End of an era. Start of a display.

Bookstores, sadly, are going down the toilet one by one. Strangely huge mark ups have not saved the Borders chain here, and our favorite after work hang out is shutting it's doors.

Sigh. I am very sad.



Anyway, on a brighter note I just bought me a whole bunch of the shop fittings from the admimistrator. Partly as keep sakes, partly because clear acrylic risers would make great display stands for my minis! Plus a mile of black plasticard! Nice.
I am sure the feeling of being a vulture will go away shortly... Perhaps leaving the faint tinge of remorse.

Declutter your studio. Declutter your mind.

I have been trying to sculpt in a very cramped, very dusty room- and yesterday it suddenly got to me.  I snapped.  I had to do something, right then and there.  A massive clean up started at 2pm and went through to the wee hours.  However, unlike my previous attempts at cleaning (think Scott Pilgrim drying his hands), this was a controlled attack based on strategies garnered from a declutter your life book my wife bought to help dig herself out of our dining/library/sewing/piles of random crap room (easily confused with our bedroom/library/piles of random crap room).
The thing I wanted to share in this episode is a few tips on clutter and the psychological, nay, spiritual impact of filing away unpainted minis.

Triage
I first went through my shelves and picked out the unpainted and unstripped figures onto a tray. Anything still to be stripped of paint was taken out of the collection and put into a tray ready for the dettol jars.  All unpainted minis where bagged by category and set aside.

Tip of doom 1:
I then created a filing cabinet (of sorts) for my Lead Pile.
  I took two clear stackable storage tubs and divided them into two with foamcore.  The tubs where then broken down with divider cards, and all my minis where bagged, tagged and entered into the correct slot. Look at all those little cards! Fiend Factory, Fantasy Adventurers, Lotr, Paranoia, Rogue Trader, Chaos, Things with Big Heads from Bob Olley, Jes Goodwin Ogres, AD&D - ahhh, the deep, strange enjoyment a mini collector you probably understand.
  The good thing is now I can quickly flip to a section and check to see what I have already got- I have been plagued with doubles of late.  Seriously, part of my brain says I do not own a female night horrors vampire.  I just keep buying her!

Side note:  Space farers- what's with the sudden ebay rush this week?  Months go by, not a single one, then boom- the entire lot every way you like- painted, job lot and still in bag- your choice of these teeny, tiny little sci fi kitch range!

I store my minis in plastic baggies- NEVER store old figures in wooden or cardboard boxes- sometimes these have acids in them, over time these react with the lead in the figure and you got yourself a lead rot nightmare situation.

Tip of doom 2:
I then blue tacked my figures to black pieces of foamcore and board all cut to 3x6inches.  This allowed me to pick up my whole display collection, dust it and move it from shelf to shelf in batches of 24.  A large nylon painters brush for the figures, a damp cloth for the shelves.  Again, no cleaning products- lead rot is such a curse!

Tip of doom 3:
Box of doom.  When de-cluttering, and this tips a corker, rather than moving stuff around endlessly, just carry a box around with you.  Anything that does not belong on the place your working on goes into the box.  This stops you endlessly circling junk around.  This is the best tip ever for me!

Tip 4:
Be merciless.  Little bits you have been meaning to use for scenery, scraps of material, weird tools from gameforce you never actually use... paint pots with a little bit left- just a little.... screw all that its time to ditch them.  You got minis to paint and need that mental energy.

The Dust settles on the aftermath...
The net result of this onslaught is two shelves of neat, painted minis and a floor I can actually see.  That's the physical difference.  The mental difference is suddenly I do not have a thousand unfinished projects glaring at me from every corner of my studio nibbling at my mind.  What I now have is a neatly boxed collection, and a display of finished, and mostly finished figures.  Clean.  Zen.  Achievable.

Tonight I am going to hoover the ever living crap out of the studio and finally transfer the remaining citadel paints into Reaper bottles and ditch the containers.

Once I have the LAM mutants finished its back to Kingsminis business as usual- pictures of old school figures tickled with a hairy stick!

Go on.  You know its time to clean your studio.

Airbrush fun

Tried out an old airbrush I had laying around to see if it was actually useful for mini painting before I invested in a pump and a decent airbrush.

Turns out, quite handy I think.  I base coated the flesh tones for a citadel giant, twenty barbarians and thrud in no time.  If just for that, it would be worthwhile.  If I was rocking a space marine army, or war gaming in general- it would be a must have.

So what are your thoughts and experiences on airbrushes?  Worth getting?  More fuss than worthwhile?

Lipped bases for sale?

I have had a couple of folk ask if I intend to sell my deep dish lipped bases.
Thats a thought, though they would have to be top quality- something my home resin kit isnt really set up for.

So, since the idea has been mooted  I am looking into professional resin casters in Australia to see if someone can vacuum cast them for me.  I am also getting some prototype digital printed masters done with a few extra features that could be integrated into the base for extra handiness.  I dont sell tat.  :)

If you would be interested in such a base system, with reversable base cappers (in metal), deep cappers (in resin) and seperate lips that can take a regular 25mm round base, either temporarily or be glued in- drop me a line or comment below.  If enough people are keen, I will add them to The BeDerken line.

It would be uber cool to get the base made in black plastic- but none of the companies I have spoken to are willing to take the punt.  Shame really.  Resin it is.

F'Nurgle old tat

Since I have not had a chance to post some finished work in a while, what with being far too busy with sculpting work, I thought some old tat would suffice.  Here are a couple of old photos I took of some paint jobbies I did on my brother in laws Nurgle army a while ago.  Yep, my bro' is a big 40k mythos fan- though he never plays the game itself.  He buys me figures in exchange for painting and assembling his.
Now he gave me a chirurgeon back pack to add to another figure, but when I tried it on the early 1990's Plague Marine, it was love at first sight.  He looks made for it, and so fiendish I have to make myself one first chance I get.

Forge world aero bars and my fave plague marine conversion

I call them Aero bars because they are full of bubbles.  Note the dude with the speakers gun arm and wire pipes- practically all that had to be rebuilt from scratch after breakage from under the surface bubbles.  The pipes where virtually non existent to begin with.  Really a shame, because these two are some of the coolest looking minis GW produce.  Hopefully once all the issues with finecast is ironed out, they may transition over to the main range.

Two more early marines.

Damned grenade!
WIP of one of Ed's, modern Legion of the Damned
I like these minis.  One of the better releases of modern times.

I actually painted my original plastic marines as legion of the damned back in the 1980s- I think its a bit of a shame how the mythos has changed them to a pop in special unit.  Never mind, not like I am playing the game any time soon.
I do have some placcy marines laying around that one day I may paint up.  I think probably original mentor legion- back when they had the owl logo.  Then again, maybe I will go get a life instead.

Hardcore base traitor

I am a traitor. Yes, it's true.  After dedicating many hours to gluing sand to hex bases in honour of olde skool righteousness, I have, dear reader, fallen in one night to the charms of the "modern lipped base".

Faced with a very short amount of hobby time this weekend, I decided to push on with my c100 kill team charlie project by running off a few more resin bases.

Yep.  I make my own resin bases.  Hardcore huh?

Since I made only two moulds for the original hyperbole base, I realised it would take a fair while to base all my c100 figures up.  Hmmm.  The only route to getting this project done was to bite the bullet and make a mould that could churn out a whole mess at once. This meant blood.

My deep dish bases are made by hollowing out a plastic base- very fiddly, as a single slip can snap the rim. Or, az the case was, a finger.  Carving out nine of the bloody, and I mean literally bloody, things was a big decision. Better than manually casting bases one at a time though.
So, ten bases, three blades and a huge vertical cut on my right thumb and my new mould was complete.  A quick foamcore box, pinkysil 2 part silicone and a can of mould release and voila...
1x 40mm, 9x 30mm, and 5x20mm bases from one pour.  My master is reusable, so I can run off another silicone mould and do two lots very 10 minutes.

Silicone mould, resin bases(black), resin cappers (white),
Citadel Chaos Dwarf, C100 Space marine (converted)

So you can see the bases I made are hollow and deep, with a wider mouth.  As you may know from my previous rants about bases, this is so I could sculpt base detail on a ten cent coin to be cast separately.  These 'cappers' just snap in.  It saves making lots of big moulds for base styles I rarely use.
My gripe with plastic lipped bases are they are too shallow, which makes them hard to pick up- especially on heavy metal figures. I deepened mine by gluing a disc of plasticard to the masters and sanding them down to a smooth edge.

However, (and here is the beginning of the end for my Hex cult membership), the first batch came out so well I immediately saw the potential that the deep dish gave me.
I could rebase minis really quickly- I need only clip off the sides of the slottabase and I could transplant the whole base decoration onto the lipped version onto a ball of 5 minute epoxy putty.  (Note the poor little chaos dwarf in the above picture suffering this fate).
  The second feature was that preslotta bases could be glued in and their feet would be level with the lip.  Hmmm... this could be good indeed.


My skirmish rules Skulldred (see links) plays best when figures have the larger bases, since figures get into base contact a lot- scratching was occurring on my fave gaming figures.  Lipped bases seemed a good idea.  I decided to base up some of my new chaos Dwarf ebay acquisitions as a warband and see if I liked it.

[Insert suitable Top Gear style pregnant pause...]

I liked it.

Works in progress.  Citadel Chaos general (Earl Harkness from McDeath), Bederken Dwerg,
Citadel Minotaur, Citadel Perry Bros. Chaos Dwarves and the orc from the White
Dwarf Boxed Set

I ended up getting all the above bases out of the first mould.  A ball of 5 minute epoxy, and twenty minutes later I had all these guys done.  Procreate stick putty is brilliant for making rocky textures- check out the chaos dwarf on the raised stone.  That took, literally, ten minutes to make and cure.



All that remains now is to save up my pennies to get some clear resin and a black resin colourant- and I can make nice, pretty, chip resistant black bases.  Lovely.

So that's it. Hexes no more.

Once the feeling of treachery wears off, that is.

eighty one today!

Hey, I passed the eighty reader mark!
Lets celebrate... you grab yourself a drink from your fridge!  Mail me one whilst your at it.

When you start a blog, you kinda feel like your shouting into the void.  But your mossy stone keeps a rolling... and before you know it your linking up with the coolest droogs from around the world!

Sculpting has taken up my hobby time this week, so no pictures to celebrate the 80 mark.  The good news is that I should be finished sculpting the ten Mutants for Lead Adventure Miniatures shortly, then, once I have finished basing the new releases for Bederken, its mini time and the next episode of 'eavy dave.  :)

Right now I have a warband of dwarves on the go which I will be posting soon.  Great fun.

Anyway, its late and I have to go.  Enjoy your celebratory drinks- and thank you for your readership!

15mm madness, Stick Putty, Kill Team Charlie Update

So now a break from the normal, after another food allergy related fit of insomnia, I went to the light side of minis and attacked some 15mm scale figures I have had sitting around forever- and you know, darn it, I really, really love 15mm figures!  When they are well sculpted, they are total gaming joy.  Nil time commitment, no fussing over details and repainting, basing and converting takes minutes- you can pack your whole game in a lunch box!

At about 2 am, I decided sleep was not going to be an option, and decided to go play with the stick putty I got recently.  Stick putty is a new product from procreate, and its supposed to glue together minis.  I tried it on a Ral Partha Djinn, and it does work to this end quite well- about as strong as superglue.  However I probably wont use it for this purpose much - its just begging for basing and armatures!  Why?  It has a 5 minute cure time.  Yes!  Five minutes from mix to a firm, but flexible set.  And its utterly brilliant for filling and gripping minis to bases, and blocking out mini armatures.  I will be buying lots of this stuff.

5 minutes.  5 freaking minutes.  Awesome.

Once set, you can tear up any left overs it to get nice ruined concrete effects for bases- so there is no wastage.
Now if you think its going to replace your sculpting medium, think again- five minutes is just too short to do much work, so cut off small amounts (I use artists palette knife) and do it in stages.  Now if you mount on washers, procreate stick putty is your beotch!  It fills the hole and sticks the model onto the surface, and rounds the edges so your scatter does not show that little integral base give away that makes some armies look crappy.

Now the down sides.  It smells awful for starters.  Keep the clam shell it came in to save your nostrils.  I am not allergic to epoxy putty usually- milliput, that little rascal has no perceivable effect on me- however this stuff is nasty.  As part of the test, I used bare skin.  My palms have been itching like mad all day.  Short story- wear gloves.

I decided to base up my post apocalypse road outlaws, and if sleep denied me after that, paint them  I managed to greyscale two packs, but only painted two- but it was delightful!  Definitely going to build a post apocalypse game board when I have some time.  By the way, if you want to be able to write little names on the side of a 15mm base, paint a white stripe, then using a 0.005 technical pen, etch in the negative space of the letters.  Far easier than trying to paint the letter strokes.

Khurasan Road Outlaws (15mm scale)

 I feel I am getting much better at 15mm- my first attempt was for a small Gauntlet style dungeon bash... I grabbed these minis from 15mm.com.  They need some baddies to fight now- but I have yet to find anything that floats my boat- it may be time for Bederken to release some 15mm!
For my 15mm I decided to use non metallic metals and work up strong contrast, so they pop off the table.

15mm.com dungeoneers.  In... er... 15mm scale.  Strangely.

If you have been wondering about my other projects, Kill Team Charlie has progressed a little since last I posted, though I just have not had the time to clear my sculpting desk to get the hyperbowl bases cast up- so its stalled until I finish the Lead Adventure Mutant Sculpts (which, btw, are soooo going to be part of this game set once I have finished).
Here are some work...

Kill Team Charlie progress continues!  C100 forever!

For those who missed earlier posts, these classic C100 space marines are mounted onto home made custom resin bases featuring a modular detail insert.  The actual outer base forms a deep bowl for scenic features such as deep puddles, hatches etc- and the sides have been extended so you can easily pick up the model by the base.  The bowl has been widened to fit a 10c coin, which is what I sculpt all my inserts on.  The whole lot is cast in resin.  I only have one polished and finished here, the others are pretty crude at this stage.
The Kill Team features mostly natural C100, and converted C100 models (20 odd at the moment), some early rogue trader era figures and a host of scratch built and converted figures from Reaper and Hasslefree- do check out the earlier posts!
I am also moving my Judge Dredd collection onto the same basing system- but thats way off in the future!

Hope you enjoy these!

Tower of DOOOOM!!!

So hey, how you going?  Have been busy as hell of late- the only things I have been able to paint have been some production models for Bederken- you will get to see those when I launch the new range.
However I have finished one little task thats been nagging me for a while, a new paint rack.

I lashed out on one of those four level carosels, and I have to say... really not impressed.  The 'American craftmanship' the box proudly states equates to wobbly, with plastic trays too big to grip a citadel pot, and too tight to allow Vallejo or Reaper paints to comfortably sit.  That, and the thing takes up one hell of a lot of space.  I tried to love it... put brushes in the little holders... rebuilt it with different heights...I guess it suits some people, but for me, I just wanted to see everything at once and have my desk space back.

So, one night, armed with nothing but a packing knife, a metal ruler, lollypop sticks, some bostick glue, sticky tape and a bunch of MDF sheets I use to make wargaming scenery, I knocked up the TOWER OF DOOOOM!

Total cost, about ten bucks.

Its alive.  ALIVE!!

I am calling this one a prototype in a thinly veiled attempt to hide my lack of craftmanship.  Cut twice.  Measure using thumbs.
So this is the entire four level carousels contents.  As you can see, plenty of room left and I am taking up about an eighth of the space.  It holds seventy dropper bottles and slightly less citadel pots.  Two of these should do the trick, unless I get seriously addicted to collecting paint.  Hmmm....

Dave gets 'Eavy. Must be the biscuits.

I get quite a few emails by readers wanting a step by step tutorial on how I do my thang.  Since I do things a bit cack handed to everyone else what with medium rich tints and all that.  Well, since I was undercoating and prepping a heap of figures, I though it would be fun to finally do it. 
However, I decided to have a bit of retro fun and... well, Behold, a lost article from a more civilised age.

Hmmm... that looks familiar.

Next one will indeed be covering tinting and mediums!

Keeping the Karmic Wolves at the door

Today I broke my painting drought with a full on onslaught of my leadpile.  Many fell to my mighty brush this day, (I hear America has been scoring pretty good on their own to do list today as well), and I discovered one really good trick; and that trick is this... kill your karmic blockers.
There is, I dare say, one or two figures hanging around your collection like a bad smell, never being painted and draining your enthusiasm just looking at them.  For me, its been a half orc (I only have one) loitering around the fringes of my orcs, an elf archer, a samurai warrior (I do not collect Oriental fantasy figures as a general rule) and a dire wolf, the hobgoblin and the Chaos Warrior from the brilliance that is the BC2 Monster Starter Set.
  Having these figures is not good for your hobby soul- they accumulate at the fringes of your collection, gathering as a clogging sense of dissatisfaction that taints the whole.
  Today, being sick with a cold and generally unmotivated to sculpt, I tackled those figures, and the rush of vitality that returned when they where finished was astounding.  Invigorated thus by the fall of my karmic blockers, I stormed ahead and got 90% of the way through 28 figures- completing a handful of those to my liking.  Count em.  28.

Set aside a day of pain to tackle those ones, and you wont believe what it will do for your lead pile.     Kill your karmic blockers today.

Citadel FA19 female fighter with sword, Dwarf Adventurer, Talisman Necromancer,
C13 Lesser Goblin, ADD OH2 Samurai, Wood Elf

The dwarf and Lesser goblin here are what I call 'soft targets'- things I know I can paint really quickly.  On days I do not feel like a challenge, I bee line for these.  I love the old lesser goblins- I have a bag of them somewhere and now I have the smaller 20mm bases I may do up a tiny, tiny warband.  The Samurai here was the biggest karmic blocker in my collection!
I decided to go really far out with the Talisman Necromancer- slapping on a Wizard of Oz makeup to match his cartoonish look.  The FA19 female fighter is one of the best faces on any citadel miniature ever.  EVER.  Its so subtle, and such a joy to paint.  It would have made a great starter character for D&D.

Citadel BC2 Monster Starter Boxed Set 90% complete

If you have been a fan of my blog, you will know my fondness for the BC1 monster starter set.  Here you can see I am almost done painting it- just little things like shading boots and jazzing up the bases to go now!  I remember the first time I painted the dire wolf, I just painted it black with red eyes.  This time around I was determined to go realistic with the fur and really make him pop.  The hobgoblin is now a favourite of mine, having totally ignored the box art and struck out in vivid green lacquered armour instead of the run of the mill copper scales that where making me yawn just thinking of painting them.  I have a second vile goblin, and will be painting him lime green with dark blue trims and black armour me thinks.  Oh, and yes, I have the BC1 complimentary heroes boxed set now... will have to wait for a dry day to prime them up.

(left to right) C22 Creatures Chaos Hounds 1 & 3,
Unknown Vintage Wolf (middle), Reaper Wolves (top right),
BC2 Vicious Giant Wolf

So one thing you can do to get through your lead pile is rack up a bunch of figures all at once.  I hunted around my collection and found all the wolves I had, and saved myself a heap of time by mixing the colours up at once.

Mystery wolf, BC2 Vicious Giant Wolf

If anyone knows the mystery wolf, I would be glad to have it identified.  Its pretty stiff and old looking, but cannot find him on any citadel collectors sheets.  I thought he was the FF giant wolf.

I also managed to knock down some chaos familiars, Norse Dwarves and a couple of Asgard beasties- but they will have to wait for a later post.  I am tired as hell with cold!

Daves fingernails are green

Well I am still buried under a heap of commissions right now, which is pleasant for me (green stuff permanently wedged under fingernails aside) - if a little draining on my miniature time.  I always scoffed at Ally Morrison saying he "rarely if ever converts miniatures when he gets home because he is too busy playing with putty all day long" (white dwarf 1986).  Sac up!  I used to think.  Get some hobby stamina ya Scottish git and make me some more Talisman figures whilst your at it!

  Now I get it.  Now I understand.  Your forgiven Mr. Morrison.  Except for not making those talisman figs... your still off my Christmas list for that.
 
I have fifteen figures on the table right now for private commissions, plus my own figures for my Bederken label.  Current conversions and paintings this month?

Er...  I base coated a Talisman Monk... does that count?

But, that said, most of these little putty suckers are getting darn close to finished... which means that Asgard Stalker is going to not know what hit it.  (hint.  Its paint)

Ed.  I know your listening.  Your "Legion of the Definitely Not Looking Too Healthy- May Have to Have a Lie Down In My Flaming Boney Armour" marines are also on that list.  Yeah yeah.... Nurge Fliers too.

Witchhunter cross dressers, bugbears and Nuns (oh my)

This is my AD&D 4th ed character, Regan Black... a male paladin witch hunter trapped by a spell in the body of his worst enemy - the witch who killed his wife.  Without muscle memory his sword skills are useless- and fearing for his life in close combat without his brawn to save him, he is desperately trying to get the witches body to learn the longbow and start off as a first level ranger so he/she can hunt down his real body and find a way to switch back and defeat the witch.
Very dramatic, and EXTREMELY hard to roleplay- considering my GM is a woman and very happy to step on a dodgy portrayal of her fair kind.  So much fun it almost makes up for the horrible AD&D 4.0 system.  Going to convince her to switch to something mega retro like Labyrinth Lord.  :)
Our whole gaming group are digital artists, so quickly we got into painting our characters...

Regan Black.  Day one.

Since the adventure takes place in the frozen north, the effect of being mind switched into a witch wearing a skimpy Frazetta style sorceress costume was instant hypothermia as her protective warming spells vanished.  Having staggered back into town and scrounged up some clothing from the villagers, I ended up stuck with a red / blue ensemble.  She still has the witches red corset and gloves on, but with a male puritanical witchunters eye for fashion, I constructed the rest of her costume with practicality in mind...

Regan Black... as depicted by me.  Now I have to find a mini...

 I needed a figure quickly, but the only thing in my collection even close was an AD&D thief.   A little green stuff and she has a corset, fur shoulders and fur lined boots. The great thing is I can peel off this stuff and the figure underneath is unharmed!

Converted Reaper 'Callie' female rogue and Converted Citadel 1980's AD&D Female Thief

After a few sessions, all the guys got bigger, chunkier modern figures.  Mine was getting a bit lost on the gaming table, and besides, I mainly use a bow - so I decided to get a new figure.  Callie from Reaper minis was close, the had a dorky face.  I dremmelled it out and replaced it with a little green stuff.  Again, a corset and fur was added to give a frozen north look.  Its going to be fun keeping my miniature up to date.  Considering the figures only around 8 bucks, I wanted to keep figures for all stages of her growth.  At the end of the campaign I have some reminders!

Grenadier Bugbears

On a more retro adventure, I picked up these three mystery figures from fleabay.  I found out they are Grenadier bugbears.  To be honest, they are very old school, ugly looking chaps... stiff with a weird head... but hey, I just love painting up old awkward figures.

Polishing turds, some call it.

Anyway, there was a touch of character about them that drew me in.  I tried a little something different here with the bases.

And now... demon nuns.

Reaper Battle Nuns

Ye Systrs Infernale, my Hordes of the Things 28mm army made up of demon possessed nuns expands with another blades unit.  These are straight out of the box Reaper battle nuns.  I love these figures... having converted a bunch into 40k style Sisters of Battle elsewhere in this blog- I have a bucket load of the things in my bits box.

The other units are a little too rude to post- having been lovingly converted to show a little more flesh, and one having snapping jaws where a woman shouldn't have them if you catch my drift.  The army features bits of Slannesh figures, Reaper figures and lots of scratch built stuff- insane nuns tearing at their clothes, changing into succubi and generally enjoying the battle.  Its a scream to do, but not sure if it should be brought out at a family orientated gaming convention.
Its a big time commitment considering I have yet to play Hott- but I figure I can always use them in Skulldred- as multi based models are perfectly acceptable!

Unkillable cheap scenery

So, dear reader, I am a gamer cursed with no suppliers of that dense pink foam everyone uses to make scenery.  Being Australia, the land of the robber barons, it would probably cost a fair packet to0.  But I no longer care- I have found a technique to make UNKILLABLE scenery from recycled expanded polystyrene. Free from any household buying a plasma screen in your neighbourhood.

The problem with styrene is that it has no strength.  Apply any weight to it and it will snap.  Drop a metal mini on it, and it will dent.  That, and it looks like crap when you paint it.  It does.  Stop doing it.  Thats an order.

To fix the first problem, I turn my styrene into super sized, super cheap foamcore by sandwiching it between two sheets of paper using PVA glue and pressing it under heavy books overnight.  This distributes the energy across the whole surface and makes it really hard to snap.  To make larger pieces of scenery, I first sculpt them using a foam wirecutter (a must have tool)  and assemble them using cocktail sticks to pin the layers together.  Once I am happy with the cut, I mark the edges with a pen so I can align them again, take them apart and sandwich them individually.  Finally I reassemble with PVA glue and wooden skewers to add strength.

To fix the problem of denting and overall look crapness, I use the holy grail of mini scenery making.


Pollyfilla Woodflex.  Oh yeah.

King's Un-killable combo.

Now woodflex is not as cheap as whacking sand into PVA glue, but the results are so, so much better.
Woodflex does not crack or flake, is slightly rubbery and has a perfect texture for stone, mud and rock straight out of the tub.  Not having sand glued to the surface means its less likely to sandpaper off your paint job too.  It forms a rubbery skin over the surface that will distribute any force across the whole model- so no dents or snapping!

I thin mine down using demineralised water.  I use a palette knife to smear mine on.  Leave it ten minutes, then shape it.  Leave it over night to dry.


If you want to get some brickwork effects I suggest a two step approach.  Do a base coat and use a damp sponge to stipple down the surfae, let that dry overnight to form a tough skin.  Applying a second thick coat, give it fifteen minutes to dry then score in the brickwork or cracks.  Use the sponge again to tamp down the scratchy lines and give a natural effect.  The stairs in the next picture are unpainted, but you can see its a great look.

Citadel 1980's Runequest duck.
Converted Reaper 'Callie' female rogue and Converted Citadel 1980's AD&D Female Thief

The polyflex gives a great rocky look, and forms a skin that protects the polystyrene.  Its a really cost effective way to make unkillable gaming scenery.  More pics of my finished gaming tables later on!  With luck I may have a Skulldred table at CANCON or MOAB with some pretty scenery.

Hope that helps... comments as usual below.

Bederken Dungeon floorplans get an airing

As you probably know I recently released some 30mm square dungeon floorplans in .pdf format through my Bederken blog.  Well, I got my first prints all back and mounted up and I thought I would take some quick snaps to show it in action.  As you can see, going up from 1 inch standard to 30mm makes it much easier to play without minis bumping up against each other- plus you have the freedom to use modern lipped bases.

So the first fools to brave The Dungeon of Dave are some classic citadel paladins who probably have not had a decent dungeon bash since Dungeons & Dragons came out.

Preslotta Citadel Paladins and C11 halfling attack Kev Adams Zombies and Reaper Wizard

Classic early 1980's Citadel creepy crawlies and Red Orcs attack!
Grenadier halfman takes aim in background.  Molemen by Reaper.  Ooze by me.

Thirty year old minis get some playing with!
Some classic Red orcs have been converted here- headswaps and
scratch built weaponry.

Another angle.  Note the green ooze sneaking up on a red goblin in the background.
It was made with a hot glue gun and a plastic base.

 As you can see, my red orc tribe has expanded since I last posted.  These guys are about 50% done.  I swapped out a couple of heads and weapons to give more variety, keeping at least one of each variety in archive state.

The creepy crawlies are a personal favourite of mine, I have been collecting these for a while now.  When you get them they just look like a little lug of brown metal, but with a little TLC they transform into some classic vintage gaming niceness.

Well that's me for tonight... enjoy dungeon bashing!

Tin Soldier Closing down

Sydney CBD's one and only non GW miniature shop is closing down for renovations.  I can now choose to buy figures from the expensive GW stockist, the slighting less expensive stockist or GW itself....  hmmm, looks like online shopping from here on in.

Been a wonderful arrivals week.  Kill Team Charlie's ranks have now swollen to well beyond a skirmish team for a start- its now threatening to be a decent army. There are so many I have to buy a stick to wave at them.If you have not seen it- Stedder's posted a great Delirious inspired C100 army in beige-white recently!

C100 forever!

Nothing much on the painting front- the weather has been drizzly and stormy, so spray painting was out of the question- the only painting I got done was most way through two Reaper Bugbears.
 I did manage to assemble my Brother in Laws Legion of the Damned - which includes a nice retro legion figure- I will post it up once I get that one painted.  :)

Tutorial: making mini paints from artist tubed acrylics

Admit it, you have looked at those tubes and priced them up, right?  And I am guessing you may have tried to use them with what one could call 'mixed' results.  Today I am sharing a formula for turning top quality artist acrylics into useful mini paints.

First up, picking your paints.  Don't go for cheap student paints or craft paints (Jo Sonja)- you want the maximum star permanency rated paint... which means its tested to not fade over time. Squeeze the tube a littel between your fingers and it will feel firm, not runny.  Next you need to check the opacity rating.  Like citadel foundation paints, heavy density paint does not let much light through- its pigment rich- not as rich as foundation, sadly, but that stuff is really heavy on the pigment.  Lower graded paints are unavoidably translucent- colours such as lemon yellow are commonly so.  It does not matter which you get, but be aware that translucent paints do not need as much medium added later on.

Your going to need some more ingredients.  Liquitex flow aid (aka flow improver), de-mineralised water (from your laundry section of the supermarket), Liquitex Matte Medium and industrial talc (not perfumed bathroom talc!)  That last item can be found at casting and moulding suppliers.

I use reaper dropper bottles, but do my mixing in larger squeezy bottles, as you need room to modify and tune the mix.

First, you need to get your mix right.  On a palette, take a small squeeze of  paint and call this ten units.  You need to make this runny, so we need to add flow aid / de-mineralised water mix (1:20 ratio) until it just starts to break down into a gooey fluid.  Count your drops whilst you stir.
Next you want to extend and add body to the paint, so matte medium is required.  Start with about 1 or 2 units, and stir this in.  Next add a small amount of industrial talc.  Adding talc gives a solidity and glow to the paint you may find familiar.  Back in the 1990s, a white dwarf article mentioned that talc is used in citadel paints, so having talc on your models was not going to effect the paint job much- this clued me into trying it out, and it makes a big difference to some mixes.
Finally test your paint on a crappy mini.  Put some mini paint side by side and compare feel, flow and coverage.  Add more de-mineralized water and medium until it feels right.  If its too gluggy, use flow aid.  Be careful not to add too much, or you will get a fuzzy surface.  If your into wet blending, you will like having more flow aid in your mix- drying times are extended and its easier to work... just like Reaper master series.  However personally I find its better to add this post mix whilst painting, so the paint can be used as a base.
Once your paint is behaving nicely on your miniature, its time to carry your mix data over to your big bottle.


Mark a half way point on your bottle, then half this again and again.  This gives you a good measuring indicator.  Start by squeezing paint into the bottle.  Leave it for a while with the lid on and it will settle, giving you a good measurement to apply your ratios.  Always leave a good amount of room in your bottle so you can adjust medium and water later on.  Shake well between tests, and remember to discharge what is in the nozzle before testing, as this is unlikely to have changed between adjustments.

Finally, once your happy with the mix, port it over to your reaper dropper bottles.  Pop in the bead, snap on the cap and screw on the lid.  Lastly, apply a label that notes the colour, manufacturer and ratios for later mixes.

Now every paint mix will be different.  Some work well, some not so.  I found liquitex reds are really vibrant.  Windsor and Newton make good stuff, and some one Derwents paints can be handy... I used the Matisse antique blue to give a more realistic, toned down Crimson Fist space marine base colour.

If you want custom mixed colours to hold you over for a whole army, I suggest first mixing the medium/water/flow aid/talc mix for each colour seperately, then once they behave well, working out a mix ratio of these.  Syringes can then be used to get exact ratios.  Make up a big bottle of this and refill your small dropper bottles or cleaned out citadel pots when you need them.  That way you guarantee the right color for your whole army for years.

Anyway, hope that helps.  if anyone has discovered other great formulas for this mix, or any vital ingredients I am missing (I have been looking at rubbing alcohol as an ingredient in washes for example) then post a comment below!

Happy mixing.

Casting up the Sci fi bases

Been casting and mould making today... got a half dozen or so of the squad bases casted up.  That and drinking beer, cooking gourmet sausages, making tiramisu and swimming in the sea to get away from the heat.  Sydney is a great place for summer weekends.

The cast up deep dish base I made works a treat- the caps pop in and hold nicely- plus I discovered the caps fit perfectly on to a regular round plastic base.  The deep dish bases can be picked up even with a heavy marine on it, just like I planned.  Chuffed to bits!  So eager to paint them I forgot all about the tiramasu in the fridge.  Oh well, miniatures over calories is a good thing I guess.




So the first six are based, though the paint job is a while off being finished, and already I am feeling the glow of a project coming together.  I cannot wait to sit back and look at the whole team finished now.  Quite a bit of work to go, but damn its a fun project!

I am thinking of getting some 3D models printed for resin casting now.  Hell, since I am a 3d artist on one hand and a miniature sculptor on the other I probably should make some 3d sculpted miniatures or busts at some stage.

I also find myself toying more with ideas for a science fiction figure range after I finish my current batch of comissioned sculpts.  Sort of NASA at war, rather than anything that would fit in the 40k universe... besides IP issues, its either 40k gothic, pulp era retro, Aliens or manga... that leaves a gaping hole of 70's and early 80's sci fi.  Space opera stuff.  Taking a bit of Chris Foss inspiration to bed to flick through.


Anyway, pics shortly.

Kill Team Charlie recruits

Kill Team Charlie - Reaper Chronoscope bot, Hasslefree female marine
Citadel C100 space marines and Rogue Trader Adventurers Assasin

Okay, so my favourite project just got a shot in the arm after this weeks Stripathon.  Here is a family pic of the team, missing the six dudes rocking out in a jar of dettol right now.  Yay.  More scrubbing.

C100 ultra rare Female Marine, C100 Marine

Okay, I am just messing with you... there was no female marine in the c100 line.  But there is now, thanks to the wonders of green stuff.  The model on the left was made by taking the model on the right and carefully whittling out the torso and head section.  the key word here is whittle - only work with a brand new blade and peel away thin layers at a time, like scraping off tin foil- never apply force, as your knife will snap and probably take out an eye.  Always cut away from you and use safety goggles.  A round blade is safer than a pointed xacto for this job.  A dremmel is better!
Anyway, the face and torso was scratch built using greenstuff over a bent paperclip.  I widened her hips too, to give a better female proportion.  I also added some more tech and wires to break up the model a bit more- I have several of these figures that need to look different.  I will start the next one with correcting the pressed down nose cone... it looks like the master was not reinforced and got squished a bit in vulcanizing... all the other marines masks are sharp and pointy.

C100 marines

Not sure you can see it, but her face is pink and scarred on one side from a laser burn.  Forget bullets in THIS universe!

Converted Rogue Trader Assassin, Hasslefree Libby female marine

Two more recruits are Libby, from Hasslefree and a broken Assasin from the Rogue Trader Adventurers.  She is actually quite rare, but arrived in a bitz lot - so languished in my bits box for a long while.  The original owner had converted her to be a superhero by shaving off her backpack and shuriken.  What better job than joining a Rogue Trader inspired team!  I fixed up her damaged torso with GS and upgraded her arsenal.  I also improved her weaponry (boom tish).  Note her arm weapon is a copy of the one built onto the captain figure from the c100 range.  A cool weapon that should have stayed in 40k!

The Hasslefree conversion is a no brainer... anyone can stick a back pack on her and she is a great stand in 40k model.  However I wanted to go a bit deeper into the conversion, trying to integrate her into the look and feel of the c100 range.  Kevs sculpt is so clean and crisp, and just aching for smooth shading!  (Do grab yourself one, its a great figure).  As you can see I took the chainsaw arm from a c100 death guard and am currently constructing a C100 style 'wobbly' backpack and another cool fist mounted weapon arm.  A little bit more work to go on her before she joins the team, but you can see the gist of it coming along.  Note the under support layer I am building is a mix of milliput and green stuff - giving a rock solid support so the arm is nice and solid for gameplay.  Mixing the two putties allows you to file and drill the result well.  Great for armour.

See ya!

Daves Blue and Orange Period

Dwarf Adventurers - Three breasted, Chaos, Zombie, Ninja, Demon Dwarf.
Cyclops mutant Orc

You know how it is, you have a bunch of colours on your wet palette and you start looking around for other things to use up the paint.  This week it was blue and orange.

One tip today is the brilliance on Flow Improver.  A 20:1 mix water to Liquitex Flow improver dropped into citadel paint will make it instantly fluid and stop it clinging to your brush!  You know how when you do fine details it just likes your brush better than your model?  Flow Improver.

  Too much, however and your surface will become fuzzy as the paint fails to grab itself and cracks...  some accuse reaper master series of having too much flow improver because of this effect.  I never basecoat with Reaper Master Series, instead going with VMC or Citadel.  (For shading glazes, they are brilliant though because of the huge range of colours).

Failing that, use dish soap instead.  It had the added benefits of being cheap and helping intermix citadel and VMC paints effortlessly.  I use a 1:20 or higher ratio of washing up liquid in a reaper dropper bottle.

Monster Starter Set Lesser Goblin

As you can see, my labour of love Monster Starter set has gotten a little attention.  I got the empty box off EBAY this week - sent all the way from Germany.  Its great as a reference for colours- not a green orc or goblin in sight!