Nova Pics Day 1

I only got a few on Day 1 as it was very hectic. But here are a few. 

Nova begins.

Well we are here. The Dire Avengers aren't 100% but are good enough. 

With so many light years to go..

It's the final countdown, one more day till Nova.. Sheesh.. It's weird but I'm not really even thinking about the gaming I'm so concentrated on getting my stuff done haha.. I was up to 1:30 last night and I couldn't do anymore .. I did get a lot done but you always wish you had more finished. The last light string came in last night and thankfully it worked, that would have sucked. Here is a view of the bottom of the deck.

You can see all the mount points for the wires and the controllers, which are double stick taped to the bottom. Over all it's like 40 lights and one 9' (I think) EL Wire which used a total of 8 AA batteries. It's a good bit of batteries but it's also very bright which I was hoping for when I thought of the underglow.

After the lights were attached I attached the deck and started to run the EL Wire. Most of the wire is held but the mounts under the deck but some sections I had to use some Blu Tak in the seems to hold certain areas in place. Running the line required a good bit of thought, to make it all fit I had to run it correctly and also wanted the least amount loose to be hidden. Once it was completed I had to hide the extra.

I used black duct tape to wrap over the areas that where not in the trenches and then glued foliage over them, I didn't want to apply hot glue directly on the EL Wire as I was scared it might melt the plastic covering. That would suck.. I then started to apply the moss that was growing up onto the deck, sadly it's going to be a lot more sparse then I originally had thought due to time. I also wanted to spray up two stones to attach to the vane but that is also a no go for now.

Here's the deck with the lights out..

Pretty cool,. had the whole Tron look I was going for! And here are a few pics of it at the end of the night.

It took me about two hours to complete the display board, the rest of the night was used for the Dire Avengers. I got most of the base blue blended in and went with a heavy grey wash to shadow it up quick, they took decent so far and I'll have to be ok with that..tonight is the final bit. I'll finish up the DA and then do all the base work for the minis. I was hoping to match them all up to the display board but there is no time for that now. Just some foliage and then done ..

To Trudge..

The Dire Avengers, the last set of mini's that need to be completed before Nova. I was hoping to get more done on them last night but I sat watching Face Off and didn't make it into the the painting chair until 10:30. So I only really got about an hour or so into them last night. I worked on mostly the bone color starting to blend them, right now just mids and dark. Tonight the other light string will be in so I'll install all the lights on the display board then finish up the moss. After that I'm going to go full bore on these guys, I was really hoping everything would be done by tonight but that is never going to happen.. so it will stretch out to tomorrow night as well. I've been meaning to mention it the pass week or so but kept forgetting. I've burned out my brush, I typically use Kolinsky sable brushes and they will last me from six months to a year typically as I take good care of them but I've pretty much killed one in two months. Pretty crazy to me, that's how much time I've been putting in at the table.

Today I'm going to work on getting copies of my list printed up and reading up on some of the rules that get muddy for me. That's the one bad thing about playing so long, sometimes my mind will stick on a certain rule from an edition past. I had a lot of plans to brush up on stuff but I'm so tired now I don't think I'll even care haha.. I love getting in a game here and there but now playing so many games in a row is going to hurt. Especially after going all out to get my army done. I have enjoyed it, nice to know my standard Dar army is 100% painted and mostly how I like it. I still have a bunch of Dar to paint and build but I think I'll be working on some Dusk Wolves and Blood Angels after this .. who knows.. at least something to break it up. I think painting and modeling have taken more of a focus for me then playing. I do like getting games in for sure but with two little kids playing is much more erratic. So I go into this Tourney with no goals other then to have a good time. I"m going with Sean and plan to meet up with some peeps from the blog o sphere.. that will be what I focus on. Having a good time hanging out ..

This is Blue Leader to Blue Bikes

Last night I finished up the Seer on bike. He came out looking pretty good, there are a few things I wish I would have had time to do but overall pretty happy. I said it before but I was really surprised at how easy it was to convert the new Plastic Farseer to ride the bike. Yeah it does still require some Green Stuff but it's nothing too major and the fact I used almost all of the mini is also nice. Very little waste is always cool, in my opinion the new Seer is only good for conversions. Otherwise he's just another Seer in that same pose.

The Singing Spear came out pretty good for the time I spent on it. I'm happy with the blade and the handle. Did some light highlighting on the sleeves and robes. Knocked out the gems and blended the bone areas, They look ok but I picked up some new colors which I tried to use and I'd have to say I wasn't happy with them. So I'll have to mess with them soon as my older paint is running low and some is drying out. I like the Technique I use so hate having to change.

The cloak is also looking pretty cool, I sunk back into my Blood Angel paint style haha.. I was going to add some glow to the engines in the rear but that was one of the things that will have to wait.

I also got the bases completed and attached, I didn't glue them in as I'll magnetize them later. They are pretty snug so I don't think there will be an issue.

I plopped them on the display board to see how they looked and to make sure everything is actually going to fit on there haha... it should. I changed the list after I laid out the deck so wanted to make sure they are going to fit. The other light string shipped so that should be here tomorrow, hopefully it works and I'll be good. Now down to just the 15 Dire Avengers and touch ups here and there.. whoot..

Frazzled

This weekend it was crazy hectic.. got a lot done on the display board working on it till midnight two of the three weekend nights. During the day it was working on the Kids playground and going to the park and at night I was in the painting room working at a frantic speed. I can't wait for all this to be done, honestly I'm getting burnt out a bit haha.. and after this is all done I have to actually play..

I started putting on all the foliage, holy crap this took me a long time, If I was just throwing it on I guess it wouldn't have been that bad but mixing up the colors and trying to get it broken up right takes time. I was using hot glue to attach it to the displeasure of my fingers. The foliage isn't solid so numerous times hot glue would bleed through, OUCH .. grrrrr...

Here I'm still trying to figure out the best layout for the greenery.. I was also spraying them a bit with some black to blend it or show the shadows.

Here it's pretty close to being fully flocked.. at least on the base. I'll still need to go back and add vines and moss working their way up some sections of the deck and vanes.

On the underside of the deck I had to glue on mount points. I used a bunch of command hooks and chopped a dowel to make some buffers and tension points. Sadly two of them were too close to the supports haha.. I had to pull them off and re-position them. I started running some of the lighting and ran out of the newer type I bought. I only ordered one as I didn't know how it was going to work. I need another so place the order and it should be here by Wednesday. Thinking about it now I should have next day'd it though. If it would show up and not work or something I don't think i'd had the time to get another in time. Here's to hoping it works haha.

I have to wait to run the EL Lighting for last as it will run on both the upper and lower deck.

So combine that with the underglow and that's what it will look like haha.. With the mount points the extra wire will be tucked so you won't see it at all.

Finally before I went to bed I glued on the rear sub vanes and the circle (step) bits on. I will have to go back and hide the support for the circles which I should have painted black first but was so tired and rushing I forgot. I'll just have to mask it right quick as overspray would SUCK right now 8)

The display board came out very close to what I wanted and I'm pretty happy about that. I knew what I wanted it to look like and other then a few modifications or removing the lower steps it's exactly what I drew. That is always cool..

Tonight I want to finish up the Farseer and some stuff on the Dispalyboard. After that all I'll have left to do is finish 15 Dire Avengers, they are all at least 50% done already so it shouldn't be too bad. Shouldn't be .. 8)

How'd I beat you? By being fast like a freak..

The Black Guard are done, last night I went until they were done. It wasn't too late of a night and really wanted to take these guys farther but for now they look good enough..

I really liked the way the blade position came out but the paint on it is very quick.. as are the rest. Over all on the table it should look pretty decent, you really only notice the quick rough blend when looking close up like in the pictures.

For the eyes I went with white and then added some blue..

I think the gems really stand out against the darker area of the blend on the bikes .. I was really happy with the look of that a least haha

I'm glad these guys are complete, now it's just the Seer and Dire Avengers. I did get the Seer bike complete last night as well. Figured since I was working on the bikes I'd finish his up too.

Now it's down to him, and the bases for them but I have them all spackled up. I need to sand them down and add some other bits of rubble then start to spray them.

I wanted to have them ready for this weekend as they are going to be the same color as the display deck and would be spraying them all together. It's going to be a lot of spraying brown, bone and white this weekend.

I feel that I'm pretty solid for time frame and should be good as long as I don't run into any major snags. This weekend (nights at least) I've set aside to get the display board done. Or at least close to it, I don't know if I'll be able to do it all depending on how long some of the stuff will take to dry. It's going to be a lot of flocking and gluing. Plus spraying it all and then laying all the lights. I ordered another different strand of LEDs which should be here today and I have a couple ideas I might try to slip in if possible. But it may require more time then I have.

Here's what the painting table looks like now..

I think that's pretty good..  the Reapers in the back are just waiting for base love but that's what I have left .. here is a pic from last month and this doesn't even have the Reapers or Jetbikes on it ..

Evan from FTGT mentioned think about all you have gotten done and from looking at these two pictures I can really see it.. So I am pretty happy with it, some of the mini's aren't to the level I'd like but they are all at least good Table Quality and I can live with that!