Siege Studios Essentials Masterclass

Last weekend I had the privilege of attending the Essentials Masterclass run by Siege Studios at Wayland Games in Hockley, Essex.

I'd always wanted to attend a painting workshop like this to meet with like-minded people and learn how to push my painting to the next level.

The course took place at the impressive Wayland Games centre, a large warehouse filled with gaming tables (and a very well stocked shop, which is either a good or bad thing depending on your budget!). We were sat upstairs in a large studio space which provided a good base of operations.

Over the course of the weekend we were introduced to a variety of techniques that I would agree are essential for producing great looking miniatures. We started off with the basics, creating a simple zenithal highlight using an airbrush, which even though it took all of 2 minutes, produced a really impressive effect.

Next we moved on to wet blending on a Space Marine shoulder pad, I found this quite difficult initially as it was something I'd never really attempted before to this level, but the instruction of James, Rich and Ben really helped, they walked around the room advising on next steps and giving advice wherever required, but ultimately letting us settle into our own methods. I was pretty happy with the results overall, and it's something I'll be practicing much more in the coming months.

Other topics we covered included weathering, decal application, the use of a wet palette (I'm a convert for sure, revolutionary!), faces, gems and my favourite, power swords!

The power sword section was probably my favourite section, and was taught in a very clear way, it's something I've always wanted to try myself but didn't really know how to begin, using the techniques we were taught, I was able to produce a result I was very happy with, it's another technique that will only improve the more I practice it, so I'll definitely be working it into my weekly technique learning slot of my hobby time (an excellent idea suggested by the guys too).

There was also plenty of time during the course for free painting, an excellent time to add some of the new techniques learned to your own models, or ask the advice of the instructors on any other projects you were working on, nothing was off limits.

The finished set of all my practice pieces from the weekend

A detailed view of the hairspray technique weathering lesson, tough to get the hang of initially but I was happy with how it turned out, potential for some amazing results with this as well in the future!

Probably the piece I'm most proud of, my weathered back panel from a Rhino, I will be applying these weathering techniques on all my future tanks as I really love the look!

The instructors James, Rich and Ben were all really great guys, more than happy to help and go over anything we didn't pick up the first time around, they're all very keen painters and their enthusiasm is infectious. It was great chatting about painting and the hobby in between the taught segments of the course, although my my list of paints to buy has grown considerably from these chats!

Overall the weekend was a fantastic experience, the chance to work with such excellent teachers was worth the price alone, and I came away with my head completely full of new ideas and techniques, it really invigorated me to push my painting further and have a go at entering competitions in the near future. I'd highly recommend attending one of their courses if you can, definitely worth a trip!

2016 Resolutions: Diet? Sobriety? Nah, let's paint more!

It seems most of my friends are either deciding to diet, or not drink alcohol at all (or as much) for their 2016 New Year resolutions. I'm adopting a less extreme approach and trying to just scale back my vices instead of cutting out all joy and then failing miserably as early as February then hating myself.

My real resolutions include other ways to improve my life that I wish I had done more of in 2015. I want to travel more, find a new more fulfilling career, read more fiction for pleasure, and of course paint more models!

I have a large backlog (don't we all) of miniatures in various states of completion, my first task this year will be to finish all the half-started projects I have lying around my craft-cave, off the top of my head these include:

• FW Horus
• FW Dread Maw
• 10 Dark Angels Tactical Marines
• Dark Angels Razorback
• Dark Angels Predator
• 2 Mechanicum Kastelan Robots
• Betrayal at Calth - Big one this, still being built so maybe I can leave it until later in the year)

My aim is to finish these half-jobs and get them in the cabinet before starting anything else, and there is no shortage of things to start either.

I'd also love to be able to enter a Golden Demon competition this year, depending on what format GW decides to run them in. We'll see!

What hobby resolutions have you guys got for this year, and how do you plan on sticking with them?

Cheers

RB

Magnetising a Tyranid Hive Tyrant

I've been attempting to magnetise the plastic hive tyrant kit in order to switch it out between the Swarmlord and a normal hive tyrant on foot. Here's where I've got so far.

Tools:

• pin vice
• 1mm, 2mm and 3mm drill bits
• 2mm and 3mm rare earth magnets
• paper clip/brass rod (1mm)
• wire clippers
• super glue
• patience

I started by drilling a 2mm guide hole (not too deep so you don't penetrate the body cavity) into one of the arm sockets on the torso. This hole was widened out with the 3mm drill, and a 3mm magnet glued into place (ensure you get your polarities right so the arms will stick and not repel!).

In order to line up the arms I put a blob of white paint in the centre of the magnet in the torso and placed the arm in the socket at the angle required, this put a mark on the arm joint to tell me where to drill the next hole. After drilling another 3mm hole into the arm joint another 3mm magnet was glued into place, again checking polarities.

I came across a problem at this point, the weight of a scything talon arm caused it to droop down when the miniature was moved around. This could be due to the strength of the magnets, I had no idea when buying them that you can get different strengths (the N value) so perhaps in future I will try to buy stronger ones. I got around the problem (after almost giving up) by using pins to hold the joint in place.

I drilled a 1mm hole above the magnet in the torso and carefully lined up a corresponding hole in the arm above the magnet again. I then cut a short length of paper clip (approx. 3mm) and glued it into place in the hole in the arm. This enables the magnet to hold the arm in place, and the pin stops any unnecessary rotation of the limb.

On the weapon arms where the left arm connects to the weapon I will be using a 2mm magnet to secure it into place, pics to follow.

Hopefully all that makes sense, and you can see my progress in the gallery below. Just the rest of the arms to go now... that's a lot of weapon options.

 

 

High on Plastic Glue

So the new BA miniatures came out last weekend. I picked up a box of Death Company yesterday, I'll get the Sanguinor, Dante, Codex and Sanguinary Guard in due time.

The Death Company box set is fantastic! I managed to get hold of a set of the old metal DC on eBay so with these combined I'm going to make 5 with jump packs and kitted out with close combat gear, and 5 with bolters.

Pics will follow!

Almost there... and stripping

So here's my (almost, finally) finished dreadnought for the Blood Angels, I've added some prayers or whatever in white to the panels, and a tiny bit more weathering.

So as I mentioned before, been attempting stripping paint off some old space marines with THICK enamel paint on them, in several layers, I'm pleased to say after 24hrs soaking in Green Dettol (smells like apples), they came out like this:

Not too bad at all! Just need to get a cocktail stick to get the tiny bits out of the crevices, but I could re-spray them now and never know.

After a recommendation I also tried Fairy Power Spray on some plastic space marines painted with such a thick layer of blood red that almost no detail was visible (what was I thinking?!). After about 3 hours after a light spray all over the models, the paint was literally falling off, and a little scrub from a toothbrush almost instantly stripped them down to the undercoat.

FAIRY POWER SPRAY RULES

I'm visiting home this weekend and plan on raiding the rest of my awful detail obscuringly thick painted marines, i'm pretty sure there's an attack bike and a land speeder I could salvage, and some metal scouts. Brilliant. I'll post some before and after shots too when i get back and get to them.

Keep on strippin'