Fighting the Gray Tide (Miniature Painting)

[MGibster]

Goblin Hobbies is a company run by Brent & Casey who are best known as YouTubers posting tutorials and other things having to do with the miniature painting hobby. They sell a new product which is essentially just a nail stamping kit for use with miniature painting. Do you know what nail stamps are? I had no idea what they were until I saw their product. If you've been painting miniatures long enough, you know there's a special "hobby tax" in the form of higher prices for things like paint, brushes, and other supplies that are marketed towards other hobbies and lower prices. Paint for example. The Goblin Hobbies kit cost $50, so I decided to just look at nail stamp kits with images that might be useful to me and found one for $20.

This is a proof of concept test which turned out rather well. The application on my part was a bit sloppy because I pressed down on the miniature a little too hard I think. The print plate I used was full of Halloween themed images and I just thought a classic skull & crossbones would work just fine. You can of course order a lot of nail plates for a relatively low cost, but I think paying the higher cost for the Goblin Hobbies plates is worth it if you're going to be painting 40k models at least. I've got another project in mind that will make liberal use of the stamp and I'll post that in the coming weeks.

 

[EthanSental]

Spent this morning just getting a buncha minions painted:
View attachment 400863

catching up to some great posts but wanted to ask about the finish used on these. The “seem” slightly glossy or maybe not as matte as most paints and sealants so I was curious about them.

 

[MGibster]

Every miniature has an ugly phase. A point you get to where the model doesn't quite look like what you want it to look like and you're not sure you'll get there. 80% of the model gets done very quickly, and when you want to make it look your best that remaining 20% can take a long time to finish. I was working on this bird's face when it suddenly occurred to me, "He's going to be wearing a mask. You won't be able to see the majority of the beak even." Time to let the paint cure and get back to work tomorrow on Saturday.

 

[el-remmen]

Every miniature has an ugly phase.

Yes! And frequently I have a "I have ruined this mini and may give up" phase before I realize I am overreacting - esp. the first few after even a short break from painting

 

[Clint_L]

catching up to some great posts but wanted to ask about the finish used on these. The “seem” slightly glossy or maybe not as matte as most paints and sealants so I was curious about them.

Speed paints for the base with a bit of highlighting and dry brushing after.

 

[ced1106]

Goal: To put a significant dent in the number of unpainted miniatures in my possession, as well as practice new techniques in order to improve my skills.

Replying only two years later but, since I'm painting to play games, to get me to paint my miniatures, I'm playing a solo campaign of the Lasting Tales generic fantasy miniatures game and painting figures that I need to play. Obviously, that's still a slower pace than an effort to paint my mini's, but the mini's do hit the table more than if I just painted whatever mini was on the pile. I do this with prepainted terrain too, so that means the Archon prepainted dungeon terrain, and the Battle Systems cardstock terrain get multiple plays on the gaming mat, after hours of clipping and punching out! So, if you need some motivation to get the grey out, start a solo miniatures game, be it boardgame, skirmish, or RPG.

Obligatory pic of some mini's I've painted, with Battle System's Dungeon set. These mini's are from the failed Blacklist Games Fantasy Series 1 KS. Wildspire now has the rights and is selling the miniatures under their Classics line. The BLG FS2 miniatures are currently being crowdfunded by Wildspire, with a discount for the BLG backers who didn't get their mini's. More pics and info on this Reaper thread, so I don't hijack this one! : https://forum.reapermini.com/index....ures-physical-stl-was-blgs-fantasy-series-ii/

 

[MGibster]

And another project finished. The long and short of it is this Dungeons & Lasers Phoenix miniature is worth the $35 purchase price. The sculpt is pretty good though I do have some criticisms some practical and others aesthetic preference. When it comes to aesthetics, I strongly dislike the flames/smoke sculped onto the wings. I wasn't quite sure what to do with them, the art on the box has them as flames, but the color scheme I chose makes those streams of fire/smoke kind of blend in with the rest of the wings. I thought about making them smoke, but at that point I was pretty far in the project and didn't want to backtrack.

My biggest issue with this miniature is assemble. I did not use all the bits that came with the model. There were additional flames coming out the head as well as additional flames coming from the part of the bird that attaches to the base. Despite having instructions, I could not figure out exactly where I was supposed to attach them to the rest of the model. There were two I knew exactly where to attach, but as it caused pieces of the model to rub against one another if assembled that way I don't know if it was bad design or just user error on my part. I had a slightly hard time gluing the model to the base, but it wasn't particularly onerous. As a said, this model is definitely worth the $35 I spent on it, but if you're new at this or don't like assembly I might look for a different model.

 

[Richards]

Good job on the painting, but for the life of me I can't figure out why a phoenix would be wearing a mask,,,or where he'd have gotten a mask...or why anyone would craft a mask for a phoenix to wear. Just weird.

Johnathan

 

[MGibster]

Good job on the painting, but for the life of me I can't figure out why a phoenix would be wearing a mask,,,or where he'd have gotten a mask...or why anyone would craft a mask for a phoenix to wear. Just weird.

I assume he was drafted or enlisted in the army as is going to war. Heck, maybe the Phoenix is the general?

 

[Richards]

But it's a bird made of fire - does it really need any type of armor? And how is it holding the solid metal mask on its fiery head? And wouldn't the mask eventually just melt off from the phoenix's incredible burning heat? These are the questions running through my mind after seeing your well-painted model.

Johnathan