A little review of Phil

I just got this transparent black and tested it, its not a good shade, but an awesome glaze. The consistency is smooth and flows well into the detail.

Add 1 part paint to 5 part water.

Colour Test for Bob's Nids

We spent the night over Bob's Nids, thinking and testing the different colour schemes for them.
He is not a painter, so its also difficult for him to visualize the combinations.
We eventually came up with a combo that suits the army theme he wanted. And I went to get the colours at Art Friends the next day.

Nurgle Stomp

Another week, another army.
Behold! The curse of Nurgle cometh on the field with the 3 brothers, The Glottkin! Following them is a squad of Blightkings.

Quick Army to assemble

Hello again,

I've thought about getting quick Wargames armies set up and my favourite all time topic is Warhammer 40k space marines. The gaming or in game aspect will be discussed by gaming specific blogs, I aim to touch on the modelling aspect of things.

Planning stage

Well it often comes down to speed (quantity) versus creative (quality). When a competitive gamer wants a quick army, speed is often the issue. Especially when one is a tournament regular. In the case of marines, what I would look for are no frills easy to assemble. A good example is the humble tactical squad.

What I'd plan if I were in a rush or want something done quick is to look at my ten man squad. I want 7 generic push fit bolter marines, one sergeant, one heavy weapons and one special weapons. Other than the missile launcher and plasma cannon guy, you will need to assemble a Lascannon and Multi Melta. So through assembly is cut down to 2.5 guys while the rest can be push fit.

The special weapons marine can be magnetised at the wrists with new kits circa 6th edition 2013. I simply swap the special weapons bit around my biker marines. Sergeants can be magnetised for weapons too. 

Get Used

I'm also an advocate of buying used marines but not vehicles. I strip the paints off the minis and repaint them. Vehicles are tougher to strip and repaint. These minis usually come assembled although adhesives maybe also stripped with cleaners like simple green. Resale prices are a fraction of the completed kit's price and are sometimes value for money.

Batch Processing

Usually do my marines, Cygnar or Trollbloods in batches. This allow for me to work on stuff when other model with adhesives or paints are drying out. Gets few things done too.

What's your consideration when trying to do up a quick army? Let us know and subscribe to our articles if this has been useful to you. Jase Libertas has been selected by Hobbymate to be their artist for miniatures at the SIngapore Toy and Games Convension happening at Scape this weekend. Do drop by to give him your support!

Believe in the sign of Zeta!

Harder and Steenbeck Evolution Silverline 2 in 1 unboxing

Sup' people. Sashimi Zeta here. Have accepted the invite by Jase Libertas to add contribute to our hobby blog.

Picked up a 2 in 1 Evolution Silverline airbrush from Hobbymate recently at a good deal. Locally, we are able to get Tamiya, Gunze, Badger, Paasche and Sparmax clones. There used to be a distributor by the name of Storm Domain carrying H&S in the past.

I leapt at the chance to get a quality airbrush and initially placed an order for an Ultra 2 in 1. Edmund convinced me to step up for the Evolution instead as I already own an entry level OEM airbrush and portable compressor. 

First Peeks

With abated breath I opened my new airbrush. Came shrink wrapped in its packaging but here is the casing and its contents. Airbrushes nowadays come double action. That means pressing down on the trigger just sprays air from the compressor. Pressing and pulling back the trigger will push the paint through the nozzle.

The 2 in one comes with a set of two needles and nozzles a 0.2 and a 0.4mm. I primarily work with acrylic paints and reviews online mentioned that 0.2 is fine enough for acrylics. Anything finer may just increase the rate of clogging.

The trigger feels just right for me as compared with my OEM entry level and Iwata Eclipse HP-CS. Its not as stiff as the Eclipse or flimsy as the OEM.

The Silverline comes with 2 screw on cups. 

The case.

The contents of the airbrush

A Closer Look

I couldn't believe the ease in assembly and reassembly. A noteworthy point is the trigger assembly. Most airbrush manufacturers design their triggers and auxiliary back levers separately. The H&S system seems to have combined both, resulting in easier assembling.

The air intake at the bottom and be adjusted with a pan head screw driver. The only difference between the Evolution and the Silverline is the needle limiter at the end of the handle. Edmund mentions that the part can be purchased separately.

The Evolution Silverline dissassembled

With that I come to the end of the first part of my review. In a future installment, I hope to be able to do an output test for the three airbrushes.

All Your Bases are belongs to Us!

Base Jumping

Pardon the lack of grammar there. It's Sashimi Zeta again here. I've recently spotted a trend of Space Marines releases on 32mm bases. For those who're interested in a history lesson, Space Marines are usually released on 25mm bases for Devastators, Tactical, Assault, Veterans (including command squad, Sternguard and Vanguard) squads.

Design Issues

The designers at games workshop mentioned that the change in base sizes was due to design and players are free to decide if they want to re-base their models or keep to the bases they were supplied with. Design aside, the 32mm bases seems to suggest larger space area, affecting gameplay. But that's for a gaming, not modelling blog to discuss.

Re-based marines and Librarian.

Baseless Assumptions

There are a two main options available to model gamers. 1) Get 32mm adapters ring which are sized to base size of 25mm bases. Slot in the model and you're done. 2) Get a model off its current base and base it on a new 32mm base.

This blog post focuses on the second option. One could simply soak the feet of a model in Simple Green or diluted Dettol antiseptic solution. This also means stripping off existing paintwork. Once done, remove the model and plant it on your new base of choice. Paint over the stripped portion and rebase.

Excision of sides

I chose to cut away the sides of the base. I simply then file the bottom of the base to make it flush and stick it on the new 32mm base. Which I added more flock. There is the other option of metal minis which were fixed in on to the old bases which had a slot in the centre.

You there! Go get a new base!

One could either cut a slot in the 32mm base to accommodate that or just cut away the metal piece piece requiring a slot. Either way, it achieves the same purpose.

Good as New! Well almost!

Hope that this is informative and helpful to you. Sashimi Zeta out!

Stripping and re painting minis

Wet works you say?

The title says it all. But before you fling rotten tomatoes at me, this is not meant to be anything sleazy, it's a hobby blog.

Curiosity got the better of me and I bought some used minis from an online buy and sell FB forum. Decided to get some used marines and tau.

Thankfully or not so thankfully, the marines were the push fit kind so disassembly and reassembly wouldn't be overly difficult.

After and Before. Pardon the sepia lomo effect.

Simple Green

This wonder cleaner also removes paints. I filled up my painting glass with enough simple green to cover the minis and left them soaking overnight. I took a scrubbing brush and brushed off the contents.

Acrylic paints were easy to rub off. My only bugbear? Enamel paints. Took like forever to get the enamel off 3 of my used marines. But simple green soaked into the paint enough for me to scrub it off with a wire brush.

I primed with Citadel Caledor Sky, the new name for enchanted blue. I primed with Vallejo grey primer and then a layer of Caledor Sky, the new name for Citadel's Enchanted Blue paint.

Tau are up

Next to get their baths are the Tau. Little grey men are going to commander Top Down while my marines are quite successful. Maybe I'll consider used marines in future.

Grey men getting green bath.

WH40K Space Wolves - Stormfang/Stormwolf conversion

This is my first conversion, which was completed about a year ago.
Full conversion of a Stormfang/Stormwolf with magnets. It can take on the configuration of a troop carrier or main gun unit with minimal parts changes, with secondary weapon swap options.



The main gun assembly

 

Rear turret/Cover options

Front ramp

Weapon options

Main fuselage

Kit Bashing a Librarian on Bike

In a Nutshell

Sashimi Zeta here again. Finishing my bikers, been fiddling around with the concept of a warhammer 40k marines Librarian on a bike.

So... there's no plastic kit on the market for a librarian on a bike. So I decided to kit bash. In fact kit bashing is the direction to customising your own space marine army. I bought a plastic librarian kit and a bike from the dark vengeance box set.

Here's my work in progress so far. A lot of green stuff or putty work needs to be done to fill up gaps. Oh yeah I like my marines with their helmets on. Will add a helmeted head when nearing completion.

Individual components

Librarian sans left arm and front of librarian robe. Reworked done on the wrist.

Semi painted bike sans torso. Adjustments made to bike.

Right arm with bike console and handles.

Space Marine Bikers

Hello there, this is Sashimi Zeta again. I've always been a fan of the Ultramarines in Warhammer 40k. The sci-fi tabletop warfare pits factions against each other in the vast coldness of deep space or planetary warfare.

The titular Games Workshop game is currently into its 7th edition and the advent of a new edition of codex made me brush off the hiatus and return to my Fifth Company of Ultramarines. My aim? To finish my bike squads which I half started a year ago.

Yeah I know it's still work in progress.

What I lack in painting skills I make up in crafting. I magnetised the bikers' left wrists with 3mm diameter discs magnets as you can see. This enables the swapping of special weapons. As the 40k space marine kits now come with weapons attached to wrists, it makes magnetising a breeze. Drill a hole, pop a magnet there, super glue.

It's inter changeable (due to polarity of magnets) with my tactical squads so I can quickly swap special weapons on the fly. Will update you guys when I'm done. Sashimi out.

Magnetising of weapons.

Pink Horrors are up!

A little touch up job on these Pink Horrors. The base were not done, still left white and details not painted on, so I had to work on all these.
The metal got brass finish, with rubies in red. Feathers were white and brown washed. Flaming staff with yellow highlights.

Mono Eye in the works

There's something about "Mono Eyes" and I just got my first Gouf. This fellow will get a new paint job and hopefully looks more sinister.

A little Mammoth on the side

I recently got a commission work from Jeremy, who just got a new Hordes army. He took the Skorne list from Alvin and needed some of the models to be painted.
Below are the completed models.
The mammoth was exceptionally difficult, as the tusks needed to be cut and some parts needed to be modified to fit.

Tomb World - the shelf

Just off the coast of forgotten books and crates of long lost toys, activity ripples thru the shelves. Wooden planks shuddered, catatonic vibrations passes over the cabinets. Little did the inhabitants of this stretch of fringe worlds know, that they were actually invaders to the original pioneers. The shelves were a Tomb World to a long lost Necron dynasty, cast into a deep sleep ages past by the destruction of hobby time.
The tombs stirred and little machines started activating, reawakening the Necrons! It has been 2 long ages, since the 5th age, did these biomechanical beings last saw the light of the local sun. Now, in the 7th age of the Warhammer Editions, these Necrons threaten the existence of all living beings in the galaxy!

The lone monolith signals the coming of the blooded Necron force.

A little history

Jason here, a gamer and developer. I've been building models since '86, painting them since '94. From Gunpla (gundam kits) to resin garage kits, minis to near life-sized models.
I've picked up minis painting from my mentor, Tabitha Tan, in '04 and started my hobby in minis painting with pewter casted minis from Legend and Epic. Only in recent years I have started to work on war gaming minis.
This blog is about my hobby, my craft, my handiwork.

Other posters will load their own profiles soon. soon.