Glad to be of use!
I am kinda hyped about the project as well, especially since I wanted to do it last time but wasn't yet able to.
I built my first Terradons shortly after starting the hobby, in December 2016 I think, which is funny because that is just one year ago, but my skills progressed a lot in that time.
Tonight I'll try out a few ways to strengthen that one critical junction. I am relieved the parts at least fit (except minor stuff).
As for the riders:
Those seem to be rather easy at least. Well... easy it the wrong word I guess but part of that I know from my Terradons.
The first question here is: Do you want all options?
Here is the list of what to do:
- Terradons: Master of the Skies or Alpha
- Terradon Alpha: Bola or Javelin
- Terradons: Other two riders Bola or Javelin
- Rippers: With or without Alpha
- Rippers: Weapon arm
- Rippers: Add shield to the other arm.
The good thing about the Master of the Skies is: He doesn't have weapon options, he cannot be used for anything when building Ripperdactyls, and he is actually a distinct model. He shares no parts with the Alpha.
The bad thing is: He doesn't have the same pose as the Alpha so you have to improvise a handle to hold on to the same magnetized spot as the Alpha.
I did that for my Terradons and it is possible.
The weapon options for the Terradon rider Alpha and his pals work this way:
The Bolas and the Javelins each have the hand attached to them. The arms have a diameter of slightly less than 2mm, which means they are a bit thinner than the magnets I use. So you just put the magnets on there and paint them like metal so they look like some bracelet.
The arm is going to look slightly longer that way, if you don't like that you can just shorten the arm by two millimeters using a file or sandpaper.
The conversion for the riders between Rippers and Terradons is a bit different. You have a few options here:
1a: Use the weapons for Rippers
1b: Use the Terradon riders' arms with the Javelins. Those are a bit smaller.
2: Alpha or not is just a matter of headgear I think. (Doing this step from memory, I am not at home right now) That's too small to magnetize so I'd recommend to just put it on, but if you have more than 3 Rippers in one unit you have to tell your opponent which one counts as the Alpha, so make those distinct in some way (by using color or something).
Magnetizing the shield arms is rather easy, just put a magnet into the arms at a 90° angle so it sticks out to the side, and attach another magnet onto the inside of the shield.
If you want to use Ripper weapons you have to magnetize the shoulder, because the Ripper weapons have the whole arm attached to them, not only the wrist. I have to check those sizes, I am not sure whether that is easy to put magnets in there.
More to come soon. Keep in mind this isn't an actual howto yet, just the preparation. We will condense it into the actual howto at a later point.
