A small update

My apartment is a mess!

I moved to Montreal from Brazil it's been a year now. I got here with nothing but courage, my wife and a few bucks. Since I had no idea when we would start working, we had to contempt with the smallest, cheapest apartment we could find.

It ended that the one we chose wasn't the cheapest one... but it was the smallest one. Anyways, after 1 year living in a 1 and 1/2 we are more then pleased to move to a bigger, cleaner and with better neighborhood 3 and 1/2. For the ones outside Canada the number is the amount of rooms and the 1/2 means the bathroom.

Our place is so pilled with stuff that we almost don't have space to move around. That's why I stopped painting. I should get back next month when we are set at our new place.

Until then.

Back into action, painting diary

It's been a while since I last updated the blog, but for a good reason. My parent came to visit Montreal and we spent 3 weeks together. I had finished my first infantry squad before their arrival but I just needed to matte varnish their heads, which I did today. Here's the result. The bases could surely use a retouch and I will add the details (grenades and other equipment) later.

The final result for the first infantry squad of the 13th Valhallans

I don't know why, but the matte varnish I applyed this time to protect the paint job looks a little... glossy. I used the same brand as before, but after 1 hour that I applied them it is still shining. I remember some people complaining about matte varnish giving a shinny effect instead of the opposite. Don't know what happened this time, as I used the same procedure. I will just wait a little bit more to see what happens and try again tomorrow. Maybe I didn't shake the bottle or it got too old?

Anyways, problems apart, I decided to document the process of painting my army. I plan to update the blog frequently with the most relevant information. I will spare you (and me) of repetitive steps, focusing on the important stuff in the hopes that I can help other people in the same learning process I am sitting right now. Keep on to the next entry.

My second infantry squad

I started today the modelling and painting process for my second infantry squad. This squad is part of the infantry platoon I will be using for my first game, a combat patrol as I still don't have enough models to fill a higher point army.

The second infantry squad will be just like the first one: it will field a heavy bolter, a grenade launcher and the sergeant will use a lasgun instead of a laspistol and close combat weapon. Looking at my models, I saw I still had 3 from the remove paint procedure I did a couple of months ago. All three were partially painted. I decided to finish those models and get rid of them now so I could focus on clean models next time.

I still had to magnetize the sergeant to have his arms replaceable. Luckly, the model already had the 1/8" magnets attached to his torso, as seen in the picture below:

The magnets attached to the sergeant's torso

The magnet in his back is used to attach a vox radio or flamer fuel tank, in the case I want to change the model later. For the arms, I will be magnetizing some standard lasguns and some chainswords and pistols of various kinds. Just don't go nuts and try to magnetize everything. 90% of your infantry will be standard lasguns. I usualy convert only 2 models per infantry squad, 1 for the seargeant and another one for a special weapon.

One of the arms already had a magnet as well, so I only needed 3 more. One 1/8" to attach the arms to the torso and two 1/16" to fix both arms to the lasgun.

Where I will be placing the magnets

The process starts with a hobby file I use to mark the spot I will be drilling. This is to prevent the bit from running away, scratching the model. I don't worry anymore about how small the area I will be drilling is. You would be amazed at what places you can safely place a 1/16" magnet.

After marking the spot with a file, making sure it is deep enough to hold the bit in place, I start the process. I use a Dremel rotatory tool for the job (you can buy them cheap at amazon) along with dremel bits number 191, 194 and 106 (High-Speed Cutter 1/8", High Speed Cutter for wood and metal, and Engraving carving Cutter respectively). If you would like to see how they look like, just check this post: http://www.weetoysoldiers.com/wp/?p=283.

The 1/16" magnet is a little tricky. Although the cutter is also 1/16, it does not make a cavity large enough to fit the magnet in. I have to apply a little pressure to the sides to make the hole biggger. I have also to drill a little bit deeper because the cutter does not have a flat surface. This is not aproblem for the 1/8" magnet, as the 1/8 cutter with the flat surface creates the hole exactly the size I need it to be.

After the holes are made, I apply green stuff to them. That's because I usually drill deeper than I need to. Also, the green stuff helps the superglue to bind the pieces together.

Green stuff applied to the hole in the hand holding the lasgun and...

...where the left arm will join the shoulder.

After the green stuff is in place, I just drop the superglue and apply the magnets.In this step I have to be VERY carefull to glue the correct polarity of the magnets or else the pieces will repel instead of attract each other. I also create a pattern for my army so that the parts can be interchangeable between all models. For example, all torsos have the same polarity exposed, and all arms have the same inverse polarity to the torso. This way I can put together any pieces I want.

Magnet in place

When the pieces are attached, we get an almost perfect fit. The imperfections could be covered with green stuff, but from the angle people will be looking at my army they will not see them so I won't bother for now.

The sergeant with his arms in place

After fixing the magnets I went to priming the pieces. The only thing I glue together before painting is the torso and the legs. The rest I stick to needles and paint unassembled.

I decided to keep using black gesso for priming. I added about 30% to 40% water to the gesso and applied freely. This time I didn't even bother to soak the excess out. After I finished priming the last part, the gesso was almost dry in the first one and started to reveal the details.

Drying gesso

That's it for today. Next step will be to apply the basecoat and maybe the first layer of paint.

New tools, new colors, another try

These past two days were busy. I did a lot of reading, research and experiments. I was pretty upset that I had to remove the black primer I had applied earlier on my minis, just to find out that even with grey gesso I would need at least two coats of white gor it to stick. Even worse, the cleaning was not 100% successful and after reapplying the gesso I got a very rough and lumpy primed surface :/. At least I learned how to remove paint (sort of) and could essay gesso a little bit more.

The final result after trying to remove the paint

What I was looking for these days was how to paint my minis white with the minimum amount of layers. And today, at my local Games Workshop store, I got the hint that could help me: Dheneb Stone foundation paint. By the guys over there, the foundation paint will cover in one single coat and since the Dheneb Stone is a very light color I could apply a layer of skull white over it and it should work.

I'm thinking into doing something different though. I will add the foundation paint to the white gesso in the hope they will give me a lighter color then grey and also the coverage power of the foundation paints. If that works, I will finally be able to easily paint white on my models.

I also visited my favourite art shop. I bought some more stuff for me, more precisely a wetting spray, a matte varnish and some brush cleaners.

My new Liquitex friends. One for each step: priming, painting and finishing.

I'm particularly happy with the palette wetting spray. I'm using it to water down my paints. The good thing is that it kepps your paints from drying. The matte varnish is also very good as it is 100% transparent when dry and helps protect your job.

I also bought a new set of paints, and I have created my new color as well which I proudly call Valhallan Blue :). I could finally finish my first model. It's far from good, but at least I learned a lot during the process. The rest of his unit will probably look as bad as all of them had their paint stripped and re-primed. Also, I used Dheneb Stone to wash the model. I didn't like the result that much. I will use Astronomican Grey or any other grey color next time.

The new incredible color Valhallan Blue :) (1:1 mix of Mordian Blue and White)

This the final result for my first model.

Front

Side

No, I have not highlighted his hands. I forgot to buy the skin tones and was eager to test the varnish. A note on that: I applied the varnish in the assembled model (his arms have magnets). When I removed his arms, the varnish cracked the paint were the gun touched the body. I will have to keep this in mind for the next time.

Oh well... Let's hope I get the next unit right...