...I've started "Freeboota-fying" it a bit already. I don't know what the deal was, but the fit on this one was janky compared to the first one I built - lots more flash on the mold, too. The next one is on order, I hope it's better...
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Next Battlewagon
I got the next Battlewagon in the fleet finished:
...I've started "Freeboota-fying" it a bit already. I don't know what the deal was, but the fit on this one was janky compared to the first one I built - lots more flash on the mold, too. The next one is on order, I hope it's better...
...I've started "Freeboota-fying" it a bit already. I don't know what the deal was, but the fit on this one was janky compared to the first one I built - lots more flash on the mold, too. The next one is on order, I hope it's better...
Friday, November 19, 2010
Tutorial: Large Rivets
...well, maybe not a tutorial per se, but a quick tip - one of the things I've gotten positive comments on with my scratch-building projects is the look of my rivets:
They really add a nice touch to projects, and look way better than rivets made from dabbed-on PVA glue. The good news is that they're dead easy to do:
This is a bag of plasticard scraps that I keep around - whenever I finish a project using plasticard, I throw the larger scraps in a baggie that I keep with my supplies.
This is a hole punch that I got at my local craft supply store - I believe it is 1/8". This is small enough for vehicles, walkers, etc. - unfortunately, it's not small enough to make rivets to be used on troops (I'm still hunting for one of those).
I just take a scrap of plasticard and start punching holes in it - the "rivets" are held in a little built-in tray in the hole punch.
After you've punched out your plasticard, hold open the little tray on the hole punch and shake out the rivets. (It's helpful to do this over a dark piece of paper, so you don't lose any).
I pour all the rivets into a small baggie, and keep them with my scratchbuilding supplies. To apply the rivets, I dip a toothpick into superglue and apply it to the surface - then I take a fresh toothpick, touch it to my tongue, and use it to pick up & place the rivet. That's all there is to it!
They really add a nice touch to projects, and look way better than rivets made from dabbed-on PVA glue. The good news is that they're dead easy to do:
This is a bag of plasticard scraps that I keep around - whenever I finish a project using plasticard, I throw the larger scraps in a baggie that I keep with my supplies.
This is a hole punch that I got at my local craft supply store - I believe it is 1/8". This is small enough for vehicles, walkers, etc. - unfortunately, it's not small enough to make rivets to be used on troops (I'm still hunting for one of those).
I just take a scrap of plasticard and start punching holes in it - the "rivets" are held in a little built-in tray in the hole punch.
After you've punched out your plasticard, hold open the little tray on the hole punch and shake out the rivets. (It's helpful to do this over a dark piece of paper, so you don't lose any).
I pour all the rivets into a small baggie, and keep them with my scratchbuilding supplies. To apply the rivets, I dip a toothpick into superglue and apply it to the surface - then I take a fresh toothpick, touch it to my tongue, and use it to pick up & place the rivet. That's all there is to it!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Painboy & Grot Orderly
Finished building an Ork Painboy & Grot orderly the other day:
It was kind of neat to build a metal model again, it's been quite a while since I've done that. Of course, that fades by the time I'm finished - what the heck does GW use on these things as mold release?!? I've built metal models from Reaper and other companies before and forgot / been too lazy to scrub them down beforehand - there is no chance of that ever working on a GW model. I soak them, scrub them, and sand down the contact points, and it is still a fight to get the glue to bond.
Anyways, probably not much happening in the way of conversion with this particular model - he already has a peg leg, so it'll fit into the "Freeboota" theme, and the sculpt has such a great theme, I'd hate to ruin it. I'm considering using some Green Stuff to give him an eyepatch, but I don't know if I'm up to that yet.
He was actually pretty uneventful to build - just the shoulder joint required a bit of gap filling:
And I decided to pin him on his base, since the combination of the peg leg & the position of his other foot doesn't offer much in the way of stability:
It was kind of neat to build a metal model again, it's been quite a while since I've done that. Of course, that fades by the time I'm finished - what the heck does GW use on these things as mold release?!? I've built metal models from Reaper and other companies before and forgot / been too lazy to scrub them down beforehand - there is no chance of that ever working on a GW model. I soak them, scrub them, and sand down the contact points, and it is still a fight to get the glue to bond.
Anyways, probably not much happening in the way of conversion with this particular model - he already has a peg leg, so it'll fit into the "Freeboota" theme, and the sculpt has such a great theme, I'd hate to ruin it. I'm considering using some Green Stuff to give him an eyepatch, but I don't know if I'm up to that yet.
He was actually pretty uneventful to build - just the shoulder joint required a bit of gap filling:
And I decided to pin him on his base, since the combination of the peg leg & the position of his other foot doesn't offer much in the way of stability:
Monday, November 15, 2010
Resin Bases, Supplies
So I spend the other night scrubbing up - bases, that is:
...this has been on my "to do" list for weeks, and I finally just jumped off the couch one night and finished it. Not fun, but at least now it's done, the bases can be attached to my Freebootas, and painting can finally begin in earnest.
The only other news is that I had to pick up some supplies:
...given the crazy amount of Green Stuff I've been going through lately, I had to order some more. This puts me at something like 230 grams for the year (!) I previously scoffed at everyone who warned me off of buying the "strip" version, but I think I did start to notice some premature curing of the seam towards the end of my last batch - and I was going through it fast. Unfortunately, I forgot that this stuff is pricey - if anyone knows a good place to get it cheap, let me know...
...this has been on my "to do" list for weeks, and I finally just jumped off the couch one night and finished it. Not fun, but at least now it's done, the bases can be attached to my Freebootas, and painting can finally begin in earnest.
The only other news is that I had to pick up some supplies:
...given the crazy amount of Green Stuff I've been going through lately, I had to order some more. This puts me at something like 230 grams for the year (!) I previously scoffed at everyone who warned me off of buying the "strip" version, but I think I did start to notice some premature curing of the seam towards the end of my last batch - and I was going through it fast. Unfortunately, I forgot that this stuff is pricey - if anyone knows a good place to get it cheap, let me know...
Sunday, November 14, 2010
AdeptiCon 2011!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
R.I.P. Heroscape
I got an email from a friend today pointing out that Wizards of the Coast has decided to cancel the Heroscape line. This is a bummer - I really enjoyed Heroscape, even though I didn't get to play it that often. Heroscape had great-looking pre-painted miniatures with fun themes, an ingenious configurable terrain system, and easily accessible rules - in short, it was a miniature wargaming system that eliminated all of the intimidating things that turned off casual boardgamers / RPG'ers / CCG players / & skirmish gamers from larger-scale miniature gaming in the first place. The good news is that I still have several NIB master sets that I bought from someone in my gaming group, and maybe we'll see a slight influx of players looking into other miniature games...
Friday, November 12, 2010
New Arrivals
Got some new models in:
...the next Battlewagon in the fleet, and a Space Marine Attack Bike. The Battlewagon came from my local shop, and the Attack Bike came from lars4life - he found a few models he had packed away that he had no desire to build & was going to put them on eBay, but he offered me first crack at them. He never got around to picking up the 5th edition rulebook, and I had an extra mini-rulebook from Assault on Black Reach, so I proposed a trade, and we both walked away happy. This works out great: I've cobbled enough bitz together for two bikers, and was actually planning to build an Attack Bike with them - but, now that I have the actual model, I can build the "for laughs" project that I mentioned in this post...
...the next Battlewagon in the fleet, and a Space Marine Attack Bike. The Battlewagon came from my local shop, and the Attack Bike came from lars4life - he found a few models he had packed away that he had no desire to build & was going to put them on eBay, but he offered me first crack at them. He never got around to picking up the 5th edition rulebook, and I had an extra mini-rulebook from Assault on Black Reach, so I proposed a trade, and we both walked away happy. This works out great: I've cobbled enough bitz together for two bikers, and was actually planning to build an Attack Bike with them - but, now that I have the actual model, I can build the "for laughs" project that I mentioned in this post...
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
More Green Stuff Press Molds
So the Ork Battlewagon kit came with an awesome skull piece, that's part of the periscope assembly. I knew this could be an awesome piece to use for embellishments, so I decided to make some Green Stuff press molds of it.
After I made the mold, I realizes something - the hole in the original piece (which is where the periscope passes through) made a perfect circular impression over one eye - almost like an eye patch. What could be better for Freeboota iconography? I decided to see if I could emphasize this. First, I took a scribe and poked some holes around the circular part - this will give the impression of rivets when a new piece is molded:
Then I cut some very fine strips of plasticard, using a strip cutter:
...I clipped off a few small pieces of the strip and glued them into the mold - this will look like the strap on the eyepatch:
After everything was dry, I lubricated the mold:
Then I cast my first piece:
Overall it worked great!
I also used this opportunity to cast more of the small skulls I made when I built my Trukk model - I plan on using a lot of these, so I actually made a whole new mold, so I can turn them out twice as fast:
After I made the mold, I realizes something - the hole in the original piece (which is where the periscope passes through) made a perfect circular impression over one eye - almost like an eye patch. What could be better for Freeboota iconography? I decided to see if I could emphasize this. First, I took a scribe and poked some holes around the circular part - this will give the impression of rivets when a new piece is molded:
Then I cut some very fine strips of plasticard, using a strip cutter:
...I clipped off a few small pieces of the strip and glued them into the mold - this will look like the strap on the eyepatch:
After everything was dry, I lubricated the mold:
Then I cast my first piece:
Overall it worked great!
I also used this opportunity to cast more of the small skulls I made when I built my Trukk model - I plan on using a lot of these, so I actually made a whole new mold, so I can turn them out twice as fast:
Monday, November 8, 2010
Freeboota-ifying A BattleWagon
...so as I mentioned last time, I felt I needed to add some pirate touches to my first Battlewagon:
The first touch was easy enough - I gave the Ork operating the Lifta Droppa one of the MaxMini pirate Ork heads:
The next thing I turned my attention to was the back - there was a big, open area. Obviously it was sculpted that way because it makes sense (troops need to get in & out), but visually, it just looked like a big empty spot to me. It needed a "pirate-y" touch - and what's more pirate-y than a CANNON?!?
These were deck guns I found on eBay - I assume they were aimed at historical/naval wargamers, and the creator had no idea about my nefarious intentions. The main issue: these sculpts were uuuuugly - they were more of a "vaugely cannon-shaped blob of metal" than anything. I spent a ton of time scraping & filing to clean them up. Once it was in a decent state, I drilled out the barrel and glued it into the rear of the Battlewagon:
Keeping with the "nautical" theme, I got out one of my Razig weapon packs from Reaper, because I remembered that they included an anchor:
I cut the anchor off the sprue along with a length of chain from the other sprue. I filed one side of the anchor down flat, so it would sit flush against the side of the Battlewagon. I picked and appropriate spot and glued it down:
Then I simply bent the chain over the the lip of the opening:
Fluff-wise, I'd say the anchor is used for... umm... hey, why don't you SHUT UP ALREADY?!? (If you're actually asking me to justify the technology of giant green asexual space-monsters that dress like extras from an Errol Flynn movie, you're probably thinking a bit too hard about it.) ;-)
Next, I went looking for spots to put some of the custom armor plates that I made - there was a pretty obvious space right up front:
I also added some of the small skulls that I molded from the Trukk kit's hood ornament to the doors:
I also eventually plan to convert some Gretchin and have them hanging off the sides, loading cannons, etc.
The first touch was easy enough - I gave the Ork operating the Lifta Droppa one of the MaxMini pirate Ork heads:
The next thing I turned my attention to was the back - there was a big, open area. Obviously it was sculpted that way because it makes sense (troops need to get in & out), but visually, it just looked like a big empty spot to me. It needed a "pirate-y" touch - and what's more pirate-y than a CANNON?!?
These were deck guns I found on eBay - I assume they were aimed at historical/naval wargamers, and the creator had no idea about my nefarious intentions. The main issue: these sculpts were uuuuugly - they were more of a "vaugely cannon-shaped blob of metal" than anything. I spent a ton of time scraping & filing to clean them up. Once it was in a decent state, I drilled out the barrel and glued it into the rear of the Battlewagon:
Keeping with the "nautical" theme, I got out one of my Razig weapon packs from Reaper, because I remembered that they included an anchor:
I cut the anchor off the sprue along with a length of chain from the other sprue. I filed one side of the anchor down flat, so it would sit flush against the side of the Battlewagon. I picked and appropriate spot and glued it down:
Then I simply bent the chain over the the lip of the opening:
Fluff-wise, I'd say the anchor is used for... umm... hey, why don't you SHUT UP ALREADY?!? (If you're actually asking me to justify the technology of giant green asexual space-monsters that dress like extras from an Errol Flynn movie, you're probably thinking a bit too hard about it.) ;-)
Next, I went looking for spots to put some of the custom armor plates that I made - there was a pretty obvious space right up front:
I also added some of the small skulls that I molded from the Trukk kit's hood ornament to the doors:
I also eventually plan to convert some Gretchin and have them hanging off the sides, loading cannons, etc.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Battle Report: Ultramarines vs. Red Scorpions
So lars4life & I managed to get out to our local shop yesterday and play a game - his Red Scorpions vs. my Ultramarines:
...since I'm a n00b when it comes to actually playing 40k, and he hasn't played a proper came in years, we didn't really worry about following the force organization chart or using any particular list - we just picked identical units (1 tac squad, 1 terminator squad, and a dreadnaught) and started playing, mainly to work out the rules. We spent half the game with our noses in the rulebooks, and had to call someone over for a ruling at one point, but it was a lot of fun - I've been wanting to play at the store for some time, but was kind of hesitant since I don't have much experience. Needless to say, all they guys at the shop were friendly, and I even got a compliment on my Ultramarines' paint job. I actually won the game, but this was mainly because 1) lars4life was playing his Red Scorpions as vanilla marines, and wasn't using any special characters, 2) he was plagued by lousy dice rolls when trying to bring in his reserves, and couldn't bring his Terminators in until round 3, and 3) we weren't really trying to use any tactics or strategy - we just ran in to combat so we could start working out the rules. I have no doubt he could wipe the table with me if he was trying at all.
We're planning on playing again (and maybe one of us will remember to bring a camera next time, instead of using a crappy cellphone camera), and one of the guys at the shop was telling us about an upcoming tournament, as well as a campaign that is starting in January...
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