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!

KR Multi-Case Kaiser2 Review

  A break from the GySgt Gift posts as my KR Multi-Case came in today.  My wife got it for my birthday but the USPS lovely routing system sent it on the slow ship out of California and it took a month to get here.  The case looks phenomenal so far, tons of pockets for additional storage, and well constructed for securely transporting miniatures.  I got the Kaiser2, as I wanted to be able to carry two opposing armies and the case meets airline carry-on requirements.

  Here is the front of the case.  There are two flap pockets, the width of which match the "pocket" size Bolt Action rule books but can fit multiple books in each pocket.  Behind them are a zipper pocket for the whole front.  On the top you can see the carrying handle, nice and comfortable.  When I had the inside cases out my 36 lbs four year old climbed inside and had me zip him up.  I was able to pick up the case from just the handle with no issues or concerns of tearing.

  

On the left side are is another zipper pocket, capable of storing multiple full size rule books and the KR insignia on the side is actually a clear plastic pocket for placing an identification card in it from inside the zipper pocket.

  On the right side is a mesh pocket, currently holding the shoulder strap that can be attached for ease of travel.

  The back has an additional two zipper pockets for more storage.  As does the inside cover as seen below.

  The KR2 contains two multi-cases, thick, heavy duty card board boxes with plastic handles that hold the foam and miniatures.

  I had each case set-up the same and capable of carrying a good standard size (1500 pt) army with room to spare.

   The first tray is for individual miniatures.  Here I have a couple of Warlord Games' 28mm USMC from their Bolt Action line in various poses: the first three are standing, the next two are crouching and placed base down, and the last is prone Marine sans base.  They fit fairly snug and should have no issue during travel.

  The next level consists of two trays.  On the left is a 70mm deep pluck foam tray for vehicles and goes all the way to the bottom of the case.  In it is one of Warlord Games' resin LVT-4 Buffalo AMTRACs model for scale.  All the pluck foam trays are the same as the miniature trays, just without spots for miniatures removed.  It does require removal of the internal walls when the model is larger than one row.  On the right is a half miniature tray, this allows for a total of 75 individual miniatures per each of my cases.

  The last level is only on the right side and is a 30mm deep pluck foam tray for storing team based units (mortars, anti-tank rifles, machine-gun teams, etc).

  Each tray, pluck and individual miniature, has a 5mm base sheet on the bottom for the miniatures to sit on and provide additional protection between trays.

  Overall it appears to be a very well constructed product and I am relieved to have it for the upcoming move, after which I will provide some additional feedback.