Bruglyother's Hobby Thread

[Bruglyother]

So, with the removal of the blogs, my old stuff is gone. I still have the pictures, and maybe some day I'll find a place to put them again. More likely, I will post old pictures as they are relevant to new projects.

But, that means I need to post pictures of said new projects. It has taken me a while to get back into photographing stuff for posting. I'd like to say it was because I was busy, but really I am just lazy. Admittedly, I did have a camera issue for a while in that my old camera bit the dust, but I got my hands on a new camera more than a month ago. So, as I said. Lazy.

Here's to correcting that.

First up, my new Nephilim additions.

I actually got these done a while back. The wings were added on to Lelu back when he still had flying. Now that the new posted rules are showing he has lost flying, I will likely use him as the basis for a Barbaros conversion as I am not likely to by the new box set. It does mean I will also need a new Lelu, and will likely have to scrap the already existing paint work, but such is the life of a hobbyist.

Then, there is the commision I just finished up for one of our local stores.

I chose not to go overboard on these, as they are supposed to be highlighting the game and Wyrd as a company. So, no custom basing, just stock Wyrd bases. No serious conversions. The most complex work would be filling out the "blast" from Ototo's smash effect to compensate for the gap when I attached him to his base. My blending is still a bit rough, but these are my best work at it to date, so I am happy there. Just need to touch up the base rims since one of my cats decided my paint table was a good place to jump up, and spilled some paint water in the process.

Now, for the current projects. I am planning to run an escalation painting achievement league next month. As our group is small, and I am designing the league to be very transparent in scoring, I will be in the league as well. The main premise of the league is for our group to take an unpainted crew, and build it up over time into a full fledged crew list with variations. We are starting out with a henchman and at least 15 stones of models painted, and we will be ending with a Master and at least 75 stones worth of models, fully painted and based. We've done something similar in the past, and the group likes these sorts of things, so it should be fun.

But, this means I had to get started on a crew to use. I went through my unpainted crews, and I initially thought of Tara, but I have a concept in mind for how I want to handle her crew that is going to be a bit time intensive, so not ideal for a league format with deadlines. Then I thought of Kirai and Collette, but both are crews I want to spend real time on to make the REALLY pretty. Once again, not ideal. That left me with Sonnia or Hoffman. I went with Hoffman. So, here is what has been done so far.

The base for the Peacekeeper had actually started out as a first idea for the Nothing Beast. It was after I was finishing up on the initial work on it that I came up with the new idea for Tara and company. So, I had this large base kicking around. This was ultimately what got me to choose Hoffman, as the Peacekeeper fits the base so well. Then I had to carry the idea over to the other models.

As you can see, Hoffman has a similar concept for his base. The angle doesn't show it well, but he is standing on a manhole cover beside the manhole itself. I never quite liked how the original backpack looked, so I spent quite a bit of time cutting, pinning, and rewiring it to meet my view.

The final picture is the preliminary work on my Watcher bases. The one on the left is just missing the smoke trail, while the one on the right has a ways more to go. Note, the peacekeeper above is also missing his smoke. I haven't started working on the smoke yet as my method for doing it tends to be hard on my fingers, so I want to do all of it at once. If you look closely, you will see the one on the right has a grate that looks all the way through the base. I'm sculpting it up to be a street on one side, and the roof of a tunnel on the other.

My idea for the basing in general is a ruined section of town. A VERY ruined section. The whole place has crumbled and buckled. I am quite happy with the results so far. Now I just need to get the Hunter and Ryle built and painted and I will have my starting points. Anything after that will be buffer for the weeks to come.

I will try to keep this updated as I make more progress. I see so many others managing to keep their threads updated, and I did well when I had the blog, so I have faith in my ability to keep posting at least once in a while. Now, if I can just keep painting at the same time.

[N1ck]

Wow, very impressive. I am going to definitely have to step it up now. I really like the base for the Peacekeeper, it gives me some ideas for my crew.

[Carnage82]

What did you use for the wings in Lelu?

[faeslayer]

I love what you've done with Hoffman's backpack!

[Bruglyother]

What did you use for the wings in Lelu?

They were a bit I had in my bits box. I believe they were from one of GWs older Harpy models, but I am not positive. It was originally one piece which I then split, pinned, and greenstuffed.

I love what you've done with Hoffman's backpack!

Thank you. I am not the first to do this as I have seen at least one other, which is more or less where I got the idea. I just had a problem with the idea that he made this backpack to help him work and walk, and yet none of the limbs were really long enough to do so on the model. So, lots of steel pins, and some thin gauge wire, and there you have it.

[Bruglyother]

Well folks, our local painting league is off and running. As such, I had to have my initial crew done before hand. The starting requirement is 1 henchman and 25 ss worth of other models minimum. Games would be set at 10 stones.

I went with Ryle, my peacekeeper, and a Hunter. Observant people will notice that this may not have been the best breakdown to choose, as I would not be able to use the peacekeeper in this first period of the league. 12 stones is a few too many. But, it got me my credit, and I had actually painted him first (as you should have noticed above.)

So, here are the other two:

As you can see, I am continuing the theme of a section of city torn apart in some form of cataclysmic upheaval. On the hunter, you can even see the roof of a tunnel beneath him.

Speaking of the hunter, he required a bit of after market modification. His harpoon and chain were in horrible shape, and his front legs were incredibly twisted. So, I snipped all the offending parts off, and proceeded to rebuild him. New upper front legs, and a new Harpoon with a new cable.

Amusingly, after I have taken these pictures, I have noticed that a) I never finished Ryle's mouth, and The hunter has a chip on his chin that needs fixing. I'm sure I could find more to be critical of, but I have learned to not look too closely at my own pictures.

Of course, the league continues, and I need to have 10 more stones in two weeks. Well, I need 25 stones total, but I already have 18, so really I only need 7 more. I'll probably finish up 14 though as i have 2 watchers and a Warden just about ready to be painted.

You can see the work on the watcher bases. I have actually done the smoke trails since this shot was taken. (My fingers hate me right now.) You can't really see it in the picture, but you can see all the way through the grate on the one on the right. There is another grate on the other side in the "roof" of another tunnel. That was a fun project to figure out and work on.

The two bases below are for the mechanical attendant, and the Warden. The attendant's base is just about finished as you can see, and he is actually well on his way to completion as well, so I guess he will be added into my stone total for next period as well. Another round of having a model in my pool I can't use yet. The Warden's base just needs a bit more sculpting and then it will be ready to go also. Probably doing that tonight before sleep, and then priming all that needs it in the morning.

After all of those are done, which will not likely take me too long, the only construct I have left to do is the Guardian. I also have to actually paint Hoffman, but his prep work is all done as I showed before. The Guardian is going to the chop shop as I have a pose I want to put him in that will require a bit of work, but I hope it works out. More pins. (Don't laugh guys!)

And finally, I have a picture of some work that is not my own:

Proud Daddy moment here. You see, my son saw me putting up pictures and wanted me to take some pictures of his models to share. Who was I to say no. He's making pretty good progress. The models go from left to right in order of painting. There are actually two more that go in the middle, but as he uses them as action figures, those two have been lost in his toy collection. His last one shows great progress in my eye. Yeah, the paint is still applied in a mess, but it has become more of an organized mess. He's starting to think about color placement rather than just slapping paint wherever the brush goes as the first few were. For those who don't know, he's 5, so these are pretty good considering. At 5, the fine motor coordination still has some developing to do, which makes painting on this scale difficult. But he is gung ho about doing it. A little too much so as he is constantly asking. He's got his own little paint station right next to mine, and every weekend we get in some father son paint time. And he REALLY wants to play the game. I told him he has a while yet for that, although not as long as some people might think. He already plays Star Wars x-wing, along with many other games.

Enough of the proud Daddy talk. Enjoy the pretty pictures, and I will have more for you soon.

[Boshea]

In teh Grim Darkness of the future, there is only neon colour.

What type of cork are you using? Looks way better than mine.

Edited November 6, 2013 by Boshea

[Bruglyother]

Honestly not sure. I stole it from my wife. She got a pack of tiles that she sticks up in her classroom as both a bulletin board and sound dampeners. (Music teacher.) I'm pretty sure you could find it at any office supply store. I take my time with it. I clamp the sections together for a while to get the glue to set really well. The I work it so that you can't pick out the layers as easily, breaking up the cork to break up the outlines. Never gets rid of them entirely, but it helps.

And yes, he does like his bright colors.

"Daddy, I want some green."

"Which one?"

"The Bright one."

"This one?"

"No Daddy. The one behind it that is REALLY bright!"

"Got it! You know sometimes darker colors can be good."

"I don't want them to be dark."

"You're the boss!"

Hey, at least I found a use for my old GW models.

[Wings]

Awww, sweet. He's getting good. I don't think I even possess colours that bright, although I'm sure a similarly talented five year old could discover their existence in my paint box.

[Boshea]

I probably just need to work my cork more.

[Lussuria]

You can definitely see his progress in keeping the lines clean! And I love looking at minis painted in multi colour like this!! I want that green.

[Bruglyother]

The green is a very old GW green. Can't even remember the name off the top of my head. Stumbled upon it during my last paint clean up and was quite surprised to find it was still good. I have plans for it.

---------- Post added at 11:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:10 PM ----------

And I am amused that my son is almost getting more comments than I am.

[Carnage82]

If i had to guess that looks like the old scorpion green.. The closest approximation i have found for it s Vallejo's Lime Green

[Bruglyother]

If i had to guess that looks like the old scorpion green.. The closest approximation i have found for it s Vallejo's Lime Green

Actually, it's even older than that. It's the old Putrid green. (Finally got to check.)

[tunagami]

Hey, at least I found a use for my old GW models.

That is how mine are being used. Only appropriate way to use them now :-D

[Bruglyother]

I suddenly realized that while I have been taking pictures, I have not been posting them. So, here I am to remedy that situation.

I've actually got quite a bit done since last time. I am still predominantly working on my Hoffman crew for the escalation league I am running.

The Man Himself!

His tag along

The Twins. I call them that because so many of my players have been getting confused as to which one is which.

The Flyboys

The league is achievement based, and one of the achievements is to use a Mercenary model. So, I had to paint one up. This guy had been assembled and the base built for a while, but I had never got around to painting him. Well, now I have.

What needs breaking?

I ran into a slight hitch when I ran out of guild constructs to paint and realized I still had not hit the top limit on stones for the league. So, it was off to find something else in guild to paint up.

Four stalkers. The fourth is on a paint stick so I can paint him separately.

Now, I have been getting a bit burned out with this project. I am normally and A.D.D. painter bouncing form project to project. I do this so no one project monopolizes my time and burns me out on painting. I have too much stuff to paint to allow myself to take a break for a time. Besides, it's good stress relief, so if I burn out, I lose that benefit.

Anyway, to combat the burn out, I have taken on a few side projects. These are just a way to break up the routine a bit to keep me fresh. First up is my puppet wars stuff. I keep not getting to it since my other stuff has taken priority. Well, I had an idea for simple bases, and as I kept having extra greenstuff while working the Hoffman project, I started using the excess for the PW bases. Toss on a miniature for each one, and all set. I'm not painting these yet, but eventually I will hit critical mass and I will have to.

What is done so far.

Three bases just finished curing.

For those of you who don't know, (Which is likely all of you), I am a member of the Society for Creative Anachronisms, a medieval recreation group. In this group, we give out awards, which are often accompanied by a scroll and a medallion. My wife is one of the people who paints the scrolls, and recently, I started making the medallions to go with her scrolls. Well, there is an event this weekend, and there was a need for some medallions. So on top of all of the other hobby stuff I've been doing, I did up these four.

The images are modified from illuminated manuscripts form the time period (in this case, the 1400s.)

So, as you can see, I've been busy.