Tuesday 22 December 2015

Vallejo Base Stuff

Having heard a few positive things said about the Stone Texture paste from Acrylicos Vallejo, I ordered a pot of the Dark Earth shade from Minibits.



It was £7 for the tub, a bit more than I am used to paying for my basing material. I normally get a tub of house hold filler from my local Pound Shop and once every five years or so I beg a jar of sand from whichever friend, or neighbour, is having house improvements done.

First impressions are of a well hydrated, gritty 'paste' that is easy to spread out. I wasn't overly fond of the colour, as it doesn't remind me of any soil that I've ever dug (trust me, I taught pedology for twenty years). I'll be painting it when I use it.




The "micro particles", as Vallejo call them, are uniform in size. I would have preferred some variation.

I used it on a bunch of figures on slotta bases. It smoothed out nicely, although the brush I used had to be thoroughly cleaned every four or five figures, as it got clogged with the micro particles and took on an unhelpful shape.

One test that I tried was to see how well it would hide the step caused by a figure base, so I used it on the recently prepped Piggies. Immediately after application I put some grit on to add some variation.




Much as anticipated, the high water content led to quite a bit of shrinkage when it dried. It will need a second application. With my household filler I wouldn't need to do that. Ho hum.

Monday 21 December 2015

More Dwarfs

Today it was the turn of the Miners. I forgot to take a picture of them before adding some dark brown and black washes to selected parts.




I then repainted the candles on their helmets and added some highlights.




The last thing I managed today was to make a start preparing the first of the new units. Pig mounted cavalry from West Wind. There were some pretty heavy mold lines to sort out, as well as some other 'blobs' that I guess were from using a torn mold when they were made. It took 2 hours to clean the nine pigs.

Saturday 19 December 2015

Butterfly

The only way that I seem to get anything finished (eventually) is by flitting from one project to another, so I guess there will be some variety shown here.

My attention, at the moment, is on my Dwarf army, because it is actually going to get on the table in early January. I've got a game! Most of it I bought about ten/twelve years ago from a chap in Beckenham who had done a decent block-painted job on it. I used it once, back then, and it has since sat in the cupboard.

The plan is to spruce it up a bit by adding some depth, with some washes, brightening it a bit with some highlights, and by redoing the bases. I'm also going to add some new characters to it.

Here is he first unit so done. Getting used to a new camera so the pic is a bit dull.

Then there are three characters that I have started. A wizard and a shieldmaiden - both figures by Reaper Miniatures


 





And a berserker on a bull - West Wind Figure. I might try tartan for the first time on him.


Friday 11 December 2015

What's on the table


At the front of the painting table at the moment there are two main projects. Just a couple of snaps.

I have a very slow burning French War of Spanish Succession army that I am painting for myself. These bits and pieces will be going on a battery rear area base, and will go behind one of the gun models.




The other current project is for a client - some of the very nice Frostgrave figures. These are the first half and are almost finished.



I'll do some better photos when they are finished.



A Brush With History


This is my painting/modelling blog to show what I am currently doing. The plan at the moment is to blog 2 or 3 times a week. 

This is just a first test post to see if I can work out how to do this blogging thing.

Here's my painting desk.

 

















I'll add something else a bit later.