A very light week

Still in post-Cancon mode so no painting this week.  Getting over the “tried hard, but failed” feeling.  The judging was fair and the Bronze level figures were much better than mine.  In the end just wish I had painted better than I did.

I did prep two 28mm figures.  One of the Reaper Bones figures (the female dwarf fighter) and the special kickstarter only resin figure that came with Dungeon Saga game.  I find the Bones figures very annoying to prep.  The mould lines are very hard to trim as the soft plastic just moves out of the way half the time.  Also you can’t do the normal edge scrape technique that you do with hard plastic or resin figures.

I finally got to start reading the Dungeon Saga rules and played the first two introductory scenarios with my kids (8 and 5 next month).  Both had no issues with the rules and even better the co-operation aspect was picked up straight away.  Many skeletons got turned to dust.  My daughter wanted to use her own figure of course (the barbarian was too ugly) so the “make-your-own” adventurer sheets will come in handy.  A couple more years and Runequest 3rd Ed. is coming out of the box :)

After Christmas I got the “FAQ for constructing and painting dioramas” by Andrea.  A bit of an odd book as some bits are great (like the info on creating trees) where others parts are borderline “why did you bother” as the information is at the level of telling you what the picture is of, no actual description, explanation or detail.  However there was one tiny section that was gold.

Using a simple wooden peg you can construct an excellent clamp.  Picture are better so here they are.  And yes, I purchased pack of pegs and now have many clamps.

Cancon 2015

Packed and ready to go

Once again I made the journey to Cancon and like last year took the whole family and made a little holiday of it.  I entered both my 54mm Knight and Samurai that I have been working on during last year.  Didn’t win any prizes, but the judge that I talked to last year remembered my 54mm El Torres figure and was very encouraging in his feedback.  Always nice to be told that what you did this year was marked improvement from last year.

Still need to work on my blending and still need more light into the top of the figures.  The fact I made sure everything on the Samurai base was off square (i.e. the wall,road,etc weren’t in parallel to the sides) was noticed as was the effort spent on the wall.  Got some good tips for shading yellow (use crimson for the darkest shades) and some general painting tips.

Lady on a bench

My daughter entered her “lady on a bench” figure and was awarded a certificate and got a Cancon dice (something all the junior entries get which I consider to be an excellent idea).  She was well proud and had a big smile for some time.










The second hand stall was a bit of a let down.  I estimate there were over 100-150 people lined up so by the time I got in wasn’t much that I wanted.  Note there were plenty of bargains to be had, just nothing that I was after.  So given that I don’t really buy 28mm figures anymore the swag bag was pretty light on.

- Burfitt Tools drilling jig - $25

A special holder for odd shaped items (e.g. roundish things) for drilling.  Just liked it and not a thing you can easily find.

- Burfitt Tools tweezers - $10 each

Some very nice fine tweezers to replace the $2 store ones I have currently.  Time to make some more trees one leaf at a time.

- Field Tool Shop 1/35 - $5

Second hand store purchase.  At $5 happy for that to go into the spares box.

- Soviet tank crew, winter 1943-45 - $5

Second hand store purchase.  No real need or use, just felt I had to buy at least two items from the bring and buy.

- General Stanislaw 1/35 - $5

I very nice 1/35 resin figure from Scribor miniatures.  Great pose and a good face so purchase just for painting.

- 6 Secret Weapon pigments - $12

These were on sale at $2 each.  So grabbed some lesser used colours just because I could.

- Victorian fence - $15

From The Combat Company store.  They never seem to have these in stock when I visit so I grabbed one.  Very nicely the kids each got a glow in the dark d20 as well.

- 3 Reaper Bones figures - $15

Two for the daughter to paint, one that the wife liked and wants me to paint for her.

That was it.  The problem with only painting a handful of figures a year is that I don’t really need to stock up on figures or supplies like I use to.  I’ve got more 1/35 scale bits than I will ever get through, lots of 54mm stuff and still all the old 28mm Ral Partha figures in case I get bored.  And Dungeon Saga if I get really keen.  A bit sad that the days of mass purchasing are over, well at least until the kids get into some new army game :)

54mm Samurai finished

54mm Samurai

I made it.  A week before Cancon and my 54mm Osprey Men-at-arms Samurai is done.  Over the last week I finished off the details on the three yellow circles on the back which turned out quite nice.  I’m wishing that it was on the front to be honest.  I then did the usual few nights of poking a things which didn’t really need any work as it’s hard to stop.  But you have to, otherwise you end up ruining something by mucking around without any real purpose.

Side shot

Once the figure was glued onto the base (using two part epoxy glue) I did a quick tidy up to cover the glue and then blending the ground and the figure with some pigments to get a more soil like look.  I used some dark browns, light browns and black pigments dry and went for the “less is more” approach to avoid the ground becoming over worked.  Dry pigments make things look very dull and flat.  Great for dusty tanks, but on figures can kill all of your paint work and make the entire thing look very bland.

Lovely rear design

With two figures done I did a test fit into my new carry case and now I’m all ready to go.  I just have to wait a week.  Now for all those pesky 28mm figures that are sitting in the background and need to be finished off to satisfy the completionist in me.

54mm Samurai finishing parts

Quick post as I have to get back and do some more painting tonight hopefully.

Almost done

The naginata was glued in place (with 2 part epoxy glue) however some paint on the handle was scraped off so that area had to be primed again.  I first tried painting the handle in a light brown (VMC German Light Brown) but after shading it just looked like a tube, not a wooden handle.  So that was scraped and I went for a more bamboo wood look.  The base coat was a tan yellow with darker brown (VGC Bestial Brown) used to mark the bamboo segments.  An off white was used as the gradual highlight to try and represent some wood texture.  It breaks up the handle quite well and avoids the tube look previously done.

The metal blade on the naginata was highlighted up with VMA Aluminium and shaded down with VMA metallic Black and straight black.  Probably need to pop the contrast a bit more on this.

Start of the back design

I started on a design on the back as it was looking a bit plain.  I liked the idea of three yellow circles in the same colour as yellow trim on the front of the figure.  In the picture is the base coat down with more shading to occur.  The shade/highlight colours will be the same as the rest of the yellow on the figure.

Base completed

On the base the gap between the wall and the ground was puttied up and painted up to match the ground rocks at the front and plain black at the rear.  So the base is pretty much done.

So final push is finishing off the back design and the last few tidy up areas on the figure to make sure there aren’t any over paints, etc.

54mm Samurai base work

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and survived the new year parties.  I was off visiting family interstate for the last two weeks so all painting activities took an enforced break.  However just back and I cracked on with some of the base work for my 54mm Samurai figure.

Samurai base work

Cobblestones

I think I finally got the cobblestones the way I like.  I went for a very dark brown for the dirt colour and darker greys of the rocks with a few odd red/ochres for variety.  To tie the ground to the wall a filter of dark green/brown was done over all the rocks and dirt once the highlighting of the rocks was completed.  I wanted the ground to be quite dark so the much more colourful and brighter figure really pops.

Reeds and bushes

For the grass area on the side I first painted it with a dark olive green (Coat d’arms Russian Green) and then covered this with various scatter materials in the darker green/olive colours.  I also make up a few reed bushes to add some height variation.  Holes were drilled into the ground for these bushes to be mounted in.  Also I added a few brown grass tufts.  Again trying to get a wide variation of the ground cover.  When the glue is all dry I will paint the reeds and grass tufts to add some natural colours (e.g. the grass tufts having bits of green and yellow in them rather than being all brown).

Strangely the green doesn't really show

On the wall I finished the oil blends on the rocks and then did an overall filter of dark olive green with a second, heavier coat of the olive green down the bottom of the stone work.  I’m trying for a very wet and slimy look to the wall and ground.  Also I want both the wall and ground to be quite drab so all the attention is on the figure.

Of the figure, I need to finish up the naginata which I will do once it is glued in place.  The basic shading/highlighting is done but there will definitely be some scraps getting it into place.  I have to be very careful not to snap off the arms when forcing/assisting the naginata into place as they are just glued and not pinned.   Still thinking about doing a pattern on the back of the figure.

Finally I repainted the base in the gloss black to hide any bumps/scuffs that have occurred along the way.