All (well at least some of) the Danes

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.

Family have started to need more time spent on them… but I did grab a few minutes (well 15 but who is counting).

All the teams hair got a coat of Silver Grey (AK) as I was thinking of reaching for the SpeedPaints.  Hedvig’s fur coat also got a coat of Silver Grey (AK).

Then Hedvig’s fur coat and Agnar’s hair got a coat of Grim Black SpeedPaint (Army Painter), which looks better in the picture than in real life.

Not much, but I still did something…

Rolling a D8 produced a 4, which on the sheet someone had kindly written out told me I was to now paint Bondi with Bows – MBV 110.  They had already been nicely cleaned up, I suspect by the same person but it was some time ago, so with a final buff with a filing stick I glued them onto the supplied bases (good shot of the glue I used, poor shot of the figures… I will now start to watch YouTubes on how to take pictures and be more mindful about that I am doing, this might take some time).

From left to right the team are called: Ragnar – a distinguished Bondi with a good looking moustache and beard; Agnes – who looks a bit on the old side to me; Hedvig who has great hair; and Agnar sporting a soft hat with a fur band.

I set the timer for an hour to see what I could get done.

All quivers and leather work got Beige Brown (70.875) from Vallejo – which came out too glossy but I guess that can be fixed when they get varnished. Bows got Sepia Ink (72.091) from Vallejo and everyone got Flat Flesh v on the bit that looked like skin.

Agnar got a tunic of Grey Blue (70.943) from Vallejo and Sepia Ink (72.091) from Vallejo on the top part of his hat and Bright Warm Grey (Pro Acryl) on the fur band of his hat.

Ragnar also got Sepia Ink (72.091) from Vallejo on the top part of his hat and Bright Warm Grey (Pro Acryl) on the fur band of his hat while his leggings had a few coats of Buff (70.976) from Vallejo.  His coat was painted Dark Grey Blue (Pro Acryl) while is tunic was Grey Blue (70.943) from Vallejo.

Agnes’s leggings also had a few coats of Buff (70.976) from Vallejo and his tunic was painted Dark Grey Blue (Pro Acryl will has had also got the Sepia Ink (72.091) from Vallejo treatment.

Hadvig just got his tunic covered with Cork (AK) and his horn was painted with Bright Warm Grey (Pro Acryl).

I still had some time on the clock so Ragnar and Agnes’s strapping on their leggings got some Dark Golden Brown (Pro Acryl) and the two hat fur bands got a coat of contract Gore-Grunta Fur (Citadel).  Agnes seemed to have some sort of cowl/covering over his tunic so I painted it Blue Grey Pale (70.905) from Vallejo just to see if it worked for me.  Everyone’s arrows got Ash Grey (Army Painter).

And my time was up – lots to learn from this hour, I just need to try to learn it (and unlearn other habits too).

Up early as I felt I just needed 15 minutes to do the shield decals, which were in the box; they came from Little Big Man Studios and I have had great success with them in the past.  A quick check on their web site to confirm I know what I was doing and in I launched.

They did not work… I could not peel the top plastic/acrylic sheet off, tried a lot and runed everything I touched.  It was almost is if there was not any plastic/acrylic on them. I watch countless YouTubes on how easy it was as the red mist quickly descended and I spiralled into a very bad place.  I know I had other decals from LBM Studios but I could not find them.  In the end I decided to buy some more… as these must be defective.

I walked away, I decided kicking the dog would not help so we want to a very long walk and I gave myself a stiff talking too.

In the evening I was in a better head space and decided to just throw away the defective decals.  As they went in the bin, I saw the back had the name of the paper suppler (Hayes Paper Co) and these were “waterslide” decals… on Hayes Paper Co website and it seems there is no top plastic/acrylic sheet to peel off; these act just like the ones I used on my Airfix models decades ago, just put them in water and slide them off… game on.

Cutting the holes for the shield boss was a little fiddley but I just cut straight lines across the white central section until I had lots of small triangles and then cut them out.  Dropped them in water, pushed them under for a good soak and then slide the transfer off the paper onto the shield. This worked very well for to team with separate shields but Harald’s shield was attached and a different size.  Before any red mist could start to gather a grabbed my now found LBM Studios decals with the plastic/acrylic, which were bigger; I followed the instructions and it worked (I smiled).

Family in bed and I “did a thing that worked” … who needs sleep.

I covered the four bases with basing glue (Geek Gamer Scenics) and dropped them into a tub of Base Ready Scrublands.  I did not think enough about this stage and I feel the rocks are too large and in the wrong place but I still did a thing which is better than not doing a thing.

My bottle of Matt Scenic Sealant Spray (Geek Gamer Scenics) has stopped spraying so I use a dropper.  I know the surface tension needs to be broken before I can apply it and, in the past, I have used isopropyl (95%) to do this.  The down side is it leaches out the green parts of the base ready mix but I seem to remember Jerry saying he uses his at 75% so I mixed a squirt of Matt Scenic Sealant with a squirt of isopropyl and applied it directly – worked a treat, no leaching and after adding a tuft or two I had finished my first 4 figures in a long time (I will not say how long… not sure I can remember that far back).

Gunnar’s hood got a coat of Fire Drake SpeedPaint (Army Painter) to see if it would add some “body and depth” … it did not but at least the picture was in focus.

Harald’s cloak got a “triad” of colours, to see if it works like on the YouTubes, Medium Blue, Ducat Blue and Sky blue.  I think we can all agree it is nothing like the YouTube masters do… but I will learn.  As an aside all the AK pints are very new and bought for an Infinity project what has yet to be ballsed up (i.e. started).

Sigrid’s skin got a coat of Peachy Flesh SpeedPaint (Army Painter) and then a highlight of Flat Flesh (70.955) from Vallejo.  His cloak then got a highlight of Grey Blue (70.943) from Vallejo with Dark Blue Grey (Pro Acryl) in the shadows and a wash of Beowulf Blue SpeedPaint (Army Painter) to try to bring it all together, which it did not… but I will learn.  The picture was almost in focus (i.e. not in focus) but it will get worse today.

Leif’s tunic got painted German Cam. Orange Ochre (70.824) from Vallejo and then washed Bony Matter SpeedPaint (Army Panter), looked okay but the camera lied (or at least was not in focus) so no evidence is presented.  Gunnar’s tunic was panted Grey Blue (70.943) from Vallejo and then washed with Magic Blue SpeedPaint (Army Painter); looked average but I still seem to have forgotten how to focus a camera (if I ever did know) so we will just have to use our imaginations.

It was getting late but I was on a roll, seems I love this hobby of painting even if I am “not very good” at it and “have better things to do with my time”; also, the family have not noticed I have not been about much over the last few days… not sure what to make of this fun fact.

In preparation of “Shield Day” Harald got a Bold Titanium White (Pro Acryl) base coat on his shield along with a fetching Natural Steel (70.864) band from Vallejo.

The other shields are separate to the models and got under coated Black (73.602) from Vallejo, then front base coated Bold Titanium White (Pro Acryl), wooden back Leather Brown (Army Painter, no thinning needed but many coats) and metal bits Natural Steel (70.864) from Vallejo.  Spear handles got Ash Grey (Army Painter).

The whole team then got their bases covered with Golden Brown (Pro Acryl) – two coats with no thinning done/needed.

Four Days on the trot!  I cannot remember the last time I did hobby for such a long time without a break… bring on “Shield Day”.