I thought I would take a break from my current "Dummies" series to give an update on my efforts to prepare for the 40K Space Hulk game at Origins.  Here is a mostly finished piece of terrain -- a shipboard Imperial temple.

P.S. This update is also a new personal best -- 17 posts for a single month!

I have a converted model and after a layer of primer my new commander is ready to be painted.  Pretty straightforward, no?  All I have to do is place the right colors in the right places – paint-by-numbers – and I end up with a finished model ready for play.

In fact, that’s exactly what I did in this case.  The picture to the left is that of my model with all the basic colors in place.  You could make the argument that I am done.  After all, it’s now a perfectly legal tournament quality model.  I could play it anywhere I like.

One of the first decisions you have to make whenever painting a model is just how far you want to go.  A basic job like this doesn’t take much time at all – maybe an hour.  However, it doesn’t make for much of an end product, does it? 

One thing you’ll discover once you take up painting in earnest is that it can take a long time.  Broadly speaking the time you need to spend on a model to improve it goes up geometrically the better the desired end result.  So, if it takes one hour to do a basic job it might take five to do a good one and twenty to do a great one.  

Just how far you want to go is a decision you’ll have to make.  In my experience there comes a point when you reach the level of your expertise where any improvement becomes so time consuming and frustrating that it is useless to continue.  However, you will likely want to stop before that point whenever the model reaches whatever you judge to be a reasonable level of accomplishment.  After all, you want a finished model and army you can play, not a lifelong mission.

How much time you want to spend per model also depends on what role it plays in your army.  A standard trooper usually isn’t worth extra time.  He’ll just be standing in the proverbial background anyway.  What does tend to attract attention are the stars of your force, usually HQ units or some impressive vehicle.  Those are worth the extra effort.  So, whereas you might just spend a few hours on a grunt a commander warrants at least ten – or even twenty.

Regardless of your choice be prepared to spend copious amounts of time on your painting if you are serious about doing your best.

More to come…

After taking the time to clean up my new model (and sweep up all the shavings doing so entailed) I need to convert it. If you remember the aim is to have a terminator captain with a pair of lightning claws (arguably, the best load out available to Deathwing commanders as they apparently haven’t been told about the new wonder Storm Shields – damn Imperial bureaucracy!)  This means I need to cut the two plastic terminator claw arms in just the right places to fit with the rest of the model.  Likewise, I will also have to cut Stern’s left metal arm at the elbow to accept the replacement part.  This way I can have the lightning claw and also preserve the shoulder heraldry of the original limb.

 In the case of the right arm it was a simple matter of cutting it at the elbow and sticking it on to Stern’s empty wrist that was built to accept his normal sword holding hand.  As already suggested I had to spend more effort on the other arm.  In all cases I used my jewel saw to make the cuts.  I find it ideal when needing to neatly cut such relatively large pieces.  After that all that’s required is a little extra shaving with the hobby knife to get a good fit.


Important Modeling Tip:  Don’t try using your hobby snips on pieces more than a half centimeter wide.  It just won’t cut cleanly and tends to leave a mark in the shape of a V.  Instead, use some tool that will allow you to saw your way through the model.  It’s more controlled and the result straighter.

The two pictures are views of the completed conversion.  Note how I made sure to keep the power hookups between the fists and shoulder intact.  For the left army I actually needed to cut the power line a bit short, but that was handy as the extra piece helped to extend the line on the opposite arm enough to reach most of the way.  To fill the last half centimeter of space I used green stuff – hobby putty which when mixed turns green and is, like many things, “stuff” – to fill in the last gap.  I molded it into the basic required shape and then let it set awhile to get less sticky.  Doing this allowed me to use my meager sculpting skills to better fit the piece in with the larger model without the putty still being so sticky as to be impossible to work with.

After all that it was a simple matter to add the sun crest behind his head and attach him to his wide round base.  Tada – I have my new Deathwing commander in one piece.  I have to say I like the final look.  It has motion and life to it as if he’s about to jump into combat.

More to come…

Okay, I have all the supplies I need.  Now it’s time to actually pick out a model and put it together.  In my case I’ve had my eye on doing a lightning clawed commander (e.g. Belial by another name) for my Deathwing.  After some thought I concluded that the best choice was to use Brother Stern (from the Daemonhunters army) and give him a pair of lightning claws.  Accordingly, I went out and bought the model and then retrieved an unused sprue off some plastic terminators.  After taking him out of the blister pack and clipping off the plastic bits I needed I got what you see in the first picture.

Now we come to the first real step in doing up a model – cleaning it.  If you look closely at any model you’ll see stuff hanging off it that you’ll want to remove.  For example, take a look at the second picture.  See the line of extra material going down the side of this plastic piece?  That’s where extra material was squeezed out the seam between the two halves of the mold.  Likewise, that spot lower down is where the arm was snipped off the sprue.  All of this together is called flash – and you need to get rid of it before beginning painting.  I suggest doing so even before putting the model together as it's easier to work with.

For removing flash I use both files and a hobby knife.  Which one you use depends on the material of the model part and where the flash actually is.  Generally speaking for plastic I prefer the knife while the file is better for metal.  Be thorough, but patient.  If you aren’t careful (especially with plastic) there is a danger that you’ll take off more than you want and lose some of the detail on the model.

Whatever you do take the time to remove the flash.  Nothing better ruins a model (no matter how well painted) than seeing an untouched mold line going down its side or some dangling unneeded bit of metal.  Drybrushing especially will exaggerate any remaining flash.  So, don’t embarrass yourself – clean your model thoroughly.

More to come...

Just like a mechanic requires tools to fix a car if you want to paint miniatures there are some things you are going to need.  There are also other things that are darn handy to have, but which you can do without if necessary.

What you need (and I mean it):

• One standard paintbrush
• One detail paintbrush
• One drybrush paintbrush
• Hobby clippers
• Hobby knife
• Primer spray (I prefer white)
• Spray sealer
• Super glue
• A good desk lamp that can use up close
• A basic set of metal files
• The basic set of paints you’ll need to fit your chosen paint scheme
• A cup for your paint water
• Lots of napkins

What would be handy to have:

• More brushes, especially larger ones to paint vehicles
• More paints – you can never have too much paint
• A drill (hand or powered)
• Pinning rods to use with the drill
• Sculpting Tool(s)
• Modelling putty
• Jewel Saw
• Flocking Material (usually sand)
• A dremel tool (pricey, but a godsend that saves a lot of time)
• More sources of light (more light is always better)
• Multiple cups for paint water if you want to make sure that metals don’t mix with regular paints

As you can see to do even a basic job of painting you’ll need a fair amount of stuff.  Fortunately, you probably have a lot of it already on hand.  Likewise, you can get by with a minimal number of brushes and paints if you really have to, but over time I am sure you will want to get more.  Nothing is more frustrating than realizing you need a new/different brush or color of paint – and the only way to get it is an extra trip to the hobby store (longer if you have to order online).  Also understand that over time you will use up paint and brushes that’ll need to be replaced.

And, of course, none of this includes the actual models.

Since this blog started I have held off composing any “how to” articles on painting or modeling for the simple reason that I didn’t think I was enough of an authority on the subject to justify doing so.  I consider myself a pretty good painter, but little of that comes from raw talent.  Rather, what skill I possess comes from 17 years (egad, I’m old) of practice, practice, and practice.  I’m not really an artist so much as a technician, a fellow who has gotten so good with the “paint-by-numbers” approach that the end result is pretty decent.  However, considering the great stuff that true artisans such as Ron over at From the Warp produce by comparison I wasn’t sure what I could contribute.

Then it hit me – not everyone out there is a good painter out there striving to make it to masterclass quality.  We all have to start someplace and improvement for most of us mere mortals is a slow, laborious process.  Accordingly, why not produce a series of articles that deal with the basics of painting, on how to get up to “pretty good” quality?  It sure beats 17 years of figuring it out for yourself.

So, this is the start of a series of posts I’m entitling “Painting for Dummies”.  If you are already a good to great painter this series won’t be all that helpful.  However, for everyone else it will represent a guide on how to get up to at least “not bad” status.  It won’t help you win the Grand Daemon, but it will aid you in meriting a “wow, that’s cool” response from your playing buddies.  And, let’s face it, that’s all most of us can hope for.

Here is the first bit I wish to contribute – the Five Foot Rule. 

Typically, when we play 40K we don’t do so with our eyes perpetually inches away from our or our competition’s models.  Instead, we are standing up at the side of the table looking down from roughly five feet away.  That is where the “Five Foot Rule” comes from – how does your army look when standing at the distance?  There are straightforward methods for producing models that appear great from that vantage point even if a closer examination might reveal (even numerous) flaws.  A lot of what I am going to talk about is aimed at satisfying this rule.  I think you’ll find that it’s easier than you think to paint up an army that will accomplish this.

More to come…

One of my primary aims with the 40K Space Hulk event at Origins is making sure everything runs both smoothly and quickly.  To help do so I've come up with something I call Force Cards.

When it comes time to start up the game the last thing I want to do is spend a lot of time organizing everyone's unit -- let alone have them do math (especially since the game is open to people who have never played 40K).  Therefore, I plan on giving each model its own Force Card.  It will have all the basic information necessary for using the model in one convenient package.  No having to flip through codexes here.  Likewise, when chosing your force you won't have to worry about points total and such.  You simply go through the available cards to pick which ones you want.  This way not only are the rules for your troops readily available, but you can pick your unit in a minute or two.  That leaves more time for actual play.

Above is an example of a card, namely a commander.  Everyone gets to chose one commander.  After that you get either 4 troopers if you are playing terminators or 9 if you are playing power armor marines.

I also plan on doing cards for the bad guys, but in that case I will usually do a card for the entire enemy squad.