Friday 28 February 2014

Pressies!

I turned another year older about a week ago and, aside from a very nice meal with the other half, the two highlights were hobby-related and very pleasant surprises. 

The first is a Laser Cut MDF Paint Rack from Sphere Products, designed to hold the old style GW hex pots (which make up most of my ageing paint collection). It was a little fiddly to assemble (involving tiny nuts, bolts and washers, with chunky, clumsy fingers and an inability to understand diagrams) but it's a nice size with a large capacity for pots (more than enough for my needs anyway - I thought I had more paints than this!) and that lovely burnt MDF smell as an added bonus! 

With any luck, this will keep my hobby table a bit more permanently organised and prevent me from "spreading" over time as I usually do.


The second, and most unexpected, was a Dual-Action Airbrush and Compressor! A great find by my Dad on eBay, although I can't find any details or instructions for the airbrush itself which is slightly vexing. Even though I'm incredibly excited to have an airbrush and can't wait to get it out and play, I'm also absolutely terrified of breaking it and/or being unable to clean it properly after playing with it, and so it's staying in its box until I've done some proper research into how to go about using it without breaking it, painting the furniture (or a cat) or giving myself asthma, or growing a second head or something. 


So, any advice, tips or tricks from you experienced airbrush users out there would be most welcome!

Tuesday 25 February 2014

Making a Start...

A bit of a break from the scheduled programming (i.e. Wood Elves...) but an update nonetheless! Somewhat ironically, the first painted figure of 2014 is...a High Elf. Teclis, to be precise, painted for the Asrai.org Miniature Exchange this year. The figure is now safely with it's intended recipient and so it's safe to show pictures.





I also received a model in return, a winter-themed Wood Elf Spellsinger. At least this is one Wood Elf I won't have to paint! 


Many thanks to my painter (Rab) for the model.

Meanwhile, progress on my own Wood Elves is proceeding slowly but surely. I'll update on where I'm at soon.



Friday 7 February 2014

If You Go Down To The Woods Today...

 On with the show then!

As I stated in my previous post, I've got three main projects I want to focus on this year (or four, if you count the one I don't have to paint figures for!) The first of these are my Wood Elves.

I began repainting my Wood Elves last year in order to take part in GW's Throne of Skulls event in October. I wasn't happy about turning up with my army in the state it was in, as my painting has improved a lot since I first painted them, and so I made the decision to start completely from scratch and repaint everything, starting with the stuff I'd need for a 2000 points list to take to the Throne of Skulls.

The repainted stuff so far - the 2k list I took to the Throne of Skulls
That army consisted of 91 models, which I managed to paint from start to finish in 96 days. Those 2000 points represent less than half of all my Wood Elf models though. I said in the last post that I had 128 more Wood Elves to paint - turns out that number was off by quite a bit, as I'd forgotten to include several of the models I had tucked away in boxes and drawers! For your perusal then, here is the complete list of Wood Elf models I'm aiming to get painted this year:

35 old 5th Edition Archers
39 Eternal Guard
4 Dryads
9 new Glade Guard (archers)
3 Mages
6 Lords/Nobles (four on foot, two mounted)
2 Eagles
15 Glade Riders
15 old 5th Edition Glade Riders
Dragon
16 Wardancers
12 Waywatchers
Treeman
6 Warhawk Riders
Orion
Ariel

Total - 166 models


A selection of Wood Elves waiting to be undercoated

Quite a task! Given that I've painted an average of around 130 models per year over the last three years, if I paint all the Wood Elves it will be a good year, let alone tackling any of my other projects. Nevertheless, I am going to plough ahead and attempt it. I'm busy preparing models for painting for all three projects - if it ever stops raining, I'll even get to go outside and undercoat them, so that painting can commence!