How to pin miniatures

What is this pinning you speak of?

Pinning is a skill that most miniature enthusiasts pick up at some stage; essentially it's a method of securing a limb or other item to a miniature.  It's used in situations when superglue is not strong enough to hold the model together which is pretty often in my experience of superglue and metal minis.  The pin takes much of the weight of the appendage and takes the strain off the superglue. When done correctly it gives you a very strong bond.

Although it's particularly important when working with large metal models, even human sized figures may require it on occasion. Dynamically posed figures that come in multiple parts are frequent candidates for pinning. Since plastic and resin are lighter than metal it isn't often necessary with figures made from those materials.

Okay, so what do I need?

Superglue, a pair of side cutters or clippers, a metal paper clip and a pin vice. A pin vice (or vise to our American cousins) is a simply a small hand drill. You can get them from hobby stores, GW, Amazon and doubtless other places. IF you expect to be working with metal miniatures frequently then they're a good investment.

Tools: side cutters, paper clip and a pin vice.

Pinning an Ogre Gladiator Step by Step

Our test subject today is an Ogre Gladiator from Black Tree Design. Although the arm socket is well designed the arm is quite heavy and will be much stronger if pinned.

1. Prepare the figure
Clean any flash and mould lines off the figure in the usual way and then dry fit the figure and check that all the parts go together smoothly. If they don't, you won't be able to pin them properly as the glue won't take. File them down or otherwise remove anything that is in the way.  You may discover at  this stage that there's going to be a gap between the two parts. If this happens, fear not as you can fill it easily using green stuff after you've pinned the model.

Dry fit the figure and make sure the parts go together smoothly.

2. Find a pin and a suitable drill bit
An ordinary metal paper clip makes a fine pin.  If you have to pin something particularly heavy, you could use a bigger and therefore stronger paper clip. To find the right size drill bit, line the paper clip up with prospective drill bits until you find a match. A slightly larger drill bit is okay as the super glue will fill some space around then pin.

Find the right size drill bit for your pin by lining them up

 as in the picture.

3. Drill the holes
Pretty self explanatory this bit. Some miniatures are made of a harder metal than others so the effort of drilling can vary. I prefer to make the holes deep rather than shallow but be careful not to drill all the way through the arm and into your finger; it hurts. Yes, I speak from experience.

It's normally possible to line them up by eye but at times you may want more precision usually on very wide surfaces. There is a method for this but I didn't need to do it on this figure and forgot to include it as one of the steps. I'll do in another post soon.

Holes drilled into the arm and the body.

4. Cut and insert the pin 
Using a pair of clippers cut off a short length of paper clip. Cup your free hand around the clippers as you do so to stop the bit you cut off flying across the room.

Without gluing anything insert the pin and fit the pieces together. If the pin is too small, cut a new one. If it's too long you'll see there is a gap between the pieces as shown in the picture below. When this happens, it's generally best to simply deepen one of the holes until it fits snugly.

Cut the paper clip and check it fits in the socket.

5. Glue it together
Superglue the pin into the body and allow it to dry. Apply superglue to the pin and the area around it and put on the arm. Again leave it to dry. And that's it. Job done. :-)

Miniature pinned at last :-)

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Thanks for the +1 and happy pinning!