Minis Painting: I have the heavy body and soft body

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Minis Painting: I have the heavy body and soft body

BULBASAUR: Apr 6, 2009; Soiled Meat

It�s been a while since I did a tutorial, so here�s one people have been asking for a while. Hope you painting goons get something out of it. It mostly covers advanced modeling and conversions. Check it out in HTML along with my older tutorials on my lovely blog.

quote:

Tutorial: �Mad Cating� your deredeo- pinning, scouring, and green stuffing joints oh my!
Sometimes a conversion really resonates with people. A few years ago I converted a Deredeo to look taller and sleeker. Since then I�ve been getting a steady trickle of requests about how I went about it. Well, here it is- a detailed tutorial on how to totally convert your Deredeo, including a number of more advanced modeling techniques that I used along the way. I hope this is useful to folks looking to build their own �mad cat� deredeos and to any aspiring conversion fiends looking to learn more techniques.

The Concept
All good conversions start with an idea. For me the original Deredeo didn�t look quite right. The proportions made it feel stout and clumsy when I imagined a dreadnaught that was nimble enough to get into a firing position and fast enough to withdraw without getting into melee. While I never set out to make a Mad Cat mk Deredeo, I gotta say the end result does have a bit of a timber wolf vibe.

I started by identifying the features of a Deredeo that, in my mind, contributed to the negative proportions. After looking at reference photos, I felt the short legs, long barrels, and huge ammo belts were the culprits. These kept the stock Deredeo from feeling more agile and made dynamic poses more difficult. Behind those features was a sleek dreadnaught. It just skipped leg day and focused on its arms for way too long while at Forgeworld.

Before committing to the project, I made a quick proof of concept using blu-tack to hold my deredeo models into place. By experimenting with a few alternative leg configurations I realized the conversion had potential, but required a complete rebuild of the legs.

To get inspired I looked at what other 30k dudes had come up with. This particular conversion really stood out- the pose is very dynamic and evokes a strong story through the head and arms. I used this as my reference for creating my own dynamic pose.

Tools and Bits

Before starting, I always take inventory of my parts. Here�s everything laid out. The extra arms will get magnets so I can swap load outs as I please.

Deredeo�s come with different ammo packs with each set of arms. Because I�m going �wireless� and using drums, I�ve decided to use the packs from the plasma weapons as they look the most generic. You can magnetize these or swap them out for the others depending on your taste.

Sentinel legs are critical for this conversion and you�ll need a set. The ones I have here are a single piece and long OOP. Today�s sentinel legs come in two parts, so if you score some from bits sellers you�ll need to glue them together first. The legs from a Sydonian Dragoon might also work in a pinch.

Besides the sentinel legs, I also used a head from an Iron Warrior contemptor dreadnaught and two target locks from a Tau battlesuit. If you replace the ammo belts with drums you have two options- using the drums that come with the FW aircraft punisher cannon kit or heavy bolter drums from contemptors/predators. I initially used heavy bolter drums and a track cover from a kataphron destroyer, but I switched to punisher cannon drums as they were better proportioned.

In terms of tools, these are my workhorses: grey stuff (green stuff is fine too), sprue clippers, thicc paper clips, a course micro file, a fine micro file, a pin vice, drill bits that match my thicc paper clips, drill bits that match my magnets, a heavyweight xacto blade, and a heavyweight xacto chisel. Use what you�re comfortable with, but know that good tools do make this hobby easier.

I used four different magnet types for this project sourced from K&J Magnetics. You�ll want to make sure your drills match the sizes you use.

Prep
The most time intensive stage for all projects is the prep work. It�s dull and probably my least favorite part of the hobby, but you gotta bite the bullet. To start any project, I first clip every part from it�s sprue, remove any gates, clean all visible mold lines, and file away any other imperfections.

All this prep work takes hours and results in a spectacular mess, so make sure to wear a respirator. Once all the filing and cutting is done, vacuum up the dust and give your resin parts a bath in some warm soapy water.

As part of this step I also drilled out my barrels, engine stacks, and some missiles from the missile launcher. Use whatever drill bits match the different sized holes best.

If you plan to remove the armored gorget you�ll want to do it before you do anything else. I used a chisel and file to achieve this, but decided to keep the gorget on my second Deredeo to create some variation.

Assembly
With the prep work done, you�re now ready to start putting this sucker together. Posing a model dynamically really goes a long way to selling a conversion. Because of this, I always start my humanoid conversions from the top and work my way down. This way I can focus on making the head and arms tell a consistent story from the very start. As the rest of the body comes together, I make sure they support the head and arms of the model.

For assembly I use loctite super glue and little balls of grey stuff. The putty is important for posing- gluing both ends of a joint with a small ball of putty between allows you to pose the joint while the putty sets. This technique gives you about an hour to adjust the model like a doll to find the �right spot� for complex poses. You can handle the model as it dries, but be careful not to shift any pieces that are still drying. Once dry it becomes a very solid bond.

As a tip, if you use loctite glue, do yourself a favor and remove the tube from its container. It�s nearly impossible to get out all the glue due to the design. Using a pair of sprue clippers you can remove the shell and use up every drop.

The very first thing I do is mark the spot for my first magnet hole in the Deredeo�s torso. It�s a good habit to scour the centres of any hole you plan to drill as it is more accurate than simply eyeballing and going full ham with the drill. I use the tip of an xacto blade for this.

I drill a small pilot hole into the scoured dent, then follow up with a larger bit. This allows me to correct the hole if I didn�t get it centered the first time.

Depth is important. If you drill too much, you�re left with a recessed magnet. If you drill too little you�ll have a magnet that pops out of the hole and messes up the joint. Always dry fit. If you do drill too much� no sweat! Just put a small bit of grey stuff onto the hole before you shove the magnet into the gap.

I dry fit all my parts before applying any glue. Sometimes you find problems, such as my dreadnaught�s exhaust stacks not fitting into place without a gap. Luckily the putty technique can be used for some light gap filling.

To solve the gap and glue the bits in one go, I�ll use grey stuff. First I put dabs of glue in the gap and where I expect the two pieces of resin to mate with the most surface area.

Next, I put little balls of grey stuff onto the glue on one of the pieces. Now it�s ready to get put together.

I combine the two parts by gently squeezing them together. This creates a strong bond and a sealed gap. Cool!

Now it�s time for the aiolos missile launcher. I start by drilling a hole in the base for a magnet and then gluing one in. Make sure the polarity of this magnet attracts the magnet in the dreadnaughts torso. Otherwise you�ll have a hell of a time keeping the parts together.

I apply glue to the backsides of the bits with the aiolos missiles and then apply small sausages of putty to them. I leave space between the putty and any holes so there is no risk of putty oozing out when the bits are squeezed together.

I also put glue and putty balls into the recesses of the missile launcher�s targeter. I prefer to use putty instead of pins in these sorts of situations as dried putty will always provide resistance and �hold� a pose (pins often become loose with time).

The targeter is now ready to receive the missile pods, so I slide it into position and apply another bit of glue to the missile pods before squeezing them into place. When I�m happy with how they feel I glue the targeter bits onto their tops. Make sure to periodically pivot the aiolos unit up and down while it�s drying so it doesn�t lock into place.

With the ailos launcher is assembled, I install the ammo packs onto the body using the same putty technique.

Next up is the head. A significant amount of grey stuff is required on the underside due to the indentation in the body of the deredeo normally used by the stock head.

Our human eyes are always drawn to heads and faces. That gives them a lot of power when it comes to posing models. Aligning the head with weapons, targeters, or some focal point on the model are all effective ways of making models feel a bit more realistic. Because I wanted mine to have an aggressive pose, I used blu-tack to temporarily attach the arms. This allowed me to fiddle with all the parts until I was happy with how the head would follow the sight lines of arms and missile targeter.

I glued magnets into the arm joints. These large flat ones are an easy fit and don�t require any extra work.

The sockets themselves get a healthy dab of glue followed by a medium ball of grey stuff. If you wanted your weapon arms to rotate up and down you could use pins here instead.

With the sockets ready, I apply a final coat of glue to the grey stuff before squeezing them into place. I fidget with them until they align with the head and follow the pose I created with the blu-tack.

After the putty has had time to dry, I pop in the missile launcher and blue-tack the arms back into place. This lets me fidget with the head and arms one final time before the pose is locked into place.

While the putty dries I work on the chest weapons- scouring the centres, drilling pilot holes, widening up the holes, and finally gluing in magnets.

I do the same with the underside of the body. I typically use larger magnets in the body as there is more room for deeper holes.

Unlike putty, super glue is ready to go within a minute or two. The body is really coming together.

The next step is the pelvis of the dreadnaught. Like the head, this bit dictates the direction of the legs and will play an important role in how the pose of the model comes together. Because I want to tilt the chest downwards, I will need the pelvis to align with the sign lines of the arms and head. I also want the dreadnaught to be stepping in the direction opposite of where it�s looking. This means that the pelvis will need to be rotated in that direction. Use blu-tack to experiment with different poses until you find something that feels natural.

This is the first joint that requires a pin. Pins that are glued only on one end are free to rotate and can be taken apart for storage or painting. To do this I fist drill a hole into the middle of the torso and then a second one, at a slight angle, into the pelvis. Because I blu-tacked the pelvis into a pose before, I have a relatively good idea of where the pin needs to go in order to achieve the pose I want. After drilling I apply glue to a paper clip and shove it into the pilot hole of the torso. After the glue sets, I clip off the remaining paperclip (making sure there�s sufficient length to get up into the torso).

The sentinel legs need to be cut in two spots. For each cut I will use a heavy duty xacto chisel to get the straightest chop possible. Before cutting I scour the cut lines on both sides of the bit.

After a cut is made, I smooth out any imperfections with a miniature file.

I use the same chisel to remove the hubcaps and a small detail piece from the orphaned sentinel legs. I chop off any excess material and file the undersides flat by rubbing the bits against my miniature file. If you�re using a course file, be careful not to remove too much material.

The hubcap bits can now be glued onto the lower ends of the upper legs.

I scour and then make the second cuts into my sentinel legs. Depending on your pose, you may need to take additional length off these down the road. At this point keep your cuts conservative- it�s easier to remove material than to add it. Follow up all cuts with a file in order to smooth out any imperfections.

From here we can assemble the rest of the legs starting with the feet. Pin the joints on these based on how you expect the feet of your deredeo to be planted. In my case, the right foot will be further outwards so the pin is done at an angle.

After the pins are in place, pose the calves ontop of the feet in the way that makes the most sense for your pose. Apply pressure and use the feet pins to scour the exact spots you will need to drill your pilot holes. This is a nifty trick for when you need to mark a pin hole on angled or irregular joints. After the pilot hole is scoured, drill it out, and attach your feet to your calves.

If your pins come out from the tops a little, it�s no problem. If they come out too much, clip them back. Bend and adjust them as needed to achieve a realistic and natural looking pose for the lower legs.

At this point I glue pins into the hip joints of the pelvis. Because of my specific pose, I angle them in at an angle that favors the opposite directions that each leg will be pivoted. Avoid using a single pin to connect both legs to the pelvis as it will not easily allow you to make adjustments during the final stages of assembly.

Using the scouring technique that I used to mark the pilot holes in the calves, I scour and drill out holes in the upper legs.

Dry fitting the upper legs to the pelvis... looks pretty good. If yours doesn�t, don�t worry- you�ll have more opportunities to make adjustments later.

Using a miniature file, I removed the hubcaps from the sentinel leg bits. The pieces fit perfectly into the calves now, but to hold up the rest of the dreadnaught required a pin. To do this, I glued pins into the bottoms of the sentinel legs and drilled a second set of pilot holes in the calves.

The pieces should now fit nearly perfectly, but may require some adjustment based on the pose. In my case I had to remove a bit of material near where I put the lower pins. Because these are the pieces that connect the legs, the sides connecting to the upper legs will also need to be pinned. Carefully glue pins into the upper ends while making sure a healthy amount is left to connect into the pilot hole you will drill into the lower upper leg.

Here we go. We�re ready to put together all the puzzle pieces: the pelvis to the upper legs, the upper legs to the sentinel legs, the sentinel legs to the calves, and the calves to the feet. Because you�ve only glued in one end of the pins, you have many degrees of movement and an ability to adjust the pose of your legs on the fly. When you�re ready, apply glue and balls of grey stuff to the hip joints. Put them together and then continue downward- applying glue to the unglued pins, putting them into their pilot holes, and then adjusting the pose to make sure it looks good. This may require some fiddling on your part, but once complete, your deredeo will finally stand on it�s own legs!

Here�s how mine turned out. Not bad at all.

With the hardest part complete, the knees are easy business. I used a miniature file to widen the mounting groves on the reverse sides. After dry fitting, I glued them into place along with the square detail sections from the orphaned sentinel legs.

The deredeo is now mostly complete. All that remains are those drat massive autocannon arms. The arms on the left are stock while the ones on the right are slightly shorter.

While the difference in length isn�t massive, it�s noticeable enough to improve the proportions. While we�re at it, we can also stagger the barrels. I�ve always liked that look after seeing it on the land raider Proteus� sponsons. If you prefer them equal in length, just cut them to the same length.

Before doing any chopping, make sure the barrels aren�t bent like these. Use hot water to straighten out the barrels and if you haven�t already, chisel and then file smooth the ammo feeds at the bottoms of the autocannons.

I never understood the flower petal design of the compensators, so I gently file away the tips of my autocannons. Now�s also the time to drill out the barrels of the autocannons if you procrastinated earlier.

As before, I use a heavy duty chisel to scour and chop the barrels into two parts. Then I follow up with micro files to smooth out any imperfections.

I measure the new length of the autocannon barrels, mark, cut, and file them. If you stagger the barrels you�ll want to make sure one is longer than the other.

In order to have straight barrels I scour, drill pilot holes, and pin the barrels to the autocannons.

If you go with heavy bolter drum magazines, you�ll need to chop them up, glue them together, and then glue the drums to the autocannon arms.

If you prefer the look of the punisher cannon drums, you�ll need to cut them into pieces, and file flat the tops before gluing them to the autocannon arms.

From here you�ll want to magnetize the rest of your arms. After that� it�s a wrap! Your results should look something like these:

Wrap Up
From here the world is yours. If you�re ready to paint, scrub your deredeo down with some soap and warm water. Once dry, you can hit it with some primer and start the painting process. For me, these deredeos are only about 90% complete. Both still need to get through what I call my �detailing stage�. Detailing is much faster than converting and assembly, but is the place where a model is brought to life. When I detail my deredeos I�ll create battle damage, add armor panels, introduce some bonding studs, dangle a few chains, and perhaps squeeze in a chaos arrow or two. How? Well, that�s a tutorial for another day.

# ? Jan 5, 2018 00:54

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Jun 12, 2024 03:31

grassy gnoll: Aug 27, 2006; The pawsting business is tough work.

General Olloth posted:

Trouble getting a good spray pattern. Lots of big specs on top of the main spray. Stuff I threw in the stripper was fuzzy looking, more than being too much it looked like a bad texture. Was trying everything from no flow improver to maybe 20% at different psis and the pattern was always the same hosed up. Deep cleaned as well to make sure it wasn't due to residue.

Specifically have lots of trouble with the grey. The black is really forgiving, can just slap that poo poo on basically. Also having trouble with Screaming Skull in the same way on basecoats. Chalky whites give me a lot of trouble in the thinning department I guess.

Going to try the badger grey tomorrow probably.

Off the top of my head from when I had problems with my primers -

You absolutely have to shake the hell out of both the Vallejo and the Badger primers. If you're doing it by hand, you'll need to do it long enough that you actually get irritated at how long it's taking.

Are you using a tanked compressor, or a straight feed model? The tankless box I borrowed from a friend pulsed like crazy, and I got some pretty bad spatter out of that.

Is it happening instantly, or after you shoot a little bit of paint? I've had my primers clump up on my needle really quickly compared to my normal paints, and it seems to be a function of ambient conditions more than anything I can do with mixing additives.

Are you shooting off your model first to de-crud your airbrush and then moving the spray on, or just blasting straight at the model off the bat?

Sorry for the "have you tried turning it on and off" level questions - you seem like you've got a decent grasp on what you're doing. It may just be you've got a bad batch, and the Badger will treat you better by default. Here's hoping.

# ? Jan 5, 2018 01:29

mango sentinel: Jan 5, 2001; by sebmojo

Guess who's a cool guy that forgot Badger airbrushes need a socket adapter!

# ? Jan 5, 2018 01:53

selnaric: Feb 20, 2006

The Moon Monster posted:

Is that knot design on his chest freehand? Because if so

Yeah, the knot is freehand. I had to repaint it. The first time it was an off center mess.

# ? Jan 5, 2018 03:34

Arthil: Feb 17, 2012; A Beard of Constant Sorrow

Avenging Dentist posted:

CMoN wildly underestimated the volume of Black Friday sales and they have a huge backlog of orders that they're working through.

Ugh, man... I knew I should have done it through PayPal so I could get my money back easily but I'm only down less than $10. I'll be pestering them for as long as it takes though. My main concern was whether the dwarf I bought was even in stock at the time, as when I checked it after making the purchase it went from 3 to sold out.

# ? Jan 5, 2018 04:03

Hixson: Mar 27, 2009

Great content ITT.

Crosspost from the 30kay thread:

Hixson posted:

finished up my boi Sev ft. a dead dork

# ? Jan 5, 2018 04:30

Salynne: Oct 25, 2007

grassy gnoll posted:

Off the top of my head from when I had problems with my primers -

You absolutely have to shake the hell out of both the Vallejo and the Badger primers. If you're doing it by hand, you'll need to do it long enough that you actually get irritated at how long it's taking.

Are you using a tanked compressor, or a straight feed model? The tankless box I borrowed from a friend pulsed like crazy, and I got some pretty bad spatter out of that.

Is it happening instantly, or after you shoot a little bit of paint? I've had my primers clump up on my needle really quickly compared to my normal paints, and it seems to be a function of ambient conditions more than anything I can do with mixing additives.

Are you shooting off your model first to de-crud your airbrush and then moving the spray on, or just blasting straight at the model off the bat?

Sorry for the "have you tried turning it on and off" level questions - you seem like you've got a decent grasp on what you're doing. It may just be you've got a bad batch, and the Badger will treat you better by default. Here's hoping.

It's possible I haven't shaken it enough but yeah the rest is all stuff I definitely know, but something isn't working right. It was being consistent that way. I started off model and it looked ok, and then it looked fuzzy on the model and then I took a more methodical approach for a bit and never got anywhere productive. I only sprayed two boneswords and a termagant so not the worst problem.

It's just hit or miss on how easy it is to reproduce my good days on spraying and I feel like I checked all the basics.

That said.. it was coming out perfect out of the 200g with no flow improver or anything, but I got dry tip total clog after two models so I think I can just use a couple drops and make sure I have my regdab on the needle. Already felt better five minutes out of the box though.

So whatever, I'll come back to the 105 later when it's not time sensitive poo poo I'm trying to paint before a game Saturday.

# ? Jan 5, 2018 05:13

JackMann: Aug 11, 2010; Secure. Contain. Protect.; Fallen Rib

Dang it. I grabbed a new air compressor from Hobby Lobby today and it doesn't start. So far as I know it's never been started, so it shouldn't be any sort of pressure issue, I tried multiple outlets, so I'm pretty sure it's just dead. Gonna need to return it tomorrow.

Glad I kept the receipt.

# ? Jan 5, 2018 06:42

Kabuki Shipoopi: Jun 22, 2007; If I fall, you don't get the head, right? If you lose the head, you're fucked!

selnaric posted:

Yeah, the knot is freehand. I had to repaint it. The first time it was an off center mess.

Hixson posted:

Great content ITT.

Crosspost from the 30kay thread:

You guys are amazing. :stwoon:

# ? Jan 5, 2018 07:05

Thanqol: Feb 15, 2012; because our character has the 'poet' trait, this update shall be told in the format of a rap battle.

Hixson posted:

Great content ITT.

Crosspost from the 30kay thread:

I desperately want to see your full army of these guys together.

# ? Jan 5, 2018 08:53

Dr Hemulen: Jan 25, 2003

BULBASAUR posted:

It�s been a while since I did a tutorial, so here�s one people have been asking for a while. Hope you painting goons get something out of it. It mostly covers advanced modeling and conversions. Check it out in HTML along with my older tutorials on my lovely blog.

Thank you for posting that, I love the result, can't wait to see it painted. I also like that you take a pause to convert your glue applicator!
I didn't know you had a blog, it's nice to have your weathering tutorials in one place.

# ? Jan 5, 2018 13:48

Philthy: Jan 28, 2003; Pillbug

My ADD over the staggered barrels not having the longer one on the top is triggering me and forcing to post this.

# ? Jan 5, 2018 15:48

DiHK: Feb 4, 2013; by Azathoth

Just got my email form Ken, 7k responses to the airbrush deal.

quote:

Thanks for your birthday airbrush interest. Sorry this instruction email reply is a little long, but it�s important you read through it - and understand it all - before replying to take advantage of our birthday airbrush offer.

Two very important �rules� we need you to follow if wanting to take advantage of the $54 airbrush offer.
Rule 1. REPLY ALL when replying to any of our emails.

Rule 2. BE PATIENT! The response to this has been enormous. Based on the over 7000 email response volume, it may take us a few days to reply to all of the emails, and possibly weeks to ship to all who will place an order. If you are unwilling to exercise PATIENCE, then please just use rule 1 and reply to this email with �Nevermind�.

Additional and important guidelines for you to follow.
1. Please just send requested information (bottom page - 3 questions). This will enable us to work through these emails and process orders faster.

2. If you have questions not addressed in this email, please ask � but please note Rule 2 above. Email replies with questions may not be replied to until after we get through all emails without questions, that we can move most easily to processing.

3. Once you reply to the 3 questions at the bottom of this email, you will receive notice from Dino@BadgerAirBrush.com of a PayPal payment being requested from payments@badgerairbrush.com, your order is not confirmed until your payment is received. You will have 10 days to send payment, after that the request for payment will be canceled and you will be unable to purchase a $54 birthday airbrush.

Other things to know before replying to this email.
1. All airbrushes are just the airbrush packed in a plain acrylic case inside of a plain white box. No frills and no exceptions. No other items can be ordered. Visit https://www.usaairbrushsupply.com if you need/want other items. We are trying to keep this as simple and streamlined as possible.

2. All airbrushes will be sent by United States Postal Service.

3. The rounded shipping cost of each airbrush to the USA is $8 (so you will pay $62 for each airbrush). The rounded shipping cost of each airbrush to Canada is $25 (so you will pay $79 for each airbrush). The rounded shipping cost of each airbrush to everywhere else is $35 (so you will pay $89 for each airbrush.)
For further verification of shipping cost please visit https://postcalc.usps.com/?country=10440 put in your country, scroll down and click on flat rate boxes, scroll down and look at small flat rate box. That�s what we�re using, and that�s what the shipping costs are based on. If you want to complain, simply reply to this email with �Nevermind�.

4. You may buy multiple different model airbrushes, but not multiples of the same model airbrush. (1 Patriot and 1 Krome is OK. 2 Patriots is not OK). You will pay the above indicated amounts for each airbrush. So NO, and sorry, we will not consolidate shipping. Based on the volume of response to this offer it would unfortunately be too inefficient to start trying to figure out shipping of various package sizes and such. Badger is simply not equipped for that type of order processing and we need to keep this as simple and streamlined as possible. Being able to just use one size flat rate postage box will simplify and expedite this process immensely. If that�s a deal breaker for you, simply reply to this email with �Nevermind�.

I think, based on repeatedly posted questions in the original post thread, that covers most, if not all, of what you'll want to know before proceeding. Please go back and reread Rule 1 and Rule 2. If you understand and are cool with all the foregoing, please REPLY ALL with your answers to the following questions.

What is your complete (including your name) shipping address?

Which airbrush(es) do you want?

What is your PayPal address?

Thanks, Happy Birthday, and Take air.
Badger Air-Brush Co. Social Media Team - Ken

P.S. We would appreciate your posting at our Facebook page that you have received our instructions to assure others these emails are being replied to. THANKS!

# ? Jan 5, 2018 17:23

DiHK: Feb 4, 2013; by Azathoth

Philthy posted:

My ADD over the staggered barrels not having the longer one on the top is triggering me and forcing to post this.

Yep, especially considering that the TIMBERWOLF had PPCs on top and a ER Medium(IIRC) on bottom, the ER Med being a much smaller weapon. :boom:

# ? Jan 5, 2018 17:25

The Dark Project: Jun 25, 2007; Give it to me straight...

Ahahaha now I know why it was also doing my head in!

Edit: But seriously, it is an absolutely awesome conversion

Top notch work!

The Dark Project fucked around with this message at 19:59 on Jan 5, 2018

# ? Jan 5, 2018 19:03

Beer4TheBeerGod: Aug 23, 2004; Exciting Lemon

JackMann posted:

Dang it. I grabbed a new air compressor from Hobby Lobby today and it doesn't start. So far as I know it's never been started, so it shouldn't be any sort of pressure issue, I tried multiple outlets, so I'm pretty sure it's just dead. Gonna need to return it tomorrow.

Glad I kept the receipt.

That's what you get for funding terrorism.

# ? Jan 5, 2018 19:32

Dr Hemulen: Jan 25, 2003

Philthy posted:

My ADD over the staggered barrels not having the longer one on the top is triggering me and forcing to post this.

Shouldn't you in fact stagger the entire weapons, and not just the barrels?

# ? Jan 5, 2018 19:53

Yeast: Dec 25, 2006; $1900 Grande Latte

Man, I've been making GBS threads on Army Painter for so long, then I tried their washes with their mixing medium.

Dang. This is good poo poo. Really enjoying them.

# ? Jan 6, 2018 02:28

JackMann: Aug 11, 2010; Secure. Contain. Protect.; Fallen Rib

Beer4TheBeerGod posted:

That's what you get for funding terrorism.

I've learned my lesson. Compressor returned and a new one ordered from Dickblick. Hopefully no instant karma this time.

# ? Jan 6, 2018 02:36

Irate Tree: Mar 12, 2011; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Hey thread.

Haven't done all that much painting lately so, I thought I'd just throw up a quick progress of what I did today. The word for the day is - BASE.

Still getting familiar with the Vallejo range, how it functions and what to do and not to do. For example; I learnt that, just like their paints, you have to shake the ever loving poo poo out of their washes, so they don't do stupid things like 'fog' the space up. Saying that, though, the green wash did something odd that, actually, looks pretty good on the base so, it gets to stay (not that you can really see it in those pics =S)
Their dull greens are a new thing for me, too. I know I need more contrast on that part of the base but it's not too flat or terrible, either.

I also have a question or two; their glaze medium, is it only for making glazes? Is there anything else you can do with it? How do you make a wash?

# ? Jan 6, 2018 06:10

Hedningen: May 4, 2013; Enough sideburns to last a lifetime.

Decided to actually spend a bunch of time sculpting this year, as opposed to sporadic bursts, and it feels like a weird niche in the hobby with a huge mix of the same basic information available (chainmail is holes!) and then a few random thoughts. On the plus side, it's been rewarding as hell - I think I've managed about four "at least they look kinda okay" sculpts so far and I feel like I'm getting a better handle on things.

Just a question that's been bugging me - is there ever a reason to use greenstuff? I've always found it to be really frustrating to work with due to the material memory, and while I could see the use is doing some cloth with it, it just feels awkward. ProCreate seems to hold detail much better and just be more forgiving to work with. Is GS an inertia thing, or am I just nor understanding its properties correctly?

As far as received wisdom I've managed to scrape together:

The best tool ever made is a Wax #5 - holy hell, it was a dollar and is the most useful sculpting thing I've used ever.
Apoxie Sculpt is fantastic for hard details, but sucks when you try to put more detail on top.
Always add a bit of polyclay to your two-part epoxy, and mix thoroughly. It makes it work a ton better.
When working in polyclays (Beesputty is great, plus I think Patrick Keith is one of the only US merchants with it and I like supporting him), always bake when you've finished with something, because poo poo will happen. Especially when you accidentally grab a half-done model and all that detail disappears.
Clay shapers are great. But make sure you're ordering from a reputable source, because sometimes the bootleg tools are poo poo.
Keep sculpting constantly and trying new stuff.
Milliput is weird and also pretty good.
A great tool for making miniature swords is a pair of tile samples. Add some plastic film/vaseline, squish the weapon armature, and then file once it dries.

Current project is a bunch of Elvis conversions and new sculpts, because I feel like there are barely enough Elvises for a TNT gang of raiders. Waiting on a bunch of tiny guns to show up so I can actually have them holding stuff, because I'm not confident in my ability to sculpt guns. Either way, I'm looking forward to making a fat flamethrower-toting Elvis.

It's still cool to post sculpts in here, right? I'm a hideous beginner, so I would appreciate comments or assistance.

# ? Jan 6, 2018 06:33

bonds0097: Oct 23, 2010; I would cry but I don't think I can spare the moisture.; Pillbug

Irate Tree posted:

I also have a question or two; their glaze medium, is it only for making glazes? Is there anything else you can do with it? How do you make a wash?

I use it when making washes. My typical wash formula is 1 drop of glaze medium, 2 drops of thinner medium, 1 drop of flow improver and 4 drops of water plus 1 drop of ink. For a glaze I'd just swap the flow improver with anther drop of glaze and reduce the amount of water.

# ? Jan 6, 2018 13:15

Two Beans: Nov 27, 2003; dabbin' on em; Pillbug

beep beep i'm a tank

I used some sprue engineering to attach the combi-bolter turret while allowing 360 rotation.

Two Beans fucked around with this message at 01:41 on Jan 7, 2018

# ? Jan 7, 2018 01:36

Ilor: Feb 2, 2008; That's a crit.

BULBASAUR posted:

A rad tutorial

Huzzah, I'm glad those Sentinel legs I sent you went to a good use!

# ? Jan 7, 2018 04:26

Giant Isopod: Jan 30, 2010; Bathynomus giganteus; Yams Fan

I have recently switched to a wet palette and I could use some help. I made it out of sponges and parchment paper, it's not an art supply store one, if that matters.

I add vallejo thinner medium at about 1:2 or 1:1 - I usually try for less but with small quantities of paint I think I overadd. But it works fine at first. Over time, either after putting the lid on or just painting, the paint gets too thin, unusably thin, pooling and running. This happens after about an hour, and seems to affect some colors more than others.

Did I gently caress up the way I made the palette and it is drawing in too much water or am I just using it incorrectly?

# ? Jan 7, 2018 20:25

darnon: Nov 8, 2009

What kind of sponge? I used the open cell packing type that comes with some minis and if anything it tended to run a little dry. Ended up putting going with sponge, a layer of paper towel, and then parchment paper. Some colors would get pretty runny, but usually after a day or two and switching to wet palette helped alleviate this.

# ? Jan 8, 2018 00:22

Giant Isopod: Jan 30, 2010; Bathynomus giganteus; Yams Fan

darnon posted:

What kind of sponge? I used the open cell packing type that comes with some minis and if anything it tended to run a little dry. Ended up putting going with sponge, a layer of paper towel, and then parchment paper. Some colors would get pretty runny, but usually after a day or two and switching to wet palette helped alleviate this.

Kitchen sponge with a paper towel on top, then parchment paper

# ? Jan 8, 2018 00:53

BULBASAUR: Apr 6, 2009; Soiled Meat

HardCoil posted:

Thank you for posting that, I love the result, can't wait to see it painted. I also like that you take a pause to convert your glue applicator!
I didn't know you had a blog, it's nice to have your weathering tutorials in one place.

Ilor posted:

Huzzah, I'm glad those Sentinel legs I sent you went to a good use!

Thanks dudes. Ilor- I couldn't have done it without the sentinel legs you donated! I'm getting back into painting after long hiatus so I should have some more tutorials and stuff down the road.

Two Beans posted:

beep beep i'm a tank

I used some sprue engineering to attach the combi-bolter turret while allowing 360 rotation.

Some good poo poo, two beans. I especially like the search light and gold trim

# ? Jan 8, 2018 02:13

Big McHuge: Feb 5, 2014; You wait for the war to happen like vultures.
If you want to help, prevent the war.
Don't save the remnants.
Save them all.

Prior to the holidays I picked up a couple of worklights to make a light box for taking pictures. I just set them up tonight and when I go to take pictures I'm getting these dark lines running across the screen. Does this have to do with buying LED lights instead of traditional incandescents?

# ? Jan 8, 2018 02:31

Booley: Apr 25, 2010; I CAN BARELY MAKE IT A WEEK WITHOUT ACTING LIKE AN ASSHOLE; Grimey Drawer

Big McHuge posted:

Prior to the holidays I picked up a couple of worklights to make a light box for taking pictures. I just set them up tonight and when I go to take pictures I'm getting these dark lines running across the screen. Does this have to do with buying LED lights instead of traditional incandescents?

Post a picture. It shouldn't be caused by buying LEDs unless you bought really really lovely LEDs. Are you dimming them at all?

# ? Jan 8, 2018 02:51

Beer4TheBeerGod: Aug 23, 2004; Exciting Lemon

In the hopes of staying motivated I put together a Keep Painting thread. It's meant to be a low-key place where people can post daily updates and help keep each other motivated. It's not meant to be specific to any particular game system, just a place where people can post more granular updates than what might be appreciated in other threads.

# ? Jan 8, 2018 04:16

mango sentinel: Jan 5, 2001; by sebmojo

Big McHuge posted:

Prior to the holidays I picked up a couple of worklights to make a light box for taking pictures. I just set them up tonight and when I go to take pictures I'm getting these dark lines running across the screen. Does this have to do with buying LED lights instead of traditional incandescents?

LEDs flicker at super high frequency, depending on how bright they are (brighter is faster), your shutter speed, etc, you may catch banding. This is generally fixed by a lower shutter speed if you can manage that.

Here's what I've been working on. Got a 1 mini a week challenge at my FLGS.

EDIT: Just realized I forgot the buckles and straps on the bedroll. :negative:

# ? Jan 8, 2018 04:20

Big McHuge: Feb 5, 2014; You wait for the war to happen like vultures.
If you want to help, prevent the war.
Don't save the remnants.
Save them all.

This is the banding effect I'm getting:

I moved the light sources to a bit wider angle and slightly further away and it mostly went away. I'm still having a hell of a time getting a clear picture of my stuff though. Either the white background washes everything out or they end up all murky. I know it doesn't help that the best camera I have is my loving iPhone.

Here's a reasonably salvageable photo, but the detail and colors still aren't quite as crisp as I'd like:

Here's one where the whites overtook everything:

And here's one that I feel got a bit muddled with shadows or something:

The sad thing is, I used to be decent at photoshop enough that I could probably fix at least some of these issues, but I've forgotten everything in the 15 years since I last did any of that crap.

# ? Jan 8, 2018 04:36

Booley: Apr 25, 2010; I CAN BARELY MAKE IT A WEEK WITHOUT ACTING LIKE AN ASSHOLE; Grimey Drawer

Big McHuge posted:

This is the banding effect I'm getting:

I moved the light sources to a bit wider angle and slightly further away and it mostly went away. I'm still having a hell of a time getting a clear picture of my stuff though. Either the white background washes everything out or they end up all murky. I know it doesn't help that the best camera I have is my loving iPhone.

If you moved them further away and it mostly went away then it could be flicker, since moving them away = less light = slower shutter speed = less chance of catching a flicker. It's really unusual that you're getting that much of an effect from them though, I can't remember the last time I actually had LED flicker appear in an image. Is there any sort of grate over the front of the light? Those are common on work lights and could easily cause shadows like that, and again moving the light away will give the beam more spread, so the shadows won't be as deep. If it does have a grate/cage, try taking it off.

# ? Jan 8, 2018 04:54

BULBASAUR: Apr 6, 2009; Soiled Meat

Xposting from the 30k thread:

BULBASAUR posted:

I spent my holiday break chilling and getting back into painting. I'm mostly focusing on upping my painting game and getting back to where I was before I converted poo poo for like 2 years straight. Painted up some new crows: each is a slightly different recipe. Leftmost is the oldest and the right most is the newest. What's your favorite style?

Here's all my crows. Rightmost is the first time I really picked up a brush in years. Right most is after about a week of painting:

Along the way I also upped my basing game:

I finally took the time to learn how to paint leather:

The crows need tanks too, so I'm figuring out what that's going to look like. Still haven't finalized a recipe, but I think I'm close. Thoughts?

# ? Jan 8, 2018 05:21

Big McHuge: Feb 5, 2014; You wait for the war to happen like vultures.
If you want to help, prevent the war.
Don't save the remnants.
Save them all.

Booley posted:

If you moved them further away and it mostly went away then it could be flicker, since moving them away = less light = slower shutter speed = less chance of catching a flicker. It's really unusual that you're getting that much of an effect from them though, I can't remember the last time I actually had LED flicker appear in an image. Is there any sort of grate over the front of the light? Those are common on work lights and could easily cause shadows like that, and again moving the light away will give the beam more spread, so the shadows won't be as deep. If it does have a grate/cage, try taking it off.

No grates. I did tape a piece of tissue paper over each one to act as a diffuser. The banding effect also slowly scrolls across the screen. Did the same thing with my GF's iphone. I tried using my really old digital camera and I didn't have banding but the picture was flickering pretty hardcore.

I may also try using a dark background and see if that helps with detail/colors washing out.

# ? Jan 8, 2018 05:33

Yeast: Dec 25, 2006; $1900 Grande Latte

Big McHuge posted:

This is the banding effect I'm getting:

I moved the light sources to a bit wider angle and slightly further away and it mostly went away. I'm still having a hell of a time getting a clear picture of my stuff though. Either the white background washes everything out or they end up all murky. I know it doesn't help that the best camera I have is my loving iPhone.

Download a camera app that allows you to change your shutter speed and ISO manually, then play with them until you get enough light and away from the refresh rate of the LED lighting.

This app will help identify what Hertz your lights are at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flicker-tester/id893931726?mt=8

Then this app will allow you to manually control your camera

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/halide/id885697368?mt=8

# ? Jan 8, 2018 05:33

Ilor: Feb 2, 2008; That's a crit.

Yeast posted:

Download a camera app that allows you to change your shutter speed and ISO manually, then play with them until you get enough light and away from the refresh rate of the LED lighting.

This app will help identify what Hertz your lights are at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flicker-tester/id893931726?mt=8

Then this app will allow you to manually control your camera

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/halide/id885697368?mt=8

Or just switch to incandescent lighting.

# ? Jan 8, 2018 05:37

Yeast: Dec 25, 2006; $1900 Grande Latte

Ilor posted:

Or just switch to incandescent lighting.

Potato Potatoe

# ? Jan 8, 2018 05:38

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Jun 12, 2024 03:31

Beer4TheBeerGod: Aug 23, 2004; Exciting Lemon

So I'm using the Liquitex Matte varnish through my airbrush, and while it does a great job the effect is really matte. Has anyone had any success making a satin varnish? I want the armor of my guys to look shiny, but I'm worried a straight gloss might be too much.

# ? Jan 8, 2018 05:46

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Minis Painting: I have the heavy body and soft body

«‹›1426 »