Back in the game(s)

I'm back to painting again, I decided it was past time I dusted off my paint box and jumped back in. most of the models this time around are going to be Warhammer: Age of Sigmar. I will probably being investing in some Malifaux miniatures in the near future but for now I need to start getting some back logged pieces done and start getting the new stuff done up right proper.

I will have a new set of plague drones posted within the week. shortly there after I will have some variant of Bloab Rotspawned and the blight kings. after that I will start in on the smaller Nurgle units, Plague Bearers and Nurglings.
  On the back burner from my last post will be a mishmash of Eldar, Some Khorne bloodbound from the starter and some Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures of varying brands. Ill be bringing back a lot of my basing techniques that can be found in older blog posts.
   Another potential project will be doing live painting sessions on Youtube. I'm not a super confident person  so it may or may not have voice overs. past that I may do a few posts reviewing different conventional paints and maybe some unconventional paints. I may do some base experiments again and try to find quick and dirty ways to knock out a bad ass base in almost no time.

I hope you enjoy the upcoming content and keep coming back for more, subscribe for alerts when new content is released and more importantly keep painting

The models I want to paint next, when I can afford them and have my painting station set up again.

Been out of the game for a while, Life has happened and with its happenings I have seen a great many changes.

With that being said I was browsing on amazon recently and saw some of the new(ish) Skorne models. these  in particular look like it would be awesome to paint. sometime I'll get back to painting things but for now I can drool on some of the new stuff that privateer press is putting out. I miss painting a bit but my current residence isn't set up for it yet.

And by the wayside it did fall

My blog was derailed for a bit while I dealt with some life issues that were thrown at me. I hope to resume business as usual soon after the Financials get back in order. I hope you enjoyed what I have posted and I really hope to hear some feedback and even some constructive advice. without direction I don't know that path and without a path nobody will find the way

cardboard workspace revamp part 1

well, my OCD went crazy. I bought myself a hot glue gun and after staring at the chaotic mess that was my work area I devised a plot to improve the workflow of the whole area.

Here the painting area the  most commonly used spot. I added shelves on the side of the paint catcher and then fabricated a few compartmentalized bins that fit on the shelves

This is a small shelf that catches odds and ends that really don't have a home. simple but sturdy and the most important part cheap to build.

Finished model bins on the top of the rack I put my paints on and again some more bins to catch the bottles and bottles of paint and the other paint acessories







This was one of my more productive nights when it comes to making things look and function better. the process of building shelves like this is very simple and again cheap. they are fairly sturdy if you put enough support sections in them. they can also be wrapped in fabric or some other material in order to make them more of a display piece and possible add some rigidity to the finished peice

once again......

Andy out

Basing your Miniatures: application of technique

Well, as promised I'm back again with the second part of my basing. In this post I'll attempt to give examples of different ways to put all you basing components together to make what you visualize in your head a reality.

 These are examples of a few different ways of applying the first layer of your base. generally I apply then in layers to give more demensions to them

 This is what water effects gel looks like applied over a light layer of sand.
Water effects is used for exactly what its name implies. but can be used in many ways

 This is baking soda applied over basing glue(white glue essentially) with this you have to top coat it with finish very soon after applying it as it doesn't bond nearly as well as I hoped it would.
This as you can see would be a snow effect around some stati grass or perhaps on a models shoulders

 This is super glue and baking soda. It leaves a textured effect and instantly dries. with this you can raise areas by applying layers or leave a texture on something you want to have a pitted and worn appearance.

 This is basic cork board. cork board can be used to make a broken stone effect or used to make risers for grass or other basing. I personally prefer to use it along with baking soda, foam bricks and sand to layer up around the separate pieces to make a ruined effect.

 This has three of the techniques I use applied to it. the first layer was two part epoxy clay. then I inserted magnets into the clay. I left a valley down the middle which I stacked some foam brick punching in and filled the gaps with sand.
The magnets make the model easier to transport or make it so you can change arms, if your model comes with multiple options.

 Here is the cork board as the first layer, around the edges I applied foam bricks and sand making the transition flow a bit more

 This is the other options available with water effects. by adding necrotic green to it and shaping divots into it, it gave me just what I needed to make a nurgle base

 This is a cork base with the sand, brick and baking soda applied to it. it made for a wonderful ruin to mount my skull cannon model to.
Another recommended technique for paint the base it use washed rather then all paint. I lay down a base coat of what ever color most of the base will be then I wash it back a bit and put a few high lights in by dry brushing a bit

 Here are the bases for my plague drones. using the necrotic green mixed with water effects and then washing it with reikland fleshshade(citadel wash) I came out with a lovely rot patch fit for papa nurgle himself

This is a base for my flamer of tzeentch. again water effects with orange was applied and the reikland fleshshade was used to wash the color back a bit









The only major technique that wasn't covered was two part epoxy clay. with this you just cut a piece off and mix it then shape it to whatever you want. its the same as sculpting with clay, you can also wet you tools/fingers and it comes out smoother then it would otherwise(fingerprints are bad mmkay)

This ends this post and remember when your are glued to more then one thing, its time to take a break


Andy

Miniature bases, the how and why of the thing

There is a variety of way to base your miniatures. the usual methods are getting sand and stati grass from you local hobby store, or gathering other materials from you environment. theses are the simplest methods. I've ran across different methods that I will share with you here.

Here is some of what I use on average. some type of glue on average its white glue, but sometimes super-glue will be a better choice.
  Some type of sand or grass is also very useful,  I sometime use baking soda to make snow effects or with super glue to add a layered look to the base before I apply sand or grass.
  The tube in the middle is a two part epoxt clay that works for sculpting whatever you need, it is paintable and dries very hard

 This is the glues and adhesives I use on average, there is a gap filling hobby glue(purple lid), white basing glue, Average everyday super glue and finally a water effects acrylic gel that you can add pigments to or apply baking soda over to make some interesting snow and ice effects.

  These are the current materials I use for base work, the two containers in front are sand and statigrass from games workshop. the baking soda is something I just recently learned about and started  using just today. as previously stated you will need some glue. white glue doesn't discolor the materials when you apply them to it, the superglue will make it seem a bit wet looking

This is craft foam, it is 99 cents from hobby lobby. cheap and dirt way to cut or punch shapes for whatever you need. as you can see I have punched quite a few rectangles out of it that make tiny bricks for rubble piles on my mammoths base. they are paintable and absorb some of the excess super glue making them more ridgid

 This is cork board, it can be used as stone slates or any number of terrain features. I haven't use much of this but the bit I used on one of my reaper mini's does look decent.

  If you model's come with bits and bobs that you arn't planning to use then use them on bases. An example is I used left overs from praetorian and a damaged immortal with epoxy to make it look like my mammoth had accidentally killed some of his own men

   This is a few of the tools I use on average. clay sculpting tools, files, exacto knives, tweezers and a paper punch to make craft foam bricks









This post will have a follow-up displaying what each material looks like when it is applied. now I must return to the wonders that seem to leak out onto my mini's.

Don't forget to pet you pets, they really like it

Andy out

assemble the skorne

well so far so good all of my skorne models are fully painted. thus I bring you a look at my small and humble collection of warmachine / hordes models.