Sunday, August 31, 2014

So... you think you know Nagash???

Was going through some old WD last night...  lookie what I found :)  I have to say, they're getting better at this stuff :)


and the link to the ad from the WD Magazine...

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7798976/Naggy.pdf

A pretty far cry from...

We've come a long way baby :)

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Companies of Fenris - Mini Review

  Hey folks, just a quick note about this book.  I picked it up on a lark, since I am not even a space wolves player.  I have to say though, it is very nicely done.

  The first part of the book is a look at four different units from 4 of the great companies.  It is a great overview of the great companies and how they different from each other and how they might appeal to you.  It's a good, meaty section of the book and it shows how you can have a lot of variation within the chapter. 

  After that section comes the painting section.  This is the largest part and it is really nicely done.  It's not quite like some of the other painting books, but still similar.  Oddly enough, it doesn't show you in the picture format what brush to use, but it does have a newer paint icon that shows the color a bit better, I think.  In the test of each step, they cover what brush to use and how to get the effect.

  What is really nice is that they cover a lot of detail work that you don't always see in some of the paint splatter articles or elsewhere.  There is even some new ways to achieve effects, such as the runes and even some OSL, although they don't call it OSL??

  The last section is the 'space wolves catalogue' or 'pleasse, buy our minis' section...

  As a whole, this book was far better than I expected and 90% of the techniques and ideas are not limited to the space wolves.  All in all,  I gave the book a very solid A, or a B+ because of the cost ($33).  Definitely check it out though, maybe split the cost with a friend or two and save some coin?

Ciao... for now.

Saturday, August 23, 2014

3d Printing a new Brush Holder

  Well, I have to say, I am pleased.  I have finally designed, printed and assembled my first 'thing' with my 3d Printer.  Oh, i have printed a lot of things that I downloaded, but this is the first object that I designed from the ground up.

  What is it?  Why it's a brush holder.  I had an older one I made from wood, but I always found it a bit... lacking.  Oh it worked just fine, but it only held a few brushes and it was kind of a kludge, all things being equal.

  So, off the Sketchup and Blender I went.  It took a while to knock the design up the way I wanted it, but in the end, it came out just the way I wanted it.

  What does it do?  It holds brushes when I am painting.  I have never been good at holding brushes in my hand for 2 and 3 brush blends, so this helps out there quite a bit.  It also holds the brushes horizontally while they dry.  While storing them in a cup is completely viable, I have heard from really good painters that storing them horizontally helps keep the water from building up in the ferule and causing premature rot and other bad things.

  I designed the ends with holes for nails or small screws, but I ended up gluing them to my base after all was said and done.  I also used offsets on each end so that you can 'stack' 2 or more of them to create even bigger holders.  I actually printed 4 of them so I could make a double stack.  I may make another for some other brushes I have around as well :)  Here is the whole thing in pictures;

 The finished, printed items.  Very nice even at normal resolution.  I didn't even think about fine resolution since printing 2 at a time was about an hour and forty five minutes.
   A side view, showing the way they interlock. 

Monday, August 18, 2014

Quick Tip: Airbrush practice with cardboard and milk??

  Hey guys, just a quick tip here...  I have seen a bunch of video's and posts lately on practising with an airbrush to get better control.  now, I don't now about you, but I'm a cheap bugger, and I hate wasting paint.  When you start practising your dagger strokes and dots, as well as fills and swipes, you go through alot of paint.  There is also a huge group of folks who always tell you to get your paint "thinned to the consistency of milk" for best performance.  I don't know about you. but for me to judge the "consistency" of something is pretty tough.  Here is what I did...

  Spray milk through your brush onto cardboard.  Yep, you heard me.  A small glass of milk will last you a long time of practice.  The cardboard needs to be the kind from cereal boxes or the like.  It will absorb the liquid, and show you how your doing, but it will also dry reasonably quickly so you can re-use it for hours.

  Why milk?  Well if you spray water, you'll get the same practice on your strokes and designs, but it dries very quickly and you don't get a feel for the effect of the right consistency of paint.  Water spiders very quickly, the milk doesn't.  By using the card and the milk, you can semi-duplicate what it will be like to shoot real paint on a real model.  Just keep in mind, the model will not absorb the paint.  You will get alot of practice and be able to try different pressures and distances from the object.

  So, if you're just getting started with airbrushing, or you want to do more than basecoat, give this a try...  You'll be glad you did.  And at worst, you can spray it into your mouth and try atomized milk?  LOL

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Starting the Storm Eagle - ugh - We're in the warp now!

  Howdy!  Well, I have started the Storm Eagle.  I have to admit I was very nervous about starting this one.  First, because it is a pricey model and second, because it was pretty warped to start with.  But after a while of hot water, and an aluminum plate, I have them relatively straight.  At least the sides.

  I plan on getting the sides and floor done, as well as the bulkhead and the door so that I can prime and paint the inside areas.  Even though you can only see it from the front assault ramp and the side doors, I just feel like I have to do it.  It would be weird to build such a nicely detailed model and not have the interior done.

  So, for the warpage.  I had to boil up some water then let it cool for a short time.  Then the whole side went in for a few moments, not even a minute.  I didn't want it to turn to mush!  Once they were out of the water, they were soft, I must say.  I had to get them down on to the aluminum plate quickly.  Mostly because the pieces were hot...

  I could not put them square on the aluminum sheet, because the pieces are not flat, they have a lot of raised details.  I had to pre-plan a method to get most of the surface area onto a flat plane and then know that I might need to use a blow dryer or even another hot water bath to adjust the rest of the piece.  They actually came out pretty well, considering how they started...   Here is the blow by blow for the progress thus far.
The original warped sides.  Warped across 2 dimensions too, so it would be harder to straighten...
The floor of the craft.  Massively warped, but very easy to fix with hot water and a few moments on the aluminum plate.

Here they are clamped to the aluminum plate.  You see how I had to fit them on in a way that didn't warp them around the raised details that they have on the inside.

Clamping on the engine covers and landing gear bays.  They were epoxied on with 5-minute epoxy for strength.  You can also see the engines are built, but I'm not going to attach them yet.  They will get primed and painted first...






  So, there it is, started.  A lot of work to do going forward!  Getting a lot of inspiration from TemplarsCrusade01 and his Thunderhawk build...  Thanks mate!!

Friday, August 8, 2014

Imperialis Basing Kit - Reviewed

Well, I saw it, I bought it.  I'm like that.  It actually looked kind of cool.  So here is the review...

I have to say, it does not suck.  It's actually pretty nice.  For the low, low price of $33 (US) you get 5 40mm  and 20 25mm base toppers and 2 bags (not just 1, but 2!) of rocks.

  The Base toppers are very well detailed, and they certainly follow the gothic theme of all the GW terrain, especially the new boards.  As you can see in the photos, they're pretty nicely done.  The detail is very deep and clean on all of them.

  At first, I thought $33 might be a bit much, but then I compared to Secret Weapon Miniatures, and the same amount of product from them was $30, but without the rocks.  (A quick note on the rocks.  As opposed to some of their other basing kits, these rocks look like they were put through a wash before being bagged.  There is not a whole ton of dust in the bags.  Nice!)

  Now, some folks will yell that SWM makes full bases, and these are just toppers.  Well, yes, but they have the same detail and they are more flexible in their usage.  You can break these apart to make even more bases if you need to... so there! :p

  So, all in all, a pretty nice kit, decent price point and essentially, two bags of free, clean rocks.  Who can beat that?



See ya round!!