35 posts tagged “miniatures”
I've just been busy with other projects and the minis have been neglected.
So here's a pic of the mini I entered into an online contest. She's actually a part of my personal dwarf army and was painted for that, not a contest.
Meet Gwyddis.
First of all, the stores here aren't the same. You would think that going into a Wal*****'s would result in the same products I have at home. Heck no. Which leads me into my rant.
Why can't I find unsweetened teas? I know several companies that make them. The stores carry the sweetened versions of them but I'll be darned if I can find one without HFCS or artificial sweeteners. I don't want sweetened tea! I want iced tea. Plain, regular iced tea. Is that so hard? Down here, I guess it is.
I won't even get into the lack of brand of candy I wanted since that isn't nearly as annoying as the lack of a type of beverage. I don't want to go to the grocery store and buy a multipack since I'm not at any one place long enough and at ReaperCon they have Sonic in and they will have unsweetened iced tea. And with any luck they'll give us the same "pay once, drink all day" deal since this is stuff they just dump at the end of the day. That's a nice deal.
On the mini scene I did get all the bases painted and the first coat of varnish on. I'll put the second coat on tomorrow (today?) morning so they have all day to dry before I pack them back up. One of the larger figures needs to be put back differently since her sword extends higher than the foam and it was slightly bent when I pulled her out. That's not acceptable so I'll probably have to turn her on her side.
I did get craft paint to edge the bases and it took 3 coats before I was happy with the depth of color. I grumbled a bit but realized I use at least 2 coats of the mini paint to do it so another coat of cheap craft paint isn't that bad.
The real problem is that I didn't think ahead about the availability of the color of static grass I wanted. For whatever reason I thought I could find something close enough and dry brush the ends once I got to Reaper. Yeah, silly me. I ended up sending an urgent pleading e-mail to Skullcrafts asking for a small bag of the flame static grass so I can add it to the bases. He'll have to send it to my next hotel so I get it. I'd really like something less vibrant but Skully stopped doing the larger variety of colors so I'll take what he's willing to send me.
This army does look darn cool. I'll try to get some pictures while they're in play so people can see just how cool they look.
I'm built for cold and while the weather is warming up nicely at home I'm not really happy with the big jump in temperature and humidity down here in Texas. And the hotel pool is closed.
I've been having a nice visit with my dad and will spend some time visiting the neighbors tomorrow. I probably won't spend as much time at my dad's place as I did today since we tend to run out of topics for conversation.
Tonight I was able to paint up the bases of the bulk of the dwarf army. I forgot to toss black paint in the bag so I'll get a bottle of craft paint while I'm out. It's just to edge the bases so it doesn't really need to match anything.
I thought I had some orange static grass but I was mistaken. I did bring some orange lichen but I'm going to hit the local hobby store and see if they have the static grass. I can't drybrush it to my color idea but that's OK as long as I can get it attached. I don't have the orange paint with me anyway. I was planning on doing that finishing touch at Reaper anyway. I'd just prefer static grass to lichen.
Not too much else to report. Travel (with a bonus flight delay!), catching up with dad, discovering the hotel doesn't have much to do and a very odd breakfast buffet.
Well, kinda. I'm on the last 2 models of my regular army. The piercers (archers) are done and glued to their bases. The bear rider captain has been lined. All 5 of them are waiting for varnish, which they will get tomorrow.
The last 2 figures are prepped and I actually started on them last night. I only started the second one because I had extra skin tone on the palette that I didn't want to waste.
Obviously the basing isn't done. As I stated previously that's the last of my concerns at this point. Gluing the materials to the base and priming can be done here and the painting once I'm in Texas.
I'm waiting on my light tent before trying to take pictures. Even if Mr. Rastl waits until my birthday that's soon enough that I can take pictures before I leave.
I'll also need to work on the carry case and carving out the spaces for the minis. I had a friend send me a bunch of old cotton t-shirts that I can use for wrapping the figures when they're in the carry case. The foam is a very mild abrasive, which leads to paint being rubbed off in places. I'd like to avoid that if possible.
I'll be starting on my lists of things to bring and things to ship ahead of time. I need to get my stuff shipped out by about Thursday so it has a week to get there even though it will be sent in a Priority Flat Rate box. Better early than late. That's just my melt. The army will be in my checked luggage.
I think I'll grow tired of these subject lines in the near future but no promises.
Errands and other things kept me from painting until a bit later in the evening but I made very good progress on the piercers (archers). Even though they're all in the same pose I have to take the time to make the hair/beards different colors. It's a quirk of mine and I like the way it breaks up the army. So all the beards are done and the belt pouches except for the detail since that's a color I'm using later in the paint job. I also touched up the primer (again) on the bits where it rubbed off.
I can see these getting done by the end of the week,easily. I'm pushing it out because tomorrow is paint night and I'm not sure how much time I'll get to paint after all that. I will be working on the lesser earth elemental so with any luck that additional figure will be done. That would be spiffy.
I did take the time to prime up the next figure so I can move on quickly. She really needs to be painted in 2 parts so the pieces are set up separately. I was pondering colors as I was priming her. I see a lot of white on this one for some reason.
I also started assembly on the last figure. He's going to need epoxy to hold his appendages in place. There's no pegs of any kind so it's all face-to-face assembly. That doesn't hold well with superglue and I'm just not up to pinning them. I'll mix a little epoxy and get that done quickly enough. The odd thing tho is that this figure is very much like the mancatchers in how he's designed so I can use the same color scheme and painting order to get him done. The hard work is already completed (decided what colors go where) so I can just fill in the pieces.
I keep all my colors on notecards for the army figures. That way if I need to paint more later I know what colors I used where. The unique figures don't get cards since if I ever do paint them again they'll be different. Why would I paint a unique figure again? Some special army sub-lists remove the 'unique' flag from figures.
I'm actually quite pleased with how these are looking but I'm getting darn sick of painting them. I don't think I'll be choosing dwarf figures for paint-and-take at ReaperCon this year.
I think you get the idea.
To tell the truth I'm getting heartily sick of painting dwarves. I know I'm on the home stretch and there really weren't that many and I should have been painting them much earlier but none of that really matters when I'm sitting at the paint table and painting more dwarves.
The piercers (archers) are actually coming along nicely. They're mostly armor and that paints up fast. As always there's some fiddly bits that will take a little more attention but that's to be expected.
I hoped to be farther along tonight than I am (going to do a bit more painting yet after posting this) but I also thought that the armor was complete after last night. It wasn't. Oh well. It is now.
At paint night this week I hope to paint up the lesser earth elemental. I'm not using him in this army build but I have my reasons for choosing him.
- He's not very futzy so I can paint him reasonably well at paint night
- I can use him in the 1,500 point pickup games, if I play
- He'll be done
I think those are all very good reasons to paint him.
Back to the table.
I seem to keep posting variations on the "I promise to have pictures soon" theme. It's true, I do want to take pictures and post them for your delectation. But it just doesn't seem to happen as I would like.
To cover the items in the last 'Yeah, yeah' post.
I did fix the lace/hankie issue. I unpicked the offending ring, made a new (correctly attached) ring, then assembled the whole thing into a continuous band of lace and finished sewing it to the fabric. And then made the mistake of bringing it to show Grandma Mr. Rastl on our weekly visit and she confiscated it. Before I could take pictures, of course.
As stated in a later than 'Yeah, yeah' but prior to this post all the undead pirates are base-primed and ready for paint. I'm putting these on the to do later list since I don't need them as quickly as I need the dwarves.
The bear riders are coming along nicely. I'd say they're at least 3/4 done if not more. I'll have them done in 2 more evenings of work unless I find something really futzy or really wrong. Then I'm on to the captain. Higher ranked figures tend to be unique so I paint them separately. It's much easier to paint X number of the same figure in a session since it becomes assembly line work. Adding in different figures means actual thought.
I'm going to work on the Mancatchers at paint night tonight and I hope to have some more good progress. I normally can't paint a figure to completion there due to lighting but I think I still have enough of the larger areas that I can get to the detail part and finish them up at home.
The terrain is still waiting for base coat touchups. I was planning on doing that during online gaming last night but my GM wasn't feeling well. I'm debating about trying that again tonight since our side adventure ties into the game we're playing on Saturday.
I made a couple more master walls while building other pieces and after adding another size into the mix I realized that I really did just triple the number of molds I have to make. Given how the walls connect at the corners to add another size means adding 4 walls. At least I can have a nice variety of sizes and configurations when this is all over. I already have a couple of people asking to borrow the molds once I get them done. I think that's a compliment.
A quick update on various and sundry things.
The hankie/lace issue hasn't been resolved. I need some time on the couch without too many distractions and that hasn't happened in the last few days. It's on the list.
The undead pirates are painted, varnished, and have the sand on the bases. The monster is one step behind because he needed to be attached using epoxy and I was waiting for another project to get to the epoxy state as well. That has been achieved.
I'm also painting one of my personal armies to bring to ReaperCon so I've been working on those as well. 5 dwarf bear riders are well underway. The bears are painted except for a couple of touchups where they were lying down and are currently letting their epoxy set as well. See above for 'another project'. This was it.
The bear riders need to be painted yet but now that I will be able to handle the model without fear of damaging the paint it will go much easier.
I also have 3 mancatcher models (nasty models with reach) that I started at paint night so those are the next ones up to be done. I'd say they're close to 1/4 done already. I'm such an optimist.
Terrain-wise I did get the final arena-in-trade pieces base coated but they need the touchups. I'm hoping to get those done over the weekend even though it's a busy one. That's looking for the holes and seams where the paint didn't get so it's kind of a finishing thing. The drybrushing goes really quickly and his decorative painting is easy.
Also regarding terrain I'm stealing a really good idea from a friend and making mold masters for village houses. The masters are completed walls with knuckle joints so I can pour an entire house in just a few pieces and assemble them quickly. It's an easy way to build a village. I'm currently making pieces in 4, 5 and 6 inch wall lengths so I can make some real variety. I'm out of the 30 degree blocks that are great for the roof angles so I'll need to cast some of those to make the roof sections. Gee, me having to cast more blocks to complete a project. Who would have thought it?
Maybe pictures this weekend, maybe not.
I don't have the harpooners or the crewmen lined yet so they're not quite finished. And of course, I used natural light so the pictures aren't the best.
Here's the zombies, nicely lined.
Yes, I have one. Unfortunately I can't share it just yet because Mr. Rastl reads my blog and he doesn't know what my nefarious plan is. It's driving him nuts.
I've got an offsite commentary going on the progress of my nefarious plan and I'll post it when I'm able.
So nyah to you, Mr. Rastl. If you thought you would catch me out here you were wrong. This was part of my nefarious plan.
Otherwise nothing much. I've got two of the skellies in the undead pirates almost done. I did a green wash over them and it may have been a touch too heavy. They're kind of green like the zombies now. Oh well. At least they won't blend into the Necropolis undead army. I've got two more skellies to paint so I'll see if a thinner wash looks better on them. And also their seargent even though he doesn't have as much bone showing as the grunts do.
I changed the toner cartridges in my printer and it seemed to fix the issues it was having with color streaks. I turned off the 'low supplies, stop working' option so these cartridges were way beyond what the printer considers empty. Oh, and my tri-color inkjet cartridge couldn't be refilled so I need to buy another one. I'm going refilled on that one and see what happens. I don't print out many pictures any more since it's so cheap to have them printed like real photos at the grocery store. And it's not like the inkjet printer is still under warranty or anything.
