#za hobbies

Alright: First I covered a table with newspaper so I had a nice, warm, safe place to set my minis while their paint dried. Then, I used the double-sided tape from The Team to stick my lads to a random box lid I cut off, like so

They stuck really well to the tape. Too Well. Stumbly came off his base when I tried to detach him and I had to glue him back on XD Admittedly, that was more my own error in grabbing the model rather than the base when trying to detach them so remember to NOT DO THAT(!!!), but still I think I’ll experiment with poster-putty next time, given how fiddly some of these sculpts are and how <:[ <:[ pulling them loose felt.

Now: It’s Prime Time *sunglasses*

The Culprits. I didn’t buy the hobby-company-branded spray-primers cuz they’re the same as the stuff you’ll get from the hardware store except about three times the cost. There are many reasons to prime before you paint but the primary one is because paint sticks to other paint better than to Surfaces. It’s important to get flat primers; some people think gloss-primers are “stickier” or something, but really all the gloss will do is make your models look... glossy, and one thing you’ll notice about life is that most things aren’t glossy! But, you know, sometimes that’s what you want and that’s Cool(the idea of doing some Adepta with glossy power armor has been rotating in my head the last two days... Durkhari are honestly probably the best fit)

Now, why did I get three? I’m going to be doing something called  “Zenithal Priming”. Basically I’m going to prime the minis in three coats; a black coat completely covering the models, a grey coat in a triangle sprayed from above(~40-60 degree arc), and finally a white coat sprayed from directly above. What this is going to do(hopefully) is simulate sunlight falling on the models, from a lightsource(The Sun) at it’s “Zenith”. All paints are translucent and the primecoats will minutely show through the layers I build up on them; this style of priming will make the recesses super-dark, the highest surfaces super-bright, and the spaces in-between a gradient between the two, dispersed as natural light falls on objects: From somewhere above. Obvsl you can do this from different angles and with different tonal values to simulate different lightsources from different locations, but I’m not trying to be fancy here u_u It’s also perfectly Fine to just do this with black and white instead of this three-tone method I’m using(it’ll obvsl make for more dramatic contrasts), but I’m trying to be a little fancy here u_u u_u

These cans have been sitting in my house since I bought them cuz they need to be warm for use, and I shook each of them Prodigiously(4 minutes u__u) right before going outside to spray with that can. I did this because I wanted nice, even sprays. I sprayed outside, wearing a respirator so I wouldn’t be breathing paint fumes and a disposable spray-suit so I wouldn’t be painting myself. If you, unlike me, have hands, you Absolutely Should Wear latex or nitriles gloves >:|

The warmer and dryer it is the better for spraying, but “dry” is the most important one here. I found a good spot in the backyard where the paint wasn’t likely to drift onto anything, aligned myself with the wind at my back, and got to work. Spraycan solvents can dissolve minis(D: D:) and heavy coats can obscure detail, so the idea is to keep the can away from the models and moving so the solvents can float off into the air, and to build a series of light dusting up into complete coverage. The black layer doesn’t have to be all done at once; I did mine in two goes, with 20 minutes of drying time inside the house between, and you can do three if you think yours needs it. The important things are 1)to not get too close with the can, 2)to spray the can in short quick spurts across the models, and 3)to not spray into the wind :p This is how they looked with the black layer done

After these were dry I prepped the grey can(another 4 minutes of shaking :|) and went out for round 2(or 3 if you could the two for black). I did one pass from just forward of directly above, one directly above, then one from just beyond directly above(by turning them around: NOT by spraying towards myself), thought they maybe needed a bit more, and did a second pass for each. On reflection I probably should have waited 20 mins to do the second pass, but nothing got gloopy cuz of how light my passes were. Here’s how they looked then

At first, I was really upset with myself because these looked REALLY Grey, and I thought I’d totally wiped out that great black depth I’d applied. I could have tried to start over by coating them in black again, but I decided this whole thing was a learning experience(and reminded myself that Perfectionism is often just Anxiety sabotaging you) so, rather than try to start over, I went forward with them as they are, and good thing that I did(as you’ll see at the end of the post).

So: once these were dry I went back out and applied the final, White, layer, in two passes. It didn’t look that strong to me after two, so I also -making sure to keep the can at a goodly distance and be Very Quick about it- did a stationary spot-spray to each model from a LEETLE to the right of directly above, and after than I thought it looked good ^w^ Here they are after a good 30minutes of drying(I was watching episode 3 of Cabinet of Curiosities on Netflix during the dry-times, and didn’t want to spoil the finale by stopping it so they got extra time :3 :3)

Honestly I think these look really neat! Tumblr’s kinda blurrifying the image which I lament(or at least, in my preview; idk how it looks to y’all), but the effect came off great and I really dig it. It was EVEN BETTER the next morning tho:

And all together

I guess as the grey dried it darkened into the black beneath, and all that depth I thought I’d erased came roaring back! Any light that hits them like this looks just SUPER Dramatic :D Honestly, one day I think I might zenithal prime some models and just varnish them right there to have some cool dinky marble-looking little statues around owo owo owo

Ok so TECHNICALLY, you really don't have to do anything to the base.

I mean I've never really been in the gaming part of the fandom as I said at the start, I only ever played by myself or with my sibs, so maybe some ppl would hassle you for leaving them with just your basic black+primer bases, but really: Who Cares? So What! If you didn't want to do anything with the bases you could just leave them as is, and if you wanted to do SOMETHING but not anything crazy, you could just paint them a uniform color: black, or grey, or a nice terrainy green or brown. Allot of folks do basically this:, painting the sides of the base brown and the tops green. Most mini-hobby companies also make "basing pastes" and terrain-paints meant to simulate particular terrain environments which you can apply with a brush and maybe schnazz up with a few licks of paint once they dry.

BUT! The point of all this was for me to practice skills, old and new, so I decided to do some flocking. "Flocking" just means "gluing terrain-like Stuff to your mini bases". SO! I went to the gamestore and bought some Army Painter flocking materials

Lots of folks call Basing Glue "PVA Glue", which is basic wood glue or Elmers to most USians, so Im assuming that's what that is: it certainly looks, smells, feels, and behaves like it. I used the lid from one of my water jars to hold the glue, and This Brush

to apply it.

The flock itself is some Paver's fill I had lying around, plus Army Painter's Brown Battlefield(a sort of gritty rubble-sand), Green Field, and Battlefield Rocks, which I found those tweezers I didn't like much from assembly to be PERFECT for manipulating, placing, and holding secure. The shrubbery is Army Painter's Highland Tufts which I LOVE! I LOVE THEIR TUFTS SOMUCH!! Seriously after I got done with the basing I immediately went out and bought, like, 3 more packs of different varieties. The Flocks cost ~$15 total and the glue was, I think, another 5 or so, so it was about 20 bucks. The Paver fill didn't really do a super great job which was unfortunate, but now I know sand isn't a great flocking material(at least: not how I used it. I'll get to that later).

Working one base at a time, I brushed the glue on, held it at a tilt, then sprinkled the gravel and sand down it, adjusting and turning to til I was satisfied with the coverage. Then I let it sit for 30 minutes to dry, held it vertical and gently tapped to knock loose any excess, and did that again with the grass, only applying it in patches where I thought grass would Look Neat, letting it dry for another 30 minutes. Here's how that looked

Swag!

Then I applied glue to the bottom of the rocks and stuck those wherever I thought a rock should live on the bases, letting dry for another 30 minutes, then did the same with the BEAUTIFUL Tufts My Beloveds uwu Here's how they looked after all that!

I love how this looks!

Unfortunately, the brown battlefield and green field flocking doesn't stay on so well X| This may be my fault: I might have not used enough glue. But, I decided to go looking for a way to lock it down and found some videos about "sealing" your flock to keep it from doing that, and decided to try covering the flock with a layer of VERY watered-down glue, to hold it in place, then decided to paint the wee skull on Sarge's helmet white, to stand out more. Here's how that looks

Oh: and once the flocking was dry, I painted the rim of each base in Mournfang Brown with a #2 brush, taking the time to fill in any empty spaces on the edge. I think it's fine, but it's definitely less charismatic than with the grass standing up all willy-nilly. When I went to get the tufts last time, I saw they also sold spray cans of "Terrain Sealer". Now, I KNOW this is for actual terrain pieces you build and paint, and for sealing gameboards you might create, but I figure that, with sufficient distance, it'd probably work well at sealing base-flock, too.

In general I think the flock-experiment went well, but I think I probably made a few mistakes in it. Next time I'll fully paint the bases in a ground-color before applying any flock, and I'll use a thicker layer of glue and see if that changes the stickability. Another option is to use the flock purely for texture and paint over it once it's dry. It's allot more work, and it requires prepping the basing substrate before you attach the minis and some VERY careful painting of said substrate at the finish, but most of the painting tutorials I've been watching lately do something like this, often using cheaply or freely available materials like sand, pebbles, and chopped up Ephemera instead of branded flocks. I could also use branded basing-pastes which, again, allot of video I watched prepping for this used. I'd like to give all those options a go sometime in the future just to see how it works out, though I worry about weight; one benefit of the Army Painter flocking is that it's pretty light and doesn't really impact the handling of the mini.

This is my Hobby Knife. There are many like it in the world, but this one is mine. As you can see it’s an Xacto and I got it from a Michael’s. You can get these from any hobby store for a decent price; you dont need to pay the markups you’ll fine on the ones in gameshops. They are, essentially, Scalpels and thus EXCEEDINGLY SHARP which is why you should NEVER EVER EVER EEEEEVER get one anywhere CLOSE to your eyes. Minis are necessarily mini, and some Hobbyists like to get a bit close cuz Vision, but you should NEEEEEEVER do this. Keep it away from your face >:(

However, being an Exceedingly Sharp Knife also makes them Exceedingly Safe Knives, PROVIDED YOU ARE CAUTIOUS AND DULY CAREFUL >:( >:( (I’m SERIOUS!!!). Hobby knives are very responsive, to the work-material and to your movements, and they will communicate to you what is safe if only you will listen through your touch. ATTEND! They are KNIVES, slide and slice don’t try to push it through things; think carving and shaving. Always use the shallowest angle you can. Move it in a single direction, don’t saw and dont scratch. Be gentle with them. Give them your full attention whenever the blade is free. Sometimes, when handling small things, you will drop them and your fumble-instinct will kick in; remember to suppress this when you’re holding a knife. Stay still, put the knife down(preferably cap it too so it wont roll around) and THEN pick up The Thing, and THEN pick back up the knife(and uncap it). I’ve never hurt myself with a hobby knife and if you respect them for what they are, a shard of metal as thin and sharp as a piece of paper and 100xharder, neither will you. I Love Them uwu uwu

This is a tripleset of miniature files from Army Painter. I never used mini Files before this project cuz back when I was but a wee snek GW used different casting methods(we’ll get into this) and everything was snap-fit(obvsl youd glue once you had the pose you liked) so they weren’t really necessary, but after watching some tutorials I figured they are now and, Yeah, sorta. I only used the middle awl-tipped one in this project, which doubles at being good for marking pilot holes. Im not a HUGE fan of them? I feel like they’re a bit coarse for mini-plastic, which is fairly soft, and am considering trying out glass files(one of my sibs builds gundams and suggested this) for the next build I do.

My Hobby Drill, again from Army Painter. In mini-building the primary uses of a drill are 1)clearing obstructed peg-holes, 2)making holes to attach models to bases or painting stands via paperclips, and 3)drilling out barrel holes. In this project I’ll only use it for the third. This one, using the finest bit, worked Fine for that, it’s motion is smooth and easy to control, but I’m a BIT annoyed that only that smallest bit will fit in the darn thing. Now to be fair: this is my first time using a hobby drill and maybe this was user error, but I took the whole dang tip apart trying to get the clamps to widen(it’s fine: they’re built for that and it was easy to put it back together. Easy Maintenance! Another plus) and they never did, and that annoys me >:T Why give me three bits if I can only use one??? GRRRRRR

These are two little plastic cups -one with soapy water, one with clean water- and a paper towel. These will become Important later u_u

Oh Sprues-Clippers, my Beloved! Again these are Army Painter and THIS time they are genuinely Good. Work’s a treat; crisp, smooth action; great control. There’s allot of nuance to using these that you’ll pick up intuitively as you do, but the main thing is to try and cut with the flat side. You’ll understand when you do it cuz your brain will be like ‘Sweet! New Limb :3 :3″

This is Super-, or Plastic-, Glue, again from the Army Painter. It’s Fine, but like most superglue bottles it comes with an applicator tip that was ALREADY cemented shut when I opened it, presumably from bouncing around during shipping. I MUCH prefer superglues with brush-tip-tops rather than applicators. It’s not a big deal though because...

this Ancient Box of toothpicks. Passed down by my mother, and by HER mother before her, these tiny, perfectly weildable tree-shards make Excellent superglue appliers. My tips here: 1)wear a mask, at LEAST an N95 when using super glue, 2)KEEP IT AWAY FROM YOUR FACE!, 3)keep it in a place it wont get knocked over, by you or by wind, or by anything else, 4)don’t use too much and wipe the excess off on the INSIDE of the bottleneck; dont get ANY on the outside or your cap will cement shut when you close it, 5)you cant really FEEL when you’ve lowered it into the glue, so you’ll have to check by eye; this doesn’t mean looking down the bottle, just raise the toothpick out and you’ll see it on the pick. You WILL get superglue on your fingers inevitably(DONT try to avoid this by using gloves they’ll just make you clumsier, and plastic gloves will obvsl get glued to everything by it), It’s Fine, once you reach a good stopping point go rub some olive oil on your fingertips for a few seconds, then was them in warm water with soap for The Full 30 Seconds and the residue ought to come off; if it doesn’t, then bulldoze it off with your thumbnail, pushing out, off of your tips, in a single direction, not scratching. You don’t want superglue in your eyes, or ANY of your membranes, or your Bits(you know the ones), so be careful what you touch while it’s wet on your fingers. Use a paper towel to clean the picks of any excess glue, not microfiber towels or the like they’ll pull the fibers out, and set the pick on the towel when not in use. As its used dry glue will start to build up on the pick and lessen it’s agility; it has served its purpose and can now go to toothpick Valhol(your trashcan), to be replaced by one of its siblings

Tweezers, again from Army Painter. Not a fan; they hold fine but you can’t really put any pressure through them and the main thing you need them for is gluing Tiny Bits to the minis :T There’s a particular type you’ll see most folks making mini videos use but idk what the brand is(mostly cuz I didn’t look :p)

This is two-sided tape. I used it to tape the minis to a piece of cardboard for priming them with spraypaint. I’ll get to that later. And last but not least

This is Mr. Hobby’s Mr. Dissolved Putty and the brush I used to apply it. It’s for filling in any gaps in your minis still visible after you’ve let them dry from being glued together and it’s STUPENDOUS at that, and IT IS HIGHLY TOXIC AND HIGHLY UNSTABLE! If you are going to use this: Store it in a cool dark place it isn’t likely to get knocked over or smashed; keep it out of sunlight; Shake it THOROUGHLY but GENTLY with a FIRM GRIP beforehand(and you’d do well to not let it sit around settling for too long regardless as it deeply desires to solidify; give the bottle a shake ever week or so, at least); Wear latex or nitrile Gloves; Wear Sleeves; Wear Eye protection; Wear a Respirator A REAL-ASS HARDWARE STORE RESPIRATOR WITH THE FILTERS AND EVERYTHING NOT A PAPER MASK; use it ONLY in a well ventilated area(I dont have a vent booth but my set up was: working infront of an open window with an oscillating fan 9ish feet behind me set to max, creating a strong air-current OUT). As above apply it with a brush in thin layers, giving them a few seconds to settle to see if you need to add more, adding more until the gaps stay filled. Let it dry COMPLETELY before you paint which, depending on your weather conditions(the colder and wetter the longer), can take up to a day. With my minis, it dried in a few hours. It would PROBABLY be a good idea to vent the room you use this in for a good hour or so after you do, like: open the windows and set up a fan to blow air out of them, no matter how short your usage of it is. It will keep reacting on the models as it dries, so it will stay in the air for awhile, but once you can no longer smell it you’ll be Fine. Related: it’s probably a good idea to use this in a room you can keep ppl out of after, or outside if you have a good, shaded exterior workspace. After you’ve used it, wash your hands and gargle some water for a few minutes to clear your sinuses(dont swallow the water obvsl! Spit it out). DONT LET THIS STUFF GET INSIDE YOUR BODY!!! Mark the brush you use for this for ONLY This and dont ever put it in your mouth to “sharpen” it(in fact: Stop doing that in general >:( >:( ), and CLEAN IT in a clean water bowl(preferably not plastic or anything you’ll eat out of later) after use, pushing it dry on a paper towel once its clear of the material, then throwing that water OUTSIDE when you’re done applying. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE LID!!! Safety is never a waste of your time.

ok so, again, this is particularly optional stuff, but Practice etc etc etc.

Water Transfers are little super-thin water-activated stickers that allow you to(theoretically) get the look of super-clean, super-fine symbols on your models without having the super-humanly fine motor control needed to create them by hand. I ONCE AGAIN did not take pictures of this process but bscl: Anything GW sells comes with a little sheet of these transfers, and they also sell supplements of subfaction-specific ones if you dont want to play whatever the Posterchild for a particular faction is(tho some, like the Eldar, are small enough that their transfer sheets MAY include everything you need, idk as I havent bought Eldar minis yet) A transfer sheet looks like this(I've already cut some out, youll see)

The process has lots of steps, but it's pretty straight forward. First, you paint the part of the minis you want to stick the decals on with a THIN NON GLOOPY layer of varnish(GW recommends their gloss varnish, 'Ard Coat, but I dont have that so I just used their matte, Stormshield). Varnish doesn't fully cure for about a day but an hour of drying time is fine for this. Then, you cut out the transfer you want, I used the tactical squad decal which is a little arrow, using whatever method you think best(I used my hobbyknife). Then you put the transfer on a paper towel or tissue and apply a goodly amount of water to it(I used my brush, dabbing it around 4 or 5 times, but if you have a dropper around that's perfect for this), and let it sit for about 30 seconds. While waiting, you wet the area of the mini you want to put the transfer on. Now poke gently at the transfer with your brush; if it moves then it's ready and if it doesnt, apply some more water and do some more waiting.

When it's ready, you pick it up with some tweezer, hold it near the area you're transferring it to, and gently prod it off the paper and onto that area with the brush. It doesn't need to be properly oriented right away; as long as the transfer and area remain wet you can fiddle with it, you have literally all the time you'd like to place it. Once its on you sort of just poke it into the orientation you want and, once you're satisfied, take your tissue/towel, dab away the remaining water, and press the transfer flat for a few seconds. Give it a few to dry, then apply another thin layer of MATTE varnish(unless you're looking for a glossy finish on the shoulders, I guess) to lock it down and you're done!

Now a problem with transfers is them bunching up, or getting bubbles stuck underneath them. There ARE chemical solutions to this, custom transfer mediums you can buy, but there are more reasonable workarounds. During the cutting phase, if you'll score empty areas of the transfer, for instance down the middle of an Ultra symbol or in the negative space made by the angles in the decal, this will reduce the pressures on it during transfer, create joints for it to bend at, and breaks in the transfer for air to escape through. Unfortunately I didn't find a vid explaining that until AFTER doing my transfers, so they may look a bit jank XD XD

ok so: Painting decals. All Space Marine chapters/legions have their own Heraldry, and canonically they include these on their pauldrons, with the other holding their squad designation. My problem is: The Nova Paladins aren't a canon Space Marine type, so no transfers for it exist. Again I COULD have just left the other shoulder blank but I didn't want to, so I painted a symbol on instead. I have a series of symbols of the NPs in me Noggin', but I went with a Circle surrounded by four triangles pointing outward at the cardinal points, symbolizing an exploding star, painted in Vallejo white.

And I forgot to take pics of BOTH pauldrons before applying the varnish -___- SO! Here are the finished models three days hence, with two layers of varnish each given a day to dry, and the pauldron heraldry Complete

As you can see, some bubbles here and there, but not bad for a first go. I'm also Pretty Ok with the Chapter/Legion Mark, tho I'd like to get better at painting tiny details like this; I tried making a stencil but I couldnt really get it small enough X| X|

Varnishing itself is pretty easy: I used GW/Citadel's Stormshield matte varnish, applying it with a regular #4 square-head brush. Don't let the varnish goop anywhere, and if it looks thick to you on the brush you can water it down with a palette, but I just used it from the bottle, occasionally cleaning and wetting it, and it was fine. As I said at the top, I did one coat on each model, setting them aside somewhere they could sit unmolested for a day when I finished, and then... let them sit there for a day to set before applying the second coat. If you wanted a glossy finish to certain parts of the mini you could use a gloss varnish there, but I wasn't looking for that here. I manipulated the models from their base while doing this, and plan to go back and varnish the sides of said base in future to protect ITS paintjob, but we don't need to hold up these posts for that.

So there's the Heavy Intercessors Finished! I had allot of fun with this learning experience and find the final results Acceptable ^v^ ^v^

So WHAT HAVE I LEARNED:

go piece by piece, mini to mini, to make sure I paint EVERYTHING the first time and avoid constant repainting of stuff Im not satisfied with

More Rigorous use of the Notebook to record what needs to be painted AND notes for these posts. For instance: write down the things you learn so you wont forget by the time you're ready to write your summation u_u

TAKE! PROCESS PICS!! Obvsl I wont be shooting video but there were allot of times when I forgot to document relevant steps in my hurry to do the next one, and I'd like to not do that in future

Keep my brushes wetter, keep a better eye on the amount of paint on the brush, and dont paint until I feel Steady.

Use different painting handles. Im Not A Fan of the GW one I have; it barely accommodated these Intercessors and the spring loading made it Finicky to get a model in and out, and FELT like it was always a split second from launching it into space.

Dont Varnish after basing. I found that, sometimes, little bits of flock or tuft would pull loose while I was varnishing the boots and get painted onto the model elsewhere with the varnish. If I base AFTER varnishing, this wont be an issue.

Alternatively: Experiment with doing bases differently and separately. This seems like a Big Deal, honestly. This raises the issue of priming tho. Maybe I could stick them to the paint platform with putty or tape at the feet? One option is using my hobby drill to drill holes in the feet of the minis, drill holes in the bases, clip some paper clips into teeny pegs, and use those to connect the minis until Im ready to prepare the bases, then take them off. I could also do something similar to connect the minis to painting handles, then detach them once I'm read to base. Hmmmm |:T |:T One of the painters I really like, Dana Howl, just glues the minis down with the basing paste as she applies it tho, so idk if it's THAT huge a deal. Maybe I just need to Accept My Destiny of painting the bases u_u u_u u_u

The prime I used here was too dark for the scheme I ended up using, I think. Next time I paint Nova Paladins, I think I'll try using a grey and white prime, and after that just a pure white prime. I've also heard things about PINK being a good prime for bright colors and especially yellow, so I might try a pink and white prime, or maybe just paint a bright pink onto the stuff I'll paint yellow later on a white prime.

So that's all I can remember u_u u_u

And now a teaser for my next project: ELVES!

with Sarge for scale OwO

I'll be painting these two Elf Rangers from WizKids' Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures line of D&D Minis. As you can see they're about half the size of the Primaris Heavy Intercessors, so it should be Interesting. Im going to try to make this a quicker process, but we'll see how it works out. Hopefully I can start tomorrow so Seeya Then ^v^ ^v^

EDIT: OH WAIT!!!!!! I forgot to cite my sources by linking to the videos I studies for this project :3 :3 :3

HOW TO PREPARE MINIS FOR PAINTING: a step by step guide by Brushstroke Painting Guides

FUNDAMENTALS! A Complete Guide to Painting Minis from Goobertown Hobbies

How to Underpaint Miniatures: A Beginner's Guide to Sketch Style by Dana Howl

A Budget Starter Guide to Underpainting Miniatures: Hobby Basics 102 by Dana Howl

How To Paint a Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures D&D Human Fighter by TheMiniJunkie

How to Paint a Heresy Era Blood Angels Legionnaire by Duncan Rhodes

HOW TO PAINT KRONOS HEGEMONY: A Step by Step Guide by Brushstroke Painting Guides

How to Use: Citadel Technical Paints - Gemstone Paints by Warhammer(this is GW's official community youtube channel)

Citadel Colour - Transfers by Warhammer

Applying Transfers on Space Marine Shoulder Pads by Warhammer; the one I SHOULD have watched

HOW TO MAKE PATCHY GRASS BASES: A Step by Step Guide by Brushstroke Painting Guides

KEEP IT SIMPLE! Easy Basing for Miniature Skirmish Games by Dana Howl

Painting the Hoth Rebel Army by Dana Howl

Flock and Scatter How to Seal Your Miniature Bases by Geek Gaming Scenics. I didn't find this one's advice particularly useful, sadly, tho perhaps With Time I will realize it's Wisdoms u_u u_u u_u

VARNISHES ...and how to Use them Wisely by Duncan Rhodes

Goobertown, Dana Howl, Brushstroke, and Duncan Rhodes are honestly INVALUABLE resources for this hobby. Of the four Brushstroke and Howl will waste the least of your time: All are great, but Goobertown tends to ham it up a bit(which isn't BAD! and he makes up for it by rigorously indexing his videos in the load bar so you can skip around easily), and Rhodes likes to talk.

Rhodes covers EVERYTHING, but he's a really good source for advanced techniques, especially painting ones.

Brushstroke is not only a Good, super-informative miniature hobby channel, it's also a pretty decent ASMR one.

Dana is... Awesome. There's really nothing else to say that really encapsulates Her Whole Deal. Good painting advice(even if she mostly works with an airbrush which I dont), good color advice, good basic advice, good basing advice, Concise, Direct, and Hilarious.

Goobertown is an Endless source of inspiration for general Hobby tips and tricks(I am GOING to do magnets >:> Epoxy spooks me a bit tho X| X|) as well as being a great source for painting advice, spcl for beginners, AND he breaks down the science behind allot of this stuff. I owe to him my not getting a gloss varnish for this project because he proved it didn't really benefit you to do a gloss undercoat and matte overcoat, even though most ppl(like Duncan) will swear up and down it does something.

Here are the (gender inclusive: they’re Transhuman Childsoldier Fleshwarbots)Lads I’ll be turning from Bits to Bums

A squad of five Primaris Heavy Intercessors; I bought these because my gameshop had them. I’m not a particular fan of the Space Marines, I’ve ALWAYS preferred the Xenos factions and Certain Cultures among the Horribly Maligned Natives of the Empyrean(Guess Which One :> :> :> It’s a CINCH!!), tho I DO, actually, have a wee little OC Chapter of my very own of headcanony significant(in this I am utterly unique among GW fans, I am Sure u_u u_u) which I hope to paint up an army for one day. However: I need to practice on something and my game shop has very few votanni boxes so here we are. Coincidentally I do also like the Adepta Sororitas(Space Battle Nuns), and that may come up later who knows u_u

Here is What’s in the Bachs. Look what they’ve done to my boys. These are the fabled Spruce, which we all pronounce ‘Sproose’ for some unfathomable English Reason. I’ve been spelling it Sprues up til now because I, Civic Mindedly, want you to know how to say it. No I didn’t call them “Spruces” for literally 20+ years of my life why would you think that of me??? Also there are their bases above, a contact sheet(I may or may not get to these later cuz they are A Hassle), and the instruction manual. I know this looks like allot but, Trust Me, it’s only five guys. Five Horribly, Horribly Mutilated Guys unu unu

But even Greater Horrors await us...

OH GODS! The humanity. Should I censor the image? I just found them like this I Swear your honor.

This is them clipped and gathered into the five builds I decided to use. I’d have liked to do process pics for that but, as but a wee snek, I cannot clip bits from sprues and operate a camera at the same time unu They are, reading the pic like a page from top left to bottom right, a Sargent(mandatory), Heavy Weapons Guy(optional. If you dont take em you can upgrade the whole squad’s rifles for free, but the Heavy is So Chunk so...), and Three Rifliers(it’s totally a word shutup unu) I decided on these by looking through the instructions

which look like that. They’re unnecessarily confusing. The way it SAYS it works is each build is color coded, but also numbered, but then sometimes the numbers are ALSO different steps in the same build, and then variants of the build are lettered(except when they’re numbered). I’d prefer if the steps were the letters and the numbers were build-exclusive, but you get used to it and the builds are so well engineered that you can’t really use “the wrong” part and end up stuck or anything. It’s important to do the steps for each build in the proper order but I’ll get to that later.

Here’s the thing: according to ppl who should know these things, they coat the sprues in “release agents” during manufacture to keep them from sticking together, so you need to clean that stuff off or the paint wont stick later. So, After I clipped them I washed them in

the cups from before, and quickly realized I’d overfilled the soapy one. You don’t need ALLOT of water there, just enough to cover the pieces. So after the first two I dumped it, used a more reasonable amount, and it went fine. The process is this: clip out your pieces, put them in the soap, swish em around a few times with a suitable digit, then pick em out and dump em in the clean water, swish, then set to dry on the paper towel. Easy Peasy.

When they’re dry(I waited 30ish minutes I think? Should have probably timed it -__-) You can start gluing them together. BUT NOT SO FAST!

These are mold lines. They’re a product of the way the Bits are cast, and they need to be removed before you start assembly-proper because it’d be a Hassle trying when they models are built and also they’d interfere with the joins. Most hobby companies make a “mold line remover” tool which, presumably is designed and shaped to do this job well, but honestly I just use the back of my hobby knife. Finger nails are also pretty good at the job:

et voila! That was just with nails. Sometimes the lines will be soft enough that you can, and sometimes they won’t. You’ll notice, also, that some details are just too small to really get at the lines without destroying the whole structure and that’s fine; you don’t need to go all out on the lines there. I might get a line remover at somepoint just to see how they do but honestly I feel like it’s a bit Finicky when finger nails and the back of a hobby knife work just fine. It’s not just mold lines tho:

that Weird grey-white accumulation center screen on the bit is where the sprue connected. When you cut them free, often there will be a little bit left cuz Physics. This, usually, is something you’ll need to use your hobby knife for, and this time I mean the sharp side. Remember: gentle, controlled, shaving and slicing, move in one direction and don’t saw, aim for a shallow angle. Some ppl will describe this process as “scooping it out” but I think “making the surface smooth” is a better description(cuz that’s what you’re aiming for). Once you get most of the sprue-smut off with the cutty-end, you can then try the back of the knife, or a file, or your nails to finish smoothing. A few of these were tough enough to justify the file for me, but most weren’t and I just cleaned with nails and the back of the knife.

AND ANOTHER THING(omg)

This is one of the bolters(technically bolt rifles with Primaris marines), and as you’ll notice the barrel is a whole plug. But that’s not how gun barrels work! This is where the Hobby Drill comes in, tho honestly it’s really more of a pride/vanity thing and you don’t REALLY need to do it. It’s a pretty simple process; what I did was make a pilot divot with the tip of my awl-file, then used the smallest bit on my drill to drill a hole until it looked like it was as deep as the front bit of the barrel there, and then I drilled out the side holes. After the first one, I realized it’d be simpler to drill out the side holes first,and then drill from the front. Since the side holes are already recessed, you don’t really need to bother with making a pilot divot, tho you might want to trade off side to side if you’re worried about drilling at the wrong angle.

OK: FINALLY:: NOW::: PEOPLE FROM PIECES:::: AGAIN NO PROCESS PICS SURRRR:::::

Here’s the Sargent. They had allot of bare head options but imo That’s Stupid: why would someone go into a fight without a helmet? That prevents critical hits!! People keep their brains in there and honestly I think that’s a better idea than them floating around, wild and free.

cHeavy Weapon. On the one hand I like this sculp, on the other I really do think that tubing is Fiddly and Dumb and part of me desperately wanted to cut off the parts attached to the gun, and not include the parts which needed gluing. [EDIT: I Originally Forgot to put in this part X|] Also I put the arms on too early, and didn’t attach them to the gun first, so I had to DEtach them(A Hassle), attach them to the gun, then to the torso, THEN I knocked off his leg wrestling those into place; it was a nightmare. SO: Follow the Steps.

I THINK(???) I set him up with the armor-piercing ammo tin, but honestly WH40k is so RNGesus that taking the assault variant with, like, twice the attack dice is probably the way to go over two measly shots at -2Armor. Realistically most units will get vaporized a turn after firing, if they even survive that long(Heavy Intercessors probably will; they’ve got three wounds, which is as much as a light vehicle, and the whole squad is like 15 or 16, I forget if the Sargent gets an extra, which is as much as a Flipping Tank. Most infantry only have one), so maximizing your dice-count seems to be the best strategy.

I affectionately(derogatory) call this Lad “Stumbly”. Of all the builds they had the hardest time standing(they EVEN came off their stand at one point, but I’ll get to that later) because the illusion of forward motion makes it VERY fore-heavy, but once I attached the backpack/lifesupport it stood Okish. I like to imagine they’re not looking forward cuz they just saw a Really Neat Bug. Maybe they’re stepping around it; maybe they were just Trudging along to murk some space-elves and then ‘OH! Cute Bug!! Sorry, Sir, go about your day’ redirecting around it with their Transhuman Murderbot Reflexes uwu

You can’t really see it in this pic, cuz the angle is Awesome, but this Lad looks like they’re in the middle of raising their gun, so I’ve named them “Surprise!”. Their bolt-rifle barrel REALLY makes me wish I could have gotten the next size up bit in that drill -___- Presumably they were in the middle of some Important Discussion, Possibly about Neat Bugs, when a malnourished religious dissident stumbled out of the bushes and, well, Atheist-Space-Murder-Catholicism’s just Not That Great what can I say? That starving waif had Theses locked and loaded and they Needed to Die u_u u_u

This Lad’s reloading cuz, while everyone else was Lollygagging about Neat Bugs, they were Getting Shit Done. I’ve named them Already-Done-Shooting, or Ads, and I Love Them even tho they’re a bit annoying u_u u_u u_u

And here’s The Whole Squad, Based

I’m sorry for how blurry that looks; I Know Nothing about posting pics to tumblr and I refuse to learn.

Anyway: There’s All the Heavy Intercessors assembled and glued to their 44mm(I think?) bases ^v^ After this I used the Mister Dissolved Putty to fill in any gaps(cHeavy’s Heavy Bolter barrel had a pretty significant one), and then glued some Additional Bits to each model the next morning(this one), but I forgot to take pics before progressing further X| X| Tomorrow I document that progress in: The Undercoat

... Unfortunately I only took before and after pics for the Soldiers XD so here ya go

I decided to paint them up in 4 colors: Skeleton Horde and Aggaros Dunes from Citadel, and Pallid Bone and Howling Sand from Army Painter SPs

Then I washed the Miners in Earthshade and the Soldiers in Sepia

The darker ones here are the Earthshade, and the lighter the Sepia. I loved how all of these looked. The Dunes/Earthshade one in particular created a VERY grungy, crawled-out-of-the-earth look that I really enjoyed, tho the Howling Sand/Earthshade was a wonderful Bleached-Bone look in its own right with excellent, dark recesses. One thing to note here: the Howling Sand applied rather goopily and needed a bit more attention to spread evenly, but it dried into a wonderful finish and makes an excellent ivory color for this range of paints, imo. Between Skeleton Horde and Pallid Bone I prefer PB? It's got a bit stronger color and applies more evenly, and Skeleton Horde has a very subtle yellowish or olive hue to it that I just personally think isn't AS GOOD for bone as Pallid is? It's still a good color tho, it creates stronger shadows in the recesses, and I felt it worked better with Sepia than PB did, so I think they're close enough that it's really a matter of preference(also: I'd like to try a different shade on PB in the future).

Next I painted their Clothes and Weapons

Unfortunately these were the only process pics I took during this step X| I used AP's Ruddy Fur for the Miners' Gloves and Boots, and the Soldiers' Pants and pauldrons, and Noble Skin for the Soldiers' Boots. I painted the Pickheads in Val Black and the pickhead "ring" in a rust-mixture I made from Vallejo Red and Flat Yellow(which clarification: is ALSO the Vallejo Yellow I used for Champ's shield. I think I just called it 'yellow' in the last post; I'll go back and edit it correct). The Red was MUCH stronger than the yellow, so it was something like a 1-to-4 mixture, tho I didn't write it down X| X| I then used this mixture to stipple rust spots onto the Picks. I painted one of the Soldiers' swords the same way, and the other as I painted Champ's(Val Green-Black, stippled with Gauss Blaster Green). I painted the Soldiers' chestplates and chainmail, and the miners' helmets, with the same black&rust undercoat, and the belts with APSP Gravelord Grey.

I'm not terribly happy with the Miners' pants. I wanted a denimy base color that I'd then try to look faded and grimy with shades, but my initial approach just didn't work out. I didn't record it fully but I think I used Beowulf Blue shaded with citadel Tyran Blueshade, and then tried applying a shading of Mummified Grime(also a Speedpaint) thinned with speedpaint medium, but it just made the pants Shiny >:T >:T >:T On the same trip I picked up the Rigor Mortis for Wight's flesh, I picked up APSP Tyrian Navy as well, and used that to paint the Miners' shirt; it was a much better denim blue. The metallic details(belt buckles and shoulder-spikes and such) I painted in Broadsword Silver, then I drybrushed Broadsword Silver on the black-and-rust "Iron" undercoats, and Evil Chrome on the "Bronze" Soldier's sword.

After that I painted their bases using the method detailed in Pt1, varnished, glued em up, and that was that! Overall I enjoyed this project but it didn't really answer my question of "what is the BEST way to paint skeletons :? :?" since, unfortunately, I liked ALL of these ways XD It just really comes down to preference and what effect you're looking for :T :T Truly: Bonetones are a Land of Contrasts u_u u_u u_u

Ok so: The Elf Rangers came with little seethrough stands of their own

which is an idea I actl like as it lets them fit well into any environment you might put together for an adventure, but the problem is the best way to transport minis is by gluing magnets to their bases and putting them in steel-or-iron-bottomed carriers, and these aren't recessed so a magnet doesn't have any place to fit. Of course, a wide enough one wouldn't settle the awkwardness and be stable enough for the mini to sit on, but you dont want TOO big a magnet or getting them off the carrying-surface becomes a pain. But: all that only occurred to me right now and I wanted to practice my basing anyway so I ditched these u_u

I had some small(23mm diameter) basic black minibases lying around so I used those instead. Since these are Roleplaying mini there's even less justification doing anything fancy for their basing that for GW ones but the thing is: I Want To u_u u_u So I stuck them to some painting stands with stickytack, and got out some caliban green and a #4 brush

I painted the bases green in two coats, and when that was dry, one at a time, painted some PVA glue onto their tops, then dunked them in battlefield rumble for ~10 seconds, gently pressed that in, then cleaned up the edges and gave it an hour to dry.

That's what it looked like at-application. I decided I'd try using varnish as a sealant for the bases this time so, after washing the brush under running water for a few minutes to make sure I'd gotten to glue out(as an aside: glue seems to help get stubborn paints out of the synthetic bristles on these brushes? Nothing rigorous about that aside, just me noticing the green pigment washed out much better when I was cleaning the glue from the brush than it did swishing it in the waterpot) and giving the glue an hour to dry and set, I got out my matte varnish(Stormshield again; I actl bought some vallejo matte varnish to try out but forgot X| X| X| I'll use it on the next project. I'd imagine they're pretty similar tho), painted that on with the same #4 brush making sure not to let it goop in all the recesses, then set them aside for a day.

So: back to the minis. I did my usual two coats of matte all over the figures over two day, but I DID decide to add a layer of gloss varnish to their hair just to make it POP that little bit more cuz 1)I FRIGGIN LOVE Hair, and 2)they're Elves, Dear Readers u.u u.u That meant another day of drying before I could do anything with them

THEY LOOK SO GOOD! And the photos really don't do them justice; the range of colors, spcl in Archer's hair, is Very Pleasing, and the gloss finish works particularly well with Handbow's dark hair :>(at somepoint I need to think up better names -__-) I DO feel like I maybe should have done a gloss finish on a few pieces of the armor, Archer's breastplate is spcl dull with the matte, but it still looks great; just something to file away for future projects. I suppose I COULD add a thinned down layer of gloss to a few places still but Im worried about putting too much varnish on.

Back to the bases. Here's the rubble after a day

I repeated the process to attach the grass; painting the PVA onto select areas(and being generous there to avoid the looseness with the Intercessors) then dunking it in the green field box. Simply because of it's nature as a bunch of small plastic threads I had to do some initial knocking off I didn't have to do with the rubble after the "pressing gently" step, and repeated the dunking a few times to get nice coverage. Here's how that looked at application, and then after an hour of drying.

Pre-sealing the grass is Beautifully, Fluffily Rambunctious, sticking up every which way, but the glue itself just wont be enough to keep it there, so I wanted to try sealing this with varnish too. But: I didn't just want to paint it directly On the grass, as that would flatten it. So instead, while sometimes spreading it to apply, I tried to kinda POKE the varnish at the base of the grass and onto the blades, kinda fluffing them as I went in an attempt to not lose all that wonderful chaotic frizz. Here they are at-application, and then a day later(friday morning) before I attached the minis.

I think I did a Really good job preserving the frizz on the left one(Archer's base), but kinda flubbed the technique a bit with HB's. It looked a BIT better after a day, tho.

So as you've noticed, and my above-the-cut alludes, the minis' include a little stand connecting their feet. Again: you don't really need to do anything about this, but I wanted to. The stand itself has a bit of a rocky or stone texture on it, so I COULD have painted it brown to present it as a sort of outcropping, or gray as just as large flat stone the characters are standing on, but I didn't want to do that SO: I got back out the caliban green and, using the same brush, painted THOSE, too, in maybe 1.5 coats, gave them an hour to dry, and... forgot to take any picks of it in my excitement to Get On With It -__- Oops

So I bscl did the same thing to incorporate the stands; I painted them with PVA, applied rock and then grass, sprinkling it on over their respective containers, let that dry for an hour, then painted on the varnish to seal. Here's some pics at-application

and some from this morning, after the varnish had dried

After taking these pics I used some PVA to attach some army painter tuffs(woodland, swamp, and meadow flowers) around the bases and here's how that looks!

And the Elves are Done!

For some absolute Crap Minis I didn't particularly care about I think they came out alright ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ The underbrush around Archer's feet might be A BIT over done tho :p :p How to do Hair was an interesting puzzle and I really liked how it came out in the end, with the gloss finish really helping to integrate those metallic highlights with the darker recess tones. It was Tough but Rewarding to work around all the sculpt-problems these ones had, but also opened up interesting possibilities, like the headplates/armortiaras, that I ended up really digging. Generally I think the contrast paints worked well, despite their sticking issues to this prime/plastic, and I feel like this project gave me a real good feel for what they can be used for in minipainting, as well as practice building up complex colors through layering, and next time I'll def try using a gloss-finish on the armor bits for a more fantasy-look. Next time I'd REALLY like to experiment with fantasy skintones :> I had fun with the basing and learned allot using this sealing methods though next I'd like to give spray-seals a go, and maybe painting the base rather than just relying on the mats themselves. Generally I like how everything turned out, but I think from now on I might just stick to unadorned black bases for these D&D minis as I feel like this more adorned approach kinda pushes against their practical function u_u