Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

This is some pretty damn great stuff

Solid Snake is hiding in that crate.

oh yes....^that!

@ Scarper- It is quite flattering to know that something I created inspired someone else. By all means please feel free to take anything and make it your own. Would love to see the results.

@ Vik- See below.

@ Celtic Strike- Thank you.

@ Briancj- I had to look that up, and while I know what it is, I still do not get it.



So thanks to Vik and Dave, everyone gets to see the -same finished work- Large Crate with Scale Reference!

I can see him calling out to his mates- "OI! Did any you order a package?"



Much to his surprise, it was a "special delivery". (bizarre side note- look at the head between his feet. I didn't pick that model because of the head, I picked it because it was the largest I could fit in the box. All things considered I think it's absolutely perfect and begs a storyline)



I suppose this is for the Roolz Boyz over in You Make Da Call would have an answer for this one- Armor Value or Cover Save?



And I had to do this. It was really frustrating for me to not share what I'm working on between bits for the "crates and barrels" project because I really like it. It's also been taunting me to work on it as a main project. So I've decided to let myself really focus on it as a main project after the next batch of crates and barrels are done. It's a "reward" for staying on task. For now, here's a glimpse of the near future:



Apparently that glimpse needs some touchup work. Ha.

I did get a little work done tonight, but nothing I'm going to share yet. With luck I'll have more for you this weekend. I have a few major things going on but realistically I can get a few hobby hours in.

That's all for now, thanks for looking and thanks for posting!

My god.... you have begun to build the Grimdarkian...

i am still figuring out if those are cables or maggots...hmmm...

and the lil big crate pictorial was great^^...

also:

Apparently that glimpse needs some touchup work. Ha.

LOL... i know your feeling^^

Black wash will blend those cables in very well. THen when it is dry you can touch them up with highlight colors.

The 'Solid Snake' series of video games had gotten to a point where you were, literally, sneaking around disguised as a crate.

Great work. The details on the crates really make them pop. I suspect you are now building the pandoricon. Regardless, you're a tease

at brian... yup... saw that last week on a TV show as a review of old games... most hilarious^^... i bet they used sophisticated motion capturing technique for this^^

@ Galorn- I had to look that up, but when I did I laughed out loud (at work) and I showed my co-workers, but of course they didn't get it. They just said "oh, your wargame stuff" and went back to work. For everyone else, here's a link: http://th03.deviantart.net/fs32/PRE/f/2008/190/c/f/The_Grimdarkian_by_IronShrineMaiden.jpg

@ Vik- Cables.

@ dstein- I'm going to try to clean it up a bit the old-fashioned way (meaning go back and fix my mistake) but once it is done no one will even notice because that photo is like X15 the actual size of the model.

@ Briancj- Ah. Nothing like grinding a good thing into the ground so badly that the main character gets turns into a crate.

@ inmygravenimage- No, but that was an awesome guess and likely cooler than what I'm actually doing.



No update, just replying to responses (because you guys are awesome) and laying out a few ideas on where I'm going and what is next. I've been thinking about the stuff I have stored here and there, such as my Unpainted Plastics drawer, my Unfinished Buildings drawer, my GW Bitz drawer, my Random Bitz drawer... and right now I'm feeling that I need to dump out ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING I have onto my table and sort through it again.

One problem I have is how I store things. It's neat and compact (which satisfies my need for an aesthetically pleasing and well organized space) but the old saying "out of sight is out of mind" definitely applies here and since I can't remember what I had for breakfast 2 days ago, I surely cannot remember what I stored in that drawer 2 months ago. Bringing it ALL out into the light and creating an inventory list of what I have will help me figure out exactly what I'm going to do with it all and how to prioritize those projects.

One important part of that task will be to find "quick, easy, and fun" projects that I can intersperse between my "long, difficult, and annoying" projects. I've always had a problem with motivation when I start a complicated project (something you have all seen if you've been following my project threads for any amount of time). It starts off as a brilliant idea (organically on my own or an imitation of someone else's work that inspired me) and after a period of time it grinds to a halt as I become sick of working on it and hit the wall. My Death Guard and Cult have more than a few of those right now, and my terrain is no different. I need to find things that will give me that "accomplished" feeling to keep me focused and motivated during those times where I really want to stiff-arm the entirety of my collection into the bin and stop doing this completely. Bizarre as it may sound, this isn't always fun for me. Sometimes it feels like a lot of work, and having so much failure spread out across my desk can be incredibly disheartening sometimes.

Last night I found some GW spike barricades and 4 more barrels. I don't know how they managed to stay hidden away during the great "loose bitz" roundup, but I found them now and they are going to be a quick and easy finish because they do not require a lot of additional effort to look decent. That will be an easy "win" for me before getting back to the few crate barricades I have left to do. But it's still an issue because just going through the things in that one drawer I realized that if I'm ever going to reach the goals I've set for myself, even more of my collection is going to have to go. The heartbreak of that is the things I kept after the most recent purging are awesome, I just can't see myself exclusively doing terrain for the next 5 years simply to get caught up w/ the projects I've already started.

So anyway, I'm sticking w/ my immediate project schedule (crate / barrel barricades) and I'll finish up my "teaser" piece. After that I'm going to haul out the entirety of my everything that isn't finished (including random bitz / supplies) and then decide on what is and is not going to get finished.

Will try to have something to offer other than text by the end of the weekend. Thanks for reading.

Briancj wrote:The 'Solid Snake' series of video games had gotten to a point where you were, literally, sneaking around disguised as a crate.

To be fair, it was always like that.

The original Metal Gear for the NES had the Cardboard Box as an item. That was one of its signature items, and was included in the later games as a nod to the originals.

well, just don't spend all your time planning, sometimes that time is best spend modeling

I think if you are already looking at 'long difficult and annoying' projects then you just need to find a way to make those projects easier and less annoying.

Maybe you just need to find ways to take shortcuts to work though everything you have to do quicker. My best tips for saving time are to use a hot glue gun and spray with a couple of different shades (with my airbrush I painted a building in about 10 minutes, but spray cans work too) and then wash. Rust pigments and sponging give an effect that looks like it took hours but really takes minutes.

Or maybe you need to mix up techniques so you don't get bored, like recently I started using some hairspray/salt weathering and some bright colours to mix things up a bit. (And soon I am making tropical islands... for extreme variety).

I have to admit I look at a lot of scenery projects and I know I have nothing like enough patience for them. Especially ones that involve cutting plasticard or delicate glueing. I'd rather put a basic paint scheme on 20 bits of terrain than a perfect one on a single piece and I can't imagine every doing something I didn't find fun.

Have you considered having a bash at some more complicated graffiti? It's something that gives you a little more freedom for creativity but still helps characterise the terrain - I haven't done much terrain painting myself, but I imagine that might be something you could do as a reward between bigger projects? I know your pain with slogging away at long-term goals though - sounds like your bitz hoard might be a bit mind boggling out in the open!

You could always sculpt some zombies between paint jobs...

hey skalk... i know how you feel... lots of big projects got on the backburner for me.... most of them are still asked for by my friends but i seem to be unable to tackle them atm... i don´t know if making a big list of everything and even chucking out more cool stuff from your crawers of creativity might be a good decision... let it clutter... that´s what i do anyway... one day your hindbrain will draw the card with just that bit what you need for a new project... and then it will be the right time... of course looking through the contens is never hurting but don´t stress yourself... time will come for everything!

by the way... your musings for smaller and faster and fruitful projects have sparked a cool idea in me... i think for my son and me i will soon build a segmented munda dungeon... i think i really like that idea and it is something that will never be completed but can easily get done to fit the needs and can get additional items from time to time!

keep up the faith mate!!!

Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:@ Galorn- I had to look that up, but when I did I laughed out loud (at work) and I showed my co-workers, but of course they didn't get it. They just said "oh, your wargame stuff" and went back to work. For everyone else, here's a link: http://th03.deviantart.net/fs32/PRE/f/2008/190/c/f/The_Grimdarkian_by_IronShrineMaiden.jpg

@ Vik- Cables.

@ dstein- I'm going to try to clean it up a bit the old-fashioned way (meaning go back and fix my mistake) but once it is done no one will even notice because that photo is like X15 the actual size of the model.

@ Briancj- Ah. Nothing like grinding a good thing into the ground so badly that the main character gets turns into a crate.

@ inmygravenimage- No, but that was an awesome guess and likely cooler than what I'm actually doing.



No update, just replying to responses (because you guys are awesome) and laying out a few ideas on where I'm going and what is next. I've been thinking about the stuff I have stored here and there, such as my Unpainted Plastics drawer, my Unfinished Buildings drawer, my GW Bitz drawer, my Random Bitz drawer... and right now I'm feeling that I need to dump out ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING I have onto my table and sort through it again.

One problem I have is how I store things. It's neat and compact (which satisfies my need for an aesthetically pleasing and well organized space) but the old saying "out of sight is out of mind" definitely applies here and since I can't remember what I had for breakfast 2 days ago, I surely cannot remember what I stored in that drawer 2 months ago. Bringing it ALL out into the light and creating an inventory list of what I have will help me figure out exactly what I'm going to do with it all and how to prioritize those projects.

One important part of that task will be to find "quick, easy, and fun" projects that I can intersperse between my "long, difficult, and annoying" projects. I've always had a problem with motivation when I start a complicated project (something you have all seen if you've been following my project threads for any amount of time). It starts off as a brilliant idea (organically on my own or an imitation of someone else's work that inspired me) and after a period of time it grinds to a halt as I become sick of working on it and hit the wall. My Death Guard and Cult have more than a few of those right now, and my terrain is no different. I need to find things that will give me that "accomplished" feeling to keep me focused and motivated during those times where I really want to stiff-arm the entirety of my collection into the bin and stop doing this completely. Bizarre as it may sound, this isn't always fun for me. Sometimes it feels like a lot of work, and having so much failure spread out across my desk can be incredibly disheartening sometimes.

Last night I found some GW spike barricades and 4 more barrels. I don't know how they managed to stay hidden away during the great "loose bitz" roundup, but I found them now and they are going to be a quick and easy finish because they do not require a lot of additional effort to look decent. That will be an easy "win" for me before getting back to the few crate barricades I have left to do. But it's still an issue because just going through the things in that one drawer I realized that if I'm ever going to reach the goals I've set for myself, even more of my collection is going to have to go. The heartbreak of that is the things I kept after the most recent purging are awesome, I just can't see myself exclusively doing terrain for the next 5 years simply to get caught up w/ the projects I've already started.

So anyway, I'm sticking w/ my immediate project schedule (crate / barrel barricades) and I'll finish up my "teaser" piece. After that I'm going to haul out the entirety of my everything that isn't finished (including random bitz / supplies) and then decide on what is and is not going to get finished.

Will try to have something to offer other than text by the end of the weekend. Thanks for reading.

If you would like i can send a few of the building panels ive made to you... heh. More stuff. Pm me your addy and I'll ship em out as soon as I can thereafter.

2000th post! I'm catching up with Vik!

@ Veteran Sergeant- Hi.

@ dstein- I get what you are saying and can't completely disagree. In this case I am hoping the time spent *right now* will open up a lot more enjoyable and productive quality time later for creative modeling and general hobby awesomeness.

@ Bruticus- Thank you for taking the time to really detail out some ideas. A few I hadn't considered at all really caught my interest. Specifically the hairspray / salt weathering and sponging. Is the idea behind it to remove the salt in layers to reveal paint underneath, or does it remain and provide a 3-dimentional texture? Absolute ignorance on this one, interested in knowing more. Regarding sponging, someone else recently recommended sponging to me as well. It is going to have to be my next technique experiment. Is this a 'craft store' sort of sponge or is this a 'rip off a bit of my kitchen sponge' approach?

As far as the 'long difficult and annoying', for what I am trying to achieve w/ my Necromunda terrain, it's going to be a challenge to find shortcuts. My modeling nemesis above all else, beyond even pure highlights and OSL, is rivets. I simply hate doing them, but love how they look and in order for my pieces to look complete, they need rivets. Hundreds and hundreds of them. I have no idea how the LoER does that. It is painfully tedious work for me. It's been the dead stop to more than a few projects. Additionally, I'm going to give my platforms a more sturdy look, so each level floor will be capped to add about 1/8-1/4 inch thickness. This will also lend for additional detail (cabling, piping, etc) as well as more rivets.

I'm 100% completely there with you on the '20 bits of terrain'. It's exactly what I have been doing, and for the most part I have genuinely enjoyed it. The last set of crate barricades really put me off though. Can't figure out why, but it is a small matter. They are done and I'm happy to have them in the 'completed' collection.

@ Scarper- That's a really good idea and I hadn't considered it at all. It would be really easy and yes, I could do it between other projects. And no, I'm not doing any more zombies ever again, 100 is enough... unless they are Undead Guardsmen. But really, no. No no no.

@ Vik- Like I said to Dave, it's something I had to do. I think it's a positive thing. I know for sure it's the first time since I've been modeling that I've planned something this involved. I'm hoping that a manageable and prioritized list will assist in better planning for pieces to be done and help me schedule my time more efficiently.

@ Galorn- That's really decent of you to offer. Will send a PM tomorrow morning.



I decided to go through everything tonight, but I didn't take pics of everything. My Woods box is full of stir sticks, dowels, etc. Other things are projects I am actively working on and know that they will be completed in due time so they aren't part of the inventory.

These are the projects I have that are incomplete. Some simply need paint, others are in varied stages of being built.

(Also, another apology for the blurred pics. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. I'll figure it out this weekend.)

My GW plastics:



The GW plastics need no explanation. Looking at it after I uploaded the pic I realized there's an awful lot of it. I've been collecting this stuff over the years and it really does belong on my tabletop, not in a box under my painting desk. I'm more inclined to finish everything here before working on anything else because it would be faster 'finished' results. There's hardly any modeling involved at this point, it's all paint. I'll be keeping these on the side though and work on them in between main projects.

These are 4 scratch builds and the rest are random plastics I've kept for different modeling ideas:



A couple pieces in the scratch builds can go, like my balsa tower. Not sure what I was thinking when I started that one. But there are some definite keepers in this that would make interesting terrain. The tanker I picked up recently at a yard sale. It based up nicely and I can see what I'm going to build with it. The multi-level tower I posted a few days ago, it's staying for sure. In fact I found the roof I made for it back when it was a different model I made for Necromunda, so that was cool. The control pad is going to be part of the same piece as the tanker. I like this stuff and I know I'll get to it.

My Fantasy buildings:



Right off I can say I feel less attached to the Fantasy stuff, but it's one of the more fun projects I've worked on. I've completed 3 houses and my only genuine disappointment is that they really have no purpose. I'd like to see them with walkways and ladders and such (as in Mordheim terrain) but without a direct application, my motivation to put time and effort into them is understandably diminished. I could run a 40K game on a completely feral world I suppose, but it would be the rare exception.

This is all of my Pegasus Hobbies:



The Pegasus stuff is my box of shame. I really should have had those things done a long time ago. The Chemical Plant is still in the shrinkwrap and I've had it for 6 months. The Gothic sets I've had for almost 2 years. The problem I've had w/ the Gothic set is that I don't want to commit it to a glued and based shape. I really like the flexibility the loose walls offer. But still, at very least I could have based them black and light spray / drybrush gray. Not even washes, just absolute basics. These should move higher on the list.

This is almost everything I have for Necromunda-style platforms:



My Necromunda stuff is what got me going on this project to begin with. I've always worked on some sort of terrain here and there, but it wasn't until a year or so ago I started being very critical of my terrain and set out to make some significant improvements. I was working 'behind the scenes' for bit until I first saw dstein's Necromunda Terrain thread. That kickstarted me and I had a pretty good run of things until I stopped doing this stuff completely (around January). After cleaning up my space I decided to get back into this, and the Necromunda platforms are still my #1 priority for projects I genuinely want to complete. I've already detailed the challenges of that, and why it keeps getting pushed back on the schedule. I'm looking for better ways to get the results I'm looking for, and I am going to complete this.

This is for walkways / towers:



This collection was HUGE, took up almost an entire large tote by itself. It has been cut deeply but I have no regrets. This is manageable and I'm certain I'll wind up using most of this stuff because it's very detailed plastic and easy to work with. In my opinion one of my best pieces from this entire project was a the platform from one of those train trestle sets. I'm looking forward to working with this stuff again.

Completely random plastics:



The random plastics have some bitz that are pretty cool and I expect I'll find an application for them. These bitz are the least critical of everything I have. There's only one specific (and very low priority) 'project' in this pile (the blue boxes), the rest are truly just bitz.


Again, not absolutely everything (kept out a couple genuine WIPs and I forgot to include any of my mountain terrain... duh) but that is the vast majority of what I have on my list of things to be done. Having seen it in this format it doesn't look as overwhelming as it did when it was in my mind (I thought it was much worse actually) and it's going to be easier to plan out what I'm actually doing next.

Comments / ideas absolutely welcomed.

i really like that you have shared all those cool materials and kits with us via pics mate! i have thought of asking you to do just that... but i thought then why put you to all that hassle... thank the lords you did just that^^

specially the blue boxes on the last pic dircetly jumped at me... i see instantly a good project there... nothing really that one has to explain... they just have that archaic blocky look of the DOW PC game... same goes for the arch in the top middle of the pic... that metal one... this looks mighty promising...

where i see some problems and i share your feelings is the fantasy buildings... there is really a heap of work needed to get birdhouses and such things up to a tabletop worth look... tho i really think the very idea is too cool! but i see that is frustrating to have it sitting on a shelf...

the three buildings on the second pic tho i can only picture on someone elses table atm... two spartan or dave come to my mind as they delve in fallout related terrain and minis... these look like the very stuff they would have used for the game... in munda i can´t really see these...


as for all these cool looking pegasus parts and kits... i know...even more work ...but since you said you wanted to keep the parts modular as possible... have you thought of magnetizing the whole lot? could be the work of a lifetime...but i bet this will be stunning and fun to combine in so many way anew...

well i wish you all the luck with your next step mister!

cheers, vik

oh and congratz... 2k posts... you never catch me

Insane. . .




I approve.



I also subscribe.

You'll be glad you have that stash of bitz later on when you get an idea...don't worry man, you don't have to use them all up right away

Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:[
Completely random plastics:



The random plastics have some bitz that are pretty cool and I expect I'll find an application for them. These bitz are the least critical of everything I have. There's only one specific (and very low priority) 'project' in this pile (the blue boxes), the rest are truly just bitz.

I see a TON of the Adeptus Titanicus plastic building roofs in there (the cross-shaped pieces). *broken sobbing*

Ah you have some awesome bits to play with... are those pegasus walls the same height as bulkheads? So many possibilities! My favourite bit of scenery in games is the humble riser/baseblock/urban hill thing. You could use those pegasus walls in a couple of large squares with a solid top and bottom, just for placing other bits on top, or connecting together with walkways. Your Warhammer houses and the 3 small plastic ones look like a ramshackle town to me - combined with the bits you already have and you can easily make a small Necromunda settlement, especially if you wanted to make it Ash Wastes, use the GW bits scattered around to tie it together. The birdhouse looks a little hilarious at the moment though, I imagine a retired Lord of Change lives there.

Specifically the hairspray / salt weathering and sponging. Is the idea behind it to remove the salt in layers to reveal paint underneath, or does it remain and provide a 3-dimentional texture? Absolute ignorance on this one, interested in knowing more. Regarding sponging, someone else recently recommended sponging to me as well. It is going to have to be my next technique experiment. Is this a 'craft store' sort of sponge or is this a 'rip off a bit of my kitchen sponge' approach?

Spray the object you want to salt weather with a brown rust colour, maybe dapple some orangey rust onto it as well. Then spray it all over with the worst, cheapest hairspray you can find (important it isnt good quality). Sprink some salt on, any sort works. Wait for it to dry and then spray the whole thing again in the base colour. Light blue works well with orange rust, so does white or light grey. When very dry you get a rough brush (chop the bristles to make it harder) and some water, stab at the salt areas with the wet brush. The water dissolves the salt revealing the rust colour. If the base coat spray is too heavy (eg a primer) it can be hard to get to the rust, so an airbrush works best. Airbrushes are so amazing by the way, I wish I had used one to paint my all my older stuff, it takes like 10 minutes to paint a whole building (excluding changing the paint).

For sponge, use the sort you get in a GW blister pack, or just and fine foam. Tear it roughly and dab it in a bright metal colour then just dab it on a painted surface to give quick paint chips. I painted all my bulkheads like this: spray primer > spray dark red > wash with black ink or payne's grey > dab on rust pigments > sponge on metal chips. It doesn't look as realistic as salt because the chips are on top of the base instead of underneath, but it is so much faster. Rust pigment makes even a rushed paintjob look like it took hours.

As far as the 'long difficult and annoying', for what I am trying to achieve w/ my Necromunda terrain, it's going to be a challenge to find shortcuts. This will also lend for additional detail (cabling, piping, etc) as well as more rivets.

Here's a riviting shortcut (don't tell anyone, I know they are sacred around these parts). Get your plasticard panel, turn it upside down on a soft surface like a cutting mat and place a rounded-tipped metal thing against it (a ballpoint pen might work but there is a special tool, like a tiny icepick), tap the top of the implement with a hammer. This leaves a small indentation in the plasticard that looks like a rivet on the other side. Can do hundreds in minutes. Personally though I just chop a bit of plasticard rod with a craft knife, I cut a few dozen of roughly equal size and then dab say 10 spots of plastic glue on my panel, then pick the rivets up with the point of the knife and place them on the glue. Slower but slightly better looking.

As for piping, that refinery pack is full of it. It takes ages to glue properly but I've used the pipework all over the place (like on my highway) as random detailing.

With a hot glue gun you could get most of that assembled in a couple of evenings!

=L= dropship inbound... arrival via Usps.

I'm still waiting for my package... spent 150 bucks on it too!

DemetriDominov wrote:I'm still waiting for my package... spent 150 bucks on it too!

Eh? is this the right thread for that comment?

Perhaps not. What I was relating it to apparently wasn't relatable. Moving on.

@ Vik- Glad you liked the layout. And the two items in that lot that you mentioned are definitely worthy of more attention. I'm not sure what I'm going to do w/ those two boxes, but it will likely happen once I get back started on the Necromunda project. I saw them as potential barracks / bunkers, but now I see power plant, chemical plant, PFD Command... some neat ideas running around my head.

The Fantasy buildings are actually really easy to make. I'm on the fence as to what to do w/ them. The plastic houses were intended for an Imperial settlement that was gutted by fire. I’m still not sure what I’ll do w/ them. The magnetization of the Pegasus Gothic is excellent and likely expensive. I think what I’m going to wind up doing is a basic spray / wash for some detail and see how that works. If I’m not completely happy w/ the results I’ll simply accept the fact that they aren’t ever going to be perfect because I’d rather have modular options available.

Thanks for the congrads on my 2k post. Only 13,430 more and I’ll catch up w/ you.

@ Jeffar- Thank you and welcome to the insanity! Glad you like what you see here. More work is coming very soon.

@ dstein- I’m going to keep the random plastic bitz drawer, but will likely cycle things out as I find new / better things to add. I’m going at very least remain within the finite amount of space I’ve assigned for these things. But yeah, I want to keep things that are pertinent or may have an application in the near future.

@ Briancj- Yes, I know. I got most of them in a swap w/ a friend back in 97-ish timeframe. I’ve had them forever, looking to incorporate them into my Necromunda / 40K terrain now, at least they will get used. If I had someone to play Epic with I might put them back together. My friends are cool but they are stuck in the “right now”, no one seems interested in the old games.

@ Bruticus- I believe the Pegasus panels are larger than the Necromunda bulkheads, but I could be mistaken. I’ll check when I get home. I cracked up at the Lord of Change retirement home… I might have to do something goofy w/ that idea at some point.

Thank you for the detailed salt / hairspray method. I am going to try that this weekend if I have the opportunity. Saturday I’m spending all day in the saddle, Sunday I have to do some genuine work around the house. With luck Sunday afternoon will free up some time for me.

I’ve tried the ‘indent’ rivet idea; the plasticard I’m using is too thick for that. What I am thinking about is making a rivet strip w/ plasticard and rivets, do a press mold in my mold set, cast up a few dozen of them, and glue as needed. Either way It’s going to be a task, but the prefabs have the added benefit of a support bar in addition to rivets so maybe the look will sell itself. We’ll find out soon.

@ Galon- Thank you very much. Will be appearing here soon.

@ DemetriDominov- Hi.



Last night I took some time out from things and sat down with a clear objective- try the 'sponge' method and see how it works. I did a test piece first:







I used the corner edge of my kitchen sponge because I didn't have anything else. I can see where a more compact cell sponge would create even smaller / more detailed markings. I I dabbed the corner of the sponge into my rust paint and applied directly, that's where the splotches on the lid and bottom of the barrel came from. I cut the triangle into a flatter surface and used a 'drybrush' method to reduce the surface paint on the sponge and tried again. Much better results. Also tried using the sponge to drybrush, made some very nice streaks and "chipped" effects. Washed it w/ Griffon Sepia, let dry.

Then I tried it on a piece that I'm close to finishing. Same technique as above, but much more intentional and methodical than my usual SOP of 'splob paint everywhere - drown in Sepia'. This is what I was able to achieve:






Bear in mind this was for the sponge test only, neither piece is complete. The "test" piece will be cleaned up a bit and have the detail bitz finished. The other piece that is close to being finished needs more detail and shading.

*Edit- forgot to mention that I painted the bung red on top of the metal base color and then chipped it off w/ a stick. I like how that effect came out as well*

I'm incredibly surprised and quite happy with how my first adventure w/ sponge painting turned out, and you can bet I'll be working with this a lot more to improve the technique. I'm already thinking about pieces I've 'finished' and expect I'll be revisiting them quite soon.

C&C welcomed for sure. Anyone that has advice on how to use this technique better is encouraged to share.

That looks really good. You've dabbed brown/rust over metal right? Then washed it? It's a very natural looking rust effect, I will have to try that. I tend to use the sponge to dab bright metal over a base colour like black or red, just a small amount on the corners or edges to give chips where it looks like the base colour has cracked off. Not really tried it to do rust, but I like how yours looks.

Oh and I am really taken with the forgeworld ash weathering powder as well, a wash with that and it makes everything look old and dusty.

@ Bruticus- Ah, good point, and I missed explaining a huge and important step entirely. I based the barrels flat black first, then drybrushed Bolt Gun on them until I had full coverage. At that point is where I started the rust.

I've read about powders many times but never considered them. I'm starting to think about them a lot more now. I remember reading somewhere that you can crush up some sort of charcoal colored pencils that does (almost) the same thing at a fraction of the cost of actual powders. Would have to find that article again, but it bears investigation.

I'm going to try your method (paint dirty, sponge clean) and see which way I like better. I can certainly see the application w/ vehicle damage.

Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, but I feel like I'm right on the precipice of "the next level" for my modeling skill. If nothing else, I feel a *lot* better about where this project is going now. Massive improvements are on the horizon.