Category: Modelling and Painting Articles

That’s a Nasty Habit

Club member Steve conducted a series series of polls on the club’s modelling and painting habits over the Christmas/New Year 2020.

QUESTION 1
What paints do you use?
100% said they used acrylics. No real big surprise there. Although one person did say he uses both acrylic and enamel (Dave – you crazy kid, you!).

QUESTION 2
What make of paints do you use?
A lot more variety here. The most popular were Vallejo with 24.4%. I was surprised by what came second – Tamiya, with 14.6%. I think Tamiya use some kind of oil medium, which is why they curdle and can be a challenge to paint miniatures with, though probably not so bad when it comes to vehicles and buildings and things with other large surfaces. GW came in third with 12.2%. Then Army Painter, Humbrol, and ‘artist’s acrylics’ with 9.8% each (I cannot believe Coat d’Arms wasn’t even on the list! JC).

QUESTION 3
Which colour do you find the hardest to shade and highlight?
I expected red to romp home with this. It didn’t though. The most popular answer was yellow, with 53.8%. I was surprised at that, because I find yellow one of the easiest. Second was a tie between red and black with 15.4% each, and then both white and metallic with 7.7% each.

QUESTION 4
Do you brush or spray varnish?
Spray on got 53.3% and brush on got 46.7%. Fairly even (some of us use both JC).

QUESTION 5
Which brushes do you use?
Mid-range brushes (Daler Rowney, etc) were most popular with 10.4%. A surprising 7.8% went with those dreadful cheap brushes from The Works – I’ve tried them and they lasted all of one painting session. 2.6% went with decent sable brushes (I recently bought a kaplinsky sable brush and it is an absolute gem). 3.9% treated themselves to a proper miniatures painting brush (not sure what that is, to be honest).

Brush care also came into it. 2.6% take proper care of our brushes, giving them a clean after each session. 5.2% give them a clean once in a blue moon. 3.9% are heartless and cold and take no care of their brushes and just throw them away when they’re no good.

11.7% said they use size 0 and 1 brushes for miniatures painting. 2.6% said they go up to size 2 or 3 (must be painting giants with brushes that size!).

9.1% confessed to putting their brushes in their mouths (come on, must be more than that, surely!). And 7.8% admitted to having put their brushes in a cup of tea accidentally.

QUESTION 6
What colour Undercoat?
Both black and white came out jointly on top – with 33.3% each. Grey was next, with 20%, then both brown and ‘other’ with 6.7% each.

QUESTION 7
Metal or plastic miniatures?
40% of us prefer the heft of metal on the battlefield. 26.7% use metal but have the odd plastic figure, and 26.7% don’t care whether it’s metal or plastic just so long as it’s cheap! This left 6.7% who use the Devil’s cocktail – plastic!

QUESTION 8
Do you make or buy terrain?
I get the feeling that MWS is quite a modelling-strong club so it would be interesting to see what our modelling habits were.

22.6% took the middle road – making what they can and buying what they can’t. Which is fair enough. 16.1% confessed to buying the horror that is MDF terrain – shame on them! Another 16.1% said they preferred resin terrain pieces. 12.9% said they buy terrain, whilst 9.7% said they always make and never buy. picture of model buildings3.2% decadent souls said they have more money than sense and pay others to make it for them! 6.5% of us said that making terrain was one of the most enjoyable aspects of the hobby. Which it is. And a disappointing 9.7% admitted to being so bad at terrain making that even MW’s Wargames Widow was inspiring. Can things be that bad? (In Steve’s opinion JC).

So there we go – a review of the club’s modelling and painting habits. I’ll leave you to draw whatever conclusions you want from the results. Let us know how your habits agree or differ with those of the club because it’ll be interesting to see how representative we are with the hobby as a whole.

Maybe someone else can run a series of polls on our gaming habits

Work in Progress Wednesday

After taking last week off, club members have struggled out of the holiday slump with details of what they have been working on (there’s actually a lot going on but the club members are being hopeless at taking pictures!)

First up Marcus’ son has been trying a bit of miniature painting. We think these sci-fi troopers are a very good start.

Next up Marcus is going to teach a bit of dry brushing

Then Sean surprised us with pictures of his 6mm Viking raiders. These most definitely look the part, even more so when we learnt the ships are actually paper models.

Vikings on Tour!

And lastly for this week, I’ve done some more work on the pieces of plasterboard I acquired (ahem) with a wash of black paint to give that real ruined look.

First of the painted ruin pieces

Hopefully the club will continue coming up with projects in 2021.

 

Every Cloud …

Jeremey gets plastered (it had to be done, AK)…

Sometimes I do worry about us miniature wargamers. Faced with the challenges of everyday life, their outlook can be slightly different to the non-hobbyist.

Recently there was a crashing sound and on investigation the utility room ceiling was no more. There were plaster board fragments everywhere. Dealing with reality first I cleaned the area up and started looking for someone to repair the damage.

Remains of the Ceiling and Collected Detritus

Not the sort of expense I wanted (but quite fitting given how 2020 was), however during the clean up operation I kept picking up bits of rubble and thinking how the chunks of plaster reminded me of concrete.

Proof of Concept

Before you could say “how much!” to the plasterer, I’d put together a proof of concept to turn the plaster fragments, into rubble for my 28mm troopers to fight over.

But I paused at this point when someone pointed out that old plasterboard could contain Asbestos! Well regardless of using the plasterboard for scenery I still had to tidy up my utility room. So I sent a sample off to be tested which came back as negative. So please do be cautious if you’re thinking of doing a similar project as this.

The plaster board rubble was very weak and dusty so I used a genuine DIY tip and painted the plaster with a watered down PVA glue solution to seal it. This made the plaster more like concrete and stopped it from crumbling while being handled.

Glue Gun to Stick it Together then more PVA

A lot of the rubble still had all the layers attached to it which I left in place to make it even more authentic looking. In the pictures I’ve done nothing but glue the pieces together and coated everything in a second layer of PVA glue.

These pieces have become very solid and are still very light, as light as resin would be. As you can imagine I have quite a lot of material to work with and so will be returning to the blog with an update on building an entire destroyed settlement.

Sci Fi Objectives

Stephen puts on his Sci-Fi modellers hat…

You can play games with sides who have equal points and just happen to turn up and have a smack up in the middle for no particular reason only so many times.

So to create a bit of variety I decided to make some objective markers so that games can have a bit more variety and meaning.

Of course, you can use simple tokens, or even dice, to be objectives. But I decided to make some sci fi themed objectives.

These are made from a variety of bits – some from odds and ends out of the spares bag, some from other household items, and some from good old fashioned modelling and sculpting.

This first one is a comms station. The core is a bit of balsa. This was then skinned with Miliput and some details etched in. When the putty had hardened I gave it a quick whizz on some fine wet and dry paper to smooth it out. The radar dish was from the spares bag. I’ve no idea where it came from – I have a few of them, so must have ordered them from somewhere but for the life of me I can’t remember ever buying them.

Comms Station

The next one is a supply cache. These bits are all from the spares bag. The gas cylinders were freebies with an order from Scotia/Grendel. Not sure who the crates are by. I must confess, I wanted more ‘sci fi’ looking crates, but I had none and wasn’t in the mood to make any – I just wanted a fourth objective marker and wanted to throw it together sooner than later.

Supply Cache

The other two are what we’ll call ‘gubbins’. Or ‘tech’. Or something like that. They were made from oddments I had around. The cylindrical one is made from a sewing thread bobbin. It has a couple of round slotta bases stuck together on top, half a bomb from a Stuka model on top of that, and I glued some plasticard to the barrel of the bobbin. The other one hasn’t had so much done to it. It was a weapon pod that came from a toy spaceship bought in The Works. I just put it on its end and then some plasticard bits to cover the slot where it attaches to the model. 

Gubbins, before painting

On to the painting.

The two ‘tech’ objectives were given a once over with grey and then a dark brown wash. They were then dry-brushed with grey that had a little bit of brown added to it (to take off the harshness of the grey). I went down quite light with them. I wanted the blue sections to represent internal lights and power generation. So a royal blue base, and then taken down with pale blue and a final white section. To try and give it a glowing effect I dry brushed the surrounding parts of the model with one of the paler blues to represent the light reflecting on the surfaces and glowing.

Gubbins, after painting

The comms station was a simple paint job – field green. I decided to do the cylinders on the supply cache in different colours to represent different contents. For no reason that I can think of I just went with white crates. Glad I did because I think it looks good.

Supply Cache and Comms Station, painted

The models were decorated with some spare decals and the computer screens were found on the internet, printed off, and glued in place (I’m sure you can identify the X Wing targeting computer).

So that’s it – some objectives for scenario games.

Work in Progress Wednesday

During this holiday period we still have a bit of progress being made by club members.

John continues building up his Zona Alpha city with some more progress on the warehouse.

A roof and windows next for the warehouse

But John has also teased us with the beginning of construction on a mill/ironworks.

The beginning of the iron works

Feeling like I should also be making stuff, I’ve turned to that icon of art and crafts, the egg box.

Finally doing something with an egg box

Despite looking like some sort of sci-fi power station I’ve never bothered to use egg boxes for fear that on the tabletop they still look like egg boxes. But having used this one over the holiday period I felt I should see what I can do. It was a box of 15 eggs so avoids the dozen/half dozen look. But lets see what I can do with it.

And finally Steve has almost finished his new Dwarven army most likely to be used with the Dragon Rampant rules.

Just a couple of units to go

That’s it for 2020’s WIP Wednesdays. Let’s see what 2021 projects the club members can come up with.

Work in Progress Wednesday

This week Steve puts us all to shame with his continued hobby output.

First up he has already finished painting up his dwarves and heavy support in the form of a giant bear.

He’s behind you!

And out of the blue he has also found time to make himself a neat dice box. Bought for just £2 from the shop ‘The Works’, Steve created some compartments and a tray insert.

You can never have enough dice.

Next up John’s Zona Alfa city continues to expand with the start of a new warehouse. I’m sure this will look as good as the previous office block.

A warehouse for the Zona Alfa city

And finally I’ve started the plastering stage for my 15mm Tudor style buildings for Wars of the Roses games. As per my normal method they are made from EVA foam with the wood beams cut from coffee stirrers.

Tudor buildings soon to echo with the clash of swords and arrows

I thought I’d go for bathroom sealant to plaster in between the beams but it’s a nightmare so will need a rethink as I have seven buildings to do.

Given the current lockdown status we may well have another WIP post next week.

 

Work in Progress Wednesday

The club is definitely slowing down production as we approach the Christmas Holidays. And quite right given this year, although I suspect a few hobby related presents might see a resurgence in the new year.

First up Mark has made more progress with his Panzers.

More panzers get the camouflage treatment

And out of the blue mark also mentioned starting to slap some paint on a hundred years war project.

The English start to assemble

Steve shared this picture of a dwarven force on the painting table, but there was no mention of last weeks 6mm sci-fi force. After saying he had nothing to paint it seems Steve is queuing the projects up.

New Dwarvern Force on the Way

Steve got these Dwarves from Conqueror Models.

Meanwhile I’ve been busy using some old rock style clay I had for rubble piles. After using the hot glue gun to stick them together I coated the whole thing with PVA glue.

Air Drying Clay, left to dry and broken up for industrial style rubble

I’ve also resurrected my old 10mm dungeon to finally finish the project.

One half of the 10mm Dungeon

Slightly embarrassing that this project was started 17 years ago! Still made some progress at last.

Petrified Forest

Jeremey adds more ‘real’ trees to make a Petrified Forest.

After building my large spooky dead tree , well I say building but it was more like nature built it and I just based it. I also took a dozen or so other cuttings from the dead bush to use as trees in a Dead or Petrified Forest.

Additional dead branches to act as trees

I started by basing these in exactly the same way as the large tree I did. A round wooden base appropriate to the size of the stick with a metal washer stuck on top to provide some weight. I’ve started to add weight to a lot of my terrain projects. It helps to stop taller pieces from being constantly knocked over during games.

Using the hot glue gun I then stuck a piece of the dead bush to each base and covered the whole base with the coloured bathroom sealant mix. If you saw my other post about the large tree you will remember I mixed far too much of the sealant, so it was useful to have these additional trees to base.

Just a bit of dry brushing and some flock

Once the base material had dried I dry brushed it with two other lighter brown colours to give some contrast. While I had the paint brushes out I also used a watered down solution of brown ink wash to go over all the freshly snapped of parts to make the wood look like it had been broken for a long while. The appearance of fresh sap wood is a dead give away, just ask any experienced tracker … ahem I then added a bit of flock and a few grass tuffs for good measure.

The cheapest dead forest you will see this year

Here is a wider shot of the whole forest complete with a unit on patrol. I’ve put them on my lighter desert mat but they go just as well on the grass one and I have some darker brown mat pieces to put the trees on to define an area of forest in games. Although I will also put these on my swamp mat as they look just the part for those areas you see in fantasy films were rising water as killed the trees, sort of the forest of doom or swamp of despair.

Work in Progress Wednesday

It was troopers and gaming aids for this Wednesday.

Steve finally managed to get around to rebasing some troopers, as Steve himself says “A while ago I decided to strip and re-paint some EM4 plastic colonial marines. I also cut away the old guns and bought some replacements.

EM4 Plastic Troopers with Weapon Swaps

John L has also been painting troopers in the form of a group of Spetsnaz he actually won in a Zona Alfa competition.

Footsore America Spetsnaz

And finally this week Tony F has created for himself some stat trackers for Lord of the Rings.

Lord of the Rings Stat Trackers

Tony explains these far better than I could: “I’ve made some gaming aids for Lord of the Rings games; these are stats trackers to record the special abilities of heroes and commanders using small D6. The original was 3D printed and then I’ve made moulds and cast them up in resin. The lettering and army badges are raised to make them easy to paint. I’ve painted some in appropriate colours for each army, and I’ve painted the ‘W’ for Wounds in red to differentiate it from the ‘W’ for Will (the other stats are Might and Fate).”

It will be interesting to see how these work. Tony is still looking at how to add the heroes name to the tracker.

Paintbrush Maintenance

I’ll be the first to admit, I treat my paintbrushes very badly. I buy cheap and hammer them until they are no longer usable. It’s a bad habit that I really need to change.

Then while glancing through YouTube I came across a video on repairing brushes on a a Channel called Midwinter Minis and thought I should really give that a go. Fellow club members had mentioned ways to clean brushes before but I needed something for poorly treated ones.

The first surprise was in digging out all my paint brushes I discovered no less than 57! This is what they looked like.

The Used and Abused of the Paintbrush World

The method for cleaning was very simple, first was to apply some washing up liquid. While doing this stage I started off just swishing the paintbrush in the liquid but then found myself massaging the liquid into the brush more which seemed to work better.

Washing Up Liquid then Hot Water and Vinegar, Finally Drying on a Cloth

Then the brushes are put into boiling water that contains vinegar to wash off the soap. Finally to then dry the brush by drawing it across a cloth. While doing this I rotated the brush to help a new point form.

Before and After Using this Technique

I took a before and after photo of a selection of my brushes to see if this cleaning method made any difference. As you can see I had a degree of success with this. I managed to get a good point on quite a few of the brushes while for others it made absolutely no difference.

I’m being somewhat unfair with the flat brush in the middle as it did clean up nicely, but there were still lots of bristles that didn’t straighten.

Rescued at least Half of my Brushes

The end result was at least half of my brushes improving back to a point or close to. The technique did also suggest using a hair wax to get a point but I didn’t have any of that (or hair!), but I might revisit that idea at some point.

Here’s hoping cleaning my brushes will restore my lost painting mojo at the moment.