Monthly Archives: September 2020

Halfway There

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So I’m past the halfway point on my month-long mini moratorium. I was doing pretty good, then I listened to a podcast about 7TV and ForgeWorld announced those new Necromunda models so although I’m still on-track, it’s safe to say that I’m going to be white-knuckling the rest of the month.

Six Months of the ‘Rona

March 13 was my first day of isolation. We didn’t get direction to telework indefinitely until that next Monday (March 16), but the last time I was in the office, or really saw anyone, was March 12. Today’s the 6 month mark.

This has been a hard time for everyone. 2020’s been a trainwreck from top to bottom, for a list of reasons that just grows longer every time I look at the internet. But it hasn’t been all bad: my wife and I are both extremely well-suited to just staying at home. We’re blessed with a strong, happy marriage. We’re blessed with a home large enough that my wife and I have enough space to have space when we need it. We’re blessed with jobs that we’re able to be fully effective remotely. We’re blessed with a cat who’s happy (because nobody comes to the house) and two dogs who’re happy (because nobody leaves the house). We’re blessed with stability and health.

Everything might be terrible outside of the home, but everything inside the home couldn’t be better. I hope and pray that all of you are doing well, as well.

Naturally, and as should have been obvious by the uptick in posts here: I’ve been busy painting. Obviously, all of my trips were canceled this year (including a trip to Cancun the week before the lockdown, for reasons wholly unrelated to the pandemic). I’ve also had little to do but stay home and paint. So I’ve painted a lot of stuff in the past six months.

This is it. Everything (except, I think, some Adeptus Titanicus weapons) I’ve finished since March 13.

Month 1 started out with me a little directionless: I’d just finally gotten a game of Adeptus Titanicus in, so I was hyped to fill out what I had for that. It also hadn’t entirely sunk in that nothing was going to happen this year, and I’d been noodling with Onyx Contact Force, so I finished off the Rodoks. Because I was just kind of screwing around, I finished off some more models for Malifaux. Finally, when GW shut down their warehouse, I panic-bought an Age of Sigmar army. Just started hoovering up Ogres; the first batch was done in Month 1.

Month 2 was more Ogres. Just painted a bunch of them. If I remember correctly, this also included about a week off initially taken off for Rumble, which is why I got so much done.

Month 3 pretty much saw the end of the Ogres. I’d been enjoying painting GW fantasy models, so I decided to carry on and paint up a bunch of Skaven. Not enough to play AoS (hell no), but Saga is below the upper bound of a project to take on on a whim.

Month 4 wrapped up the Saga Skaven project. No clue why I decided to paint up Necromunda Enforcers, but I did.

Month 5 was Crimson Fists. I enjoyed my Enforcer paint scheme so much, I decided it’d make a good basis for a Crimson Fist scheme. The timing of that and the upcoming Indomitus release was too convenient.

Month 6 was a bit of a grab-bag. Some metal Ogre characters finally came in, so I was able to finally close the loop on that project. More Crimson Fists, of course. I also painted some Necromunda models I’d had lying around and blew through a Bushido 100 point list.

This is what I worked on by system by month.

And although I definitely painted a lot of stuff I’d already had lying around, I’d be lying to myself if I claimed I was working down the pile of shame. Most of what I painted so far is stuff I bought specifically to paint while locked down.

Again, I hope all of you are happy and healthy, and I hope this time is productive for you.

Workbench

Back to Fisting it up. Just need to slap decals and varnish on the Ambots. Kantor looks ridiculous next to these primaris. I hope he gets a upgrade with the new codex.

It Came from the Lightbox: More Crimson Fists

I guess I’m posting these in reverse order.

During my staycation, I painted up some more Crimson Fists: the Hellblasters from Dark Imperium/Know No Fear, and power-sword’d models from Indomitus.

I want to take a moment to shit on the Judicar. This is the dumbest GW model I’ve put together in memory. This dummy has a mask over his mask? And a coat over his armor? But also armor over his coat? Ugh, I just hate this model.

It Came from the Lightbox: Goliath Backup

I’ve been painting Necromunda because why not? Hopefully I’ll be able to play the dang game after the Quarantimes have ended.

I actually tee’d all of these up like a month ago but got really disheartened by how they were coming along. I’m glad I came back to them: I think they actually came out really well.

The Sumpkroc is based on a toad we see every night while walking the dogs.

It Came from the Lightbox: Wolf Clan

I picked up the new Shiho Wolf Clan models for Bushido when they went up for sale during Adepticon, and knocked them out last week.

They’re a far, far cry from perfect (they’re pretty phoned in, to be honest), but “Done > Perfect” has been the theme for my 2020 hobby, and I kind of like the fairly limited palette here. They’re painted, now, and I can feel comfortable building the next round of Minimoto to put into the painting queue.

I don’t care what it’s like outside, go ahead and prime your minis

I live in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the suburbs around Washington, DC… and it’s freaking humid here. It’s not the most humid place I’ve lived (I used to live in South Texas), but it’s a certainly a notable feature of the area.

Something I hear (read, really) is “I’m waiting for better weather so I can go out and prime my models.” “It’s too humid to prime.” “It’s too cold to prime.” Primer doesn’t love humidity or low temperature, so if it’s cold or damp outside you can’t prime (or varnish) outside. You can’t spray aerosol primer (or varnish) inside because it’s toxic. What’s a hobbyist to do, besides just wait for a good day before they start a project?

This drives me nuts. It does’t have to be this way. Folks’ hobby velocity is stopped up waiting on optimal weather and it doesn’t need to be.

Keep your models and spray inside. When it’s time to spray: take everything outside. Spray your models outside, where the spray won’t poison you. Put the sprayed models into a tub, and put a lid on it. Bring the tub inside. Let stuff dry. Do this year-round.

So: I’ve switched over to airbrush priming pretty exclusively, but pretty much every model I primed from the beginning of this blog until 2015 or so was rattle-can primed outside in all weather and tub’d. Every model I have varnished in the past 15 or years years has been varnished outside in all weather and tub’d. If you want to see the impact of weather on my priming and varnishing, skim through my painted model photos.

The photo examples I have were just after it’d stopped raining: I’ll spray in the pouring rain, even, just not where raindrops will hit the model I’m spraying. The air was thick with wet after a rain.

This is my tub. I cracked it, so just duct taped-over where the plastic shattered.

I’ve also got a grotty piece of foam that I keep in it to hold my minis in place; I don’t want them whacking into each other while they’re drying.

I stick my dudes onto old Dullcote caps and empty P3 paint pots to hold while spraying.

“That’s varnishing, though” you might say. “I was talking about priming.” Fine. I grabbed a mispacked ASOIF Free Folk and primed him with a GW Wraithbone rattlecan. Note the lack of pebbling.

Here’s the model washed to help make the lack of pebbling more clear.

That’s it! You don’t need to wait for a perfect day that’s not too hot, not too cold, not too dang humid. Just spray your stuff and put it in a tub. Don’t let not great weather prevent you from painting your minis!