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I wonder if the paint isn't just going on too thick. Have you tried thinning it a bit so it goes on smoother & covers up less detail?

Yeah i think you are right, luckily its just a bit of fun, but we all learn from our mistakes Part of it is also not knowing how to paint the legs with the runes on. After the base coat and the wash i would normally use a blending method of highlighting, but that was tricky with the runes in the way (as i wanted the wash shadows to remain around them) I probably should have thought about it before and just removed them from the model before painting. Luckily he still looks ok/good from gaming distance so all is not lost (not that i have ever professed to be an amazing painter anyway)

Done a bit more. Progress has been a bit slow. But that's real life with 2 jobs a 3 1/2 year old and a pregnant wife. But i'm happy so all is good.

As i said before, from a distance he looks ok. Decided on the staff being metailc, and sorted out the teeth in the wolfs head, and worked on the leather on the back of the fur.


Added some detail to the raven/crow (sorry don't know the fluff)


And painted up the head on the base.


Still need to work on the actual fur. that may be my next step. (going to try and highlight up rather than drybrush, but we shall see how it looks.

Well progress has been slow, but that's my own fault as i have a habit of watching Mythbusters while a paint, so there has been too much watching and not enough painting lol.

I have made some progress on Njal, added some blood to the base, and painted the shoulderpads, (there are actually 3 different layers of colours on each pad, not that it shows in this light) Also dry brushed some mithril silver and shining gold onto the backpack.


And because i am making such sterling progress, and i have nothing else to do ... ... i was inspired to take part in the =L= Terain competition (link in my sig below) by reading Viktor von Domm's Blog. I then realised i had no plasticard at all, so i ordered some last Friday and it arrived on my desk at work today I have my plans, i just wonder if i will be able to solidify them.



The theme is elements and it has to include Fire, water, earth, metal and wood. So my plan is to create a smelter, with a fire for the wood and fire, and a container/trailer/ cart (undecided) full of ore for the earth, also molten metal pouring out into a water trough. and of course rivets. Lets see if i can actually do this?

Getting there ...

Lots of good things going on over here!

And I really like your plans for the LoER Comp (glad it caught you with nothing else to do ), will be waiting to see it come to shape.

Well i had to work later at work yesterday so did not get home as early as i would have liked. So after dinner and family time, i got into my man cave at around 22:00.

Now i have never worked with plasticard before, but after reading up a little i found out that it would be too thick to cut straight through (1mm) and i wound need to score and snap. When measuring up to mark out i decided that my plans were slightly too small so i upped the size to 100mm from 60mm. It scored and snapped really easily so i was pleased. And there was only a slight difference between the 4 sides which i shaved and trimmed down (not as smoothly as i had liked, but they can be the bottom. I then angled the edges of the sides to aprox 45 degrees, for a better join. I did the same for the trough, and then cut out a stop for the larger cube. I was not sure how i would attach the trough to the base, and i decided to use milliput as i will be adding more on top later. (the surface of the water and the pouring metal) As i had mixed up more than i needed i used some more to strengthen the corners of the larger cube too.







I did not do any more painting on Njal yet, but i have a Dungeons and Dragons session over skype tonight, so i may be able to get some more bits done while i am playing. (i normally end up fixing my sons toys that he has broken in this time

So i was sat on my Pc Skyping gmy D&D game eating sweeties, thinking about how not to die and what i could use for the top half of my smelter. As everything i had looked at so far was not the right size or shape. and then i looked at what i had in my hands, the pick and mix container. /Streetfighter "perfect" /Streetfighter.



So i trimmed it and added on a couple of bands, then raided my collection of Rivets. I decided that i should measure out there spacing rather than guess this time, and i feel that it was a good decision.



And popped it on top of the main building. Sometimes inspiration is right in front of you



So for the Earth portion of the build i wanted to have a container that was holding the raw ore for the smelter. In retrospect maybe a more rectangular shape would have been better, but I am still pleased how it came out.



This morning i came down and added some more grave/ore into the container.



I am going to add some larger lumps of ore and the fill in the gaps with further gravel, as so far it looks to refined, and i feel that the ore would be in larger lumps. I have some plaster bricks that i have left over from a previous terrain piece, that I like basing my minis on as well. I will probably take a pair of wire cutters to them to roughly round them out to look more like lumps of ore.

That was a great idea with the pick and mix container
I really like how your terrain piece is coming along, especially the idea of using the elements and such, and the space marine with the chainsword looks pretty neat as well.
Keep it up M0rdain!

Well i took my wire cutters to my little dental plaster bricks and chopped them up to what i thought was a reasonable looking ore/rubble look. (Dakka galery does not seem to be working atm so the following pictures will be hosted elsewhere)



I then went on to the opening for the wood fire at the bottom of the smelter. I should have really cut this out before putting the cube together, so i had to be careful when cutting it out as i did not want to slip and open up my fingers. I could have used my dremmel with a cutting disk, but my wife was in bed and i geek out in the room beneath her and the sound travels. So with some gentle scoring and a careful bend and snap i removed the needed square. I had already measured the hole to fit some cut down rhino top doors that will work well on here (not pictured.) I am beginning to wonder how i will do all of this lol. I think i will have to build and paint the fire before gluing the cube over the top. You can see the basic are I have marked out on the board for where the fire will go.



I glued a old drinks container lid into the water trough to add as a spacer then glued in a square of plasticard to work as a base for my water. I had set some Milliput aside earlier to cure a bit to make it easier to work with. But after spreading it out with the aid of a little water. it seems like i had not prepared enough. So i spread it out as far as i could and then sort of wiggled the surface to make it looked agitated (as there will be molten metal pouring into it later) I will probably sculpt some ripples onto the surface when i add more milliput later.

Lot of creativity there... impressive!

Not much progress as i was away over the weekend. I had been thinking about the top of the "chimney" for lack of a better word, and i did not really want to cut a big hole in it, so i decided to add some chimney pots / vents.



I then added my spout where the molten metal will pour out.



I am still thinking about the order in which i should base coat and paint i will need to paint the fire up first and the painting of the molten metal will be easier while detached from the main part of the smelter. So i think i should get spraying tonight.

But i have finished Njal, i managed to take some photo sin artificial and some natural light.


This one is a little unfocused, but i did not realise until i got to work.

Just skipped through your blog. AMAZING!!

Brilliant work and love the idea for the forge, excellent.


Subbed. (going to take forever to go through my subbed list.)

I object to the ork head on the base. Set's a bad precedent. Should be something like one of those pretty-boy Blood Angels. That would be more appropriate.

Camkierhi - Thank you i do try, i have improved but I am far from perfect. There are so many others on here that put me to shame. I'm not even sure some of them are human.

speaking of which, Gitsplitta - i had an ork that was just begging to be decapitated. I was trying for variety, i have a Necron on my Dreadnaught and a Demon on my Stormtallon. i will try to have a "pretty boy" Blood Angel involved in my Ork Bomber some how.

Well i gave my fire a quick base coat of black and left it to dry overnight, (did this via brush rather than by can, as i am not sure how much i have left in my can. And i use a red for my main marines)

Then the wood got a dry brush of 2 different greys, (unsure of the names : ) Followed by some blood red, blasing orange and .. yellow. then a 50/ mix of "yellow" and skull white.





I then based some of the board with gravel. Once that is dry i will glue the rest of the model together, and mask off the "door" then hope for some nice weather to give them a nice spray of chaos black.

Very nice M0rdian. Really like the effect you got on the wood.

so... I got you into that comp?... my own fault to get me even more hard competitors that build and fight against me

the forge idea is great...! an epic terrain piece for sure... and I will take notes... something like that just screams to be made for my own needs... why haven´t I thought of that already???...

by the way...the chimney vents...from what are these made?... were did you salvage them?

Viktor von Domm It was yours (and Daves) great riveting that made me buy some plasticard. Don't be too worried yet, i have not started painting lol.

The tops on the chimney are from Robinsons fruit shoots (Other brands are available)


My son loves them, so i try to hold on to the tops as i have always thought they would be cool on a model.

ah i see...these caps sure are nice!

and well...painting usually ruins my efforts too

Well the weather had not improved (in the small window of time in which i could spray outside in the light) but the glue has dried, so hopefully i may be able to spray tonight, but we are currently having major fog/smog. So not sure if i should. But a slight amount of uneven surface on the terrain would not be detrimental, as its not a small mini.


(in the background you can see so drawings i have done for my son from one of his favourite TV shows can any one guess what show?)


Rather than just sit watching Bones, I decided to build up another marine i had been thinking about (to paint up in a colour scheme my 3 year old son)






I need to tidy up a couple of bits and possibly add some grenades, (Also when taking these photos I realised I needed to add ridges to some of the GS) (the back pack is done just not attached in this photo. He had been sat on the side in pieces for a while rather than starting a new project. But as I was not able to work on my smelter I thought it would be a nice distraction. And it really is reinforcing how much I enjoy building the models, and harder doing the painting.

Smelter looking good, marine looking amazing.

Oh and it's Ben 10.

Nice work on the forge, and some good effects on the fire.

Like the Gits-style chainsword on the earlier marine too.

oh.... ben ten somehow is a show I never watched...and my kids too......guess it is due to the time it gets aired... so early that our telly is not on...

the marine currently looks as if he is best painted as a happy marine. the stance somehow makes me think of a heavy clad ballet version of swan lake

the forge looks good, the spot of the upturned cup tho where the cardboard meets I would add a ladder to cover up the seam...

Camkierhi - Thank you, its my first real from scratch terrain piece. And i try to make my marines look more dynamic, especially sine i am happy with my pinning and GS "flexible armour" skills. Not so sure on sculpting any other parts of armour.

monkeytroll - Thanks, my Brybrushing is getting better, i was pleased with the fire. And yes that marine was Gits inspired

Viktor von Domm - We set a lot of the BEN 10 to record so he watches them at his leisure, but i have managed to direct him to Marvel and DC more recently. We watched Captain america: First Avenger, Thor and Iron Man 2 on Saturday a great Marvel marathon. And i took your advice and made a ladder. (one of the only things i managed to do over the weekend. Sadly i had already primed the rest, so i will prime it by brush then glue it into place.

But as my can ran out mid spray (and i don't have another black one) i had to touch up the model by hand anyway. So hopefully over the next few days i can add some colour to it. I now have to decide if i Paint up up fully metallic and the wash and dry brush in other colours, or i just go straight to dry brushing. The trouble is my Monolith i went straight to dry brushing, and looking back at it now (a few years later) it did not look that good. So i will probably just water down the metallic a bit more and go for broke. i have plans for rust 'n' stuff anyway.

It is looking great. will you go imperial, or dwarven (squat) or orky?

Oh and nip down the pound shop and buy some really cheap metallic paint, or go DIY store and get a tester pot. You will cover most of it with colour, you just want that metallic look underneath and you can always spot paint in with proper metalic afterwards. Can't believe I am trying to give tips on painting!!

Really looking forward to this build, going to be awesome.

Camkierhi - Not a bad idea thanks. Only down side is that i commute by train and there is nothing nearby. Hmm i wonder if there would be anything in Sainsburys.

...Derrr i also walk past Homebase. I will look in there.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Thank you Camkierhi for the Inspiration

.. sigh i think i just ordered a grey paint with a silver name rather than an actual silver paint. .. time to look again ... better i think

Well i went into Homebase on my way home that day and managed to get myself a little pot of metalic paint for £1.99



The whole thing got 2 coats of the metallic paint, and then some babadab black wash. I gave my rubble some coats of brown then mixed in dark red and then some orange to make it look like iron ore. (the wash is still wet in this photo)



I painted up the water in the "plunge" pool. And the metal cooling as it plunges in. You can also see some of the other washes i have used.




Then last night i started doing some rust effects (still a WIP - using Gitsplitta's Rust tutorial)



There has been a bit of a delay in my work, as i got caught up in designing 2 new character for my new D&D campaign.

On a side note an interesting beer appeared in the pub next to my office, i may have to pop down there at lunch.

Mmmmmm..... beer.

Love Smith's oatmeal stout. The biscuit beer sounds intriguing.

Nice progress on the building. The ore and plunge pool look excellent! Rust effects look great. Remember to use more than one shade, it'll help sell the illusion.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Remember to use more than one shade, it'll help sell the illusion.

So far a brown and a dark reddy brown, and working my way up. I will probably work reasonably far into the orange, to add some brightness to the whole image, but it all depends on how it looks as I go along.

That beer sounds like a brain killer...nourishing but heavy...you will go down with a big smile on your lips...

Forge is looking again promising...but the metal probably would have been better looking if you have rather stippled the paint then brushed it on... Now the million brushstrokes just draw too much of my attention...