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2013/07/22 22:53:56
Subject: MT11's hobby thread - X-Wing, Blockade runner custom acrylic base and cards, all done (Update 07/12)
So I decided to sit down and read your blog this morning to channel some hobby enthusiasm before I got cracking with my projects. First page: I've already commented?! Who knows what happened but it seems I dropped by at the start and forgot to subscribe.
Anyway I had a good read and loved it all. Top wrung quality as always Tom! The display contemptor is incredible in particular and X-Wing looks like a really fun and interesting game. Can't wait to see what you come up with next!
MT I have pics for you from Gencon. Expect them as soon as I can find the power brick to my computer.
Falling down is the same as being hit by a planet — "I paint to the 20 foot rule, it saves a lot of time." -- Me
ddogwood wrote:People who feel the need to cheat at Warhammer deserve pity, not anger. I mean, how pathetic does your life have to be to make you feel like you need to cheat at your toy army soldiers game?
2013/08/21 18:53:46
Subject: Re:MT11's hobby thread - X-Wing, Blockade runner custom acrylic base and cards, all done (Update 07/12)
Falling down is the same as being hit by a planet — "I paint to the 20 foot rule, it saves a lot of time." -- Me
ddogwood wrote:People who feel the need to cheat at Warhammer deserve pity, not anger. I mean, how pathetic does your life have to be to make you feel like you need to cheat at your toy army soldiers game?
2013/09/26 03:41:20
Subject: MT11's hobby thread - X-Wing, Blockade runner custom acrylic base and cards, all done (Update 07/12)
Oh hey Brian thanks very much! I didn't notice the post (occasionally email me when the thread changes seems to turn itself off), thanks man I appreciate you thinking of me!
On to business -
I have not been completely and totally idle... a certain model that has been languishing for years got a few licks of paint in the past 2 weeks or so. Nothing in particular to show just yet, but hopefully I can finish it sometime before x-mas. Seriously. Kids = Hobby Death lol.
I did want to talk about something I picked up though, that isn't a very common tool for us hobby folk.
I am talking about a lab vortexer. Specifically a Vortex Genie 2, but most vortexers would do I would think.
So what is a vortexer? It's a lab device used to mix fluids incredibly thoroughly. Basically it consists of a pad on top of a quite heavy base. When the pad is depressed, it oscillates at hypersonic speeds, in a very tight circle. This swirls the liquid in such a way that it creates a whirlpool or vortex in the container. It doesn't take much, a few seconds should generally do it.
So, why am I talking about this? Because all those old paint pots you have? The ones half seperated with the pigments clumped at the bottom? Or the new airbrush pots, or wash pots that have the same thing happen quickly by their nature?
Ya. You can make those like new again. Hell, there may even be some colors you are used to that were completely wrong because they never mixed right. Imagine my shock when Vallejo Camo Green ended up being a quite vibrant color instead of the Khaki I always took it for lol. Reds, yellows, light greens, oranges and other lighter, brighter colors particularly benefit from a shot in the vortexer. They practically glow after. Many pots that are half dried up could have a bit of water or medium thrown in and a few seconds later be completely revived.
So, I thought I would share here, as I am sure I am not the only one with a paint collection spanning over a decade, with a few sore-luck pots that are out of production and not to be chucked, but also not doing all that well. Depending how much you have, you could be saving quite a bit of cash.
Even if you're not, it's a great way to ensure you have 100% perfect paint coming out of the pot every time.
So, how much does it cost. Well they ain't cheap. New ones can go for 200-600+ bucks, they are fine tuned lab equipment afterall. That being said, fortunately, there are plenty of used ones running around on ebay. I got mine for around 110 bucks. The prices for decent ones can be as little as 50-100 bucks, BUT, they are heavy as gak so shipping isn't cheap, factor in 30-50 bucks there.
It looks like the same type of thing, but not too far off from the price of a lab one on ebay. The one thing I will say, is I don't like the straps or horizonal orientation, that seems to be begging for trouble!
With the pad on the one I have, you can grab 4 pots at once for a shake, which I liked.
Like I said boys, by no means a vital purchase, but it is handy! Some paints I have are a real b**** to mix shaking, some particular colors in the beige and green spectrums always seem to have that weird blueish suspension medium that collects in the nozzles of still almost full droppers, very tough to shake out... Usually have to waste 5-10 drops before it runs well mixed again. Stuff like that, if you are pro-painting and want to make damned sure every drop you use is 100% perfectly balanced and will act as predicted, another good reason.
I'll vouch for this. I've used one at my wife's lab (shh! don't tell the administration...) to mix a few samples for her and immediately wanted one for my paints. Gave up the idea just as quickly, when I considered the likely cost. Didn't know used ones could be found that cheaply, but it's still far more than I'd be willing to spend.
The Dreadnote wrote:But the Emperor already has a shrine, in the form of your local Games Workshop. You honour him by sacrificing your money to the plastic effigies of his warriors. In time, your devotion will be rewarded with the gift of having even more effigies to worship.
2013/10/09 02:21:17
Subject: MT11's hobby thread - A brief segway to talk about a very cool tool, the Vortexer (Update 09/25)
They are much smaller than I thought, but that is my bad I realized I had a scaling error in my files lol! Overall though, still incredibly sharp even at the small size.
I made 6 types of tokens all on colored clear acrylic, Shield on Blue, ion on cyan (cause ion ain't red I'm sorry), stress on red, focus and evade on green, and a misc token on yellow.
Carlos provided the tokens properly painted with fill, instead of just the etching discoloration.
Then we have some custom movement templates for the Corvette, and a Litko critical token in the mix too.
As of now, I have gone completely acrylic for everything but the bomb tokens and the little satellites. X-wing is now safe for the ages
This is also the place I had the base for the Corvette manufactured as well -
If you like the stuff by all means contact them with your own ideas, very good quality results, hope that comes through despite the crappy pics lol! Will try to take better, proper pictures down the line, of everything.
I unfortunately got a bit bored painting Genestealers and didn't touch much of anything for a good while again. One exception was hosting Banshee Alfonso Giraldes while he was on his Canadian Tour last fall. If you are at all familiar with him (and you should be), he has a philosophy called (srry for the naughty word) #f*cksmoothness.
Basically it is his contention, and I fully agree with him, that people focus way too fast on going straight to their max ability, smooth (blended) as possible look. He believes a painter should slap paint on haphazard first as if it is a sketch, and play around with the light and color until you arrive at something that works right. Rough, heavy strokes, just building volumes.
Most of us reject this idea because we think if we make a mess off the bat we will not be able to recover from it, or at the least, not be able to make good use of the 'sketch'. Not so. You can blend into your sketch very smoothly, and look no further than he work to prove.
Along with sketching is his belief that brush strokes and textures add more to the miniature, not less, and building up paint is desireable and effective.
So his classes consist of a lot of color and paint theory stuff, and then a practical session where everyone works on one of his 'Anonymous' busts. He encourage you to think of a story first, then go crazy and push.
So for me, I was absent mindely sculpting a beard and more hair on mine as of course I like to be a bit different. To take up the challenge, I wondered what if I applied the impressionist way I paint canvas onto a mini? No blends, just impressionist brush strokes built up layer on layer.
Anyways, the bust became a little homage to Van Gogh, here it is. I am actually pretty pleased with the result, it worked better than I thought it might, a little something different for me at least!
A lot of fun to work like this... after so long painting aliens and marines and only very rarely anything else, nice to be able to go into something intending a very starkly lit but very colorful subject.
Mastodon: @DrH@dice.camp
The army- ~2295 points (built).
* -=]_,=-eague Spruemeister General. * A (sprue) Hut tutorial * Dsteingass - Dr. H..You are a role model for Internet Morality! // inmygravenimage - Dr H is a model to us all Theophony - Sprue for the spruemeister, plastic for his plastic throne! // Shasolenzabi - Toilets, more complex than folks take time to think about!
2017/03/24 19:20:35
Subject: MajorTom11's misc hobby thread - latest, experiment in expressionism and results of a Banshee class
Camkhieri: "And another very cool thing, my phones predictive text actually gave me chicken as an option after typing robot, how cool is that."'
Meercat: "All eyes turned to the horizon and beheld, in lonely and menacing grandeur, the silhouette of a single Grot robot chicken; a portent of evil days to come."
From 'The Plucking of Gindoo Phlem'
And I thought I was the laziest git on dakka 
// inmygravenimage - Dr H is a model to us all 