THANK YOU!!!

This is not a post about a new model that I am working on or Warmachine Weekend or anything else hobby related.

This post is about you, the reader. Today is a landmark day for Flight Medic Painting. Today this little blog hit 10,000 views! I am beyond humbled by your support and your readership. With so many things grabbing for attention on the internet so many people choose to make my blog a place to visit, even if only for a few minutes.

So thank you! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are the reason I keep going. You are ther reason I am always trying to get a model painted and do it better than the last.

Here is to the next 10,000!

The Countdown to WMW Continues........

In my quest to get fully painted for Warmachine Weekend. I have been working on getting all the models needed to at least a table top standard. What is table top you ask? Well to me its all about the 3 foot rule. As models on the table are seen from about thee feet away its all about looking good from that perspective. This is wildly different from a competition or display piece. A table top standard model usually take about 1-2 hours per and largly consists of blocking in your main color, contrast color and accents. Followed by a heavy wash and a dry-brushing of the highlights. Display pieces and especial competition models can take hundreds of hours. And then you though on the basing and on and on.

So with that in mind, and seeing as I only have another 4 days to be done. It's time for some fast and dirty painting.

Here are 2 units of Khador Greylords. As they are the same models in two seperate units I wanted a way to not only speed paint them but be able to see which are which at a glance. I kept the color schemes the same (again for speed. Seeing a pattern here?) and use the base arc markings to differentiate the two. One unit has my standard red stripes the other I went with a neon green.

As an addition speed boost I worked on the Koldon Lord at the same time. As he is kinda-sorta a grey lord he shares quite a few of the same features/colors.

So here is what I have for table top on these two units and the solo. The pictures were just taken with my phone on the painting table as I didn't feel like they were worthy of the light box and the good camera, nor did I want to spend the time in editing photos for these.

In case you are wondering, this leaves me with about 20 models to go before I leave Thursday morning!. 

Happy painting everyone, You know I will be!

Time for a bit of speed painting.

With Warmachine Weekend only 2 weeks away. I have now finally committed to the armies I am bringing. That means that I am about 2 months behind on finishing up the painting that I wanted done. Luckily fully painted armies are not a requirement, however it's the principle of the thing so I am gonna give it a try.

Here is a list of what all I have to paint.

Widow Makers.
2 units of Grey Lords.
Grey Lord Outriders.
Iron Fang Pikeman (all 12!)
Zerkova and her Reaver Guard.
Eyriss 2.

So not insurmountable by anymeans, but still a decent amount to get painted between now and then. Throw in work, school, family and its gonna be a whirlwind.

So here are the Widomakers who are just about complete.

Retribution of Scyrah Battle Box Part 2.

Check me out.... I actually got two nights of painting into the same week. Still avoiding my Khador Red so work continues on the angry elves.

I started by blocking in everything that is going to be silver (any shade of silver) with black. I used P3 Thamarite Black is its a fantastic matte black that goes on really smooth. Once that was good and dry it was time to add the silvers. for most everything from the smoke stacks to the weapons I used good old P3-Pig Iron. On the Arc-node I used Vallejo Model Air - Chrome to give it an super shine and to pick it out from the rest.  The silvers will be given a good slathering of P3 - Armour wash which is a very light blue wash that really gives a good hint of older iron.  After that it will be onto the golds and a surprise or two.

Anyway.... Have some pics.

And now for something completely different.

As much as I would like to have my Khador fully painted before Warmachine Weekend. I am kinda burnt out on painting that much red.

I've had the Retribution Battle Box sitting around for a while so I figured it's time to get this painted up and on its way. The tradition Retribution paint scheme is this strange white and blue that honestly looks horrible. I figure that they are really just a bunch of angry elves and elves are traditionally green and brown. So naturally I went with green.

I am using the same ink technique I have been showing on the Khador jacks, just this time with a green ink instead. I did find out that the green ink is a bit more opaque than the red, which is a bit strange as they are the same brand, but hey that's how life goes sometimes.

I was able to get to the second highlight followed by the send ink to smooth the blends and now the models are waiting for the first gloss coat to dry so I can keep on keeping on.

With out further ado...... Have some pictures.

Kodiak Display getting ready for Warmachine Weekend.

Hey everybody. I finally had a bit more free time to work on the Kodiak. I really am digging how the display is coming along.

I started with the clay and the trees. Then moved onto getting a "rock" set in for the Kodiak to stand on. Followed by some happy moss and some little bushes to break up the color. I also have a rusted out Menoth Jack thing to give a good contrast to the greens.

Then it was onto the snow. I searched and read and spoke to a few fantastic people in the hobby and found that Secret Weapons Miniatures - Crushed Glass is the best snow effect around. A few words of caution when using this stuff. It is CRUSHED GLASS!!! Wear a friggen N95 mask. You do NOT want this stuff in your lungs (lungs + glass = no bueno). Also wear a pair of rubber gloves and use this stuff on a surface you can dump out. Be safe ok?

So yea basically you use a clear resin like Still Water then dump the glass onto it. It drys and BLAM snow....

Ok I'll stop yapping. Have some pics.

Time for a quick side track and talk a bit about inspiration and motivation (with a non-paid shameless plug thrown in).

What gets you going? Why do we sit there for hours and paint? Personally it's about stress relief and the feelings of accomplishment that I get when I finally finish a project. I love to take pictures of the models, to post them on the blog and wright about how I took a clump of white metal, resin, or plastic and turned it into something that might, in the loosest possible terms be deemed "art".

Now I don't know about you, but I can't sit in my painting room and work with nothing in the background. My mind wanders and get distracted. I have found that listening to podcasts or watching YouTube videos helps me tremendously. Listening helps me focus and turns what might have been a 30 minute painting session into something that can last hours, and generally has better results.

So what do I generally listen to?

My go to is Painting with Menoth John. John has a weekly show on twitch.tv that airs in the US at 8pm Eastern. He also makes the show available on his YouTube channel pretty much right after the live show airs.

What make's his show unique and inspiring to me is multi-fold:

1. He is a good painter and has enough skill to make it interesting to watch and learn a few things.

2. His co-host John (yea its not as confusing as you would think). Is a great Ed McMahon to his Johnny Carson. Co-host John does a fantastic job of keeping everyone on topic and has great insights on gaming as well as media.

3. Special guests! John reaches out to both the painting and playing communities and finds guest hosts that are extremely knowledgeable and entertaining. Some guest hosts have included fantastic painters such as Shoshie from Shosie's Magnificent Miniatures, Ashton Holbrook from Red Model Painting, and the list goes on.

4. Alcohol abounds. How can you go wrong with a few camera's a live show and shots?

5. These folks actually listen to the audience. One of the Johns is generally in the show chat and interacts with the audience.

So there ya go. If you are looking for something to paint to/along with. Give them a try. I think you will find them to be worthy of your time.

P.S. Again this was a non-paid shameless plug. I am not affiliated with the show, but did want to spend the time to give them a shout out and a thanks for making my hours of painting more enjoyable.