This is just as much hobby as the rest of this stuff…Patrick came over Monday and we worked to fit our board into a board that would meet the Alaska Airlines Checked Baggage Requirements (less than 62 linear inches…).
He brought over a bicycle box and cut the shit out of it!
Wrapped the board itself in bubble wrap. We decided that the crystal labyrinth and castle (which is now finished!!) belonged in a separate piece of luggage, since they were still to tall and breakable.
Two posts today, and one tomorrow, and the AdeptiCon coverage will continue in an incredibly rapid pace once I get back. (I have 3-4 posts backlogged already for AdeptiCon).
We cut a backdrop for the display board. The theory still being that taller is better and that a solid piece of something in the back would draw more attention. (And damn, does it look good!) I don’t have any photos of the completed piece, but I will definitely do so once our armies are set up on Friday!
I pulled the airbrush out again, figuring that it would have gotten over our dispute from the other day. I started with an Ice Blue, and mixed up a bunch of layers with Kantor Blue and Altdorf Guard Blue.
The airbrush worked out perfectly! gaaaaaah! It painted a nice, solid blue line where I wanted it to.
More blue, and I added some Mephiston Red at some point to head into purple.
I took a photo of my PSI at one point. I spent most of the time painting at this pressure, and it gave a nice solid line. I put it down to 30 at one point, and put a less solid line of the red around.
The final piece! It looks great on the display board! You’ll also notice some spots at the “top”, these are magnets which attach to the back of the board. We did this so that we didn’t have to transport a 15″ tall thing, and could instead pull everything off and transport the tall pieces separately.
I finished off the display board tonight. Patrick has been working on his castle thing, and is taking on a few other things for the team, so I volunteered to drybrush the hell out of this thing. I’m super happy with the results!
I couldn’t even tell you what I did here. It’s a bunch of different mixes of Stegadon Scale, Charadon Granite, Rhinox Hide, Zamesi Desert, Ushapti Bone, Dheneb Stone, Seraphim Sepia. Literally, I put the paint on my palette and then mixed the next colour in with whatever I had there already.
Something I made sure to do – if I used a colour as a primary on one side, I used it as a light layer on the other side. In this way, I’m hoping to tie the two sides together even though they are wildly different.
I also cut out some black plasticard in the shape of the sides of the board and glued them to the edges, to give each edge a more smooth look and feel. I used the Oxid Paste to fill the gap between the card and the board, but if I was going to do it again I’d have made sure to fill all of the gaps with hot glue and then textured over the glue.
The only reason there is a question mark in the title, is because we’re talking about adding some colour to the black backdrop. We’ll see if I manage to find time for that – it requires bringing the airbrush out again. >.<
I put some newspaper down, put on the Game of Thrones commentary and started painting.
Just some broad strokes to start.
And when that dried, I did a ton of drybrushing.
And then even more drybrushing.
There’s still sections that need another highlight, and we’re going to wash down the cobblestone to give it more contrast, (and the pencils need just plain painting), but it’s definitely coming along!
I lost track of the part number, and they don’t matter anyway.
This thing is now more Oxid Paste than anything else. Here’s a photo from after I took off all of the heavy objects. It’s glued to the hardboard fairly well.
We got together again tonight and I worked on a backing while Patrick carved out his castle some more. The castle is amazing. Just you wait until you see it!
We took it and my airbrush downstairs and started to spray it black. We had been looking for a product called Krylon H2O that Kas had recommended, but we couldn’t find it in the city so we decided to just spray with acrylic paint and hope. Most of the board is covered in texture anyway.
I have a confession to make. My airbrush is expensive, full of effort and more often than not doesn’t do what I wanted it to do. I can count 3 times when it succeeded at the task I gave it. My ork plane, some terrain I was spraying random earth colours on, and this one time I sprayed Jamie’s tanks. Every other times, the paint is to thick, or to thin, it runs all over the place, gets clogged up in the nozzle, or I’ve lost a part and didn’t know it or it just gets everywhere. It takes a while to take out, and a while to clean up and put away. My airbrush embarrasses me.
The problem this time, was that even once I had a decent mix of the paint, there was no coverage. It was either doing solid thin lines, or transparent medium-sized lines and there was no way we were going to cover the board with it.
I know you can get different sized needles and nozzles for different applications, and I’m wondering if I have a particularly thin set up right now.
We quickly adjusted, putting the airbrush down, grabbing a container lid and our largest brushes and got to work painting black everywhere. In the morning I pulled out my spray primer and went outside to cover up the areas that we’d missed.
Since the back half of the board is entirely rocks and gravel, I used a good amount of Oxid Paste over it. I mixed this with some small stones to create more texture, but otherwise this half is pretty barren.
The front half I glued down a bunch of cobblestone plasticard and then filled the gaps with a combination of the Vallejo Black Lava and Oxid Paste.
Patrick came over this afternoon and we set to work!
We effectively carved foam all afternoon. I took a few pieces and carved up a long stone fence. He built a castle thing. I don’t have any photos of the castle thing, because he keeps taking it with him when he leaves, but trust me, it’s pretty badass! We were both impressed with how easy the foam was to carve and create useful shapes out of.
At the end, we glued our base foam to a piece of MDF hardboard and put a bunch of heavy things on top of it.
Just a quick one with no photos to update on AdeptiCon news.
I backed out of the Dreadball League in a Night event. I was pretty excited about this, but after playing 10 games of Malifaux in a weekend and still craving more, I wanted more. As well, (and as a good friend finally convinced me) it’s not as though I’ll get to play in a Malifaux Costume Event every weekend…whereas I can play Dreadball Leagues at home whenever I want. 🙂 So I’ve been working on upgrading my costume so I can take part! I’m not really a costume virtuoso, but I’m really excited and want to make it work!
The additional upside of this, is that I don’t have rats on my painting schedule anymore.
As well, I’ve put myself on the waitlist for the Warhammer Warbands event Friday night, instead of the DeadZone event. Unfortunately, the advertising copy for this event reads like it will be a giant multi-player MegaBattle, and that’s just not what I’m into. I’d also be promoting that atmosphere…since I haven’t had a game of DeadZone for weeks. 🙁 My poor Fedaykin rot away in a carrying case!
The additional upside of this…is that I don’t have a DeadZone force on my painting schedule anymore.
Convenient…
So all I have left is to finish the skull cannon, and this display board! A much more reasonable schedule…and I think that Ramos might be on my painting table when I’m done… 🙂
Patrick and I got together again and made a pact to focus on getting this display board done. We leave for AdeptiCon in 4 weeks, and that’s much to close for my tastes! (At least it isn’t 3 weeks…which is what I thought it was until I looked just now!) (Also, this post was written on the 6th :))
Our last work on this thing has been sitting around for many weeks, while we both prepared for other things and I think I went to Mexico in the mean time as well.
We each got to work building the “tall thing” on our respective sides of the board. We had decided last year that “tallness” was a property we wanted, as tall things stand out and are looked at in more depth. A tall thing says “Come over” and it says “look closer”. It is a form of advertising that short things do not have.
Patrick is building a tower/castle/gatehouse thing with pink foam. I’m building the entrance to Tzeentchs’ crystal labyrinth, a part of the fluff that I’ve always though was super cool. Like Tzeentch has a Fortress of Solitude. I stole the pencil idea of Mark/Mach_5’s Rasputina crew, and apparently he stole it from someone else.
Board in progress.
PENCILS FOR THE PENCIL GOD
This is going to be amazing.
The taller elements are removable, for both ease of transport and also re-usability. We’ll be getting together again soon to continue, as we have a lot of work to go!
This is more of a post to get my own currently scattered project plans back under organization.
For AdeptiCon, I currently need to paint:
Skull Cannon. This is near the top of the priority list, since it’s the last item I need to finish my Daemons. 1 model, but should be to a high quality.
Deadzone strike force. This is a bigger task, that I may leave until the end. I have ~10-12 models here.
Dreadball rats. I have on order a booster box, and I should paint at least 1 Keeper, 1-2 Guards and another 2-3 Strikers. About 6 models then. I painted the original 8 models in 2 days, so this is a relatively easy task. I can’t do it until I have the models in hand though.
Malifaux Rail Golem. I started on him shortly after getting back from vacation. I like the model and it’s use on the table.
December Acolyte. This guy keeps seeing use, as he’s a fantastic model for “being somewhere early”.
The Firestarter. I’ve been running her as my henchman for numerous games now. Cheaper than Kang and super fast and flexible with Wk5, Flight and Reckless. Kang is still better for dealing with those damn Ressers. Also she has synergy with the Rail Golem, both in giving him Burning Counters and also Twirling the Gas Can after he Vents Boilers.
Display Board. The biggest task on this list, also the one with the most risk since I need to directly schedule time for it, instead of just “whenever I have time”.
I’m noodling on whether to go to GottaCon or not, so I may prioritize the Golem, Acolyte and Firestarter so I can use them for GottaCon Malifaux. 3 weeks is enough time for that.
So I think my current tasks are to paint those 3 Malifaux models, and to try to schedule some time to work on the display board.
I did this part on my own – getting together can be difficult, and there wasn’t much that needed doing aside from filling in all of the cracks in the pink foam.
I picked up a product called Model Lite from Magic Box Hobbies. It’s an interesting product with a texture a little like grainy CoolWhip. I tried to apply it using some sort of tool, but in the end just used my fingers. It dries and hardens in less than 10 minutes, creating a plaster layer on my fingers, but it washed off with soap and water no problem.
Patrick is planning to put a sloped cobblestone road on his section, so I carefully carved a piece of foam out so it would fit.
