Been a while.

Since, my last update on working on Wargaming stuff, I've moved twice and started working Full-Time again.  Unfortunately, I've not been productive.  I have managed to partially assemble one 40K drop-pod, with the intention of making it an Imperial Fist Drop-Pod.  I've actually come close to mastering my yellow recipe.  Partially assembled, not even primed.

When I was still in Virginia, I had the intention to get a 40K force built, painted, and fielded.  Now, I'm in rural Tennessee and there's no nearby gaming community, so I'm quite rapidly losing interest in my meager beginnings of the IF army; and switching back to simply buying models I find interesting to paint.  For you 40k'ers on here, here is my pre build WIP's on the drop pod. 

Amazing, huh?  Ok, so a little lackluster.  I've found my way to the Soda Pop Miniatures Forums.  A year ago I painted the Super Dungeon Explore Dwarf and Human Mage.  Here's a link to my entry on their forums.  My goals with painting, which I need to practice, is to get better with thinning paints and smoother transitions.  I plan on picking up some more of the SDE in the near future.  They catch my eye b/c they make we want to paint bright colors and not so realistic as the Space Marines or Warmachine minis I usually work on.

On a side note, I did pre-order some Knight Models Batman figures for the new game Arkham City from Fantization.  I'm a sucker for Batman...well, the more "dark" Batman and not the original Batman, even though they're all cool.  I pre-ordered the whole set, and should get them in a couple of weeks.  Then look at them for a couple of months, then blog on why I haven't done anything.  Thanks for looking, and maybe I'll post much sooner than later.

Imperial Fist Dreadnought WIP

So I'm finally getting an acceptable yellow down.  Here's the quick run-through:  The Army Painter Daemonic Yellow primer over a P3 white primer.  This brightens that yellow up!  Vallejo Sepia wash plus a drop of matte medium to get the brown shading in the lowpoints.  Then a quick dry brush of Vallejo Game Color Moon Yellow.  Yellow done.  For the metals.  Base coat P3 Thamar black, hit up with another base coat of Pig Iron.  Wash with straight from the dropper P3 Armor Wash.  Metals done.  (ooh, just noticed/remembered I need to do the cabling underneath, I'll hit with a red base coat, wash, drybrush back up to base and be done there too.)

On the base, I painted some hammerfall khaki mixed some water and PVA glue then dipped into tupperware of basing sand.  Small patch of green was dipped in flocking.  Then some spots hit up with Superglue and static grass.  I'm not huge on EPIC bases for gaming purposes, but would do more if I was attempting to enter a painting contest.  (I know, I know, no Golden Demons for me.)

The rusty pieces were base coated Thamar Black, then Pig Iron, then spotted up with RMS rust red.  Then I hit them up with GW Devlin Mud wash, Vallejo Sepia Wash, P3 Armor Wash, GW Badab Black.  Dry brushed some Pig Iron, dry brushed just a bit of Mithril Silver, and dry brushed some Rust Red.  This was my first attempt with weathering powders too, so I used Vallejo Pigments Natural Siena.  It gave it a dusty feel and covered up my "rust" so I need to retouch the rust.  The technique I followed with the pigment was put it on dry (I went overboard.)  Then, used isopropyl alcohol to "set" it.  Prior to the pigment, I did put GW 'ardcoat to seal in my paint...which made it shiny and when I'm done touching up here and there, I will hit it up with a matte spray.  Thanks for looking.

(Oh, and I'm going with "first company" thus the crappily painted "I" and the white on the hip areas.)

Side Project #2: Doll Bed refurbish.

This past weekend, my mother-in-law gave us a pair of bunk beds for the little one's dolls.  MiL and her sister bought these at a yard-sale a few years back.  I'm guessing based upon the fiberboard material (I think that's what that stuff is called, it's similar to the material basic clipboards are made.) and the pattern on the "mattresses" it's quite a bit older than a few years.  Here's the before pictures:

My first inclination was to paint them white and update the mattresses.  So, sticking to my go-to spray paint, I ran over to Lowe's and bought some Valspar Gloss White.  I liked the flower on the foot of the bed, but it too looked dated.  My next trip landed me at Wal-Mart, the bastion of low prices and even lower wages.  I bought some butterfly transfers to decorate the head-board and the foot-board; and bought 1yd of fabric...and some fabric/leather glue to fix the fabric to the mattresses.

I took the beds a part and I used an entire can of white primer on one bed to get a good base white.  (Skipping the priming would end up with using multiple cans of gloss-white to cover up the wood to get a good clean finished look.)  I just bought some basic Krylon white primer from Wal-Mart.  I didn't take any pictures of the painting.

I then took the mattress, didn't even bother removing the old material and covered it with the new fabric.  Essentially I cut it slightly larger than the mattress, folded the edges under like I was wrapping a present, and glued liberally.  Here are pictures of the old mattress and the new mattress:

 Picture above shows the top of the new one and the bottom of the old one, I mimicked folding the edges over and glued them down.  Bottom pic is bottom of new mattress and top of old.  Now, the thin wood on the new mattress had been broken in half sometime ago and repaired with some additional wood beam going up and down, that's not my handy work.

The humidity here was off the chain, so it took a while for the paint to dry, a few days to be exact.  I took the head and foot-board, transferred some butterflies onto them.  I then felt like the foot-board needed a little more (now maybe too much) so I took sharpies and drew a flower onto it for the butterfly to "flutter by to".  I thought about painting with acrylic paint, and may still do that, but painting large flat areas smoothly with a brush is not my best skill.  Here is the finished bed:

One bed down and one bed to go.  I'm out of white primer, and low on my gloss paint, so it'll be a bit before I finish, but I'll do the second bed the same way.  Enjoy!  Questions/comments/suggestions are welcome.

Side project, not Wargaming related.

I found a picture of an old milk bottle, with love written on it with a hot-glue gun, and spray painted white.  I thought it'd be a fun project for my wife, so I did one.  Painted it green with "love" and a heart glue-gunned on it, then painted the heart white.  Did another one, this time blue with "dream" and a cloud, painted the cloud white, and made a how-to complete with pictures.  Here you go:

Supplies:  

• Old vase, bottle, candle jar, etc....  Something with plain smooth sides, anything with “designs” on it will take away from your created accents.
• Spray paint.  I’m using Valspar from Lowe’s.  They’re $3.98/can.  I’m also using Satin finish, just because I like it.  
• Hot Glue Gun.  Hot glue is forgiving too, so if you don’t like how you wrote the word, peel it off and do it again.  Also remember that it probably won’t stick with a dishwasher/scrubbing from hand washing, etc....
• Acrylic paint.  Only if you plan to have an accent color.  Any kind from Wal-Mart.  I’m using Privateer Press, simply because I have it readily available from my other nerdish hobby pursuits.
• Some cheap paint brush for the acrylic paint.
• Xacto knife/razor.  (Not pictured.)  This is to remove those stringy things from the hot glue.
• Non-permanent marker to “sketch” the words/designs/whatever onto the glass.

Optional Supply:  

• Krylon Matte Sealer.  I’m only using it to try to give an extra thin layer of protection to the paint.  If you do use this and you bought gloss spray paint, the matte sealer will render it matte.  If you choose to go the sealer route and want it to look glossy, pick up some gloss sealer instead.

• Wash the glass.  Sometimes oils from your fingers will keep paint from adhering.  (I’m choosing not to prime the glass prior to painting which could or could not increase the durability of the paint...most times it helps.

• Take your marker and sketch/draw out your design.  Keep in mind writing with a hot-glue gun is less precise than your marker so make the letters larger than you think you should write them.  For this project I’m writing “dream” onto the glass and I’m putting a “cloud” accent.

• Do your best to now put your design down onto the glass.  Once again, it’s hot-glue so it comes off easily if you jack it up.  Also take note that you are leaving those spider-web string things all over the place when you lift the hot-glue gun.  After you’re finished give the glue a few minutes to set.  Now remove the strings and any other offending errors.  Sometimes you can roll up the stringy things with your finger, sometimes that pulls the letters up off the glass.  For the more tricky parts use your xacto razor carefully.

• Once you’re satisfied with the design, paint it.  For the “dream” project I’m using a light blue.  Note:  there will be overspray, so paint outside, or set up a home-made paint booth made of boxes.  I still have lots of cardboard from moving so that’s what I have.  Don’t forget to shake the fool out of the can before beginning and give a test spray onto the cardboard or your neighbor’s fence.  Be light with painting.  We are going to do MULTIPLE light coats, not one big thick coat.  One coat will leave you with drips and puddles.  Light coats gets it more even.  I rarely ever stick my finger down on the can and paint without letting up.  Use short bursts and keep your arm moving side to side.  Paint a bit, not too much that you get drips.  Let it dry, do it again.  Let it dry and do it again if needed until it’s all covered with your primary color.

• After you’ve painted the glass and it’s dried, paint the accent with your acrylic craft paint.  I’m painting the cloud white.  Thinning the paint with a bit of water might help with smoothness, but I’m painting straight from the pot on this one, which resulted in quite lumpy/clumpy paint up close.

• After you are satisfied with your results and if you choose to, put a light coat or two of the matte sealant onto your project.  I threw the coat of sealant on there and there is no discernible difference with the finish.

•  Now it’s done.

I have no clue as to what I’m going to do with these other than decoration.  Make yours the way you want to.  Copy this idea, which I found a picture of somewhere online, sans the how-to.  I will say that I don’t recommend washing these things in a dishwasher and if you “need” to clean them, be careful not to break off the glue.  Either way, if you’re feeling crafty, I’ll share my antics.

Magnets. How do they work?

I don't care how they work, just that they do.  I landed a Dreadnought from Zombywoof on the SPR forums, complete with multiple weaponry.  I've read the pros and cons about magnetizing certain models, and while I don't give a rip about "model pose-ability," I did become intrigued with the "one model, multiple set-ups" idea.  You see, I'm not new to painting, just gaming.  I'm attempting to collect, paint, and eventually field a 1500 pt Imperial Fist force.  I'm going by the basic Drop-pod army list posted on GW's webpage for sample armies.  This particular list calls for one dread with a multi-melta and heavy flamer.  Just listening to Zombywoof explain the differences in weaponry, made me think about trying the magnets thing.  So, here's how and what I did and the final results.

First, there were some tiny tiny weak magnets on the chassis and some of the weapons.  The result was droopy non-sturdy weapons.  I had some magnets I picked up from A-Games for no reason a few months back that are 6mm in diameter.  I dug out the old magnets which were green-stuffed and superglued in place.  (There's magnets between the chassis and legs, but I glued those pieces together giving the dread the appearance of twisting to take on a new threat...I don't know if it'll affect game-play or anything as in, where is the front of the model...for me WYSIWYG so the front is the direction the "head" is facing.)  I then took my standard Black and Decker cordless drill and a bit the same diameter of the magnets; and drilled the holes out of the arms/weapons and the chassis, being careful not to go through the pieces.  (If the hole was too deep, I kept the magnet from glueing in too far by using a paperclip.  I did ignore the polarization of the magnets for the chassis and paid attention when I worked on the weaponry.  Note:  I am, indeed, now aware that the legs are on backwards.  Thanks to Grey-Clad Stranger and itmademeregister with SPR.

Next was glueing the magnets on the arms.  Now polarization is pertinent.  Fortunately these magnets were strong enough to pull through my finger and I could figure it out pretty quickly.  I did the paperclip trick again to keep the magnet flush with the model so as not to set it too deep in the arms.

I know, no multi-melta, but another SPR fellow, Master Shake, is going to hook me up.  Here is the model with two different weapons set-ups.  The magnets are actually strong enough to pick the whole dreadnought up by one of the arms.

Now to prime this badboy with TAP's Daemonic Yellow, let it dry, then pack it and everything else up for the impending move.  Thanks for looking.

So, I did find a bit of time to work on my Retribution scheme.

All I've done is attempt to do something with the blade.  So I can't exactly do NMM, nor a good metallic blade that doesn't look flat, so I went "different."  I've taken the main Ice Blue I'm working on the armor and have done an extreme highlight on the raised edges.  I like it.  I'm not too steady so I have to take it even slower than I typically am at painting.  This is the first go.  The line needs thickening in places, and thinning in others, so I'm going to look at it and overanalyze it a bit before I hit it again.

You can't tell too much either, but the "bas-relief" carvings.  (I probably didn't use that term correctly.) I've thinning down Reaper Pro Paint Mandarin Orange (metallic) with Vallejo Glaze Medium to get it into the depths.  My aim is to then go over the raised round pieces in a deeper orange, and touch it up with the Mandarin.  My skill also isn't up to the level of doing Object Sourced Lighting either, but I might have stumbled into a semi-state of it by not cleaning up the edges of the Mandarin Orange.  That'll be a WIP on the WIP.  Here's another pic of the orange.

(Does anyone know how to make the pictures larger using Picasa and hosting them through Google?)

Brief respite to move the family.

To the few folks who stumble upon my blog.  I've finally procured my dropper bottle of The Army Painter Daemonic yellow to jump back on my Imperial Fists.  Also landed an awesome box of SM bits to build more marines for it, am waiting on a drop pod, and should pick up a dreadnought and codex this weekend.  I'm still stagnant on my Cygnar, and I've picked up more Retribution to continue this alt. scheme.  Why am I telling you this?  Well to keep you checking back every now and then, that's why; and to inform you that I haven't been painting due to an upcoming relocation of the family (packing stuff up) and working my tail off to off-set the costs of moving.  I do thank you all for your looking and will get something updated mid-July.

Retribution Progress

Taking the suggestion from a couple of folks on the Privateer Press forums, I'm matching the hilt with the cloak and the shoulder pad (P3 Cryx Bane Highlight) Also need to figure out a highlight color for it too.  I began to feel that a bone-like sword was out of place on such an otherwordly figure and am going to go with a black sword (P3 Thamar Black).  I've never attempted NMM or anything similar, but I was thinking of attempting a NMM technique on the blade in a similar style to this video, but without using an airbrush.  Updated pics below, thanks for looking.

More on Retribution of Scyrah.

So, I've started going back over the armor plates with the Ice Blue to bring it back to a cool whitish/blue.  I'll go back and touch-up the shading a bit too with the Asurmen Blue, just to make sure those lines have depth between plates.  The cloak, part of the shield on the arm, and "face" are base coated in P3 Cryx Bane Highlight.  The sword, I've decided to attempt a bone white look.  Don't know if it'll look right, but man oh man, I'd like to have that sword transparent/clear to look like an ice blade or something.  Right now it's based in RMS Golden Blonde.  Enjoy the update.

I wonder how a black hilt would look on that sword when done?

Retribution of Scyrah alt. scheme.

For some reason, I like starting projects...and taking forever to never finish them.  Either way, I still have Imperial Fists on the table, Cygnar on the table, Protectorate of Menoth in the closet, and for kicks I started on this Retribution of Scyrah Dawnguard Scytr.

Primed with P3 white spray primer.  There are a couple of mold lines I didn't get cleaned up as nice as I should, but this is a "junk" mini.  One that'll I'll probably trade later on, unless I really like how it turns out, then maybe I'll build a RoS force too.  I'm just hobby ADD.  After the primer, I coated the entire model with Reaper Pro Paint Ice blue (discontinued.)  I didn't want to go white on this, just because I'm a sucker for good alternative schemes, but I wanted to keep with the clean "otherworldly" look to the model.  After the base coat, I really really thinned down Citadel's Asurmen Blue wash with some Vallejo Glaze medium.  I wanted to keep this really pale blue.  Next step is to go back with the Ice Blue and bring back the "closer to white" feel of the base coat, I haven't figured out my highlight color yet, so I don't know how I'll proceed.  I'm also working on secondary color, the glowy rune color, and the sword color.  I'm thinking of a mid-tone gray for secondary color, somewhere in the realm of Cryx bane highlight; keeping the runes right around Asurmen Blue b/c object source lighting/glow has not been developed in my bag of tricks yet; and maybe a bone color for the blade.  What're your thoughts?  (The 15 some-odd folks who view this.)  Constructive feedback is always welcome.  Thanks for viewing.

Warmachine Cygnar Alt. Scheme.

Essentially, this is more of a teaser too, but a WIP nonetheless.  Starting off here is my Lancer's shield.

If I could take better pics, you'd have one, but I can't, so you don't.  I primered this with black Spray...it could be an old incarnation of GW's spray primer, or Krylon, or even Armory...don't recall and I own all of them and feel they all do the job.   My primary color is the buff/tan color.  I'm using RMS triad that includes Tanned Leather, Amber Gold, and Golden Blonde.  The blonde is too light for what I'm going for and my skill level isn't up to utilizing the triads properly.  So, the base is the Amber Gold, and I thinned the Tanned Leather down and put it on the lower portions of each section...not to too much positive effect.  Then I washed it down with some Devlan Mud, retouched the paint, and did a wash of Ogryn Flesh.  I liked the reddish tones.  A more simpler way to get this would be to simply paint the Amber Gold on, wash with Ogryn Flesh, and then touch-up.

I wanted a "muted" blue instead of the bright blue so I turned to the RMS triad that has Worn Navy, Soft Blue, and Heather Blue.  This time I felt the Worn Navy was too dark, so I did a base of Soft blue, and highlighted repeatedly with the Heather Blue.  I like it.  No Golden Demons will be won, but I'm extremely happy with the end result; and plan to push myself further.

Lastly, the metals are copper.  I just like that dull copper look.  So the trim is based in Vallejo Model Air copper.  (Does anyone else have to shake the hell out of Vallejo paints?  I'm thinking of getting the Game Color case, but I'm not too keen on vast amounts of shaking...or should I go with the P3's...I really like them too, but they're not in dropper bottles...and I can't afford the entire set of RMS's.)  Ok, where was I?  Yes, base VMA Copper, then wash with Devlan Mud, then extreme highlight with Reaper Pro Paint Copper (Discontinued).  RPP's copper is the fresh from Williams and Sonoma copper pot bright.  The rivets are RPP pewter, with a dot of GW's Mithril Silver.  (Yes, I painted it with the last line of Citadel's not the new one, and I haven't a clue to what the new name is for it yet.)  At the very bottom is a jewel, and you can't tell the color, but I used RPP Mint Green, slapped some GW Thraka Green on it, then touched it back up, and placed a dot of RPP Pearl White on it, then called it done.

That's just the shield, and I hope that I can replicate this on a full scale model.  Speaking of full model, here is a teaser pic of my Charger(?)  This is the classic pewter model that came in the first round of battlegroup boxes.  As of right now it is spray primered black, with a touch up here and there with RMS brush-on black primer.  And I'm working on a base coat of RMS Amber Gold.  Enjoy.  Comments, and constructive feedback is more than welcome.

Slowly...slowly.

All right, so I finally ordered TAP's Daemonic Yellow warpaint to go back and touch up where I felt my RMS yellow were too much of a difference in color.  Still waiting for it to come in.  Either way, here's a couple of pics of my captain's head.  I attempted to give him "the people's eyebrow" like The Rock does.  Meh, mixed results, I might touch up that brow, might not.  I'm good with it though.  As always,  comments and constructive feedback are always welcome.

So his flesh is Reaper Pro Paint Hill Giant Brown (discontinued...and I need some more flesh tones.)  I then applied Vallejo's Game Ink Skin Wash in the recesses, and used it to make his eyebrow.  Come to think of it, I need to change his eyebrow to the same color as his hair.  I tried to give his head the stubble/shaved look by thinning down RPP Dove Gray (discontinued) and apply it thinly, then wash over it with a thinned down Hill Giant Brown.  In theory this works, my skill level, not so much up to the theory, but I'm improving and pleased with the results.  Not much of an update, especially after two months, but I never promised to get this thing done quickly.

Bad Habits die hard.

Ok, so Meeker over at Stony Point Refugees turned me onto Vallejo's Glaze medium, and to put it appropriately and family friendly this stuff is the bee's knees. As the title suggests though, bad habits die hard.  I'm historically a "paint from the pot" kind of fella, and well, as I'm getting slightly more confident and trying to evolve my painting and my supplies, this just doesn't work anymore.  Take example 1...his head:

I spent some time on his skin.  Put down a layer of GW Dwarf Flesh, too rosy.  Then placed the, now discontinued, Reaper Pro Paints Hill Giant Brown down.  Quite satisfied, but I wanted his noggin' stubbly instead of bald, so I did all this crap with trying to lightly put some RPP granite on his head, then do some more Hill Giant Brown...I didn't want it to look like I just painted hair on his head.  (You can still see some of the effect on the second picture.)  Then, let me put some Vallejo Ink flesh wash on that head straight from the bottle.  And that's what I got, I knew this is how it would end, I honestly did.  So, I'm waiting for the Ink to dry, then slap some Hill Giant Brown back on him, granite, then thin that ink down.  I just want it in the dips and crevasses.  Then, I'll highlight, paint some eyes, paint those studs on his forehead and give you some more pics.  Thanks for viewing, comments welcome, criticisms welcome too, as long as they're constructive.

Reboot.

Didn't like how it was going so I dumped him in the Simple Green.  Picked up the awesome looking captain with a power fist too from a local gamer, check out his blog Here.  Long story short:  The Army Painter Daemonic Yellow again, then Vallejo's Sepia wash mixed with some Vallejo's glazing medium.  On the Marine, I used two drops of wash with one drop of medium.  For the captain, 2 wash to three medium and I was a bit more slap happy with the medium.  My next step I'm going to do is touch up the armor with my "base" yellow, which is Reaper Master Series 09008, Sun Yellow.  It's a bit lighter than the Primer, so it's sorta my base/first highlight.  We'll see how it goes.  Let me know your thoughts and ideas.  Thanks.