Quick Orc update

Got a bit more done on the orc this week... he is getting close to completion now, but he needs some kind of fine detail. I am thinking of tattoos or warpaint, but I cant decide which!

On to the pics:

Aargh! Clash of the Titans - Salute Vs Adepticon

Why, oh why, did they have to be the same weekend...!

After my fortunes at Salute 2011, I won tickets to go over to Adepticon in 2012 to compete in the CoolMiniOrNot Crystal Brush painting competition. 'Fantastic' I hear you say - yes indeed, and I am still mega-chuffed about it. The cloud to the silver lining is that I will be missing my favourite show of the year - Salute! So no defending my title next year, but a chance to compete with some of the best painters in the world...

The only other thing which might prove a downer is that there were a lot of the Platoon Britannica guys and gals who religiously attend Salute talking about heading over to Adepticon next year... I wonder who will win that battle - Salute or Adepticon.

Salute - 21st April 2012, Excel Centre, London Docklands, ENGLAND
Adepticon - 19th-22nd April 2012, Westin Lombard Yorktown Center, Chicago, USA

With the flights paid for, its a bit of a no-brainer for me - Chicago here I come!!

The WAMP Orc

As I mentioned in my previous post, I did some work on the Orc I am hoping to enter into the WAMP competition. He's looking a little rough atm, but he's getting there slowly...

I had a bit of a crisis once I started painting the metallics. His flesh was too light for the dark, worn metals I had gone for (a blackened steel and bronze) so I have tried to deepen the tone of the flesh, but keeping it fairly desaturated and not loose the brightness of the highlights.

Took a lot of faffing, but here are some pics:

So, Torbay show, the low-down

So another Torbay show has been and gone - spoke with lots of people and generally ranted and raved about the hobby. I always end up frothing at some point at these events, and yesterday was no different! We had two six foot tables and split the stand between painting and display, and sat doing informal demos all day. Here are a few pics of the stand:

Before the show opens

We are set up and ready to go!



- Posted from the high seas

Torbay Military Modelling show on Saturday 23rd

Well, the next Bodgers attendance is nearly upon us - its the Torquay show this weekend! I am hoping to get some photos of the show and some pics of our display and post them up here, but I am usually pretty rubbish at remembering :P

Maybe this blog will give me some motivation!

Zenithal priming?

I dont know if this will come across so well in these photos, but here are pics of my orc after the zenithal priming.

You can just about see the transitions from grey to white where I have blasted white down from an angle

Straight on to the next project...

Well, I have been thinking about the model I want to do for the WAMP Hasslefree competition, and I have come to the conclusion that what I really want to do is something fantasy (after my recent sci-fi endeavour). With it being HF, you're pretty well spoilt for choice but I have had my eye on one of their earlier models for quite some time. It is Vadim the orc

He is now prepped, attached to the base and primed. I have gone for a 'zenithal priming' technique for the first time where I have primed grey and then primed white from about a 60 degree angle all round the model. This should give me a good idea for positioning of shadows and highlights but also allow the high spots to be naturally brighter as they have a white undercoat.

I am thinking 'real metallics', lots of leather and dark, oily metals... but only time will tell!

The Ultramarine Veteran - Complete

Well, I think he's complete...!

He has been a lot of fun to paint, and I like what I have achieved in the relatively short time its taken me (snatched moments build up in the end!). He's the first Space Marine I've painted in a long while, but I don't think he is going to be my last*.

One thing that I am not so sure of is the open space at the back. Now it is painted it feels a lot larger an expanse than when I was building it... I am tempted to add a discarded bolter and some shell casings to that side, but can't decide if its needed...

EDIT: I have now uploaded these pics to CoolMiniOrNot! If you fancy popping over and voting for this guy, you can find him here: http://www.coolminiornot.com/283094

Amazing Duel

I love a good Duel entry at Golden Demons - its probably my favourite category. I love it even more when people think outside the box... and I don't mean cramming the largest rock possible on top of the 50mm base and slapping a huge monster on there. 

Here is an example of something which really floats my boat - a TINY duel by Morbäck:

Everything you need in a tight little diorama - action, movement, direct interaction and great composition all on a base the size of a Euro coin. The painting speaks for itself!

Interesting Competition over on WAMP

WAMP is one of those wonderful communities where something is ALWAYS going on, and this month its a painting competition sponsored by Hasslefree Miniatures. Its no secret that I love Kev White's stuff, and that I have probably painted more Hasslefree Miniatures over the last 5 years than any other mini company. This, combined with the fact I have been meaning to take part in one of the WAMP competitions for ages kinda makes this a 'must enter' moment.

Details of the WAMP competition

I think I know what I want to do, and I have the model already - something gothic-scifi. A 'Privateer' or 'Rogue Trader' if you will. Proper WIP pics to come!

Ultramarine progress

Bit more progress on the Ultramarine tonight, got a good lot of paint slapped onto the base and the backpack is on. Lots of weathering to be done on the groundwork yet, and some finer details on the marine himself, but he's getting there.

It is meant to be an alien yet familiar terrain with red mars-esque sand and alien green crystals sticking out of the earth.

 

Embarrassing photos, glorious moment

Well, Salute 2011 was a pretty amazing day for me, which resulted in me having to pop up on stage in front of everyone and receive some prizes. Unfortunately as embarassing as that is, its the photos that really make me cringe.

here goes....

Speed painting

I'm rubbish at it...

But today I came across an interesting tutorial by Eric Louchard on the Reaper forums (thanks to my mate Gi6ers), and I think it makes a really interesting way of painting so I wanted to share.

http://www.reapermini.com/forum/index.php?/topic/42789-figures-from-the-stone-age/

I think this would be a very good way of painting some of my (well, Tracy's) older Grenadier orcs... might have to give it a go at some point - hack and slash my way through some of my lead mountain!

The next step

Well, the base is pretty much built and and after a bit of filling and sanding, I have attached it to the plinth and sprayed it all black.

Stonking new Hasslefree greens...!

Well, I was just doing my usual browsing of "the forums" over lunch today and I saw a new thread on the Forum of Doom by Sally from Hasslefree with a couple of new greens. They were both VERY different, one 'modern' civilian and the other something always dear to my heart - a kick-ass barbarian.

I really love Kev's sculpts, and have done since I first discovered Hasslefree when they released their first Libby model and somehow he keep son going from strength to strength maintaining his own style whilst getting more and more detail onto his models. Just look at these two...

The Realm of Atland web comic

Every once in a while you come across something on the 'Net which really grabs you by the balls and screams "READ ME!" in great big letters... discovering the Realm of Atland was most definitely one of these moments.

I tripped over Atland on a friends recommendation a good while ago now and it never leaves me disappointed.