Horatio’s Firstmate: Orktober 2020

Here is the base and resin model, after stripping the model almost 6 years ago and setting all of it to linger in my gaming minis case. Who knew mini painters procrastinate? I’d say that @lawnor does since I mucked about and got to less minis than I planned on for the pledge over the year.

With the feedback regarding the ork captain regarding the plinth I will say the scratch building of the base was well before I started into resin bases or even knew what plinths were. I hung around people in the local area that were regulars at Reapercon, getting frustrated at their prowess in paint, and based like there was no tomorrow in order to feel some distinction of skill. The construction paid off though the paint still was mediocre. I now rectify the lack of pigment and move to give the proper glory which should have been. Greater heights will be achieved yet.

Seeing videos on true metallic metals as well as better glazing technique with airbrushes has gotten me to think about how to work with the base. I’ve considered an approach like zenithal priming that might work. The issue is that the sides of the base are flat and lack a variety of textures. It seems interesting as a harsh lighting effect considering the way light falls off when travelling underwater. The thing is there is no water effect resin surrounding the base… though that does make me think about a new project now.

On the opposite end of the light spectrum there will be resin water held within the base that will have shimmer effect painted in before adding resin. I’ve also considered adding flowing water pouring from within but that’s a later task as a final thought. I really am excited about this ambient zenithal effect to be used on the base outside of the mini. It’ll give me a test use for my large nozzle modification for my airbrush.

Better to set this in back for a proper Orktober campaign piece. As is I have another project in the way and its already FebruWAAAAGH-ry. Snag-a-normie month is in full swing and I am definitely in the mode of getting a Blood Bowl team done for my gf and toss the promo pics to Versatile Terrain.

After picking up a UV flashlight from a local hobby store (not a FLGS) I’m getting on with this project with tools. I have high hope for the water effect in having seen a video review by Black Magic Craft on Greenstuff World’s UV resin (available through the OTT store). [obligatory schilling for the site]

I’m curious to know how well the resin will age as there are tests on products yellowing with exposure to UV. *shrug* Best to try and apply this stuff to a flexible scaffold and see how it works. Ooooh! Time to experiment.

So I decided to dig around a little bit and rehash my search for the video from long ago about a Spanish diorama painter doing an interview at a convention regarding his entry of a group of wild horses splashing through a river as it was what inspired my water effect thoughts. Lo and behold I found something very recent and directly related to our hobby from a great mini painter doing pretty much what I was setting out to.

Thank you Henry Cavill for your entry into the annals of mini painters for future nerds to gush over. (note: This was not really Henry Cavill, much to the dismay of Warren and his overflowing mancrush, but Juan Hidalgo)

I will also be using the info from the Gerry Can on weathering wood for the planks since it’ll likely be quite effective.

Of course after I decided to throw all that together I saw another video that was just as useful but not the exact effect I was looking for. I’ll keep tinkering with the idea regarding the use of the beads as ‘less is more’ like the video touches on.

So I’ve taken a step back from my Marumba Marumba! Jungle Jungle Jungle! project after the mishap of dropping it on the jewel I was working hard on and I thought back to the NMM I had done for the figure. I also considered the NMM for my last Orktober mini and I believe I can try for a better looking sheen coming off reflective surfaces. Model painters from other scales to the rescue!

With this as my inspiration for how to go about reflections I think that there is hope for me to pull off something even better than my beloved ork admiral from Orktober 2019. I’m also pushing up the bar as I realize how much further I need to go in being nitpicky with detail. I will revisit videos on YouTube regarding stuff relative to this and study.

“Existence is suffering”   -Buddhist axiom-

In a bit of a turn into the trend of spending more money than is responsible I picked up a bottle of Vallejo still water. The effect should be interesting as I plan on layering blues to lighter hues from bottom to top. On top of all that I plan on adding rippling effects and some splashing resin to give it lively motion. Once more I will have another piece that will catch the eye on my shelf that I had no clue on how to truly proceed and played at building with.

Revisiting the gob firstmate to the Esteemed Horatio Noseblower, who has yet to be named, is going well. After taking a look back at Gerry’s presentation on painting old wood I thought there might be a few things I could do to the base to make it pop with interest outside of the added effects. Putting the airbrush to use I have a good base layer of VA Charred Brown (72.745) as my renewed base coat. I must admit it looks a lot better as a single coat than I had done before and makes me excited to see what will come later down the line. Other colors on deck (see what I did there?) will be VMC English Uniform (70.921), VA Earth (72.762) and RMS Oiled Leather (09110). I’m not sure about any final highlights but they might be very fait grays and balance with some Army Painter Strong Tone wash (maybe VMC Smoke?) to draw out the grain I inscribed. This might all be a bit hue intense for the moment but I think I might’ve found a use for the VMC Grey wash that’s been sitting around without a specific use to mute them slightly. I figure that after all this I’ll be hitting it with Tamiya black panel liner to pull out the spaces between the boards.

Quite a bit of planning and more stuff to think through before laying down paint as the first layer of primer for the gob dries for the zenithal treatment. I’m awaiting a shipment from Beast Tower now for the UV resin to create the billowing waves spilling up under the figure (maybe show that the crate/base sprung a few leaks as well). Again, more ideas and more work that will be shown off later.