Painting Diary 2013 - 5

 I have painted a unit of three dragons ogres this week for an up coming tutorial for the 'wargamingforfun' website and You Tube channel.

I really enjoyed putting these together and painting them.

Seem to be a fair alternative to the Juggernauts in the Warriors of Chaos Army book as they are special choice rather than rare.

At initiative 2 I thought that I would build them with great weapons as they will usually go last in the combat anyway and strength 7 is not to be sniffed at.

Totally different from the Dragon Ogres is the unit of gaunts from the Tyranid faction of Warhammer 40K

 

 

This is the first time that I have used the Armageddon Dust texture finish on the base. Quite effective and a lot quicker than my glue sand paint and highlight method but I feel more work would be needed on larger bases. A good alternative though and I will be trying the other textured paints in the range.

 



 

 

Not a colour I would have picked to line the carapace of the gaunts but pink does work a lot better than I expected. I have yet to decide if I will tone down the lining with a wash.

 

Painted models so far in 2013 = 54

 

Painting Diary 2013 - 4

In the past two weeks I have completed the construction/reconditioning of some Tomb King figures. I swapped some Lizard Men with Andy for some these Tomb Kings and I wanted to paint them to match the other figures in my army.

The scorpions were still in the original packaging are are made from metal. Say what you like about finecast it is a lot easier to glue together than metal. That said you do feel that you have your monies worth when picking up metal figures.

The paint scheme is quiet simple. A priming coat of Bone from the Army Painter's range with detail picked out using regular miniature paints. When fully dry I used the 'Dark' quickshade again from Army Painter. I fixed the sand used on the base using sand. (No point painting sand to look like sand!)

Three chariots using the same technique. It is important to let the quickshade fully dry before the base is applied as it will never come off the varnish if applied when sticky.

Finally I used a spare Tomb King/Prince from the Warsphinx kit to give me the option of a mounted hero.

I found it a lot easier to paint the figures then gluing the men on the back of the chariot rather than painting them in place. Once the quickshade was fully dry I applied the anti shine spray to remove the gloss finish of the varnish. This does of the effect of making the metallics look dull but these can always been coated in a gloss varnish if required.

Painted models so far in 2013 = 36.

Terrain Challenge - Spring 2013 - CD Based Terrain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_JvEqjkgVMc#t=0s

What?

Make a piece of terrain for a wargaming table based on a CD.

Why?

• Help educate and inform 
• Raise all our skill levels 
• Get us making that project we keep putting off 
• Help us all make new contacts 
• Enjoy a different aspect of our hobby 

How?


Enter as many times as you like in the following ways

• A video response to this on YouTube
• A blog article with photos and text
• An email to at terrain@wargamingforfun.co.uk

Deadline for all entries is Sunday 24th March 2013.

All entries will be listed on wargamingforfun.com and voted on in the week 24th – 31st March.

Winner announced 1st April 2013.

Painting Diary 2013 - 3

Managed to get out into the mancave this week partly due to a half 'snow day'.

Mainly focused on the Dark Angels Army that I am painting up.

A Company Master. I am not sure yet but I would like the regular looking Space Marines to be from the same company. I gave the company logo on the right knee pad as the left is covered by the flag draped over his shoulder. 

I built the land speeder, Sableclaw, to carry Sammael. This gives the land speeder both a twin linked heavy bolter and assault cannon. The inclusion of Sammael also means that I can take any Ravenwing atwtack squadrons as troop choices.

I have given the land speeder a simple colour and highlight colour technique and in time intend to add text to the book.

No army of Space Marines would be complete with the rank and file tactical unit. This unit is from the 'Dark Vengeance  box set. Could also be fielded as two units of five. The beard and crew cut hair cut I obtained with the black wash. A single coat allows the skin tone to show through giving the impression of short hair.

All that is missing from this unit are the company badges on their left knee. I will probably go for the third company in the end, a simple red diagonal line.

Painted models so far in 2013 = 28.

Painting Diary 2013 - 2

This week has been light on painting, only a unit of Space Marine Snipers for Dark Angels from 40K. 

After reading the new book, released yesterday, I am not sure that they will ever see the battle table. A unit of 5 scouts 70 points where as a unit of 5 Space Marines 80 points. For 10 points you get power armour and a point higher BS, does not seem much of a choice. Still I am sure the snipers will have a roll to play. 

These are metal models that have been striped of paint and cleaned up. I have tried to make them looked varied with hair and skin colour.

Painted Models so far in 2013 = 16

Painting Diary 2013 - 1

Several of the wargaming sites are promoting painting targets through the year. One that I heard last year was to paint a model a day. While I was not tempted to take up the challenge it did make me think 'I wonder how many models do I paint in a year?'.

So this year on my blog I have decided to track for a year, 2013, how many models I paint. I have set myself no goals in this regard but to take photos and record them here of every model I paint this year.

Here are the first two units.

A unit of Terminators from the Deathwing, a part of the Dark Angels Faction found in the Dark Vengeance set from GW.

A unit of Zealots from the Protectorate of Menoth faction of Warmachine from Privateer Press.

Painted models so far 2013 = 11.

Using Foam Board to Make Model Buildings

Foam board, for those who do not know, is made from a piece of polystyrene with card attached to the flat sides. It can be drawn on like any other piece of card and cut with a simple craft knife. The material does have its limitations, such a requiring a water based adhesive such as PVA glue, but as modelling materials go it is versatile.

I decided to try out some prototyping for a village typical of one in Europe in the 1940's to suit the 'Bolt Action' battle reports that we will be filming in the new year on my YouTube channel 'wargamingforfun'. 

Many village churches, especially in England and Wales, have a similar look to them and it was the look of the local church that I decided to base the idea on. I have simplified the design but I feel it is true to the original.

Using a piece of MDF measuring around 12' x 18' I cut and glued the church design with a small wall around the, what is soon to be, graveyard. I used a water-based contact adhesive to fix the pieces together rather than PVA glue as it has a much reduced drying time.

To hid the joint of the foam board I cut 2cm strips and scored down the middle to get a neat fold in the middle and then simply glued them to the corners of the building. For the roof joint I increased the card width to 3cm but the scoring method was still used to get a neat fold. A cereal box would be a suitable thickness of card for this process.

The rear door is a thin, approximately 1mm, piece of balsa wood in an arched door shape. The windows I marked with a permanent marker. I was careful to cut out the windows in one piece. I then glue the removed piece back into place but indented into the hole to give the 3D effect of the windows.

The wall sections were joined using 5mm balsa wood to represent wood posts.

The grave stones were made from cuts of some bits of blue foam, again stuck in place using the contact adhesive.

In order to make the walls appear more 'stonelike' I used some more pieces of blue foam cut into thin strips and glued into place. I then used a strip of glass/sand paper to round the edges.

This I repeated on top of the grave yard walls.

The porch/main entrance way into the church consists of three layers of foam board, the outer most having the archway shape cut into it. A card outline was used to disguise the joins.

Using PVA glue, and my washed building sand mix, I added 'soil' to the graveyard and left to dry over night.

After the paint scheme was left to dry I then fixed some larger bits of rubble to mark the edge of the pathway to the gate entrance. The clay colour that I used on the roof made the church too 'toy town' in appearance so I repainted the roof parts with pomegranate red.

Almost done with some static grass and arches in the windows to make the church appearance more complete. I think that I will revisit the model and use static grass around the border to help it blend on to the table top.