Tag Archives: Toy soldiers

An appreciation of little lead men

Work in progress

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Here is the next project I’m working on.

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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?

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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.Image

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

Predictions for 2014

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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.

Be organised. Write it down!

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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

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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.

Salute 2013

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Well due to our house sale being delayed, I’ve got the opportunity to go to Salute. This will be my ninth visit.

Embracing my autism I’ve been looking at every trader who is exhibiting and making my plan of attack.

Anyone who is attending must visit Ainsty Castings (TM105) and Fenris (TB02) and look at the greens for GoblinAid.imageimageimage

I got there just after nine and the queue was already sizeable. When I got in there was a half hour queue at Forgeworld.

The whole day passed in a blur and before I knew it it was five o’clock.

It was good to see collection tins for  GoblinAid all over the show.

Lunch was the usual “Campaign” style lunch with wine, table-cloth, candles, fresh bread, cheeses, cold meats etc. etc.

 

 

All I can say is, “Holy Shit Batman!”

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This is this guys full time job, but even so. The sheer quantity and quality of his work is astounding. All of this was produced in one year! I’d be happy to have enough for one photo.

Anyway enough waffle, feast your eyes.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/499013.page

Here is his website, with a gallery of more goodness

http://www.gmmstudios.com