#programmerminipainting

Yeah, we're still on the train of that dumb idea. I made it as far as kludging the back-branch-bit in to the back-fan-space before my heart started sinking. As mentioned last time, legs are a problem. I've also glued them on two bodies so far, so I might have to just put that part of the plan on the back burner for now.

But arms! We like doing stupid things with arms in these parts. So the muttering to myself started, and I off I compared. Revenant is just a no, way too short as expected, and even if I did like the arm that sword can fuck off. Too many holes. Dryad, while spindly, sort of has the elbow in the right spot. Hmm, the finders could be chopped off, but it needs to be clean. Hello again, not so old friend.

As always, saw does the job. The result is spindly, yes, but then again that appears to be how I roll. Slight jank on the left wrist, but the right one's solid. Probably need to go heavy with some pinning; oh no, how will I cope?

This is gruesome. This is getting stupid. But it was too stupid not to try. I don't think I'll try to hack the original shoulder pads off, but I think I can do something with the hacked off claw fingers. Makes it look a bit more feral I suppose.

Continuing with the theme of ACTUALLY NOTING WHAT I USE SO I CAN GO LOOK BACK AT IT IN FUTURE, it's time to throw some washed.. wait, hang on, last time I didn't, oh I jut did it in text not photos.

Ahem. This is what happens when I forget that the base coat and drybush were different things. Anyway, considering I have been documenting what's used, this was a lazy start to throw some Strong Tone on top of the ones closest to the the original base colours, along with the Dawnstone one to give it a tint. Worked OK in the end, though I might go over the larger stones a bit before adding vegetation.

Hmm, I think we'll call this one a failed experiment overall. Same Iyanden Darksun base, but two different washes this time. Really not liking the larger pieces as the main texture, and the lack of PVA covering before painting hurt applying the wash. I can probably do something with them, like throw a skeleton on them, but this won't be a goer.

I believe it could be said, that it is known that I like Pink Horrors. Frankly, a lot more could be said, which is likely unprintable. But liking Pink Horrors is a solid truth. So why not have more Horrors, this time with different colours? For starters, tiny little ones that could easily be hidden by some grass if their panting gets fucked. Hope it doesn't come to that. But they're tiny, gribbly, and just a bit dorky.

The next ones up, shockingly enough, are Blue. Now, I've had the box for a while, but after finally doing something with it, I can say I'm a little disappointed in their variety. As in, there isn't any. I don't see any options or spares. Now, yes, of course, I could butcher some variety as is my want, but that's not feeling high on the priority list. Maybe if I picked up another box, or if GW decide to do a big Tzeentch box that's not 90% Tzaangors. Hmm, yeah, that's not happening.

So, a pinky for scale. Oh yes, I have more that haven't been done yet. I just need to go through all of the arms so I don't end up with duplicates with what's already done. Design-wise, they all complement each other nicely, but I'm tempted to go a step further and go for the same painting paradigm. I just hope I have less problems than I've had (so far) finding red.

Magic blue, magic blue, whatever would I do without you? Probably nothing different, as I *have* you and still don't paint more. So we have Mr Blue, in his poorly thinned hue to ponder. To be fair I do have a straight from the bottle comparison, but that'll just cause focus issues with the photo and frankly that's too much effort for now.

So, Pink Horrors are the reason I started with the plastic crack. It wasn't immediate, but the pink gribblies in Relic's masterpiece (though maybe less masterpiecely for the lore…) Dawn Of War. Chaos Marines were cool, because they were just psychologically broken. And Pink Horrors? Just so aligned with my brain. While the first models I painted were something else, it was Horrors that I wanted to paint lots of and made the most progress. They're still what I'm most proud of. Every time I look at them, I smile and thinking "that's what I want to achieve".

And then I look closely. Or at the base. And I feel bad again. Imperfections, bad choices and just WTFery of the ugly bases. But no more! As I let the paint-shit bug bite, I wanted to come back to these gentle, docile little creatures. Also, I have all of this basing material to actually fucking use one day. So I did.

After noticing imperfections last time I looked closely, I thought I'd poke around a little bit with some touch-ups. Gone is the horrible black smudge on the cheek, teeth have been cleaned up and all around they've just had a little polish.

And I just love the end result for the bases too much. Fixing, rather than starting from scratch, as there was at least some texture there. A bit of drybrush, a bit of wash, then the magical grass. A few attempts at sorting out the base rim colour, which is still a tiny bit rough but good enough. Can't really see the progress well though.

Treemen, treemen, all so many of the treemen. Well fine, Treelves. And there's a lady Treelf in the box, but that's seemingly just one for the spite champion. And Dryads tend to be more feminine. Treelord, I guess, but with those heels I'm thinking this could very easily devolve into something as dated as the diagnosis reveal in House S2:E13. I know the main character is intentionally obnoxious, but oh was there more cringe than just what was intended at the time.

Where was I? Oh, yes, Treelves. To add to the existing menagerie, well technically they already added as they've been sat in a big box for a while but whatever, we have two Tree Revenants and one Spite Revenant. No tack today, straight on with the glue. I say glue, but I'm still brewing the sprue-goo and using what there is to try to have room in the pot. Things weren't set fully at time of photography, so the jury's out on whether it worked better than previous attempts at gap filling.

I may not have multiple boxes, unlike their larger brethren who represent the 4th largest count of Warhammer models in my collection (fuck I have too many Dryads), but just getting through a single box this year might do me some good. We're going for baby steps at the moment, with the usual small and targeted hobby sessions. This time we covered some tongues, nails and teeth. Not much, true, but something that makes a big difference in my eyes.

I'm taking the same approach as with the Pinkies of old: simple base-coat with some built-in shading magic, pick out enamel and ivory with some bone and wash, lovely tongue shade, then do the jewellery lightly. Still half of that to do, but they're at least taking shape. And I want to continue and do more, even if it's bit by bit.

So, no need to go rummage for the core basing supplies, as I've not put them away since shitposting. Did I mention I'm messy? But self-awareness is a wonderful thing, so knowing I'm messy means I have a chance to do things to lessen the mess potential if my brain's working. It's working somewhat today, so here's the only little Really Useful Box I have that's not filled up with half-started projects, now filled with some of the basing sand stuff.

In case the usage or scale weren't obvious, and in an effort to show the completely obvious use case once there's some PVA glue on the base. I'm quite impressed I didn't spill any sand when I poured it back into the bag when done, which was probably helped by me only pouring 1/4 of the bag in the first place.

Now I did hit a little snag with the plan. The idea of sticking a non-tactical rock by way of pre-cut cork isn't exactly novel, but these chunks are quite, er, nobbly. It didn't feel like there was enough flat to really get them in place. So, grab the trusty hobby knife and lop it in half. Now a splendid flat surface!

Pretty happy with the initial result. Sadly no time to paint, or throw foliage at it, as by the time I'd reached this stage there wasn't enough time in the hobby window for it to be dry. I'll probably use the 24-hour curing rule, considering I tend to do things in little batches and I might not even touch these for another 3 months.

Seriously, the white tack is intentional today. Not just failing to prep or running out of time. I did run out of time, but only due to some faffing and simultaneous clean-up that's not quick. No, the tack is because I don't know whether I'm going to end up with shooty or stabby undead--space-elf-robots. I'm aware of people magnetising, and while that's almost as much of a fetish as pinning is for me, there's some other optional styling bits that make 'guard more distinct, and I'm not magnetising those bits.