Painting Power Hour

I have the painting bug! Don't worry, it's nothing dangerous but it is contagious. The last few days, I've been wanting nothing more than to paint when I get home from work. Like most of us, my time is limited and it's hard to justify "me" time, especially when there are so many other things to get done (getting the oil in my car changed, acquiring food and cooking for Other Half, cleaning up the house, and even simple things like bathing, etc). Joking aside, it's hard to find time to paint, especially when it's 11pm and I think, "I could paint for an hour or I could get one more hour of sleep before the busy workday tomorrow". I won't lie, sleep usually wins.

When I worked on Carla McCarthy, I conquered one of my personal demons in this hobby: pinning. I dislike the pinning and gluing process so much since it stresses me out-- there are just too many ways to ruin a miniature before you even start painting. However, I don't have the luxury of sticking Carla miniature on the Shelf of Shame. She's just too awesome and I can't disappoint Ludo! Now that she's been assembled, it's time for gap-filling. However, I needed some time to research and practice some 50/50 Water/Milliput "painting" technique that I found on Massive Voodoo's blog. 

I also took some time to paint on my first Kingdom Death pinup and assembled my second Infinity miniature. Since Carla will be the focus of my time this weekend, I wanted to use the momentum I have to assemble things and paint some NMM (which is rare for me!). I'm just gearing up and making the "Power Hour" a habit on most workdays. 

Assembling the Infinity Miniature

Our Zerat Sniper is primed and ready! While her primer dried, I decided to work on my Kingdom Death "Twilight Knight" and researched how segmented armor would reflect light off the different sections, which I learned are called "lames". 

“A common construction technique utilized “lames” or strips of metal which overlapped, somewhat like the shingles on a roof. These laminations were often used in the collar, shoulder, and abdominal areas to facilitate movement.”
— www.medievallifestyle.com
“A lame is a solid piece of sheet metal used as a component of a larger section of plate armor. Multiple lames are riveted together or connected by leather straps or cloth lacing to form an articulated piece of armor that provides flexible protection.”
— The Watanabe Art Museum Samurai Armour Collection Volume I

I decided I wanted the highest reflection to be on the front of her legs and forearm, so I attempted to blend my darkest color into my lightest "Leather White" color. I used pure white as the highlight on the knee armor (which I painted as jewels) and I'll use it as the final touch on the edges of the armor as soon as I'm done. I was able to paint the front of one of her greaves as well as her forearm armor. I also temporarily attached her head and cape since I was getting tired of photographing a headless miniature. Ha! I still have a long ways to go, but as soon as I finish her metal armor, I can paint the underside of her cape and attach it permanently to her body. Well, Painting Power Hour is up! So far so good-- plenty to do tomorrow :) Have a great night!

Kingdom Death Pinup WIP

On Pins & Needles

Carla's finally assembled! While she'll need some gap-filling before I prime & paint her, one of the difficult parts is over. Since I haven't worked on a miniature of this scale before, I haven't needed to use the pinning technique during assembly. However, since I'm oh-so-high-tech, I decided to use staples as pins (try not to judge me here). I would have liked to use my Privateer Press pin rods, but they seem to have been misplaced in the move/flood repairs. In any case, I was going to assemble Carla come-hell-or-high-water (Ack. Too soon!). Without further ado, here she is all put together and mostly-matching her flawless box image:

The miniature assembly process is both stressful and calming to me. Filing and cleaning the miniatures is a mindless process for me and I can take my time while listening to music on my noise-cancelling headphones. Drilling small sections of a miniature is straight-forward too: identify where they need to match up, drill carefully, insert correct length of pin rod. However, the actual gluing process makes me want to pull my hair out (and I like my hair). 

I used two sizes of pins-- one for her sturdier bits (neck/head, legs) and a smaller one for the more delicate pieces (arms & hands). I was extra-careful to drill accurately and very slowly and I enjoyed that part! Once the pieces were all drilled, I matched up the sections and used the Loctite super glue to carefully bind it all together. Here are a few pictures of different stages in the process:

Checking the depth of the drill hole:

Once everything matches up, it's time to pin, glue, and sing to yourself while you wait so you don't freak out and second-guess yourself. Or maybe that's me. Yep, just me.

I  had to be extra-careful when drilling more delicate and detailed pieces like the wrists & hands:

We'll play with green stuff next to get those gaps smoothed and filled. Despite having a tiny meltdown and shouting at myself after having to attach/clean/reattach one of her arms three times to make sure her hands lined up, I'd call that a success! When I jump right in and try new techniques, I expect to make a few mistakes (even though the perfectionist in me hates it). However, I'm no longer afraid of pinning like I was before I assembled this miniature and I'm quite happy about that. On to the next stage!

Carla McCarthy 75mm

This week, I made time for Carla McCarthy. My friend Ludo has been extremely patient as I navigated through personal stuff over the last few months. I admit, this Scale 75 miniatures has intimidated me for a long time. Carla's from Scale 75's "Steam Wars" line of figures. I absolutely love the character and personality in these models-- and the quality of detail? WOW!

While normally one would think a bigger miniature would be preferable to paint over a smaller 28mm miniature, the details in the larger models are just as small and there are much more of them! I think one really needs to know their stuff in order to paint a truly impressive 75mm model. Since there's more surface to paint, the expectation is that you'll do more with it-- flat color with a few highlights here & there just won't cut it. I want to do this figure justice and I'm thinking of ways to add colorful interest to her (and blending. LOTS of blending). I'm definitely inspired by the studio model and will need to do some more research on Steampunk costuming for some more ideas before I get started painting. However, first thing's first and I need to unbox, clean, and assemble her gloriousness!

Here's where I started-- all the pieces were laid out nicely in the box and I carefully clipped, filed and cleaned each bit before starting assembly. However, I learned a valuable lesson after scrubbing bits before assembly. Always, always plug the garbage disposal drain before you scrub miniature bits with dish soap and a toothbrush. There was a panic search & rescue for Carla's torso and I was terrified that it had compromised the details in the sculpt. (In fact, I think I blacked out and stood there shouting "AHH!!!" down the drain for a few seconds before I calmed down enough to find a flashlight). I was very lucky-- no damage was done and that was a stupid mistake I shall not repeat in the future. So embarrassing.

The details on this miniature are incredible! I carefully dried and attached the leg pieces with my preferred Loctite super glue--it's not watery at all and provides superior control over where you place the glue and the design of the bottle helps ensure that you won't accidentally over-squeeze with the rubber side grips. I'll admit-- this is the part of the process that I enjoy the very least. I've screwed up in every imaginable way during the gluing process in the past. When it comes to assembling the miniature, I get nervous to the point where my hands get shaky ("Waiter! One glass of red wine, please!"). All I can think about is how many ways there are to mess up a miniature before you even get started painting-- unhelpful, but true! In past times, I've used too much/too little glue and under-filed/over-filed the pieces to the point where they don't fit properly. I've held the pieces together too tightly during the glue setting process and bent the metal and other times, I haven't held it together long enough, resulting in parts shifting and causing unnecessary gaps that can't be undone or completely fixed.

Needless to say, I'm getting better! I made sure to line up her stocking straps when glueing her bottom half together. I'll still need to do a bit of gap-filling in the end I'm sure, but making sure the important details line up is the first step towards super glue success!

Of course, in the end we had some casualties-- due to my constant clumsiness, I accidentally dropped my beloved paint water glass in the sink (what is it with me and dropping things in the sink!?). As I was washing it, it slipped from my hands in seemingly-slow motion to my utter horror and dismay. Luckily, it didn't shatter, and I'm still going to use it diligently. I've since renamed him "Chip". 

"Chip" now has much more character and I look forward to his constant companionship during the painting of Miss Carla McCarthy. Can't wait!