2009181:26
am
Experiment: Hairspray Technique
Here's something a little different.
I was recently introduced to some of the painting methods of Mig Jiminez, specifically the 'hairspray technique'. My understanding of the method, after reading that link, is that you basically lay down a base color that serves as the weathering, then apply hairspray over the model, and use an airbrush to lay down another color. Then, with a wet (and presumably firm-bristled) brush, you can stipple and remove the top coat, because it hasn't adhered very strongly to the hairspray layer. Once you're one weathering, I guess you varnish.
So, I thought I'd give this method a go, and see what happened. It looks like it'd be ideal for weathering Khador warjacks if I can get it working.
First, because I don't want to ruin a nice model, we turn to a set of jars that I have collectively termed 'THE WARP'. These jars separately contain acetone, simple green, or other stripping solutions, depending on the model that needs to be stripped. Below, you'll see me with the acetone jar, which is what I throw all my metals into.
From the depths of this jar, I fished out a metal Furioso Dreadnought's front plate. I spent a little while getting it cleaned off, and then I hit it with my GW Boltgun Metal spray to get a basic coat down to start with.
My idea here was to get a sort've rusty colored undercoat in place. Then, I'd try the hairspray, and apply a cream-colored paint overtop of that. I grabbed my Devlan Mud and a rusty wash and set about weathering it a bit...
Once that dried, I thought I might try out my airbrush a bit. It's been almost five years since I last used this thing, and I've never been very good at it; mixing the paint consistencies is always hit or miss for me. Using a vermin brown, I thinned it with water and sprayed a bit of the torso down to get a nice, rusted sort of color down on the torso.
Now that I have this in place, it's time for the hairspray. I used the cheapest spray I could find - cost about $2 from the local drug store. If the method works, I'd then be able to brush any paint colors I apply overtop off and reveal this rusty coat.
I left the model to dry for a bit, and once it had, I came back and hit it with a mixture of white and bleached bone with the airbrush.
It's not a complete cover, as you can see it's not a solid white, but I thought it'd be enough to test the method out, so after I let that dry, I grabbed a brush and started stippling away.
Now, here's where the results I was expecting did not match the results I obtained. I was under the impression the coat of paint I sprayed on after the hairspray would come off relatively easily, but that was definitely not the case; the white coat wasn't coming off at all. I grabbed a stiffer bristled brush that I use for drybrushing, and tried that a bit more forcefully. In one place on the left side of the torso, it worked, and the brown/orange undercoat came through. The rest of the torso, however, didn't go quite as well - instead of reaching the orange coat, I ended up removing paint all the way down to the base metal coat.
You can see where I ended up removing down past the orange here. I wasn't digging at the model with the brush or anything particularly hard - too gently, and nothing was happening to the white coat, so I did press a bit harder with the brush. It seemed very hard to get to the orange layer without going straight through it.
After this test, I chucked the torso back into the acetone vat for later experiments, since it didn't seem to be going too well.
Some thoughts, comments, and things I might have done wrong:
- From what I can tell of Mig's method, he uses his airbrush to apply the hairspray. I figured since the stuff was already in an aerosol can, I would spare myself the trouble and spray the hairspray directly on. I honestly can't imagine that's the source of any problems.
- The white I sprayed over the hairspray certainly did not come off as easily as I was expecting from looking at Mig's article - I thought a wet brush'd just take it off, but you had to kind've work at it, which might be part of why I ended up removing too much.
- I'm curious if applying a coat of varnish over the orange layer before hitting it with the hairspray would keep me from going all the way down to bare metal while trying to stipple the top coat away.
- Also, the GW Boltgun Metal spray isn't really a primer. I wonder if that might be why the coats under the hairspray came off too easy.
In any event, the torso'll be stripped bare by tomorrow, and I'll be able to give it another try if I can refine the method a bit. I'd be interested if any of you have comments that might help!
2009156:59
pm
We are Legion
Okay! Finals are over, so now for a tiny bit of news.
I'm going to be converting my Salamanders over to Legion of the Damned.
There's a couple reasons for this. Chief among them is the fact that GW's just released some absolutely incredible models for Legion of the Damned, and I'm quite taken with them:
You can't argue that those aren't some pretty impressive models, yeah?
My plan is basically this: I'm going to make an entire LotD themed army. I realize they're an elites choice in the current codex. I don't care. Basically, all my 'standard' marines will be Legion troopers. I also realize that, as far as their background indicates, they're pretty limited in manpower and don't have much of an organized force. I don't care.
My end goal for this is to make a 'counts-as' Vulkan He'stan out of a Power Armor Chaplain with a Legion theme, and run the whole army as a sort of proxy Salamanders. Since the Legion is just as fire-themed as Salamanders, it does make a certain degree of thematic sense. The things I currently already have for Salamanders will be kept, since they're basically interchangeable - they already have flame motifs on them, so all I need to do is add skulls instead of scales and paint black. 
This has the added bonus of preventing me from having two green armies, and as far as I'm concerned I think the Legion scheme looks a lot sharper on a table. Plus, let's be honest - black is substantially easier to paint and touch up than lime green.
Chances are good that, like most projects, I'll get a couple of these done before something else shiny catches my eye, but you never know.
Right now, I'm in the process of ordering some of the stuff I'll need for this idea; skeleton warriors from fantasy, some chaplains, obviously advance ordering the new LotD, and a Forgeworld Chaplain Dreadnought will hopefully provide me with a base to convert a Legion one from.
In the mean time (while I wait for these supplies) I will probably be working on some of my Orks - I'm thinking a squad of proper Nobz would not be amiss!
20091011:49
am
WTB Chaplain Dreadnought
Just taking a brief break from studying for my finals to throw this out there:
I'm currently looking to get my hands on a Forgeworld Chaplain Dreadnought. I'd order from Forgeworld if I wasn't entirely sure it'd take 2-3 months to get to me. I'd vastly prefer something that's new and unpainted.
I'm happy to buy it for cash, or trade for marine or ork bits! Anyone with one they'd like to unload, please contact me.
200972:47
pm
Electro-spinners!
Hey guys. Not back from my hiatus yet, since I've got exams 'till the 15th, but I wanted to mention this for those that have asked.
The front prong bits I made during my Mega-SAG project are now available from d6hobbies.com - I wasn't really planning on having them cast up, but enough people asked that it seemed worthwhile. It comes as unpainted resin, with 3 separate prongs and a central turbine hub.
I'm looking forward to some hobby work over winter break!
2009192:55
pm
Intermission
A quick note.
If it hasn't become completely apparent due to the lack of updates, I'm inundated in work right now as finals come up. This semester, in particular, has been a huge demand on my time due to the subjects I'm taking. I will likely not be updating until after finals in December.
Sorry!
20092211:37
am
Rusty basecoat
My tracked wartrukk was one of those projects that I intended on painting up and posting updates of. I've had a quick go at getting some base colors on it, as well as testing a rust wash that I mixed up. It's obviously got a long way to go, but I figure you can sort've see where I'm going with it as far as colors.
The photographs are sort've shoddy simply due to the fact that my normal camera is unavailable, so I had to make do. Better shots will be forthcoming after I get a bit more of the paint done and clean up some of the details.
2009209:57
am
I’m not dead yet!
Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.
As I'm sure many of you may have noticed, this site has been without updates for a significant time. I can do nothing but apologize for the downtime. Law school being what it is, I find myself with very little free time this semester, and ontop of that my fiance and I have been working out the essential nuts and bolts of our wedding plans.
With that said, not everything has been crickets and tumbleweeds. I've been doing a very small bit of painting as I've had the time, and I haven't gotten around to photographing and posting anything yet. When I'm done with my classes today, I'll have a go at getting some of my projects up-to-date.
On a related note, I should mention that I did pick between Mercenaries and Khador for my dabbling in Warmachine. The glorious motherland shall have my axe, for I am pitching in with the mighty Khadoran nation. The decision was primarily motivated by Privateer Press's final MK II rules, as I felt that pirate mercs really hadn't gained a tremendous amount; the themed warjacks were still really sub-par and required a lot of finesse to play to any sort of effectiveness - finesse which I, as a very novice Warmachine gamer, sorely lacked. Khador is delightfully straightforward with it's 'advance-and-smash' playstyle, and as an ork player I can sympathize with such sentiments.
I recently had the chance to order a couple Khadoran jacks from my buddy Andrew over at D6 Hobbies, and I'm waiting with bated breath for the models to make their way to me from Texas. I'm a bit sticker shocked at the retail prices of some of the Khadoran jacks, but I guess I should be used to it now after playing 40k for so long.
One last tidbit to mention for now: I'm working on a new product for sale, which will hopefully be a delightfully modular custom tread assembly, for those of you looking to add beefy, spiked tank treads to your vehicles. It's coming along nicely so far, and I expect to be done with it by November.
More updates later today.
20091811:26
pm
Giving Warmachine a go?
Avoiding the long story that has led me up to this point for now, I have about $240 in credit to spend on just Warmachine models, and I've been giving some very serious thought to what I might want to play, if anything. The game itself seems pretty good, and I've played a very tiny bit via VASSAL to get a feel for things. I like it because it seems like you can play a decent-length game (hour and a half) with very few models - a warcaster and a handful of warjacks is sufficient. This'd let me go wild on the models, since I'd only have a few to work on before I have a decently-sized force.
I've narrowed my choices down to two general interests, but I can't decide between them because I don't yet know enough about the game. I figured I'd post 'em up here and get some feedback.
Option A is Privateer Mercenaries, a.k.a. pirates.
These guys have some of the coolest looking warjacks.
My initial thematic plan for these guys was to do undead pirates, just to be cool, but I've discovered that Cryx actually has undead pirates already, so doing that would cause a good deal of confusion. Instead, I'd probably opt for Bioshock-esque conversions similar to what one might find here, only with substantially more lights. I'd probably base 'em on wood planking and paint them up to be close to the stock scheme because I do like the colors very much.
Option B is Khador, a.k.a. the armored Russians
These guys appeal to my orky side. They are heavily armored, slow-moving, hard-hitting bastards who excel in beating your face in once they get close enough. I'd probably light as much of these guys as I could, too, and base them on snow. I don't have much of an explicit theme in mind for these guys, since they already have a pretty strong iconographic background of being red or olive-colored and somewhat soviet in theme.
Menoth, Cryx, Cygnar and the Retribution don't particularly interest me as far as their units and theme go, so I'm down to these two. I like the pirate merc models slightly more than Khador, but from the little I've played, it seems like pirate Mercs can be incredibly hard to use appropriately. Khador, on the other hand, is 'run at X, hit X until X is dead, then run at Y', which I can sympathize with after playing orks.
What do you guys think? Anyone familiar with the game that could give me some advice on choosing? I know MK II is coming out soon, which is basically like Warmachine 2nd ed, and that changes a few things about the game, so I'm trying to plan ahead.
20091810:30
pm
Snotling ammo feed
Sorry about the lack of updates recently, but I had a pretty sizable paper to work on in one of my classes and I've been neck-deep in research.
I went with the vertical drop-feed design after enough people convinced me. I'm using some chain mesh on the sides to hold the shells in, since I figured It'd match what I did on my Stompa's kannon arm. It visibly houses three snotling ammunition shells, and I'll be able to use the rest around the model. I seem to have lost one, but hopefully it'll resurface!
The orange bit is a shell from this dart gun, which I bought because it was awesome and promptly broke by accident. The only reason I really used it was because I couldn't find PVC pipe the right diameter, and it's too big for most of my styrene tubing... it was the first thing I found that was roughly the right size, so I went with it.
I've got a fair bit of sprucing up to do to that back end, don't worry - it's just a chassis for me to add armor plating and worky gubbinz over.
I've been giving some thought to flipping the tread assembly over and mounting the gun down like that, as you can see below:
I think it gives the gun a better profile. The effect of it is that it angles the gun up and away from the ground, but nothing necessarily says SAG shots don't arc. 
I'm probably going to go with this, but I haven't made my mind up yet. If I do I have to remove the battery holder and flip it upside-down, but that shouldn't be a big deal.
20091212:41
am
More Mega-SAG design
So I gave it some more thought during the week, while I was at school, and I had a bit of an idea.
The main reason I didn't like the back-loading, artillery-esque concept for the Mega-SAG was that it seemed to suggest a tremendously low rate of fire in my mind; you'd have to put a shell in, close the hatch, fire, open the hatch, and repeat. Not very effective for a model that's supposed to stand in for three Big Meks with SAGs, but then again I'm probably the only one who'd ever really worry about the logistics of the model's fictional firing speed like that in the first place.
However, I was playing Left 4 Dead the other day, and while I had the Automatic Shotgun I remembered something. Combat shotguns can chamber multiple shells while being loaded, and then fire them off in series.
Basically, each shot ejects the spent shell and chambers the next one from the internal magazine. I figure, why can't the same mechanism apply to the Mega-SAG? The rear hatch is opened, and multiple snotling shells are loaded into the machine. Hatch is closed, and then the weapon is fired in rapid succession, ejecting spent 'cages' and chambering new ones until the internal magazine's depleted.
I did have time to make one quick conceptual doodle, which I figure I'll share:
In my previous post's comments for this project, Don pitched a decent idea of having a top-loading ammunition rail for the snotling shells. I have yet to draw that concept out, and it's definitely a good one, but truthfully I think having some sort of ammo-rail projection out the top rear of the gun ruins it's lines. Silly to be concerned with aesthetics on an orky warmachine, I know, but right now I'm sort've digging on the straight cannon-esque form in the above concept. I'll doodle up the alternative Don suggested when I have the time tomorrow. In the mean time, I feel slightly more comfortable knowing that I've come up with an overly elaborate, shotgun-magazine based explaination for the above design's rate of fire. I think I have some sort of mental disorder, because I am spending so much time thinking about the gun's method of firing, something most players would never consider in the first place.
Edit: You know what? Before I go to sleep, I may as well do this, quick and dirty.
This way I have something to work from for comparison. It's not terrible, certainly, but I'm not sure how to design rails for the shells to slide in on that won't obscure at least something. The back-loading artillery design would let me have a whole shell visible being loaded into the gun, and a pile of the remaining shells waiting to be lifted up and chambered somewhere on the base nearby... However, this one could be interesting as well. Maybe if I looted the shell-loading winch off a Vindicator I could add in a way of getting the snotling cages from the ground up to the loading grot on top...
Let me know what you guys think.
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