CAV: Battle Damage

During a recent New England Miniature Painters Association (NEMPA) paint day, I took a short break to play around with one of the Bones CAV models that I received from Reaper Miniatures back in the Fall. The mini was part of the early-bird Kickstarter package from their CAV campaign. If everything goes to plan, the second installment of little plastic robots should appear in a few more months.

When I started this, I wasn't thinking too hard about paint. Instead, I pulled out the CAV and attacked it with my hobby knife, slicing pieces off and then playing around with a variety of materials to add on battle damage that might look cool in the finished product. One thing I'll say for Bones is that it makes this sort of experimentation easy and affordable!

Fey Project 8: The Home Stretch

In the past week, I finished my basing work on the Fey project, and I am almost done with the basic shading for the whole figure. Once I add some highlights to the edges of her wings, all I have to do is refine the light and shadow across the model to perfect the finish. (OK, to improve the finish. Nothing will ever be perfect.)

As you can see, I finished up the bracken leaves, and added in a couple of additional mushrooms to break up the yellow-green monotony of the base. Not visible in this picture is the fact that I have now gotten the yellow-orange blending roughed in on the back of her wings, making them more or less complete, even if the blends are not as butter-smooth as I might like.

Fey Project 7: Return of the Bracken

I have not had a huge amount of time to paint in March, but I still made some process on the Fey Project. This entry will just be a quick progress check-in, rather than a deep article on technique. Hopefully, the next one will include some finishing touches and a complete, or nearly complete product.

The biggest change is, as you can see, that I glued the figure down to the base. At this stage, I am close to 80% finished with the ground cover basing, and I have also nearly completed the paint on the tree stump and roots that frame the scene. I still have shading and finishing to do on the figure, but it makes the project feel much closer to completion to have the parts put together.

This brass-etch bracken looks nice, and it is far sturdier than any paper equivalent that I might construct, but it is a huge amount of added work. Individually painting each leaf only takes around 1-2 minutes, but there are already more than 40 leaves glued to the base. At a guess, I need another 15-20 to finish up, and move on to other painting.

Fey Project 6: Basing Without End

I took a major hiatus from this project at the start of the year. A big part of it was the wings. I just couldn't wrap my head around shading all the little cells on all four surfaces. The base was also a bit vexing, since it involves a lot of repetitive work with the photo-etch brass.

Thankfully, my local group paint day came to the rescue and pulled me out of my project funk. I am now forging ahead with a serious hope of bringing this thing to ReaperCon for display.

Fey Project 2: Overkill Basing

As a part of the "Woodland Fey" display piece, I've been working on, I built my very first scenic base with Sculpey. While I am very happy with the tree stump and associated textures (at least for a first crack at the problem), the rest of the base was still pretty bare.

In past cases, I might have covered it with some basing grit before painting it, and then stock on some assorted clump foliage or flock to add color and interest. I have had good results with that kind of technique in the past. For thei project, on the other hand, I wanted to keep pushing for some more interesting basing materials.

Woodland Creatures - Fey Project, Part 1

My latest project is the result of a very special request. I am working on a display piece, based on one of Reaper Miniatures' Warlord figures. The request was to paint up a fairy, or similar creature of the wilds, and this figure fits the bill. As an added bonus, I am experimenting with large-scale display base construction, using Super Sculpey polymer clay. This installment will focus mostly on that. Future entries will cover paint and other basing work.

Super Sculpey is a a bakeable clay. The polymer remains pliable and sculptable for months, or even years, left on its own. To harden it, you need to make it in a 140°C (275°F) oven for 15-20 minutes. That alone makes it way different from the two-part epoxy putties that I am used to, and that is not the only difference...

Ettin Project: Round 3

I did some painting during the past week, and then drove on over to Groton, CT for a semi-local paint day. It was a nice to be able to sit down with a group of like-minded hobbyists, and I actually made a lot of progress on this project. I am now hopefull that I can finish him up and bring him along to TotalCon to show off in a couple of weeks. I may even be able to turn him over to his rightful owner during the con.

During the week, I experimented with possible base textures. I wanted the plinth under the Ettin to look like some form of stone slab, as one might use in a large taxidermy display.

Darksword Hawkman Continued

I made lots of progress on the Hawkman WIP last week. I started painting in his sword. I painted the trim on his robe. I even started in on some experimental basing techniques - more on that below For now, here is his state, as of last week:

Read on for tinkering with base-painting

Cork Board Basing

In my last installment, I described the parts selection, fabrication and early assembly on my brand new sword-mage build. The next step I tackled was basing.

 
Like a lot of character figures, this one features a built-in "Broccoli" base, stuck to the bottom of the figure. While I understand that this feature is handy for people who like to buy a figure and quickly get it onto the table with out needing a base to hold it up, it makes more creative basing significantly more work.

More Non-Metallic Metals, Plus a Bonus!

During my Fourth of July break I found the time to complete my NMM character experimentation. My photography is not as good as I'd like, but you should be able to get a pretty good notion of what she looks like:

The highlight placement is far from perfect, but I am pretty happy with how things turned out for my first real attempt at painting a model using NMM techniques. It is surprising how fast a few blended blue and white paints can start to look like a metallic object, even with inexpert handling.

Dindrenzi BB WIP - Part 2

Once I had most of the flash removed, and the parts sanded to a reasonably close fit, I started working on installing a base for the model. The battleship does not include a hole to accept the 1/8th inch acrylic post included with the base. I assume that is because of the gap in the hull, which would coincide with such a mounting point. Obviously, I needed to add a support post, but I decided to go the extra mile and try to add a removable base. Separating base from miniature should make transport easier, and it will make it trivial to re-base the miniature, should I ever desire to do so.

I started by running to my local hobby and craft store to buy a supply of brass tube and rod stock. I also swung by the hardware store for some tiny steel hex nuts - you'll see why later.