[unofficial weekender] First week of leave done

[sundancer 42979xp 1]

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First time visitor to OTT? Then please introduce yourself in the New Member Thread and look around in the Project System. Then come back and read on…

https://www.beastsofwar.com/forums/topic/introduce-yourselves-new-member-thread/

https://www.beastsofwar.com/project/

Read all of this before you start as it will save you any trouble later.

First thing you must do is make your “pledge”. It can be anything gaming related, big or small, and you don’t even have to finish it. No, in here, happiness is the road. Have fun doing whatever it is, but it is not a race. Accompany your work with pictures or we might think you are do something sinister and just using us for cover.

You are also presented with a few questions. It is to get the conversation started. Try and keep your answers ‘conversational’, no text speak, and certainly no “basically”. This is how we all get to know each other better. While you are here feel free to tell us a story, show a picture, joke, tales of love or woe, or just add your own little bit. This is the whole point…in here it is just us.

If you have never taken part before we may bark and bite, but we also like a cuddle! It is all done in the best possible taste and it is character building. feel free to give as good as you get.

A few other things to note: NO RELIGION & NO POLITICS! Glasgow pub rules are in effect. If you need to make a better point then it is fine, but don’t take the piss. And always keep it civil.

Play plenty of music to go with your work. Loud and through proper speakers. Write us a playlist of things we might not have heard before.

Now, after all of that there is only one ‘real’ rule in here and it cannot be broken: NO DICKS! (Exceptions may be made for little fighting men with little plastic/resin/metal wieners)

And don’t forget the highlights of the weekend: The Weekender on Friday and XLBS on Sunday. And the little show that is the unofficial Hobby Hangout over at twitch.tv

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Questions:

• Has the heatwave already hit you or did it pass you?
• Will combining AI learning with 3D scanning make the hobby better or worse?
• Did you paste some cracks on your base? What’s your favourite method of making dried soil?

And now back to the show.

[sundancer 42979xp 1]

Pledge: maybe get something done.

Answers:

• I think we hit peak temp the last 3 days.
• Worse. Using machines to do creative work will suck the soul from the works.
• Never did that, hence me asking 8)

Not music, but something nice to watch:

 

[demonsub 12746xp 1]

Happy Friday.

My pledge is to try to finish off the five Otherworld miniatures I started last week. I didn’t get much painting done this week as it was just too hot to do anything other than melt.

Has the heatwave already hit you or did it pass you?

It hit last Monday and Tuesday. The warmest I’ve ever experienced. Don’t want that again.

Will combining AI learning with 3D scanning make the hobby better or worse?

Probably worse. As someone who likes old style hand sculpted miniature that may not be symmetrical or have slight imperfections I think it gives it character. Pouring technology into this art erodes this.

Did you paste some cracks on your base? What’s your favourite method of making dried soil?

I just use sand and tiny rocks on my bases which I paint up to look like soil, in most cases. I then cover this in tufts etc. Any gaps in the base, from say the slot, I cover over in masking tape before I add the sand.

I’ve never done a cracked earth texture, although I have now watched two Gerry Cans on the subject.

 

[limburger 21708xp 0]

(1)Has the heatwave already hit you or did it pass you?
I survived the heatwave and all I got was … *eh* nothing, not even a t-shirt to remember things by 😉

I’m pretty sure that this was all the warm sunny days we were allowed to have this year, as it’s been all downhill from tuesday

(thank [favourite deity] for that as I am not build for this kind of heat …

(2) Will combining AI learning with 3D scanning make the hobby better or worse?
Given the lack of creativity within this hobby already I think we’re already past that.

I still refuse to classify those things as ‘AI’ … at best they’re super advanced search engines.

(3) Did you paste some cracks on your base? What’s your favourite method of making dried soil?
nope … that’s why we’ve got Gerry Cans 😀
I do have some of the Scale75 season packs and I may have a tiny pot of texture paint from GW somewhere which I was planning to use.

At the moment I’m thinking of using the stuff that they use in bird cages as it is pretty cheap to buy compared to any hobby-related bits.
Before I do any of that I first need to clean and assemble some things 😉

@demonsub
At what point does the sand and tiny rocks go on the base ?

Is there a preferred order to doing that part of a mini ?

// music
I wonder if anyone makes sense of these lyrics :

And of course the one song that I did remember from ages ago :

[demonsub 12746xp 1]

@limburger wrote:

At what point does the sand and tiny rocks go on the base ?

After I’ve cleaned and assembled the miniature I glue it to the base. Then if there are any gaps I use the masking tape. Then the sand and other textures go on with pva glue. Once this has dried I use thinned down pva to seal it and when it’s dried I give the whole thing a spray of Halford’s grey primer before painting.

I do this with every miniature. I prefer painting a fully assembled and based miniature and will only do sub-assemblies if it will make painting a real hassle.

[limburger 21708xp 1]

too hot to think … and hobby …
well that’s my excuse 😀 (it’s 30 degrees outside at the moment … )

I’m also kind of stuck at the first point in my project : the title.
Need something pirate/fantasy themed.

I did find some inspiration for Moonstone because I remembered there was a Dutch artist who also helped design the Efteling themepark (from the ’50’s until the mid 80’s).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Pieck

Home

And of course the ‘Efteling’ itself :
https://www.efteling.com/en

Most of the art in that themepark is based on existing fairy tales, but ‘the people from Laaf’ (volk van Laaf) is an original story/setting.

https://www.efteling.com/en/park/attractions/volk-van-laaf

https://aegtte.weebly.com/het-volk-van-laaf-people-of-laaf.html

 

[horati0nosebl0wer 19649xp 1]

Pledge: Complete at least one mini

The heatwave has been abated for the moment with some much needed rain in my area. Being in the rain shadow of the Rocky Mountains means we get less moisture than the other side and it has definitely been felt. The lowered temperatures are a kindness and I only hope there is lots of snow this winter. I’m thinking of moving to Michigan should things keep like this for the next couple of years. I may disappoint family elsewhere but there’s more moisture near the Great Lakes, I can do my job there easily and it should be cheaper in the rundown urban areas that are being revitalized due to climate migration.

AI scanning would be interesting to use for 3D printing. Eventhough I do have heavy feeling against the tech and fear of human replacement (a Replicant waifu would be appreciated, however) there is use for things we may not have ready access to or skill to reproduce. I found, and should purchase if its still there the next time I go, a book on Chinese folk furniture. It would be great to use for reference in diorama building or to have as set pieces for scenarios. Imagine a highly detailed Dragon throne from epic Chinese wuxia film in scale.

Cracks on my base? I try and fix those beforehand. As far as dry soil I haven’t found a need yet. I might do something like that in future but thus far the issue hasn’t been broached.

Now, your weekly dose of weird.

I begin with an inspiration for a hidden project I’m putting together and continue over the broad spectrum of odd…. have fun

[sundancer 42979xp 1]

The thing with the artist AI is: you need time to work with it. (And money). It’s still too much a trial and error as shown on the XLBS. Currently it’s a bit more convenient to talk to an actual artist and tell them what you want.  And then let them do the work and spend the time.

It’s Monday, the second one in my three weeks leave. Starting to relax a bit.

Why does that take so long?

[sundancer 42979xp 3]

Paint!

[horati0nosebl0wer 19649xp 1]

Its about time you put paint to puny robots. Make sure to add all the glint and reflection off the glass. Get deep into those details!

[sundancer 42979xp 0]

“details”? What’s that? *g*

 

[sundancer 42979xp 0]

Wow, this is odd to the n-th degree. I never had any issues with “frosting” when coating minis in Army Painter matt varnish. So today I went out and used the last of my old can. It was “just enough” to cover all models. But for some really odd reason the bases dried so vastly different on places where I had glued washers under the base compared to “just base” that it looked weird.

“no problem” I thin, “you’ve got a brand new can. just given them a second coat”

I don’t know if that was just my nose but I swear the new stuff smells different and now I have frosting all over the models. But (and this is the really weird part) it’s just the corners. So basically they now all look dry brushed. And I kind of like that look. Only the black on the bases, yeah that needs to be redone. And some gloss varnish to all windows and lights.

[sundancer 42979xp 2]

Also, we had a visitor in our garden:

 

[horati0nosebl0wer 19649xp 1]

Details.. the things like mold lines that Gerry can pick out but loses in his own photos.

As far as frosting its likely a reaction of the leftover degassing from the superglue. An old forensics trick for lifting fingerprints is sealing a small chamber holding a piece of evidence with a small container of cyanoacrylate and let the degassed adhesive form on fingerprints. Outside of that it could just be the heat. I’ve has the same in the past and switched to airbushing my varnishes. I’ve had little to no issues since.

Cool visitor. It looks like a Northern goshawk to me. I don’t bird watch so I can’t say for certain. As long as Gerry and his fluffy little ears is ok I think that would be a neat regular to see in your garden.

[demonsub 12746xp 1]

Very nice miniatures @sundancer.

Frosting varnish is the reason why I ditched spray varnish and now use brush on. It only happened to me the once but it was enough to change my ways.

I heard one of the reasons why it will frost is if there is high humidity in the air.

Also the way I fixed mine was to use a gloss brush on varnish over the frosted parts ( I then used a brush on mat for the finish I desired).

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