WIP: Rackham Jackal Master of Rites pt4

Okie Dokie...got quite a bit done last night. I am starting to wrap this thing up. I still need to finish the metal parts, most of the staff, the hair on the skull next to his leg, and of course the eyes. I am still not sure how I will do the eyes. I am contemplating adding some tatoos, but I suck at freehand stuff and I do not want to mess up what I have done.

 Oh yeah...note to self; Don't test new products on a model you care how it looks. Luckily it was an easy recovery. The new matte coat I bought is not really matte, it is kinda satin. If only friends would answer their texts, or I would listen. Oh well, I was able to correct it and I will not make that mistake again.

There are some different angles after the jump.

WIP: Rackham Jackal Master of Rites pt3

Here is the latest. I did not really get much accomplished. I blocked in a bunch of the smaller areas is about it. Hopefully I will get some shading and such done on them tomorrow. Hope you like it so far.

Easy Painting: Reds

     Well the title may be a bit misleading to some, but to me it seems easy. It can take a little bit of time, but the steps are easy.

     Several of the locals (such as Brent, or Evil Homer) comment pretty frequently that they like the way the reds on many of my models look. So at the request of Brent, I decided I would try my hand at doing a write up to see if it will help some of you out there that may struggle with the color.

WIP: Rackham Jackal Master of Rites pt2

Here are some more WIPs of my Rackham Orc. Hope you like it so far.

Front

Back

WIP: Rackham Jackal Master of Rites

Needed to work on something significant. I am getting bored turning out table top stuff. So here it is for you to gander at. Pretty much just worked the skin.

I have always loved this model. I should be able to finish it fairly quickly because almost the entire back of the model is fur.

Back in Business

     Well, I placed 2nd Overall in this past weekends local WFB tournament. That includes a crushing defeat of Strictly Average's Brent. Actually it was a hard fought game in which he had completely overlooked the scenario when he was prepping for the tournament. In addition to that, I bought some new lights for my paint table so I am back in business and should be able to bring you some new stuff to look at. For now, here is a pic of the beginning of me an Brent's game, and after the jump there is some pics of my old then new setup and some explanation of why I chose the lights I did.

Strictly Average: Stictly Awesome!!

Let me set the story. Several weeks ago during one of Brent's (Strictly Average) post about Wargames Con I noticed that he always stood pretty much the same way when he was gaming. So I took a photo of him next to the table and sent it to one of our local artist for a work up and here is the result. I think it is excellent work, and quite a good resemblance.

This piece is done by a friend of mine, Carlos Aleman. He does some great stuff, and I thought he did a great job on this. Follow the jump to see the pic that gave me the epiphany and the one he worked from.

Tournament Day: Something for you to look at!

Well the WFB tournament is today. Unfortunately I did not manage to get completely painted. I still need to base by Orc Boys and paint and base the last Doom Diver.

Since I don't have anything to show you, I thought I would steal some content. Here is a picture of a Vampire that my friend Little Barrera painted for his Vampire Counts army.

This is his idea of table top quality. Something else to ponder; he is colorblind and his hands shake. Sickening. A few additional angles after the jump.

Progress Report

     Well, I have finished the orc boys unit but it does not look like I will make it by Saturday.

     I still need to base this unit. That will take an evening. That leaves the Doom Diver to be painted.

     Thursday I have to go take pictures of my wife's softball game, so no work there. Friday night will most likely be spent at the FLGS (this could be skipped). That leaves Wednesday night. Well, I could have easily based the unit on Wed and made some progress on the Doom Diver. Unfortunately we had a death last night. A little rough handling and my oldest desk light caved under the pressure. It kinda annoyed me too this thing has lasted around 15 years, but it could not hold out any longer. So now I will need to shop for a new one, and knowing my OCD I may end up buying multiples so they match. I am just that way.

RIP Desk Lamp (1995-2010)

     Anyway I go about it, I doubt I will have time to get it all done before Saturday AM. Not sure how much effort I will put into trying, but regardless I may be done at this point.

The Home Stretch

     Well now. The FLGS is having a 1250pt WFB tournament this weekend, and I am trying to get ready. I have pretty much finished my list, and have assembled all the models. Now all I have to do is finish the painting. Here is a pic of what I have, list is after the jump.

Step by Step: Ork Boys

     I thought I would do another step by step for you to take a look at. This one is the beginning of my second unit of Orc Boys. When I paint models en mass like WFB units or 40K Squads I normally break then down into manageable groups. This helps me gain the feeling of progress as the unit grows, and it also help to cut down on the monotony of painting the same color in the same place...20 times. So this is the progression start to finish on the back rank plus one extra trooper I have laying around.

     Something to think about. I planned these minis the same way I have the rest of this army. There are really only a few colors used, and they all work well when washed with GW Devlin Mud. This way I can crank out the models in a fairly quick time frame. They have a decent table top quality paint job, and once I am finished I can go back in and do some extra work on special things like the standards and unit champions. My total working time on these six models is roughly 4 hours (2 hours a night for two nights) 

Motivation Station: What keeps you working?

     What keeps you working? That is something I wonder about constantly. There are many reasons that we spend the time and effort in this hobby. I thought I would talk a bit about some of the things I see and what affects me.

An interesting piece by Jim Warren

My GW Watchtower, Part 2 WIP and Finish

     Well, I finally got around to finishing my Watchtower. Let me start this off by telling you that I really enjoy making terrain. I should stress the making part. Painting, not so much. I also tend to get to a point on large models where I am basically sick and tired of looking at it, and I either put it down and walk away (normally for weeks or months), fight the urge to throw it against a wall, or figure out a way to fight through it and just get it done. I have walked away from many, luckily never thrown any against the wall, and the last normally affects the end result.

     The case with this Watchtower was I buckled down and just got it done. There are a few things I am not super happy about, but in general I am pleased. My borderline O.C.D. can be a bitch sometimes though and I simply have to tell my self, "It's done, it looks good, now leave it alone and do something else."

Something to keep you looking

Painting the tower is taking much longer than I expected. So before I do the next step I thought I would show you some of the other pieces I am working on. The paint jobs are all WIPs and most are in transition from how they were started painting over a year ago.

This house is made from a foam core shell. I then added some windows from the Morheim sprues. After that I used some wood to trim it out. I then cut a bunch of small chits of card and glued them down as roof tiles. More after the jump.

Sidewalks and Walkways from Spackle

     Ok, while I was working on my Watchtower I also started working on a few other pieces. On them I decided to try and add some walkways on to the base before I added the sand. I took a bunch of pictures of one of them so I could do a walk through for you. It actually worked out rather well. I think I am going to experiment with some other ideas with it and see what all I can use it for. For now, here is how I got this far. Please excuse the mess on the rest of the house. It is a work in progress.

WIP:My GW Watchtower, Part 1

     Well I decided terrain is where I would head next. So you get to see it. Nothing too indept, just picking up where I left off the last time I worked on it. I am working on several pieces at the same time, but I will let you follow along on this one. Perhaps soon I will do a building from scratch as I have a set of foam core tools I need to give a go at. Also a note..this is not mine, but a pretty picture for you to look at till after the jump.

Houston.....We Have a Problem!

     Well now, we are now in full swing at the FLGS with WFB and it seems to be going quite well. For some!
 If your skin is any shade of green that may not be the case.

My recently completed Squig Herder unit