Lunch Break Hobby Time, Part IV

As you might've seen in my last post, I was going to try gluing part of a dryer sheet to add texture to my A-frame tents. I tried it and was most unhappy with the results.

Even with white Contrast paint, I think it looks awful. The texture is much too large for that scale and makes it look too weird. That base is also way too big (but it's what I had on hand).

So, I've pulled the dryer sheet off and will be starting from the beginning again. Ben from Weasel Miniatures suggested that I try Kleenex (instead of a paper towel) and watered down PVA glue so I'm going to give that a try. 

Cutting up the Kleenex was a bit therapeutic, to be honest. But since this is going to be a bit of a messy endeavor, I'm going to wait until one of my days off to tackle it when I have the time to spare.

While it's frustrating that my initial idea didn't work out, it was worth a shot. I'm learning from my failure here and learning from it. I feel like that's a good lesson for life in general. 

Lunch Break Hobby Time, Part III

While taking out the trash last week, two bits of packaging for our new exercise bike fell out. I instantly had an idea to make A-frame tents out of them. I've been using a lot of my break time to work on them and I think the project is coming along nicely. 

I measured 2 inches and made the appropriate marks. 

The dimensions aren't perfect, but I figure they're good enough for my purposes. Plus I think I'll mount them onto individual bases so that should help with the height a bit.

For the tent flaps, I traced the outline onto some thin bits of cardboard that came with our cats' food. 

Voila! I'll probably cut some flaps open to give it a more realistic effect but we'll see what happens. 

Now, there are two methods I'm thinking of trying from here for texture. One involves a dryer sheet, and the other a paper towel and heavily watered down PVA glue.

Of Cats & Miniatures

Just wanted to take a quick moment to show my recent barrier to a successful hobby session.

It’s only been recently that Gizmo has been jumping up into my lap while I’m in the basement. And when he’s adamant, one has no choice but to stop and give him the attention he needs. 

I’ve been inspired to work on some 28mm American Civil War figures; my first since the medical diorama I did back in 2013. I found a box of plastic infantry from Perry Miniatures while cleaning up.

I have a total of 18 infantrymen to paint, plus an officer, two sergeants, and two standard bearers. I’ve hit a bit of a snag but hope to be finishing these guys up by the end of the week.

My First Miniature, or How I Learned to Thin My Paints and Love the Journey

Back in mid-2007, I was introduced to the joys of painting miniatures by friends Kyle and Ben. The latter has been particularly kind and gracious in showing me the ins and outs of this hobby over the last 13 years. I decided to to start a Praetorian force for Warhammer 40k (since I love the movie Zulu) and got a few figures in a bundle on eBay. Sly Marbo was also included and I decided that he was to be my first test figure.

Armed with Delta Ceramcoat and cheap Michaels brushes, I set to work! I don’t remember how long it took me to finish painting, but I remember how proud and excited I was when I finished. I remember Ben telling me that it was really good for a first figure.

Let’s quickly contrast him with my most recent 40k figure.

Wow. It’s amazing what 13 years can do!

I’m kind of embarrassed looking at this figure now, but I think it’s important. It’s a nice reminder of how my skills and techniques have evolved. That, and memories of all the help and encouragement I got along the way from friends and family. I’m still not the greatest painter (nor do I expect I ever will be), but I’ve really gotten to enjoy the learning process (which has been tough at times given my perfectionist tendencies).

I want to close this post with an awesome web comic that really spoke to me, courtesy of OK Blue Comics on Tumblr.

“I shall call him...Mini Me.”

Finally got to finishing up my 28mm avatar last night! He’s a slightly converted Deputy Wayne Tisdale figure from Reaper Miniatures’ Bones collection. I cut off the holster, though, as I’m a “fun ranger” and not a “gun ranger.” ⁣

I was a little disappointed with the lack of definition on some parts of the figure (namely the face), but overall the sculpt was really good on this. I also wish I was still this skinny, but that’s another matter entirely.

Finished Catachan Test Figure

Finished up my Catachan test figure today, and I’m really happy with how he turned out! I know I say that often, but it’s rare for me to happy with how my work turns out. This dude is one of the old school metal figures. I picked him and others up on eBay for a good price and plan on interspersing them with the plastic figures.

It took a bit longer to do the figure than anticipated (it’s always like that for me when working out a new color scheme). But now that that’s sorted out I think I’ll get through these figures pretty quickly.

“The jungle...it just came alive and took him.”

I admit it: 1987’s Predator with Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of my favorite films. It’s a highly quotable, classic action film with a great cast and filled with iconic scenes. For me, one of those best scenes is when Dillon (played by Carl Weathers) meets his end...but not before getting his arm blown off.

With my recent Catachan project going full steam ahead, I knew I had to replicate this scene in 28mm. What better way to do it than as an objective marker?

This was an absolute joy to make! I’ve decided to use dried parsley flakes on all my jungle bases from here on out, which gives it just a little more depth. Once everything was varnished and sealed, some of Games Workshop’s Blood for the Blood God technical paint was applied. I worry about the marker being too gory, but I also feel it captures the feel and tone of both Predator and Warhammer 40k in general.

I may make some some other markers based off the movie, but there are also so many other iconic scenes from Vietnam War movies as well. We’ll see.