The forgotten hobby tool: Simple Green

Just a quick blurb about one of the more useful hobby tools you can get: Simple Green! On many forums I constantly see people asking the best way to strip the paint from models. I've tried brake fluid, pine sol, SuperClean, etc, and SG is superior to all of them. It works faster, won't harm plastic or resin, and is NON-TOXIC so drink all you want! (I'm kidding.) You will still need a toothbrush or similar device to give your models a scrub after their dip, but most of the paint will slide right off. Also, any loosened paint will just settle to the bottom so in a dedicated container your supply of SG will last a long time.

I've found an additional use as well-- thinned down (3:1 water to SG mix) it works to remove release agents from resin models. I recently got some FW goodies and soap didn't do the trick; brush-on primer was sliding all over the place. SG fixed things right up, and I highly recommend it as a safe, useful hobby tool.

How to make a Wet Palette on the cheap

Hey all. I replaced the paper in my wet palette today and thought I'd snap a few photos and tell you how I made it. for those that aren't familiar with them, wet palettes use wet sponge materials in a sealed container to help keep paint moist and useable. It's a good way to keep mixed colors going longer, and even lets you store them overnight without drying out. I think they are a big help when using paint from dropper bottles, and help with blending techniques in general. A lot of craft and art places sell them, but my way is super cheap and just as effective. 

You will need: 

• Parchment paper: I'm not sure where this falls in the realm of wax paper, but it's a non-stick paper baking product that lets a little moisture through and makes the whole thing work.

• Kitchen sponges: These are super cheap at the grocery. You want the cheapest kind with no scrubbing pad or other futuristic enhancements.

• A more or less airtight container: I used a plastic container that grocery lunchmeat comes in. Tupperware and whatnot would work too, but if you do it my way you get a sandwich out of the deal. The main thing you are looking for is something with a decent seal that's not too deep.

  I cut my sponges to fit my container. You could certainly get by with just one, but I wanted to maximize my surface area to keep from both having to change the paper often and/or having areas of paper with no sponge underneath.

When that's done, fill the container with a shallow amount of water. You want enough to keep the sponges saturated, but you don't want the whole thing to be swimming.










All that's left is to cut a small piece of parchment paper to fit over your sponges, and you are good to go. You want the paper to lay flat, so you may have to roll it up backwards to even it out after being on the roll. Once it gets damp it will adhere pretty well with no problems. Put your paint directly onto the paper and work from the palette-- you'll find the paint stays nice and smooth, and is slightly thinned from the watery goodness. When you are done painting, slap the lid on and your mix should be more or less fine when you get back to it. I think wet palettes are a great way to save time, effort, and frustration, and make trying new painting techniques a lot easier. I hope this was helpful, and if you have any insights or questions be sure to drop us a comment.

-Boltergeist

Project Terra-Forming: The forgotten lands...

So I was looking back through our blog and realized that I posted WIP pictures of two pieces of terrain, but then never posted finished products.  I will rectify this situation immediately...

Here are the two pieces left off the last post.

Close up of the cake pillar cut in half.

Close up shot of the fallen block wall.

So there you go, sorry they didn't make it in the last post.  I know everyone was dying to know what happened and you guys lost sleep over it!  This is the only post for this week, I had to go out of town unexpectedly and did not have a single iota of time to finish up my last building.  I will get to work on it as soon as I get done with the whole work thingy... stupid work getting in the way of my hobby...

OK, so this is really my second to last post for this topic.  Have a great today and a wonderful tomorrow.

Project Terra-forming: Almost finished

So here we are, nearing the end to my little adventure in terrain building.  This week I finished off a building and picked up some cool green crystals from my ALGS (Awesome Local Gaming Store).  So tools for this week are the same as last week...

• Your building from last week.
• Hard board bases cut and sanded.
• Paint and gluing supplies.
• Foam insulation board.
• Resin (store bought) crystals.  

So to pick up where we left off last week, I have a half built Manufactorum building.  I didn't feel like it was quite finished, so I added another corner section to the building and some extra bits lying around the floor.

Manufactorum finished with sanded base.

I like to leave my building bases pretty clear so models can move around easily.  Lots of rubble looks awesome, but is a pain to get models to stand. My mantra, simple is best when it comes to terrain.  So this being a Adeptus Mechanicus building, I figured it should be a shade of red.  For buildings, I tend to prime them black with spray primer then go to town dry brushing.  For a good deep red paint job, I started with a dark brown acrylic paint (from Wal-mart).  I give the building a heavy dry brush almost covering the entire thing, then move on to a dark maroon color (similar to scab red) and give another heavy dry brushing.  Once this is dry I give a light dry brush of a bright red, similar to blood red.  Once finished and truly dry, I add some weathering.  Since this is a desert, I figured there wouldn't be any rust, so I just went straight to worn edges and paint.  I use a small natural sea sponge to dab on small amounts of boltgun metal.  This can be as light or heavy as you like.  Just remember its easier to add more than to take away. 

Dry brushed with a fresh coat of paint on the sand.

So from there it was on to painting the base with the standard fare and then dry brushing when it had dried overnight.  I couldn't decide what to do with the floor tile so for the moment it is simply dry brushed with the same bone color as my sand.  It looks OK for now, but I think I will checker board the tile with bone and some other color.  Maybe, as was suggested, freehand a partial Mechanicus symbol on the tile.  So anyway, here's some finished photos...

I promise they look much better in person.  

You can see I added sand around the inside to cover up any gaps.

 So I had just played a game with my Necrons and then saw these really cool looking green crystals at my local shop.  I thought, "Damn, how perfect are those for my table!"  So home they went with me.  I didn't think these crystals needed much beyond a base, so I went to work right away.  After testing some out on a flat base, I decided (before I glued anything) to raise the large clusters up slightly before gluing them.  I wanted to give the impression that they sprouted from the ground and the the sand collected around them.  I simply took some 1/2" foam insulation board I had sitting around and cut them like I would a mini hill.  I then gouged out a small hole for the crystals to fit into.  Using white glue I glued the foam and crystals to the bases.  There were small crystal clusters too, so I simply gathered them together in a aesthetically pleasing manner and super glued them down.  

Two of the three bases ready for sand.

After drying overnight I glued the sand to the bases and then added paint once the sand dried.  I think they turned out pretty well and look great with my Necrons on the table.  Here is the final product...

All three bases completed.

So my terrain has taken on a theme of its own.  It seems that a Adeptus Mechanicus research facility was constructed on a dormant Necron world, but once the Necrons awoke things went bad.  As you can see by the ruined building.  I figure that one building a research facility does not make, so I am in the process of building another.  This building is 2'x1' in size (base is anyway).  That will probably be the final piece to my terrain making, at least for that table.  I am going to embark on building several new tables for my ALGS in the next few weeks.  So if you want you can come check them out at Grand Adventures in Murfreesboro, TN. in about a month.

Here's a sneak peek at the work in progress building...

That tile floor is just screaming for a freehand symbol of some sort!

Hope you enjoyed this and thanks for reading.  Until next time...

Project Terra-Forming: The slow build

Well, unfortunately I had little time for building this week.  I instead spent the week working overtime because we are short handed at the moment.  I did get to start a few pieces, but as of yet have nothing completed.  I am hoping to finish and maybe get a couple more pieces built this week.  So lets see what I've got so far...

Things you will need:

• Hard boards bases that you cut and sanded last week.
• Foam insulation board.
• Wire foam cutter.
• Glue, sand and painting supplies.
• Cake topper plastic pillars. (Purchase these at any party supply store for cheap)
• GW Manufactorum kit.
• GW modular Warhammer Fantasy movement trays.

So the first piece I built this week was simply more foam squares, cut and sanded to build a wall.  I chose one of the smaller hard board bases and built the corner of a ruined building.  Very simplistic, but adds some great low level LOS blocking.  Plus it looks really cool and is very fast to build.  If you don't remember how I made the foam blocks, I cut out small squares and sanded the edges down to make them look worn.  I then glued them together with white glue.  Easy... Now that I added sand to the base, I just have to get it painted.

Ruined wall section made from foam.

The next piece I decided to get a little creative.  I still used the same foam blocks, but I added in a broken pillar.  I had a couple pillars that go on cakes which you can purchase at any party supply store for a few dollars.  My pillars were approximately 6" in height.  I took a small saw and cut the decorative top and bottom off first.  I then chose a random spot and angle to cut the pillar in half.  The trickiest part of this was that the pillar is hollow.  I took some scrap foam and shoved it into the ends then took my wire foam cutter and cut the foam smooth.  Glue the pillars down with some super glue and go to town with the blocks and sand.  You should end up with something like this...

Broken pillar and ruined wall section.

So my final piece I started was actually a building.  For this I have used two of the GW manufactorum sprues and a section of the modular movement trays (for tile flooring).  I don't think I am finish with it quite yet, I feel it is slim on the one side.  I will probably add a few low walls to the empty corner.  I originally planned to build these as if they were partially buried, but as I have said before, often simple is best when it comes to scenery.  I still might try out a building in the end, but I want to get a couple buildings knocked out and playable before I venture into the unknown.  If you haven't tried these GW buildings then you should get some.  They go together quite well and look great when you get them painted.  There are tons of details that you can pick out, but they also look great with basic dry-brushing.  I built a simple two story blown out building but didn't want just sand floors.  I saw in this month's White Dwarf Magazine where one of their guys used the modular movement trays to make a tile floor on a Tomb King temple.  I thought it looked great and I happened to have some extras laying around.  I broke off jagged pieces to breakup the square outline of the tray and then used those pieces as filler.  I think it turned out great and plan on using more.  Enough for now, I can babble some more when I actually finish the piece and get another one done.  Here's some pictures of what it looks like so far...

A shot of the flooring.  Will look better when it has paint on it!

The front of the building... pretty plain for now.

So that's what I got this week.  I hope your tables are coming along well.  If anyone is building a table, I would love to see some pictures!  Hopefully I can get my pieces painted and another building done too!  Until next time.

Project Terraforming: Hills, Rocks and such...

Sorry for the long break, my Inquisitorial duties forced me to travel to a hell stricken planet and banish demons.  (i.e. sit on the beach and get a tan.)  But I am back with renewed energy and I ramped up my terrain making this week.  This time around I am making some natural terrain; hills and rocks.  These might seem pretty easy, but I have always found that simple is best when building scenery.  Let's have a look at what I used this week...

•  2x4 sheet of hard board.  (should be left over from the original sheet)
• Foam insulation board. ( I have 1-1/2" pink insulation board)
• Jig saw (or something similar to cut odd shapes in the hard board)
• Palm sander (or something to sand the board edges, by hand will take forever)
• Wire foam cutter (battery operated ones can be bought for less than $10)
• Painting supplies (brushes, paints, etc...)
• Sand and glue (same used on the table)
• Fine sandpaper (I use this to sand the foam)

1-1/2" foam insulation board

Some of my tools.

Hardboard after I cut and sanded the edges.

 The first thing I did was to cut out my hardboard bases, as you can see above.  I cut some random shapes and rounded the edges off.  I then cut out some square pieces for buildings.  Once all the cuts were done I sanded down the edges with the palm sander.  A tip here is to sand both sides of the board around the edges.

Next I went to making the foam hills and rocks.  You'll need your wire cutter and your foam.  You can create any shaped hill that you want, but I always slope the edges slightly.  I created four hills, two large and two small that can stack on top of the other two.

Two of the large hills.

Next I moved onto the rocks.  These I simply cut out squares of various sizes and the slowly chopped them done to look like rocks, leaving one side flat to glue to the hardboard bases.  Once your happy with the look and size, you can glue the rocks to the board.  Tips here are to score the bottom of the foam with a knife to help the glue adhere and also be sure to leave enough room to move miniatures around the rocks.  They should look something like this...

Rock formations approx. 10"x6"

I left the rocks to glue over night and went back to my hills. I actually use a fine grain sandpaper to sand the foam.  This takes the sharp edges off and helps the glues adhere to the foam.  This doesn't have to be perfect, the glue will work even if you miss some spots.  I went to work applying glue with a brush, make sure you add a little water to the glue.  Then cover with sand and let dry over night.  I did the same to the hardboard on the rock formations.  You could cover the rocks, but I really like the sharp edges and the way the dry-brushing looks without it.

After sand, left to dry.

Base coated, left to dry.

Next it was off to get my paint supplies.  I base coated the sand with my table color and then base coated the rocks in a dark brown acrylic from Wal-mart.  You can make the rocks what ever color you want to match your table, you can do a black base and then highlight with a dark gray and light gray.  This would work on any table.  I chose to go with dark brown, Bubonic Brown and then Bleached Bone.  This matches more with my desert scheme.  Make sure your house paint is dry before you go on to dry-brushing, that really messes things up if not.  Once your final highlights are on, your done! Hooray, they are ready for gaming.

I had a little extra time and had some foam skulls left over from Halloween.  A great time to go shopping for terrain stuff is right after Halloween and after Christmas.  You can pick up some great stuff for really cheap!
I used two skulls to make what looked like ruined carved stone skulls.  I put one inside a sand dune and used a small saw to cut one off at an angle to make the appearance that it was half buried.  I also added small foam squares that I sanded down to make a ruined wall section.  I simply based these the same as the rocks and went to town painting.  I think they turned out pretty well.  I might add some more of this style.

Skull with ruined wall.

Skull in a sand dune.

Once these are done, you have enough to play a game.  Not a lot of variety, but hey your rolling dice and stuff's dying!  Next week, I am going to move on to man-made structures.  Should be interesting, I would like to make them look half buried under sand.  I'll have to think about this one a little.  Hope you enjoyed and that this helped.  Some more photos...

Thanks for reading!

Project Terra-Forming: Let there be light

Well, its finally time for the next installment of my terra-forming articles.  If you read the last article and are following along, then so far we have a finely built gaming table with no texture or paint.  So this time we are going to glue sand to the table top and get it painted.  There aren’t very many special tools you will need for this but I will list what I used:

• ·         A large old paint brush (one you don’t mind using with glue)
• ·         A bag of play sand (typically $3-$5 at local stores for a 50lb bag)
• ·         A large container of white glue (A gallon jug is less than $10)
• ·         A cup of water (not for drinking)
• ·         A cup to disperse sand with (again not for drinking)
• ·         A gallon of flat interior latex paint ($10.97 at Lowes)
• ·         A large paint brush (actually for painting) or a roller
• ·         Some place you can make a little bit of a mess
• ·         A small bottle of highlight paint (Walmart acrylic craft paint $1.50)

So to start off, you need to find a place to work.  You may need to put down a tarp or something to catch sand as you will dump the board to get the excess off in a little bit.  I used my garage so I was able to simply sweep any sand right out the door.  (Actually I didn’t, but now I know why my father had children!) 

Cheap child labor.

Tools for adding texture.

For this stage I tend to put the board on the ground.  Take your glue and pour some directly onto the board.  Then take about 1/3 as much water and pour it onto the glue.  You will notice it doesn’t mix by itself.  Take your old large brush and mix the two together.  It should be about the same consistency as paint at this point.  The ratio is purely to your discretion, but too much water may warp the board or run when you dump the excess sand off in a bit.  Spread the mixture over the entire board, you may have to dump and mix more glue to cover the board.  Once the board is completely covered, double check, because once you start dumping sand it’s hard to go back and fill in holes.  (It just looks really bad.)

Photo of mixing with help from "the boy."

Sand covered and excess already off.

Ok, now the board is ready for sand… (Little tip) Make sure you sand is completely dry.  I would suggest pouring it into another container besides the plastic bag it comes in to let it dry.  I found this out the hard way on my table.  The top layer of sand was dry, but as I got deeper into the bag the sand had moisture in it and clumped a little.  This is visible on my table, but it was too late, the glue was already on and drying.  (Back to tutorial)  So take your cup of sand and gently shake the sand over the board.  DO NOT just dump it on all at once.  This will waste a lot of sand and can cause clumps.  I always start around the edges, working close to the board, then raise up as I work the sand into the middle.  Give your table good solid coverage, but no need to bury it.  You will see some spots that look like the glue is coming through the sand, but your fine.  

Give your table a minute and then tip the board up on its side.  Gently tap the underside of the table to knock of the excess sand.  Don’t leave the table upright for too long or else your glue will run and streak looking horrible!  Set your table somewhere to dry and not be disturbed.  For good measure I would let it sit overnight.  This will give you plenty of time to go to the store and get your paint!  I chose a color called “Cinnamon Stick.”  It was $10.97 +tax at Lowes for the gallon.  I am going for a desert, but not a tradition light sandy look.  It is actually pretty close to the GW “Vermin Brown.”

Painting tools.

On second Foo Fighter song I think.

Alright, paint time!  At this point, you can choose to use a paint brush or roller.  I didn’t have any rollers and so chose a brush…  Once again, I start in the corners and work out towards the middle.  Don’t pour the paint onto the table like you did the glue.  Now all this sand will soak up a lot of paint, so don’t be surprised.  That is why I suggest a gallon, because you will use a quarter to a third of the gallon on the table surface.  Two quarts will cost you just as much as a gallon, so go big and you’ll have plenty for your terrain you are soon to build.  I painted my board by hand and it took me approximately four Foo Fighters songs, so that’s probably twenty to twenty-five minutes.  While you have your paint out, go ahead and paint the outside of the frame.  It just makes the table look finished.  Once again, place your table somewhere to dry and not be disturbed.  I would wait overnight to ensure the paint is completely dry.

Complete with base-coat.

Dry-brushing tools

Alright, almost done!  Time to dry-brush and add some depth.  This is an aesthetic step, not a required one.  I do feel like the table looks plain without the highlight though.  For terrain painting, I tend to go to Wal-mart and buy their $1.50 little acrylic craft paint.  It works great for dry-brushing and painting scenery.  I chose a “Linen” paint which is basically a GW “Bleached Bone.”  Find yourself a pallet, a piece of cardboard works well.  If you are unfamiliar with “dry-brushing” there are plenty of great painting sites online that can explain in way more detail than I can, check them out.  You don’t want to load a ton of paint onto your brush or else you will have heavy streaking when you go to highlight.  I always work my dry-brushing on boards at a diagonal.  Dry-brush across the board from one corner to the other, then do the same but dry-brush in the opposite direction, so essentially your making “X’s” across the board.  Simply keep dry-brushing until you’re happy with the coverage.  

Final Photo after dry-brush.

So there you have it!  All finished and ready for battle… maybe for Marines anyway.  Other armies might want something to hide behind.  That will be the next installment.  I will begin to build some terrain for our budding gaming table, beginning with some natural features: hills and rocks.  I hope this was helpful and you enjoyed the read.  Until next time…

Painting Tip: Mix your own GW colors

I came across this article from another blog that I read, and thought I would pass it along as well. Nesbet from nesbetminiatures posted several color mixing charts on his website showing how you can recreate most of the GW color range yourself by using only a handful of colors. Now I know that this isn't practical for each and every color that you want to use, but I thought that it might come in handy in a pinch.

From nesbetminiatures.blogspot.com

Project Terra-forming: In the beginning...

As promised, here is the first installment of my Terra-forming articles.  In case you missed the first post, my plan is to build a new gaming table from the ground up and try to show people how easy it is to build.  I have a vision of a desert table with ruined buildings filled with sand, large rocks and sand dunes.  Possibly even some ruined vehicles too.  In this article I will explain the materials, cost and how I put together the basic frame and table top.  Even with the help of my 4 year old son this step only took about an hour.  So with out further ado we'll start with the material list:

• 4'x8' sheet of hardboard 1/8" thick ($7.25 at my local Lowes)
• four sticks of 1x2x8 Top Choice Lumber ($2.28 each at Lowes)
• box of #6x1-1/2" wood screws ($4.58)
• saw, preferably a miter saw
• a drill
• tape measure
• wood glue
• suitable place to make a mess

Some of the tools I used.

So the first thing to do is cut down two of the pieces of lumber from 8' to 6'.  Then take two of the 8' pieces and cut four 46-1/2" pieces.  These are going to be the cross braces.  Take the two 2' sections and cut them in half.  These are going to the corner supports.

While your cutting, go ahead and take the 1' sections and cut 45 degrees on both ends in opposite directions.  These will fit into the corners of the frame and help give it more support.

Next step, go ahead and lay out your cut pieces as you see above.  The 6' lengths on the outside and the 46-1/2" pieces in between.  Place the two middle pieces 2' apart from the end pieces.  Then lay your corner supports in.  I pre-drilled all the holes before I put the screws in because sometimes when you screw into the end of board it will split, so better to be safe than sorry.  Once you've drilled and are happy with the layout go ahead and put the screws in.

 

One tip that I have figured out over the years is to spend an extra few minutes at the store trying to find the straightest boards you can.  This will help your frame be as square as possible.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, just ask your friendly store associate.  So now that your frame is together you can get ready to put on the hardboard.  When you purchase the hardboard, most major stores will make a cut for you, so have them go ahead and cut your hardboard down to six feet for you.  If you want, you can cut it yourself at home with a circular saw or table saw.  I cut mine with a circular saw, basically laid the frame on top of the hardboard to make sure it fit and marked it off.

 

Alright, almost done now.  Grab your wood glue and spread it out on the frame.  Lay your hardboard on top, I prefer putting the smooth side up.  I think it adheres to the frame better with the rough side down.  Next run some screws through the top into the frame to hold the hardboard in place while it dries.  I think I put one in each corner, one halfway up each side and one half way down the middle supports.  I had a few spots that the board was slightly warped and not touching the frame so I just ran a small 1" finishing nail into it to hold it down.  If you want, you can continue the finishing nails spread out around the frame for extra hold.

So there you have it!  Your basic table is built and ready to go.  The next step will be to choose your paint colors, add texture to the table top and get it painted.  Make sure you hold onto the extra hardboard, we'll use that for our terrain pieces coming up.  So for $16.50 in lumber, I hope you can see that building a table is a pretty easy endeavor and you give it a try.  Watch out for the next installment where I will texture the board and get it painted up.  Thanks for reading.