Toys update

Found some time this arvo to get these photos up as promised. I'm pushing through the piles of figures with 8 of the Knight Models Batman figures finished and more on the way.

Here is the Titan in all his metal weighty glory. The skin was all drybrushed to save time but I think it probably worked out better than trying to paint the skin by hand.

I found it hard to get the flag to show up properly on camera (seem to have that issue with all light highlights really)

And kicking off the Joker's clown buddies are these 4 lads. I really like these figures, so much character and really nicely sculpted

This guy is definitely my favourite and I've put a little extra effort into him with the hoodie insignia and the tattoos on the arms.

Unfortunately the group shot was a little blurry when I pulled it up on the computer but it will have to do for now.

Next up the Blackgate Prisoners. Some good fun to be had messing around with different effects. It was the first time I'd painted any dark skin and I think it turned out ok.

I noticed this guy hadn't been given his last highlight just after I took the photos so that's since been fixed.

Thanks for looking and more to come in a few weeks when I get around to putting it all up!

New toys, old toys and someone else's toys

I really thought it was time to get back into the swing of this and try and get some more frequent blog updates. I've been busy painting stacks of samurai and to say I'm over them is a bit of an understatement. I reckon I must've painted over a hundred samurai in the last few years but there are still more to go.

I didn't end up taking any photos of them in the end because I moved them along to their new owner as soon as they were done. Suffice to say they were quite a bit nicer than my original samurai (that you can see in some previous posts). All up there were 30 of them and I also painted some sort of Samurai Demon figure which was a bit of an odd one. 

It hasn't been all samurai lately though, I recently picked up a substantial Mirkwood Amoured Elves army from the Hobbit range by GW (didn't pay aussie prices of course) and I'm working on getting some of them up to scratch. The finecast can be a pain, with quite a bit of clean up work to do and there will be a few little air bubbles (not too many) and some detail to rework in greenstuff but it's definately do-able.

I'm holding out for some sweet dark foresty bases from a guy in the UK who is currently moulding them but they are at least a few months away so don't expect to see too much paint on these anytime soon. Still I thought I might be able to start a game or two even though they're unpainted.

Next up is some shield replicating I've done with some Blue stuff (like a re-usable insta-mold). Never have enough shields in their packs to cover everyone plus now I need extras for the cav so I use a 50-50 mix of milliput and greenstuff to get good sculpting qualities and acceptable hardness. I've got a few moulds on the go so I'll see which one comes out nicest and crank them out from there.

Someone else's toys now, a whole bunch of figures from Knight Models in their Batman range. Lovely stuff and looking forward to putting some paint down on these once I finish the greenstuffing.

Finally a Skorne Titan Gladiator. A real bitch to put together because of the weight of the parts. I'll be going for some light blue-grey skin and looking to do a black armour gold trim combo but I will have to wait and see how that turns out. If I can remember I'll try to get some WIP shots on the way.

That's all for now bit of a long post but so be it. Thanks for looking and hopefully I'll be back with more to show soon!

SS Charlemagne

I've been having laptop issues lately as its started to shutdown randomly hence the delay in getting these photos out to you. Got close several times to posting only to have it shutdown and to be honest the computer is lucky to be alive at this point as a rage hit was pretty close to happening..

Anyway here are my Warlord SS Charlemagne (Frenchies in German service). I really loved the look of these figures the second I saw them advertised so I had to have them. I started painting them over a year ago and they got sidelined when I picked up comissions but they are done now!

The photos were taken on a bit of a grey day as winter is ruining my natural light so they are a bit dull. Also the light colour highlights on the yellows and flesh seem to get washed out which is a shame. 

I had my first go at painting eyes and I was actually pretty happy with how most of them turned out. The Pea dot and Oakleaf B is also the first time I've had a crack. I'm really happy with them overall.

All the pea dot camo dots were done with a toothpick so I could get mostly circle shapes. You can also use it to create larger circle areas which is really useful.

 I've been experimenting with some Ammo Mig crystal lens colours to get some depth to the goggles. I really like them, they're basically a glaze that you apply in consecutive layers to get the right colours with the bonus of being reflective. Worth it I reckon

Bit of a mix of Pea dot, Oakleaf B and Italian camo on a few tent covers here. Might be too much but I reckon it creates a bit of visual interest.

Unfortunately the front photo of this guy got ruined by the auto touch up function on the computer and I'd already saved over the original but you get an idea of the field grey.

I wish the eyes showed up better in the photos and the flesh highlights but in reality I was super chuffed.

I tried to fix this photo after another auto touch up oversave but it wasn't really rescu-able in the end...

Anyway thanks for looking and always happy to hear critiques on how I could make them any better!

Until next time