kestral wrote: Yup - no fewer than three of the beasts plague my work table routinely.
Yes, our kitten really enjoys launching small items to see if they will defy gravity...he is still trying and still growing. Mrs Captain Brown says he should finish in two more years before he reaches full size.
Some how I do not think he will have grown tired of launching figures into orbit.
Fortunately the most recent figure hurled from the table was one of the new Nolzur's - which pretty much bounce. The hair is grim death on contrast painting. I have quite a few thoughts on Contrast, which I will share at some point - in the meantime, here are some more Dreadmere figures painted largely with Contrast.
Why thanks - Dreadmere Expansion of the recent Bones Kickstarter. Called an Avatar or some something like that. Probably could be found on the reaper site.
Here are some Witches I painted for the wife using mostly Contrast.
So, contrast. Here are my thoughts:
In speed painting, I'm looking for 4 things....
1) First, do no harm. Speed painting is most of what I want to do, but I always want to go back and do better later if I want to do a nicer job and take it to the next level.
Contrast isn't easy to fix when it goes wrong, so it scores poorly here, however, it is very thin, so it can be painted over generally.
2) Be fast. Contrast is generally pretty fast, but not THAT fast compared to basecoat and ink wash which is my speed painting norm, unless you are using a LOT of it.
3) Look Good. Contrast looks good, but it is hard to tell what you're going to get - the final color doesn't look like the bottle, the basecoat has a big effect, the thickness really matters. If you want to experiment that's cool. if you have a tutorial, that's cool. If you're looking for a specific appearance, inks might serve you better. Contrast also benefits from Dullcote like a heavily inked model.
4) Be fun. This is a hobby. I don't paint for a living. Here's where it really shines, and why I've bought in. Yeah, it's fun. It goes on fast, it is colorful, a bit adventurous. It takes some new skills, which is interesting. It is similar to some things I've always done, but a bit more exciting because the pigments are so strong.
Those are some interesting models-- I like the witch with the carry-on bag the best, I think.
Re: contrast paints: Tamiya and Mr. Color both make clear paints, which seem to give results similar to contrasts. Sadly, they are solvent based, so I'm not rally able to use them very often for fear of stinking up the house.
The contrast does seem to work well on highly textured areas like robes and hair. I really like the last model in particular. I have only painted one test model with contrast and I agree completely with your assessment, although I couldn’t quite put it into words until I read your review.
I concur with your assessment. They are pretty fast, pretty fun, and can look pretty good. My current concern is how they seem to be so, so thin on edges that they rub off if you look at them too hard. Varnish will help, but it is a negative. Your own results look good. The one with the skull and spine in her hand is quite an interesting model.
With using just a few contrast paints I’ve noticed that I’ve switched to a much smaller brush and I’m taking much more care with how I splotch things on. Overall I’m impressed, and I’m glad that it’s helping me to get better at painting which I haven’t bothered with in 40+ years.
That's a fun little collection of stuff you posted. It's hard to believe that it only took you an hur and a half for the dragon For naming that boat, how about "The Rainbow Trout"?
I'd never heard of the Tidley Idley, but after looking it up and learning a little about "Burt Dow, Deep-Water Man" I have to say you got that paint job spot on
kestral wrote: Well, I'd meant it to be the Tidley Idley, but I guess the resemblance isn't that strong - or maybe not as many people grew up on the book!
Random stuff:
Now that is a ferryman to pay! I can't remember whether Charon had his boat named, but I've once boarded a piece of wooden junk named Sandrubber or Bottomrubber (depending on the translator). Just as an idle thought/suggestion. it sure looks good with any name, a very nice addition to the table! Congratulations!
mcmattila wrote: Where are those witches from? They look like quite wonderful models, and your paintjob compliments them well.
Thanks! Two are Nolzer's Hags, two are from Warmachine/privateer press, their halloween faction, forget the name.
Automatically Appended Next Post: [quote=]
Now that is a ferryman to pay! I can't remember whether Charon had his boat named, but I've once boarded a piece of wooden junk named Sandrubber or Bottomrubber (depending on the translator). Just as an idle thought/suggestion. it sure looks good with any name, a very nice addition to the table! Congratulations!
Thanks - it should come in handy for Cave Fishing.
Very cool opening dome. You could use it as a missile silo that opens at the end of a certain turn and launches. And good point about the texture. It can take away from the realism of certain objects so it is an interesting idea to print things that would benefit from the texture, rather than trying to fight it.
Thanks! The 3rd Printing is interesting - I wonder where it will all go. Will we be printing all our miniatures in 5 years? In the meantime, hey, palm trees are super cheap on Amazon! I want to do 40k world that is basically the pacific islands sometime, plus perhaps a Lustria warbands game.
So I got a huge score of terrain from Captain Brown - Thanks! I look foward to using it, and assembling the partial bits. For example, I'm going to do the spaceship half overgrown with jungle stuff.
I also painted some Bugbears and Ratlings. I do like the classic Ratlings. Very British army, but short.
I did up some of the Punch out terrain from Battlesystems - they are great scatter terrain. I glued them together and painted some of the edges - often with Contrast, which worked well.
And some totally random stuff made from the bits of crap I just can't resist picking up.
I like how you did the old Ratlings. The flesh, wood and metal tones all turned out well. The punch out terrain is also quite interesting, some of the pieces really look good. Quite a good bang for the buck in terms of effectiveness to build/paint time! I just looked at their site, and the Battle Systems are intriguing. For a fairly low cost and time outlay you can have a decent board for Zone Mortalis or Necromunda.
That paper terrain looks great, where's the crashed ship from?
@Josh, if it helps the bottle cap is from Tropicana, I think they use it for almost all their juice. Might be available from Japanese Amazon or Costco if it's not made locally.
Or I could mail you a few since I have more than I'll ever need
Thanks! The ratlings were done with Contrast, with generous amounts of nuln oil to darken up some areas. I'm kind of on a blue'd metal kick, which is done with nuln and gryph charger grey.
You'd have to ask Captain Brown about the ship - I've never seen it before.
kestral wrote:So I got a huge score of terrain from Captain Brown - Thanks! I look foward to using it, and assembling the partial bits. For example, I'm going to do the spaceship half overgrown with jungle stuff.
Glad to help kestrel.
Kid_Kyoto wrote:That paper terrain looks great, where's the crashed ship from?
Kid_Kyoto, it was some GorkaMorka terrain released with the Digganob releases.
Inquisitors! Models that are in some ways very different - so I painted them very differently.
The dude is a bit greener than I intended. I may put another layer of some kind of contrast on there to make his coat more bluish grey. Currently it is all Gryph charger grey, which is usually great, but seems to come out very green if you put on multiple layers.
Nice. Is the grey-green the same as you used on the hood lettering? That works well, so if it is the same maybe it just needs another coat on the..err...coat...?
It is the same green (techically a grey?) , so maybe... ...although there are already 3 coats on there. When contrast works, it works. When it doesn't, it is hard to figure out what to do without wasting everything you've already done.
I'm switching gears to Orks and Terrain mostly as I prepare for Briancj's "WAAAGGHHH the Dog" campaign. Here's I-Walker's Dakkajet. I had the problem I always have with the new ork models - you start dirtying them up, and you get into this kid of slide that leads to a bad place. I stopped in time time I think. Lovely model. I may build one unmodified myself, which since I loath having the same models as anyone else when it comes to Ork vehicles, is saying something. Probably though I'll build mine with extra gun positions to make it more of a heavy bomber.
Fair enough on the coats, I've no experience with contrast paints, so mainly just babbling anyway
Looks good in blue, I like it. Dirt and grease look fine, a bit of chipping always looks good on an ork, would finish it nicely - but that's just me
Well, you see why it is such a high complement for my to even consider such a thing. : )
Contrast is really strange. For example, gryph charger grey seems to be a neat bluish grey. But as I put on more and more coats it got greener and greener and cloudier and cloudier. Yet the trim worked great in one pass, probably because more pooled in the recesses. I think you could learn a great deal about color theory from contrast, but I've always been bad at it.
Long story short - your guess is as good as mine! Contrast has its own alchemy.
Thanks! I'm keeping the toy pods as sort of weird lava things - although giant plants might be better.
I might build some platforms on the icemaker - the back is really cool too. On the other hand, being solid metal it isn't the easiest thing to work with....
Next up on Trash week we have solar light converted into a Tau Holographic Monument - fortunately the imperium was able to put a stop to that and now it is a nest for snipers - plus a weird bit of packaging.
In a preview of the upcoming "Terrain from Toys" week, we have Durlig Hills made from Heroquest tiles. Durlig is grown using a honeycomb cultivation format. I'm sure I'll come up with the justification for that soon.
Of course we can't forget "Terrain from Trees" week, also know as "I like Big Trees and I cannot Lie". Technically we might be able to sneak this one into Trash week, since it was made from prunings of a Pear Tree. On the other hand, you don't get as many points for Trash Terrain that requires elaborate scratch building, as that kind of defeats the point.
I might build some platforms on the icemaker - the back is really cool too. On the other hand, being solid metal it isn't the easiest thing to work with....
kestrel,
That is where 5 minute two-part epoxy glue comes in, many of my Necromunda terrain pieces that I have been building have metal or plastic that is not easily glued polystyrene, the epoxy is great, strong once dried, it can even fill some small gaps. The other great thing about metal terrain is that it does not move as a player repositions models on the structure. A lot of people say that the 5 minutes is too long to hold something, but just use some poster putty to brace the items being glued on (if simple gravity will not). When dry just pull off the poster putty.
Yeah, I was kind of surprised... "ho hum, guess I should prune the pear tree. Snip, snip OWWWW!!! How does this thing have thorns? Well, I could make some terrain...."
You know that if ou are gardening and thinking about making terrain, you have a problem But it looks nice and is very unique terrain for sure. Love the sniper's nest!
It's fun seeing those HeroScape hex tiles. I played that game a lot with my brother when we were younger. I also really like the sniper nest too, and am impressed with the height of your trees looking stable on that base.
I always put big rocks on my tree bases for that very reason. This one could do some damage if it fell down....
Automatically Appended Next Post: This is a bit of a PSA more than a modelling update, but I scored the Usborn slot together castle for $2. This thing is amazing push out pieces- goes together easily, well thought out, rugged, well scaled. It breaks down and packs back into its box. My only quarrel is that is has a lot of "faux detail" which I dislike in paper fold/push out terrain. My Metromorph stuff has the same problem. In this case you have things like a horse printed on the wall of the stable. While I appreciate the thought, I have horse miniatures I can stick in the stable if need be. Obviously they were not thinking of me. My preference is for paper fold stuff to represent just the walls and maybe very fine detail like stones, wires, etc. If you have a huge console or pipe like the Metromorph stuff, it looks good in some ways, but will never look as good as a blank wall to me, or a blank wall with a 3D console scatter terrain added. Just my preference. But if you need a castle, see if you can score this thing. Amazon wants $150 for it though.
If were going to use it a lot I would put banners over some of the details I don't like, paint the edges, and perhaps put flock on the places where it has vegitation growing on the walls.
The castle is very interesting- but I really like the trash terrain! Very imaginative uses for some very interesting pieces. I had pear trees in my yard when I was stationed in Texas and- yep- this Yankee found out the hard way about the thorns too.....
That solar light turned holographic statue is amazing - super fitting. Will need to keep an eye out next time I'm at the hardware store!
Always love checking in and seeing what's being turned into some awesome terrain. The castle is a great find for $2 - 2D horses be damned! Maybe the lord has artistic children..
Didn't you just get a mighty fortress from me two months ago? Why would you need a cardboard one?
Cheers,
CB
Well.... ...I already had the cardboard one at that point. Just hadn't gotten it out and set it up. Plus if you haul out something like that the other wargamers look down on you, but if you bring out a mighty fortress they nod knowingly, your stock goes up, and somebody starts talking about squats.
Thanks! Someday I'm going to do a big Ork "Civilian" project - I always loved the way it was described in Gorka Morka with shops of all sorts and so on. I like the "Not quite entirely psychopathic" early version of Orks (or perhaps you could think of it as Orks from their perspective). I have a box of night goblins I want to do a gang of squig hunters/sellers with.
Yeah, i like the idea of orks as wild and violent and strange but still posessing a functioning society, it's a lot more interesting than "grar fight everything"
Now we wrap up Terrain from Trash week with a project I've saved the parts for... well... ..a decade? But hey, that shows persistence right? When I had to tear out some copper tubing and replace it I though, hmm, you know, Kestral (thought that wasn't my name at the time), you could make a little pipeline from this so you ought to save it. Or you could sell it. Copper's worth money. Well, in an economic collapse scrap metal prices go through the floor, so it looks like I'm holding onto the ancestral scrapmetal pile of my clan a little longer, and I turned this into terrain.
It works nicely too. The Pump house I did using some lovely M'edge and Proxy bits glued to a trashed electrical light switch box I found in some leaves. Bonus points for that, I say!
And I started re-organising my terrain.
Ok, I'm lying. I started reorganizing the tiny fraction of my terrain that goes on shelves. The rest is in the... (counts in head...) ...18 totes.
Glad you enjoyed it! And now, all the stuff I made from a $10 bag of Army Men. Now to be fair, my first Imperial Guard army was Army men. They played against my orks, on the theory that the orks were small and stunted. But they only got one game and were then thrown away. Pity. I think a couple of them were actually converted with 40K bits.
Now we realize that you're concerned about scale here, so I've enlisted Lt. LaCroix to help us. Here he is with some field guns. Nearly certain to be looted by Orks at some point.
And he's checking out the Verbindugmotos - simple joystick controlled electric vehicles used for transport around your typical spaceport.
Look, he's found some Air Defense Trucks! Luckily the stuff the back pops out so they can just be regular trucks. I filled in the windows with blue paper and added some plasticard. Pro tip - plastic cement pretends to bond to army men, but it really doesn't. Your best bet is superglue reinforced with hot glue where practical.
Speaking of Air Defense - these are just the right size to put huge holes some some flying thing! Or serve as an objective to knock out before the enemy can send in their flying things.
Of course, everyone needs an uplink tower. Made this from two plastic helicopters. I rather liked them (they had lots of rivits) and if they had been just a tad larger I'd have kept them as copters.
Made the bottoms into a shrine thingy. Set also came with two hugely useful bridges.
Fortifications! Truly there is no end to the bounty of the Army Men.
Here he visits the Ogryn Unit 592 Club house where they proudly display the oversize purity seal they got that time.
Now he's trying to Roust the Ratlings from their barracks. I feel it could use a few posters, but I'm not sure what ratlings use for posters.
Ask and you shall receive! And not just pictures, but fluff! And a theme song!
I present.... Night Bomber Regiment number 588!
Regiment 588 is a typical PDF air unit of the Argo Cluster, operating mostly less capable indigenous designs instead of the preferred STC models. Despite the name the Air regiment is not entirely restricted to night bombing, but includes air superiority, air defense, commando, search and rescue units.
For air superiority the 588th operates the XT-5 "Pogo" fighter, an entirely novel Valarian design. Like many such designs its engine power is low and thus it is more streamlined than STC types. The Pogo is unique in that it is landed by descending using its propeller like a helicopter blade before settling onto its tail. Although requiring a skilled pilot, this allows it to operate from a small concrete pad or vehicle. It also means the pilot needs a ladder to reach the cockpit. In addition to the prop, the Pogo has a liquid fuel booster, giving it an unusual set of flight characteristics. Armament consists of a nose mounted rocket pod and two heavy stubbers in wing pods. Hardpoints are rarely used. Pilots enjoy the good visibility and well designed HUD system, though it is poor match for imperial Lightnings and Thunderbotls, and it is challenging to fly effectively or even safely.
For utility purposes, insertions behind enemy lines, VIP transport, and search and rescue the 588th is fortunate to possess a flight of Valkyires. Heavy bolter door guns are not used, given that the valks are usually too valuable for hot LZ operations.
The workhorse of the 588th is however the Ram-Sparrow, a hinterland design based on a partial STC. The Ram-Sparrow is nimble and well armored, with excellent auspex defeating characteristics augmented by the jamming system mounted behind the pilot. Its major drawback is its small size and consequently weak armament. The Ram Sparrow is fitted with a single centerline hardpoint, normally carrying a bunker busting bomb, though gun pods for ground attack and air to air combat are sometimes used. The Ram-Sparrow's principle role is low level, precision night bombing attacks against high value targets.
Due to the tiny cockpit Ram-Sparrows are normally flown by women, giving them the nickname.... ....night witches! The Castelleon sisters are said to have come up in Ram Sparrows during the Mynoth Incursion, which might explain their talent for high speed, low altitude smuggling runs.
Song!
Automatically Appended Next Post: I'm going to do an airfield photoshoot eventually.
Why thanks! Oddly, I loathed metal as a youngster, but now as a old crumugeon I'm starting to warm up to it. When I can understand the words at least a little
Knocked out a unit of gretchen - the current GW plastic set. A few observations:
These are nice enough models, but they have arms a Catachan wouldn't snear at. Apparently, grots are ripped these days. One of them was so massive I decided not to include him.
I started out using just the GW recommended contrast treatment of Plaguebearer Flesh, but found them too be too yellow, particularly since my base is kind of yellowish. So I have them a diluted green ink wash, and that seemed good.
The slaver is a nice fig with some cool options, though I went with stock. For his skin I did a coating of green ink over white, then plaguebearer, then a bit more plague bearer. That is certainly a method I'll use again, I thought the result was quite good. I then mucked around with some greenish bluish scars and highlights, but those didn't seem that great.
Quite pleased with the squig too. For a while I was doing all my squigs green, but I think I'll change that up.
it sure looks good with any name, a very nice addition to the table! Congratulations!
