Gaslands Buggy - Steve

 Gaslands Buggy, the Scramblurr.

Originally a mere Hot Wheels Rip Rod, now a mercenary of motorized mayhem!

All it took was some Gorka Morka Bitz, cuts from zip ties, cuts from plastic packing straps, cuts from a dollar store truck toy, a snipping of window screen, a couple small balls of green stuff, left over Gundam Bitz and guns from North Star "Implements of Chaos" sprue. 

This one took more time and effort than it looks,   I was a little frustrated and disappointed this car was not coming together as well as I had thought it would.  Over many days

 I did a few pivots on paint job and more than a little tinkering about with the add on parts.   I cut off the outer body and decided to make use of the piped under shell, but it left me with two metal "wings" sticking out of the  car's  bottom in front of the back wheels, which were part of the die cast metal car base.  Not keen on cutting off the metal parts,  eventually , I landed on the  concept of making the awkward metal parts the bases for foot hold platforms, and glued a complementary hand grip by each side window.  Game world idea being crew could jump on the buggy for a quick ride, kinda the same way olde time fire trucks had foot and hand holds for firemen... but in the case of the Scramblurr, folks hopping off this car make fires!

Gaslands - Racing Gates (Steve)

 I completed the set of 4 Gaslands Race Gates I got from Byron ( and his 3d Printer dood "A").  

When I took a liking to the Race Gates Byron uses on his Gaslands gaming table, I felt I should also have a set to equip myself for hosting some Gaslands games in future.   After assembling the printed parts into gates, I could not resist punching up the original gate design with a few extra bits n' bobs glued here and there to give my set of race gates their own look.

So my old 40k bitz box was raided again in pursuit of Gaslands conversions, and a some few odd bitz from my old Gorka Morka set were pilfered. (It seems my old Gorka Morka set is doomed to be repurposed for Gaslands.) Parts of sprues and scrp plastic were cut into extra gate metals, and 'spiky bitz' were snapped off the left overs from 3d printed of Gaslands weapons.   The main gate's skull on a spike  is remains from an old Warhammer Fantasy Battle conversion I abandoned over 25 years ago.  One of the gas cans I glued next to one of the gate columns, was from an old tank model my uncle had built and broken in his youth over 35 years ago, (some of those busted tanks parts found their way into my early days bitz box)........ so I am left to wonder to what extent the stuff in  my bitz box are just let over model parts verses modeling relics.    

Racing Gates are a significant terrain piece for Gaslands game scenarios such as "Death Race" and "The Race".  So whatever Gaslands cars you are currently rolling with,  a set of Racing Gates can be of use on most every Gaslands game table you battle upon.

ByronM - Necron Indomitus box set

 

I went into this painting challenge with a plan, really, I did.  Part of that plan was to get my Necron force started, which consists of the Warhammer 40,000 V9 Indomitus box set showcasing a pile of new and cool looking Necron models.  However, it was very low on my priority list as there were other things I wanted to get done first in case I ran out of time.  Well, after doing the one model for the Golems room and seeing how fast they painted up and how easily I could get them out of the queue, I had a squirrel moment and moved them to the top on the list.

Below is an image of the brand new Skorpekh Destroyers squad led by the Skorpekh Lord.  This unit should give the Necrons a much needed boost in hand to hand combat, which illogically is apparently what rules the new edition of 40k.  Seems odd that in the far future melee is better than shooting, but since when has GW ever made sense with their rules (except in almost every NON core ruleset they put out).

 

Next up are the new scarab models, which I really like as they used to be separate models but are not all connected and snap into the base as one piece.  I think it gives more of a swarm look than the old 3-4 individuals on the base.

 Next up are the Necron warriors, which are also new models (about time).  These warriors are pretty close to the old ones in body style but change the guns significantly, gone are the transparent green rods you had to glue in, now the guns are solid, which is much better for assembly and hopefully how long the models hold up (the old ones broke all the time).  I painted up 2 units, but am only showing one here, since they are almost identical.  I did one with purple flowers on the base and the other with blue flowers so that I can easily tell them apart.  When I get more I will boost both squads to 20 man squads, but for now they are each 10 so that I have 2 troop selections.  The one thing I dislike about the new models though is they are on 32mm bases.  I have no idea why everything keeps going to bigger bases, they take up way too much tabletop space.

The image below shows most of the characters and individual models that come in the Indomitus box.  Starting from left to right are: 2x Cryptothralls, a Plasmancer, a Plasmacyte, a Royal Warden, and an Overlord.

Here you can see two of the characters closer up for details.  The lighting sucks a bit so the glows do not show very well, bur are there around each red spot.

As you can see from all of the images, the paint scheme is very simple and basic.  However, I feel that is OK with Necrons as they are mainly metal anyway.  The paint job was essentially painting the silver, bronze, and red then washing with Agrax Earthshade.  Then coming back to repaint the red and shade around each red feature, then highlighting it up to  yellow to make them pop.  Do some basic ground work and call it done.  The whole force was done super quick, but I think it works well due to the colour scheme and basing.  

There are a total of 37 models in the force, 36 being submitted here.  Of those most count as normal 28mm models and the other 5 count as about bike or mounted infantry size.  This means I should end up with 205 points for the submission.  Overall, not a bad haul for about 2 days of work!

Gaslands Drag Racer (Steve)

 A Gaslands Drag Racer car painted for the table top: Sylverhorne

I picked this Hotwheels El Camino since it had a big engine in the back I thought would make a good Gaslands drag racer.   For this car I wanted to keep the original paint black flame  job, so as per Byron's suggestion I gave the car a clear matt coat so it would accept touch up paint for the "dust and grit".  No guns mounted on the car, just a ram on the front and an oil dropper on the back. Go fast, push through and don't let'm follow.

Star Wars Legion AT-ST and Storm Trooper Squad (Byron)

 

There are some models that just speak to you, crying out to be painted.  This is one of those for me.  I have always loved the Star Wars AT-ST affectionately known as the "chicken walker" by many, and last year my mom got me one for Star Wars Legion.  She picked it as it was one of her favourite Star Wars models as well, having loved watching one get smashed by the Ewoks as we watched the movies over and over again when I was a kid.

Even though I got it last year, and promptly got it assembled, it has sat since then. Mainly due to covid hitting and not being able to get together with friends to play, but also since I knew it would be an awesome show piece model for the challenge.  Since I wasn't playing games, there was no rush to get it done, so it sat until now, waiting....

Honestly, I was also a bit intimidated by it.  It is well know that I hate painting flesh, but I also hate painting vehicles (even though I feel I am ok at it).  I just am never sure where to start or end with weathering, and either always feel I under do it or over do it.  So, I had a bit of trepidation starting on this model.

I started by priming black and then airbrushing in white primer where all the highlights would be, and then into the center of the panels where it would be lighter.  Next I applied a few thin layers of a neutral grey over the entire model, and with that the base layer should have been done. As usual though, I applied it a bit to thick and it lacked a bit of contrast and shadow, so I had to go back and airbrush in some dark grey into shadow areas and around panels, and a bit of light blue grey as a filter onto the panels to make it look right to me.

Next I clear coated the whole thing with a few layers of gloss to prep for the next step, oil paint washes and rust effects.  I first used super thin (1 part paint, 8 parts thinner) black to pin wash all the panel line edges and details.  Then pulled out a nice dark red brown rust coloured "oil brusher" from AK (think of a mascara tube but full of oil paint) and put dots of it around all areas I wanted a rust colour to appear.  I then used white spirits to pull the colour where I wanted, around details, or as faded runs where I thought it might reasonably go.  Now, I don't know what an AT-ST would be made of, and it probably wouldn't be anything that rusts (most likely some kind of ceramic type armour), but screw it, I like the rust look!

Once that was done, I went back with another oil brusher called space ship filth that looked like oily grim and an oil wash from AK called exhaust. I used them to apply oil type marks around the joints on the legs and exhaust marks around the vents on the back. Again, no idea if they are exhaust vents or intakes, but I went with what I thought looked good.  I played around with all the oil effect adding more, taking them away, or thinning the effect until it looked right, using a clean brush and white spirits.

After all that was done I clear coated it again, and then started applying the sand coloured oil wash that I normally use on my Storm Troopers.  I applied several thin layers on the feet and worked it up to about half way up the legs.  I probably could have applied a few more layers as it still looks a bit too little, but I didn't want to over do it.  It was then just basing and a final clear coat left, and it was done.

Last up was another unit of Storm Troopers, but I already described how I did the Snow Troopers earlier this challenge so will not waste time again.

Not sure what to call it for points though.  SWL is 36mm scale so I am assuming it counts as 40mm as that is than 28mm, but this thing is huge at 8" tall so I am claiming 30 points for him rather than the allocated 25.  If Curt or the minions feel differently, they are welcome change it.  So that should make this submission worth 65 points.

Overall, I am super happy with how this model came out, which is rare for me as I am always very critical of my own work.  While there are some minor things that I could touch again, maybe a bit more or less weathering, a bit more sand look, I am honestly very happy with it as is, so am calling it done. 

The Chamber of Darkness (Byron)

 

 Today I venture into the chamber of darkness to explore painting in grey scale.  However, since this is supposed to be an actual challenge, and since I have already done hordes of zombies in greyscale in past challenges, I thought I should challenge myself in some other way...  yeah, I know, I am a glutton for punishment.  So, in addition to doing this figure in grey scale, I also did it with oil paints for the first time ever! 

I know, I know, oil paints on a 28mm miniature?  Madness you say, and you are not far off.  To be fair...

Sorry, I couldn't resist...  I love Letterkenny :-)

Anyway, to be fair, I have used oil paints in the past but only as super thinned down pin washes for vehicles, so using only oil paints on a figure is now to me (and maybe a new normal? more on that later). So, here is all I used when painting this figure....

I started by priming the figure black then a white zenithal highlight, and then mixed some black and white together to make a mid grey tone and applied it over the whole model.

After that it was simply putting dots of black or white where I wanted shadow or highlight and using a clean brush to blend it with the grey already in place.  It was an amazing experience, as it was so much easier to get smooth blends compared to acrylics where you need to wet blend with incredible speed to avoid drying or super thin layers.

While the images are ok, they really don't capture the tones of the model in real life, try as I might I just could not get them to show in images.  At first I thought it was due to the white background, but I tried black, blue, and green and they all did the same thing, so I think it's more about my lighting washing it out. Trust that in real life the tones are better than they show, sorry guys.

I even painted the clump of static grass with thinned oil paint as I only had coloured tufts.  You can not imagine how hard it is to paint static grass until you try it.... OMG, not my best idea, but at least it turned out ok.

I always take this challenge as an opportunity to try something new each year, either a new era, a new scale, a new painting technique or tool, just something new.  After all experimentation leads to learning and growth (even if the experiment fails you learn something, sometimes you even learn more!). This year the plan was a new era (coming soon) and playing with oils, and I have to say that so far, I loved the process of painting with oils so much that I will be trying a few more full colour oil painted figures over the course of the challenge, so watch for more to come.  

I am assuming that working with colours is going to complicate the process vastly compared to just black and white, but it's a new chance to learn.  Also due to the drying times involved, it is not something I would consider for everything, but for characters or special models or even just for effects, I think I may just have a new tool in the toolbox!

Oh, and this is a 28mm French Great War infantry model, I am sorry I do not remember the company though.  It might be a Renegade figure as it is pretty chunky.

Gaslands (Steve)

 Another Gaslands car painted for the table top - BlackSlash-Kill

I bought this old and banged up toy for a loonie at a Flea Market this past summer with the intent of restoring it with a Gaslands treatment.  (Original car info from bottom of car: Marjorette, Chevy 57, No 223, ECH 1/64.)

For the Gaslands treatment, I drilled out the screws to separate parts and to get access to the car interior. I replaced the plastic glass windows with screen and used a metal file to cut gouges around the wheel wells, side panels and roof.  I added cut plastic panels over the doors to simulate some attempt to 'repair' the vehicle.  The mounted forward facing machine guns are from the North Star 'Implements of Carnage' sprue.  

I initially used dry brushed grey highlights over a black paint job, but the grey dry brushing along with metal colored gouges looked busy, taking away from the damaged look I wanted for this vehicle. Also,   the grey highlights visually combined with the metal colors in the cuts to result in the car's paint job appear overall as grey rather than the desired black and metal I wanted.  So I repainted the black paint job, repainted painted the metals within the gouges and gave it a wash with liquid talent followed up with a light dry brushing  of silver to highlight the raised metals parts.    I also decided to not paint any dust on the car lower body and wheels as I'd normally do for a Gaslands vehicle to give it a dirty from battle look.  For this car I preferred to just focus on the contrasts between a back paint job, damage and metal parts, relying on the dry brushing and wash done on the metal parts to carry the overall appearance of shading.  

Necron Reanimator for the Golem's Haunt (Byron)

As I venture deeper into the chamber of challenge, I came across the Golem's Haunt.  This location requires something that is re-animated, stitched-together, bolted-together, re-created from steel, clay, earth, etc. 

Hmm, what to do.... Dig's through pile-o-shame looking for something.... Ah! How about painting something that is both a golem itself and a reanimator as well!

May I present to you the Necron Canoptek Reanimator.

This model is a relatively new one to the Necrons.  It is a huge model based on a 65mm base and standing over 125mm tall.  Being a Necron it is animated metal so fits the requirement of the room, but is also used by the Necrons to reanimate other models that die, keeping the endless tide of Necrons flowing over their enemies.

Shown with a normal Marine for scale

I once had a Necron army years ago when they first came out.  However it was all the old metal models and were painted back when I didn't even know that you NEVER EVER use paint straight out of the bottle.  So as I got to be a better painter I sold off the old army thinking that I would paint up a new one at some point...  

Fast forward probably 10-12 years and I am finally getting back to that project, with this first model for my replacement Necron force.  There will be more to come throughout the challenge.

I did not want the standard all silver and black for my force, nor did I want the standard green glows on the models, so I started looking for something else, something I liked painting and would look good.  I glanced over, saw my Spartans in their glorious bronze and crimson and a colour scheme was born.

I am going to keep all the under armour and mechanical parts the simple metal and black that necrons are known for, and to keep painting fast and simple.  However, I am going to paint all of the upper layers of armour in bronze and all the glows in crimson red and yellow highlights. 

The painting method is to get all the metal work done (both bronze and gunmetal) then wash it all with Agrax Earthshade (I put that shit on everything!) to tone down the shine of the metal and give it a worn / dirty look.  After that I start off at a deep crimson on all the gem type areas and then shade them up through 4 different reds and 3 different yellows, adding glow effects around them to bring some warmth to the otherwise cold pallet. I then added a few alien coloured plants to the base, to both add some colour and to allow me to distinguish units later on (one unit can have purple flowers, another blue, etc).

Overall, I am really happy with how the model came out and can not wait to paint up some more Necrons to go with it.  The effort vs reward on this scheme is very high (at least in my mind) as it is both quick and attractive looking.  Many more Necron's to come over the course of the challenge!

Oh and since this is a cross post from the painting challenge blog, its probably best I link an image of the map that we have to work through...

 

Return of the Greenskin Packers - Ork Bloodbowl Team (Byron)

 

As mentioned in a few previous posts, part of what I want to accomplish is finishing up past projects that have been sitting around in various states of incompleteness.  This post returns to my Bloodbowl team that I started painting back in 2017, the Greenskin Packers!  I started them by posting a single test figure and then a few more to go along with the QB, but then as is usual I got sidetracked, but at least it was due to two very good reasons....

- No one was playing locally
- Yellow and White uniforms SUCK to paint

Anyway, the team is now complete!

While I wanted to include a team shot of them all done, this submission is only for 8 of them as shown below, the other 7 were already submitted 3 years ago in the challenge.

While I am really happy with how they came out, and am glad to finally have a complete Bloodbowl team, they were a pain in the ass!  Painting white to not look all white (armour and cloth is actually 2 separate shades of white, each with several different whites and off-whites to make them up) and then getting yellow to look nice against it, was a lot of trouble!!!  As I am sure anyone who has worked a lot with either colour is well aware of.  People like MikeF (who does amazing yellows) must be masochists to actually want to paint full armies in yellows!

Here is a close up of one of the normal linebackers to show the details close up.

Once the uniforms were painted, I then went around the model and added chips and scratches to make them look used and abused (as any Ork belonging would be).  I keep thinking about maybe muddying them up as well, but like the crisp colours and worry that it would darken then too much and I would loose the overall bright cartoon look that I love about them.

These 8 new Orks should net me a very time consuming and frustration inducing 40 points!

Gaslands (Steve)

 Finished up painting the team of cars which were only built and base coated back when we could still meet up to play our current Gaslands season..  I mucked about with the paint jobs with the aim of avoiding single color cars and continue to practice up painting brush strokes and color use.    Tempted to keep on touching up and redoing some aspects of paint, but going with the GEMO (Good Enough Move On) approach in the interest of getting other cars and minis painted, taking what I learned and apply to next model rather than just repainting the same car over and over....

BrewTuff, PhanTon & BlamJoe

Looking forward to our next battles!

15mm 30 years war Holy Roman Empire (Byron)

One of the goals I set for myself for this years challenge was to try and reduce the pile-o-shame (models that have not yet been painted) that has accumulated over the years at my place.  So I created a large list of projects that have started over the years, but never finished.  Once such project was last years foray into the 30 years war in 15mm.  While I finished quite a few bases of figures during last years challenge, I barely touched the stock pile of them that I bought, and have yet to play a game with them due to not having enough completed.  Therefore I thought it would be a good thing to get cracking on them over the Christmas holiday.

Here is the batch that I got done over the last week: 18 cavalry, 18 musketeers, and 14 pikemen.

All of these were painted using a very quick and messy method.  Essentially, all I did was apply base coats of the basic colours, then washed everything with the one GW paint I use (Agrax Earthshade), and then highlighted them with the base colours again, and in some cases 1 shade higher to get some highlights.

While this basic method produces tabletop ready miniatures quickly, they are nothing special.  Which means I get frustrated painting them quickly as well, as it feels like cheating to not put your best effort into something you are painting, BUT with something like 500+ more models to do to complete them all, I simply can not put much more effort into each model than this or I will never finish them!

Overall though, at tabletop level they look ok, and that's all that counts for these.  My plan is to use the "By Fire and Sword" rule set with them for small skirmish games (a great rule set that's super detailed and in depth) and then to use "By Pike & Shot" for bigger games (another great rule set, essentially GW's old Warmaster rules).  I look forward to getting them on Curt's table for a game with the Regina crew sometime this year.