Airbrushing: My First Steps.

Weeks ago I decided to finally begin Airbrushing in earnest.  Until that moment I was honing my skills with a brush (and even did a lot of priming with a brush) with  a plethora of techniques to still learn.

Here is my weapon of choice.  Found a great deal online.

Follow Up: Preventing Hobby Wobble

This is a follow up to a previous post entitled "Preventing Hobby Wobble between Projects"

It has been just about 2 months from my previous post regarding hobby wobble and I wanted to discuss how my attempt at embracing the wobble in a controlled way to knock out smaller projects went for me.

Over these past few months I have managed to knock out the following projects.  Two Battlefleet Gothic Fleets, Ten Dark Angel Terminators, Five Stormcast Judicators, and a handful of one off individual Models. Check out my Twitter feed for pictures! (@odiamh)

Pro Tip #1: Completing a bunch of one off projects doesn't feel this good.

Armies on Parade 2016

It is that time of year for us to muster our forces and display them proper in Armies on Parade!

Every year I watched as hobbyists across the globe created armies and display boards for their local Armies on Parade.  Seeing the projects was always a great way to get my hobby mojo going either through the White Dwarf or Online posts by the community.  This year I finally have a Games Workshop location within driving distance and I am finally able to participate.

I decided to use my Stormcast Chamber (The Reik Eternals) as they are one of my newest armies and only had minimal work to finish the army from a painting stand point.  Then came to the decision of designing my display board.  Such began the process...

 

The outline of my board

Thankfully I work in the building industry so foam insulation board is easy to come across.  I gathered a few pieces and after some wire and glue I had a base.  I decided to go with a raging river on my display board to represent a variation of the River Reik.  The foam was a new medium for me and after some guess work it began to come together.  I cut the River into shape and used a candle to create the wavy pattern for the river you see above.  After adding some foam rocks created from the scrap it was time to paint!

 

The color blocked out

The river comes alive!

I have to admit painting the river was an exciting challenge.  I know there is plenty of room to improve, but I am proud of what I was able to accomplish.  After some quick drying with a hair dryer I was able to flock and trim the board which admittedly was my least favorite part.

With added scenary

I even added a sign complete with sloppy hand writing!

The whole process took me 3 days from start to finish and while there is much I would like to redo I am very happy with the finish product and will take my knowledge with me to next years display board to make it bigger and better!

Good luck to everyone participating this year and I look forward to seeing your work online (I hear rumors GW is putting up all pictures from the stores on one website)!  I will leave you know with a few shots of my Army on Parade and I will report back if I manage to pull out a podium!

#OnlyTheFaithful




Update:  I took 1st place!

Preventing Hobby Wobble between Projects

Hello again everyone.  Sorry for the delay between posts recently, but you will be happy to know I will be back to my regular posting twice a month!

We all have experienced Hobby Wobble and as Wargamers we have come to almost accept it as part of the process.  It sneaks into our hobby time like a Nurgling dancing around distracting us from the Great Unclean One that is our current (or next) project.  What are some of the ways to prevent Hobby Wobble? Is it possible to use Hobby Wobble to your advantage?  I will explore these ideas (and maybe more) while sharing my current plight as I finish my latest army and attempt to stave off the dreaded Hobby Wobble.

Ignore the large hobby project behind the curtain!

I am currently finishing a large Wood Aelf Army (also my final army to be on Square bases!  Woohoo!) and as I grind out my last models my mind keeps asking what should I put on the painting table next?  I have no lack of options that is for certain.  I have a few more Stormcast bodies to add to my chamber.  Perhaps I could begin growing my Sylvaneth Wargrove or even begin my Orruk Warband that has been slowly taking shape on my Airbrush Table.  Lets not forget the 40k projects that have been untouched since Age of Sigmar dropped from the Heavens.

Slaughter your Hobby Wobble!

As you can see I am on the verge of; if not dipping my toes into the Hobby Wobble.  I decided to find a small goal (a mini project of sorts).  This has staved off the Wobbly feeling as I shift my focus entirely to painting my Slaughter Priest that came free from the latest White Dwarf for the competition on TGA.community (Click the link to access the competition being run by Ben Curry of Bad Dice Podcast).

While I plan to spend quality time on this lone model and attempt to paint beyond my standard I know the wobble will come back in force.  So what do I do when it returns?  It may sound strange, but I will embrace the wobble for a short time although with a bit of guidance to the madness.

So here is the plan.  I will gather up all my small projects (be they a single model or unit) and just put them on my hobby table and let my mood dictate which one of the assortment I will paint that day.  I will let myself bounce from Space Wolves to Dreadfleet, but I will set a 1 or 2 month time limit (undecided right now).  Once that time frame hits I will finish the current unit/model I am on and end the wobble and begin working on my Orruk Warband in earnest.  While the other projects might take a back seat they will still be there and hopefully I can use them as a break from the Army project to prevent burnout (another scary hobby predicament) from time to time.

Behold the KanBan!

I will report back in a future post with how this strategy has worked or if I abandon it completely and fell into a larger rabbit hole.  Time will tell, but with tools at my finger tips like my KanBan board (pictured above) it will help keep me focused while being unfocused at the same time.  Feel free to follow my updates on twitter as well ( @odiamh )

Until Next time... #OnlyTheFaithful