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Bah, monday and tuesday yielded no results. Too tired after work and such. Its been a cool season so far but this week its started to get hot! =\

Got a couple of marines greyed up, then decided to further my amateur airbrushing (and mostly run my tank out of air...) on a rhino. It will be red and bronze like the marine above, so you can guess what the white is for. I've lost my drive to play 40k for the time being, but painting it (especially anything airbrush-friendly) will still serve as a welcome break from rank and file monotony(mo...no...to...even the word itself is monotonous...).


Ignore Mr. Librarian. He is oh so lonely and begging for more paint, but there are so many squeaky wheels and only so much grease!

Next up? More grey marines, followed by a thick black wash or three (to get the black). Then the tedium of working the white back up begins! At least I like the way they look when they're done

Why is it that cutting corners never seems to work? I've been trying to make the white step for my marines a bit easier, and I thought, what's an easy way to do white? Not doing white? To that effect, I tried to like leaving the fatigues grey (from the black wash), but I don't think I can do it. Maybe if I had never seen the white, but I think you'll agree that the mini on the left looks much better (in terms of white/grey to go with the black and red).



So, I guess I'll still be doing the white. This scheme is locked in for better or worse. I think I'm going to muscle through this box-set, but I dunno how many multiple squad forces I wanna do after this. Redundancy/repetition may be good for army lists, but it be drivin me mad.

Since there hasn't been a lot of updating, random mini from my hobby cave: WIP Techmarine(or master of the forge, its w/e)

I want to bulk up the legs, but so far I haven't managed anything I like. I had a different set-up for the servo-harness at first, but I'm going to make mecha tendrils whenever I decide to finish this one.

So, we trudge on slowly. My goal is to have the 46 model set done by x-mas so I have a nice fat "done" pile to help mitigate the unreasonably large load of plastic and restic incoming from the Deadzone kickstarter. Once that hits, I'll either re-purpose this blog, or start another for general unboxing and review. Gonna have to put some paint down quick if I wanna have a chance at that goal though, so onwards!

RANDOM RED TEXT!

Ahem, now that we've got that out of our systems...
Minor update, but several images and a moderate change to my methods and approach.


The guy on the left is done (save for sealing, I'll still do that in batches), shown by a completed marine for comparison (should look the same, I didn't do anything differently).


Another angle, both the base and the marine were way more fun to paint separate. This will probably give me a bit more brittle of a join to the base (gluing paint together etc) but totally worth it.


This is my entire completed corporation force. Small, but growing, and that's the fun part. New guy is off to the left awaiting reinforcements.


Shadow Knight scouts picking a fight with the corporation? Not sure they saw the guys waiting on the other side of that wall...

So. I have done batch painting, and single models at a time. Both have benefits, but I'm not really in the mood for either at the moment. Painting batches right now, is driving me crazy. Single models have a lot of waste though, so what I've been doing is to more or less paint one model at a time--but have a few others lined up in case I have extra paint or long drying times (and these guys do use a lot of washes). It isn't as fast or efficient as proper batch painting, but it is getting the job done, and keeping me happy.


Sans the out of place librarian, this is my "productivity queue".


Following are some shots of my smurf chariot and a standard bearer. They were going to be a counts as night/goblin army for WHFB years ago, picked up a bunch of snotlings and slapped them on single bases to give them a tiny smurfy look. Obligatory candy cane spears and standard orcs/goblins tomfoolery (one of the wolf riders is being dangled in front of his wolf as 'motivation', etc) aside, I just put this one on the back burner and the pilot light went out long ago. Maybe someday





I think I'm going to start focusing on the painting/modeling aspect of this hobby. I've always enjoyed these parts (I mean c'mon, P&M blog here), but they've always been slanted (tainted even?) by the gaming side of things. Making myself paint several of the same unit "cause its good", or not doing some fun conversions "because it wouldn't be tourney legal" are silly things given how little I actually play. So plan to see some more off-the-beaten-path stuff as we move forward.
So I'm going to keep swinging away at these marines, will be trying to update more often, which means more random hobby images!

Well, no random models for this update, but it is only the first half of today's update. I'm on the hunt for supplies today. Yesterday I gave in and did some airbrush shopping, found a badger Sotar 20/20 on amazon for $70something, so I threw in a spare fine and a medium needle to boot. Hoping to get them in soon.

Since the sotar has such a tiny needle (.20 i think) I want to get some airbrush paint so I have less trouble thinning it enough to run through the gun (which is billed for illustrators and ink especially). I've been after airbrush paint for awhile, this was just the push I needed. I want the whole minitaire set but amazon seems to be permanently out, and all of their other airbrush paint seems high (at least vallejo model air, the jury is out on spectratex, i'll know more after a trip to michaels).

So today should see me visiting the "local" (read: nothing closer than an hour away sadface) gamestore and michaels to pick up some paint.

I'm hoping the sotar's fine needle/nozzle give me a narrow enough spray I can start doing more than basecoats. I know a lot of what I need is skill, but a finer brush can't hurt. Even if I can start doing secondary colors, it will help a lot.

I'll be keeping an eye out for the usual bargains, of course, michaels has been known to turn the occasional surprise find.. and the gamestore could step up too.

I should have a couple of images later, 2/10 marine in the second squad is very nearly done, and I've got a lot more models laying around who haven't seen the camera yet.

Long day, was out a lot longer than anticipated. However...


OMG

Supply Drop!

We hit the game store first, and ran into some unexpected(ly awesome!) deals. It was some kind of gamer appreciation day sale, with several tables and shelves sporting 50% off!
In addition to things I was already after, I've got some mad deals to brag about


x2 After discount these were just over $30 a piece. I got one to start with, and had to stop back by the store on the way home, too good to pass up! Not only was it marked $65 before the super sale, but its also the special edition of the box with 10 extra revenants (both boxes). Nuts!


Lookit all of that stuff! There are 8 friggen mantic points in there, stickers for the skelemen, a pamphlet/poster for both factions, leaflet of minimum rules to play, 5 dice, and a sheet with stats for the included units to boot!


Holy crap that's a lot of plastic. This is just the one starter set, probably a steal at $75(retail) you can guess why I had to nab a pair!


The box was cracked at the bottom, but all of the sprues and mantic point were intact.


Here's the mantic case cracked open, its rather like an old VHS case without the parts for holding the tape. These guys are plastic, and the lower half is the same as their fantasy dwarf line. Some complain, I'm ok with it. (more on that below)

I'm extremely pleased with this find, it was marked $28 but after the sale it was a measly $14. This is PERFECT for the forge fathers I'll be getting from Deadzone, they have a lot of good units to use in warpath, but no solid units to allow you to field the characters... no longer a problem!


This isn't exactly what I was after, but it will all be useful. Needed white in a dropper, the liquid mask should be quite handy. I've been wanting to try out both model air and pigments so this will give me a bit to play around with.


So the paints were all regular price, no big deal there, but its something to work with. We stopped by michaels too, but Amazon has more choice and possibly better prices on the spectratex stuff, so I may just order a couple of bottles of that and try to get them in on the same day as the airbrush. I wasn't expecting to get more than a couple of bottles at the gamestore today, was completely sideswiped by them even having mantic models, and half price no less!

I've already got too many ideas of what to do with this stuff... For now, I'm leaving the second KoW starter box in the shrink wrap, just in case I want to trade it or whatever. Most likely I'll crack it open to get at some specific bits (especially the mantic points) for some conversions. The Steel Warriors are perfect for a starter WP FF army when added to the mob i'll be getting from Deadzone. But I'm not satisfied that I've gotten all of the Forge Fatherly goodness out of my purchases that I can. Since the legs of the steel warriors are the same as those for fantasy (and I've just picked up like... maybe a hunnerd dwarfs?) I'm thinking that maybe some of the spare hands on the steel warriors sprues can be subbed in. I may also try my hand at plasticard/greenstuffing to convert some of the dwarf gunners into steel warriors by modifying the rifles and maybe swapping out pouches for more modern ones in my bitz box.. maybe mess with the armor plates too.

I'm also thinking I may want to take a section or platoon of my (already assembled, but oh well) corporation marines and mod them up in the style of the Z corp. I think that box is just corporation marines with extra zombie and ghoul sprues, all of which are now at my disposal. In addition to letting me try something different, the Z corp may be passable as both extremely shady corporation marines, as well as extra zombies for deadzone and warpath plague armies.

I'm not sure what to do with the rest of the dwarfs and undead. The undead look pretty awesome, a lot skinnier than GW skelies, at least the older kind I have. I'm not a massive fan of dwarves, but they may make a fun side project. Who knows, maybe I'll play D&D again and be glad of having some stout folk around.

Alright that was a lot of text and not a lot of progress. Fear not, soon there will be more painted corporation marines. And maybe some zombie marines... I may do up 5 or all 10 of those steel warriors after I get this batch of marines done, not sure yet. Thanks for reading folks! Hopefully by the weekend I'll be able to overview the Sotar 20/20, with some thoughts on model air, spectra tex, and maybe that liquid mask. But I'll be happy if I can just get a couple of marines on their bases

Small update. All I managed to get done last night was to trim and glue 5 of those steel warriors. Really easy to assemble though the caped legs don't fit the saw bodies that well. I have plenty extra from my dwarfs so I will use the plain legs for all but the thane. I'm happy with his pose, would make two with hammer but I want a 10 man wp squad and those only get the 1 leader.

Nice blog! I enjoy the style you are using with your posts, keep it up!

Since @people seems to be a thing,

@Da Boss- thanks! I intend to update as often as I make progress or having something to say.

Speaking of saying something. While I retired my WHFB stuff back in 7th edition (one ago, unless i'm behind the times here), reading up about Kings of War for some insight to my recent Mhorgoth Rising starter boxen has kind of gotten under my skin a little. The modeling flexibility KoW allows with fixed unit sizes and not removing individual casualties.. modeling opportunities abound. Probably going to stay sci-fi for the moment, but who knows, may replace my space marine palette cleanse (is that a pun ) with some ranked up dwarfs or skeletons!

On another note, just got my Sotar's spare needles in so as soon as I get the chance I'll be ready to rock. I'm pretty impressed with Amazon Prime right now. I realize its not hard to get their free shipping, but 2 day guarantee is pretty spiffy. I didn't order my spectra tex 6-color set until sunday night and it still came in tuesday afternoon. The prime instant video selections are just good enough to talk me into it (second season of alphas, one up on netflix), was really on the fence but meh... still way cheaper than cable!

I did play with the sotar a little bit last night, first impression is that it's pretty spiffy. Really didn't get to give it a full test though. And a lot of this whole airbrushing thing is on me, the brush can let me make finer lines, but I still have to be able to use that to an advantage

Ok, I promise something more interesting than rambles next time! Hopefully my little one takes a nap and I'll be able to scrounge together some hobby time with a little spare for posting pictures later.

Thanks for watching!

Great P&M Blog. I'm enjoying myself reading along.

I gave up Warhammer Fantasy as well, but like you, KOW's simplicity and modeling flexibility are beggining to sound like a Siren's call.

@adamsouza (oh man now its becoming a reflex with the @)- Thanks! I tell you, I'm frankly somewhat scared of how excited I am getting about ranking up these dwarfs! I don't even really like dwarfs! I mean, I guess I like dwarfs. I'm just not a dwarf person. Err.. that sounds bad somehow. But that is to say, some people really like dwarfs, or elves or what have you, but I'm not one of them. So its odd to get this excited about a project for an army I don't even especially like. Forget the fact that I've got as many skeletons laying around as I just picked up and I could be neck deep in fantasy hobby projects in a snap. Its pretty terrifying because I've been doing a decent job the last little bit of working through these corporation marines, slow, but steady.

Meh, such is life. I'm taking a relaxed approach to hobbying right now, I mean, isn't that the point? Sure I would like to play games with large coherent forces, but relaxing and working on whatever sounds fun helps me enjoy it better. I still wanna get those blasted corporations done before xmas though!

Speaking of ranking up those dwarfs, I can't decide if I'm going to use the mantic bases on top of plasticard, or plasticard on top of the mantic bases (or something of similar thickness). The latter would look better except for the small integral base sticking up and needing to be addressed. I've been cutting those off for warpath, but its a lot of work especially on the cloaked dwarfs, gonna take some thinking. But when I figure it out, I've got enough plasticard on deck to choke a donkey:

Well... this WAS a picture of the cheapest plasticard I've managed to find, but apparently cheap plasticard is not considered a wargaming image so I guess you'll just have to imagine the thin plastic for/yard/garage sale signs at walmart (or anywhere). Mumble Grumble.

I'm not 100% sure it shares the exact chemical properties of plasticard (like does it do well with plastic cement, dunno I use superglue for everything), but it serves my purposes well and its less than 2 bucks a sheet!

I've got some of the good stuff from evergreen scale models too, but I tend to save that for proper scratchbuilding etc.

While its still not progress how about a look at that Sotar?


Oooooh so shiney. Methinks this badboy and I are gonna go places.

But what puts the air into that brush, you ask? Wait, you didn't ask? Well I don't care I've got a chip on me shoulder about this one so we're having picture time!


Blurry and poorly lit, but hey, you get the idea.

When I was shopping for air compressors to go with my cheapo airbrush set and replace their equally cheapo included compressor, I could find no reason not to get a big compressor. Noise isn't an issue for me generally so I don't need "silent". I just couldn't fathom spending 100+ dollars on one of those dinky little airbrush compressors, when I could throw just a few more bucks at something way meatier. I fill this thing one time and I can airbrush for an hour. I haven't really clocked it, but its a long time anyway. It isn't terribly clearly marked at such a low pressure, but I can get a steady 10-15 psi out of it if I need to go that low. Not to mention how nice it is never to have to buy canned air again, and be able to fill up my own tires if they get low. Try hooking one of those airbrush compressors up to a blowgun and putting the darts into the wall. Not that that's the best use of a compressor, or my time, but it was funny that once

Ok gonna sneak back downstairs and try to get some actual progress made instead of just taking blurry pictures of my workspace!


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Minor success!


Another grunt down, boosh. 12/46, puts me just over 25% of the way. And there may be zombification going down, could spice up the last 5-20 marines!

I didn't have the energy to start another marine, but here are some freshly clipped dwarfs posing on some bits of terrain as I try to sort out some scenic bases. I was surprised at just how small 100x80mm is when you're trying to stuff in a regiment and lots of spiffy terrain details!


If not meant to be, WHY DOG HAVE HANDLE! I should save up bits for a unit of these, dwarf hounders nah, mixing the mutts in will be too much fun.


I can see what people mean when they say watch gluing the dwarfs before you rank them, they're quite wide.


Five dwarfs one little rock and a dead/drunk/sleeping dwarf and the regiment base is half used up. And I thought it was going to be a stretch to make 14 dwarfs fill the base. I'll be lucky to fit 10 at this rate


The way I want to do my scenery, I think i'm going to have to cut the integral bases. Its a pain, but worth it if I can increase the overall quality of the unit by doing it.


This would be more suited to rangers of course, but those are still on the sprue. Note how the throwing mastiff is resting on his chin, bless his grossly oversized chompers!


Playing with height, this may be a little much but it gets the idea across. If I were to use a piece like that, I would carve a cave entrance into it, or something like that.


The piece of terrain is about 2x the size of the regiment tray, but its plaster so it would be way easy to fit it to a tray. Off of the mini-bases, I think this could be a cool look, maybe even with a tunnel entrance/dwarf leaving said entrance...

Anyway, hopefully I get some more paint down on those corporation marines before I get any more dwarfs clipped off their sprues. Or trimmed for mold likes, once that happens I may not be able to resist undercoating them and working out a scheme!

I really really like the modeling opportunities scenic regiment bases open up. Even if I never throw a dice, these will look so much cooler on the shelf than a handful of space marines. I need to work out the actual terrain, but I've got a pet idea I want to work out for the rangers. There would be one dwarf up high somewhat behind cover aiming a crossbow, with 2-3 extra cross bows laid out. The sprue seems to come with some, loaded and ready. It reminds me of some of my favorite scenes in fantasy books, Elminster when he was an outlaw laying out extra crossbows to fire faster etc. Looking forward to working on these way too much!

Here's hoping to get another marine done this week! No promises, but it would be cool, no? As always thanks for watching!

Inspiring stuff with the scenic bases. I would like to try something like that but I feel like I want to keep them on their individual bases so I can use them for other games as well.

Curious to see what you come up with!

I used to want to keep things modular but these dwarfs were cheap and its too hard sometimes to do modular AND awesome. My space marines got magnetized and they don't look as good to me as if I had just posed and glued them. So the dwarfs are definitely a hobby project first this time around.

Hope they turn out well

Your better off making them awesome and less versatile, than making them versatile and mediocre.

Yes. That is exactly how I feel about this project. Space marines I was building for gaming, even though I dont play much. These dwarfs are for fun. And if I run into someone who wants to play KoW, I won't complain


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Clipped some dwarfs off of their sprues while watching TV, saving the mold line trimming for more concentration, unfamiliar with these models and don't wanna cut myself/them up too much. Clipped their integrated bases off too, its a pain, but it will be worth it in the long run. I still have to trim the left overs from the boots and under the capes (those are a pain, and something like 30 of the dwarfs have that style of leg...).

I think I may end up doing the scenic bases separately (and first), occasionally testing fits with individual dwarf models. Once the display base is done (won't have to be painted though), I'll have to figure out a good method for posing, removing to paint, and then putting the dwarfs back. I plan to make the bases fairly dynamic so this is going to take some tricky planning, at least till I get the hang of it.


Fair bit of work left, but this is technically a side project until I get caught up on my marines.

I did get a little time for the airbrush tonight. I'm still pretty terrible at using one, from mixing paint to getting everything to work out. Still, I haven't done it much yet, and this was a new brush to boot. So far, I really like the Sotar 20/20. The tiny tiny needle is letting me get a lot closer and do a lot more with the airbrush than before. I focused on red tonight, though I think I'll be able to do most of the model once I get more control.


Here you can see the boots and gloves, with some work on the belt pouches.


More of the same.

I like that the sotar is nimble enough to basically paint the whole model, as long as I'm really careful and on top of managing overspray (choosing a good angle from which to spray, and hand masking when that isn't enough). Where this thing can spray a face of a belt pouch without getting paint all over the place, my other brush (and its much larger needle) would be much happier blasting the whole leg in red .

Now, a disclaimer, I probably could have done the red on at least two or three models in the time I spent fooling around with the airbrush tonight. Eventually, I think it's going to make me faster AND add to the things I can do, but for right now using it beyond basecoating is going to be break even at best. I did try that liquid mask out, just put it on the cloth above the boots so I could spray them a bit faster. Haven't gotten around to removing it yet (did this to a different model) so we'll see, could speed things up but one must consider it takes time to apply and dry as well. Really easy to put on (if I did it right) just like painting.

So hopefully a bit more work on the marines tomorrow, I got conned into digging some post holes for a guy after work, no fun . With any luck I'll get some more work done this weekend! Decemberween is fast approaching and I need to clear out some space for the incoming Deadzone!

So as I bake away in the sun today(work outdoors) I've had a disturbing thought. If I really intend to zombify some corporation and still use them with the others, the best way is to make the z-corp basic marines and use my already painted corp as vets. After accounting for the hwt and rangers I think I've actually painted two too many marines now. Going to think about this one...


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I may just leave those two intact. They can be the 'lucky' minders to make sure the zombie marines shoot in the right direction. May have to modify their white some. The zombies may have had the same fatigues but they will be so dirty/disheveled I'm gonna use a different base color.

I'm not sure what parts ratio I'm gonna do. If I did 50/50 for some I could get a couple of extra soldiers...I'll leave the painted 2 for last


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Hmm now I'm trying to sort out my former plans for the marines so I know which models are zombie fodder.

I had a thought, a quick repaint of the shoulder pads of my two most recent marines and they could replace the heavy weapon team in squad 1. That team could become the first team for my eventual heavy weapon section, forgetting the hwt for the vets (which don't have to be vets at all), sparing a couple more models. I'll probably be able to stretch my marines the more zombie/ghoul parts I use, but I know I'm short of 20 as it is. Lets go find out!


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Ok, did some reconfiguring, and it looks like I get 15 corporation marines to zombify. I should be able to make plenty of zombies, even if I keep them mostly recognizable as marines. Hoping to come up with 5 more bodies to make it a proper platoon for fun.

After the re-structure I should have the following:
10 corporation marines/vets (10/10 painted)
5 vets incl weapon team (2/5 painted)
5 rangers 2 specials (0/5)
5 rangers 2 specials (0/5)
heavy weapon section (0/3-6)
?20? z corp marines (0/20) needs construction

I'm not a huge fan of vets with weapon teams, but aesthetically it looks pretty cool.


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I just managed to get the sprues clipped when the baby awoke. So, may get a little done tonight, but not till she's asleeping.

I got one corporation marine hacked in half and just from some test fitting I can tell this is gonna be a big heavier than my standard modeling projects. I'm going to have to drag out the greenstuff for sure, the parts just aren't set up for each other.


What we're working with. Add a modest (or not so modest) blob of greenstuff and maaaybe some wire, and we'll be ready to get to it!

Hrmm. Now that I've restructured my corporation a bit... I guess I'll finish the 3 marines it takes to make that 5 man vet squad, then I'll see to either the weapon teams or rangers.

Brainssss... That's brains, SIR, soldier!


First five z-corp marines cobbled together from 4 marines and bits from a zombie and ghoul sprue. Left to right you have: ghoul legs and hand options (head too I think), he's pretty scary, a bit too crouched though but that's just how the ghoul parts are; marine with zombie head and arm, simpler, but a good stock soldier; kneeling marine with energy fist so I guess he's a sgt, think its a ghoul head and a zombie arm, he says to me "I want to has brains, but its comfy down here"; zombie torso rest marine bits, you've got to have a model in a batch that you just don't love as much as the rest, this is him, I don't hate it, but it will never by my favorite; another simple head and arm swap, zombie right arm think its a zombie head.


Looks like somebody forgot to tell SPC rodrigez to say away from Barraks Z at night!

Some of these will need greenstuff touchups, but I'm kind of a minimalist these days-- so those who can avoid it, will.

The base colors on the rest of the vet team are progressing, its not exactly riveting stuff so I gave them a break from the camera. Maybe tonight I'll try to get at least one finished, but its hard to say.

Thanks for watching!

Progress has been light, however, not non-existent. The current 3 marines are about down to white and details, so reasonably close. I've done some thinking about color schemes for the z-corp and steel warriors, and I think I should be able to have them to a good place first try or with just a couple of test models. Five of each are set up on nails ready to be primed, perhaps if the little one takes a nap or after bedtime.

On the virtue of nails (or what have you), while its extra work... I'm really liking my current process. I would readily suggest some kind of mount system to anyone, just to keep from handling the model or even its base. This set-up in particular works for me because I'm branching into using the airbrush more and I just really like having models and their bases separated while working on them. I'll take anything I can get to make the painting process simpler/easier. Obviously you can't use the models in games while they're mounted like this, which could very easily be a problem for someone. For me right now, though, its fine. Heck, its even somewhat of an incentive, gotta get these guys done so I can put them back on their bases and use 'em!

Nothing I'm doing right now warrants a picture on its own, so here's a shot of everything set up on my paint tray. Standard blue insulation foam from Lowes. Holes cut out with a sharpened piece of copper tubing pressed and twisted. Didn't realize it was such a good place to stick all of my nails until fairly recently. It is actually a piece of my current (but still defunct) gaming board, so the underside has a few layers of Elmer's glue and static grass.


I hope to put some more work in tonight where possible, and as long as I don't get drug into anything lengthy on the 4th, I should have that day off as well to put in some more time.

Thanks for viewing!
Whats next for Grimdork hobby time?
Look forward to
Painted Corporation Marine Zombies!
Painted Steel Warriors (YELLOW!)
Dwarf Bulwarkers scenically displayed!
Possibly some fantasy terrain (cause the dwarfs shall demand it!)

Alrighty. Think I'm gonna have to sell my minis, get a boat, and stock up on a heterogeneous mix of animals. I dunno about everywhere else, but my little corner of southern Illinois is getting a boatload (heh) of rain right now. Its crazy weather for July. Anyway, that's given me a day and a half of being rained out from work (can't very well mow yards if they're standing in water now can we!), so I've gotten a little bit of progress. Not much mind you, the baby doesn't stop being demanding just cause its wet outside

So, I finally managed to the the three marines I was working on completed. I'm maintaining my laziness, some things aren't perfect but I'm not likely to change them before the whole run is complete, and possibly not then. They're meant as tabletop, so some bad bits will just have to live on.


The three I just finished. I think I improved my technique for the lenses/visors, and while I didn't execute it perfectly here, I think the next ones will be better still.


The hardened vets of gold team prepare to lay down suppressing fire to cover the advance of green team.


Gold Team secures an alien fortification. That's good intelligence, they overtook the new enemy base before it was even painted!


Thought the blog was lacking that little bit of random. Dug this guy out over the weekend. Early try at blending from years ago. I figured bright wizard, gold team, may as well hang out.

And so that's it for now. Not a whole lot of progress, but something far enough along to take some pictures. Next up will be the first five z-corp, unless I have a chance to get squirrely with the airbrush! Then we'll see some yellow steel warriors!

Here's a shot of what's on deck, cause why not.

Looking forward to a slight alteration in my main color scheme, and a palette cleanse (heh) with the yellow space dwarfs.

So, thanks for watching! Be sure to stay tuned for:

Painted zombie marines! Should be really close to my regular marine scheme, but I plan to work in a little brown here and there.
Painted Forge Fathers Steel Warriors! I figure, why stop making things harder for myself with white fatigues, lets paint a whole unit of dwarfs Imperial Fists style!
Spears!
Prepped dwarf bulwarkers!
Scenic base of DOOM!

<3

Was going to do zombies first, but got some airbrush time and don't really need it on the zombies so much. So, yellow dwarfs.

The question, how does the black marker pre-shading look? Obviously I would need to control my line a little better if I'm going to do this on all of them, I was just in a hurry to get a concept. Is it too dark/obvious? Is it not enough? Obviously I'll need to do something for the edges, probably white+yellow edge highlights. Would I just be better served by dunking them in dip instead of trying this?

Not sure I can tell the difference anymore, so I guess that answers the question.

Going to sit on these for a while before I decide if I like them. Obviously i'll want to do eyes and such, but we'll see.

The stain is a bit thick in a few places, I really should just do one model and soak up the pools immediately, otherwise it looks bad and tacky if I try to fix it, even a couple of minutes later.

Like the colour scheme on the Corporation guys, the greys and reds offset nicely.

I organise my Imperial Guard squad platoons by colour-coding too, Red and Blue infantry, purple mortars, yellow lascannon team, gold company command.

Thanks. The scheme took some tinkering. White is less fun than I'd like but the model just doesn't look right if I change anything.

The shoulder colors just cropped up. The spot was too small for me to freehand and one color army wide seemed lame. And now I can tell them apart so win win.


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Zombie Fail!



Got a little time to work after the baby went to sleep. However, I'm not so sure it was time well spent

I put down a couple of layers of a nice pinkish skin-tone, figuring I'd do some light washes of green and brown in an attempt to make it look diseased/rotting/zombific(tm)... Well my vallejo transparent green decided to act like it wasn't so much, even at 1:1 with water. So he's bright green, I guess it looks ok if I were trying out orc schemes. So, I may see what a brown wash does to this, but I'm probably taking it back to formula, as it were.

Further disappointing me is the white. I wasn't sure washing brown and highlighting back to white would work, and it looks like it won't be, at least not the way I'm trying to do it. This brings to light a further complication: the grey straps look kind of bad with the tan-white pants. And brown straps are going to make the grey-black armor look bad.

Right now, I'm seeing two options. There is no middle ground. I can do one or the other, and at this point, I'm not entirely sure which I prefer...

I can stick to the same clean-ish scheme I've been doing, with slight tampering to the flesh tone to make them look more zombific, but otherwise no alteration to the scheme at all.

OR

I can do a completely new scheme for the z-corp.

This new scheme would probably be bleached bone ish khaki fatigues with brown armor, gun would probably be raw metal, red stuff becomes leather stuff. Skin tone same as option A, or I could do a dash more green (tho not so much as above, eesh!). And with that range of colors, I would probably just dip them, not in the dark stuff I used on my forge father test models, more likely about half as dark.

So what do you think loyal readers?

Stick with what's working, a unified force is better than such a mixed bag!

OR

Try the new thing, they just won't look zombific enough in the same scheme!

I wouldn't say I'm torn, but I am indecisive. I'll tweak those forge father test models tomorrow (if I get time) while I mull it over.

Thanks for reading, and please feel free to let me know what you think!

Saturday update, cause, why not?

Unfortunately my cell phone (and its camera) are out of reach today, and will be until this evening. There hasn't been a lot of progress to document anyway.

I will say, however, that for as much as I have not been impressed by the spectra tex stuff I've got... the matte top coat I have in that brand seems to work well enough. It could be that any airbrush-ready matte sealer would make me this happy, but I have 8 oz of this stuff so I think I'll be using it for awhile. It looks like any other matte sealer I've used, but the airbrush makes it much easier to get the whole model without globbing it on in places. I don't intend to go back to a can, ever.

I have decided to paint the z-corp in a new scheme, as described above. They just won't look zombific enough in the current corp scheme, so Its time to forge ahead with a new one.

Unfortunately I've had a bit too much panda express and now I'm sleepy...

Hopefully I'll get some time later to snap some pictures, I'll get some random hobby images if there isn't much progress to show!

I can see why you're unhappy with the zombie, but I kinda like the virulent green. Since they're sci fi zombies, it seems okay to me to use really strong colours like that.

When painting them myself, I've had some success with simple flesh tones with a purple wash and some flesh/grey highlights.

Purple wash you say... Hmm.

I was mostly unhappy that the transparent green wasn't so transparent. But it was more the fact that everything was clashing imo. I may try the hulk green out when I'm doing tan/brown scheme. I don't mind if they're crazy green zombies, really, I just wasn't liking any of the colors together.

I think the green under a medium-strong brown dip may go over well too, I'll have to try it out when I get the chance.

Thanks for the input

Alright, not a lot of work done, but there are several images for once! Finally got my phone back this morning, so I've been taking extra pictures for the heck of it.

But first, a mission statement. The following image has been added to the first post in the blog and it will be updated there every time I get a model finished. My goal is to fill in the blanks by early december to make room for my massive Deadzone haul. So that makes 15 miniatures to assemble and a total of 36 to paint in 140ish days. Can I do it? I'm sure as hell going to try!

Can we do it!?

Up next is a brown zombie. He was undercoated white and then based "light" brown (I'd like to see their dark ) from spectra tex. You can see how glossy the stuff comes out. As soon as I can get a hold of some more vallejo model air paints, I'm going to retire the spectra tex, or at least relegate it to terrain/experiments.

The armor will stay this color, possibly get a drybrush of bone color. The pants will be that bone/khaki color. Skin requires experiments. Boots pouches straps all leather color, studs and gun boltgun maybe highlighted with mithril but dip may make that moot anyway.


Here are the McDwarfs. The colors look a tad ridiculous pre-dip, but I know I will like the yellow and the red will be much darker as well. Just need to fill in the other details and dunk these stunties.

Another miscellaneous bit, a fortification.

Forge fathers shelter behind the walls of an alien fortification.

This was made from a box of pre-colored (useless to me tan color, also come in white, red, maybe others) Styrofoam blocks. You can hotglue them together which is probably what I'll do in the future. These were secured together with a series of toothpicks. Not sure why I chose that method, given how much I like hot glue. The top platform is of cheap for-sale-sign 'plasticard'. I had it primed black ages ago and thought I'd mix up a little grey from my spectra tex colors (got a lot of them to use up, why waste good/better paints on a whim). It really needs some sand/ballast and a few bits to help define it. It is currently closed on all sides, so it could really use a door. The bricks are pretty neat but, being about the size of a 28mm human, its kind of hard to get a proper sense of scale out of them. Maybe some kind of pre-fab fortification units, dunno. Another tricky bit is that it is really hard to get paint all the way into the crevasses to get rid of the initial color from all angles.

Finally, ever since I got those Mhorgoth's Revenge box sets, I've had fantasy dwarfs and undead on the brain. While I didn't have my camera yesterday, nostalgia did cause me to dig up some of my favorite tomb kings conversions. This ill-fated army never got past the drawing board, with only one model (the chariot) getting any paint past an undercoat. I may do something to correct that, creating a coalition of undead including the mantic range as well as my old gw TK/VC skeletons. This isn't likely to happen too soon. Even though undead lend themselves to dipping extremely well, I have a LOT to do before Deadzone arrives, and so much more to do after that.


Custom screaming skull catapult. I was going to make more but now I have mantic balefires to fill in. All of the bits come from the undead sets, you can see roughly two complete horsies, a bunch of extra skulls, even a couple of arms/spear bits.


Each of the crew was also converted from the TK skeleton cavalry. At the time I was making the army, the unit was complete pants. I cut the legs in several places to give them more viable un-mounted poses, and did some makeshift mummy-wrap to hide the worst joins.


The battleforce(whatever they call them for fantasy) had plenty of then-useless riders, so I made some extra archers out of them as well. These guys look a little awkward (back row) but they add variety to the stock archers and I like them all. The one with the partial crouch on the right is my favorite. The guy in the front is the start of a lichepriest, needs some mummy wrap, but he will probably be relegated to a normal skeleton in time. The guy to his right is a trial for additional TK skeleton tabards. Only made a few.

The next two images are of my eventual plans to salvage my chariots. I only intend to try kings of war in the future, not warhammer again. So I need something to do with my chariots. Dustcrusher over on the mantic forums made an excellent suggestion that I use the chariots in/as filler for Revenant cavalry regiments. I was already planning to convert some revenant cav, but at the mention of regiments my options opened up significantly. I'll need to bulk these out (riders on the loose horses, extra crew on the chariots) to make them look as tough and hitty as normal revenant cav (cool models, just don't want to buy more minis right now). Disregard the non-skeleton elements, my skelehorsies are not on bases at the moment and I could find no 25x50 slottas on hand.


It's the right footprint for 10 knights, and chariots hit hard. Just need to add some more skeletons to make it look like they've got some staying power.


I think they should make convincing cavalry regiments when properly modeled.


In the coming weeks I plan to be hard at work on my current goal. While the Steel Warriors aren't exactly on the master list, think of them as a bonus. Something easy and fun to do to break things up. I haven't forgotten about my dwarf bulwarkers regiment/horde, but they have to stay on the back burner for the time being.

Grimdork hobby time in the near future:
Paint 5 zombies, its going to happen!
Paint 5 rangers, I can't wait!
Forge fathers intermittently.
Random hobby stuff as always, I've got plenty of models laying around you guys haven't seen yet

Thirty six models by Christmas? I certainly hope you can do that!

Like the chariots-as-cavalry idea. Works well for undead since they don't have any actual chariots in KoW!

You've been following along haven't you? How many models have I actually got done since I started painting them regularly. Its not that many. Between being exhausted after work and the baby being pretty time-consuming, there isn't a lot of time

I mean, yeah it sounds doable, its two models a week roughly, but I get distracted easily

And on the chariots, I was glad Dustcrusher suggested that, cause I was at a loss. I think with some extra skeletons added in they should look fighty enough.


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Just tack this on, I got the first layer of most of the base colors in on zombie1. I'm finding it a lot easier to layer up bleached bone to be solid than I was white and leaving the recesses (obviously). Also liking the way the leather is shaping up and how things are jiving. Flesh will take some doing, but I'll figure something out that I like. I may not keep one flesh tone either since there are probably as many different races in the corporation armies as we have, and zombies may rot differently (and it lets me experiment without feeling like i have to go back and change stuff ).

The hardest part is going to be picking the right dip. The super dark one I used for the steel warriors is gonna be way too dark. It always is, except for my skaven and those steel warriors (arguably too dark there too). But I've got 2-3 to try not considering that one, I think the next darkest (which is still about half as dark) will be right, but if its not I'll have to back track. Hoping to get this guy ready to dip/dipped tonight, we'll see.


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I think this one will get auto-appended so I'll have to update again tomorrow, but I should have a finished zombie by then!

So, I'm fairly happy with the mix of colors, and with the effectiveness of the dip I've chosen. Next down would have been much too much, and the one before not enough. I think this one will do nicely.


I will play around with the skin tone a little more next time, this was tallarn flesh with a black/brown wash before the dip. I'll try some purple and green next time!

I need to decide if that black line down the middle of his armor is helping or hurting. *edit* I have just realized that you cannot see aforementioned black line in the shoddy image, I will correct this tomorrow *edit* The dip is medium-dark, but his armor is preeety dark. Meaning the dip won't add much depth on its own. Does the black line help to do this and should I add one under each armor plate? If it looks better I should because it would take about 10-30 seconds a model. Just not sure if it matches or not.

I noticed I was running out of bases so I've got some on deck.


Obviously the white ones need their little this or that added. Need to replenish my misc rubble bits container after I do these. Got a few more, will cut them out once I need them.


Painted cheering section ftw!

Above is what I call my 'painted model cheering section' and its a little thing I started doing a year or two back. As I work through a project I like to hide all of the models I have that aren't related to the project to both reduce temptation and to alleviate my feelings of crushing model debt. By model debt I mean the large pile of unpainted/unfinished models I have laying about. Seeing what I have accomplished is much more moralizing, especially so when my burning shame is hidden Seriously, I'm going to dump all of my unfinished models out of their shoddy containers and hiding places and make the most awful pile of them for you guys. Then you can share in my shame No time soon though, still no word on if we're moving and I need to keep my surfaces clean to keep forging ahead on this project!

So thats all, nothing too fancy, right? So since all I have to do is stick him on a base and blast him with a little matte sealer, we can be sure I'll be 1/36th complete of my TODO or Die list sometime tomorrow.
Of course, as Da Boss so kindly points out, 36 models by christmas isn't overly ambitious (for most people), so if I trend towards making solid progress we'll add some more into the goal. I've got, for all intents and purposes, unlimited toy soldiers to go through before the time is up. It'll be kinda like kickstarter stretch goals . If I get cocky enough, I may even take some requests

Ha ha!
Well, I've just painted my first models after a drought of nearly two years where I painted nothing at all, so I guess depending on your circumstances, 36 could be quite a realistic goal

I dunno how my co-workers with young kids do their jobs, let alone any hobbying!

Yeah, I'm enjoying this blog so it's on my "to watch" list. I keep meaning to do one myself, but to be honest I find the setting up the blog posts themselves and the photography to be really time consuming. Perhaps that should be my ongoing goal.

I also do the cheering section though! My guilty secret is that I go to gaze adoringly at them every morning before work to put me in a good mood! (I also make my girlfriend look at them!) Ditto on keeping the shame hidden in their cases.

You've gotten more progress painting in the last month than I have in the last year.

Your corporation and Forge Fathers are coming out nicely