# Alt. Necron Tubes



## Inari82

So I've been trying to get different color rods for my necrons, here are options I've run across:

Painting: I don't think they have the same effect as having an actual clear plastic. This will be a very last option.

Clear Tubes: As I haven't found a solid rod of plastic in the color I want, I could use a clear tube and put in colored water then sealing both ends. This can add an amazing effect, but if done poorly you will have wet models and empty tubes.

Glass Rods: OK selection as far as colors, but fragile and expensive. Plus requires special tools to cut and grind safely.

Stacking Beads on a Wire: After glueing, this can add a different texture but still give the transperent rod look.

This is what I've come up with so far. Does anyone have other options or sources for different colored rods?


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## Deneris

Miniwargaming sells blue, red, and yellow plastic rods/tubes...

Plastic Rods


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## Inari82

Just noticed I didn't put the color I am looking for. While the miniwargaming ones are good, I'm looking for purple. Which makes it that much harder it seems.


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## pathwinder14

Inari82 said:


> Just noticed I didn't put the color I am looking for. While the miniwargaming ones are good, I'm looking for purple. Which makes it that much harder it seems.


Cocktail swords. (the one's used for olives)


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## Inari82

pathwinder14 said:


> Cocktail swords. (the one's used for olives)


 

Ohhhhhh.

Interesting idea. I think I will look into this.


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## Desolatemm

TAP Plastic has purple clear acrylic rods

*Tapplastics.com*










The problem is, the smallest size for the colored rods is 1/4". HOWEVER, I do know that these guys are good on custom ordering and customer service (at least with my dealings with them). You should call/email them and see if they can make a smaller DIA purple rod for ya. They offer smaller CLEAR rods at 1/16" and 1/8" already and they have a mixture for the purple from what I can see. So they do have the capability to do this. They might be able to help.

If push comes to shove and they say they cannot help, I will stop in the store location near my work and ask them personally. I'm pretty sure they do most of the extruding and sheet curing in the back room. They have a workshop behind the store where they work on hired custom projects. They might charge a little more coin for a custom extrusion though... Let us know if you have any luck talking with them.


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## Deneris

Another idea for clear plastic tubes- Check out "lite brite" pegs on eBay. I fould one fellow selling bags of 25, and they DO come in a transparent purple...

Lite Brite Pegs


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## Desolatemm

Here is a picture with the Purple (Top right). It is the only one that could be purple, but it is really dark. I'd be worried about the size of the pegs and the fact that they have a step down in size near the middle...


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## davespil

What diameter are the Necron rods? I don't have any but I want blue rods and have the 'crons on order already.


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## Iron Angel

Approx 2mm.


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## Deneris

davespil said:


> What diameter are the Necron rods? I don't have any but I want blue rods and have the 'crons on order already.


Miniwargaming has two sizes of the blue rods... 3/32" and 5/32"....


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## davespil

Yeah, they are out of stock though...

I emailed Tap Plastics and asked if they had 3/32 or 2mm rods. All they did was point me back to their page and say that was the sizes they had. Its a shame cause the blue looked great.


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## KarnalBloodfist

The rods that come w/ the warriors are 3/32" or 2.4mm (I actually measured them to get some replacements). Another company to look into is Plastruct (www.plastruct.com). They have blue, green, red, and yellow solid fluorescent acrylic rod that comes in long sections that you'll have to cut to size. Not sure how prices compare to other places.


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## Inari82

ok guys, I ordered an assload of glass rods from a local glass crafter (they had a mininium order) So I'm getting at 12 one foot lengths of a gold/purple glass. They are 2mm diameter costing me about $24. Seems a lot for some minor accents to my necrons, but I doubt I'll be needing more anytime soon.


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## Iron Angel

Whoa. Do you have the proper tools to cut glass?


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## Inari82

oh yeah. Plus I figure if the worst happens and I drop a models and the glass breaks I should have more then enough to replace them.


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## Iron Angel

Are the tubes hollow or solid? If they are solid, breakage at the length they will be shouldn't be an issue, even if you drop it on the floor.


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## Inari82

Solid. Yeah I doubt it will be much of a problem. I will be taking pics as soon as they come in.


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## davespil

I ordered blue and red tubes from Plastruct. I wish they had a picture. What I relly want now is purple but that won't happen. $1.40 for a 3/32" by 20" acrylic rod, with a minimum order of $20. FARB-3 is blue 3/32", FARB-5 is blue 5/32", FARR-3 is red 3/32", and FARR-5/32" is is red 5/32". The website is a bit of a pain to order from as you have to look at the cataloge and remember the code then put it in the order section. But thanks for the info. +rep.


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## Unforgiven302

Use RIT fabric dye on the tubes. It is a powder that you dissolve in warm water and then add your pieces to it and let soak. The stuff works on plastic, fabric, damn near any thing really. The stuff is cheap and easy to get. Local grocery stores usually stock it in the same section as the bleach and detergents.

Seeing as you ordered both blue and red tubes, use blue dye on the red tubes and red dye on the blue tubes, (as red and blue make purple.)

*Here is a quick google search for red rit fabric dye.*


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## ShadowTear

Far as I remember they make RIT in purple too. So if you had clear tubes you might be able to just go strait there. You've gotta be careful with that stuff though cause it'll dye skin and pretty much anything else. We've used it for leather belts in the past is the only real context I've got using the stuff.


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## Inari82

So they came in last night, and this morning I had a chance to open the package and see what I got, and Damn!! was I surprised. I misunderstood when he said they were 1 foot sections in a package. When I got to his shop he handed me this:










This seemed a bit heavy and I knew I got a bit more then I expected. Opening the tube I get this:










50 one foot rods of 2mm purple/gold glass! There is no way I am gonna use this much for gauss rods.










Cutting them down I got 27 warrior sized rods. (One broken while cutting) So I'm not sure I will be using all 1350 rods for my troops, I have a feeling I'll be using a bunch of this for basing.

Here is a test model with the new tubes:










Fits well and settled into its spot. I'm kinda excited to see these on my full army as they are getting painted.

Tell me what you think.


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## DanoNecrono

Ooo looks sexy, your purple idea is actually the exact same idea I had for the Necrons that I plan to build soon. Same problem as you of course it's not very easy to find purple rods but it seems you've managed to find a way around this. I think for personal preference I would like to find a darker purple, fear not! I shall look far and wide until I find something. Knowing me of course i'll probably look around for 2 days and just give up and go with red.


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## Inari82

Thank you. I've got a friend who saw these and are considering doing either an orange or yellow scheme for his crons, so I'll be ordering a set for him. And considering the range of colors my supplier has, I might consider doing these in a range of colors and see if I can sell packs of 10 or 20 online. Might want to get a cleaner cutting machine first though.


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## davespil

If you were to sell them pre-cut to the size required for warriors rods I can see you making some money off ebay. It would probably take a while. If you decide to sell blue ones I'd be interested.


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## Iron Angel

Very nice. I also like the copper look.


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## Inari82

@ Iron Angel - thanks, I'm going for more of a torned up look for my necrons, hence the divits and chunks taken out of the models. I should actually be starting a plog of them before long.


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## KarnalBloodfist

The purple is VERY unique! Great looking stuff!


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## The Wraithlord

Heh, I think I may be one of the few people I have talked to that refuses to use the coloured tubes on Necrons. For me they are incredibly jarring as they are unpainted. They don't look like they are glowing, they just look unpainted and to me that is a problem when you see someone who paints the shit out of the rest of the model and makes it look awesome. Personal preference I guess but as I update the models on my Necrons, I will be using something else or at the very least painting over the tubes. I think that the tubes painted in a bright colour with a bit of OSL to make them stand out is the way to go.


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## davespil

OK, so I got my blue rods in the mail and they just look so faint. You can barely tell it blue. So I thought about dyeing them. I bought some RIT Dye and dropped the tubes in. After 30 minutes nothing happened so I read some stuff online that said acrylic plastic could not be dyed, only painted. So I think I'll just paint my tubes.


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## bitsandkits

The Wraithlord said:


> Heh, I think I may be one of the few people I have talked to that refuses to use the coloured tubes on Necrons. For me they are incredibly jarring as they are unpainted. They don't look like they are glowing, they just look unpainted and to me that is a problem when you see someone who paints the shit out of the rest of the model and makes it look awesome. Personal preference I guess but as I update the models on my Necrons, I will be using something else or at the very least painting over the tubes. I think that the tubes painted in a bright colour with a bit of OSL to make them stand out is the way to go.


Im kinda with you on that, though if people want clear coloured tubes that up to them, but i agree something unpainted on a model stands out too much for my personal taste, its like unpainted slate or sand on bases makes me cringe.
I like the new style of "rod" being used with sculpted details much more, i have been making enquirers into coloured rod and sculpted styrene rods for necrons but so far no bites.

I am however stocking thicker 4mm rod which is great for larger models and also easy to use LED's for adding lighting to models which some necron players have taken for projects.


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