Tag Archives: Painting

Product of the Year 2015

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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.

Return

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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.
sign
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.
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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

Soaking the parts in washing up liquid solution

After a rough assembly i thought the turret wasn't imposing enough

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.

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

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!

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.

Extending the arms as it was otherwise going to look like a Tyranosaurus.

Finished arm with cables

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/

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.

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

Undercoated

Base colour

Base colour

A different base colour. I wanted the machine to look cobbled together.

A different base colour. I wanted the machine to look cobbled together.

A bit of rust

A bit of rust

Starting to paint

Starting to paint

Mud and dust

Mud and dust

A bit of colour

A bit of colour

Putting it together

Putting it together

And the finished result

And the finished result

More pyrates?

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Continuing the theme we have a pair of shipwrecked pyrates from Reaper.
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I have greatly enjoyed painting these figures but time seems to be slipping away and I always seem to get side-tracked by other little things. Here you can see an Oldhammer sign for my display case, some regiment signs for my Napoleonic army and some Black Powder gaming tokens.
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But the big news….
…..we finally completed on a house!
With garden,
Mountain views,
Workshop,
and Man-cave.
So no more tiny flat with all my belongings and hobby bits in storage.
Now my time is going to be taken up with getting the house ready and of course my Man-cave.
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Continuing the Pyrate theme

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Next up we have from Eureka Miniatures a Pirate Teddy Bear.
Just went to the website to post the link and it seems that Eureka no longer stock them. A pity as I wanted a few more. Here is the link to their 28mm ranges, http://eurekamin.com.au/index.php?cPath=87_126&sort=3a, there are some interesting bits and bobs there.
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Splashing paint for fun

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warp
I haven’t painted for the sheer pleasure of it for a couple of months now, so today I thought I’d change that. I haven’t set myself any targets or goals this month. It’s all about relaxing. I have been putting in a fair few late nights making artwork for my laser cutting and have been putting painting anything far away.
This is one figure from the Arcworlde Kickstarter I received a few months ago but didn’t start, well apart from prepping and priming.

A bit of an update

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As I said previously, painting has more or less ground to a halt. Not that I haven’t been productive in other areas. My main push was to get stuff ready to sell at the Austrian Salute in March.
That was quite tiring and on the day itself I suffered with fatigue and a nasty gum infection, so I didn’t really see the day in a positive way. I made the grand sum of three Euro but the guy next to me, from Templates and Widgets, also selling some laser-cut accessories told me that at his first show he didn’t sell anything.
A far better report of the show, with pictures, has been written by Sigur of Battlebrush Studios
http://taleofpainters.blogspot.co.at/2015/03/show-report-austrian-salute-2015.html

A 180 degree view of the show.

A 180 degree view of the show.


Number One Son looking after business

Number One Son looking after business


The project I have been getting on with is this.
house
A laser-cut model from the old Warhammer Cities book. The only problem is that I can’t sell it as it is based on a design by GW. I have now started searching the interweb for pictures of medieval timber framed buildings for the next one. If I find the right design I can tap into the historical market as well.

Some more bits for my retail empire

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Productive day today. I managed to get four batches cut today.

cont
The first was the shipping container. This time I got the setting right and didn’t have to spend an hour cutting it out. There are a couple of etch-lines which need attention. But I’m there.
case
This is a packing case. I probably won’t be selling this. Working on a formula of, “Three times time and materials” this works out at six Euro each. I don’t see many wargamers forking out that much for a single piece. So I need to make something a little less complicated in a cheaper material. This is made with 4mm ply rather than the much cheaper 3mm MDF. Which I have now sourced thankfully, now to find affordable acrylic.
los
“Line Of Sight” markers. These are designed for your less sporting opponent. For example, I have some of my Ork Stormboyz mounted on flying bases. So when they land behind a large obstacle anybody reasonable would assume they couldn’t be seen. So if you get anyone picky, “I can see your Ork, so I can shoot at the entire unit,” just replace your figure with a marker. “Can you see it now?”
alb
Finally a plaque for my Albion Army, when I finally get my display case out of storage.

Maybe something a little new

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There has been a reason why I have been a little slow this month, I’m starting on a little side project. Yes soon you’ll be able to buy Grumpy Old Tin Products!
In the past I had access to a laser-cutter and made a few little gaming aids for myself. I missed that moving over here. Looking online at what is offered to wargamers I was really saddened at what shoddy goods were being promoted to wargamers (there are some notable exceptions). If you Goggle, “laser cut art” you will see some amazing and beautiful work. So why isn’t it filtering down to us?
Well the answer is that every Thomas, Richard and Harold who think they can draw a square in a CAD program is getting in on the act.
I want better than that. My aim is to start producing beautiful gaming aids and terrain/scenery and painting aids and you name it.
Everything is possible.
You’ll already have seen that I have started branding myself and have now done the social meejah stuff with a twitter (what’s the bloomin’ point) account and a Facebook page.
Here is the first prototype. Bit of a learning curve and a few rough edges.
The Boundary Country Shipping Container.
container

January progress

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I’ve had a real slow month this month, a bit depressed and some minor health worries have taken my painting mojo. I have really been put to shame by the output of some other people, mentioning no names, amateurairplanes. My mood also hasn’t been improved by advised, by a builder we hired, not to buy the house we had been looking at as it had potentially too many problems and would end up being a money pit. So back to square one!
These guys were my first unit of the year and for a while the painting just didn’t do anything for me. It’s only been in the last week when I started detailing that they have started to pop. With a little push they won’t take long to finish.
ratling4

ratling3

ratling2

ratling1

ratling5
So obviously I’m behind this month and I’m very tempted to leave the painting schedule behind and just paint Snotlings this month.
But on a positive note, I have embarked on a new project, still wargaming related. It’s early days yet, but once I have something to show you I will.