Dezember workbench

Posted on December 5, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

A Treewoman from Ultraforge. She will be a giant in my Warhammer Fantasy armies. I’ve been looking forwards to painting her. This is my Christmas treat.

This is a unit of Pixies for my Albion Army. I’d already started painting them in England, but I’m not impressed by the work done. So this is a rescue job. They’re all individual figures so I’m not batch painting.

This is the Ork jet I’d started earlier this year and I’d like to finish it.
I’m not too much out on my painting targets for this year and I need to think about what my targets are for next year. I want to spend one month finishing my Field of Glory Roman Army. That would bring completed armies up to the grand total of two. If I solidly paint for the rest of the year I could finish my Napoleonic Army, but I think go bonkers painting eight infantry, three cavalry and two artillery. I’m going to split it up between Albion, Napoleonic and the Imperial Guard Army that I seem to have accumulated. Plus some one offs as treats.

November progress

Posted on December 3, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

Wukka Wukka from the Arcworlde Kickstarter

My Bolt Action Dad’s Army Command Section

Bolt Action Dad’s Army Squad

Fir Bolg for my Albion Army

This month I have mainly been despondent. A mixture of birthday blues and the weather. After an amazing autumn the winter has come, it’s all grey and bleak. This month’s workbench was all about finishing the unit of Fir Bolg for my Albion Army. I really started to hate batch painting and not really liking the colour scheme I used. So I broke off to paint one of Alex Huntley’s Arcworlde miniature. Do check out his company, Warploque Miniatures.

http://www.warploqueminiatures.com
He is alarmingly young and alarmingly talented. His figures have a certain style, not to everyone’s taste I will say, which I like. I backed his Kickstarter because I believe that in about ten years if we keep supporting him he will be an awesome sculptor. This perked me up a bit. I do enjoy painting single figures.
Then I got on with the Bolt Action Dad’s Army squad. These were Foundry figures. Much nicer than the ones that Warlord Games released. It’s obvious when you know that the Foundry ones were sculpted by the Perrys. Some of the figures I had already painted in England. I just wanted to get the squad finished and the command. Had a little play around with the movement trays to make them a bit more interesting.
Then it was back to the slog of the Fir Bolg. I painted them in block colour and it was only a couple of days ago that I finished that. I dug out two new brushes to finally replace my old ones. The fine detail one was down to four bristles and the blocker wouldn’t hold it’s shape. My new fine brush is a Creative Models Synthetic 2/0. So far impressed. And the blocker is a Daler-Rowney Dalon D77 1. Not so sure yet. New brushes suddenly made the painting easier. I perked up a bit but the figures were just not doing it for me. Then two days ago I finished the blocking. Time for a wash, using Army Painters Strong Tone Wash. POP! Much more interesting. Shadows, grubbiness more depth. I’ve highlighted the bones. It just remains to finish the bases, paint the eyes a glowing pink (or green, haven’t quite decided) and paint the Cross of Saynte George in Tamiya Clear Red; once varnished.
So still a couple more days work before starting December’s work.
And having to go to Vienna for a Nicholaus Party.
Oh the suffering!

Fun in progress

Posted on November 18, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

This is the Command bases for my Dad’s Army Bolt Action unit. I am very happy with the way they are turning out.

Some more fun

Posted on November 16, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

Some more work avoidance, the Vicar and the Verger from my Bolt Action unit. Although they are on the work list I really should be concentrating on my Fir Bolg. I just don’t fancy batch painting at the moment.

Varnished, prepped and undercoated

Image

A peregrination upon my rusty steed

Posted on November 5, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

Part of my work for this month is to finish a unit of Home Guard for Bolt Action. I’m using Foundry’s Home Guard Heroes which seem to bear a strong resemblance to the characters in Dad’s Army. The main characters were prepped and ready to paint but I was missing the Vicar, the Verger and Hodges. I remembered they were in storage with the rest of our belongings from England.
In the past I had relied on my Wife to drive me there or I caught a bus. When the Wife drove me there we were always on a tight schedule. It was either the Boy’s short attention span, it is a bit boring sitting in a large warehouse surrounded by boxes, or trying to fit the visit into the couple of hours the Boys were at kindergarten. Catching the bus always seemed to involve long waits and of course paying nine euros for the journey. As I’m not earning I’m trying hard not to impact on the family finances.
So yesterday I got thinking, I wanted a cheap way to get to the lager and I wanted to have all the time I need without being dependant on anyone. The solution was obvious when I thought about it. The lager is on the banks of the River Salzach and we live close to the river. So all I have to do is cycle there!
So I mounted my rusty steed and set off this morning. The journey took about forty five minutes and it was rather beautiful; the river on one side, forest in full autumnal splendour on the other and snow capped mountains ahead.
When Digging through my stuff I found so many distractions. I can see why it is such a good idea to keep my Lead Mountain out of sight. Over half an hour was spent looking through boxes and imagining painting the figures within.

A forgotten distraction

I did uncover a box of Talisman and Judge Dredd figures that I’d forgotten about.
Then it was time to wend my weary way back home. This gave me some thinking time. I always think better when I’m out walking or cycling.
After a round trip of just over twenty two kilometres I got home with the figures I was after and time away from the flat. Salzburg is pretty, but there isn’t a whole lot I want to see or do there, so I tend to spend a lot of time in the flat. Painting and blogging are the things that keep me sane.
Almost

My rusty steed

November’s workbench

Posted on November 1, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

This is what I have planned for this months workbench.
The main job is to finish a unit of Mantic Undead which will be used as Fir Bolg in my Albion Army.
Next up is to finish a unit of Home Guard for my Bolt Action Army. The figures are from Foundry and feature some well known characters.
I want to get a Penal Unit, top center, prepped and ready for painting. They are from Victoria Miniatures and they look very very good and I can’t wait to paint them. Maybe in the New Year? These are destined for my 40K Imperial Guard/Not DKK Army. Finally on the right are some Arcworlde figures, just for fun.

Scribd

Posted on July 22, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

Am I the last person to the party with this resource?
http://www.scribd.com
I just spent an afternoon reading and adding to my “Library” all the books that I had thought of tracking down on eBay.
Warhammer Ancient Battles for forty quid? I don’t think so. Most of these titles I’d only look at once or twice a year so money (I don’t have anyway) saved.

ACHTUNG!

Posted on June 8, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

Just a little side project

Can you tell what it is yet? Part 2

Image

Can you tell what it is yet? Part 2

This is my current painting set up while I am between houses and I just fancied having something a bit more tailored for my needs, rather than an old tray.

Can you tell what it is yet?

Image

Can you tell what it is yet?

Can you tell what it is yet?
A little side project.

Another basing interlude and thoughts on motivation

Posted on April 16, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

Just trying out a new product for basing. No More Nails. I have no idea what the German name is. I’m using this to glue the figure to the base and to fill in between the figure base and the base.

So far the result is fairly promising, the only thing that I need to work on is smoothing it out afterwards, it’s not as easy as the ready mixed plaster I have been using.

I really should be getting on with the projects that I said I would rather than getting distracted. I have just about finished the Albion heroes and the Albionican unit. They just need varnishing and photographing. The Reaper Necromancer Babe is underway. I will need to do some interweb research on what near naked skin looks like. Surely there will be sites I can study in great depth? Other distractions have been the Goblinaid Spacer Goblin sculpted by Mark Cragg. Prepping a unit of Napoleonic English and a Raging Heroes female kommisar.

Peter from D6 Painting and Gaming wrote a good article on his blog about what keeps him motivated to paint. At the moment I have been distracted by various models rather than committing to paint. I think that everybody has some form of reward system. Mine is if I paint a unit I can paint a hero/leader. I love painting individual figures and find painting units a chore.

There are two things I use to keep me on track. The first and probably the most important is to keep my Lead Mountain out of sight. Only one project on the workbench at a time. I love opening boxes and picturing the painted model in my mind, or discovering a model that I had forgotten that I had. It is also slightly discouraging seeing how much work there is ahead of me. At the moment all bar a couple of boxes are in storage in the lager. The second thing I use is a list. One item on the list a month. It helps me stay focused.

Next month is my Roman Army. I need to finish my Scorpions and a unit of Auxiliaries. Add metal highlights to all the other units. Photograph, catalogue and put on the website.

After that:

A unit of Napoleonic infantry

The reanimated DKK Troopers and command vehicle from Ramshackle Games

GW Squig Mangler

Unit of plastic Warlord Games Celts for my Albion Army

Three Ork jets from Puppets War which will be proxy Deth Kopters

Finish a unit of Faeries and a unit of Undead for my Albion Army

Finish my Bolt Action Home Guard and a unit of British Infantry

Ultraforge Tree Woman a proxy giant in my Albion Army

So if I stay on target, this will be the next nine months work. This doesn’t allow for any distractions like taking any commissioned work (no takers yet), any Kickstarter bits arriving or the bust of Kevin Adams which I am itching to get started on.

Stealing toys from my Boys

Image

Stealing toys from my Boys

I’m guilty as charged m’lud. Recently I’ve started using a little bit of black-lining on my models. It’s made up of Vallejo Black, Johnson’s Klear and a touch of water. I store it in an old Vallejo bottle and use the lid to dip my brush in. Problem is the bottle top is not the most stable and I’ve been propping it up in the corner of my tray. I had thought of getting some wood from my Father in Laws and drilling a hole in it. Tidying up my Boy’s room this afternoon, “Lightbulb!” There were some wooden blocks that I had to put away and in amongst them was a little red cube. It was a matter of moments to get the drill and make a small hole with a slightly chamfered edge. Just the right size and not too space consuming on the tray.

Production line

Image

Production line

Making a start on movement trays in my Father in Law’s workshop. I only have enough clamps to glue two at a time. Luckily I’m not in a rush.

Another brief basing interlude

Posted on April 8, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

I don’t know about you but I have been using basing sand since year dot. Then I spend ages painting and highlighting it to make it look like soil.

Is there another way?

I thought I’d try out something I saw in AK Interactive’s Weathering Magazine where one modeller used soil. That’s right soil!

So I went out gathering, some dark forest soil (shown here), some fine pale river silt and a mid tone.

This is the first test piece, I put some gloss varnish on one side to represent wet soil. I think that the “crumb” (blame programs like “The Great British Bake Off”) is too big. This is a result of the size of the sieve. The bits of root give it a slightly more random realistic look.