Butcher and his little Kodiak friend.

Not a big post but lot's of pictures.

I finished up the Butcher tonight and got the Kodiak done as well. So now its time for a beer and some rest.

Butcher 3.

I love a lazy Saturday. I was able to put about 4 hours into this guy today so far and now I'm just waiting for the Gloss varnish to dry so I can start in on the Oil Washes.

I started with getting all the Grey/Black onto the fur lining of the cape then adding all the different browns to the model. I used three main browns (well 4 if you count the undercoat for the golds). The outside cape thing is P3 Beast Hide. I've not used this brown before but its got a really nice almost cream look to it and goes on really smooth. I used P3 Blood Tracker Brown for the things hanging from the shoulder armor, and am I am totally blanking on what I used for the under-vest (that professional blogging right there folks.....).

You might notice in the picture above that the face is Green. I have seen this technique before but hadn't tried it yet so I figured, hey why not. I am impressed at how it really brings out the flesh tones and leaves decent shadows underneath. 

Silvers were added and as I still have a bit of the old GW Bleach Bone around I used that on the skulls. (seems appropriate given how much GW loves skulls).

Here is the model after the first Gloss Coat. It needs to cure for a few hours and then I'll start applying the washes. 

More pictures to come soon. 

Warmachine Weekend Prep.

Hey everyone. It's been a while since I posted last. School, work, and family have taken up my waking hours over the last few weeks, and let's be honest. While my hobby is wonderful and stress releasing it's still only a hobby and has to take a backseat to real life sometimes.

That being said I finally had so much "need to paint" backed up in me I went downstairs and got some stuff done. I put together eZerkova and her body guard, two units of Greylord Ternion (for her list) and The Butcher 3 unit. Now before you ask, yes that is quite a few pins and all of the pins in Butcher are large. Like 1.5mm thick brass rod large.

Then it was prime time, after a few hours of curing I was able to get the reds onto the Butcher and that is where I stand now.

With only 60 days to go before Warmachine Weekend it's time to put the peddle down and get to work Here is a list of what all I have to get done with before I leave for St Louise. 

Butcher 3 and his dogs

A full unit of Iron Fang Pikeman with Black Dragon UA

Tactical Arcanist Corp

The Full WGDS

2 units of GreyLords

Koldon Lord

Saxin Orik

The War Dog (just needs to be based). 

Full Unit of Greylord Outriders. 

Ayana and Holt

and anything else I am forgetting. 

It's gonna be busy so expect quite a few posts over the next two months!

Tournament Tray Reduex.....

In my ever widening approach to not getting my Iron Fang Pikeman finished, a friend had seen my tray and asked if I could make him one as well. Naturally I jumped on the chance to help a buddy out and to play in the wood shop. Let's be honest, how doesn't love to play with power tools?

I started by figuring out how many of what type of bases were needed, then headed to the local hardware store to pick up a piece of scrap wood (for free!). After that I asked my wife to do her amazing sign/graphics/vinyl cutting juju and she created a fantastic template that would work. We secured the template to the wood and basically drew quite a few circles. This gave me a guide on where to cut and most importantly where not to!

With the board in hand it was time to go to the drill press. I used Forschner bits and set the depth to about 5mm below the level of the board. This gave me a good cut and prevented me from drilling too deep. It took about 30 minuted to drill all the holes and we had this.

The next step was to sand the whole thing. The goal is to get it nice and smooth to both prevent splintering and to make it easy and smooth when I apply the paint.

After sanding I used a bit of Wood filler to cover up the drill holes in the middle of each cut out. I did not do this on my previous board and now I wish I had. The wood putty dried in about an hour and then it was time to sand that down to level.

Now for the fun part...... painting. I used an all purpose oil based enamel paint for this. I wanted something that would both seal and protect the wood from drops, scratches, getting tossed in the trunk etc.  A quick note about this paint, it's sticky and takes hours to dry between coats. So I recommend getting outside if the weather permits, grabbing something cold to drink and a good book or your fully charged electronic device of choice and go at it. Also wear gloves when working with this type of paint. It's a bear to get off your skin.

I started by painting the underside. It's quicker and a flat surface so its easier to put up on blocks for when its time to flip over the board.

After this dried for a few hours it was time to turn it over and do the front....

In this step you want to make sure to get paint into all the nooks and crannies. as any light color will show up starkly against the black. Additionally make sure as you go that extra paint is not pooling into your cuts. It would suck to get this done and then your bases don't fit because the paint made the holes a bit small.


Now its just a matter of waiting a few days for the paint to cure then I'll varnish it and add a few vinyl decals and blam another board is done, and the Iron Fang Pikeman will still be sitting on my desk.....

Tournament Tray Update.

Hey sports fans. I just wanted to give you a quick update on the tournament tray. I sealed in the paint job with a gloss varnish and once dried applied a few decals to break up the monotony of an all black space. I'd like to give a huge shout out to my wife for doing the vinyl work.

Here is the finished product. Looking back, if I did it again I would fill in the holes the Forschner bits left in the bottom of the cut outs.

Iron Fang Kovnik. Quick and Dirty.

I needed a quick palette cleanser today. Something I could paint quickly and do a decent job on in about 2 hours or less. I chose this model for its simplicity and frankly nice swaying cape. On the issue of capes, what's the deal with fantasy models always having them? They serve no real purpose and I would imagine that they would actually get in the way while fighting. O.K. now that my mini rant is out of the way let's get back to the painting. This one was pretty simple. I used the red ink technique on the reds. P3 - Pig Iron for the silvers and Vallejo Model Color - Gold for the well... golds. Once everything was good and dry I dipped into my last remaining bottle of GW Devlin Mud and added a big ole dose of it. And viola a model is in the display case and ready to hit the table.

Display Base for the Kodiak.

Alright folks, I have decided to enter the Khador Kodiak into the painting competition at Warmachine Weekend. In looking at past entries from this and other competitions it's clear to me that I need a display base. As I have never actually made a display base I did what we all do in times of need and headed to The Google. I found a few fantastic articles on Massive Voodoo and other sites and a few painters have offered me some great advice.

So with a bit of research in hand and a whole lot of "hold me beer while I try something" I decided it was time to get it done.

I started with the plinth. I picked up a good size piece of wood at Hobby Lobby for about $4, after which my wife suggested that I probably would have been able to get the same piece from a hardware store for free..... I then sanded it down and rounded off the edges. While at the Hobby Lobby I grabbed a package of air dry sculpting clay for the ground on the base. I am using clay for a few reasons. First it allows me to create slopes and uneven terrain, Second it gives me something to ancore the "trees" and "rocks". Last but by no means least its a heck of a lot cheaper than using Green Stuff.

For the trees and rocks I sent my kids outside to look for sticks and bark. In 28mm scale twigs look a lot like a tree. I've let them dry in the basement for a few weeks to get any moister out.

On to assembly. I started with getting my fingers a bit wet to work with the clay. Once it was in place and I was happy with the slopes and stuff. I basically stuck the trees into place. Then added the bark that will simulate rocks. Now its time to let the clay dry for a few days and then it will be time for the paint, bushes, snow etc.

As a last thought. The more I look at the base, the more I am thinking of removing the front piece of bark and going with maybe some run off water from melting snow.