Here is a pic of my painting table at the moment. I have taped paper sheets to my painting lamps to diffuse their light for taking pics... It does seem to help remove shadows from the field of view.
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23 June 2007
My table, June 2007
Here is a pic of my painting table at the moment. I have taped paper sheets to my painting lamps to diffuse their light for taking pics... It does seem to help remove shadows from the field of view.
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Ranks
I have been slowly assembling my Ever-Present Glory minis, and have run into a slight problem. Many of the EPG troops that I bought are holding their long spears in attack mode, which means that there might be some struggles with ranking the figures once they are painted and mounted onto bases. After a bit of experimentation, I have a solution that seems to work:
The white plastic base is a 40mm square. Does it look crowded? I like the idea of the 40mm bases; it will keep the frontage of the units a bit smaller on the tabletop. My vision for units (heavy infantry units at least) is to have 6 40mm bases, 3 bases wide and 2 bases deep, 4 minis per base, for 24 minis per unit.
Now that the minis are being assembled, it will soon be time to start painting! I am mounting the minis temporarily onto nails, and I cobbled together a box to hold them during painting:
That is a plastic container I salvaged from work, with some foam inside of it to stick the nails into...
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The white plastic base is a 40mm square. Does it look crowded? I like the idea of the 40mm bases; it will keep the frontage of the units a bit smaller on the tabletop. My vision for units (heavy infantry units at least) is to have 6 40mm bases, 3 bases wide and 2 bases deep, 4 minis per base, for 24 minis per unit.
Now that the minis are being assembled, it will soon be time to start painting! I am mounting the minis temporarily onto nails, and I cobbled together a box to hold them during painting:
That is a plastic container I salvaged from work, with some foam inside of it to stick the nails into...
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09 June 2007
Spears for the legions
The Tekumel minis from Eureka do not come with spears, so I had to come up with a solution so my troops did not take the field sans weapons. Eureka had the great foresight to include cast spearheads for the Serqu troops, so all they need are shafts, but the Ever-Present Glory troops are not so fancy.
So, I rummaged around in my stock of bits-and-pieces, looking for a way to solve this dilemma. And, I found this:
A bag of plastic rod! I have no idea how long this bag has been in my possession, but no matter - it fits the bill. The pieces are just about 14" long, so I then cut the rod into seven 2" lengths. For the spearhead (for the EPG), I then placed a tip of the rod into a set of pliers and gave it a good squeeze to flatten it. Some trimming and filing ensued, and this is how they looked afterward:
Start to finish, left to right. After finishing the tip, I cut the end of the shaft to give a final length of 50 mm.
Here is how one of the Ever-Present Glory minis looks with a real weapon:
The diameter of this rod is just slightly larger than the socket for the Serqu speartip, but that can be easily solved by drilling out the socket, and perhaps by filing down one end of the shaft to fit. I do wonder about the ruggedness of the plastic; will it stand up to actual game-play? Maybe I should have gone with brass rod...
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So, I rummaged around in my stock of bits-and-pieces, looking for a way to solve this dilemma. And, I found this:
A bag of plastic rod! I have no idea how long this bag has been in my possession, but no matter - it fits the bill. The pieces are just about 14" long, so I then cut the rod into seven 2" lengths. For the spearhead (for the EPG), I then placed a tip of the rod into a set of pliers and gave it a good squeeze to flatten it. Some trimming and filing ensued, and this is how they looked afterward:
Start to finish, left to right. After finishing the tip, I cut the end of the shaft to give a final length of 50 mm.
Here is how one of the Ever-Present Glory minis looks with a real weapon:
The diameter of this rod is just slightly larger than the socket for the Serqu speartip, but that can be easily solved by drilling out the socket, and perhaps by filing down one end of the shaft to fit. I do wonder about the ruggedness of the plastic; will it stand up to actual game-play? Maybe I should have gone with brass rod...
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27 May 2007
Trials of the gesso, part 2
This time around, I mixed the gesso with a variety of 'additives'.
This is a victim of another one of my brainstorms. Recipe: 4 drops white gesso, 1 drop Reaper Master Series Brush-on primer, 2 drops 5% Flow-Aid. I thought the primer in the mix would help, but the bubbles remained. The figure is a 25mm GZG Kra'Vak (please note that GZG is in no way responsible for this mess!).
These two are much better. Recipe: 4 drops white gesso, 1 drop Delta Ceramcoat black, 2 drops 5% Flow-Aid. There is still a bit of bubbling, but it is rather minor. The grey color is nice; it reminds me of the first minis I painted - GHQ micro-armour. At that time I was using Floquil enamels... awesome coverage, but I'm certain that the odor would knock me flat nowadays. (2 more GZG Kra'Vak)
Success?!? Recipe: 5 drops white gesso, 1 drop Delta Ceramcoat black, 3 drops 5% Flow-Aid. This one came out nicely, no bubbling. (I do wonder how of much of that is technique versus mixture.) The coating seems to retain the paint-holding texture and the detail-saving shrinkage of gesso, and I can easily cope with the grey. (25mm GZG New Israeli [I think?] )
Right now, I'm pleased with this recipe.
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This is a victim of another one of my brainstorms. Recipe: 4 drops white gesso, 1 drop Reaper Master Series Brush-on primer, 2 drops 5% Flow-Aid. I thought the primer in the mix would help, but the bubbles remained. The figure is a 25mm GZG Kra'Vak (please note that GZG is in no way responsible for this mess!).
These two are much better. Recipe: 4 drops white gesso, 1 drop Delta Ceramcoat black, 2 drops 5% Flow-Aid. There is still a bit of bubbling, but it is rather minor. The grey color is nice; it reminds me of the first minis I painted - GHQ micro-armour. At that time I was using Floquil enamels... awesome coverage, but I'm certain that the odor would knock me flat nowadays. (2 more GZG Kra'Vak)
Success?!? Recipe: 5 drops white gesso, 1 drop Delta Ceramcoat black, 3 drops 5% Flow-Aid. This one came out nicely, no bubbling. (I do wonder how of much of that is technique versus mixture.) The coating seems to retain the paint-holding texture and the detail-saving shrinkage of gesso, and I can easily cope with the grey. (25mm GZG New Israeli [I think?] )
Right now, I'm pleased with this recipe.
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25 May 2007
Enfilade 2007
Today is the start of Enfilade this year. Enfilade is one of the best miniature conventions around, and we are not going to be there this year.
Although we made this decision months ago, it is still sad to not be able to attend.
The money it took for the three of us to attend last year is being used for needed items around the home, and miniatures of course.
Hopefully, somebody there will post pics that are not locked up within a Yahoogroup, and I'll cross-link to them here.
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Although we made this decision months ago, it is still sad to not be able to attend.
The money it took for the three of us to attend last year is being used for needed items around the home, and miniatures of course.
Hopefully, somebody there will post pics that are not locked up within a Yahoogroup, and I'll cross-link to them here.
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