Put it all together..

This weekend, besides making more wonderful plaster bricks, I worked on getting some models together. I've been wanting to get the Games Day 2012 Blood Angel together for awhile and thought it would be a good model to go a little farther on. Sadly it's finecast so it has all the wonderfully wrong things that go with it but no need to go over all those again.. we know them all too well..

Other then the Blood Angel I put together a bunch of Malifaux models.

 This week I picked up a box of hired swords to use as proxies in my Guild Crews. They can fit in well as a Witchling Handler or just as Guards or other Guild peeps..

 I also got the last Death Marshal mostly together. I want to try out the Lady Justice crew so want to have all the Marshals ready in case I use all three.

 It's crazy how many small bits there are on some of these models.. I think this chick will be the stand in for the Witchling Handler.. She has another piece of hair that was on her hip for some reason but  I wasn't really feeling that so I replaced it with piece from Sam that looked kinda like brass knuckles. 8)

 I also got the Riflemen together.. They really have a lot of bits to take care of haha.. but I got them ready other then their heads which I'll be painting separately. Next will be to prime them and do the initial blends with the airbrush.

A nice place to play..

 Tonight I'll be getting in another game of Malifaux which will be more of a learning experience again truthfully but I wanted the crew to be complete. I was casting bricks like a madman last night (below) and while doing so I got Sonnia's crew field-able .. I keep not wanting to paint to play but it doesn't seem like that is ever possible for me 8) ... They aren't complete yet but I'm still pretty happy with the added blending I've done so far.

 These pics look pretty much the same but the focus is a little different here and there hah..  I took them so I'll use them 8) ..

 I got Sam to a point where he looks decent enough to be out there even though he's only leather, skin and black .. haha .. I did some blending at least but I need to get in there for the details and blend a bunch more. The smooshed Cig also needs some more work haha.. after some more paint and some flocking it should look good..

 Will I shoot you or just thump you with my big ass hammer? 8)

 Not much was done on Sonnia since yesterday other then a little blending added to her shoulders and I sprayed her with a little Matte to bring down the shine..

 She still needs a good bit more detail added to her but I think she's looking good..

 And now on to the bricks...here is more of my bricks.. wow it's going to take me FOREVER! .. Depending on how I make the board I may need at minimum 40 casts but it could be up to 60..  yikes. I'm still trying to figure out how I want to build it.. cut a 3'x3' piece and attach the stones or make 1'x1' titles that can be interchangeable. Tiles is a better way to go so the board wouldn't always be the same but the part that sucks is joining them together. I hate when the tiles don't line up It really ruins the look. I could use the same 2'x2' tiles I use for 40K and just mark off an outer ring but still don't know. I have time, it's going to take awhile to get all the plaster casts I need but I don't like having no clear path for my design.. that burns at me 8\

 It's hammer time!

My next long session I'm going to work on the Eldar displayboard as I make the cobbles..  I just have to clean the garage up a little to make space for the drying molds and cutting some wood. I don't want the dust getting into the molds! Nova is fast approaching and I've worked on nothing for it ..  well I started the board but not much. I'm waiting for them to lock down the rulings for building lists.. though right now I'm less then thrilled about it .. I don't like the Lords of War (possibly, and some is even worse IMO)being in the game and I'm still not a fan of the Psy phase..  I think I'm going to make up a very cool display board and the list will be whatever.. I don't really care. I'll just bring what I have painted and call it a day.. I'm not looking to be the champion.. not even a little bit.. my favorite part of the whole event is walking, talking and looking at all the cool armies out there. I had a blast last year talking to people about my display and about theirs. To me that was the best part of the Nova experience .. And really my favorite part of the Hobby, online that is what we do.. we look and talk and that is super cool in my book. At Nova is will be in person 8)

I need to wrap up a few models but after that I want to start working on a Blood Angel Furioso Dread that's standing on a ripped up Chaos Hellbrute.. I have some cool ideas and it will require a good bit of work ..  I will most likely have the ability to remove him from the diorama type base to be used but I'll need to figure all that out in detail. I've been thinking about it for awhile now and already have everything .. just need to assign the time.

He's lonely and needs a buddy 8)

Hit the Bricks..

Lately I've really been into Malifaux and though I've only played one night I really like the models and the atmosphere of the game. That being said it then made me want to make a Malifaux gaming board and for that I figured I'd want to make it mostly of cobble/flag/bricks. I set out to find what I'd need to make it and there were a few options.

1) Molds - Hirst Arts had some very nice looking molds that I could use to form the base of the board. There were multiple patterns and shapes so I could mix and match.

2) Plasticard - They have sheets of it and while quicker it wouldn't be cheap and wouldn't look as real. 

3) Cast sheets - I saw a few of these but they were expensive and didn't seem to fit well.

It really wasn't much of a debate so the other day I ordered some molds from Hirst Arts and they came in yesterday! They were shipped out quickly so I only had to wait a few day. I had some plaster in my garage but it appears to have picked up some moisture and was no longer good. I ran out to pick up some more to get right into making some plaster stones. 

The molds themselves looked great and seemed like they would be pretty easy to use! I haven't cast anything with plaster in probably 30 years, seriously, my Grandmother and I use to make up all kind of molds and then paint them..  I guess that's where my miniature painting began 8) .. thanks Grandmom! 

After I thoroughly washed the molds I mixed up my first batch of plaster (thinking I had made too much) and started to pour it into the molds. It had been awhile but thankfully plaster is pretty easy to work with but you have to be quick! I wanted to pour all five at once and quickly figured out I was actually not going to have enough. I made up about 4oz of water worth and it was one mold short. No biggy this was just the first test run. I put them on my work bench and turned on my scroll saw to vibrate the bubbles out, for good measure I hit the table with a hammer a few times!

 I'd have to say I'm very happy with the outcome! After 20 or so minutes I popped out the casts and they looked very nice. I had a few air bubbles here and there but for the first batch I was very pleased. They will work great for what I'm looking to do! The only downside is I need to make a 3'x3' board, that is going to be so many bricks its going to be crazy and most likely heavy. I was just going to cut a piece of masonite to hold the table but now I'm wondering if I should make them into tiles that can be switched out. Each way would have it's pluses and minuses.

 Even the little bits came out looking good..

 I bought the big ol bag of plaster, so now I can make 25lbs of cobbles/flag/bricks but holy crap is it going to take me awhile hah..

While waiting for the plaster to dry I got Sonnia's arms attached and are mostly done.. I know she is suppose to be wearing the mask but I think I'll actually paint her without it.. just making her face fleshtone. I'll just have to give her a headband to hide the metal edge or something ...

 Sam is also together and ready to be painted up.. I started some blending on him and mounted him on a piece of wood I started coloring and burned..  I figured it would be cool with his crews burning motif but looking at it right now it reminds me of a old smashed cig .. haha.. I need to get some paint on there !