Going beyond the threshold.

As the "Birthday Project" has been wrapped up (literally!)  and I don't feel quite up to tackling the rocking chair just yet, I've pulled out the painting gear again. Hopefully I can get up my mojo again by just doing it and going from there.
I decided to start with something simple and fairly quick, to prevent myself getting discouraged by the mid-paint "hump" I often encounter when either unit-painting or going high quality on a single model. This really only left terrain and counters, neither of which I have a lot of ready to go right now. Except for the doors from the Warhammer Quest set. I had painted 4 of the 10 a while back, leaving only six to finish:

As the previous were done in a grey stone colour, I decided to do these in a warmer sandstone scheme.
Now, I hear you thinking; "He said he had already painted 4 out of 10, that should leave 6, but there are only 5 in the picture?"

And you would be correct. The final one got special treatment:

I thought the final door, for the Quest/Objective room deserved to be something a bit more fancy than the rest. So it got a nice marble finish.

I've also done a little bit on a project that has been on a hiatus for quite few months. Back when the Ironhead article was first featured in No Quarter magazine (What was it? Early 2014?), I had started on two Ironhead (steam armour) projects. One was the conversion of a Field Mechanik Officer and Dirty Meg I featured earlier on this blog. The other one was a bit more ambitious. You see, there are precious few models in Ironhead armour in the Privateer Press range, and those that are, are recognisable to the point of being iconic. Plus, according to the background, each Ironhead suit is a handcrafted, highly individual piece of gear. The best way to get something truly unique and indiviual would be to scratch-build/sculpt it, right? Well, that is what I started, but once I had bulked out the bare armature, I got stuck on the "what next?" and the project stalled.
Truth be told, I'm still not entirely sure, but I decided to press on wit those things I was certain about. So, I've been adding pistons to the legs, as well as a ghost of a boiler to the back of it:

 

The boiler still seems to be sticking out a fair bit at the moment, but once the armour plating and such have been added on, it will end up buried deeper in the torso. I plan to add a "saddle tank"* over the top. Likewise the pistons will end up embedded deeper in the structure, being partially covered by armour plating.
On the right edge of the lowest picture, you can see a Cygnar Sword Knight. As this model will be an Ironhead/Knight, he will be representing the user outside of his (steam) armour. As such, I will take some design elements from his armour (like kneepads and pauldrons) and use them on the Ironhead suit. The main issues are the torso armour and head, I still need to figure out a design I like for them.

*: A saddle tank is a horsehoe shaped auxiliary water tank, often used on small narrow-gauge locomotives, that don't have the room or power to use a separate tender for water and coal. It also serves the dual function of insulation/thermal buffer for the boiler, as well as pre-heating the water in the saddle tank for slightly better fuel efficiency. I guess, in a combat steam armour, it's also a nice layer of armour around the boiler itself...

Oh, and I got news I will be starting in a new job tomorrow. As I expect this to eat up a fair bit of my time and (still not fully recovered) energy, I fear I might be entering a new hobby lull, just as I seem to be exiting this one... Oh, well, work means money, and money means peace of mind, so it's all good.