.

Next STRAIGHT OUTTA MICRONIA post I'll show you these 24 Regults assembled along with the other 24 assembled Regults in a massive 48 assembled Regults showcase.