Sunday, 24 June 2018
Thursday, 11 January 2018
20 Years of... Progress?
I started Warhammer in 1999. Next year, that'll make 20 years I've been in this hobby. And as I spend this week horizontal with the flu, I'm looking back on my progress.
I've never finished an army.
A Mordheim warband, that took 15 years, but that's the only playable, table-top ready force I've ever finished for any GW system. I've done lots of other stuff, re: Napoleonics, Star Wars, even some Dark Future. But Warhammer got me into this, and I want to finish SOMETHING.
So. In 2018, before I've been at this 20 years, I'm going to finish two to three armies.
Seraphon and Kharadron, amd maybe a Lizardmen army. I could run that with Seraphon obviously, but I've got a lot of 5th edition models I might want to stay a bit more classic with.
So expect updates on that, amd, someday, an actual update on all those finished Napoleonics amd Star Wars. Someday when Nurgle's not got me down.
I've never finished an army.
A Mordheim warband, that took 15 years, but that's the only playable, table-top ready force I've ever finished for any GW system. I've done lots of other stuff, re: Napoleonics, Star Wars, even some Dark Future. But Warhammer got me into this, and I want to finish SOMETHING.
So. In 2018, before I've been at this 20 years, I'm going to finish two to three armies.
Seraphon and Kharadron, amd maybe a Lizardmen army. I could run that with Seraphon obviously, but I've got a lot of 5th edition models I might want to stay a bit more classic with.
So expect updates on that, amd, someday, an actual update on all those finished Napoleonics amd Star Wars. Someday when Nurgle's not got me down.
Friday, 30 June 2017
Finished ships
I kinda slipped up posting the progress pics, so here's the finished(-ish) reveal!
I picked up the idea of using paintbrush bristles for rigging from a thread on TMP, and boy does it make life a million times easier.
You'll notice a lack of gunports, and that's because I'm just not a good enough painter for that, and I opted not to model them on, this batch. So as in painting miniature people and forgoing eyes by saying "they all blinked when I took the picture", in this case, the ports were never supposed to be different colours, to hide their number from the Frogs!
Also notable is a lack of "deck furniture", or detail on the decks at all. Again, I'm not that good to have it look like anything other than lumps, and since I (foolishly) build at 1/600, there's nothing much to buy. As much as I like building everything myself, cannon and deck detail would be something I'd happily buy.
The nameplates aren't actually affixed yet because I'm not happy with them. The text would be a lot more legible in yellow, I suspect. They're actually made out of cut pieces of faux wood blinds. Handy little shortcut.
Overall, I'm very happy with this batch. I learned a lot, my painting skills improved, I kept notes on what worked and what didn't, and most of all, I had fun!
I picked up the idea of using paintbrush bristles for rigging from a thread on TMP, and boy does it make life a million times easier.
You'll notice a lack of gunports, and that's because I'm just not a good enough painter for that, and I opted not to model them on, this batch. So as in painting miniature people and forgoing eyes by saying "they all blinked when I took the picture", in this case, the ports were never supposed to be different colours, to hide their number from the Frogs!
Also notable is a lack of "deck furniture", or detail on the decks at all. Again, I'm not that good to have it look like anything other than lumps, and since I (foolishly) build at 1/600, there's nothing much to buy. As much as I like building everything myself, cannon and deck detail would be something I'd happily buy.
The nameplates aren't actually affixed yet because I'm not happy with them. The text would be a lot more legible in yellow, I suspect. They're actually made out of cut pieces of faux wood blinds. Handy little shortcut.
Overall, I'm very happy with this batch. I learned a lot, my painting skills improved, I kept notes on what worked and what didn't, and most of all, I had fun!
Monday, 29 May 2017
Painting
Started painting. First came many, many thin coats of watered-down PVA glue, and then a couple thin coats of the colour.
Since these ships are all "weird" - ie., an experiment, two captures, and Canadian-built - I'm going to be a little more creative with the painting in the next step. A yellow stripe for Electryone, green for Luna (because the model of the Elvin has such a stripe), an orange stripe for Flare to reflect her Dutch upbringing, and probably Nelson Chequer for Puffin.
Since these ships are all "weird" - ie., an experiment, two captures, and Canadian-built - I'm going to be a little more creative with the painting in the next step. A yellow stripe for Electryone, green for Luna (because the model of the Elvin has such a stripe), an orange stripe for Flare to reflect her Dutch upbringing, and probably Nelson Chequer for Puffin.
Yarrrrrrr-d me mateys
Yards done.
The bases are siding samples with a couple quick coats of gloss varnish.
The bases are siding samples with a couple quick coats of gloss varnish.
Thursday, 4 May 2017
Spring in the dockyards
The icy grip of Winter has lifted, and Admiral Duncan puts the men to work preparing a squadron of ships for duty in the North Sea.
That is, I've finally gotten back to working on my 1/600 scale scratchbuilt Napoleonics. I had intended to do lots of detail work over the winter, leaving the messy business of gluing and sanding hulls for the summer, but painting Star Wars and, well, laziness (and work!) kept me from it. But no more!
The masts have been sent up on His Majesty's Ships Electryone, Luna, Flare, and Puffin. Not much of a squadron anyone would want to command, I grant you. Three brigs and a sixth-rate? I mean, just look at some of these ships!
You've got Puffin, a foreign, colonial-built 18-gun brig out of Halifax:
Luna, a captured Danish brig about whose stern the less said the better (though she mounts 18 canon as well):
Flare, another 18-gun capture, but this time Dutch-built (pray she holds together, lads!):
And the so-called "flagship" of the group, the experiment otherwise known as Electryone, 32:
That is, I've finally gotten back to working on my 1/600 scale scratchbuilt Napoleonics. I had intended to do lots of detail work over the winter, leaving the messy business of gluing and sanding hulls for the summer, but painting Star Wars and, well, laziness (and work!) kept me from it. But no more!
The masts have been sent up on His Majesty's Ships Electryone, Luna, Flare, and Puffin. Not much of a squadron anyone would want to command, I grant you. Three brigs and a sixth-rate? I mean, just look at some of these ships!
You've got Puffin, a foreign, colonial-built 18-gun brig out of Halifax:
Luna, a captured Danish brig about whose stern the less said the better (though she mounts 18 canon as well):
Flare, another 18-gun capture, but this time Dutch-built (pray she holds together, lads!):
And the so-called "flagship" of the group, the experiment otherwise known as Electryone, 32:
Just look at that deadrise! What were they thinking? All-in-all, an overgunned, questionably-built bunch of hulks. Well, maybe the next pile of oak on the stocks will amount to something more fitting of the Royal Navy. HMS Vigourous, Brilliance, and Lambent should be ready any day now.
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