Tuesday, August 31, 2010

HRR 2, Day 2

Days Remaining: 30

Models Remaining: 67



I ended up doing a fair amount of running around and home duties today, so I didn't get a whole lot done with my French. Textured some bases and primed five stands black. Tomorrow I'm quite hopeful that I'll get a few more stands completely finished.

Check in with me tomorrow and I'll tell you all about it...

Monday, August 30, 2010

HRR 1, Day 1

Days Remaining: 31

Models Remaining: 67



Here we go again!

Here's the first Hobby Rush Report (HRR) I'm making for my Flames of War 1750 point French Infantry Company. I've given myself between now and midnight September 30th to finish this army. I'm two for two in previous hobby rushes, so I'm going to do my damnedest to keep my record unblemished! ;)

White boxes represent models/stands that haven't been built yet. Yellow is built, blue is painting progress, and green shows a completely finished stand/model. So, as you can see from the chart above, I've only finished one model thus far.

I didn't get a whole lot done tonight- just some gap filling putty work. Tomorrow I plan on getting some more painting done, so we'll see how that goes.

Anyone else starting some new hobby projects? Tell me all about it! Let's get some models DONE...

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Back From Malacca



I'm baaa-ack!

I had a fantastic time over the last two days. My wife and I really got into the whole tourist thing and did a lot over the course of two days. We took a river sightseeing cruise that involved monitor lizards and almost getting run down by another tour boat operator who wanted to pass. Good times.

I had chicken rice balls on Jonker Street, checked out the ruins of A Fomosa (above), took a dip, walked around, and generally relaxed and lived it up with my gorgeous wife Lena. Fantastic.

As soon as we got back, within minutes I was assembling French Infantry (much to Lena's amusement). Here's what I finished tonight:

All six stands of 81mm mortars, along with the 60mm mortar attached to the Company HQ.

All four 75mm MLE 1897 guns from the Horse Drawn Artillery Battery. I also put together one of the cool ammo tenders. These bases are going to look SWEET when they're done. They really did a great job sculpting these guns!

Now that I type it I guess it's not a whole lot, but hey, I just got back. Tomorrow I'll post up my first official Hobby Rush Report, including the full diagram of what needs to be painted for success. Thanks for checking in, and I hope your weekend was as cool as mine...

Friday, August 27, 2010

Off to Malacca



Well, we're off for Malacca now. No hobby for the next couple of days- just eats and relaxing with the Light of My Life (tm), otherwise known as Lena. ;) Last night I did manage to assemble the Divisional Anti Tank section, the rest of 1st Platoon, and the first two stands of my Mortar Section. I also watched a lot of Fringe Season 1. Good times.

Have a great weekend folks. If I can, I'll make a blog post or two over the weekend with my Malacca discoveries. Until then....

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Early War Starts Now



I think this definitely works for me. The uniform/greatcoat basecoat was airbrushed (VMC 879 Green Brown) on, and the rest was brushed on. After applying all the base colors, I simply applied a watered down VMC Brown Shade over the whole model, watered down Black Shade over the helmets, and then VMC Matte Varnish over the helmets once again (they were a bit shiny). NO highlights were painted on. The only thing I still want to do to this stand is glue on a couple of lighter green colored Silflor tufts. They're on the way from Europe, and as soon as they get here I'll add them and take a "final pic". In the meantime, I'm going to start motoring through this army.

Could the paintjob be better? Sure, definitely, and without a doubt. HOWEVER, this paint job will be more than sufficient for a nice table quality army, and it's dead easy to do. I'm really going to try and bust this army out pronto. In case you're wondering, this weekend "Blitzkrieg" hits the shelves of your local Flames of War stockist. This is a much anticipated hardcover book that will finally allow you to play the very beginning of WW II on the tabletop. Invasion of Poland? No problem. Conquest of France? Yep, the book's got that covered as well.

The models I'm painting don't actually hit the shelves until October, so I'm definitely getting an early start here. I really want to do this army, and you have to admit they bear a striking resemblance to my beloved Krieg miniatures. It's all good folks!

Who else is catching the Early War bug? The German Light Panzer company and British Armored Regiment come out this weekend as well, so you can just right into Early War. Join me, folks. It's gonna be sweet!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Another Three Done



Here's the squad thus far with three more done tonight. Yippee!

I probably could've gotten a start on the final three dudes, but I made the mistake of popping "Rocky Balboa" in my laptop as background noise. I ended up getting into the retread cries of "Get up, Rocky!", much to my hobby detriment. Please don't think less of me.

Tomorrow I'll get as much as I can get done on the rest of the squad. In the meantime, here's some so-so pics of the three dudes I finished tonight. Thanks for tuning in!




Sunday, August 22, 2010

A Little Weekend Progress



Well, it's not what I had hoped for, but progress is progress. Here's a pic of what I did over this weekend:



I didn't do a damn thing on Saturday except chill out.

Hang on a sec. Actually, that's not true. I did some righteous manly work on the house with power tools! I almost forgot!

I went out and got myself a drill bit for tiles, along with a couple of towel racks for my bathroom. The developer didn't put any on the wall in our house. We tried those suction cup towel racks- they blew. I remember sometime right after we moved in (late February), I went into an Ace hardware while Lena shopped in Guardian (local pharmacy chain in Malaysia for those who haven't heard of it). While in the Ace a little TV was playing infomercials about how kick ass these Korean suction cup towel racks are. "Guaranteed not to fall off!". Guarantee my balls. Oh well, I believed the delightfully androgynous Korean TV man, so I got what I deserve.

However, I triumphed with mighty power tools! I got two towel racks, carefully drilled some holes in the wall, pushed in some fiber plug things (no laughing you!), and got r' dun. Tools are awesome. DIY is awesome. My towels don't fall on the floor any more. Nice.

So, after my mighty manly stuff, I fired up the airbrush and basecoated the greatcoats. I then broke off half them and got all the base colors applied, all washes applied, and highlighted the leather. I should be able to finish them up tomorrow.

I'm off to bed, but I leave you with some power tool goodness. I hope your weekend kicked ass- I know mine did.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Let There Be Metal (and some assembled Krieg)



After grilling up some seriously kick ass burgers tonight ;) I retreated up to my Chamber of Hobby Horror for some Bolt Thrower and Krieg assembly. I got three more completely assembled, and a couple more ready for e-tools, grenades, etc. I know it doesn't sound like very much progress, but the resin bits really are fiddly, warped, and loaded with flash. Definitely not for the hobby beginner or lazy bastard. No priming or painting either, unfortunately, but I can do that this weekend no problem. The Imperial war machine marches to inevitable victory.

Tomorrow night I'm planning on assembling as much Krieg goodness as I can, including a heavy weapons team. I want to paint one of those up this weekend- ForgeWorld really went to town with the poses and equipment on those. With any luck, I'll get the first squad done this weekend, and start on the Engineers next week.

I'm going back to Bolt Thrower and my hobby knife now. Take it easy, and tune in Saturday for the next Krieg progress report...

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Three More Krieg Guardsmen Done







Well, that makes 4!

Tomorrow I'll get as many more members of First Squad, First Platoon assembled as possible, and then get them primed and the greatcoats airbrushed grey. That'll give me Hobby Night to get as much painting done as possible on them without having to drag an airbrush along. Who knows- maybe I'll get an entire squad by the end of the weekend...? That would be TIGHT.

Take it easy folks, and thanks a bunch for the interest and comments. Until tomorrow...

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

More Krieg Progress



I added the color blue to show models that have "serious painting progress". Gotta stay motivated!

I thought these three lately Krieg troopers were a lot farther along, but I guess I was wrong. I worked on them for a couple of hours. All I have left to do is airbrush the matte varnish and paint the bases. The rest is done.

One thing about this new painting style is that pictures look mercilessly awful. I attest that these dudes look a lot better in person. Maybe I'm deluding myself. Who knows.

I'm reasonably happy with the controversial melta bomb conversion. The pic is little off because there's a wash on there that's still a little juicy. I also didn't get the hazard striping perfectly edged and straight, either. Argh.






I like the running dude. Cool sculpt, and the painting is coming nicely as well.





Finally, the crouching dude. Another wicked sweet sculpt, and this pic shows off the company decal nicely



With any luck, I'll finish these dudes tomorrow and start building the last six models of the squad. Once I finish a full squad of ten, I'll treat myself to the Engineer Squad and Hades Drill I just got in the mail. Until tomorrow folks...

Monday, August 16, 2010

Dead Lazy Weekend

Even I am not immune to the draw of video games, and an easy weekend of relaxing at home for our anniversary weekend. Fairly low key, but we definitely enjoyed ourselves. I made excellent progress on Friday night with three members of first squad, including the Watchmaster (and his suspect melta bomb conversion). However, I didn't take any pics over the weekend, nor did I finish them. Yes, I'm naughty.

Tonight at the very least I'll get pics done, but I think there's a pretty good chance I'll pick up the paintbrush and finish one or more of these dudes. Besides, I've committed myself to finishing the entire first squad before I start on anything else. This has been made a little tougher by the package that just showed up today: my Engineer squad and their Hades Mining Drill. They look fantastic, but I'm not going to start on them until I have a full 10 man infantry squad complete. Once I do, the engineers will be my "treat".

More tonight after work...

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Hobby Night Prep, and a Great Gift

Hola amigos!

I'm wrapping up about three hours of hobby/painting for the night, which is pretty badass for a weeknight in my book. I worked on two projects: Battletech and the Death Korps

Battletech




Last Friday's game against Kai was a blast! We duked it out with two 'mechs each- my Vindicator and Panther against his Hatchetman and Jenner. It was a tight battle, but in the end I got some lucky rolls and pulled out the win. At the end of the game, his Hatchetman was destroyed (Three engine criticals), and the left leg was blown off his Jenner by the Panther's particle cannon. Nice.

Tomorrow we want to play a bit larger of a game, so I painted up a Spider (the spindly, light one), and an Awesome (the one with lots of HUGE guns). Again, simple paint schemes. Ham and eggs goodness that will work on the tabletop... And yes, I did paint Bestial Brown on the rims of the bases to finish them off. I have no idea why I didn't wait until after I did that to take the pic. Chalk that one up to overeager stupidity.

Death Korps of Krieg

I glued basing materials on two Guardsmen and my Watchmaster, and primed them up. I then fired up the airbrush and painted their greatcoats. So, they're all ready for tomorrow's brush work. I see no reason why these minis can't all be completely finished by the end of Hobby Night, save a final airbrushed matte varnish. I'll get pics up on Saturday of the finished minis, and you can tell me if you think the melta bomb conversion is feeble or not. Good times.

Finally, I want to wrap up tonight with an, "I love you babe!" out to my lovely wife Lena. We're celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary (WOW!), and she got me this:



Seriously, how cool is that? With no input or hints from me, she noticed my penchant for Death Korps, got on the horn with ForgeWorld, and ordered this kick ass Krieg Infantry Company TO&E. She even framed it up by herself. She really supports my hobby madness, and this is really touching and cool. Lena, if you read this, know that I will think of you every time I look at this poster, along with mangled up bodies trapped in barbed wire and howling explosions. Good times. ;)

That's it for tonight folks. I wish you a most groovy evening and righteous hobby. Tune in over the next couple of days for some more Death Korps painted models- the 15th marches on...

For Krieg!

Second Thoughts

Here's the pics of the Watchmaster, as promised. Now, I'm not so sure about this melta-bomb conversion. The strap doesn't look like it's under tension from a heavy bomb. I'm thinking about popping it off and starting again...

I gotta think about this one, folks.



Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Hobby Report: Death Korps of Krieg



Howdy folks!

I thought I'd take a few minutes during my lunch to post up the latest hobby developments on my end. The forges of Adeptus Malaysia are firmly locked on the Death Korps.

As you can see above, I've officially started my hobby log for the army. There you can see the basic details and organization of the army, as well as the current progress I've managed (not much!). Like my previous reports, each box corresponds to a model I need to paint for the army. The color in the box tells you where I'm at with it:

White: No progress has been made on this model

Yellow: This model has been fully assembled and is ready for painting

Blue: This model is currently being painted, but not yet finished

Green: This model is finished

The letters above the boxes indicate what model the box refers to, and for the most part should be easy to figure out. Gd is 'Guardsman', ML is Mole Launcher, etc.

Last night I finished assembling the Watchmaster for 1st Squad, 1st Platoon. He took a bit of work, as I mulled over a few options to rep his power sword and melta bombs. I'll post a pic tonight, and I think you'll agree my conversion gets the idea across. Basically, I cut the side pouch off of one of my Krieg backpacks, and glued in its place a sheathed sword from the plastic Imperial Guard Command sprue. I cut the Catachan tooth/fetish off of it- the Death Korps have no desire or need for sentimentality!

The melta bomb was a bit more tricky. I ended up using the melta bomb from the Space Marine Assault Squad sprue. To attach it realistically, I cut a very thin strip of the thinnest plasticard I have. I then bent it around and looped it through the large handle on the bomb, suggesting a leather tie down strap. I then cut a chip from a 1mm styrene rod, and carefully glued the chip in place on the "strap", intending it to serve as a metal clasp or button to secure the bomb. I then glued the assemble on the Watchmaster's backpack in such a way as to make it seem the strap is coming off of the backpack. It's a simple conversion, but one that I think will paint up very nicely. Again, I'll post up a pic tonight so you can see for yourself.

That's about it for now. I'll update and post my log every day that I manage progress on this army, and hopefully that will motivate me to keep at it and get this project DONE. In the meantime, thanks for checking in with me, and good luck with whatever projects you might be working on these days...

Sunday, August 8, 2010

At Last, the First Finished Trooper



At long last, I've got the paint scheme and finishing done and dusted for my Death Korps of Krieg. It's long overdue, but at least it's done. I'm really pleased with the final result- dirtied down and lacking dramatic edge highlights like I've always done in the past. The final result is grittier than anything else I've painted before, and it's a great change of pace! This army is going to look great when it's done.

What follows is every little detail in the paintjob itself. I need to store this info someplace, if for no other reason than to ensure that I can replicate this scheme anytime I wish. The basic frame of the paintjob is the tutorial I mentioned earlier from the blog First Rank, Second Rank. Mine parts a bit from it however, and I think owes a little more to the "historical" scheme of the Krieg 143rd Siege Regiment. However, I diverged from both schemes with much more squad marking detail. I'll get to that in a second...

Paint Scheme

Starting from a black primer basecoat, here's the "recipe", broken down by area on the model:

Greatcoats

Airbrushed Tamiya XF-53 Neutral Grey, attempting as much as possible to leave areas in shadow a bit darker.

Paint GW Badab Black in all the folds and gaps as shading. I did this three times, letting each previous coat dry and focusing more black wash in the deepest areas of shadow.

Painted all buttons GW Brazen Brass, with a subsequent sepia wash. I used Daler Rowney Sepia ink, but GW Gryphonne Sepai would work just as well.

Painted a VMC Black triangle on the left collar front, followed by GW Mechrite Red. It's hard to see, but the best shot I have of it is below:



A basic geometric shape, along with different colors, indicates what regiment a guardsman serves in. In this case, a red triangle indicates the 143rd Siege Regiment. For a much better pic check out page 17 of Imperial Armour Volume Five, The Siege of Vraks Part One.

I then applied MIG P037 Gulf War Sand pigment to the lower half of the greatcoats and boots to simulate accumulated dust and grime. At the end, when I finished the base with a light drybrush of GW Bleached Bone, I also applied a little to the greatcoat to link the coat and the base a little bit more (base painting scheme described at the bottom)

Webbing, Boots, Belt, Ammo and E-tool Pouches, and Backpack



Basecoat in GW Calthan Brown

Apply GW Devlan Mud wash

Highlight again with GW Calthan Brown

Bedroll, Leg Bindings, Gas Mask

Basecoat in GW Khemri Brown

Apply GW Devlan Mud wash

Highlight with GW Khemri Brown

Gas mask was given an additional highlight of GW Kommando Khaki. Hose connected painted GW Brazen Brass, and highlighted with GW Shining Gold. Eyepiece rims edged in VMC Oily Steel. Lenses left black. Hose drybrushed with GW Codex Grey

Helmet, Shoulder Armor, Glove Armor





Basecoat with VMC German Grey

Helmet Imperial Eagle and Shoulder Armor rivets painted VMC Oily Steel.

Shoulder armor given a painted on gloss varnish with VMC Gloss Varnish. This was done to prepare the surface for decals.

Here's the primary area where I deviated from the "historical" model. I feel like with the strict regimentation of the Death Korps, unit identification would be very important. So, I decided that every guardsman will be clearly identifiable down to squad level.

All of the Krieg infantry models have two shoulder plates on their left side, so I decided to use these for company and platoon identification. The "15th" on the top plate indicates the company. This decal came from the ForgeWorld Death Korps Decal Sheet. On the smaller armor plate below, I carefully painted a single line with VMC White. This indicates the model is from 1st Platoon. 2d Platoon gets two stripes, 3rd gets three, etc.

The right side indicates what squad the model is in. There are some serial number decals on the Krieg sheet that are intended for very small work like artillery shells. I cut the "1" out of a longer sequence to get a decal small enough to cleanly mount to the plate.

The shoulder armor got another layer of VMC Gloss Varnish to seal the decals down, followed by a painted on layer of VMC Matte Varnish.

I then gave the helmet and shoulder armor a 50/50 GW Devlan Mud/water wash to add a little filth, and to "dirty down" the bright white decals into something more in keeping with the rest of the model. I applied pin washes to the rivets on the helmet and shoulder plates afterwards, as well as along the fluting at the top of the helmet.

Painted on Daler-Rowney Soluble Matte Varnish over armor plates. This stuff is "uber matte"- no trace of shininess left behind after this!

Finally, I took a #2 pencil and rubbed it along the hard edges of the helmet, shoulder armor, and glove armor to simulate worn off paint. I also made some random "gouges" with the pencil in different places to show wearing.

Backpack Provisions Tin

Basecoat with VMC Luftwaffe Cam. Green (GW Catachan Green would look good as well)

Paint Imperial Eagle with VMC Oily Steel

Applied GW Badab Black wash

Highlight with VMC Luftwaffe Cam. Green

Flamer

Drybrushed with VMC Oily Steel

Paint fuel bottle and furniture with VMC Black.

Fuel tank skull and feed hose painted GW Brazen Brass

GW Snakebite Leather painted in semi-random streaks at the muzzle, followed by similar streaks of VMC Black inside. Apply sepia wash as before over black, snakebite, and a bit of the muzzle.

Muzzle edges, ingiter, fuel tank rivets, and furniture all given the #2 pencil treatment.

Pants and Gloves

Basecoat with GW Scorched Brown

GW Badab Black wash applied

Highlight with GW Scorched Brown

Base



Before I primed the fig, I glued pieces of shale and larger basing material in a few places, followed by fine sand. For this fig I also stuck in a bit of metal mesh for additional interest.

Painted all of the sand GW Bestial Brown

Medium drybrush of GW Bubonic Brown, followed by a light drybrush of GW Bleached Bone

Painted all rocks/shale GW Codex Grey

Applied GW Devlan Mud wash

Drybrushed GW Fortress Grey.

Painted mesh GW Dark Flesh, followed by GW Vermin Brown in random, stippled patches. Finished with GW Macharius Solar Orange, again stippled.

Painted rim GW Bestial Brown


As you can see, other than the pencil treatment, there's not an edge highlight to be found anywhere on the model. I really like it, and I think the army is going to look striking in its entirety (especially with tanks!)

So, there you have it. Over the coming week this project is going to be the "big one", and I'll keep this blog updated as much as possible with my progress. Thanks for checking in, and by all means I'd love to hear your comments and/or criticism of this "new techique" and scheme of mine. Until next time...

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Test Model Night




Compared to the torrid pace I set while working on the Iyanden army, my progress lately has been pretty damn slow. However, as you can see SOME progress has been made.

What you see above is the very first Death Korps of Krieg test model, painted to match the 143rd Siege Regiment colors. My scheme is heavily based on the very nice tutorial available at First Rank, Second Rank. The only real things I'm doing differently are the helmets and weathering. The helmets, shoulder armor, and glove armor are painted VMC German Grey, and I plan to airbrush a light mist of Tamiya XF-57 Buff on the lower parts of all my models to simulate dust. We'll see how both of those go. I have barely started this miniature, so please don't rush to judgement yet! :)




I've been looking at my house budget and savings plan lately, and right now spending the kind of money I would need to get the Death Korps going all at once is not realistic. I need to collect and paint this army at a measured pace, being mindful of my fiscal sanity while I do it. In case this creates a bit of a delay, my mind started wandering. Checking out my hobby stash, I have A LOT of leftover Chaos Space Marines from my Alpha Legion and Unclean hobby projects. So, using the models I have, I thought it might be fun to try out a Slaanesh themed army. I've never painted one up, and as far as I know there are no Legio regulars that have a 100% Slaanesh themed army. So, what you see here is the start of a test model for the "Brotherhood of Sybaris". It didn't take too much effort to get his this far- I airbrushed on a white undercoat and then a VGC Squid Pink basecoat. The rest was done with a brush, using GW Liche Purple, VMC Black, and GW Leviathan Purple wash. I think he looks pretty cool thus far. I'll finish him up this week along with the Krieg trooper, just for shits and giggles.

I hope this evening finds you all well. Until next time, take it easy and keep your brush clean!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Time to Relight the Forges...



Over the weekend and yesterday I've been watching movies, playing Dragon Age: Origins, and generally taking it easy after work. Monday I received my Iyanden and Legio dice from our club's supplier. It's amazing that after two years I never did get around to getting my own set of Legio dice until now!

Having said all that, the time has come to get back into the hobby room and get some work done. Check back in with me tonight, as I'll post whatever progress I can manage with the Death Korps. Until then, cheers!