About grumpyoldtin

An old git over the hill and declining disgracefully

Work in progress

Posted on January 24, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

Here is the next project I’m working on.

You can see in the background a squad of Tox Troopers from Anvil Industries. I often undercoat several projects in one go.

Just picked up a GW brush to block in some colour. Absolute shite. I’d picked a few up at the Artisan’s workshop a while back. At the time they had to give me a non GW detail brush because I complained so much about the quality. Still it’ll do for glue or something.

One down, how many to go?

Posted on January 23, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

Here is the first unit finished in Austria. A unit of Halflings, made by Battleforge, for my Albion army. The sculpting isn’t amazing, but they are so full of character and fun that I’d rather have these than a unit of dull but amazingly sculpted figures.

I had a lot of angst about finishing this unit. I had started painting them before I left Blighty and I had promised myself that when I got my stuff this was to be the first unit I’d paint. When I unpacked them I did a double take. The quality of the painting was so much higher than I thought I could do. Could I match it? I wasn’t sure and spent a while prevaricating before sitting down and starting.

The end result is good, but still not up to the standard I set.

I used a couple of new techniques that I have mentioned previously.

Microplaned sponge, I’m fairly pleased with the result, though you have to make sure that the particles are really fine.

Tester pots for the basing, this works well and I am pleased with the result.

I have started cataloguing and photographing, more work needed on the model photography. When the website is live I’ll post the address.

So here is unit WHFB/A/1/numbers 1 to 30.

Making a Wet Palette. Part One

Posted on January 10, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

This is very much a work in progress and some revisions may have to be made.
The Tabletop Minions video blog inspired me to start this project.

Here you can see I have assembled all the components I’ll be using

Here are the bits I need for this project

First off is an airtight food container, sourced from Morrisons. It’s not huge, about 12cm by 9cm.
A piece of card cut to the dimensions inside the the container. This is used as a template for cutting.
Scalpel, spare blades, steel rule and a cutting mat. The cutting mat is essential if you wish to maintain cordial relations with your nearest and dearest.
A short length of speaker cable, donated by my local electronics store.
One roll of baking paper. I don’t know if this is the right stuff or whether I need baking parchment. I’ll report back.
A pack of sponge cloths. Again I’m not sure if they’ll work.
I neglected to add a schilling coin which I use to cut around the corners of the sponge and paper.

Stripping copper wire

The first thing I did was to strip out the copper wires from the speaker cable. I recently read a post on Frothers Unite where a member had sourced some parts to make some wet palettes. He had put some copper wire in them to dissuade mildew from growing.
Quick question? Where do people store their wet palettes? In the fridge? Obviously nowhere warm which would dry the paint and be a hothouse for the growth of any fungal nastiness.
He also mentioned that his containers were fairly shallow so that was no annoying reach down into a sandwich box.
“Ah Ha!” Thought I, this is why I have several layers of sponge cloth built up so the painting surface is almost level with the lip of the box.

Marking the sponge cloth for cutting

Next, using the template, mark out where to cut the sponge. A good idea is to align the template to as many edges as you can. Thus avoiding any unnecessary cutting and ensuring that at least one corner is exactly square. Really I should have aligned the second set of cut marks to the left hand side of the sponge. It would have only been one more cut more.

Cutting the corners

Then using the schilling cut round the corner of the sponge. The advantage to having layers (six in my case) is that you can achieve a much neater edge rather than the sort of hacked about look that thick sponge gets.
Now wash the sponges out. There is something on them that makes them feel weird.

Copper wire

Strands of copper wire are laid between the layers of sponge.

Cutting the baking paper

Now to cut the palette surface, the baking paper.
See how I have drawn a template on my cutting mat? The mat has right angles printed on it. In under an hour you can cut up enough paper and trim the corners for a years worth of painting.
Find an envelope for the spare sheets and write down where you’ve stored them.

I put my money where my mouth is

Posted on January 8, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

Paint samples

I went to Bauhaus and bought two sample pots of emulsion. The equivalent of 14 pots of GW paint for just over four Euro.

So far I’m happy with the result. Pictures to be posted when unit is completed.

Predictions for 2014

Posted on December 30, 2013 by grumpyoldtin

I’ll put my money where my mouth is and offer a glass of decent red wine if this doesn’t happen.

This is based on me taking a small interest in Military Modelling and observing how that particular branch of the hobby is advancing painting techniques.

GW will introduce two, at least, weathering products. One will be a spray of chipping medium, Hairspray to you and me. And the other will be a Dust Wash or a Mud in a jar.

Just my ten pence worth.

Product of the Year 2013

Posted on December 30, 2013 by grumpyoldtin

Not strictly gaming, but damn useful.

The Really Useful Box Company.

They have proved their worth on my move overseas, strong, tough and stack like a dream.

Here it is! All of it!

Posted on December 9, 2013 by grumpyoldtin

All my stuff from Blighty

Well my stuff has arrived from Blighty, courtesy of Simpsons Removals.
NEVER
EVER
EVER
USE
SIMPSONS
!
I paid for a dedicated packing service. What do they say about a fool and his money?
A cutlery drawer just upended into a box. My Wife witnessed this. And again bits from my workshop. Glass jars, hammers and screwdrivers. No attempt at packing or padding.
My Wife has a smashed food processor, and when you are a professional chef it is a nuisance.
I have smashed plastic cases from poor loading. There are nine boxes of toy soldiers and an electric guitar missing.
When I rang to complain I was told that they have been repacked. I requested the paperwork documenting this I was told that Simpsons don’t always tell the client everything that happens at the depot. That makes a nonsense of their advertised inventory system.
Simpsons Removals. Just say, “No!”

This is what a dedicated packing service really means

Be organised. Write it down!

Posted on December 7, 2013 by grumpyoldtin

Or how I learnt how to embrace my “Special”ness.

When I was younger I was much more arrogant and assumed I knew everything and could remember it all. Which was sort of true as I only had a few paints.

With age comes (lack of) wisdom. I now have a fair few pots of paint and a need for consistency. Did I use a Games workshop paint? Or a Vallejo or a Foundry?

My answer, notebooks. Six of them! Seven if you count my daily notebook which I use for everything.

The Show Book.

This was used for Salute and SELWG. I would get the list of traders from the show website and visit every traders website. If they were selling anything of interest I would note down the price, catalogue number and stall location. Once I had drawn up my shopping list I would print out a map of the show and highlight the traders I wished to visit. This was so useful, especially at Salute as it was so huge. Before this I would lose track of who was selling what and this book allowed me to keep a tight rein on my budget.

The Recipe Book.

This is the most useful of the lot and if you want to take any advice from me, take this! This is where I write down how I have painted a particular unit or achieved a certain effect. I suppose consistency isn’t so important for fantasy armies, but for historicals it’s vital.

The Ideas Book.

Where I record interesting articles on painting, ferinstance… gold or a nicely painted example of a figure I’ve got in the lead mountain. As I have a growing library of books and magazines I want to keep track of where everything is. So an article on painting gold, So I go to the “G” section in my Ideas Book write “G1” with a description and what book/magazine it in and page number. Then I stick a Post-it in the appropriate page of the book/magazine.

The Book of Everything.

In this book I write down all sorts of extra information. Server configuration for my website. File names of web pages and layout details. Suppliers addresses. How to set up my camera for photographing models. Information that doesn’t have a home anywhere else.

The next two books haven’t been started yet. I don’t have any clear idea of how big my lead mountain is. There are boxes all over the place. It would be a good idea, not only for insurance, but also to stop replicating any purchases.

The first of these two is The Painting List. Once I’ve got all my bit shipped over and got a permanent place to live my first job will be to unpack everything, itemise them and assign each unit a number.

As I finish painting a unit this information will be transferred to the second book, The Catalogue. Each figure will have a unique number and details of cost of figure, manufacturer, photo reference number and price.

This is where I am having some difficulty.

How much do you value your work at?

I’ve looked at professional painters websites and I reckon I’m around the ten pound mark per historical figure. The waters were tested on Fleabay where two figures were sold for around nine pounds each on auction.

Once you start doing the math my lead mountain starts getting scarily expensive. My Napoleonic army when finished starts hitting the two and a half thousand pound mark.

I’ve no idea on fantasy prices, so I am thinking of a base price of five pounds per figure. Again scary numbers, my Night Goblin Regiments alone would pull in eighteen hundred pounds.

Anyone got any thoughts on this?

I would appreciate feedback from someone who has insured their collection.

Hobby tips and tricks. Part two

Posted on November 28, 2013 by grumpyoldtin

Have you noticed that when you spray modelling foam with an aerosol it dissolves. You can use this to your advantage.

I’ll tell you how I used this technique to make scenery.

I cut some blocks of blue modelling foam into house shapes. The roofs were made either with cardboard “slate” or teddy bear fur for thatch. Then I stuck on some resin doors and windows from an inexpensive Fleabay seller, Foundations of War. The final part of construction was to paint on a timber frame pattern with PVA glue.

Let this dry overnight and then give the building a liberal spray of black undercoat.

Hey presto! Before your very eyes you see the timber frame standing proud of the walls which have been eaten away. Once dry all that remains is to lightly sand the walls to smooth them. Finish the roofs as you see fit.

With this technique you can make a whole village over a week without too much impact on painting time or your wallet..

This technique can be used to replicate stone, with a bit more time and patience.

The November issue of White Dwarf

Posted on November 19, 2013 by grumpyoldtin

OK what happened to the Wood Elves? They were promised in the last issue and I was interested in seeing how they painted up the Wardancers. Maybe the December issue?

I would like to touch on the six new technical paints released. I’m making some assumptions as I can’t read German and there is no GW store nearby to actually see them for real. Please note I may be talking out of my bottom.

First up, Ryza Rust: does this have some texture or is it just orange paint? Do you want just one colour of rust? Back in the days of Rogue Trader (go and ask your Dad) WD suggested making textured paint by adding a little scouring powder. A more modern suggestion is from the vlog “Tabletop Minions”, use Liquid Greenstuff and carefully stipple some with an old brush where you want texture. Paint with your preferred rust colour.

Typhus Corrosion: is this just colour in a medium?

Blood for the Blood God: good old Tamiya Clear Red, what everyone has been using for years.

Nhilake Oxide: again, is this just a colour in a medium?

Nurgle’s Rot: this might call for some experimentation, but would ink/paint mixed with PVA do the trick? Or ink/paint mixed with a satin varnish?

The last product, Agrellan Earth, was the one I was most interested in. Again, why be restricted to one shade of cracked earth? With Vallejo’s Crackle Medium the world of colour is your crackled lobster.

Interesting products but with a restricted palate. So if you want your models to look like the product of your average teenage fanboy these are for you. But with a tiny bit of effort and probably less money you can have some more tailored effects on your models.

More thoughts from the void

Posted on November 13, 2013 by grumpyoldtin

First off, a confession. I have bought two copies of White Dwarf. Admittedly they have been in German, so I have just been looking at the pictures. I do wish I had looked before I bought the last copy as it was just full of Space Marines tm and bugger all else. The new edition is devoted to the new Dark Elf releases so I will carefully examine it before purchasing. I still do not think it is worth the money, especially as the first forty odd pages are a glorified catalogue and twelve pages are store directory.

Something that I have done over the last year has been to support crowd funding projects. The first was Mantic’s “Kings of War” Kickstarter. This was a huge disappointment. The Goblin figures I received lacked any sharp definition, as if they were cast in soap. When I rang to complain I was told, “Well they paint up OK.” I don’t want to spend my painting time fudging up details that should have been there at the start. Subsequent stretch goals have been received and on the whole are jus as poor. This was one Kickstarter I wish I hadn’t backed. As a result of this and the poor customer service I won’t be buying any new Mantic. The new Orcs from the Deadzone Kickstarter look rather nice, but I’ll wait and get them from Fleabay.

The second project that I backed was an Indiegogo one, Goblin Pirates sculpted by Kevin “Goblin Master” Adams. I’ve been a fan of his work since the eighties when I first started gaming. Nobody makes Goblins as charactorful as his.

A quick digression, sorry, I do this quite often as my thoughts often flit round from topic to topic without rhyme or reason. 4A Miniatures produce some beautiful Sea Goblin figures sculpted by KA. They have some more miniatures in the pipeline which I await eagerly. If you are lucky enough to attend Salute, go and visit their stand.

There is another collector who is commissioning KA to sculpt an old skool Goblin army. Search for Crooked Claw Miniatures on Goggle. I bought the Catapult and it fits in beautifully with KA’s “Machineries of Destruction” released by GW in the eighties. If I can justify it (not really as the lead mountain is high enough already) I’d love their Goblin Infantry.

And finally, Ral Partha Europe have released all the Goblinaid figures sculpted in aid of Kevin Adams after his vicious assault earlier this year.

Back to the Pirate Goblins, I had some problems with delivery and had to contact the guy via Facebook to get a result. Nice figures worth the wait.

Massive Voodoo was the next project I supported. MV are two German professional painters, Raffaele Picca and Roman Lappat, who blog about their work. Their blog is worth looking out out for not only for the figures but also for the tutorials. Their goal was to raise enough money to print a book of their work. I got it in the post a couple of months ago along with a bonus documentary book and some stickers. No regrets with this campaign.

The Iron Brotherhood was a Kickstarter campaign by Ramshackle Games. If you haven’t as yet encountered RG yet, please do. RG produce resin figures and vehicles. The vehicles are multipart and individual parts can be purchased from the website to form your own creations. The models aren’t quite as detailed as Forgeworld’s, but the casting is crisp and you’d be hard pressed to find any bubbles. Did I mention free worldwide postage and excellent service? RG’s Kickstarter aims to produce two squads of troopers, heavy weapons and a support vehicle. The troopers look as if they are wearing heavy chemical suits and I think they may fit thematically with my next Kickstarter which is from Raging Heroes, “The toughest girls of the galaxy”.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Forgeworld’s Death Korps of Krieg, who honestly hand on heart hasn’t? Raging Heroes produce the Kurgonova Sisters, female DKK kommisars, fetish stylee. One of the three factions in the Kickstarter campaign is the Iron Empire, basically female DKK troopers. Some of the fluff mentions dark necromantic powers and I thought the RG troopers would fit the bill as rather squishy reanimated corpses contained within a chem suit.

On the topic of DKK proxies, have a look at Anvil Industries “Tox Troopers”. A very passable and affordable alternative. I visited them earlier this year at their studios and very affable they were.

The one project that got away from me due to funding problems was “Arcworlde”. Run by a young chap who is showing unbelievable sculpting talent and deserves a huge following.

Not quite a crowd-funding, or maybe it is as it started before this particular wave, is the Heresy Dragon. An immense beast, look at the photos on the Heresy website. I don’t know how long this particular saga has been going on, but there have been some major casting problems due to the size and complexity of the model. It’s flipping huge and I can’t wait to get it.

Purchasing history

Posted on November 12, 2013 by grumpyoldtin

The last couple of months haven’t been totally hobby free. My rather expensive cats had a box of hobby bits brought over with them. I thought I could use this interim time prepping some figures. This is the part of the hobby I like least. I managed to squeeze into the box all of my Napoleonic infantry. Five centre companies, two Highland flank companies, a unit of 95th Rifles and a Portuguese line company. As you can imagine, me being me,they are from a mix of manufacturers so the units would have some variation in height as they would in real life. I used a mix of Foundry (thanks to a Central Saint Martins redundancy retraining grant ), Victrix, Perry, Front Rank, Essex, Dixon and Offensive Miniatures. I like the Foundry and Front Rank metal figures, the heft of metal. But what I don’t like is the lack of variety in the poses. That is why I am mixing and matching manufacturers. The Perry and Victrix figures are plastic and I much prefer the Perry figures. Much crisper detailing and not so fiddly to put together. But you do get more in a box with Victrix especially if you go to a show or get a multibox deal.

I’ve been making my units twenty four men strong as recommended by Michael Perry, but Black Powder suggests units of thirty six. Well as I tend to get a bit bored painting large units the smaller number wins.

The figures are mounted on MDF bases from 4Ground which I spent a few days drilling and inserting neodymium magnets. Movement trays are made with sheet metal and plastic courtesy of Central Saint Martins. I spent the last seven months there when I knew I was being made redundant acquiring materials and getting as much laser cutting done as possible.

Unit flags are by GMB Designs, as recommended by the Perry’s.

I am itching to get my stuff from Blighty as I want to try out my Foundry paints. Part of my redundancy package was a retraining grant. Wargames Foundry very kindly did a little creative invoicing for me and I got the complete Foundry Paint System, a British Napoleonic Army and a WW2 Home Guard force. I’d tried one triad of paint and I was highly impressed. So the opportunity to get the whole range for gratis was not to be sneezed at.

Forgeworld also did a little creative invoicing, so I have a Titan which I’m going to Orkify. I’ll be writing about this project at a later date.

There are some regrets about not being greedier as I still had a thousand pounds worth of retraining left at the end of the spending deadline.

Something that I have not regretted is a years subscription to the weathering magazine published by AK Interactive. Thirty eight Euros for four issues including worldwide postage. What I do like about the magazine is that although it is published by AK Interactive who produce their own weathering products, they are more than happy to showcase other manufacturers products. Unlike other magazines out there where it is heresy to admit the existence of a wider hobby universe. I also forked out almost fifty quid for FAQ 2 a huge book of weathering techniques published by AKI. Unfortunately when it arrived a pot of dark mud pigment had burst and coated everything in the package. AKI very quickly sent replacements (excellent customer service guys!). I carefully cleaned the book and was able to sell the “soiled” copy on Fleabay which made it an affordable investment.

Continuing in the weathered tank theme I purchased “Tank Art” volumes One and Two published by Rinaldi Studio Press. Volume One is about WW2 German Armour and Volume Two is about WW2 Allied Armour. There is a forthcoming Volume Three on Modern Armour but I think I’m pretty much covered. These are lovely books full of good step by step photographs and well worth investing in.

If I can learn to paint half as good as these guys I’ll be well pleased.

Hobby tips and tricks. Part one of a very irregular series

Posted on November 5, 2013 by grumpyoldtin

Meditation is good for you.

One of the key factors for being a good painter is a place for quiet contemplation. I have a small room set aside for this purpose. It is plain, warm, well lit and stocked with a few choice volumes for careful study. The only piece of furniture is a porcelain throne.

In an ideal world, with no stress and a good diet a twice daily visit would be beneficial.

May you achieve enlightenment.

Thoughts on the last three months

Posted on October 29, 2013 by grumpyoldtin

I have spent the last three months either preparing to move, moving or settling into temporary accommodation. Being a sucker for smooth talking salesmen I succumbed to the charms of an estate agent and a removals company. All I can say is, lying bastards. They promise so much and deliver so little. The couple who bought my house did it on the strength of the tour my two little boys, aged two and four, gave them. The removal company’s “Dedicated packing service” was nothing of the sort. I am so glad I spent time earlier to pack my hobby stuff away.

These three months has given me some pondering and reflecting time whilst spending time in this hobby void. I have four armies that I want to base with some consistency. The first pair, my Perry British Eighth Army and my British Peninsular War Napoleonic army, I wanted a sandy colour. The second pair, a War of the Roses Yorkist Army and my Warhammer Fantasy Battle Albion Army, I wanted a dark “English” looking soil.

A quick aside, if you do have an interest in Warhammer Fantasy Battle, check out Warhammer Battle Reporters. They have some interesting alternative army lists; reviving some old GW lists like Regiments of Renown, some new ones like Halflings and bringing them up to Eighth Edition compatibility.

Two further asides: one is that the Ninth Edition rules are rumoured to be released next summer with the game play becoming more aligned with 40K; and the other is that a small (but growing) group of gamers running “Oldhammer”. Gaming using Third Edition rules and old figures. Have a look at the forum http://forum.oldhammer.org.uk/ there are some lovely old figures on display.

Digression over, I’ll get back to basing. Doing this amount of basing is going to involve several pots of paint. Being the tight bastard that I am I was trying to figure out how to do this cheaply and consistently. The answer presented itself while I was browsing a local DIY store. I went past the paint section and there on a display panel were hundreds of swatches of paint in every shade imaginable. Further enquiries revealed you could get 125ml sample pots for just under a couple of quid. That’s the equivalent of ten GW pots! This sounded ideal for me, so I posted my idea on the Froth Forum and got positive replies from people who had already used this technique. One guy had taken the idea further and painted his entire army using sample pots.

So now I have to: find a house to live in, get my stuff shipped over from blighty and actually finish an army.

No pressure there then?