<![CDATA[Latest posts for the thread "AdroitSquirrel's Army Rehab Hobby Blog"]]>

<![CDATA[Latest posts for the thread "AdroitSquirrel's Army Rehab Hobby Blog"]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/56.page JForum - http://www.jforum.net AdroitSquirrel's Army Rehab Hobby Blog Long time reader of some pretty awesome project blogs on here and decided to keep a record of my own projects. A while back I decided to start picking up heavily used and abused armies, working to get them up to tabletop quality, and then releasing them back into the wild, because we all know fully painted armies play better

I've done a few rehab projects before with squads and individual models and now that grad school is done its time to tackle something bigger. With this in mind I traded for a Tyranid army. Overall this isn't the worst bunch of models to end up on the painting desk but still requires a little TLC. So without further preamble…

Pictures!

Test group of six Warriors:

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Some individual and group shots:

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One big thing that needs to happen is a light box. And then some improvement on taking pictures. If anyone has suggestions on building a light box I will happily welcome any insights.

Thanks for reading

]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8835972.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8835972.page GMT Re:AdroitSquirrel's Army Rehab Hobby Blog
I found this was really helpful in getting me better photos - http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Debunking_the_Myths_of_Miniature_Photography

I don't use a full on light box, but rather just a large sheet of white paper (like the pic in the article under 'The Backdrop') and some bright lights.

The keys points I use are:
- white backdrop
- bright lights with diffusion gel
- tripod
- 2 sec delay on the camera
- setting the white balance
- setting it to 'macro mode' (didn't get this tip from this article, but this mode allows for extreme close ups)

Hope this helps!

]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8836175.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8836175.page GMT AdroitSquirrel's Army Rehab Hobby Blog
I do like a 'Nid plog, consider me subbed.

EDC ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8836344.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8836344.page GMT Re:AdroitSquirrel's Army Rehab Hobby Blog
Here is a quick shot of my afternoon project while my daughter napped. Amidst the broken models and bits I was able to salvage six more warriors and started prepping a lictor, a hive tyrant, and a couple carnifexes. I need to go searching for some more bits to finish out a swarm lord and flyrant.

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The two carnifexes have been base coated and I've started in on one. I think I've got the carapace about where I want it on this one. I'm spending a little more time and trying to work more colors in on the bigger models. Open to thoughts on this one so far.

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Automatically Appended Next Post:

Whittlesey40k wrote:
Those Nids are looking great - looking forwards to seeing more.

I found this was really helpful in getting me better photos - http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Debunking_the_Myths_of_Miniature_Photography

I don't use a full on light box, but rather just a large sheet of white paper (like the pic in the article under 'The Backdrop') and some bright lights.

The keys points I use are:
- white backdrop
- bright lights with diffusion gel
- tripod
- 2 sec delay on the camera
- setting the white balance
- setting it to 'macro mode' (didn't get this tip from this article, but this mode allows for extreme close ups)

Hope this helps!

Great resource thanks! I need to do some more reading and I am taking a friend out to lunch who does a lot in the way of macro photography so I can try and do more on the front end and less in the editing process. this week I'll try playing with the white balance. ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8837631.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8837631.page GMT AdroitSquirrel's Army Rehab Hobby Blog
EDC ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8837886.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8837886.page GMT Re:AdroitSquirrel's Army Rehab Hobby Blog

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I decided to hold off on painting the other carnifex and focus on getting some gaunts painted. I anticipate getting tired of painting all those gaunts so I'll save the monstrous creatures as motivation. ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8839827.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8839827.page GMT AdroitSquirrel's Army Rehab Hobby Blog
Anyway, the finish fex looks great.

EDC

]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8839972.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8839972.page GMT Re:AdroitSquirrel's Army Rehab Hobby Blog
Originally, I had hoped to get more hobby work done today, and more done around the house in general, but my daughter really started teething in earnest and didn't want to be put down. So it turned into daddy-daughter-olympics day! Besides the poor kid's sore gums it was a good day

When I did get to the hobby table, I started work on 40 guants. These needed some TLC and while working on cleaning up the models I thought the tails needed some adjusting. All straight tails just didn't seem to look right to me so I took some time to reshape them. Overall I'm pleased on how they look as a group and painted up they'll look even more like a swarm.

All posed, primed, and ready for paint:

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At the time of posting, I've got twelve gaunts drying after applying the ochre wash I mixed up. Tomorrow I'll hit it with a wash of agrax earthshade.

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I don't think 40 termaguants are going to cut it. As soon as these are done I'll have to pick up some more. ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8842206.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8842206.page GMT AdroitSquirrel's Army Rehab Hobby Blog
EDC ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8842280.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8842280.page GMT Re:AdroitSquirrel's Army Rehab Hobby Blog http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8842977.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8842977.page GMT AdroitSquirrel's Army Rehab Hobby Blog

evildrcheese wrote:
Nice start. How did you bend the tail? Did just just apply a bit of heat and bend?

EDC

Basically. There are several different approaches. Melting the plastic with flame probably gives a little better results, but if I don't have to burn plastic to get the results then I won't burn them. I'm not a fan of all the stuff you release into the air by melting the plastic over flames and when I have to do it that way I do it outside. You really don't want to breathe that stuff in.

For these, I heated water up in the kettle and then stuck the back end in the hot water to soften the plastic and allow me to bend them. There are a couple downsides to this approach. First, you aren't going to get the dramatic bends you will by melting the plastic a bit over flame. When I've reshaped models in the past, I've found that heating the plastic with water just won't get the same level of control over the bend, even with multiple heatings and gradual bending. Though with GW resin heating and reshaping with water has worked amazingly well. My thunder fire cannon is a perfect example of this as the barrel was so warped the two pieces couldn't even be glued together. Now looking at it you would never know.

Second, heating with water does not work as quickly and you have to watch that you don't over stress the piece your bending. I have snapped more than a few limbs off in the past using water and never have by heating with flame. If I'm going to push the limits of the water method then I will usually heat it multiple times and keep working with the model until I have it where I want it.

What I found with the guants, yesterday, is that the tail seems to respond better with side to side bends rather than up and down bends. In both cases the tail wants to pull straight again through the magic of science. To account for this I bent them farther than I intended them to be and held them in place while they cooled. Even still, they straightened a little over the following hours and what I found is that the up/down bends returned much more than the side to side. I think for future guants I will just focus on a greater variety of side to side bends rather than fight a losing battle that will make very little difference in the final look.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8842990.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/699496/8842990.page GMT