Workspace

It feels like eons since I've posted anything. After taking a recent break from painting miniatures, I've decided to get back to it. I got to play in a Check Your Six! game at the HMGS Spring Convention back in June. It was a great time. I returned home with some Wargames Factory Persians which I won in the raffle, and a model of a T34-85 by Revel which will be a future project at some point.

You may be wondering where is it that I paint these miniatures, what does his work area look like? In this post I'll give you a tour of my workbench. Please keep all your arms and legs inside the vehicle, and we'll proceed.

It's a simple workbench out in my garage where all the magic happens. On the left of the bench is a shoebox to hold the Tamiya paint pots. On top of that box (but not in the picture) is a smaller box that I use to hold the I-94 decals for the Check Your Six! aircraft.

The cutting boards are versatile items for painting, cutting, and gluing miniatures. It helps protect the table underneath. What I currently working on are planes for the miniatures game Crimson Skies. An air game set in an alternate 1930's America.

 

 

Now we come to the right side of the workspace in this tour. This is lead-mountain, the file-trays and bags next to them. Various unpainted figures and WW2 aircraft for future projects. Mostly my unpainted German and Japanese. A cup to hold the brushes, and a clock for me to watch as time passes by.

I hope you have enjoyed this tour of my workbench. Some of my future plans include building a shelf above the clock, paralleling the bench. This would give me additional room to hold some Vallejo paints, and they'd be easy to reach.

Until next time. May the skies be full of critical hits!

Kevin

Miniature Mondays 01: Cobblestone Basing.

So you've spent a great deal of time applying dabs of paint to the lead figure on your painting table, only to spend half a minute to cover what the figure is standing on. Dousing the base in white glue, then dunking it into some array of green flocking and kitty litter. It makes for good grass and rocks. If you've spent alot of time on the figure, shouldn't you at least invest similar time into the base? Basing is a way of giving the miniature a surface to stand on. Some people opt for the simple green flock, making the miniature look as though it is on AstroTurf, or on a golf course. I am guilty of the AstroTurf effect as well, because it's simple and less time consuming. But for this steampulp miniature I decided to try and create a base resembling the cobblestone or brick-like surface of the streets of 1880ish. Grabbing my trusty tube of Tamiya Modeling Putty, and a miniature to put on a street, I set about my task.

Smoothing the putty out was harder than I realized, but giving it an uneaven look might add more realism. Once the putty was on the base, I took a toothpick and smoothed it around, being careful not to get any on her feet.
I then scored the surface in a brick-like pattern with a hobby knife. The next step was to let it dry and then paint it with a series of light grays and dark grays. Here is the finished product, a pulp era femme fatale. The model is from ReaperMiniatures

Here are two other miniatures that would benefit from a similar treatment. The great detective and his trusty sidekick to roam around the streets of London in pursuit of Professor Moriarty.

With some putty and a knife a great base is born. With enough time and inspiration there is no limit to what you can accomplish.

I'll try to make "Miniature Mondays" a regular part of the blog. It will have something to do with the hobby of miniatures, whether it be an after action report, great finds for the gaming table, or something of another nature.

Have a great game!

Kevin