Weekly Workbench 26 March 2017

Still not getting as much time as I would like painting each week, kids keeping me busy.  I did manage to get some stuff done and even used some new products.  After watching Next Level Painting's YouTube episode The Best Hobby Products, I purchased a couple of the ones he talked about, or variations thereof.  I picked up Vallejo Brown Earth Texture (26.219), Grey Sand Ground Texture (26.215), and Black Surface Primer (73.602).

New basing supplies!

Historical:

Our mortar team starts digging into the clay mud!

I finished painting Warlord Games' Bolt Action 60mm Medium Mortar Team.  I only used one new color, True Copper for the buttons, sticking with Oak Brown for wood, Leather Brown for leather, and Gun Metal and Black for steel.  I did use the Military Shader wash on the uniform which is lighter than the Green Tone I have used before.  I also used the Mid Brown wash on the rest, and as I found out on the Boromites, it places a red-brown wash over the model.  In this case that was nice, as many of the islands the Marine's fought on during WWII had a red clay soil.  Once all this painting was completed I glued them to the base and added the Vallejo Brown Earth Texture (26.219).  Tomorrow I will finish the basing once the Brown Earth dries completely.

Sci-Fi:

Boromites still figuring out cammo.

For the Warlord Games' Beyond the Gates of Antares Boromites I washed one miniature with Soft Tone and another with Mid Brown.  Neither came out with the dark crevasses I wanted.  Instead, both left the grey relatively untouched and the Mid Brown wash left an additional reddish hue on the equipment.  I think I will have to use a Dark Tone to get the effect I desire.  I also highlighted the skin with Dragon Red to brighten the purplish Vampire Red.

Fantasy:

Wargs on the prowl.

This week I began on Games Workshop's Fell Wargs.  So far I have only gotten to dry brushing the Black base coat with Werewolf Fur and will need at least one or two more fur colors to help bring out longer fur.  In addition I will be painting their fangs, starting with Drake Tooth.

Make sure to stop by next week for another update and check out the mid-week tutorial on painting Ori from Thorin's Company!

*All paints and washes are The Army Painter unless otherwise indicated.

Painting Guide: Nori

Nori Front

Nori is the second of the less well known dwarves of Thorin’s Company.  Peter Jackson chose to help distinguish many of these dwarves by adding a little special detail to each.  For several of them it is a less common principle weapon.  For Nori this is his two handed mace, however, he also wears his hair in three distinctive mohawks.      

Nori Left

0.  Nori starts out with a Matt Black undercoat.

1.   Paint the flesh using Tanned Flesh.

1a. Wash the skin with Red Tone to get the ruddier tone of the Dwarfs.

1b. Wash the skin again in Flesh Tone.

1c. Highlight using Barbarian Flesh.

2.   Paint Nori’s hair and beard with Leather Brown.

2a. Highlight with Fur Brown.

2b. Highlight again with a 2:1:1 mix ratio of Lava Orange, Skeleton Bone, and Tan Flesh.

3.   Paint the mace shaft with Oak Brown.

4.   Highlight/detail Nori’s gloves, boots, and knife sheaths, Fur Brown over the Black.

4a. Highlight the edges of the boots with Skeleton Bone.

STEP BY STEP GUIDE 1

5.   Paint Nori’s tunic and overcoat trim Uniform Grey.

5a. Highlight with Wolf Grey.

5b. Highlight/detail (crosshatch) with Ash Grey.

5c. Wash with Dark Tone.

6.   Paint Nori’s trousers, overcoat, and leather strap with Leather Brown.

6a. Highlight with Monster Brown.

6b. Paint the crosshatch on the overcoat with Skeleton Bone using a 5/0 or 10/0 brush.

7.   Paint the mace head, beard beads, chain shirt, and knife sheath tip with Gun Metal.

7a. Wash the above with Strong Tone.

8.   Paint Nori’s belt with Oak Brown.

STEP BY STEP GUIDE 2

9.   Paint the knife handles Leather Brown.

10. Paint the knife pummels Weapon Bronze.

11. Paint Nori’s mantel/hood Alien Purple.

STEP BY STEP GUIDE 3

Some last notes:  

A. The eyes were painted between the Flesh Tone Wash and the Barbarian Flesh Highlight.  The eyes are done with a 5/0 brush.  First paint a horizontal white line and then place a black dot in the center.

B. AP Soft Tone is a good wash for flesh and other light colored items.

C. AP Strong Tone is a good general brown wash similar to Citadel's Agrax Earth Shade. 

D. AP Dark Tone is a good black wash similar to Citadel's Nuln Oil.

Nori Rear

I based the miniature with coral beach sand for the rocky/sandy caves of Goblin Town and added some Highland Tufts and Meadow Tufts from The Army Painter Battlefields range.  I then painted the edge of the base in Alien Purple. 

Nori Right

Next week Ori starts plinking away.  And be sure to pop in Sunday night for the Weekly Workbench!

I have to thank TALE OF TWO PAINTERS for the inspiration for these tutorials.  Unfortunately, I do not have step by step photos like they do as I found their site after I was a quarter of the way complete.  They painted the miniatures using Citadel paints.  I felt a guide using The Army Painter brand was warranted, especially as there is no readily available conversion chart for Citadel and AP brands like the other major miniature paint brands (Vallejo, P3, Reaper, etc.).  When I painted these miniatures I only had the 42 bottle 2015 Mega Paint Set II, so there was a lot of mixing of paints to get the right color. My wonderful mother graced me with the Veteran Warpainter Upgrade Set with an additional 82 paints for my birthday in March so once this starter set is done you will begin to see the new colors!

Weekly Workbench 19 March 2017

Not a lot of painting this week but managed to get some done in each genre as well as some organizing done at the desk.  The organization came about with the help of IronHeart Artisans.  With my birthday check from my in-laws I decided on some paint storage options.  I was very happy with their service, I placed an order after hours and 32 minutes after they opened the next morning the package was waiting for mail man to pick it up.  That was on the 16th and I had the package on the 18th.  The pieces went together very easily and with no issues whatsoever.  I cannot recommend them highly enough!  In order to accommodate all the new paint I chose three different products in order to fit around my work space.

IronHeart Artisans' Inverted 72 Dropper Bottle Paint Rack

The largest is the Inverted 72 Dropper Bottle Paint Rack, with six rows of twelve.  This holds the majority of my paint off the desk on the drawers to my right.  This holds my Grays, Blues, Greens, Browns, Yellows, and Whites.

IronHeart Artisans' Inverted 48 Dropper Bottle Paint Rack

The next is the smaller Inverted 48 Dropper Bottle Paint Rack, with four rows of twelve. This fits nicely under the left of my main monitor.  It holds the Reds, Purples & Pinks, Flesh Tones, Metallics, and the nine Effects paints.

IronHeart Artisans' 4 Tier Stepped Paint Rack

The last item was the 4 Tier Stepped Paint Rack, Each tier will hold fifteen standard dropper bottles or ten 10ml Tamiya Color paint bottles. The top tier also has ten spots for paint brushes if you are using ones with small round handles like ProArte.  I placed it under the right side of my main monitor.  This rack holds my eleven ink tones, my Vallejo paints, my Tamiya paints, and some of my glues (the Tamiya Cement hexagon bottle does not fit).

Newly organized work-space thanks to IronHeart Artisans!

This organization is nice, though with all the paint out and accessible I had to get rid of the cup holding my paint brushes and instead placed them laying down in the 100 Yen Daiso container on the left side of my desk.  Now on to the miniatures!

Historical:

Almost ready to launch some fire support!

I continued work on Warlord Games' Bolt Action 60mm Medium Mortar Team. I highlighted the flesh with Elven Flesh and then washed it down with the Flesh Wash.  I went over their web gear with Troll Claws and gaiters with Hemp Rope.  I am looking forward to finishing the painting tomorrow and see how new colors look once washed.

Sci-Fi:

Boromites on the move.

I did not touch the Warlord Games' Beyond the Gates of Antares Ghar Assault Squad member this week and instead focused on my Boromites. Having re-primed them in grey I chose to dry brush them with Vampire Blood and then paint their equipment with Sulfide Ochre.  Next I will wash it all down and then highlight the gear with Phoenix Flames.  Next time I do these though I will make sure not to hit most of the equipment with the red as it takes multiple coats of yellow to cover enough up to proceed to the next step.

Fantasy:

What has it gots in its pockets my Precioussss?

I finished the majority of the painting for Games Workshop's Gollum, just need to do some touch-ups and edge the base.  First I washed the skin with Flesh Wash.  Next the hair was done with Necromancer Cloak, and the eyes with Hardened Carapace. His loin cloth was painted with Leather Brown.  For the stone I painted Hardened Carapace over the grey base and then highlighted with Dark Stone.

3 sided plyo-box, 20 x 24 x 30 inches.

Lastly, for the great group of guys on Tabletop Commanders Forum's Saturday Paint and Chat, here is the plyo-box I was working on during that session.  See you guys next week and do not forget to check out the tutorial on painting Nori this Tuesday!

Painting Guide: Dori

Front

Sorry for the delay, I misplaced my paint journal and had not typed this tutorial yet.  Dori begins the first of the less well known dwarves of Thorin’s Company.  Peter Jackson chose to help distinguish many of these dwarves by adding a little special detail to each.  For a number of them it is a less common principle weapon.  This is the case for Dori, who comes armed with a three headed flail, a flail being a short weapon with a round metal head attached to the handle by a chain or rope.      

Left Side

0.   Dori starts out with a Matt Black undercoat.

1.   Paint the flesh using Tanned Flesh.

1a. Wash the skin with Red Tone to get the ruddier tone of the Dwarfs.

1b. Wash the skin again in Flesh Tone.

1c. Highlight using Barbarian Flesh.

2.   Paint Dori’s hair and beard with Ash Grey.

2a. Highlight with Matt White.

2b. Wash the hair and beard with Soft Tone.

3.   Paint Dori’s Tunic and Mantle with Chaotic Red.

3a. Highlight with a 1:1 ratio mixture of Barbarian Flesh and Pure Red.

3b. Add a second highlight by adding 1:1 ratio mixture of the above and Matt White.

3c. Finally wash the Tunic and Mantle with Red Tone.

4.   Paint Dori’s overcoat and top of the wrist guards in Chaotic Red.

4a. Highlight the edges of the overcoat with Pure Red.

4b. Wash the overcoat with Dark Tone.

Paint Directions 1

5.   Paint Dori’s boots with Monster Brown.

5a. Wash the boots with Dark Tone.

6.   Highlight the belt, wrist-guards, and scabbard with Uniform Grey.

7.   Paint the sword blade, flail chains, belt buckle, and scabbard edges with Plate Mail Metal.

7a. Wash the above with Dark Tone.

8.   Paint the sword pommel and flail heads with Weapon Bronze.

8a. Wash these parts with Dark Tone.

Paint Directions 2

Some last notes:  

A. The eyes were painted between the Flesh Tone Wash and the Barbarian Flesh Highlight.  The eyes are done with a 5/0 brush.  First paint a horizontal white line and then place a black dot in the center.

B. AP Soft Tone is a good wash for flesh and other light colored items.

C. AP Strong Tone is a good general brown wash similar to Citadel's Agrax Earth Shade. 

D. AP Dark Tone is a good black wash similar to Citadel's Nuln Oil.

Rear

I based the miniature with coral beach sand for the rocky/sandy caves of Goblin Town and added some Highland Tufts and Meadow Tufts from The Army Painter Battlefields range.  I then painted the edge of the base in Alien Purple. 

Right Side

Next week Nori comes in swinging with his two handed mace!  And be sure to pop in Sunday night for the Weekly Workbench!

I have to thank TALE OF TWO PAINTERS for the inspiration for these tutorials.  Unfortunately, I do not have step by step photos like they do as I found their site after I was a quarter of the way complete.  They painted the miniatures using Citadel paints.  I felt a guide using The Army Painter brand was warranted, especially as there is no readily available conversion chart for Citadel and AP brands like the other major miniature paint brands (Vallejo, P3, Reaper, etc.).  When I painted these miniatures I only had the 42 bottle 2015 Mega Paint Set II, so there was a lot of mixing of paints to get the right color. My wonderful mother graced me with the Veteran Warpainter Upgrade Set with an additional 82 paints for my birthday this past weekend so once this starter set is done you will begin to see the new colors!

Weekly Workbench 12 March 2017

So despite being on leave all week, which one would think would lead to tons of opportunities to paint miniatures I got almost zero painting done until today.  Between building a new lifting platform for the garage gym, spending time with the kids, Cub Scout Pinewood Derby, and starting a new college class I was pretty busy.  I do have a couple of miniature related items though.

Thank You Mom!

Today was my birthday and my wonderful mother kindly gifted me The Army Painter's Veteran Warpainters Upgrade Set! The set includes 82 dropper bottles to include 3 more metallic paints, 4 more washes, and 7 more effects (ranging from primer, to mixing mediums, to Wet Mud, Glistening Blood, and Dry Rust), and a ton new shades of color!

Brushes!

As you can see set came with the Most Wanted Brush Set (The Regiment Brush at about #1, the Insane Detail at a 5/0 or 10/0, and a small dry brush), as well as their Masterclass Brush with Kolinsky Sable hair at 2/0.

Thank You!

 A nice little thank you note was included as well.

All the colors!

Lastly were the 13 boxes of 6 dropper bottles and a 14th with 4 dropper bottles of paint.  I will spare you going through all the different colors in detail but there are a lot more shades which means a lot less mixing on my part!  This will save both time and money in wasted paint!  This evening I did get a chance to break some of them out and try some new ideas.

Nicely laid out.

Historical:

Back to Warlord Games' Bolt Action 60mm Medium Mortar Team I used the new Combat Fatigues color to paint over the uniform of one of the Marines.  I think this looks much more realistic and weather beaten than the standard Army Green I have used in the past.  The Army Green Primer will not go to waste though as it makes a nice undercoat and base for the Combat Fatigues and removes a step in the painting process. In the picture below, the mortar tube, webbing, and gaiters are still in Army Green while the uniform has been painted with Combat Fatigues.

No longer a boot, this Marine has seen some time in the tropics!

Sci-Fi:

With all the new blues received I tried out two of the new colors for use as highlights on Warlord Games' Beyond the Gates of Antares Ghar Assault Squad member.  The lighter shade is Voidshield Blue and the darker color is Viking Blue.  I am leaning towards the Viking Blue but am interested in what you all think.  The lines were really rough here as my grip was shot from my workout and my hands would not stop shaking.  Good thing this is the test model I will likely repaint once I am set on a color scheme!

Voidshield Blue or Viking Blue?

Fantasy:

I think I found a good pale flesh color that would have worked well for my goblins.  Instead I am going to use Drake Tooth with one of the new washes (Flesh Wash or Light Tone) for Games Workshop's Gollum.  Here he is painted in just the Drake Tooth.

What is it my Preciousss?!?

That's it for this week, not a lot of accomplished but plenty of new possibilities!  Now to figure out just where to store all the new paint bottles!   See you Tuesday for the tutorial on painting Dori!

Painting Guide: Fili

Poor forgotten Fili of Games Workshop's Escape From Goblin Town set miniatures.  The sculpt of the Fili miniature is accurate and provides a nice dynamic pose for the young dwarf doomed to lose his head.      

1.   Paint the flesh using Tanned Flesh.

1a. Wash the skin with Red Tone to get the ruddier tone of the Dwarfs.

1b. Wash the skin again in Flesh Tone.

1c. Highlight using Barbarian Flesh.

2.   Paint Fili’s hair and beard with Leather Brown.

2a. Do the first highlight with Fur Brown.

2b. Using a very fine 5/0 or 10/0 brush paint a final highlight of Desert Yellow.

3.   Paint Fili’s trousers, wristguards, and scabbard with Oak Brown.

3a. Highlight the above with Leather Brown.

4.   Paint Fili’s tunic and boots with a 1:1 mixture of Oak Brown and Monster Brown.

4a. Wash both with Dark Tone.

5.   Paint the belt and tunic trim with Monster Brown.

5a. Paint the details (crosshatch) on both belt and tunic trim using Skeleton Bone.

6.   Paint the fur on the front of Fili’s tunic and at his cuffs with a 3:1 mixture of Ash Grey and Matt White.

6a. Wash the fur with Soft Tone.

7.   Next paint Fili’s hood with Ash Grey.

7a. Wash the hood with Dark Tone.

7b. Highlight the hood with Ash Grey, no that is not a typo.

8.   Paint the knife handles on Fili’s wrists and his buckles with Gunmetal.

8a. Wash both with Dark Tone.

9.   Paint Fili’s sword blades with Plate Mail Metal.

9a. Wash the blades with Dark Tone.

10. Paint the swords’ hilt and pommels with Weapon Bronze.

10a. Wash with Dark Tone.

Some last notes:  

A. The eyes were painted between the Flesh Tone Wash and the Barbarian Flesh Highlight.  The eyes are done with a 5/0 brush.  First paint a horizontal white l

ine and then place a black dot in the center.

B. AP Soft Tone is a good wash for flesh and other light colored items.

C. AP Strong Tone is a good general brown wash similar to Citadel's Agrax Earth Shade. 

D. AP Dark Tone is a good black wash similar to Citadel's Nuln Oil.

I based the miniature with coral beach sand for the rocky/sandy caves of Goblin Town and added some Highland Tufts and Meadow Tufts from The Army Painter Battlefields range.  I then painted the edge of the base in Deep Blue. 

Next week Dori flails his way into the party.

I have to thank TALE OF TWO PAINTERS for the inspiration for these tutorials.  Unfortunately, I do not have step by step photos like they do as I found their site after I was a quarter of the way complete.  They painted the miniatures using Citadel paints.  I felt a guide using The Army Painter brand was warranted, especially as there is no readily available conversion chart for Citadel and AP brands like the other major miniature paint brands (Vallejo, P3, Reaper, etc.).  I currently only have the 42 bottle 2015 Mega Paint Set II, so there is a lot of mixing of paints to get the right color. (I’m hoping to get the Veteran Warpainter Upgrade Set with an additional 82 paints that just came out on the first).

Weekly Workbench 5 March 2017

So not a lot of work done this week.  I pulled one of my traps and it was actually quite painful to hold my brush up to paint, even with resting my elbow on the desk.  That was Tuesday and it is still bothering me so we will see how this week goes.

Historical:

This week I simply finished basing the 12 Bolt Action US Marines I had already painted.  I had initially thought about repainting portions of them but then realized the miniatures were fine for tabletop standard and that is what they were meant for.  For the basing I used Warlord's Battlefields & Basing Summer Grass and some of The Army Painter's Battlefield Jungle Tufts.  I left a decent amount of sand visible on a number of miniatures to show them transitioning from the beach to inland areas.

Sci-Fi:

More work on the Ghar battle-suit for Beyond the Gates of Antares.  I used The Army Painter Gun Metal mixed with Matt Black for the cables and then Gun Metal with a Red Tone wash for all the power nodes and optics on their suit.  I am almost done with the color scheme but need to rethink the highlights and still have some grey primer left.  There is not enough difference with the blues so I might go a lighter shade, go with a red, or just use black, any suggestions?

Fantasy:

I finished basing Gandalf for Games Workshops Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game (eventually they will update their website with the new name).  I used Warlord's Battlefields & Basing Patchy Grass and Patchy Tufts.

I also finished painting and basing Radagast.  I found two spiders while painting the base.  I initially thought they were rock outcroppings, weird fungus, or the end of a log until I painted them grey.  I used Warlord's Battlefields & Basing Autumn Grass to show the grass starting to die from the corruption as Radagast flees Rhosgobel.

Lastly, I designed and ordered a miniature from Hero Forge Custom Miniatures.  This is a company that utilizes 3-D printing to make individual miniatures custom ordered.  They have a large and expanding inventory of poses, weapons, armor, genres, clothes, mounts, etc. to make your miniature truly unique.  They have three scales (30mm, 2x, and 4x) and four materials (Premium Plastic, Nylon Plastic, Steel, and Bronze) to chose from.  They are a bit pricey per miniature, especially if you venture outside the plastics and steel at the 30mm range, but nowhere else can you custom design a one off miniature.  I got the premium plastic 30mm and am looking forward to his arrival in 2 - 4 weeks so I can do a review after painting.

Thanks for the visit, leave some comments, and I will see you all on Tuesday for Fili's Tutorial!