Painting Projects

Around the shop people have really started to get into using airbrushes for painting. To start with it was mostly for priming and base coating, but lately it has starting moving to a whole new level. One of our regulars (Ben R.) is a perfect example of this.

He recently started a new army for Warhammer 40K – Eldar – but wanted to do something different with it, so he broke out his fancy new airbrush and got to work. His idea was for a series of troop carrying tanks that are painted to match the squads they carry – in particular a squad of ‘air’ troops, a squad of ‘fire’ troops, etc. Now, while I don’t have any pictures of the troops I do have some pictures of the tanks in progress.

Ben decided to use a family of colors to paint them and, in the case of the vehicles, to softly blend those colors into each other. The results are pretty amazing. The unfortunate thing is that he is raising the bar for everyone else. How can you field a plain old one color army when armies like this are showing up?

Fortunately for everybody, there is a really good flow of information going on. On our paint nights (and just about any other night of the week) you can hear the quiet hum of airbrushes and compressors running throughout the shop.  Almost everybody is willing to share their secrets when they stumble on a good technique, and people aren’t afraid to ask questions or for help when they want to improve their skills. It is definitely a good time to be a modeler in the Village.

Well, until next time…

Please try not to raise the bar too high!

Dan

A while back I posted some shots of  a converted Tyranid Carnifex that one of our regulars (Ben R.) had done. Well I found that I had a few shots of his completed army as well, so here they are. The army is really impressive, especially the basing. The whole army has a swamp theme to it, which is reflected both on the models with hanging greenery and foliage on the creatures, and the bases with swampy water puddles, broken branches and more greenery.

I try and emphasize to folks to not underestimate the effect good basing can have on a model/army. Here is an excellent example – the models are painted very well, but they really pop with the whole themed ground effect and such. I recommend to anyone who is considering a themed force (be it 40K, historicals, or whatever…) to give consideration to the basing as well as how to actually paint the army. You don’t have to go crazy, just keep it simple, but a well thought out and executed plan can really make your army look great.

And a great looking army inspires not only the general, but also anyone who happens to walk by and is looking for a new game to try.  Whether we like it or not, visual coolness definitely plays a big part in whether someone decides to try out a new game.

So the next time you are starting a new force, give some thought as to the basing theme as well as the painting scheme of your force. I don’t think you’ll regret it!  

Until next time…  

Avoid the swamps!  

Dan

Just a couple of quick shots of some great model conversions our regulars have done. Both are from the Games Workshop 40K line. The first is a pretty clever addition of a Necron Warrior emerging from the energy field on a Monolith. Trent N. (yes, the same one that works at the shop) was the mastermind behind this one.

The other figure is a winged Carnifex made by Ben R. Ben is an art student, as you can probably tell from the great basing and colors used (please excuse the rather poor quality of the pictures, it ain’t easy taking shots in the middle of a game J). The wings are stunning, and really make the figure a dominant part of his army.

Congratulations guys on jobs well done! 

Until next time… 

Thought for the day: Just Play! 

Dan