Posted by Brian on Jan 14, 2010 in
Miniatures,
Painting 
I’m finally to the point where I can show off my goblins to the world. These guys are pretty awesome models. I tried out some new stuff this time around. I tried using the triad paints from Reaper. It’s a great idea, but I find myself having great difficulty with layering. The paint gets so thin it wants to run into the cracks instead of stay where I put it. The water is a whole lot of inks over a blue base. I think it came out pretty well. I went back over the water with Future floor wax after I matte coated the minis to make it shine again. The bases I made myself out of epoxy putty. More pics after the break. Read more…
Tags: Goblins, Malifaux, Outcasts
Posted by Brian on Jan 14, 2010 in
Miniatures 
After many trials and posts on the blog about them, the Fiat Falcos are ready to fly. The decals turned out pretty nice I think. These guys are Reviresco plane kits. I clipped the props off them since they look better that way, as if they were in flight. The decals are blank sheets from Experts Choice. I show how I did the decals here. The last thing I need are some flight stands. Top Gun has some nice looking ones, but I’m interested if anyone else has some ideas. Let me know in the comments. More pics after the break. Read more…
Tags: Aircraft, Early War, Flames of War, FOW, Italian, Mid War, WWII
Posted by Brian on Jan 14, 2010 in
Miniatures 
I realized this afternoon that this battery had never got posted up on my blog. I finished it awhile ago and the basing was done with what colors I had on hand. Maybe I should have waited for greener static grass and flock, but its an interesting look.
The gun performance in game is great . It is nice to have something that really give the heavy tanks something to worry about. Pair it up with an AOP and its a very potent force. More pics after the break. Read more…
Tags: 5.5" BL, Artillery, British, Flames of War, FOW, Late War, Mid War, WWII
Posted by Brian on Jan 14, 2010 in
Miniatures 
Not all projects are a success, and sometimes you learn from your failures too. This little gem is an Auster AOP that I attempted to build out of green stuff, a Popsicle stick, and a little floral wire. First up is the wood in Popsicle sticks doesn’t shape well. It likes to splinter instead. The wing doesn’t have any cross section on it. Second up, is its almost impossible to get floral wire to go in perfectly strait lines. I should have bought brass rod and used that instead. Third up is the green stuff itself. Its the first time I’ve tried to make anything of it except filling gaps in models. What I didn’t realize is that it even really gets hard. Or at least the stuff I have still remains “flexy” I was intending to build the basic shape and then use files and sand paper to refine it and smooth it out. The green stuff never got hard enough to do this right. At least it isnt bittle I guess. All in all it makes a sad little airplane model, but at least its useable. Pics after the break. Read more…
Tags: AOP, Auster, British, Flames of War, FOW, WWII
Posted by Brian on Jan 14, 2010 in
Cases,
Tools and Supplies 
I’ve been using the War Store EconoBox cases for awhile. The idea of having easily stack-able “platoon” sized boxes for Flames of War really appealed to me. When you need a platoon, you can just pull it off the shelf and toss it in a wheeled roll-aboard suitcase. Foam alone doesn’t stack really well, and its a PITA to label and shuffle around when you need to get to something on the bottom of your stacks. These cases solve all that. The white corrugated cardboard boxes are easy to label, rigid enough to stack, and easy to pull out the bottom one from under a stack of ten of them.
For those of you familiar with the Sabol Army Transport foam, these trays are significantly larger, but use the same type of foam with the same size cubes. Just be aware that it won’t fit in your bags even if you take the foam out of the boxes. Compared to Crystal Caste Battle Hive storage, it has cubes about twice the size. The foam texture seems to be the same. Read more…
Tags: Case, EconoBox, Flames of War, Foam, FOW
Posted by Brian on Jan 14, 2010 in
Cases,
Tools and Supplies 
I’ve gotten tired of how pluck foam tends to disintegrate over time. Most of my Crystal Caste stuff is coming apart in the narrow sections. I guess its just a side effect of being able to easily remove the cubes in the first place. Its easy to remove them accidently too. I’ve decided that I want a standard cut case for my Malifaux minis. Trouble is they are 32mm “heroic scale” and most of the cases have foam with slots 1″ wide. This wont fit a Malifuax 30mm base.After a lot of digging I ran across the KR multicase system (again) Its not well known in the US, as its a UK supplier and only got a US distributor in October. They have a wide selection of tray types including the pluck foam if you like it. The one that caught my eye was the “F” style tray that is 30mm x 50mm and comes in a 32mm depth, so perfect for most Malifaux models. Bonus that if you cut the compartments you get a spot big enough to fit a 50mm base, and it comes in a 70mm depth (2x 32high with the bottoms accounted for) so you can store the large models easily in the same case. Its also available in 51mm depth if you would prefer to lie you models down. You can custom order any combination of trays too and they come in 5 depths. 6x half width 32mm ones fit in a standard KR multicase, and each half tray is about the size of a tray of battle foam. It’s only $39 shipped to the US with the card case (you can order aluminum, or fabric bags that fit these too, but they’re not such a deal for the initial investment.)
Anyhow, I ordered one with 4x 32mm high “F” half trays and 1x 70mm high “F” tray. Its actually cheaper than the 1.5″ pluck trays I’ve been getting with the corrugated boxes. The half trays are a bit smaller than those, but there are more of them, and the wall between minis don’t have to be as thick. I like that the case are cheap, even if its just card boxes. I really like that you can customize the foam at no extra cost. I just have too much stuff sitting out of cases right now, and the Malifaux stuff is particularly fragile. Look for a full review once it arrives.
Tags: Case, Foam, KR Multicase
Posted by Brian on Jan 9, 2010 in
Painting,
Tools and Supplies 
I have been frustrated by the fact that I couldn’t find any appropriate decals for my three 1/144 scale CR.42 Fiat Falcos that I painted up for my Italian force. After poking around a bit I found decal sheets that you can run through your printer and make whatever decals you need. I grabbed some fasces rondels for the wings, royal crests of the trail, blue fasces crest of the fuselage, and some number marking. I laid them all out in photoshop in huge groups and printed on some “Experts Choice” clear decal film. I used a 600dpi file to insure the file resolution exceeded my printer. I used my HP 3600n color laser to print. I’ve heard that inkjets have alot more problems since the ink will run. The printing on the laser was delicate, but waterproof at least. Read more…
Tags: Flames of War, FOW, Italian, Mid War, North Africa, WWII
Posted by Brian on Dec 22, 2009 in
Editorial Found this Russian site not to long ago. Its a great compendium of all sorts of airplane camo and markings. Great if you’re researching how to paint up some planes. Wings Palette
Tags: Link, Reference
Posted by Brian on Dec 21, 2009 in
Editorial 
This is one of the models I painted for a friend, and what a model it is. I really like the sculpt and level of detail, but man was this a PITA to put together. I think its the hardest mini ever for me. The legs I ended up gluing down with super glue and using some blutack to hold them in place while they dried. Then I went back with epoxy putting and reinforced the joints. The torso and arms both needed putty as well.
Don’t mind the Victorian base. It was the one I was given for him and so I used it. I don’t think it really fits the model, the sewer bases were better with the rest of the box set. I forgot to photograph those before I gave them back, so I’ll have to post them later. Pics after the break.
Read more…
Tags: Arcanists, Malifaux, Steamborg
Posted by Brian on Dec 21, 2009 in
Editorial 
I’ve started playing Malifaux. I first mentioned it back during Gencon, but one of my buddies got me a box set in exchange for doing some painting for him. I got Zoraida as my first set. I’ve played a couple games with it and she’s interesting. Very much a support and crowd control model rather than an in your face combat model. After reading the rules it seems almost criminal that they don’t pack her with a voodoo doll. Why you wouldn’t use one at all times, I have no idea.
Anyhow, this is also my first real foray into 28mm (well 32mm) painting. All the tip and tricks that worked well on a small scale don’t always work well when you are working on larger model. This set is actually my second set, I started this set didn’t like it and set it aside. Then I painted the Ramos box for my friend first and immediately after came back to these. So this is try two. I’m still not super happy with Juju. He’s shiny which my matte coat isn’t doing much about, and I don’t know about the colors. The Silurids came out well the second time I think. I was sort of annoyed that almost all the detail in the pictures was painted on. Pics after the break. Read more…
Tags: Bad Juju, Malifaux, Neverborn, Silurid, Zoraida
I’m finally to the point where I can show off my goblins to the world. These guys are pretty awesome models. I tried out some new stuff this time around. I tried using the triad paints from Reaper. It’s a great idea, but I find myself having great difficulty with layering. The paint gets so thin it wants to run into the cracks instead of stay where I put it. The water is a whole lot of inks over a blue base. I think it came out pretty well. I went back over the water with Future floor wax after I matte coated the minis to make it shine again. The bases I made myself out of epoxy putty. More pics after the break. Read more… 
