Stonewalling...

This weekend I've been making drystone walls for my 14th century medieval/fantasy village project.
After viewing a few tutorials on Youtube, I decided to go the "gravel and PVA in a mould" route:

A traditional Dwarven breakfast porridge. :D

Put it into a mould with some baking paper:

Leave to thoroughly dry and harden and you have:

Dwarven Granola Bars! :D

I had to do a quick test layout:

Need to fill some gaps on the undersides, but this will work nicely!

Time to get basing!

And a little farm setup with the Perry Miniatures medieval cottage.  Just need to stick some pigs in the wattle pen, cows or corn in the stonewalled fields.
I still need to build one or two wooden gates, as these will probably used for sheep/cow meadows. And then I can start painting this batch!

After that I want to add a chicken coop, some veggie gardens and a midden pile, and then I think I can call this first farm complete. Maybe some random tools and farm implements as scatter terrain.

See you next time!

New year! New.... well, nothing really... Just more of the same...

Another month, and another year have passed...
What have I been up to, and what do I intend to be up to?

Well, the past few weeks have been very busy, holidays, busiest time of year at work, and health worries about my mother, plus frustrations about not being able to get her the care she needs (and we need her to have) have kept my energy and time for the hobby low.

I've kept going on the Blackstone Fortress set, and have the first character and two sets of monsters done:

Espern Locarno and the Spindle Drones (Sounds like a band name...):

Ofcourse at this point I realise I forgot to paint the trim on the inside of his robe...
Bases will be done at a later point, all at once.

And the Ur-Ghuls

(In this foto I hadn't done the mottling on their backs, I'll do some glamour shots later, once more is finished).

The Multiverse Gaming terrain hasn't progressed since last time, I still need to get my feet wet with LEDs, before I dare continue...
Doesn't means I've been sitting still on the terrain front, though.
Last week this arrived:

So, I can get started on building some containers/container shanties for Necromunda.

As always, it'll work fine for 40K and Kill Team as well.

Additionally, I started a little conversion for the fun of it:

 Not the final head or shoulder pads. I may end up going with larger shoulder pads and a Ruststalker head instead. I just need to source the bits and see if I like it. It will most likely be an assault/labour servitor or a midget Ambot or some such.

As I got a pot of resin for Christmas, I needed something to try/practice it on. So I started making some toxic sump pools for Necromunda:

The sand-PVA mix on them is drying at the moment, hopefully paint and resin next week.

Past year's paints:
I've also taken the time to look back at what I painted last year, and I managed to get 47 figures painted, 2 scratch-built Necromunda terrain pieces, and one of my 4 sets of Multiverse Gaming Terrain. For me, that is a reasonably good year, these days.

Looking to the future:
So, what are my plans for the coming year?
Basically for the next few months I want to finish on two main projects:
-Blackstone Fortress: I want to get all the mini's painted and start playing it.
-Multiverse Gaming Terrain: I want to finish my set of Multiverse Gaming Terrain, so I have a decent set of Zone Mortalis (esque) terrain for Necromunda and Kill Team.

However, me being me, some secondary projects have popped up.
-LEDs: For the Multiverse Gaming Terrain, I want to incorporate LEDs, but I need to do some practice pieces to build confidence.  So, I will have to plan and build something that needs lighting up (any suggestions?)...
-Resin: I have a pot of resin now, and I intend to use it before it goes off. The Toxic Sump Pools above are just the trail project, to see how I should handle resin. After that there are various, still vague plans. I hope to incorporate the resin in the Multiverse Gaming Terrain project as well, to use as leaks and the toxic pools shown on some Necromunda terrain boards.

Both  the above projects tie back in to a main project and will teach me new hobby skills so I'm okay with that, and the side projects were more or less planned.
Less planned is the Space Wolf Army that seems to have spontaneously materialized... I bought the Stormclaw at the time for the Ork content, and to get Space Wolf Terminators for the Space Hulk project. Now I ordered the Tooth and Claw set, to use the Genestealer Cult models for the Space Hulk Project/Necromunda/Kill Team project.  But now I'll have a Primaris contingent of Space Wolves as well... Plus the remaining metal Wolf Guard, Wolf Scouts and Characters I kept from an aborted earlier edition Space Wolf army...  And an airbrush to paint all that grey quicker... And a clear idea for the colours to use from the Inquisitor scale Space Wolf I did last year. The snowball is rolling and growing, and I'm sure I can hear wolves in the distance... ;)  It's not like I have a Howling Griffons army to build, or a Word Bearer one hiding in boxes for assembly...  But on the other hands, it would mean some opposition for my Orks, so I could host games and maybe introduce my son to 40K.
Eh, I have a whole year ahead of me, we'll see how it goes.

See you all next time!

Standing on the Precipice

Well, this weekend I managed to get all the miniatures for Blackstone Fortress assembled:

I decided that simply painting in the glowing lines that represent seams in the material of the Blackstone fortress wasn't enough for me. So out came the panel line scriber and a metal ruler:

In theory I could play a game of Blackstone Fortress now. But I really want to try and paint them all before I do so... Luckily with an airbrush priming and basecoating (parts of the) mini's should go somewhat quickly.

See you next time!

Time for an update!

So, it's been a few weeks since my last post. But I haven't been idle. (Just lazy with posting... My apologies!)
Time to catch up. What have I been up to?
Mostly, I've been spending my hobby time experimenting with the airbrush and finding it quite entertaining.
Here are some of the projects I've been working on, most are an excuse to get time in with the airbrush, get used to things.

A Zero:

 This plane is a trial run for the J7W1 Shinden kit that I have. I want to get colours and techniques sorted out before I start on that kit. At this stage it needs decals and brushpainted details.

To keep in the Japanese theme, I've also been slowly but surely working on a 90mm display model of a female Samurai. With this one I'm taking my time as I want this one to be display-worthy, not just a throwaway practice project. The model and subject simply deserves it. To that end, I've also made a (simple) display plinth for her:

(As you can see in the background, I also hammered out a quick squad of Necrons for 40K/=I=Munda skirmishes.)
The lady Samurai has also reached the brush-painting stage this weekend, so I'll be spending some time with her on the painting desk over the next couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to the final result, but I'm not willing to rush the model. Best take my time for optimum result. With this model I've really discovered the joys of Blu Tac masking.

The final (current) airbrush experiment has been a Warhammer 40K Eldar Vyper. I don't play Eldar, or own any more models of them beyond this one. I just got this one once from someone who knew I was "into that Warhammers stuff", and maybe I could do something with it. So a good excuse to tackle a model and a colour I wouldn't quickly choose for other projects:

Main lessons from this one: Airbrushing is really, really cool (but that's really a lesson learned from all these projects!), have the patience to wait for things to dry, and don't remove masking until you're ready to either stop painting or can safely put the masked item aside from any overspray....

I've also been building some Deffkoptas and painting another trio of Meganobz for my Ork army.

And with the weather being as nice as it is the last few weeks, I've also taken the occasional night off for some late night flame staring sessions:

I've missed out on Militracks this year, due to budgetary and planning constraints, but will be sure to rectify that next year!

What is in the project qeue after these? 
There is still a piece of Necromunda terrain to airbrush the base colours on, my Goliath gang needs finishing, I'd like to do some more on my Orks, especially the Stompa is starting it's siren call for the airbrush... I still want to build a skimmer boat inspired by the Mare Solum facebook group (an alternate Necromunda setting, placed on an ocean world, really intriguing stuff!). And I have a pair of larger scale Battletech/Macross robot kits that I'd like to paint. GW has announced Adeptus Titanicus for August and the models are looking mighty appealing.
Plus I'm still combing through my stockpile for quick projects that allow me more airbrush practice...
Whew! I need longer weekends!

Here we are, all caught up...

See you next time!

Hive, Sweet Hive, part 8: The Slag Barons starting lineup.

Well, I just finished assembling the starting lineup of my Goliath gang, the Slag Barons:

   Boss: Maximus Beefcake

Champions: "Shredder" Jonns & Rogi "the Riveter"

Gangers: "Gunner" Bran, "the Gimp" and "Growler" Lugos

A rather small starting gang, but maybe, if I can find suitable miniatures in time, I will swap out "Shredder" Jonns for a Juve and a lightly equipped Ganger to get some more bodies in the lineup. But for now, this is it.

See you on the other end of the holidays!

Hive, Sweet Hive, part 7, Introducing the Slag Barons

Hi folks,

Over the past weekends I've been experimenting with the Airbrush a bit (nothing picture-worthy) and I've assembled and cleaned all the doors, barricades and various doodads from the new Necromunda box (Basically anything that isn't a Goliath or Escher miniature) with the intention of making some headway with them over the winter.

Today I've also started on the Goliaths. Initially because I wanted to get a feel for the new kits and build some minis. The Goliaths seemed a good start because I didn't care overly much about them.
Boy, has building them made me change my mind! The kit is great, lots of character. I'm liking the Goliaths more and more.
I wonder if I will have the same response to the Escher once I start building them? (With the great exception that I already like the Escher a lot, as the old Escher have been my most beloved sculpts of the Old Necromunda.)
Anyway, enough pre-amble, let me introduce the Slag Barons (warning, less-than serious/PC naming conventions ahead!):

  

Maximus Beefcake, the leader of the Slag Barons, this is in an relatively early stage of WIP.
He is based on the AoS Slaughterpriest that was a WD freebie, with a chestplate from a Khorne Blood-something, Goliath powerhammer, combi-pistol and head. The head has the largest Escher mohawk carefully shaved down and spliced into the Goliath noggin. I was originally planning to call him something along the lines of Lugos Ironbreaker or Facemauler, but while working on him, his insane size prompted me to jokingly call him " Maximus Beefcake" and that sort of stuck...

The core of the gang, from left to right "Shredder" Jonns, Boss Maximus Beefcake (now complete, save drilling of the gunbarrels) and Rogi " The Riveter".

The last figure I built tonight, still undecided on what weapons to give him (leaning towards Grenade launcher, brute cleaver/axe and maybe a stimm slug stash), all I know for certain is that they call him..." The Gimp":

I'm looking forwards to building more roided-up nutjobs soon...

See you next time!

Hive, Sweet Hive, part 6: Feeling salty...

Well, it's the Necromunda release weekend, but mine hasn't arrived yet. :(

Still, not one to miss out on the fun, and having had a trial run of indoor airbrushing at a friends place yesterday, I decided to get some work done. I set up my own little ghetto spraypainting booth and set to.
Hence the saltiness:

The first of my Necromunda buildings, after receiving hairspray, salt and the first layer of colour.
This was shortly after a (late) lunch and I finished a bit after dinner, here are the results, as things are drying:

From here on, more traditional painting techniques will take over.

Lessons learned today:
-Vallejo Game Air Red Primer is a vicious nozzle-clogger...
-I need to find a darker, deeper yellow with good airbrush coverage. The one I used is a bit too pale to my tastes.
-Masking over salt is no fun... And I need tape what sticks a bit better, for this particular situation.
-I tried to cram too much work into one day, causing me to rush things, lose focus,  not enjoy myself and make errors. (The worst of which was spilling half a pot of airbrush cleaner. That really put a damper on my mood, as it wasn't my own, and kind of ruined the vibe of the work for me.)
Next time I should divide the work over an entire weekend.
-My airbrush area needs to be re-thought and rearranged, at this moment it is too cramped and uncomfortable to get into a work flow. Either the workbench is too high, or my chair too low. I need more table space to lay things out as well. Part of the cause for the spillage was that everything was crammed together and I was constantly moving things around to be able to work.
-I should have varnished after painting the base rust effects, here and there the salt didn't just take away the last layers of paint, but stripped right back to the bare surface. Touch-ups are needed.
-Airbrushing is actually rather quick (and fun, as long as I don't let myself get rushed and/or foolish).

I'll have a look at the scenery piece again in a few days, see what I think of it one  the fatigue and frustration of a monster airbrushing session (by my novice standards, as it's all a new proces, everything seems to take more thought, concentration and effort) have had time to fade away.
Then smack on some varnish to prevent the hairspray from lifting off as I continue painting this monster.

See you next time!

Hive, Sweet Hive, part 5: Rust to rust.

Took a while, but I got to sit down with terrain and airbrush this weekend.
The original plan was to do the rust effects base layer Saturday so I could salt-weather the metal areas today. Unfortunately I spent most of Saturday fighting with mixing ratios and nozzle clogging (I'm fairly new to this whole airbrush thing...) and I couldn't get a mixture with a satisfying coverage without clogging constantly. So I packed things up instead.
This morning Sjors came over to lend me his Vallejo Air set, and things got off flying! It meant I didn't have to fight the mixing ratio and paint and could focus on getting used to the airbrush and getting things done instead! So today I finished the rust effects on the first terrain piece and the loose barriers and walkway. Next weekend I'll try the salt weathering and hopefully also get a start on painting the other parts of the terrain piece. Or I will keep the airbrush running and start the rust stage on the second piece as well. We'll see.

Here are the results  of today's efforts, after the airbrushing stage:

Nicely mottled, but a bit low in contrast and "pop". So I sponged on some extra orange "spot rust":

That's the ticket! Next time I work on this piece, a lot of the rust will likely be covered up again. But no matter, that's the point of the technique. Plus, as I'm not yet familiar with the technique so covering up more than I need with the rust effects at this point prevents me from accidentally uncovering bare primer during the salt weathering...

As I expect to be using a lot of wash on the Necromunda Terrain project, Sjors and I also spent some time mixing Nuln Oil and Agrax Earth surrogates, Luke's APS style.  I now have a small(-ish) jar of each, enough to thoroughly test it, and finish/drench a terrain piece or two. All in all, a good hobby-weekend!

See you next time!

Hive, sweet Hive, part 4, getting somewhere

Here's last weekends progress:

 Top platform/roadway built.

 Platforms and bridge added to the side, as well as extra detail. Sadly no real room for a full shanty house, I'll have to save that for a next terrain piece. Perhaps even make that the central theme of it...


Walkway testing, the magnets give a real strong grip and a positive connect when placing. No fear of these getting nudged and falling.

 Sturdy and stable, just the way I like it. The greatest risk will be minis sliding due to the (relatively) high angles I can connect these at.

 I even get a strong connection on the metal bottles of a Pringles can. This looks precarious, but is actually a quite stabile connection!

 The details on the other side of the Hiveway.

 The set of railings and "battlements" I built. Some of these are made from building scraps from the scenery pieces I've built. Realism, recycling and cleanup in one go! These are all magnetized to connect to the steel tape that also anchors the walkways.

 Like this. Now this setup may just be a bit excessive... ;-P

Primed the lot, hopefully paint can happen in the coming weekends. Looking forward to experimenting with the airbrush and (maybe) some weathering techniques.

See you next time!

Hive, sweet Hive, part 3: Prepwork

I felt a bit under the weather today, and needed to conserve energy and prepare for a job interview tomorrow as well. So no start on a next building just jet. Instead I attempted to do a few of the little "chores" that will come handy in the future.
I made a few Oyumari molds of some interesting features on various kits, that I may use on future buildings. I also tried out making a ladder and stairs, so I could work out any tricks or hiccups in the process before I committed to using them in a piece of terrain:

So far, so good, no major snags or problems, I just need to take the time to build them and be neat about it. I actually found the stairs somewhat relaxing to build. I need to play with the spacing a little bit, but it will grip the base of mini, so they won't fall of the stairs.

 Someone on a forum also asked for a close-up of my ladder platform prototype, so here it is:

 

See you next time!

Hive, sweet Hive, part 2

Work has progressed on building one.
I've adde more detail, in the form of piping and tubing coming out of the side as well as little scrap sheets of metal for repairs and such. Some greenstuff molded bits as well.
I've textured the Pringles tube to look nice and dirty and grungy. I also used patches of the same filler on parts of the floor and wall to get some nice texture variation. The rest was done with good old sand.

As you can see there's a bit of cover on the upper floor in this picture. That isn't permanently mounted... You see, I had a cunning plan and bought some steel tape to put along the edges of platforms. Magnets can grip on to this to mount barriers such as these or help keep bridges in place. This barrier is just a quick, nasty test case to see if things would work.
I'm glad to report they did. :D

I'm all out of primer, so I'll need to pick some up. Not knowing when a new job will start, I'll need to carefully ration my cash, so I can't really say when I can get new primer. Sucks a bit, buy hey, I've got plenty to build still!  I'm just trying to decide what I'll build next at the moment.

See you next time!