Blog Excuses for failure!

Excuse #1 - I have come down with what I think might be the flu.

I am an incredibly slow modeller. I have ideas and plans that I never seem to get round to because there's always a skill or a technique I want to learn first, or a product that I want to try but don't have, and because my opportunities to actually work are very limited.

This blog will cover everything that I work on, with (I'm sure) a never-ending list of reasons why I haven't made any real progress. Excuse #1 above is why tonight I will be sat behind a screen instead of sat with a scalpel!

So, my current plans?

Firstly the painting of Aenur, Sword of Twilight - a ~20 year old model that older Mordheim fans might recognise! This model is intended to be an entry for both the DRPA 'Orange' challenge and The Warp Storm's 'Just One Model - January' challenge, and so will need completing by the end of the month. Excluding tonight that gives me 3/4 possible evenings where I might get hobby time! I did however recieve a parcel today containing some things that might get used for the model...



Following on from Aenur I also have a more long-term and slightly scalier project that looks something like this:



Please excuse the state of my hobby cupboard - this is a very flattering photo!

My plans for these guys are a bright orange and teal schemed Seraphon force making their way through swampy terrain, but more on these guys later!

So for now I leave you with my first excuse and a promise to actually paint something this year!

 

Looking forwards to your paint jobs!

 

Interesting way to start a painting blog
I wonder how many excuses you will get to

Looking forward to your work though. Good luck.

Grrr, Imrahil

 

I too am looking forward to perhaps never seeing what you end up painting )

 

Knowing me, the answer will be "all of them"!

Yes! This is the kind of uncertain energy that I'm looking for! XD

---

Aenur has been started!

I've filed down (hopefully) all the mould lines, and smoothed out the file marks with high grit sanding sticks. His feet are tiny, so rather than pin I opted to keep the slotta tab. I filed down the bottom to reduce height, cut a hole in the base (which I covered underneath with plasticard to increase strength) and stuck him in.
I then sprinkled a little basing material down - this is purely to fill out the base, and while it will get painted it should be fully covered by the end. I wet it with 50/50 iso/water and then drowned it in 50/50 pva/water, which I may yet have to do again. At this point I realised I hadn't filed down the top of the slotta tab, but this shouldn't be a major issue.

Excuse the poor photo, but it wasn't worth decent lighting!

 

Excuse #2 - general inexperience.

Lesson learned: Airbrushing is still difficult!

I got the airbrush out again tonight in the hope that I might be able to produce slightly better results than in my first attempts, which were... let's go with 'poor'.
My vague plan was to take an old elf and turn him brown, then ivory, then maybe slightly white. In this regard I was somewhat successful, in that he did in fact turn all three colours. Unfortunately my post doesn't end here however.

My previous airbrushing attempts were my very first, and so obviously a degree of failure was expected. I found that my primer (AK Interactive) stuck better to the paint cup than my models, my trigger control was woefully bad, and that an incorrectly-adjusted compressor mixed with both over-and-under-thinned paint can lead to a poor spraying experience. Since then I have learned about the difference between 'resting' and 'operating' pressure (nobody seems to talk about this in the "how to start airbrushing" videos!) and changed from the tarry hell that was AK's primer (I'm sure it's fine, and it's just me!) to the Molotow all4one paints much vaunted by NotJustMecha's Marco Frisoni. A recipe for success, surely?

Well, initial signs were better. Pressure was set at a more reasonable level, paint didn't appear to need thinning, and when I pulled the trigger back paint came out in a continuous burst, and not fits and starts. I found that sometimes I could even get it to spray in roughly the direction that I wanted! Still might have to buy a laser pointer though...

Unfortunately towards the end of my session I found that my primer layers seemed to be cracking or peeling:



In particular check the cloak just above the sword, and basically all of the back. Not sure what the cause of this is yet, but I would assume it's trying to spray over paint that hasn't fully cured? Or perhaps simply spraying too heavily, but I thought I had done quite well on that front. Any insight here would be greatly appreciated! And yes, I know the lighting is still awful - I forgot to take photos until I had nearly finished packing away!

So while I have managed to partially achieve what I set out to do I now need to go back to undo and redo half my work. Not ideal! I think that tomorrow Aenur here will be meeting with a sanding stick before getting blasted again. 6 days until this fella needs to be finished!

 

Hmmm that's very odd. Had you made sure to clean the metal mini before priming?

 

Hello Pawl,

Sorry to find you are having such a rough time with airbrushing. If its any consolation I also found out the hard way that airbrushing is a learning experience and not a simple matter of pouring paint in the cup and experiencing immediate joy

But if I may, I'd like to at least share what I've personally found coming back to it on and off (after the periods immense frustration and disappointment in between)....

• It doesn't matter what the bottle states - All AB primers benefit from being thinned. Depending on brand, some are thicker than others but all want to be on the -slightly- thicker side of a 'milky consistency'. This will help prevent your AB clogging as fast.
• Primer Thinning - specifically, is something that seems to be a very subjective with many ways it can be done. It CAN be done with water, 50/50 but not advised. You can add mediums to the mix and no matter what anyone tells you, there's a difference between 'Thinner' and 'flow aid'. The former will help the paint come out the brush then dry quicker when on the model. The latter will do the same but slow the dry time when the paint hits the model. Both effectively 'water down' your primer but the flow aid helps in getting a more even coat on your model as it prevents drying particles while mid-air. For me an equal 3 way mix of primer, water and flow aid made life more easy and the outcome more reliable. (it may also prevent your crackling/peeling by slowing/stablising the drying process)
• Tip dry - paint will dry on the tip of your needle when it lands on it. Flow aid, again, will help slow this but a really good tip I picked up on a video somewhere is to always keep your airflow on until you've finished priming your model. The paint can't settle as much on your needle if denied the opportunity to do so.
• Spray closer to your model - closer with less pressure lets you focus more on the model and not blast a whole cup of paint through and around it compared to being further away (learned this the hard way)
• Cleaning - something you'll be familiar with already I've no doubt. But after a cleanout I will leave a little airbrush cleaner in the well, pulling back the needle (no psi) to lets some trickle through. leaving it until my next session. This will help preventing any remnants clogging fully. On your next session you may find trace amounts of paint when running water through the brush. This will help push out anything else before you begin your next session.

(If I can think of anything else I'll edit and update this post)

I hope this helps, my hobby comrade!

Ved

 

Improper cleaning is a distinct possibility, but I don't think it was the case. See below for details =]

Everyone I've ever spoken to has always claimed that airbrushing is, to a certain extent, something of a dark art. I can kind of understand why, because even with a technically correct setup there's still always that chance!

I did some more playing this afternoon - stripped the paint off from last night and started again, with much better results.
Pressure was about the same, but I thinned about 30% and was more careful with how thick I was spraying it on. Results were a little dusty (so distance is something else to work on) but significantly improved!

All solid advice, most of which I've been given in one form or another, but leaving a drop of cleaner working up the needle is an ingenious little suggestion that I hadn't considered, thankyou! =D


In other news I have discovered that the model itself is a real pain in the arse (my love for old metal models might be somewhat rose-tinted!), but that's for another post...

 

Excuse #3 - it's the model that's the problem!

It's a slightly disappointing feeling when you realise that you're not enjoying painting a model. Particularly when it's one that you were looking forward to.
I managed to find a little time to start working on Aenur, and also to try out some of the Scale75 Instant paints at the same time. From the painting session I had two main takeaways:
1. Scale75 paints go everywhere when you don't pierce a big enough hole in the dropper. I've managed to avoid this in the past but finally had it happen. I was not a happy bunny!
2. Some old sculpts simply have stupid angles to work in!

Aenur is a pain in the arse, to put it bluntly. All of his details are recessed, at funny angles, and hidden underneath and behind each other. Trying to get a brush into anywhere without hitting everything else is an absolute nightmare as everything is so cramped. Trying to get him painted up has been a very frustrating experience, and to be honest it's actually rather disheartening. I will finish him of course (thanks in part to some encouraging words from a TWS member) but the quality is going to be decidedly sub-par - very much a case of "Contrast wherever I can and run away!"

Will I ever come back to him? More than likely. I've had the model for ~22 years and when I was younger I was too scared to paint him, so one day I would like to give the model the paint job I feel it deserves. For now however he'll be an exercise in frustration and resignation, which is a real shame.

 

Excuse #4 - redecorating came first.

So I didn't finish Aenur on time. I had hoped to get a final January hobby evening in to just rush through him (I'm not planning on putting any effort in to be honest, because I'm not enjoying the model. He might get repainted some other time) but redecorating the living room took a little more time than we were expecting, and it just didn't happen.

Aenur has been re-pledged to redeem my failed oath in the TWS Just One Model contest, but I'm ignoring him right now because he's annoyed me! Instead, tonight I spent a little bit of time getting to know these guys!



Naturally I went straight to the cavalry, because two lizards per model is better than one! The sculpts are showing their age a little bit - these guys first came on square bases, right? - though when compared to the general standard of newer Citadel releases. Generally they're not bad, but the saddles are truly awful! I can't seem to find any of the heads with open jaws that are pictured on the box art, but maybe that's just bad luck?
The shields being attached to arms across the range is also annoying, but I'm sure I'll just make a mess and come to accept it!

Due in part to my obsession with mould lines an hour or so sat at the desk has only resulted in two Cold Ones and a single rider, but I'm still happy enough with the evening's work. It'll be quicker in future I think.


(yay for more awful images!)

In other news I broke my self-imposed eBay ban (I have neither the money nor the need for more plastic!) by bidding on two auctions, both for more Saurus Knights. ~£28 has got me 15 more coming still on their sprues, which I don't think is too bad at all!

So that'll do for now I think, as my work-weekend is about over. If I manage to find time next week we'll hopefully see a badly painted elf in his finished state and more scaly things!

 

I'm the same about mold lines. It takes me a long time to clean and build a model. Yes, those Saurus Knights are finicky models to put together.

 

I hate mold lines!!!

 

Newer sculpts are much better for it, but these Cold One sculpts being ~20 years old is a real pain! (edit: and the saddles!!) Fortunately a very quick scrape with a blade and liberal applications of Tamiya Extra Thin leave a fairly smooth, if slightly glossy finish that doesn't take too long to do.

I've been reading up on the Dark Elf Cold Ones as a potential alternative for unit champions, but some seem to think they're a little small for lizard people. Plus I'm intending to paint the riders separate to the mounts, so GS work could make that problematic.

Proper update later tonight though - just waiting for some PVA to dry and hoping to get my scalpel back out in a little bit!

 

I'd say the Drakespawn are still a good size overall, but they are slimmer. So our Lizard saddles are a bit wide. Lol.

Looking forward to the progress report.

 

Excuse #5 - I simply stopped caring.

So Aenur is finished, and he is awful. Truly shameful. He was finished in a brief moment of spite with no painting light, no palette, a single big brush and a complete disregard for pretty much everything. The paintjob is at about the level I would have been pleased with when I was 11 years old, and yet I don't care! His cloak has brush marks (and isn't orange per the original plan simply because orange paint wasn't the first thing I picked up), his gems are flat, I don't know what's going on with his skin, nothing is layered or highlighted and his base came from a teabag (the regular kind, not the fancy kind that actually has colours!) and a tobacco pouch (it seemed like it was worth trying). All in all he is a complete failure in every aspect but one: technically he's a finished model - my first in a year or more. Everything has paint on it and the base isn't plain. Well, it's got something on it at least!

I'm not proud of him and he definitely won't do, but now I can put him in a dark box to have a think about why he's such a fiddly model to paint and I can pretend that he never existed!


(note: when you add water/iso and water/pva to the contents of a teabag they seemingly expand, and look nothing like they did while dry. They also make pools of awful tea!)

So now that I've totally given up on a model that I really didn't enjoy from the moment I picked up a brush (but one day may come back to) I can focus on other things. Two, specifically: February's Just One Model entry and more lizards.

For the J1M challenge I'm going to try a quick scheme test that I'm hoping will allow me to churn out a scary number of space robots in fairly minimal time. My plans for a Necron scheme involve an airbrushed silver zenithal, a little Contrast bronze and then a simple accent colour. All that would be left then is glow and power weapon effects, which is where I'll likely end up spending most of my time! More details before the end of the month!

On the lizard front I've been tinkering a tiny bit with plastic again, but more importantly I've managed to grow my pile! After my eBay splurging in the last update I had a couple of boxes turn up in the post that mean I now have 23 Saurus Knights available to me. Twenty three! Ridiculous! =D (all those mould lines and awful saddle joins though!)


(just the new plastic!)

My plan is still to build everything I can first, and worry about painting later. This is partly because I'm running out of room for sprues, and partly because the scheme I wanted to paint is causing me a headache when I try to plan out how I would actually paint it. This may yet cause a rather drastic change in colours, but I have plenty of time to worry about that!

The next update will hopefully contain more of the same - a single finished model and a growing pile of grey lizards. Not exiting, but it's the most actual modelling work I've done in a long time so I'm still pretty pleased with myself! =D

 

Excuse #6 - priority management is not my strong point.

As I may have mentioned before, I have a pretty limited amount of hobby time. There is a period of about an hour that comes up three times a week where I can do my thing. In addition to building and painting, 'my thing' also includes activities like reading, cleaning, tidying, staring at the walls and working on The Warp Storm. As of late the last point seems to have been my focus and it's eaten into my hobby time.

Even still, despite being limited on opportunities to paint (and then being further hampered by the fact that half my hobby time is spent setting up and cleaning up) I at least managed to finish the model I pledged for the J1M challenge. It was intended as an attempt at painting Garfy's Occiputek Dynasty in a lazier way involving less steps, and while only semi successful I did learn a little along the way. Mostly that trying to paint under Necron armour is an exercise in frustration, that my metallic zenithal was far too heavy and that oil paints are kinda cool. The next lazy-Occiputek test will come out better, I promise!
Towards the end I cut some serious corners though - I made a bit of a mess with the white on the gun (the orbs were meant to be black!) but didn't clean it up, and I realised that I never bought the flourescent paints I wanted so I just grabbed the first Contrast that came to hand and slathered it on over the top. Also the cable and the blade never got any work done to them. It's cool though - this model was only ever a test and I had already learned all I wanted to, so this fella can be stripped before he gets his final scheme.


(Yes, his knee is white. Yes, I realised too late to clean it off!)

On the Lizard front I have done almost nothing since the last update, unfortunately. I need to dedicate a little more time to them instead of allowing myself to get distracted by thoughts like "I forgot to take the bin out" and "I should tidy up before I start modelling".
Fortunately when I'm a little further down the road and ready to paint, my batch painting intentions will work nicely with my limited time - I can simply work with a single colour each session, reducing the amount of things I need to get out/pack away, and also reducing the amount of time wasted flitting between things.

I've also been thinking more about the colour scheme, but I think I'm going to save that for when I can knock up a good test model.

Lastly, do any UK members know where I can get small amounts of cork bark from? Everywhere I can find only sells it in bags big enough to cover the entire garden!

Actually I lied: Lastly, is there any chance a mod could remove the img tags from my last post? I didn't realise at the time how large they display on desktop as I made the post from my phone!

 

That's a nice looking Necron! I'm looking forward to seeing what colour scheme you decide on for the lizards.
I'm in the UK and I think I got my cork bark from serious-play.co.uk. There's lots of sellers on ebay too though.

 

Excuse #7 - I couldn't find the parts!

Okay, so that's not the real reason, but it's still true!
Since my last update I've done almost no building or painting work at all - life has managed to get right in the way of my hobby time until tonight, and so I only have a single finished model to show off!


The month of March brings the 'March For Macragge' event over on Twitter (and possibly elsewhere, I don't really know), so I painted up this fella:



(please ignore the helmet lenses - they're flat and washed out in the photo!)

He's my first Heresy model, first Ultramarine in the best part of twenty years, first time I've sworn at decals in about as long, first sponge-chipping attempt in ages, and first time trying to hide my sponge-chipping attempts with oil weathering. Lots of firsts!

The initial colours were put down with the airbrush - Talassar Blue over a black/white zenithal looks superb, and if I ever have reason to paint the XIII Legion again I can see that being my go-to method. Absolutely no edge highlighting of course, because I'm still awful at it! The metallics were all Vallejo Metal Color - the gold was done using Vince Venturella's recipe (a mix of VMetC Gold & Copper, plus a touch of GSW Antique Gold pigment), the silvers with one of the VMetC silvers (I forget which), cables and pipes with AK's Rubber. All relatively simple so far.
The decals however were a nightmare (hence why they're not in the photo!) - Micro Sol & Set helped, but I still really struggled with the shoulderpads. There's a couple of little wrinkles that I just couldn't get rid of, so I simply flattened them and tried to cover them in the weathering stage. More practise needed I think!

Then we come to the weathering... I started by stealing the corner of a sponge from the kitchen cupboard. It turns out I'm not very good at sponge chipping! I don't know if it was improper dilution, poor-coverage paint choice, bad technique or something else, but it simply would not work for me! I started with a brown, and when that didn't seem to play nicely swapped to a silver, but neither looked great and I was just slowly ruining the model. The obvious solution? Switch to oils! A dark brown mix, over-thinned (being new to oils I didn't realise this until too late) and applied liberally to the whole model hid my mistakes. And everything else. Once I started to take it off however it did a good enough job bringing everything back to a point where I was reasonably happy with it.

All in all the model isn't a complete failure. I actually rather like him, as much for the things that didn't work (and what I started to learn along the way) as the things that did.


So what have I been doing since? Well, annoyingly nothing scaly - I've simply not had the time!
My current work is for my Just One Model oath - an Imperial Guard Chimera! It's not going to be just a transport though - I have a little diorama in my head involving it being lost beneath the surface of a lake, rusted to the point of unrecognisability. My main inspiration comes from this photo:



The Chimera was pulled from an old, murky isopropanol bath, and came out looking something like this:



As you can see I have most of the parts, but not all. The little plate that sits on the front is missing, and I can't find it anywhere. Quite why it would be missing I'm not sure, as it should be with the rest of the tank! Fortunately though I don't have to worry too much as we'll not be able to see it properly by the time I'm done anyway. Rather than make a proper replacement I simply took some card from a frozen pizza (don't judge me, it's food!) to make my replacement...



As you can see below what I created is a perfect replica, utterly indistinguishable from the original!



I did a dry fit on the tank and decided that it would do...



And then when trying to remove it to tidy up one corner I discovered that my 'dry' fit actually involved a lot of still wet, extra thin super glue. Turns out this stuff gets everywhere, and if you don't notice in time then you can end up in a (PG13) American Pie situation...



This of course is fixed with swearing, and then acetone!



New modelling rule: when working with extra thin super glue (or any kind, in fact), wear gloves! It means that when you then inevitably stick yourself to the same piece of your model again it's only the glove that gets left behind!

 

So! Onto the first weathering step!
Scale modellers like to use Mr Hobby Surfacer to rough up their tanks, mimicking the patterns created when tank armour is cast. Something like that, anyway. I don't have any Mr Hobby Surfacer. What I have is cheap plastic putty and poly-cement, which I'm told does pretty much the same job.
(a word of caution to any who repeat what follows: the vapours given off by this stuff is ridiculous - open a window or work outside, and don't be stupid like me and realise just how bad the smell is after it's hit your lungs!)



Mix the two together on a disposable surface and you end up with a horrible gloopy mess that destroys your brush (use a cheap one!) and dries annoyingly fast (work quickly!)



After working for about half an hour (after which Real Life popped up again) I've ended up with about half the tank covered. Some of it may receive a second pass for extra texture, and the cardboard plate needs some more disguising, but that may be left for later steps.




So that's where we are currently. An absolute mess? Quite possibly, but I'm sure it'll be a fun learning experience as I go! =D

(I promise, there will be lizards soon!)