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Death By Monkeys wrote:Yeah, that looks really good. I'm pretty sure the Michael's that I get supplies from once in a while also sells hot glue sticks in different colors (including some fluorescent ones) that might make for some interesting effects. You might hit one up near you to check out what you might be able to get.

Oooh that's a neat trick. I just might take a look at that.

Sadly they're closed now.

Ah well. Gonna get some work done if I can on the bases, really gotta be able to get them done if I'm gonna get anywhere.

good luck with that.

Thought what you did was alright already.

Bases without the figs:



My first tries at lava bases. I'm not thrilled with the first two. The last one is ok, but I need to make it look better.



So tried several different techniques.



I think the problem with the method I was using is the inks aren't suitable for it.



If I seal, they run off. If I don't seal, they don't.



I'll give directly painting without inking more on the next batch...the last one was painted not inked, the first two were inked.

Way to stick with it and find a solution.
A lesser modeler would have quit trying and gone and sat in front of a Playstation

HFN

What about spraying a layer of primer on them first?

Death By Monkeys wrote:What about spraying a layer of primer on them first?

This pic is of them with the primer on:



It's what makes the ink run off and coagulate together badly, so I swapped to painting directly.

Still not happy, I'm going to try a different painting technique later.

What are those primed with? there doesn't seem to be much particulate... unless thats's a photo of still wet primer.

Stelek, it doesn't look like your getting the contrast you need between the rocks and the lava. Perhaps painting the Rocks completly black then either inking them/use translucent paints (to get that glossy look of Obsidian) or highlighting them with Grey (to look like Basalt). That should provide enough contrast to make the lava really stand out vibrantly. Like in this picture, just make the rock totally black.

Stelek wrote:Bases without the figs:

Primed with a white primer?

I don't believe that was wet when I took it...I didn't want to smother the bases in primer after all.

When you prime over hot glue, it's going to give you a much glossier look than most other things you prime. This also makes it a bit of a pain to paint x.x....as you're noticing.

grey_death wrote:When you prime over hot glue, it's going to give you a much glossier look than most other things you prime. This also makes it a bit of a pain to paint x.x....as you're noticing.

It dulls out a bit, but yeah it's glossier than I'd like.

Can't ink hot glue, that's for sure. So I've gotta paint it, see if I do a different scheme if it'll produce the look I want.

What you may want to try, coming from my experience building lava tables and whatnot, is to try the following.

Paint the base (not the cork, if it's supposed to be a rock) with red/yellow/ orange kind of swirled around.
Make a small rim around the base with card extending up above the base the depth that you want the lava.
Mix up some two part resin water effects, add a little red ink, and carefully fill up the bases.
Peel away the cardboard after it dries and paint the rim.
A little time intensive but may produce an effect you would be happy with.....

A few notes, take them for what they're worth.

I can't stand the Pig iron heads to begin with and I think they drag the Sisters models down into the dumps.
Of course, you're happy and that is all that matters.

Forget the hot glue. It looks horrible, IMO, and you can make the elmers glue work... and it'll look better.

If you insist on using the Hot glue and want the ink to stick to it, use the following formula to create your ink wash;

5:1:3
Water:ink:elmers glue

The addition of the elmers adds viscosity & that's what you need on surfaces like the hot glue.

To fix your cork absorption problem, here's a fix that has worked for me with absorbant materials.

Go to michaels & get a bottle of Ceramcoat brand (brand is important, as other brands tend to be too thin) black acrylic paint.
DO NOT WATER THE PAINT DOWN.
Apply a thick coat of the paint to your cork wherever is will come in contact with the elmers. I suggest doing all of the sides (but leave the top bare), in case you vary the height of your glue too much on accident.
Once the paint is dry, look for bare spots of cork.
"Hit" these spots with paint again.
Repeat until the sides are 100$ covered.
Add your glue.

This should eliminate your issues.


Eric

So I took a couple days off to think on the lava issue.

Thoughts?

Well, the cork part certainly looks like a "cooled" piece of Lava. Im not so sure on the "flowing" lava but then again it doesnt look like youve done any work on it so far. Meaning, with the white spots and the plain yellow it look WIP. Id like to see it done.

Well that's what I thought on the lava part too.

There's no texture on it to drybrush.

The white I added after I did everything, wanted to see if giving it a line would help (it didn't).

I've got to figure out a way to represent the heated lava properly. I might put some texture on it, or paint it differently. Not sure.

I think what I might do is make a split cork for the cooled lava and put a texture like sand on the base.

I guess I could give dropping some sand onto the hot glue right as it comes out, but man that seems like a PITA and burn finger accident waiting to happen.

I don´t know about the sand. I think it wouldn´t look right. I know youre not going for the effect lemmingspawn achieved with his lava setup but id go ahead and look at that again. his bases looked like rocks with lava flowing around it, while yours would be more solidified lava with liquid flowing around it. i think it would look good, if youre able to set the solid & liquid apart enough.

I think the most recent stuff is much better than the first couple of attempts. My thought is that the lava may not be the right color. I was looking at some pic of real lava, and it is not this bright. It ranges from a deep re-orange, to a bright fluorescent orange. I would try to limit the amount of yellow you use.

Also, if you want to have large bulbous are for the lava I think any texture would be a mistake.

Here is what I would suggest...

After getting the base completely assembled, paint the entire thing with the brightest orange you have (try not to use any pure yellow, but you may add a little yellow to your orange to make it brighter). Then paint the cork with a darker orange. Afterwards, dry brush the top of the cork with black making sure to leave a small amount of the orange showing.

Now, spray the entire base with your preferred dull coat. After this, wash the entire base with orange/red (preferably the GW stuff as it has a tiny bit of shine to it when dried) except for the top of the cork. Afterwards add a little more red and wash the areas closest to the cork, try not to go too far out into the clear areas of lava, or up onto the cork too much.

I think you may be pushing a bad hand here.... I like the idea you are going for with the lava but I don't think it's coming along. I would suggest dropping lemmingspawn a PM and asking him how he did his bases. I know you said they were too subtle. I think he may be able to add some technique info to you that will help you move in your own direction. This way you can take advantage of his experience with these types of bases.

And BTW.... As long as I can find a decent way to seal it I am stealing the idea of using cork.... I have a ton of rubble to make and I think it will make a great addition. Keep posting your updates.

ender502

Lemming wetblended the lavas. He used like 8 different reds/yellows/oranges. The lava at the edges was redder, while the lava in the middle got closer to yellow.

Waaagh_Gonads wrote:Elmers glue is PVA/Wood glue isn't it?

Waiting desperately to see the dried glue....

Which shows that given 1 day off I suddenly have too much time on my hands.

basically PVA glue is a stronger version of Elmers and Wood glue is a stronger version of PVA glue (there are lots of brands, so you mileage may vary based on brand name.)

Wood glue would be the strongest of the three and IIRC it would be the cheapest to purchase as well. It is also the thicker of the 3 and would be harder to control if you wanted to make it do stuff.

@ stelek. Originally I didn't like the idea of the PI heads *I thought they might be a bit too big and it would look weird) . but in your side by side comparison shot, they look almost exactly the same size. I don't know that I would ever try that combination, but it seems to be working for you, so cheers on that one.

As for the stormbolter where you "clipped" the ammo and left some metal, have you tried to smooth that down and just follow the folds of the cloak there? with a dremel and a steady hand and some time, it shouldn't be a problem. I know every time you showed a side view tht the first thing I noticed was the "cut part." The melta conversion looked pretty solid otherwise.

Stelek wrote:Well that's what I thought on the lava part too.

There's no texture on it to drybrush.

The white I added after I did everything, wanted to see if giving it a line would help (it didn't).

I've got to figure out a way to represent the heated lava properly. I might put some texture on it, or paint it differently. Not sure.

here are some pics of flowing lava, with the cooling rock as well.

you might want to go really dark (almost a black) with colors of lava ranging from yellow(hottest) to red (cooler) to brown (coolest)

http://patrickschroeder.net/Pictures/flowing_lava.jpg

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/earth/images/lava_channel_s.gif

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-

http://bc.fotosearch.com/bigcomps/PDS/PDS107/10117454.jpg

http://bc.fotosearch.com/bigcomps/UNX/UNX003/u13113353.jpg

Regarding the melta conversion:

It's not impossible, but from the tabletop you never see it.

I plan on shading the area, to try and get it to blend better if someone picks up the model...but that's about it. I don't want to risk the damage, I've tried it before and it always occurs. Best to just leave it, I think.

Regarding lava:

That's what I did. I stopped using white (except as the primer) and went: yellow, red, brown, black.

Stelek wrote:Regarding the melta conversion:

It's not impossible, but from the tabletop you never see it.

I plan on shading the area, to try and get it to blend better if someone picks up the model...but that's about it. I don't want to risk the damage, I've tried it before and it always occurs. Best to just leave it, I think..

you are quite right about the tabletop view. and you are probably right about being painted as well. keep up the good work and give us a few WIP primered and painted shots. I look forward to see how they look.

Well not a whole lot new, I will be experimenting Saturday (I hope) on different ideas.

The good news is, my new camera arrived. I was put off at first because it appeared the macro mode wouldn't get me clean shots like the canon did. However, I just read the manual and noticed the numbers given for the 'auto' mode were better than manual aperture control...and just took an auto picture. Got the detail down just fine. My problem is, the pictures are too dark and there doesn't seem to be a way to make the exposure correct. I'll experiment with it tomorrow and see what I can do.

The bad news is the tripod did not arrive. Maybe tomorrow. I have my doubts. I expect next week. I guess I could check the UPS logs...damn, won't arrive till Monday. Yay go shaky picture maker me. lol

Update time.

I'm almost to the point where I can start painting.

Yes, I know they are primed. I actually go over my figs again, and remove any mold lines or burrs I missed during cleaning step 1 (before assembly) and step 2 (after assembly).

Prepare to be SHOCKED, I didn't buy 20 boxes of inquisitorial retinues to make my retinues! /gasp

A pic of the whole army:



A pic of my Elite WH Inquisitor and retinue:



A pic of my Troops Stormtrooper units, I have 2 of these:



A pic of my WH Lord Inquisitor and retinue:



A pic of my line guard units (have 3):



A pic of my GK Elite Inquisitor unit:

Well, the lava is looking a LOT better. That smooth hot glue is killin your paint, though. I think the idea of texturing the lava may have merit, but beyond that you may want to re-think the materials for your base.

Texured lava ideas:
1. apply superglue to the hot glue, use thick stuff and get a thick layer on there. Hit it with accelerator, let dry. Accelerator should cause the surface of the superglue to distort. Try it on a piece of waste plastic or something and see if it gives wha tyou're looking for.
2. same as above, but find a VERY small grain powder of some sort (sand would be too large) and dredge base in powder after applying superglue.

I like how the cork is coming out, esp with the black brushed over the top and the "hot" colors showing through. I think the black needs to come down the sides of the cork a bit more, myself. Kinda fading into the hot colors. However not sure I would have used something so pliable as a base. Poss. problems with the paint in the future? FWIW.

Were you going for a certain incongruity with the PI heads and the sister bods?

LOL! The lava was all primed over. The way I was going, I've decided to go another way. All that hot glue probably needs to go out.

The cork actually becomes quite stiff once you superglue a model onto it then prime it.

As far as the Sisters--it isn't awesome looking (and was a serious amount of work to do) but it keeps my theme intact.

Everyone has a helmeted head, none of the IG heads were used, and since I hate the Sisters coif I got rid of that too.

You can't bring bare skin to a lava planet, after all...which is the planned theme.

Sounds like the heads solved a few different problems for you then. And frankly, if you are looking for all-helmets (which makes sense given what you are going for), I'm not sure what better options you could have gone with. Anything I can think of is starting to get prehaps a little too involved.

I'm shamelessly thiefin your idea on the Gun Servitors should I ever have need of making them. I'll even credit you. I'll name a cogitor after you, if I have one. If there is such a thing. Damn good idea. I may be snipin in some mech bits for "replacement parts", but I like the overall idea quite a bit. Because I'm cheap.

So what's the lavas' new direction?

I plan on painting a test model or two soon. You'll see in a week or so.

I hate the regular retinue models, so I opted for more men in my private army. I think it works well and I am glad you like it.