Living Nightmare and Klaus CopperThumb

So this week I tried the wings on the Living Nightmare figure from Ex-manus.  Or more correctly I tried the wings three times.

Attempt one

For the first attempt I went for a yellow/orange look.  I used Leprous Brown and JS Cadmium Mid Yellow and VMC Bright Orange.  However I couldn't get enough contrast between the body and the wings and they all kind of blended together.

Scrapping that I went for a purple scheme (sorry, forgot the photos).  Got some nice shading going on but the wife mentioned that the purple didn't match with any of the other colours on the figure (and she was right).  After some more sighing I had a third attempt.

Living Nightmare by Ex-manus

For this one I went with green to tie the wings into the mid body section where I use an aqua green for the blue to yellow transition (kind of a mutating body change).  I started with a very blue/green mixed from the VMA Blue and JS Cadmium Mid Yellow.  However as I shaded up I went for a more standard green by adding more yellow (and then white) to the mix.  I kept adding a small amount of blue to keep tying the mixes back to the base coat.  For the shading I add some VMA Red and VMC Violet/Red to get a rich very dark purple.  This mix I think worked.

Along the way I also decided that the head wasn't right.  I decided to do the head as bone and the same for the horns.  This makes the focal point of the head also the brightest point on the figure.  I attempted the Ben Komets loaded brush technique on the horns.  I had distant glimpses of success :)

I have realised that I'm not glazing as much any more.  I think this is a bad thing.  I'm highlighting and shading but forgetting to go back and do the transition blend every 3-4 coats.

I was going to put this figure on a wooden base, but in the end went for a 40mm lipped base.  He didn't quite work out for me.  I big part of that was insufficient planning.  I need to go back and do the colour charts for the mixes I want to use before starting the figure rather than work it out on the fly (and have 3 attempts like I did on the wings).  I use to do this to really work out how to get the blends working.  It also meant I could see all the colours together before they went on the figure.

Klaus Copperthumb

Finally I started the face of the new Reaper Bones figure Klaus Copperthumb.  He is this weeks project.

Started painting again (at last)

So got back in the groove this week with painting two figures.  The first up is "Baron Meliadus of Kroiden" from Eureka Miniatures, part of the Hawkmoon range.  Who doesn't like the Order of the Wolf?

Baron Meliadus by Eureka

As an experiment I decided to play around with painting in grey.  My idea was a black wolf cloak.  However rather than have the head black I lightened it up considerably to make the head/shoulders the focus area of the figure.

On the cloak I tried creating texture where there wasn't really much there to begin with.  By doing what was close to pointillism I slowly added in "waves" of highlights to try and mimic the flow of fur.  Under these highlights I then shaded to make the highlight appear to be higher from the surface. It worked a bit, but would need a lot more to really start to come together.  The good news is that I tried a new technique and it kind of worked.

For the armour I got a bit muddled and was alternating between NMM and TMM.  I stopped before I made it worse.

On the shield I tried for some more extreme contrast.  Getting better there but I'm struggling as my colours keep dulling down.

Living Nightmare

The second figure I worked on was the "Living Nightmare" by Ex-manus who has been sitting around for some time now.  I finally got some colours in my head to use on him/it.  I'm going for violet blue on the lower section, yellow on the top and brown/orange on the wings.  Pretty much blue and it's two complementary colours.

For the blue I started with VMA Blue.  I shaded down with Liquitex Purple ink added to the blue and then added some black for the final shades.  Later I went back and added some old Citadel Leprous Brown into the mix as orange is the complementary to blue.  This is the push the colour contrast a bit more.  On an aside all the Citadel paints I have remaining are the oldest ones which came in the hexagon flip lids.  Anything new than those have all dried out.  Highlights were done by adding in white and more blue to stop the mix chalking out.

On the body I used Leprous Brown, JS Cadmium Mid Yellow and white.  Shading was done by adding some of the blue to green the mixture slightly.  For the area between the body and lower area I did some intermediate glazes to try and ease the transition between the two areas.

Klaus Copperthumb from Reaper

Finally I found a nice Reaper Bones figure "Klaus Copperthumb" which I thought would suit Dungeon Saga really well.  I trimmed off his base and glued him onto a Dungeon Saga base and sculpted up a small money sack to sit behind him.  Another "just for fun" figure.  I need to just paint more and stop taking 3 months to paint one figure hoping that it is competition standard.  I learn a lot more from 5 smaller 28mm figures than one 54mm figure.

Next week onto the wings of the Living Nightmare

Not much painting, but I made a machinist vice

Not much painting this week I'm afraid.  I undercoated the house from last week and glued and puttied up one of the Stormcast Eternals (and may have added nipples to his armour ala ancient greek style armour).

However most of my time was spent thinking about or making a small machinist vice.  So as a little break from painting...

I've had a (baby) milling machine for approx 7 years (a house warming gift from my father) but not really used it at all.  A number of weeks ago I got the really strong urge to actually start to use it.  Maybe all those machinist youtube videos I watched hit a critical point.  First up I made some parallels and a couple of clamps.  Nothing complex but just to get an idea of using the machine and knowing that I would be making a number of mistakes.  Once that was done I needed a real project.

'Mr Pete 222' on youtube had a great 9 part series on making a machinist vice.  I don't have a lathe so I couldn't make the screw but that is easily sourced.  Starting with 20mm square BMS I squared up the stock and got to work.  To cut out the major recess rather than spend a week on the mill (it can only do 0.2mm cuts) I used the angle grinder to cut out the bulk of the material.  Then it was pretty much following the steps from the videos and making my own smaller version.  I used 20mm square stock and the main screw was 5mm.  The screw for holding the slide in place was 2mm and the grub screw holding the slide to the screw was 3mm.

Unlike painting you don't get to make mistakes.  Cut the wrong bit and it's throw away time.  Adds a bit to the pressure as once you are more than 25% into the project you really don't want to start again.  It became a project that I was thinking about most of the time.

The most stressful part was tapping a 2mm blind hole, 7mm deep.  2mm taps are really thin and watching the tap twist and spring pretty much added a new patch of grey hair.  Tapping the main 5mm hole and 3mm hole for the grub screw was easy in comparison.

Without a lathe I couldn't cut the screw from one piece of metal.  Rather, I cut down a 5mm bolt and used locktite to secure a dial.  For the end going into the slide I had to hand file the recess in the bolt that the grub screw rests in.  That was easier than I thought.  Having a set of needle files is essential however.

Once everything was done I filed (2nd cut and hand smooth files) and sanded (400 grit) the surfaces to make it look pretty.  As an aside I also made my first machinist clamp as I needed to hold the slide while drilling it.  Not having a clamp small enough I just make one.  This is part of the joy of machining.  You make the tools you need to suit the job.

I am so proud of the end result of my first project.  It looks the part and works well.  I spent some time playing around with it to be honest.  Now it's going to be shipped off to my father as a thank you for buying me the mill.

Next week - maybe painting again now that I have gotten that out of my system :)

28mm Village house ruin building

A year in review

Well I lined up all the display pieces I had done over the year in chronological order to give myself a nice snapshot.  Although the painting on the later figures is better my favourite piece is still the Anonymous bust by Banshee.  I'm struck at the difference between it and the earlier Viking bust.  Also in this last year (since Cancon 2017) I've painted more display figures than the last three years combined.  At least I'm getting quicker.

While I think about painting things I started on the 28mm "Village house ruin 2" that I purchased at Cancon from Battlefield Accessories.  For $14 it is a really quick way to get a nice basic structure of a building to add some details on.

When working on mdf buildings I've learnt a few things over the years.  First it to unwrap the building and let it air for at least a week in the shed.  That laser cut mdf is seriously smelly.

I use PVA glue to put together all my mdf buildings.  Previously I would try and slap together the entire piece in one sitting.  Then I would get annoyed as the whole building would dry all out of square.  Now with the wisdom of the ages I've slowed down a bit and try to do things a bit better.

Floor piece glued to the base

This building comes with a floor so I glued that to a base that I cut out of some scrap 3mm mdf.  I chamfered the edges of the mdf base as well.  Previously I would leave the edge straight for extra strength but it doesn't really make a difference I found.  Once the floor was glued down I flipped over the base and coated the underside with watered down PVA.  This adds a lot of strength to the base and seals it up nicely.  I usually do two coats and sand with 400 grit between coats to get a really smooth surface.

Clamp time

For the walls I used the old method of lego blocks to make right angle pieces to clamp the walls to.  This ensures you get straight walls every time.  Just make sure you wipe up any excess glue before clamped as the PVA will stick the lego to the mdf.

Love the 90 degree lego

Next up will be adding some ground texture (sand/rocks/etc) and then undercoating the entire piece.  I plan to add some extra rubble/wood too but will probably add that after I have painted the walls.  Otherwise I will be trying to paint the walls around the rubble.

All ready for the next step