So I've gotten some time to paint lately

Managed to scrape together a couple of hours here and there over the last two weeks to actually do some painting. And so with no further delay...the photos.

After taking such a long hiatus from painting to concentrate on work and my various other side ventures, I thought it best to sharpen my skills on a very basic model...a Night Goblin archer from the Skull Pass box set.

I went with a classic color scheme inspired by Jakob Nielsen's army from waaaay back in the day. All the colors are GW colors...my main ones being Mecharite Red, Gnarloc Green, Calthan Brown, and Chaos Black. I went for the desaturated look to everything, so a light gray was added to all the colors.

This fella here is the second of a commission job. An Adeptus Arbites, which was heavily converted by the commissioner (might have to get him to convert me some stuff). The fourth time was the charm on the eagle on his shoulder as I was having a hard time replicating the colors I used on the first model. The color on the second models is still a little more desaturated than the first, but its about as close as I can get him. Still I am very happy with the way he is finally coming together. I'm hoping to finish the orangey-gold areas tonight and start on the red areas. And once he is done, I'll primer his friends and get cranking on all three at once.

So...I think it might be time to move onto newer miniature horizons....

So...FYI...GW is going resin AND increasing prices again.

Yeah...22 bucks for Abaddon now. Not even that great of a model by today's standards...and 22 friggin' bucks. And now he'll be resin so if I fuck up, I can't strip the paint off (easily...I hate using Simple Green)...and if I drop him he will shatter into a million bits (I am a clutz).

So...what does all this mean for me. Well, I pretty much have all I need to finish out my Chaos Space Marines, Space Marines, Witch Hunter, Orc and Gobbo, and most of my Space Orks (they are more a labour of love that I only buy what is the coolest)....so I'm pretty much done. But hey I've been a die hard GW fan since 1990...so 20 years was a good run. Sure, I put up with a lot of bullshit....unnecessary line upgrades...gigantic price increases....discontinuing of EVERY SINGLE GAME I had time to play...the list goes on. I was long suffering...but I am just done now.

From here...I think I'll expand my horizons. Might be time to pick up some Sedition Wars stuff...maybe keep working on that Cryx army (Ed would just love that I'm sure). Heck, maybe even focus on my WW2 stuff... the possibilities are endless. Oh I'm sure I'll pick up the odd plastic kit from GW on Ebay now and then...but not like I used to.

And as a side note, if I'm gonna spend over 20 bucks on a model...I'm just gonna buy some Smart Max or McVey Studios stuff. Yes, they are also expensive...but those models are 54mm and are something new....and not just something that was repackaged and repriced.

...sigh...and another in the Pine Sol jar...

Yep...Mr Super Mutant....totally screwed him up within two hours of painting. Granted, going in the Pinesol isn't tragic...it does point out to me that I am waaaaay out of practice painting. I haven't touched my brushes in weeks due to other commitments and it is really showing. So its time to hit the basics and get my skills back up to par.

So before I hit the hay tonight, I am going to select one of the simplest minis I have and paint it up. Nothing fancy...which probably means some historicals. And hopefully if I remain faithful to my paints and brushes, the gods will once again smile on me....if they existed.

Custom basing....I has it.

This is my new custom base I built over the last couple of nights. And by past couple of nights...I mean 30 minutes here...30 minutes there.

The base itself is a 40mm Warmachine base. This is actually my preferred size of these types of bases as it allows you to really go crazy with the detailing AND it will work for 28mm single models and some of the larger models out there (a SM termie or an Ork Nob would fit on these no problem). Another reason I like these is that a 1.25 washer fits neatly into the recessed area on the base....and that means I have a solid metal template to work from when building the base up.

The raised "concrete" area you see is nothing more than foamcore. I mounted it to a 1.25 washer with sticky tac and proceeded to cut and sand the edges to make them smooth and round. I then mounted the foamcore to the plastic base using Aileen's Tacky Glue. I then sealed the foamcore with a mixture of Durham's Water Putty, Elmer's Glue, and of course water. I made sure it was thin so it would self level when it dried. I covered the entirity of the foamcore with it... which resulted in something that looks like concrete and has a rock hard protective shell so the foamcore won't dissolve when I primer it.

Once I added some bits and skulls from my bits box, I simply primered it with Krylon Grey Primer and now here it sits ready to be painted.

And just what is going to be mounted on this base?

Yep...him. And if you don't recognize what he is...perhaps this will help.

Hello Internet.....

I'm sorry I've been away....but I've been busy with other things.

Tonight's update is custom bases. If you are new to my blog, you might not know how much I hate plain bases for miniatures...hate it hate it hate it. Plain ones just make it look like your army is invading a golf course. The next step up isn't the greatest either...adding gravel and static grass help, but you can always do so much more.

This one is for one of my Adeptus Arbite commisions. Basically, flagstones and a metal plate....for which I still have to find some rivets...probably end up having to use some two part epoxy and then cut small pieces.

On to the next one.

This particlar base is special. Fully custom....a 1.5 inch washer with foamcore mounted on top. I've sealed it with a combination of Durham's Water Putty and Elmer's Glue. The end product is a hard rock like substance.

This is for a Super Mutant model from Reaper. I'm going for a Fallout 3 styled look, so this is only the first step in what is sure to be many.