Little Wing

If you're a Swooping Hawk living on Craftworld Baast, this is what your wings look like.



Only 19 more to go (both sides, btw).

You're not funny, Ben.

Ben says he thinks Yriel looks jaundiced.

My Painting "To Do" List

(It hurts just reading it)

Things which aren't yet primed:
7 Jetbikes
Maugen Ra

Things which aren't yet base-coated:
2 Bonesingers
1 Farseer
Eldrad Ulthran

Things which aren't yet blocked out:
30 Dire Avengers (including Exarchs)
9 Banshees (including Exarch)
9 Swooping Hawks (including Exarch)
11 Striking Scorpions (including 2 Exarchs)
3 Vypers
Wraithlord
Yriel, Autarch of Iyanden
Fuegan
3 War Walkers

Blocked out, but needing a lot more paint:
9 Fire Dragons (including Exarch)
10 Warp Spiders (including Exarch)
20 Wraithguard
1 Farseer
6 platform crewmen
3 Support Platforms

Things needing "finishing touches":
Autarch
2 Warlocks
10 Dark Reapers (including 2 Exarchs)
2 Fire Prisms
12 Guardians
3 Wave Serpents
Scorpion Mark II

Completed items so far:
1 Warlock
2 Heavy Support Platforms
9 Striking Scorpions (including Exarch)

Progress Report

Swooping Hawks: White primer, then a few light coats of Scaly Green, followed by a bath of blue ink.


Fire Prisms: The undercarriage is a nice Snakebite Leather washed with brown ink.


Wraithlord: With a painted base. Not quite there yet.


Warp Spiders: Based in Shadow Grey (it looks better than this photo makes it seem):


Yriel: Yellow, baby.

Getting by with a little help from my friends

I had Keith and Matt over last night. We ate a ton of Indian food and I believe a sandwich made from Italian proscuitto and a fresh bagel was eaten.

I did some airbrushing of Matt's models, which I think he appreciated, and I think Keith left with a pocket of stuff he swiped from my bitz box.

Later, I was rooting through two units that were giving me huge trouble: My Warp Spiders and my Swooping Hawks. The trouble came from me trying to determine what color base-coat I wanted to give them. The standard red/white/black/ for Warp Spiders and turquoise for the Hawks wasn't doing much for me. I suggested to Keith that I do the Hawks in yellow as an undercoat. Before the words were even out of my mouth, he replied with "Death Canaries!", thus showing me the error of my thinking. I thanked him for that.

I asked Matt what he thought and he made some suggestions that instantly resonated with me: Shadow Grey for the Spiders and Scaly Green for the Hawks.

And that's what I'm gonna do.

How the experiment is working...

I started with GW Water Effects in the pond and then, later, poured Woodland Scenics Water Effects on top. I should have waited and tried them separately but I didn't. Despite the fact that I'm 37, I still have the patience of a 9 year old. You'll notice some kind of weird bubble popping up under the top layer of Water Effects. It may possibly explode, spraying debris over quite a large area. I guess we'll see.

The GW Water Effects is flatly superior. It takes longer to cure (notice the "foggy" parts under the surface of the water), but when it does it lies perfectly flat (which the Woodland Scenics product doesn't), it somehow ejects all the bubbles before hardening (which the Woodland Scenics product doesn't), and it shrinks just enough from the edges so that the "bubble" water effect doesn't happen (which the Woodland Scenics product doesn't). On the other hand, the GW product is almost $20 more per bottle and has less in it... so going with the best product isn't going to be cheap and, frankly, I'm not sure if it's worth the cost. Right now I think it isn't because, to be honest, that's a hell of a lot of money. I believe that working with the Woodland Scenic stuff won't be so bad if I'm extremely careful with it all.

Woodland Scenic did come through on those reedy grass bits by the side of the water, though. Don't they look good? I just have to get them to stand up straight (the method for which, Bill has since explained to me). Also, I have to perfect my lilly pad colors. I'll do it, though.

Happy with the dirt jungle floor... but soon I have to start looking at how to get it looking more like a jungle. Moss, mould, vines, lichen, etc... we'll have to see how I make that happen. Not sure yet.

Sunburst

Yellow For Dummies

Prime the model white, then slather with yellow ink (mixed with a tiny bit of dish detergent).



This is going to be my second Fire Prism. I wanted to make the Fire Prisms in my force to be an exception to my usual technique of Bone Undercoat + Blue Accents. I wanted to make them more solid colors, just to give them some distinction from the look of the Wave Serpents.

I'm challenged to come up with fresh angles on certain paint schemes, as my goal is to at least prime and base-coat everything in my possession. I have a strong aversion to having unpainted, unassembled models just sitting around. My hope is, before long, every model I own will either be in service or it'll be sold/given away/donated to the cat to play with.

More on this as it develops.

Lilly pads

One last thing for now: I put lilly pads in the water:



A combination of Dark Angels Green, Goblin Green and Snot Green. When the water is dry, I'll put some varnish on them to make them all shiny.

Just worth trying out to see how it works.

The Experimental Jungle

First, I painted the table with black (no pic). After I had that all done, I painted it over with Bestial Brown (as was the methodology explained here, which is my template for this project). Even though I suppose I could have guessed this was going to happen, I was actually a bit surprised by how the undercoat of black made a different and really made the brown more complex and interesting and, most importantly, "earthy".


I vaguely remember a table at the Bayshore Games Workshop that had a pond on it, and the pond was lined with dark green ink. It looked great, so I'm stealing that approach.


I was pretty tentative about how to bring the brown shading of the earth up from the Bestial Brown. I decided to go with Desert Yellow, and it worked out nicely. I'm almost disappointed that it worked well because, honestly, Desert Yellow is one of the hardest Games Workshop colors to dry-brush with. Well, it looks pretty damned good and I'm now sentenced to drybrushing 48 square feet with this accursed color.


If you know me, you'll know that I think that Bleached Bone is one of the miracle colors that can do no wrong. I drybrushed over the Desert Yellow, and (as I predicted) it made everything look amazing... as usual. BB FTW!


Ok... here's my first stupid mistake: I added some GW Water Effects (left over from this project) before the ink was totally dry. Now I have green floating around in the water effects. Aw, well... that's what "experimenting" is all about, right?


Ah, who cares? I filled up the rest of the pond. We'll check back in 24 hours and see how it looks.


Not too jungley yet... obviously. I'm trying to get the jungle floor right, so the foliage and so-on will come later. For now, however, Im working on earth tones that have something of a Mayan/Desert look. Next? I try to figure out how to get lichen and mould and undergrowth into the scheme.

We'll see.

You can't spell "Painting" without "Pain"

Here's how it goes with War Walkers in the Baast Warhost: You gotta paint everything separately. I've painted the legs separately from the cab, as you can see below:


I even built little stands out of soda bottle lids so I could prime and paint the "ears" of the War Walkers.


Before long all three will be built, but it's a slow process that's fussy. I just keep telling myself that I'll be so glad I took all this extra time when they're done.

Speaking of all that fussy still I'll be glad I did when I'm done, the Vypers are a good chunk of the way there. As you can see, the assembly is mostly done, but there's painting and inking still to be done.


War Walkers and Vypers are the most fussy models in the Eldar line because you gotta assemble and paint in stages, whereas you can just slap other models together and then paint without having to think about what comes first, what comes second, etc. Due to the fact that I'm sort of bad at this kind of organization, I play it extra carefully and move very slowly.

I'll be glad when these are done. Seriously.

Here We Go Again

Planning for Eldar Megabattle '07 has begun. More details on that later, but I can tell you that we're making ourselves a "jungle" table for this year. Who's making it? Me, of course! And I wouldn't make a table without me doing a test piece first to make sure it looks good. So... here I go.

Step one: Get an old, nasty chunk of styrofoam out for a "test terrain" piece.


Step two: Carve a "swamp" hole, cover with white glue.


Step three: Use the last bit of GW sand I have to cover the foam. Let it dry, then seal it with a layer of glue on top.


Step Four: Take a good, close look at the sand. Wait for it to dry.


Step Five: Eat some soup.

Dear Mr. Wraithlord: I'm In Love With You

The airbrush is responsible, ladies and jellyspoons:



Obviously no interesting base or details yet, but mmm-mmmm... he looks gooood.

My Blogger Profile

I'm trying to change my profile in a way so that my posts are no longer signed "Deimhinn Sinn" and, instead, are signed "Baast". This probably has something to do with my profile. I'm not sure.

Here's a picture I found of a really cute cat.

My Airbrush Makes Me Happy In My Pants

I've spoken a bit about the airbrush that my brother got me for my birthday. Really, it was a combination of airbrush and compressor and, as people who own these things will attest, the compressor is usually the expensive part... so I'm really grateful to him for that. He confessed the airbrush part was a cheap one, and he was right; it fell apart like kleenex origami in a rainstorm. I put a few bucks on the table for a new one (about $25, because I didn't need anything fancy), and it really did the trick. You would have enjoyed watching me use the first one, though; it jammed every time I would think of using it, and would otherwise spray paint in all sorts of different directions like fountains at the Bellagio Hotel (like, imagine this, only in your hand, and instead of water you have Hawk Turquoise).

Anyhow, the new brush soved that problem.

So here's what I'm doing now:
- Prime the models using whatever primer does the job
- Use the airbrush to base in Snakebite Leather
- Use the airbrush to cover in Bleached Bone
- Ink the models
- Done

The results are amazingly flat, amazingly even, amazingly smooth basecoats. I'm just blown away. Here are some shots of what I'm getting so far (after the primer/Snakebite/Bone/Ink process I described above):



Now, it's not that I can't get these results with a brush, but the time factor is a huge consideration. With this kind of thing, I'd need to put maybe 5 or so layers of super-thinned Bleached Bone down on top of the Snakebite Leather to get what I'm going for. The airbrush gives it to me in a matter of hours and, if I didn't have to wait for the layers to dry between between coats, I'd be able to do it in almost no time at all.

Obviously this is going to change how I do my models from here on out. I would leave so many models on the shelf for months or longer simply because I couldn't face the long hours of labor required to get the basic bone and ink coats on them. I'm much less put off by doing details and freehand and other "fun" stuff than I am by the mind-numbing assembly-line work of basecoating properly... so this is a lot like all the fun stuff and none of the dreary.

Best of all, using the airbrush is fun. Come on; I turn on the compressor and press that little button and spray paint at the model. It's awesome. Watching the model get painted up in no time flat is fantastic.

In time I'll experiment a bit with doing those really neat gradients you see people do with airbrushes and, eventually, will get myself one of those fancyshmancy airbrushes that allows me to do super cool details.

For now, however, I'm having a lot of fun. I've got two War Walkers and a Wraithlord in the other room with silky-smooth Bleached Bone coats drying right now.

This airbrush rocks. Thanks, Bro!

My last Sabol post for a while. I promise.

I put one of my old trays in that last remaining Army Transport spot. In it you'll find 9 Striking Scorpions (including Exarch), 6 platform crewmen, three Support Platforms (kitted out for D-Cannons). That's 171 models in two cases.

Right here.



Ok, I know you're getting sick of how much I love these Sabol cases, but come on... 171 models, not including heavy weapons, books, dice, measuring tape and flight stands.

Can't. Touch. This.

More fun with Sabol

While I'm on a tear about how great the Sabol cases are, I'd like to add a couple things about what I've done with my own cases over the past year or so that I've had them (a bit longer, I think).

The Sabol paint tray is damn good for holding paints (and, as you'll notice on the website, 28 standing models). What it doesn't offer me is a space for my brushes, my files, my glue, the whole thing. When you're painting at Games Workshop, you need your own brushes and stuff because they're not technically allowed to lend you certain things... so it's good to have them on hand. This is a pic of how I have it set up and, if you're a person who paints on the go, you should know this kind of thing is possible.

You might notice that I have an eyedropper. I was taught a technique by a friend named Urban who is a fantastic painter. It goes like this: A bit of flow improver with a little water mixed with the paint makes it the perfect consistency without destroying the pigment. I have a pot of Reaper Mini Flow Improver, a pot of water, and an eyedropper to drop them into the paint (rather than dipping in a brush or something and getting paint into the pot). I routinely carry four GW empty paint points. One with Reaper Mini Flow Improver, one with Reaper Mini Brush-on Primer (great for fixing paint chips), one with Reaper Mini Pure White (the best white paint I've ever found) and one with straight-up H2O.

I started asking myself what else I could do with my Sabol trays that could increase my convenience, and I realized that one ongoing problem I have is what to do with my "stuff" while I'm playing in a store or hobby center. There are great gaming tables at some of the places in my area, but I often find that I show up with stuff that I don't want to keep in my pockets but I don't want to put down (lest they get lost or stolen)... so I did this.

The trays are pretty beaten up because I've had them in heavy use for quite a while. During the Forge Primus campaign I was trotting these out several times a week. My current setup only allows for one more tray, so I can't put them both in and keep all my models as well, but it's a small thing to swap that extra tray space out as I have different demands.

That's Sabol Designs, kids.

Sabol: You Are The Wind Beneath My Wings

You might remember from my complaining here, I've needed extra storage space for my models. I got myself 5 extra trays for my Sabol Army Transports (just two standard ones) and went to work re-arranging how all my models are stored. Here's what I managed to store:

30 Dire Avengers (including Exarchs)
10 Warp Spiders (including Exarch)
9 Banshees (including Exarch)
9 Fire Dragons (including Exarch)
9 Swooping Hawks (including Exarch)
11 Striking Scorpions (including 2 Exarchs)
10 Dark Reapers (including 2 Exarchs)
20 Wraithguard
Autarch
3 Warlocks
2 Bonesingers
3 Vypers
2 Fire Prisms
7 Jetbikes
12 Guardians
2 Heavy Support Platforms
Wraithlord
2 Farseers
Eldrad Ulthran
Yriel, Autarch of Iyanden
Fuegan
Maugen Ra
3 Wave Serpents
3 War Walkers

(These items are stored in the pockets:)
All my heavy weapons (too many to list)
All my flight bases & stems
1 Eldar Codex
1 Rulebook

Ok, to be fair, I trimmed out some stuff from the old list I made in the previous post. For instance, I removed a bunch of the old Striking Scorpions, reduced the number of Jetbikes, and put all the weapons in the pocket. Don't scoff, however; That's 153 models in the cases ranging from basic infantry to vehicles (not including the heavy weapons in the pocket). Let us not forget the amazing way that Sabol Designs allows you to create shaped slots for various models so that they sit perfectly in the tray (here's an example, and here's another, and here's a third). Also, note that the models lay on their backs (instead of the GW case... where stories abound of models falling through the case to the bottom) and you can get trays of varying thickness so that the model is properly covered and not left hanging out of the foam.

Sorry, GW army case, but you can't touch this.

So I've got everything I need in there now. There's nothing left I need to store. Here's the part that's gonna make you a believer: I still have room for one tray left over. I'm not even kidding. I could put one more tray of models in there if I want to. Wanna hear about the Super Dazzle Extra Fantasy Rock And Roll Bonus Treat? Sabol sent one of these for free. For freakin' free. Ok, granted, I've done a better version of the same thing on my own with the standard 1" tray, but it's still cool.

Friends... if you're looking for a way to store your models and carry them around, this is it.

Oh, btw. I'm gonna save up to buy another one. They're too good not to.

GW: Are you kidding me with this?

Games Workshop Vehicle Damage Dice.

$16.00 Cdn, plus tax.

For 12 dice. Before tax, that's roughly $1.33 per die.

I bought a pack. They seemed expensive to me when I got them and I was thinking "this is a stupid expenditure, but... I bet I'll like having them". Then I got home and opened them up, saw there were only 12 dice inside, closed it up, found the receipt, and I'm taking them back tomorrow.

Check it out. The outside of the tin:


And the inside:


Come on already with this.