GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
I have a 1, 0, and 00 in my Series 7's and I use my 1 considerably more than the others. I only use the very small ones for incredibly, incredibly small details where I want a tiny paint well. I've felt no need to buy expensive brushes bigger than a size 1.
I think the best brush advice I have heard was something like:
As long as you take care of a good brush, they all have the same sized tip.
So I have a Small Layer Brush, a Medium Layer Brush, some Large Dry Brushes, and then a size 0.25mm pen for pupils.
I have bought the detail and insane details brushes, but prefer the layer brush for holding a point and it’s body for holding more paint without drying up.
MWO: Adamski
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
edited September 2021
A 0, 1 and 2 are all you need for most 28mm sized things. I mostly use my zero for faces, and when I need to see around the actual head of the brush for tight areas. Then a good set of makeup brushes for dry brushing, and maybe a cheap set of brushes for painting on varnishes, clear coats, glues and other weird things.
A good exacto knife and small set of files is also really nice. You can get away with some skinny nail files to start, or do like adam savage and glue different grits of sandpaper to tongue depressors.
GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
edited September 2021
I airbrush my varnishes and clear coats which is another nice reason to have an airbrush. I use Vallejo Gloss and AK interactive matte, which are both ready to go through an airbrush out of the bottle.
Excluding dry brushes, giant brushes, and like ultra-fine stuff. What size brushes would you recommend having on hand?
Edit: Should have refreshed before asking, I guess. Should I have a 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4. Or would like a 0, 2, and 4 suffice? NGL these Windsors are pricey.
I own a couple dozen brushes and I still paint nearly everything with a size 1 Windsor and Newton. Big belly for holding paint and a fine enough tip I can paint eye lenses with it.
Maybe grab a size 2 as well for your base colors just to slap paint on
I read somewhere that the artificer series Games workshop brushes are just rebranded Windsor and Newton Sable brushes.. is there any truth to that? I'd like to replace my aging Windsor and Newton at some point but sourcing those in Canada blows.
I want to support Duncan and Roger in breakaway from GW, but I can't justify spending that kind of money on paints when I still have a ton of Citadel paint pots. I could definitely see myself slowly replacing my Citadel paints with their equivalents over time as my pots run out though.
This dreadnought was one of the first models I converted for my army, but I had him go through a bit of an upgrade. New gun, some backpack vents, and extended torso to make him contemptor sized (he used to be a chaplain dread)
And I also did up a unit of Servitors, which are the guys that win games of 9th edition. These were just some fun robots I had kicking around and wanted to paint forever. The Fallout Securitron and Brainbot are from Brother Vinni's minis (possible out of print now), and the two floaty bots are from Bombshell minis.
I finally, finally got around to restructuring my vinegaroon's enclosure with the StarCraft Defiler Mound I made and painted ages ago. What it took was a sort-of-emergency rehouse situation that I don't need to get into.
I ended up basically using the nuclear option in the lookout for moisture-proof, animal-safe gloss finishing options and used Envirotex. It seems to work a charm and is, of course, a really pretty gloss coat.
Anyway this is a weird thread, maybe, to post this in, but when I first put up pictures, I was asked for photos of the finished result, and it has been gnawing at a very tiny part of my mind for basically ever.
I was out of cork bark to use for this build, so it's a little bit barebones, but I'll shoot out to a nice reptile store this weekend and get some more.
Edit: Quick update - it's always very satisfying when a critter starts digging exactly where you were planning their burrow to be.
It's been a bit since I posted, mainly because I've been fighting with getting good pics and spending money on trying to get a good light box set up. So here is a handful of new things I've finished and a group shot of my army so far.
First up, a Loonboss on a Squig!
Next my third Troggoth, with the trio in spoilers.
Now for the full group shot!
I need to get the lighting set up for my display cabinet fixed. Right now I only have one of the two large LED lights set up because the hole in the top of the Detolf is too small without being filed out a little bigger
If, if Reagan played disco He'd shoot it to shit You can't disco in Jackboots
OK so there's this Aliens board game from 1989 that, for a lot of fans, myself included, is the definitive Aliens game. The creatures are lethal, the decisions are hard, it lets you feel alternatively like a badass and like a bunch of fragile nerds waiting inevitable death... it's great, and feels very "Aliens" in a way other, more recent game adaptations have failed at (for me). It has been out of print since... well, 1989, or thereabouts, and the company that published it no longer exists, but the game has an active fan community and there are a bunch of various DIY boards out there.
Anyway I wanted to build my own copy, and I made a real rough version with scans of the official board, which originally just came printed on a glossy foldout poster. I wasn't happy with that, though, even though the game is still fun with simple components, so years and years ago I started working on a better, 3D version, like my Blood Bowl pitch.
It is now way too many years later, and the project has spun wildly out of control, but here we are! The board for the first scenario is done! The game can actually be played as a campaign, and there are a few official scenarios, a couple made by fans, and some that I'm partway through concocting. Those are all nearing completion, too, except for one enormous final board which I haven't even started. This scenario is the first and most beloved, though, and it is based on the first big action scene of the movie, where 9 of the characters are ambushed in the just-discovered hive, and are trying to retreat back to the APC which Ripley has just crashed through a wall.
More action shots of our first games on the board:
OMFG @BloodySloth that board is out of control awesome! I'd do bad, bad things to play games with that setup.
Care to share details about how you built it? And what's the specific Aliens game?
For sure! The game is simply titled Aliens, by Leading Edge Games. It had one expansion that is also part of my ongoing project. They also released metal miniatures for the game which are something of a grail item for collectors, but I don't have any of my own.
The miniatures I used for the marines are cobbled together custom jobs made from resin parts provided by Mad Robot Miniatures, which is one of those third-party conversion bits producers. They're great. The bases for them are 3D printed from Kaer Rune on Etsy, and the name plates are 3D printed from Versatile Terrain. I put these together quite long ago, and if I had been more patient I could have gotten official minis from Gale Force 9 or something, but this game does include all of the characters in the movie, and IIRC there still aren't good minis for characters like Ferro, so I'm still happy with the route I took.
The APC and the Alien miniatures are from the (now defunct, I think?) Prodos AVP miniatures line. It really looks to me like Gale Force 9 is using at least some of their molds for their new Aliens game, for what it's worth. The bases for the aliens are just clear acrylic ones from Litko. I originally had the marines on clear bases, too, but I hate working with them and the nameplates looked kind of weird, so I opted for more traditional sculpted bases there. The APC's roof is magnetized on, which I did so I could futz with the paint job and the string lights that are coiled in there. I drilled a hole in the side of it to run the lights in, and (very carefully) drilled a hole through that lamp on the roof to run one of the LEDs up into that.
The board itself is a custom box made out of foamcore. It has a double-decker design so that I could fit the infinity mirror in the center which represents the stairwell. Infinity mirrors, it turns out, are actually really easy! The trick is getting the lighting in there, and obtaining the one-way mirror, which are not as cheap as I'd like. I actually think I over-engineered it a bit, which is fine. The rest of the space underneath the board is used for the battery packs for the string lights and plastic cases which hold all the miniatures and wooden cubes and stuff. The cardboard terrain is from Battle Systems; most of the specific line I used is one they stopped making semi-recently, which was a hassle for the other boards I need to make, but I'm handling it. I spiced it up with plastic terrain from Mantic, mostly, that I painted going off of some fantastic behind the scenes set photos that were taken with a flash camera, so the lighting was nicely color-neutral.
The hive goo I'm particularly happy with. The bulk of it is black Crayola Model Magic that I just globbed onto the terrain. Model Magic is an air-drying foam clay that you can get pretty cheaply. I made some mold stamps by getting bits of milliput and mooshing it onto an old Alien action figure I had, to get its various textures. Once the milliput stamps had set, I used them to stamp Alien texture all over the model magic. I also made prodigious use of ribbed cable hosing that I got from Home Depot. I used spare marine/warhammer bits to make colonist victims which I hid in the hive walls in various places.
After all that had set, I drybrushed it with Citadel Karak Stone paint, then a gloss coat, and then for the strands of clear resin, I used Shoe Goo, a shoe repair adhesive. It comes in a metal tube and is really stretchy and stringy, so you can just dot one spot with the tube, move to another spot, and there you have made a strand of goo. It's great.
All the numbers are just stencilled onto the board with paint that I then spot-finished to help prevent wear. I'm distracted now watching sumo but if I think of anything else I'll come back and mention it.
BloodySloth on
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Yea that is fucking amazing. I hope you have a sound board rigged up with sound effects. With something that visually stunning it needs good sound to accompany it.
Yea that is fucking amazing. I hope you have a sound board rigged up with sound effects. With something that visually stunning it needs good sound to accompany it.
Mrs. Sloth actually suggested this, as well, but I hadn't really considered really doing it. Maybe it's something I have to look into!
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Yea that is fucking amazing. I hope you have a sound board rigged up with sound effects. With something that visually stunning it needs good sound to accompany it.
Mrs. Sloth actually suggested this, as well, but I hadn't really considered really doing it. Maybe it's something I have to look into!
There are so many iconic Aliens sounds that I think you'd have to.
NipsHe/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered Userregular
edited September 2021
An Aliens Soundboard on a browser on a tablet would probably do the job.
Amazing writeup on that build!
Nips on
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
So I have still been able to paint basically anything. My ribs can take lying down and work, but I can't sit still without shaking/movement for sufficient time to actually properly paint. I think I painted 1/3 of Belladamma before I couldn't manage the pain anymore.
So I have still been able to paint basically anything. My ribs can take lying down and work, but I can't sit still without shaking/movement for sufficient time to actually properly paint. I think I painted 1/3 of Belladamma before I couldn't manage the pain anymore.
Pro painting tip: Don't get broken ribs.
I invented some very weird painting positions when my ankle was broken. Ribs sounds way worse though as the active limbs (arm) are way more closely positioned.
I just did a lot of hobbying from the floor of my apartment with my leg up on a coffee table.
I’ve been just using a kitchen table chair at an ikea desk with telescope legs, but have been thinking of upgrading to a gaming chair or executive office chair.
Anyone have recommendations?
MWO: Adamski
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Mr_Rose83 Blue Ridge Protects the HolyRegistered Userregular
How about a robot body? This dude loves his:
See, look at him, he’s all “I could stand like this all day and suffer no discomfort, am I not magnificent?”
Ok I kind of messed up on doing the area math in my head as I bought a plano to store my paint
It arrived today and it's far larger than I thought. It's 17" L x 16" W x 5"D that's more than enough to store my paint I thought thinking the one box I store half my paint in is about 14"L X 9"W X 5"D {it's very beat up and split}
This is far larger than I thought nearly twice the size I would compare them {the old box of paint and the plano. The old box will far apart if I move it} as I really now think I did the math wrong in my head?
This is the large plano with one of the 3700 ones we usually store minis in
I really feel I did mess up or this is not what I thought the stated measurements were
Brainleech on
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Sounds like you have plenty of room to store basing materials too!
So I emptied out the various places I had paint from the beat up box to on top of the table to the smaller box
With the plant stuff and skull packs it fills just a small area of the plano
2 years ago I bought the legendary book how to paint Harlequins and two unlabeled paint bags from a book fair in a parking lot {I think it was clearing out a storage container as there was tons of other items besides books}
The Lahmian Medium that was one of the two separated/settled
It was at the bottom of the other box so I feel because of the rather bad habit of contrast paints to separate/settle I feel I will have to get a someway to shake or mix them or try the stainless baring ball as I feel because of the random times I can paint when I feel like it {not wallowing in anhedonia it seems} so I don't have to spend a chunk of it shaking paints
Still I need to organize the paints and then pick something to paint as the Melusai from DoK I started a couple of weeks ago still sit on my computer taunting me to finish
Posts
As long as you take care of a good brush, they all have the same sized tip.
So I have a Small Layer Brush, a Medium Layer Brush, some Large Dry Brushes, and then a size 0.25mm pen for pupils.
I have bought the detail and insane details brushes, but prefer the layer brush for holding a point and it’s body for holding more paint without drying up.
MWO: Adamski
A good exacto knife and small set of files is also really nice. You can get away with some skinny nail files to start, or do like adam savage and glue different grits of sandpaper to tongue depressors.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
I own a couple dozen brushes and I still paint nearly everything with a size 1 Windsor and Newton. Big belly for holding paint and a fine enough tip I can paint eye lenses with it.
Maybe grab a size 2 as well for your base colors just to slap paint on
Gamertag - Khraul
PSN - Razide6
Gamertag - Khraul
PSN - Razide6
Anyway I did this last week
In general other than branching out to army painter I will wait and see
And I also did up a unit of Servitors, which are the guys that win games of 9th edition. These were just some fun robots I had kicking around and wanted to paint forever. The Fallout Securitron and Brainbot are from Brother Vinni's minis (possible out of print now), and the two floaty bots are from Bombshell minis.
My understanding is he was one of the guys who directed and assisted with a ton of GW video stuff
I ended up basically using the nuclear option in the lookout for moisture-proof, animal-safe gloss finishing options and used Envirotex. It seems to work a charm and is, of course, a really pretty gloss coat.
Anyway this is a weird thread, maybe, to post this in, but when I first put up pictures, I was asked for photos of the finished result, and it has been gnawing at a very tiny part of my mind for basically ever.
I was out of cork bark to use for this build, so it's a little bit barebones, but I'll shoot out to a nice reptile store this weekend and get some more.
Edit: Quick update - it's always very satisfying when a critter starts digging exactly where you were planning their burrow to be.
After like two weeks of fucking around I think I finally cracked the code.
Small bugs with normal weapons? Red, blue, purple
Small bugs with special weapons? Yellow, blue, orange
For bigger bugs I’ll delineate between close combat (red likely) and shooty (yellow)
Will also be helpful for when I’m running games with 100+ models on the table to quickly spot the special weapons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzyDYW7m1DU
First up, a Loonboss on a Squig!
Next my third Troggoth, with the trio in spoilers.
Now for the full group shot!
I need to get the lighting set up for my display cabinet fixed. Right now I only have one of the two large LED lights set up because the hole in the top of the Detolf is too small without being filed out a little bigger
Anyway I wanted to build my own copy, and I made a real rough version with scans of the official board, which originally just came printed on a glossy foldout poster. I wasn't happy with that, though, even though the game is still fun with simple components, so years and years ago I started working on a better, 3D version, like my Blood Bowl pitch.
It is now way too many years later, and the project has spun wildly out of control, but here we are! The board for the first scenario is done! The game can actually be played as a campaign, and there are a few official scenarios, a couple made by fans, and some that I'm partway through concocting. Those are all nearing completion, too, except for one enormous final board which I haven't even started. This scenario is the first and most beloved, though, and it is based on the first big action scene of the movie, where 9 of the characters are ambushed in the just-discovered hive, and are trying to retreat back to the APC which Ripley has just crashed through a wall.
More action shots of our first games on the board:
Care to share details about how you built it? And what's the specific Aliens game?
For sure! The game is simply titled Aliens, by Leading Edge Games. It had one expansion that is also part of my ongoing project. They also released metal miniatures for the game which are something of a grail item for collectors, but I don't have any of my own.
The miniatures I used for the marines are cobbled together custom jobs made from resin parts provided by Mad Robot Miniatures, which is one of those third-party conversion bits producers. They're great. The bases for them are 3D printed from Kaer Rune on Etsy, and the name plates are 3D printed from Versatile Terrain. I put these together quite long ago, and if I had been more patient I could have gotten official minis from Gale Force 9 or something, but this game does include all of the characters in the movie, and IIRC there still aren't good minis for characters like Ferro, so I'm still happy with the route I took.
The APC and the Alien miniatures are from the (now defunct, I think?) Prodos AVP miniatures line. It really looks to me like Gale Force 9 is using at least some of their molds for their new Aliens game, for what it's worth. The bases for the aliens are just clear acrylic ones from Litko. I originally had the marines on clear bases, too, but I hate working with them and the nameplates looked kind of weird, so I opted for more traditional sculpted bases there. The APC's roof is magnetized on, which I did so I could futz with the paint job and the string lights that are coiled in there. I drilled a hole in the side of it to run the lights in, and (very carefully) drilled a hole through that lamp on the roof to run one of the LEDs up into that.
The board itself is a custom box made out of foamcore. It has a double-decker design so that I could fit the infinity mirror in the center which represents the stairwell. Infinity mirrors, it turns out, are actually really easy! The trick is getting the lighting in there, and obtaining the one-way mirror, which are not as cheap as I'd like. I actually think I over-engineered it a bit, which is fine. The rest of the space underneath the board is used for the battery packs for the string lights and plastic cases which hold all the miniatures and wooden cubes and stuff. The cardboard terrain is from Battle Systems; most of the specific line I used is one they stopped making semi-recently, which was a hassle for the other boards I need to make, but I'm handling it. I spiced it up with plastic terrain from Mantic, mostly, that I painted going off of some fantastic behind the scenes set photos that were taken with a flash camera, so the lighting was nicely color-neutral.
The hive goo I'm particularly happy with. The bulk of it is black Crayola Model Magic that I just globbed onto the terrain. Model Magic is an air-drying foam clay that you can get pretty cheaply. I made some mold stamps by getting bits of milliput and mooshing it onto an old Alien action figure I had, to get its various textures. Once the milliput stamps had set, I used them to stamp Alien texture all over the model magic. I also made prodigious use of ribbed cable hosing that I got from Home Depot. I used spare marine/warhammer bits to make colonist victims which I hid in the hive walls in various places.
After all that had set, I drybrushed it with Citadel Karak Stone paint, then a gloss coat, and then for the strands of clear resin, I used Shoe Goo, a shoe repair adhesive. It comes in a metal tube and is really stretchy and stringy, so you can just dot one spot with the tube, move to another spot, and there you have made a strand of goo. It's great.
All the numbers are just stencilled onto the board with paint that I then spot-finished to help prevent wear. I'm distracted now watching sumo but if I think of anything else I'll come back and mention it.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Mrs. Sloth actually suggested this, as well, but I hadn't really considered really doing it. Maybe it's something I have to look into!
There are so many iconic Aliens sounds that I think you'd have to.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Amazing writeup on that build!
Pro painting tip: Don't get broken ribs.
I invented some very weird painting positions when my ankle was broken. Ribs sounds way worse though as the active limbs (arm) are way more closely positioned.
I just did a lot of hobbying from the floor of my apartment with my leg up on a coffee table.
I’ve been just using a kitchen table chair at an ikea desk with telescope legs, but have been thinking of upgrading to a gaming chair or executive office chair.
Anyone have recommendations?
MWO: Adamski
See, look at him, he’s all “I could stand like this all day and suffer no discomfort, am I not magnificent?”
Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
Only one is realistic with it's posture
It arrived today and it's far larger than I thought. It's 17" L x 16" W x 5"D that's more than enough to store my paint I thought thinking the one box I store half my paint in is about 14"L X 9"W X 5"D {it's very beat up and split}
This is far larger than I thought nearly twice the size I would compare them {the old box of paint and the plano. The old box will far apart if I move it} as I really now think I did the math wrong in my head?
This is the large plano with one of the 3700 ones we usually store minis in
I really feel I did mess up or this is not what I thought the stated measurements were
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Took me a couple readings before my brain would process this as Sister's and not sister's
With the plant stuff and skull packs it fills just a small area of the plano
2 years ago I bought the legendary book how to paint Harlequins and two unlabeled paint bags from a book fair in a parking lot {I think it was clearing out a storage container as there was tons of other items besides books}
The Lahmian Medium that was one of the two separated/settled
It was at the bottom of the other box so I feel because of the rather bad habit of contrast paints to separate/settle I feel I will have to get a someway to shake or mix them or try the stainless baring ball as I feel because of the random times I can paint when I feel like it {not wallowing in anhedonia it seems} so I don't have to spend a chunk of it shaking paints
Still I need to organize the paints and then pick something to paint as the Melusai from DoK I started a couple of weeks ago still sit on my computer taunting me to finish