This is a follow on from the prototype in the last post. There are some minor adjustments to be made, but I’m just about there. I did misunderestimate the amount of roof tiles needed. The cut time is approaching an hour which is going to bump the price up, even at minimum wage.
For the last four months I’ve seemed to have hit a bit of a painting block.
This is not to say that I’ve not been busy, but I just can’t seem to be able to pick up a brush.
This is a prototype of a generic fantasy building I’m working on. The next step is to make the artwork for the wooden timbers.
This is a sketch model of a building I want to make. Thank heavens for pizza boxes, they’re great for chopping up and playing around with. After this I need to start playing around with some sci-fi buildings.
Still tinkering with my set-up so I decided to add a top light.
I used my beloved Anglepoise which had a daylight bulb. Correcting the colours was an absolute nightmare, daylight fighting against tungsten.
So I tried with another light, this one also had tungsten light. This was a much better option as the correction factors were the same in Photoshop as before.
My next step is to try manual focus, the autofocus is concentrating on the closest part and with a narrow depth of field it leaves the rear part of the model blurry.
This is a topic I’ve been having some problems with. Now things are starting to settle down a little with the house I thought it was time to get a little consistency with my model pictures.
There are a couple of blogs that I occasionally look at where their models are photographed with a scenic base and background and I quite liked it.
So here is my take on it.
The base was a square of polystyrene with some blue foam details. This was then coated in PVA glue and coarse sand added for texture. This was painted with some dark brown household emulsion paint.
Then it was drybrushed with two more colours of emulsion.
Then flocked.
I went a little low-tech with the sky backdrop. I used a diffuser tube, a kind of crude airbrush, figuring that the coarse splatter wouldn’t be seen.
On the reverse side of the sky backdrop I made a chaotic mix of colours. My main problem was that the card was not dimensionally stable and warped like mad. So I had to dry it like this.
Here is my set up. My camera is a Pentax istD. I went down the Pentax route as I have a large number of Pentax lenses from my time as a photographer in the Eighties. The soft-box and lights are from an eBenk WSB-342 studio kit that I bought for this purpose. The one thing I have done is to change the bulbs to LEDs as they don’t run as hot and don’t use as much electricity.
Here is the first attempt. The lights give a yellow cast, I haven’t as yet managed to source daylight bulbs, the white balance in camera is set to “Tungsten” and but a bit of tinkering in Photoshop (minimal, one slide of the colour balance) solves this.
Some trees in the background.
Now the chaotic sky.
So far the problem with this is the depth of field. There is far too much of it.
So I dropped the aperture right down and this is the result. There are some very minor adjustments to be made, but I think I’m pretty close.
Now to write down what I have done so I can continue to be consistent.
The model used for photography is from Ramshackle Games.
http://shop.ramshacklegames.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=20&products_id=255
Really I should be writing about the last battle I had with Number 1 Son or showing you progress on the latest project. But I’ll do that another day, I am suffering at the moment from a surfeit of schnapps consumed last night at the village Solstice fire.
I’ve now got a computer set up in the workshop. So now I can play music and I have installed Illustrator so I can make artwork for laser-cutting. It is very slow but I mustn’t grumble as it was donated to me. Why a PC? Well the laser cutter I am planning on getting only runs on PC and I didn’t want to take the family computer, Apple, downstairs.
Whilst unpacking boxes getting the workshop set up I cam across a few rusty tools that had belonged to my Father and Grandfather. Nothing wildly exciting, some center-punches and a rather nice pin-vice.
So they got an overnight soak in vinegar and then this morning a scrub with a wire brush and some wire-wool. I remembered that I had my Dremel set up in the hobby room, where I do my painting, so used that with a wire brush attachment to get into all the little cracks and crevices.
Here they are all cleaned and with a light coating of turtle-wax.
This is the pin-vice. I’ve added a wooden ball on top and I think I’ll make this my number 1 tool and shuffle the other pin-vice to back-up status.
I am starting to enjoy the fact that there is less and less Tetris involved when I am trying to get jobs done and the tools I require are right to hand.
The final job for the workshop is to get a L-shaped bench made which will be my station for airbrushing, glass-work and scratch-building.
After the Austrian Salute and Sigur’s painting induction Number One Son has expressed an interest in painting toy soldiers, “Just like Papa”. So we sat down with catalogues and looked in my cabinets and he decided that he wanted to paint Space Marines. He was greatly taken by the blue of the Ultramarines.
So before I went to London I hit eBay and searched for Space Marines, found some and had them sent to my Daughter’s so I could collect them and save on postage.
After my trial and tribulations in London I was able to get back home in time for his birthday where he would get them.
The set I got was all the marines from GeeDub’s Dark Vengeance box set. We sat down and looked at the figures, I have to say that I am very impressed by the plastics GeeDub produce. I fell in love with the High Elves from Island of Blood and now these are worming my way into my affections. They are very crisply detailed and look to be a joy to paint, I wanted to steal one to paint, but I wasn’t allowed. Anyway looking at them it became apparent that they were a specific chapter and not generic marines. I said that as they were his figures he could paint them anyway he chose, looking at illustrations he chose to go with the green livery, Dark Angels, instead of his previous choice of UltraMarine blue.
Next up came construction. Then came Priming which involved setting up the compressor and airbrush. All of this also came with the first steps of zen patience, because nothing can be done instantly.
Painting was the next step and Number One knocked out a figure an hour.
Hard at work
Our first battle.
I lost.
Our next combat
Apologies for the delay, but as you’ll read on I’m sure you’ll forgive me.
This was something I’d been planning for for ages. I have been going to Salute annually for about ten years before moving to Austria. Then I had a two year gap. I was hesitant but it was my Wife who encouraged me to go as I hadn’t been back to England since the move.
Salute, for those of you who don’t know, is one of the largest wargaming shows in Europe. Here you get a chance to see a whole load of traders and get to see their merchandise in the flesh. It is also a chance to look at a huge range of games that had been lovingly prepared over the last year. There is also the painting contest. This is drawing in some of the best painters from around Europe, so I didn’t stand much of a chance, but nothing ventured etc. I wanted to enter the Salute figure contest. Every year in your goodie bag is a free figure which can be entered into next year’s contest. Now as I hadn’t been for a couple of years I didn’t have the figure. A quick request on the Oldhammer Facebook group soon dealt with this problem. Many thanks to Mr. David Wood, more of which later.
Once the list of traders was announced on the Salute website I spent a fair amount of time visiting every single traders website and working out a wish-list. Then came the job of prioritising what I wanted to buy. In theory I had an unlimited budget but I was also aware that my lead mountain was vast (about 15 years worth of painting) so I tried to narrow the list down to what I actually needed and within a reasonable budget. I allowed a bit of wiggle-room as there was Kevin Adams, The Goblin Master, and no real prices or stock on the website.
Once I had drawn up my shopping list I printed out the Salute site map. Armed with my shopping list and site map I worked out a hit list in my notebook going up and down the traders in the most time efficient manner.
As I said this was my first visit for a couple of years and my first from abroad, so no home base as I was previously used to. The cheapest ticket option was to stay for five days. So a bit of Facebook posting got me some sofas to surf on. The first two nights was to be spent at my old gaming buddy Seb’s house.
Two days before flying I was struck with severe abdominal pains which lasted almost twenty four hours. I was worried that I would have to go to hospital and miss Salute. A further worry was that if it returned whilst in England I would have to visit and English hospital. After Austrian hospitals any trip to an English hospital would be like a trip to the third world.
Thankfully the pains vanished the day before flying, much to my relief.
I managed to squeeze everything into my little holdall, just grams under my ten kilo allowance. For the return journey I had booked a suitcase which was to be donated by a friend. I had also bought a lot of bits and pieces on Fleabay and had them sent to my Daughter’s place. Also in preparation I had some business cards printed up along with a promotional t-shirt.
These I had sent to Seb’s. The first delivery was left in the rain by the courier company so the printing company promptly sent another batch. Seb opened the first package and the contents were fine. I now had a couple of hundred cards to distribute in the queue to enter Salute.
The flight was uneventful but getting a connecting bus to Stratford was chaotic. The bus was grimy and I was reluctant to sit on the seats.
Such a contrast to Austria.
It chucked it down when I arrived in Stratford, everything was grey and miserable and the pavements seemed clogged with fag butts. A mad dash to get some shopping done, Tea and hitting the Poundshops (I do miss them) for epoxy glue, superglue and plug adapters. Then back to Seb’s. We had a pleasant evening and I played Lords of War (http://lords-of-war.com/) for the first time. This was a Kickstarter I had backed with the bonus that the cards were illustrated by Steve Cox (http://stevecox.prosite.com/) who was two years above me when I went to college.
Saturday, Salute day! It was up early to get a good place in the queue.
I had a minor problem with my ticket, which was swiftly resolved when I showed the email correspondence I’d had with one of the event organisers.
This gave me a chance to hand out my business cards. At the time of writing there has been zero interest in my tawdry offerings. I met Mr. David Wood, my Oldhammer Facebook friend who I’d never met in real life before and we spent the hour before the doors opened chatting away.
Then at ten o’clock the doors opened and in we went.
The day was a blur, not helped by my abdominal pains returning, and my carefully planned route didn’t happen.
Here are some of the highlights, that I can remember.
Meeting Annie from Bad Squiddo Games (https://thedicebaglady.net/) and showing her one of her figures I had painted.
This photo has been shamelessly lifted from https://mugodice.wordpress.com/2016/04/17/my-salute-2016/
This is my third visit to this show, my second as an exhibitor. I’m lucky as this is fairly local to me as I too am based near Salzburg.
We got here at 08.30 on the dot and were greeted by an empty room with tables set up and neatly labelled. My thoughts were, “Oh dear!” Or something similar but more vernacular, I could have had some more sleep. But people soon turned up and very soon the room filled.
This version of Salute is slowly growing and I think that soon a bigger venue will be required. But when I spoke to Walter, the show organiser, he was keen to keep the show at this current venue, “Small is beautiful” were his words on the matter.
Grumpy Old Tin was sited right next to the entrance and it proved to be a sweet spot as people browsed as they came and went.
Here are some of the games and exhibitors at the show. If you want a more eloquent description and more photos I’ll refer you to this post from Battlebrush Sudios.
http://www.battlebrushstudios.com/2016/03/show-report-austrian-salute.html
The day starts off with Walter’s address where he greets everyone. Walter, or El Cid as he is also known, runs the local gaming club/store and is the organiser of this event.
First up was an extravagant Forgeworld Zone Mortalis board and loads of Forgeworld models. They were running a Heresy game using 40K rules.
There was a game of Commands and Colours with Ancients. They were using Hexon terrain and I wanted to look a little later at the figures and terrain, but I blinked and vooom they had disappeared.
Next to this was Templates and Widgets selling laser-cut bases and markers. I still haven’t quite forgiven him for disrupting my Wife’s skiing plans, but that is another story for another day.
In the far corner was Casual Painting. The painting was well done but quite reliant on airbrushing which would have been nice if they had demonstrated it.
There was a game of Firestorm Armada by Spartan Games and displayed on the table were some of the Halo Fleet Battles boxes which caught Number 1’s eye as he is becoming a little Halo addict.
In the middle was a table with a rather lonely man showing off his DBA/DBM rules. I’ve since learnt that he is an authority on the ruleset so it was a pity that noone was really interested. He had some cabinets of some painted 15mm figures for use in the game. He told me that he gets them painted in Sri Lanka. We are at opposite ends of the painting spectrum he has more money than time and I have more time than money.
Close to me me was a game of Infinity with a container full of the sadly no more containers from Rackham’s AT-43. They are very nice.
Directly behind me was a table playing Malifaux. There was an interesting use of carpet tiles as a playing surface which I shall bear in mind.
Flames of War modern using the Team Yankee rules. Nice looking terrain and scenery and the armour was painted well.
The painting competition. Sadly not enough light for my poor old eyes and not enough space to get a look at the figures which was a pity as there was some good painting. This year it was single figures; Historical, Fantasy, Sci Fi and Steampunk. I entered three figures, but didn’t get a mention. So I need to up my game on that front.
This was a very nice looking 6mm Napoleonic game using rules from Kugelhagel.
The figures were beautifully painted, sadly my little camera wasn’t up to capturing them in all their glory.
There was a Chain of Command game using 15mm Battlefront figures. It used a battlemat which looked quite nice but it was very thin. I’ve been thinking about battlemats but I haven’t found anything, as yet, I’ve been totally sold on.
Being 2016 there was the inevitable game of Frostgrave which it seems is “The” game of the moment. Nice buildings from Battlefield in a Box, but as with everything I like, are discontinued, The boards were very good and were made from sheets of insulation foam.
Right at the back was a display game of By Fire and Sword which was tied in nicely to an actual shop selling that and a few other bits and pieces.
After lunch up popped a game of John Carter of Mars, where the ancients game had been. They were running it using the Heroscape ruleset and were using Heroscape hex terrain.
Triumph and tragedy. Tales of Adventure, Fortune and Fate. A 28mm skirmish game.
The big game was Guns at Gettysburg a big 28mm American Civil War game using the General de Brigade rules.
They won a prize for the best table at the show.
Then finally there was Battlebrush Studios with Sigur doing painting demonstrations.
I left Number 1 Son in his capable hands.
Here is Number 1 Son with his number 1 painted soldier.
This year was more positive for me. Time didn’t drag. I sold more stuff. And I was approached to exhibit at a show in Germany.
http://www.die-gruene-horde.de/index.htm
This is what Number 1 Son and I will be attending tomorrow.
Well I haven’t been painting prolifically as I have been mostly working on the house.
I joined a Facebook group called 1houranight which sets monthly targets and this has been keeping me motivated.
Anyway here is a selection of work. Apologies for the variable quality of photos, one of this year’s targets is to set up a little photo set-up so I can take decent photos.
The Adventurer, his Concubine, his Accountant and his Bodyguard.
These are from Moonraker Miniatures and are part of my Rouge Trader collection.
This was a Christmas present.
It’s from Mirleton. I was disappointed to find out that there is only one pose of this as I wanted a small unit of Skaven cavalry.
Another Christmas present a Female Orc from The Dice Bag Lady aka Bad Squiddo Games.
This is from Scibor and I bought it because a friend of mine is really into Dwarves. Seriously into them. And the thought of one of his little men consorting with one of the hated enemies will drive him to dispair.
This one is from Spellcrow I think.
This is Ozzy. He was a giveaway from Casting Room Miniatures. An offshoot of Foundry. Sculpted by none other than Kevin Adams. This plus a sale and free postage was too good an offer to pass up.
This is a test paint for my Imperial Guard Ogryn unit.
Some armour for my Imperial Guard. I think I may have gone over the top with dust and mud.
This is from Kromlech. They are doing some very characterful Orks and Goblins. I have my eye on some more Goblin Pirates.
Anyway that is a round up of most of what I’ve painted. That I can remember. Sometimes I am getting a bit “Senior”.
It’s been a while, and it gets worse everyday thinking I must add some more content. And then you don’t. And then the guilt builds up. So I am biting the bullet and adding a bit more content. It wasn’t helped by the fact that the editor when using a iPad was decidedly arsey.
This is the next stage for my painting, consistency in basing. I have, now, several armies each with an individual look, so it is important that the units in each army have some cohesion in basing style.
I am already recording what paints I use in a journal.
This piece of wood has been laser-cut with spaces for some 30mm bases that I don’t intend to use. The plan is to make up these bases as I make my armies and record what I have done in my journal so I will have a written record and a visual one.
I also want to experiment with other basing techniques and record the successful ones for future use.
This year there are two products of note.
The first is something you wouldn’t normally think of: yoghurt pot lids.
As I have two boys with rapacious appetites I tend to buy half litre pots. They come with plastic lids for resealing. Presumably the manufacturers don’t consider that their product will be consumed in one sitting. Anyway they make ideal one shot palettes, especially when using oil paints. I don’t have to worry about cleaning up, I just toss it in the recycling.
The second product is a paint from Vallejo, Dark Blue Grey.
I have been using it a lot on my Imperial Guard Army and have started using it on my fledgling High Elf Army. I wanted to steer away from the standard Games Workshop blue and white and head for more sea-like greys and blues. This clour just fits the bill.
As some of the more observant of you may have noticed I haven’t blogged much recently. My energies have been diverted elsewhere and have been dealing with some minor depression. The reason for all this is that we have moved. Now we have somewhere permanent to live and I can put down some roots and get settled.
There is a bit of time to wait until I can properly get to work on my Man-Cave as a new boiler and radiator systems have to be installed. Then I can lay a new floor and give it a lick of paint.
Once that is done it will be time to bring everything back from the lager and unpack. I can’t wait to see what treasures I do have.
One thing that I have done is to bring back my glass display case and put my painted stuff in. It is very gratifying to see my work in one place rather than wrapped up in boxes.
I have managed to spend some time on the hobby though. Earlier this year I entered my Ork Jet into the bi-monthly Puppets War painting competition.
For those of you who are unaware of Puppets War, they are a Polish company specialising in resin models and extra parts for wargames figures.
http://puppetswar.com/
Can’t recommend them highly enough, some very nice models and a good price!
Anyway, I got a first prize, a voucher to spend in their store. Which I did.
And here is what I got…..
Soaking the parts in washing up liquid solution
After a rough assembly I thought the turret wasn’t imposing enough
What to use?
In the bits box was the lid from a baby food sachet.
Seems to work.
Figuring out where to drill the centre hole for the turret
The roller at the front was too close. So I built it out a bit. More rivets!
Extending the arms as it was otherwise going to look like a Tyranosaurus.
Finished arm with cables
This is the nifty device I used for making the cables. The Tentacle Maker from Greenstuff Industries
http://www.greenstuffindustries.com/
Turret.
Puppets War sent me a few extra bits in the box and I thought it was only fair to incorporate some into this model.
Undercoated
Base colour
A different base colour. I wanted the machine to look cobbled together.
A bit of rust
Starting to paint
Mud and dust
A bit of colour
Putting it together
And the finished result
Yes. Just up there. Have a look.
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