Super Secret Project II: Teaser

At the end of last week I had a little "oh, I'm so shit, why do I even bother" moment. I have a post half-written about it, but I keep not posting it because I don't really want this to be a complain-y blog. But anyway, part of what caused the "I'm shit" was this sword.

Rather than just go for a straight silver or steel colour, I wanted to give the metal a blue, electric look - like it was pulsing with energy. I also wanted the runes to look like they were glowing or burning.

I initially coated the sword in a silver/black mix that I usually use for steal, and then went back over the edges with a silver/light blue mix. Then using the same blending/combining effect I'd used elsewhere on the model, I tried to have the straight light blue colour on the extreme edges of the blade.

For the runes, I started by hitting them with a thin coat of orange. That was the point I stopped on the first night, and despite being quite pleased with my work up close, decided it looked like rubbish from a few feet away. It was only meant to be the first colour, and I knew it wouldn't look right until it was finished, but I guess I was surprised by how bad it looked.

Anyway, on Saturday I came back and added some more colours - a yellow/orange mix over most of the original orange, then straight yellow into the middle and deep areas of the runes, followed by a yellow/white mix to the very deepest parts.

I'm actually really happy with the end result. From the distance the runes look really good. The blue in the blade is quite subtle, but helps to contrast the fiery look of the runes. It also makes it look almost like there's frost on the blade or a soft blue glow.

I'm really pleased with how various parts of this model are turning out. Hopefully the end result comes together nicely!

Building a Landspeeder

I had an evening to my self last night, and so I decided to do some modeling. I probably should have worked on one of the many half-done things I've got lying around - the super secret project or my much neglected Angels of Redemption. But I really felt like putting something together.

So I had a rummage in my box draw, and pulled this out. I'd picked it up a while ago - around the same time I got my Assault of Black Reach set I think - and it had sat in the draw ever since.

Despite what it says on the box, it's not actually a dreadnought. I ordered some hobby stuff - greenstuff and magnets I think - and the shop was also getting rid of a landspeeder pretty cheap. The catch was that it was just the sprues - no box, no decals and no instructions. The dreadnought box was just what the shop had stuffed it into for shipping (which seems a bit odd to me - "we threw out the landspeeder box, but kept the dreadnought one for shipping!", but whatever).

It was a previous generation landspeeder - the current model can also make tornado and typhoon pattern land speeders, includes a heavy flamer and some chapter symbols. So in other words, more bits! About the only options this version has is either a heavy bolter or a multimelta.

After cutting all the bits, I carefully started dry fitting pieces. I originally thought I'd just get all the bits ready and save the actual assembly for another day, but naturally the desire to break out the glue got to strong.

The biggest problem I found with the model was that some of the main pieces are somewhat warped. This is a pretty common problem with the landspeeder model - particularly the the top and bottom parts of the chassis.

I was able to use some of the other pieces to help reshape the bottom piece- the seat base helped pull everything up, and the sensor on the bottom helped pull it down.

I planned on gluing the top and bottom together as late in the process as possible - probably after I've painted the marines. I wish, however, that I'd held off sticking on the bumper bar thingie, because that's going to make it much harder to line up the two sections correctly.

I'm also finding it a bit tricky to get the screen behind the seats into place properly. I think there's some extra flash or a mold line that's making the piece just slightly to big. I did a little bit of shaving down, but I was reluctant to do to much because I couldn't really tell where the problem was.

But it's certainly a cool looking model, and it was fun to put together so far (let me reserve final judgement until after I've joined the top and bottom).

The only thing left to decide is how to outfit it. Like I mentioned above, the only options included in the box are the heavy bolter and the multmelta. Either sit on the bar you can see in the bottom image, so there's not really much scope for magnatising them so they can be swapped out.

Pre-Price Increase Price Drop

Games Workshop likes to raise their prices at the beginning of June. It's one of those things that I half understand and half lament, but ultimately I can't do much about it, so oh well. I still seem to be acquiring models faster than I can paint them.

But, Maelstrom Games, my awesome FIGS, does tend to do something about it. In this case, they're doing a pre-price rise sale. So I'm having a think about what my next couple of super secret projects should be (as well as convincing myself that I really don't need any more junk for myself...)

If you've got any suggestions, let me know...

More Dominion

K suggested a game on Saturday night, and I wasn't about to turn her down. I tried to convince her to let us crack open SmallWorld, but I think that's going to have to wait until M comes over next. So we settled on a game of Dominion.

It was an interesting setup - all the action cards cost 4 or 5, and the only options for more money were the Market and the Festival.

One idea that played out fairly well was to grab a Remodel early on and turn as many Estates as I could into Gardens. About 2/3s of the way through I considered turning a Gold into a Provence, but I thought there was still a while left in the game so didn't (turned out there wasn't, but it didn't matter).

It was a good game, but I ended up winning 50 to 42 or 45.

Giving Up on Character Creation

So my "character creation Friday" idea went no where fast.

I'd grab a book, sit down at the computer with an idea and start typing away while flipping pages. I'd type some numbers, a bit of a description, then get bored and stop. After ending up with a bunch of different characters half built, it eventually dawned on me that I wasn't actually having any fun.

I think partly it's because I'm not reading those books anymore, so I don't have stats and traits and ideas flying around my head. So it just ended up being a chore as I tried to fill in numbers that I didn't actually care about.

So I'm giving up on the idea. If I get particularly excited about a system I might make a character, but otherwise, on to more fun things!

Super Secret Project Part II: Blending

This week I've managed to get a bit of solid work done on the current Super Secret Project. I had felt like I was making very slow progress, but suddenly a lot of different parts came together.

I tried my hand at blending - a technique for getting one colour to flow into another one. I hadn't really thought about it before, and didn't read up on how to do it - I just went with my gut. I had the two colours on my pallet, put on some of the first colour on the model, dotted my brush into the other colour and then worked the paint up towards where I wanted the new colour. Then I went back to the pallet and grabbed a little more of the second colour and continued working up. Each time I went back over some of the colour I'd already laid down, but tried to make sure I was leaving some of the original. Eventually it faded from the purple I was using to the red.

I was very pleased with the result. As you can see from the photo, even up really close there's a fairly even fading between the two colours. What's more, it was really easy to do and pretty quick. Throw in a bit of highlighting and it will all look amazing!

Super Secret Project Part II: Priming Metal

I primed the model last night using black gesso. I'm a big fan of gesso as a primer, partly because you don't have to be very careful about putting it on and because you don't have to mess around with a spray can. I hadn't tried gesso on a metal model before, so I was interested in seeing how it turned out.

My initial impressions were that it worked pretty much the same as it does for plastic. There were a few pinpricks that had been missed, and some of the harsh edges didn't get enough of a coat. But overall, it was pretty good.

I decided not to touch up the missing spots and just jump straight into painting. While I was doing the bast coat for an area, I noticed that a spot of gesso about the size of a poppy seed had come away with my brush. It was small enough not to cause any problems, so I kept going.

As I've worked on the model today, I've noticed that in places the primer has rubbed away from my handling. It's not happening everywhere - generally the gesso seems to be girpping the metal very well. I'm hoping that covering the weak spots with paint and then sealer will stop it from happening.

My current theory is that there was some spots of release agent or something on the metal. I didn't even think to wash the parts before I started working with them, so now maybe I'm paying for it.

Super Secret Project Part II: Putting it All Together

I spent that last few evenings last week cleaning and preparing all the bits. On Saturday I sat down to actually do some assembly. I've had some success in the past using greenstuff to join metal together - since it's slightly flexible when it sets, it seems to survive a bit better than a superglue join.

It also works really well to fill the gaps, and gave me a chance to try out my new greenstuff sculpting tools!

The first rule of working with greenstuff is that you only need half that much. It doesn't matter how much you use, you always end up wasting half of it!

I couldn't get a sold join for the arms, so in the end I decided to try pinning them. The only option I had was to pin the arms to each other - I mounted one arm, then drilled into the shoulder joint, stuck in the brass rod and the drilled into the other arm. I ended up getting the alignment a little wring, but a bit more greenstuff cleaned it up so you wouldn't notice.

Super Secret Project Part II: Putting It All BACK Together

After carefully assembling all the bits, I went to move the model and managed to knock a part completely off. I didn't even bump it very hard, and I would have thought it would have been one of the stronger joints.

My faith in the greenstuff bonds has been shaken. I tested the other joints, but they all seem to be holding as firmly as I would have expected. So maybe it was just that one.

Regardless, I had another go at pinning. I made the mistake of gluing the pin before I trimmed it to the correct size, and then couldn't get my cutters close (well, not without clipping bits off the model at the same time). It wasn't a big problem though, as there was lots of room on the other side. It did mean that it took me a while to drill a hole deep enough.

After two goes at it, I'm pretty happy with pinning. It's not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be, and it does seem to make a really strong join.

Super Secret Project Part II

I thought I'd be nice and organised (and take advantage of Maelstrom Games big sale) and get what I needed for my next Super Secret Project. Unfortunately, then there was a big volcano in Europe, which delayed all the mail. So my package didn't arrive until the end of last week. That still gives me a lot longer than I had last time though!

This will be the first time I've worked with a fully metal, multi part model, so we'll see how it all goes!