All (well at least some of) the Danes

Up before the family to try and get this started, the final stages need drying time.  The team’s bases all got three coats of Golden Brown (Pro Acryl), it normally takes two but it seems the Halfords black primer and this paint (and/or the weather) need three.  At the same time I did the shields, the backs got Flat Earth (70.983) and all the metal bits got Gun Metal (Army Painter); the fronts got two coats of Silver Grey (AK).

After my first melt down with the transfers I now have more then I might need for the rest of my life (at least at this size).  I can now tell the difference between the two types by looking/touching, the ones with the peal off front cover are smooth and shiny (left of the picture) while the ones that need to be treated as the old Airfix transfers are rough to the touch and do not shine (right ones in the picture).

I cut the holes for the bosses first, a punch would make it better but I have found you do not need to be that neat (as the picture shows), just cut across the space to make lots (well 6) triangles and cut them out. Once holes are cut out, I cut out of the eight shields, peeled off the plastic covering, stuck them to the shield, waited for about 5 minutes and then used a brush to apply a bit of water.  The paper back then pealed off with the help of the point of a scalpel blade.

Then the team’s bases got a coat of Fast Drying Base Glue (Greek Game Scenic), a couple of “boulders” from the Base Ready Scrublands and then then applied just the finer stuff; and left to dry for a few hours. Then a 75/25 mix of Matt Scenic Sealant and isopropyl, left to dry and then a few tufts were added using super glue and pushing them down firmly.

And with that the team are as done as they need to be.

All that is now needed is for me to do the shields for Aleksander and Eyvindr, as well as varnishing them all.  And this is all Thor’s Hammers done.

This is me done, the final stages will be added when I work them out.

31 days of elapsed time, with 5 days “off”, and I am calling it for this part of the project.  I will do some of the rest of the Danes in the future but I will take break from them now.  I have enjoyed my first challenge, I have learnt a lot about how little I know and I now know I need practice… lots of practice. The family have not stopped pointing out I have paint strips on my left thumb nail and the wife has starred checking my hands before I am allowed to leave the house.

I will now look around at my many piles of opportunity and pick on one to do another project with; thanks to the OTT team for kick starting my painting journey (and, perhaps a battle report sometime).

Finally, I noticed that Aud also had a fur pelt, so I mixed one drop of Nazdreg Yellow (Citadel) with two drops of Contrast Medium to give a pleasing yellow/orange effect – I am not sure what animal this might have come from but I liked the effect.

That all took three blocks of 50 minutes, I am happy enough with the results and learnt some stuff along the way (including about this project system…)

I watched a few YouTubers showing how to paint cloaks – looks great fun but I have worked out that they have skill, experience, and knowledge.  They also have “hidden” knowledge, the things they do without realising they are doing it.  Since I am lacking in these, I will overlay practice and try a rough approximation to layering.

All cloaks got a base coat of Medium Blue and then I tried to “paint up” from Ducat Blue, Deep Sky Blue and Sky Blue.  I found that as I watered down the paints beyond 1 part paint to 5 parts water (especially the two Sky Blue ones) they seem to “split” and I got fine white partials.  I tried using acrylic medium rather than water and it was marginally better but still not perfect.  I suspect I can hear some YouTuber taking about “this colour has some white in it so it is desaturated” but I know it will be user error at the end of the day.

Amund is joined today by Aud to demonstrate more practice is needed.

The band members with fur pelts got them base coated in Silver Grey (AK) and then Gulbrand got a coat of Contract Gore-Grunta Fur (Citadel) while Torsten and Tormod got Ruddy Fur (Army Painter).  Somewhere along the line everyone got all their leather straps painted with Flat Earth (70.983) but there is no photographic evidence.

Gulbrand demonstrates that all pouches got Skeleton Bone (Army Painter) and then a wash of Seraphim Sepia (Citadel) which was every insipid and got covered over later (with Strong Tone form Army Painter).

All Greedy Gold and flesh got a coat off Contrast Guilliman Flesh and then some parts of the flesh got a highlight of Flat Flesh (70.955) – as shown by Torleif.

As showed by Vilhelm, anyone with blondish hair for a coat of Golden Brown, as wash of Strong Tone (also used on the pouches) and a highlight of Golden Brown.

Red heads got my new recipe, Base coat Burnt Orange (Pro Acryl), wash Strong Tone (Army Painter), highlight Burnt Orange and then a 50:50 Deep Orange (AK) and Burnt Orange.  Looks good in real life at arm’s length, as Torleif is demonstrating.

Trying to learn for yesterday, although I have longer for hobby I set my clock for 50 minutes – with the idea moving around for a few minutes after my allotted time.

Base colours used where:

• Boots – Cork (AK)
• Leggings – Iraqui Sand (70.819)… could not find the Buff I had been using
• Trousers – German Field grey (70.830)
• Under Tunic – Dark Grey Blue (Pro Acryl)
• Under Tunic highlight Grey Blue (70.943)
• Top Tunic, including arms – Bronze Green (70.897)
• Flesh – Flat Flesh (70.955)
• Scabbard – Red Leather (70.818)
• Boots/Leggins/Trousers/Scabbard all washed with Agrax Earth shade

Amund is hiding within the wall of paints as a reference point

Trying to take the group picture resulted in me finding out about Aperture Priority, F10 seems to have done the job (we can even work out The Nut Nuts Nut… as Gerry pointed out some time ago)

Who would have guessed doing twice the number of figures would double the time… almost.

I do not have another set of fancy handles so I went for demijohn wine corks.  These have worked well for plastic and resin figures but I am concerned the added weight of metal could cause them to become top heavy and fall over.  These Hirdmen are a bit squat so fingers crossed.  The figures look very good, much better than the Bondi I have done so far, although I am sure after a fitful paint job I can make then all on par.

All chain mail got a light over brushing of Gun Metal, not a dry brush but more of a light dragging of the paint brush over the texture – just using the water in the brush.  Axes, swords, and most parts of the helms also go this paint.  Any face guards and decoration on the helms got a coat of Greedy Gold.

This took about 50 minutes and that was hobby time for today (not including the multiple attempts to upload this stuff… just another bad day in the office).

Just two packs left for Thor’s Hammer; Hirdmen in Mail with Sword (MBV102) and Hirdmen in Mail with Axe (MBV103).  As I think I have my colours worked out I will do them all at them same time.  The idea is they will be fitted out by their Jarl so there will be little variation in basic clothing.

Once again one of them had lost an arm, just like the one before; and it looked just like the one before… so I take it back and it was not my general miss treating of them but by design (the one at the far right bottom of the picture).

The sword arm was just as small as the last one so very little metal to drill into but I did my best and made sure both surfaces where heavily scored and the pin was “roughed up” to try to maximise the surface area the superglue had to work on.

A single coat of Halfords best Black primer and for the axe men we have: Aud; Torleif; Gulbrand and Vilhelm.

Also in fetching black primer, for the swords men we have: Torsten; Torgeir; Amund and Tormod Broken Arm.

The team had got their bases painted up with Golden Brown (Pro Acryl) yesterday so I put a couple of coats of Vallejo Sepia Ink (72.091) on the spears, I liked the look so retro painted the other spearmen (a first, I can not remember going back to change a model after painting…).

After that it was my normal process of basing, I say normal but it will need changing at some point, and the the team are done.

I will need a plan for the remaining eight but this is the longest I can remember painting for so something must be going right.

Over 2 hours I managed to put all the base colours down, all over wash with Strong Tone (Army Painter), moving some of the wash around to try to stop pooling and then repainting with the base colour as a highlight (tidy up stage).  The last two stages seem to be key for a good look and I have still to get anywhere close to good at them.  The figures tend to come of looking rather dirty and “stained” but not in a good way.  I know the look, as I too have come off the odd Sealed Knot muster looking much the same.  I get what this technique is trying to do but with my level of skill I suspect I should look at either doing individual coloured washes or to paint in the shadows (or paint up from the shadow colour).

The only differences to the other Bondi is Olaf got his fur pelt base coated in Bright Warm Grey (Pro Acryl) followed by Contrast Gore-Grunta Fur and both him and Vidar got Burnt Orange (Pro Acryl) for their hair (I prefer this to the Amarantha Red (70.829) as the wash tones it down better).  Both Suni and Stoick got their hair based coasted in Golden Brown (Pro Acryl) and the wash did a good job on this hair colour.

The spears got Ghost Grey (72.046) ; I have now tried a few  progressively brighter grey for the spears and none of them are working for me.  As a pikeman in the Sealed Knot (a long time ago) I seem to remember the wood was either stained back or is very light in colour.  I will try an ink tomorrow.

I suspect this all took more than the 2 hours as I went back to the painting table after everyone had gone to bed…

Back after a trip away so not much time for hobby but I did manage to get to Halfords while I was away.

A roll of a D6 resulted in a 3 so it is Bondi with Spears, MBV121; the Hirdmen seem to be being held in reserve – most out of character.  Clean up was much better then the last lot as the casting was much crisper.  One chap seems to have an overly long neck but who am I to judge, all hands seem to have gone back to the standard size for these figures.

A single coat of Black Halford primer and we have, from left to right: Stoick, Vidar, Suni and Olaf.  I have a template of colours from the first set of Bondi with Spears so I will be at it tomorrow.

Remembering how Peachy did his Infinity model I washed all four of the band with Strong Tone (Army painter) and then started redefining using the original base coat colours, I did not do this for all parts of the model – just the more prominent bits.

Over all I think it gives a “muddy” feel to the model as I suspect my skill on the “touch up” is a bit lacking.  I think I will give this one more try on another set to see how I go.

Then it is a couple of coats of Golden Brown on the bases, Fast Drying Basing Glue with Scrub Lands and then 50:50 Matt Scenic Sealant and isopropanol.  As an aside I was a bit more cack-handed then I normal am and let some of this mixture run off on to the base and plastic sheet… not a good idea.  The base swelled up and started to separate into laminate parts.  A few more coats of Golden Brown covered this up.

I am away for three days now so looking forward to see what I am painting next, just three bags left of this batch.

Using the same basic colours as I did for the rest of the Bondi I got on with the job in hand.  I am not sure if I was not in the right mind set or a couple of miss casts had upset me but this was not as fun as the others.  Perhaps I did not use enough water or the weather was against me but this was a bit of a grind. Three one-hour phases, tiring to be neat and “paint in the lines” but I had lost the lines and was questioning the fact there ever where any lines in the first place.

This mug shot does not express the frustration but base coats down…

Not much time today; four bags left – rolled a D4 and got a 2 so it is Bondi with Bows – MBV119.  I will try to use much the same colours as I did for the other gang (MBV110).

Clean up was not fun at all; I know the sculpts must be spot on so it could have been in the casting but one seems to have almost no face, I can work out little definition around the items  at their front (belts/pouches/scabbards) and their hands seems a little different then the others…

Once based they got two coats of Mechanics Standard Grey, hand painting black primer last time was okay but I did have the time and I have the feeling it does not have the same properties as then applied via can – no evidence just a feeling.   Neighbor has stated asking if I am working on my car or bike in the garage – I suspect he can hear the rattling of the can in the morning.

From left to right as have Halfdan (who does not have as many facial expressions as most…), Orvar, Sten and Viggo.  And that was my time done.

Magnar (and the rest of the gang) got the metallic treatment; all swords, axe heads and shield trims for Gun Metal then the axe and swords edges got Bright Silver and any trim on helms got Greedy Gold (all from Army Painter) and then the helms got washed with Contrast Guilliman Flesh.  Any tassels got Deep Yellow (AK) while Magnar’s beard got a Burnt Orange as a base and then this was worked up but adding Pale Sand (70.837) from Vallejo to form some sort of highlight.

A couple of coats of Golden Brown (Pro Acryl) and they are as done as I have the energy to do them.  Added the suppled decals, tried to be mindful about the basing material and sealed it down the 50:50 mix as before.

Magnar is still a bit camera shy, or just wants to get into battle from for the rest… hence he is out of focus.

Oddbjorn’s axe haft was painted Light Umber (Pro Acryl) while his pantaloons/shorts (?) got Grey Blue (70.743).  Sheath of his sword was painted Burnt Sienna (Pro Acryl) and the inside of this bear pent got Tan Flesh (Pro Acryl).  Leggings where painted Buff (79.976) from Vallejo and his boots for covered on Cork (Pro Acryl) – a break from tradition I know.

Tormod got the same treatment but his hair was painted Deep Yellow (AK) as it made me happy.

Magnar seems to be a bit camera shy or I might just need to think about lighting more.  His skin got a different recipe: Two coats to Violet Red (70.812) then I covered all of the skin with  Beige Red (70.804) but did not stress about getting into all the fiddly bits; then a number of coats of watered down Dark Flesh (70.927) and a final highlight of watered down of Basic Skin Tone (70.815) all from Vallejo.  Multiple lays of diluted paint, it all took a bit of time and I am not sure my skill level is at the right point to benefit from this time sink… but I will learn.  All finished off with trousers getting base of Dark Grey Blue (Pro Acryl).

Haakon got mostly the same base collars applied although his trousers got a coat of German Fieldgrey (70.830) from Vallejo.  His skin was Flat Fresh (70.955) from Vallejo and then I tried out two coats of 50:50 Peachy Flesh and Army Painter Speed Paint Medium – looks okay in real life but a bit red with the white paper.

I do not think the white bit of paper is adding much to the pictures, if anything everything is coming out more reddish then it looks to my eye.

Rolled a D10 and got a 10, Berserkers – MBV 503. Heart sank, lots of flesh to cover and no skills to do it with, off the watch Peachy (when he was with the Painting Phase) so his relaxing voice to could do its magic.

Out of the bag one of them had lost its arm, this would have been my fault in not treating them with enough care while bagging them up. The contact point was small for the arm so I drilled a deepish hole in the body and a 1 mm hole in the arm, scored the two surfaces to make a better attachment surface and glued them together with a pin (well flexible 0.6mm wire).

I hand painted Black primer (73.602) from Vallejo to see how it would work, it took three coasts but came out okay (must go to Halfords). From left to right we have: Tormod who looks like a Gaul from the Asterix books; Haakon also looking like a Gaul from the same books; Magnar who had lost his arm and Oddbjorn with a fantastic bear pelt.

Tormod got a Peachy skin recipe, based coated Cork (AK) and then a 50:50 Aged Hide and Army Painter Speed Paint Medium. I tried out a white paper background for taking their pictures but it seems to have turned everything more red then it is in real life… I will not be learning how to do white balance); he then got a highlight of Cork – this was diluted down about 10:1 with water as an initial glazing attempt.

Oddbjorn got a different recipe: base coat Dark Flesh (70.927) and then a 50:50 Contrast Guilliman Flesh with Contrast Medium (Citadel) and a highlight/glaze with Basic Flesh (70.815).  It was now time to watch YouTube and find out about glazes (I expect I mean layering but it is all learning…).

I have just over a hour today, and with a break halfway to do “real stuff”.  New bit of paper in the wet palette and fought it down as it tried to curl up (I suspect this happens to everyone and I seem to remember some YouTube person having custom weights for the corners).

Aleksander was first up with red’ish hair courtesy of Amarantha Red (70.829) as a base followed by a 50:50 mix of said red and Deep Yellow (AK) and a further highlight of 50:50 Deep Yellow and Pale Sand (70.837) – just trying different approaches to see what I like the most.  His helmet and flesh then got a coat of Contrast Guilliman Flesh (Citadel) – his shield rim also got a coat of Guilliman Flesh, just later when I remember to do it. His fur pelt got a base of Light Umber then high light of 50:50 Light Umber and Pale Sand (70.837) and finally a wash of Bony Matter SpeedPaint (Army Painter), along with his horn.

Eyvindr hair got a new experiment: base coated Deep Yellow (AK); then Ice Yellow (AK) mixed in and  I tried to paint the major blocks and then mixed in Pale Sand (70.837) as a final highlight.  It looked better in real life.  Then his helmet and flesh then got a coat of Contrast Guilliman Flesh (Citadel); same deal with his shield rim as for Aleksander… later.  I washed this fur pelt with Bony Matter to see what it looked like, seems okay.

Eyvindr’s cloak then got the three blue treatment, I think I need to start to learn to blend and/or glaze but it is starting to look better than before.

I tried a little red on the hem of this tunic (Bold Pyrrole Red from Pro Acryl) – as with everything in life, your first go is always a disappointment.  Both the boys got a Nuln oil wash on their axes (but not the edge) and a tasteful Golden Brown (Pro Acryl) on the base.  That night I applied my normal basing approach, no tufts this time, once I know what I am doing with the shields I will relook at the tufts.

They are done for now, 10 models in 14 days – I think I might have improved a little bit but not much, I am more thoughtful and less in a rush but I have yet to learn to love this enough on spend 3 hours on a face.

When I left the palette last night I just put the lid on it.  When I opened it today, water had condensed on the lid which dripped off onto my table – noted for next time.  Many of the paints had split into different components and the AK ones had run onto the foam and into the water well at the sides.  Also noted, and going forward will remove the paper each time I finish using the wet palette for the day.

I only had a few minutes free today so I reused the old paper but not the old paints. Both Aleksander and Eyvindr got done at the same time. Gun Metal on the infill plates of their helmets as well on most of the metal parts of the axe, using Shining Silver for the edge of the axes.  Sword sheath got Burnt Sienna (Pro Acryl) and the shield faces got many coats of Silver Grey (AK).  Eyvindr’s fur pelt for two coats of Bright Warm Grey and I was out of time.

As an aside both their shields are now causing me concern, they a bigger than the others and I do not think the supplied decals will cover them…

A throw of a D6 got a 4, so I am doing Thors Command – MBV301. Clean up with a file and hosing down with three coats of Mechanics Standard Grey resulted in these two fine fellows; Aleksander the Loud and Eyvindr the Harsh.

I thought I would try using a wet palette for these two.  Coming from an enamel paint background, water was always something I avoided and when I moved to acrylics I always used a blister pack as my palette.  As I have all the tools and none of the skills I decided to give it a go, except for paints I know do not take water well.

Aleksander cloak got a base of Dark Grey Blue (Pro Acryl) then Medium Blue (AK) and a highlight of Ducat Blue (AK).  His tunic got Reflective Green (70.890) from Vallejo while his boots had the normal Anthracite Grey (AK).  Chain mail was covered in Broadsword Silver SpeedPaint (Army Painter) while his hair got Amaranth Red (70.829) from Vallejo.  His fur pelt was painted Light Umber (Pro Acryl) and leather bits for Leather Brown (Army Painter – on the wet palette I could not these two paints apart but they did dry slightly different).  I then added a little Sepia Ink (72.091) from Vallejo to parts of this helmet as I thought they too might be leather’ish but looked at some pictures of other painted models and they have treated the helmet as all metal.

I then painted the bands of the helmet and spectacle mask Greedy Gold (Army Painter), his horn Bright Warm Grey (Pro Acryl) his skin Flat Flesh (70.995) from Vallejo and the haft of this axe Dark Umber (Pro Acryl).

This all took slightly less than an hour and I suspect I am not getting everything I could from the wet palette…

With the remaining time (and a few minutes more) a had a go at Eyvindr.  Ducat Blue (AK) for this cloak; tunic got Reflective Green (70.890) from Vallejo and chain mail got Broadsword Silver SpeedPaint (Army Painter) while his skin Flat Flesh (70.995) from Vallejo and the haft of this axe Dark Umber (Pro Acryl).  This was much faster as the paints where on the wet palette and had not changed too much (Reflective Green and Flat Flesh had separated but mixed back up very well).  His helmet for the Greedy Gold treatment as did the band of this shield while his hair got lots of coats of Ice Yellow (AK) – possibly needed more.

My time was up and the wet palette was working well.

Day 9 and Day 10 I was missing, presumed having a good time.  I will blame my Sister-in-Law and Brother in-Law, although alcohol might have been consumed.

But now back to it; I set an hour on the timer and cruise control for the heart of the sun.

Unfortunately, I watched some YouTubes… Peachy was painting some Infinity stuff and washed the whole lot in Strong Tone (Army Painter); well if he can I can.

Hedvig got a coat of Amarantha Red (70.829) on his hair and highlighted with a mixture of Amarantha Red and Deep Yellow (AK).  Then he got washed, besides his hair, with Strong Tone (Army Painter).  I have had mixed results with this in the past but watching (not listening) to Peachy I applied it with gusto, then using a different but damp brush I moped up the excess and then, again with a clean but damp brush, I moved it off the highlight points and into the recesses.

Agnes got his legging tassels painter Deep Yellow (AK) and the fletching on his arrows Silver Grey (AK) before a hosing down with Strong Tone (Army Painter).

Ragnar’s beard got painted with Sepia Ink (72.091) from Vallejo and the fletching on his arrows Silver Grey (AK) before the all over covering of Strong Tone (Army Painter).

Agnar’s fletching was painted Silver Grey (AK) and then got the Strong Tone (Army Painter) treatment.

Peachy then did a “tidy” up phase. Which seemed like just repainting them with the base colours, as a first high light but the team already had a few highlight… perhaps next time. Then I applied two coats of Golden Brown (Pro Acryl) on the bases.

I still had time on the clock so a good coating of Fast Drying Base Glue (Greek Game Scenics) and a more mindful application of Base Ready Scrublands; I tried to drop a couple of “boulders” on to the 20mm bases but then applied just the finer stuff.  Not a total coverage but looks a bit better than last time.

Then a 50/50 mix of Matt Scenic Sealant and isopropyl, left to dry then a few tuffs later and they were as done as they are going to get this time round.  From three foot away they look, to me, just about passable (I need to think about cloaks…) but when zoomed in on a 27-inch HD screen they look very poor indeed.

Today was family preparation day – people arriving tomorrow.  Found 10 mins to try again a triad of blues for Ragnar’s coat (Dark Grey Blue (Pro Acryl; Grey Blue (70.943) and Blue Grey Pale (70.905) both from Vallejo); I do not think I am learning yet.

Hedvig’s tunic got a wash of Contrast Aggaros Dunes (Citadel); which is a start on the tone I had in my mind… which might well just stay in my mind.