Hobby Notebook 2021-09-17
I really should do these more often.
Leave a comment to encourage me to do these more often!
Printing
I am wondering if I should have stuck with the Eryone filament.
I hadn’t touched Gif for about a week. I’d recently changed the Bowden Tube during a de-clogging. I thought that the printer had jammed, but, in reality - the filament wasn’t feeding. I’m mid-roll so this was probably a “tear” rather than human error… which is frustrating.
The next morning (today) I awoke to find that the “motor side” of the Bowden Tube had slipped loose. The sight was dramatic but just annoying. It seems that the coupler had not held, so, I trimmed the tube and re-inserted it with one of the small clips to hold it in place.
Overall, the “dog house” enclosure is working well. It seems to shield Gif enough to prevent the disastrous changes in temperature that we all know will spell certain doom.
OctoPrint is also much easier to use - I’m not sure if the transfer is quicker (over WiFi) but I’m happier with the “workflow” than I was. It would be nice to be able to load the models onto the SD card in the printer, then, print from that so that I didn’t fear shenanigans with my Pi3. It would also be nice to have a display/log of filament “length” used - all I’ve found is a tool to manually input it. For the time being it’s quite happily running on my Raspberry Pi 3.
Model wise … I’m finishing The Abandonded Lighthouse. I’ve stretched the building vertically by 110% to make the angles easier for Gif … which might be unneeded.
Next up … I need/want to print a set of 50% sized Hagglethorn Hollow and other “cottages” for a “House Painting Party.” The timeline is a bit tight, and, I need to work out filament usage at some point.
… and then; I’d like to “get back on” with the proper Hagglethorn Hollow set. As before, I will be using OpenSCAD or IceSL to reduce material usage by carving out the interiors.
Painting
Some straight-up painting notes feel worth reflecting upon.
Mortal Realms
I’ve completed 73% of the Nighthaunt leaving just 40 models to do. That includes 10 Chainrasp 10 Bladegheist and 5 Hexwraiths but 15 “hero” type models. I’m currently preparing Issue 19 with the three new Heroes.
I still haven’t started the other two groups … someday I will.
Blackstone
I painted Espren Lorcano for Blackstone Fortress.
My “biggest surprise” was the oil wash. I used some generic oil paints - whatever is on Amazon should work and generic white spirit to thin and wash. I bought these at a brick-and-mortar with brushes for less than £10 though.
When I based it I tried to just whack it onto a pre-painted (by me) base but found that I needed to line it up with the slotta. Lesson learned.
The amount of grabbing I did started to scuff the paint, so, I had to varnish it. Lesson learned.
Space Orks
I painted a pair of “test grots” to check the colour scheme. I then proceeded to paint a batch of 10 differently. I started with a normal zen-prime, then under-brush’ed them - I might stick to flat black priming for these next time.
Skin and basecoat “as normal.”
I applied acrylic washes to two of them before YOLO’ing and oils washing the remainder - mostly from the bottom half. With one of them, I didn’t “take it back” to the extent I wish that I had … lesson learned.
After a while I’ll go back in and highlight stuff with acrylics, picking out the teeth and lips while trying to bring the red back up.
“Partial Oil Wash” might be my new favourite approach.
Hobby Learning
Non-painting stuff shall be rambled through here.
Flagstone Cardboard Bases
I want a cheap/easy way to do “flagstone” type bases a la Cursed City.
I’m not there yet though - maybe I should just do what JuanHidalgo or Dana Howl did.
I am very happy with the progress - using unconventional materials feels good to me.
If you’re doing this - use two or three layers of “food package” cardboard, and, be sure that the glossy side is facing outwards. I found that the easiest way to cut up the cardboard is
You could use it for Radukars Court if you want a Ulfenkarn themed army or do something edgy with Galen & Doralia Ven Denst.
The Illusion of Detail
I was trying to broaden my horizons was watched an oil painter discuss “The Illusion of Detail.” The material flowed through and over me, but, the concept itself could be good for explaining miniature painting.
What kept it in my mind was that the author mentioned the idea of using a GoPro for recording his painting. I think that this would be a mistake - as the GoPro is designed for capturing motion and this guy wants a better angle. I’d suggest that some sort of an “overhead camera mount” would let a “pancake painter” capture their work.
Base Rolling Pins
I’m still not 100% “sold” on this - but - I got some better results.
I’m switching from talc to corn powder - don’t worry.
I sprinkled talc in the water, then, dipped the ball of green in there and rolled it with my Vampire Rolling Pin. This left the final “roll” with deposits of powder that I had to clean off.
BUT
The result was amazingly “better” than my last attempts - the details were much finer and the striations from the pin were captured. (I think that the pin has striations on purpose) Once the putty was cured I pulled it back off the base and sliced it up to make space for the Necron’s footpeg. I left some thin cracks between the pieces, trimmed to green to match the base and added some basing paste and clutter to given the impression that this was a ruin.
Going forward there are a few things to try. I’d like to see if a finer (softer?) putty than what I’m using lets me do a thinner result. I have another brand of green-stuff to try, and some brown stuff so all I need is time. I’d also like to put larger, less aligned cracks between the sections, possibly with rope/vine stuff between them.
Overall - I’m eager to work more on this mini and base as I already have it “planned.”
… I just need to finish this post and an unrelated video …
Acrylic Thinning and Glazing
While painting the Grimghast Reapers I noticed that I achieved a better result with varying dilutions of my paint. Up until this point, I think I had a 1:1 ratio of paint:water in my head as “the way.” While painting these, I realised I got much better results by switching around the thinning - much thinner paint for the body, and, thin-but-not-that-thin for the skulls and stuff on the base.
I still hate Gunmetal as a paint.
Oil Washes
I’ve begun working with/trying out oil washes as noted above. This is the process of applying and removing oil paints to a miniature - sometimes it’s done with enamel paints but is always done with some turpentine variation for removal. AFAIK this process can be done with acrylics and watercolour as well, but, the drying times for the latter two are infeasibly short.
The mineral spirits used in oil washing has minimal effect on acrylic paints it’s simple to “take it back” after application. I have noticed my acrylics being stripped slightly by the process - however - this generally leaves the white/grey primer showing so further accentuates the effect. I used a few round makeup pads but mostly used cotton buds to remove the paint.
The biggest peeve is the toxicity of the thinner. Going forward I may do this in another room, or, even outside to terrify my neighbours. Cleanup will be done with paper towels to avoid fumigating my bathroom with turps farts. I found the most interesting results happened when washing the bottom half of my Gretchin more thickly than the tops. Delightfully - the thinned oil pants did seek out the cracks of the minis in a way I haven’t seen acrylics do before.
Overall - it’s another interesting tool, but, one that’s harder to use safely. I’m glad that I tried it.
