TD 4438
The way to work with vynil to remove the pour slugs is to gently (GENTLY dammit! :-) ) heat with a hair dryer on low setting or hot water and immediatly use a new knife blade to cut away the excess. Be careful that the knifedoest not go out of control, it can easily slice into the part which is harder to repair.
Fill the legs with BBS and seal with glue, otherwise these kits are very topheavy and will not stand on their own very well. Epoxy a stiff wire rod into the feet and mount this onto a work base such a a block of wood, and then use a craft store base for display later on. Makes life much easier. I use 30 minute epoxy, epoxy paste ribbon and thick superglue mixed with baking soda for bonding my figures up.
I have not built this kit so I dont know how it is engineered but the GEOMetric Vinyls have upper/lower torso halves that split ont he beltline, and the arms attach at the shoulder. You may be able to heat the shoulder very genlty and pop the arm into the socket and touch up any paint.
I use a basecoat of Lacquer based primer such as duplicolor with any paint over the top of that. I painted my Gowron in oils and typical enamles, over the lacquer primer.
Also, yoiu can replace things such as buttons that arent up to snuff with straight pins, simply carve off the button , drill a hole and insert the pin shank.
Bad seams can be filled with milliput white, or with MagiSculp ( my new favorite!) and feathered out.
HTH......you will like vinyls once you get used to them!
David
Build to please yourself, and don't worry about what others think!
TI 4019 Jolly Roger Squadron, 501st Legion