The Hobby: Done Right! - Legion Of Plastic Blog

Today, after a lot of inactivity, I was compelled to write this post after seeing basically the coolest thing in the community since my previous shout out to the Painting Bunker a few months back.

Check out this amazing post on Legion of Plastic... actually, just check out the whole blog!

It's incredible, and as far as I'm concerned, another example of *exactly* what the hobby is all about, and what I think more people should pay attention too. Once in a while, stop doing the math-hammer, put away the calculator and working out MEQs, and just make some killer models to have fun with.

I wish I had a bit more time to dedicate to this kind of thing - hopefully I will over the coming months, but for now, go check out Legion of Plastic, and bask in the glory of incredible minis.

Cheers

Tutorial: Rust World Basing

I'm going to cover how I do my bases for my Iron Hands. I'm using a Mars-esque style, and I'm going to take you through how I achieve the effect. In this example, I'm showing on my new Iron Father, which is a sightly special case as I've an extra display element, but the technique is the same as normal.

First up, I mark out in bright paint around where the feet will be, this is because I  don't want to get any material in here that will interfere with gluing the model to the base. Next, I start adding the basing materials. In this case, I have a load of plasticard tiles I made for another project, and I basically chop these up to make them look shattered. Old bits of sprue are also goldmines, so I cut these up to at interesting angles as well, representing pipes maybe or some other type of debris. Also - servo skull for good measure!

 

Next up, adding the sand/gravel. This is basically to add texture in between all the other stuff. Here I've used some model railway material - perfect for this and cheep! Comes in all sizes and styles too. The trick here, I find, is to cover most of the original, plain black base, and overlap you other materials a bit. It makes it all a bit more natural, not just stuff stacked one on top of the other. Also at this point, I sometimes add Typhus Corrosion and Agrellan Earth here and then, just for further texture.

 

Okay, so now we're ready for paint. First up, simple black spray to prime it, and seal in all of the bits of grit and gravel. Next up is the main colour for the rust - Deathclaw brown. I find 2 - 3 light, thin coats gets this done about right. Sometimes it's a bit patchy, but I use this as extra detail and texture to the piece. Also, a bit of Leadbelcher on the pieces of sprue I used for piping, or whatever look like it should be metal!

 

After this, a bit of Typhus Corrosion, with a bit of water, just for a light, dirty, gritty wash of the gravel do help to darken the crevasses and pick out the details.

After that, the Ryza Rust drybrush. Just need to go a bit heavy on the area's at the edges to make stuff stand out. Finally, and soooo important, is painting the edge of the bases. Personally, I like black. I think for this style it works best, but other like to go grey, brown whatever. As far as I'm concerned, the key for this is it just needs to be neat and consistant! It makes such a difference, rather than being covered with rogue brush strokes and pain splashes.

So here we have my the final model, full painted and based. Hope you found the tutorial helpful, any questions, comments or criticisms are welcomed and encouraged!

Cheers

Smells like heresy... It's coming from Heretic Approved!

This is a quick post and introduction to a new site I'm going to be contributing to - Heretic Approved. This is a new site aimed at the beginners and people new to our hobby. It's going to combine series  of painting and modelling articles, lore pieces on the various factions from the 40k universe, as well as general tips, tricks and pitfalls to avoid for first timers.

I've been roped in to help with some of the painting annd moddling side of things, and so far I've covered priming, base colour painting and edge highlighting. Some of the lore articles up there are great, and hilarious.  I love Scraps4Bitz terrain article too, I'm going to be embarking on something similar to these in the summer so this will be a great source for inspiration and help!

So check it out, have a browse around and drop a few comments too while you're at it. 

Cheers

Hobby as it should be - Shout-out to The Painting Bunker

Hey guys, I just want to make a special mention of a recent post by The Painting Bunker.

John over there put on his own tournament, focused on all the beat parts of the hobby, rather than math-hammer and ultimate army lists. This event was about fun, fluff, good company and breathtaking armies and boards. It's really incredible stuff. Take a look at the amazing models, and read the article. If you're intersted in great terrain check out the rest of the site too. Actually, check it all out anyway it's brilliant!

Cheers 

The Iron Tenth - Part 5

Okay, so lesson 1: Working on 3 dreads at once is tough going.


The plan was to use all my from the various kits to make some cool models. I'm pleased with the results for sure, but I'm not convinced they're particularly unique dreadnoughts. Next time I reckon I'll try for one that was a Techmarine/Iron Father in a past life. Anyway, this was a long project. There's a good bit of kit bashing and plasticard work on each, plus magnetised arms, bases and interchangeable stuff. This, plus general real-life things going on made for a long start to end process.

Lesson 2: Working on 3 dreads one by one would have been worse.





Having said all that, I think it was well worth it, and lets face it, if I hadn't done them all together they wouldn't have been done at all! Being able to paint the models in stages, all the base colours, first level highlights, metal etc in steps really sped things up. If I hadn't committed to doing them all together, and not rushing ahead with one model until the stage I was on was done on all of them helped keep me focused. Personally, it was easy to stay motivated on this, where as I reckon if I got one done, then had to start from scratch on the next one.... I think I'd have moved onto another project!

So, here they are anyway, all painted and ready to go. I want to go back and add names to them all, including the contemptor, but I'm going to practise that a lot before I risk ruining these guys! Not sure what I'll be working on next, not dreadnoughts though that's for sure.

Hope you like them.

Cheers

Ideally, I'm sure we'd all love a litlle nerd den at home, with a workbench, paint station and gaming table all set up and ready to go at all times. Well, I'm going to go out on a limb and say most of us aren't so lucky!

I live in a really nice, but small apartment with my wonderful girlfriend. One bedroom, living room / dining room with a kitchenette and a bathroom - so space is at a premium! I usually need to pack all my crap away every evening, otherwise I'd very quickly take over the whole place. I'm always on the look out for handy things to make my hobby life a bit easier and when I was out shopping with my girlfriend a few weeks ago, I found this.

It's a makeup or jewelry box I guess, cost €10, made of cardboard. It's the best €10 I ever spent! Look at all the compartments in here, each level is just the right height to stand a paint pot. I get all of my paints and tools, knives files, glue etc in this one thing. I think thats pretty cool. It could do with reinforcing, but a duct tape attack will take care of that. Anyway, that turned into a bit of a rant, but the moral of the story is keep your eye's open, especially when dragged into shops by your girlfriend!

Cheers