Thursday 24 April 2014

Cobblestone Bases with Sculpey

After the Imperial Knight Titan was completed I felt it was time to bring my similarly red Blood Angels back out from under the junk in the cupboard and update them with my current basing techniques. Having made large slabs of rock for the base of the Titan, I turned my attention to basing some smaller models using the same oven bake clay while keeping the style consistent across a whole army rather than single unit or model.


As with all my previous creations using Sculpey, the greatest thing about using oven bake clay is the ability to re-shape it as many times as you like without it setting like a two part epoxy. In this instance I simply re-rolled the shape using a rolling pin until I was happy with the thickness, and "stamped" in the pattern using a cast off section of plasticard and wood carving tool until I was happy with the size of the stone squares.


After baking it was simply a matter of snapping the squares off into their sections, ready for gluing. I chose to add  few longer sections to add interest to the pattern, but soon ran out when I started arranging them. Not to be deterred I pressed on until I was out of cobblestones and had an army's worth or bases to be proud of!


I added some Green Stuff underneath the stones to add strength, height, and a slight curve to some of the bases in addition to a few stones from the side of the road and leftovers from the bits box. I have been busy drilling the bases in preparation for pinning the models through the Sculpey into the plastic base to ensure they are durable enough for gaming, along with a little grit to fill in the gaps. This is the first time I have based an entire army separate from the models, and it really inspires further projects! I look forward to sharing some more photos with you as I begin painting.

A big shout out to Massive Voodoo for their "Can you Stamp It?" competition inspiration!


Thursday 17 April 2014

Photo Post: The Jolly Inquisitor



I managed to sneak in some hobby time this week and craft my first ever "INQ28" model, using a MaxMini "evil" head as a starting point. Using the body of an old Chaplain donated from a friend combined with a leftover combi-weapon from my command squad, I hope to convey the feeling of a lowly Inquisitor a bit too proud of his newly crafted power armour to actually bother doing any Inquisitorial business! The goblet will be accompanied by a cherub holding a wine bottle or something along those lines.

A big thank you to Meg Maples for some photography tips! You can check them out over at her blog.

Saturday 12 April 2014

An update from the painting desk.


Greetings all! It's been a while between blog posts due to a work trip to Toronto, the paints are away while friends and family visit, and I have been distracted by the release of the latest Diablo III expansion (though I spend most of my time dissecting every detail for use in my hobby projects). I have had a blast building and painting my Imperial Knight Titan, and have picked up literally an armful of Kromlech and MaxMini bits at Meeplemart while back east, not to mention some new weathering powders and brushes to try out.

With another trip home to Australia this month (models in tow thanks to my Battlefoam case) it's a month of gaming rather than hobby, but all that will change come May with a painting class by Meg Maples of Arcane Paintworks fame. Meg previously painted for Privateer Press, and is making the trip up to Vancouver to show us how it's done. Her beautifully painted Magneto model recently won a gold model at the Crystal Brush awards, and I am keen to see how here "two brush blending" technique works. In the meantime I am dabbling with some plain ol' single brush painting on my Necrons and Beastmen to keep the brush skills fresh and ready for new techniques.

See you all the other side of some finished models!