Spring Cleaning for the 2024 Spring Clean Challenge

I practically lived at my workspace during lockdown and it has slowly, but steadily become covered in all kinds of things.  In the past I would have straightened up yearly but that hasn’t happened for quite some time.

This is where I’m at;

I’ve cleared off 3/4 of my painting table.  It did clear enough room for the wooden tray I have started assembling models in.  So tired of spending untold hours looking for the tiny piece I dropped.  Can’t believe how many decades it took for me to figure this out.  I used it to assemble the MCP Rhino model that was on my table.  It is the last model I will assemble or prime for a while.  Gotta focus on clearing some of these old projects out.

Got a few things near finished.  I am actually behind in posting these as I’ve been a bit under the weather.

Got some MCP characters closing in on finished as well a few more started.  I assembled Rhino as well as Red Skull & Hydra Troopers.  I only glued down one of the grunts as it is easier to paint them separately.  I took a picture of where they will fit as their base has no set footprints like the Howling Commandoes.

Drew Williams, of Satyr Studios https://satyrartstudio.com/ is one of my favorite sculptors and I just love his Old School sculpts.  Of course they are all over my workspace so will be popping up here regularly.

Reaper Bones are great for practice and Speed Painting.  I’ve packed most of them away for now but this little fellow was started so I will finish him.

I was feeling rather under the weather Friday so got nothing done but made up for it yesterday.  Being my Spring Break, I had had a productive week already.  I was able to finish and photograph Green Goblin, Bob- Agent of Hydra, and Star-Lord from Marvel Crisis Protocol.  I have a Tortoise Sage which I believe was a Reaper mini but could be wrong.  He will be joining the Burrows and Badgers collection despite being a little small.  Finally, I finished two more of the Sisters of Battle minis I picked up from Satyr Studios.  I love Drew’s old school sculpts but find units hard to paint anymore which is why they get done in small groups. Only seven more until I have this unit done.  I plan on using them in Space Weirdos.

Last week was my Spring Break so I had quite a bit of painting time.  Over the weekend I finished off a nice little pile including Deadpool’s Taco Truck.  You can see where my work table was as of last night as well as the space that is beginning to show among the “Waiting for Paint” minis.

I’ve started work on a Burrows and Badgers Toad Shaman as well as a Reaper Bones Survivor. They should paint up fairly quickly.

I photographed two of the Satyr Studios fantasy minis I finished, a noble and a necromancer.

I’m still rolling along and getting things done and a little closer to clearing my work surfaces.  As I mentioned earlier, part of what I have been doing is consolidating like items and better organizing my storage.  The Marvel Crisis Protocol sets were all over my studio to the point I wasn’t sure what I already owned.  Now they are all in one plastic bin and I can see what I still want to add but, more importantly, that I have plenty to work on before searching eBay for more deals.

I finally finished the Nonmetallic Metal paint work on Ironman.  Lots more pictures of him on my MCP Project blog.  I think he looks good but I look forward to the day my NMM skills are strong enough to make him GREAT.  Got a Mole Knight for Burrows and Badgers as well as a wonderful wizard from Satyr Studios done and photographed.

Like the new minis, I have a tendency to collect new paints in strange places, basically where ever they fit when I bring them home.  Like the new minis, I went through the collection and consolidated it in three drawers.  This clears the desk surface and by painting the lids with the color inside I have a good idea of what I have got.  I still have some old paints that are either not very good or almost out that I will not replace.  The GW paints for the most part fall into this category.

I also finished off some Reaper Bones minis.  Nothing fancy, just playing pieces.

As the title states, I made some progress on minis last night but didn’t finish any of them.  I did get Kingpin close to finished.  I will be doing the fine details and clean up tonight.  One can see the variety of genres, systems, and sizes I deal with when painting, including a 3D printed Appa.  Such wandering attention span does make steady progress harder to chart.

As the title states, I made some progress on minis last night but didn’t finish any of them.  I did get Kingpin close to finished.  I will be doing the fine details and clean up tonight.  One can see the variety of genres, systems, and sizes I deal with when painting, including a 3D printed Appa.  Such wandering attention span does make steady progress harder to chart.

As the title states, I made some progress on minis last night but didn’t finish any of them.  I did get Kingpin close to finished.  I will be doing the fine details and clean up tonight.  One can see the variety of genres, systems, and sizes I deal with when painting, including a 3D printed Appa.  Such wandering attention span does make steady progress harder to chart.

I have a countertop in my work area divided into three separate sections.  the first section is for the minis I have prepped and primed that are waiting for paint.  The second is a tray where assembled minis collect while waiting for primer.  Finally the third area is another tray and it is for collecting finished minis that await basing and sealant.  Over the last few years these have grown into one big pile as primed minis took over the entire space.  I was prepping and priming faster than I was completing minis which caused quite the pile up.  I am slowly clearing these areas of their piles and wanted to share the progress so far.

I have cleared enough space for the Sealant Tray to collect finished minis without being overwhelmed by those that are merely primed.  The Waiting For Primer tray, on the other hand, still has a number of primed minis on it. These are the next in line to hit the Painting Table proper and once they do this space will be ready.  While there is room on the tray for assembled minis, I’m not going to build any for the foreseeable future as the Waiting To Be Painted section is still overflowing.

It may not be glamorous but getting my horizontal surfaces bak to some form of organization is making me very happy.  I still have a lot to finish and clear before I feel I’m done but I do think I’m on the downhill run.  Now this means I will have to clear the space BEHIND my chair.  The less said about that right now the better.

It may not be glamorous but getting my horizontal surfaces bak to some form of organization is making me very happy.  I still have a lot to finish and clear before I feel I’m done but I do think I’m on the downhill run.  Now this means I will have to clear the space BEHIND my chair.  The less said about that right now the better.

It may not be glamorous but getting my horizontal surfaces back to some form of organization is making me very happy.  I still have a lot to finish and clear before I feel I’m done but I do think I’m on the downhill run with the desk and counter tops.  Now this means I will have to clear the space BEHIND my chair.  The less said about that right now the better.

A couple more of Oathsworn’s Burrows and Badgers minis join my ever growing menagerie.  I still haven’t learned how to play the game but I did back the last Kickstarter so am waiting for more minis.  As usual, the sculpts are characterful and full of movement.

As anyone who has looked at the pictures of my workspace can tell, I work in a wide variety of minis, manufacturers, and genres.  While Marvel Crisis Protocol has dominated my creative energies since January, that doesn’t mean I don’t have a wide collection of stuff to complete.  While I have largely left army and large unit painting behind, I still have some waiting.  The ten Hasslefree Grimm I prepped and premiered last summer are a great example. They aren’t done yet but I am painting them Assembly Line so are getting closer.  The Terrain Crate2 fine details have also been on the table over a year now so they are getting attention.  The first set got done last night so I can start the second set tonight.  Finally, I picked up Reaper’s Tree of Despair during one of the Kickstarts and painted it up almost immediately.  It came with six little vultures that quickly got lost in the mess that was my desk.  Since starting this clean up effort I have found all six, drilled holes in them, and glued in pins for attaching them to the tree.

After years of being lost in the clutter of my desk, the six tiny vultures from a Reaper Bones Kickstarter are painted.  Not only that but they are glued onto the Tree of Despair, ready to decorate any number of my battlefields.  For now I have to find a place to store it.  I finished off the tiny bits from Terrain Crate2 as well as a set of Mantic’s SciFi objectives and a 3D resin printed vending machine.

The Waiting To Be Sealed tray is covered with painted minis and only painted minis.  The Waiting To Be Primed tray only has one mini left from being clear and the figures waiting for paint no longer qualify as a “pile” as they are all standing on the counter top.   Heck, I can even see the surface now.  I also completed three MCP characters that I’ll be posting in that project blog.

Years ago I received a pair of Undead Lego Space Minifigs made by Scibor Miniatures.  This is because I am an even bigger Lego fan than I am a miniatures enthusiast.  I had put them in a box with broken Lego pieces to make a display piece but then forgot about them as they were slowly covered with other stuff.  Now that I have worked down to the oldest sections of my “pile” they have resurfaced and demanded my attention.  My plan is to paint them fairly naturally and mount them floating about a wasteland of broken Lego pieces.  I think I will call it “Everything was Awesome”.  I hope to have progress to share in the next couple of days.