Saturday, August 23, 2014

Damn the Plasma Torpedos, Full Speed Ahead!

Thanks to a good friend of mine, I got into Star Trek Attack Wing. I've been a huge fan of the X-Wing game for a while, so it seemed like Attack Wing was a given... But I had some reservations about the game... Mainly the model quality... WizKids is known for their shitty figures, and while some of these Attack Wing ships are pretty bad, they aren't completely unsalvageable. After dealing with the X-Wing ships from Fantasy Flight Games, anything of lesser quality is a bit annoying, but I am not going to let it stop me from enjoying a good game. Luckily with a little more work and effort, the Attack Wing ships can look really nice.

I've been playing Star Trek Online for 2 years now and I've fallen in love with the Romulans. Well, I always loved the Romulan ships in the show, so it wasn't a hard choice. They also play more to my defensive nature than the Balls to the Wall Klingons, so they are a natural fit play style wise; which is always good.  I'd gotten the Starter Set and 2 ship Expansions to flesh out a Romulan faction fleet. With the D'deridex from the Starter, I added the Valdore and the Praetus Ships. I've only had a few days to work on them but I have finished the smaller Praetus. The Valdore is base coated and washed. The TripleD is being primed.

Here are the pictures of my repainted I.R.W. Praetus, T'varo Class Romulan Bird of Prey







Tuesday, July 29, 2014

The Colonel would be proud

I've had this planned for over a year, I am just now getting it made.

The new Okbok B'Gok, Daemon Prince of Tzeentch


























He still needs some greenstuff work, but I am happy with how he turned out. Much better themed for my Warriors of Chaos army that the previous one. The old Prince is now part of my Crimson Slaughter Warband.

Monday, June 9, 2014

Magnetizing your Movement Trays, a How-To.

So, I have a tutorial on how I make my movement trays. When I was getting that link for a post I made on a forum,  I noticed that I'd done it back in 2010. I'd also said I'd show how I magnetize them later... Well, I think 4 years is long enough! So this is how I do it.



Once the tray is made, I then cut to size the sheets I use to line the trays. For my trays I use a product called Flex-Steel (I think? I cant find the labels anymore lol). It is not magnetic itself, but is ferrous enough that anything magnetic will stick to it. Its self-adhesive peel and stick so makes the process a lot easier.

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Cut it to the inner size of the tray.

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I like to align it to the front rail of the tray and then slowly work it down so that there are no air bubbles. Use another piece of plastic to help squeeze the sheet to the floor of the tray to make sure it has adhered thoroughly.

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For the magnetic bases, I use a .020 inch thickness magnetic sheet with peel and stick backing. For 20mm bases I cut strips 21mm wide

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I then cut those strips into 21mm squares

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Why 21mm by 21mm? This will make aligning the base onto the magnetic square a lot simpler as it gives you more room to play with. GW bases aren't exactly 20mm square, and can vary up or down in their size... Having that extra 1mm makes it a lot easier to get it stuck on.

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Now, you need to prep the bases themselves. If you are using slottabases, then you can skip this part. However, if you are using the normal flat top base, you need to add a spacer for the magnetic sheet to grip to in the middle. This way they stay stuck to each other far longer than without. I use just clippings of extra plastic, which needs to be at least 2mm thick. Less than 2mm and there wont be good adhesion. You don't want to use to thick or the bases wont sit flush. Glue the plastic spacer into the bottom of the base like so. I use a plastic weld type glue, but you can use superglue if you want. I prefer the welding as it will stay together longer.

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When attaching the magnetic sheet, I like to strip the backing off and then lay the square on the table sticky side up. I then align the miniatures base and slowly lower it until it touches. I will then pick it up, pressing firmly in the middle to adhere to the spacer, then I will run my fingers around the edge to press it all together. I'll then sit it on the table and press firmly down along the base edge to make sure the seal is good.

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Then trim with your hobby knife. I like to go at a slight angle so there is a bevel like /. This way there is less chance of the magnetic sheet catching at the join and ripping away from the base.

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Just finish up your unit, and you are done.

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As you can see, it holds pretty well.

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Now, this works great for plastics. Metal minis you would have to use Magnetic sheeting on both the bases and the trays themselves. I'd recommend using the thicker .030 inch on the trays as this will improve the magnetic bond as well. I also recommend that you do not touch the sticky backing with your fingers... skin contact really weakens the stickiness of the backing...

That is pretty much it. I hope this was informative and inspirational. If you have any other questions on the process, or if you have any suggestions, feel free to post them. Thanks for looking.          

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Smallish Update

I've not been feeling so good lately (depression and insomnia...), so there isn't much of an update so far.

I got 10 Rangers/Quarrelers done

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And I started on my block of Warriors
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The big update this time is that I sat down in a burst of manic building and made some movement trays for my Dwarfs.

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They aren't magnetized yet like the High Elves behind them, that will be a project for later. I still need to finish the dwarfs, make several more movement trays (for WoC and HElves, and then I'll magnetize everything in one go. It'll be easier that way.

Here is a link to the Movement Tray Tutorial I did back in 2010 (wow, it's been that long now)

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Well, this happened...

Took me all night but I finally got it done.




















Some close-ups. I've tried to organize the projects I have going or need to finish.





















As you can see the new paint rack system works perfectly! I even misjudged the width of the table, I could fit another small straight unit there in the gap. I'll order it when I can. While it was a bit expensive, I think it was worth it. If anyone is interested, it is the Back 2 Base-ix "The Rack" system. I went with the Acrylic over the MDF. One piece did arrive broken, but a quick email to the company and they had a replacement to me in a week. Not bad, for coming from Australia!


Now, I just need to clean the rest of my room.... /cry

Friday, May 9, 2014

Bring the Thunder

Finished these fellows a few days ago. 15 Thunderers. I had planned a unit of 20, but the bodies with cloaks distracted me so they will be used to make a unit of Rangers.





















And they all have shields




















I'm also getting close to the end of the build stage. I need to build the three Gyros and 3 sets of Cannon Crew once they arrive. And I still need to figure out a BSB Thane still...



Monday, May 5, 2014

Ironbreakers Done

Finally finished assembly on my unit of Ironbreakers






















I also got my three Runepriests assembled. Runelord for larger games, and the Runesmith Twins.




















That other hammer is from the Cannon Crew.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

And I cry some times...

And yes, I feel a little peculiar...

Yes, I have a song stuck in my head...

ANYWAY! I have all my paints removed from the desk. I am not looking forward to cleaning all that up... so many bits just strewn about... ugh...




















And here they are in their new homes (though not back on the desk yet of course).





















More on the paint racks later, once I have everything back in order...

Friday, April 18, 2014

A desparate cry...

So, if you notice from my last few posts that my work space has been different. I've not been working at my painting/hobby desk in my room... There is good reason for that...

This is what it looked like when I first moved downstairs to the new room




















And this is now...






















Something has got to give. Fortunately, it will. In the next few days I'll be cleaning this up and reorganizing the whole thing. Stay tuned for updates!

Friday, April 11, 2014

Dwarfs Assembly Project Udate #2

Finally got my Irondrakes assembled.























  Hard to tell in these pics, but I went double Irondrake shoulderpads for these fellows. I think it looked really cool once I noticed I had accidently done so with the Unit Champion. Took me longer due to school and commission work I needed to do.

 I think I am going to take a break from Dwarfs and work on assembling my Anglo-Danish-Samurai army for SAGA.

  Either way, next Dwarf unit I do will be Ironbreakers.