I have Hobby AD&D…err, ADD, which is ironic considering the name and themes of my Youtube channel. Whenever I’m working on a longer project, I get distracted by something else. I’ve always done this, even in writing novels, but it’s a constant thing whenever painting miniatures or building wargames terrain. My recent discovery is that it’s not so much distraction as needing a break. When I take a break and work on something else, I usually return with renewed enthusiasm to the old project and finish stronger, so I don’t fight it anymore.
Thus, I present the bewildering array of things I’ve worked on, not all of them completed, in the last few days.
Here’s a gothic sci-fi field ambulance. It was a relatively low-res test print from my FDM printer. I think I got the design off Thingiverse. I think it’s a little small, but I really like the design, even the ridiculous stained glass windows on the back. Although I loved that part, I couldn’t justify having dangerous stained glass windows in a combat vehicle, so instead I treated them as icons painted on the side. I’m going to use it primarily as an ambulance or maybe a chaplain vehicle.
The icons are crude work to be sure, but I had to suggest the scene more than actually make a faithful illustration at such a small scale and on a very uneven background. I think it looks pretty good from 3 feet away, which is all you can ask of these things many times. I leave it up to you to figure out what icons they represent!
The unpainted version of this already made an appearance in the Xiandao campaign.
Continuing the parade of old 3D prints that finally get some attention, here’s a field piece with a vague 40k Imperial Guard design done by my friend Russ. This one is resin printed and was quick to paint to a suitable standard. It was a great palate cleanser. This one will definitely see action in the Xiandao campaign.
Moving onto factory miniatures, here are some “Primaris” marines painted in the standard color schemes of the Shadow Serpents legion. The Shadow Serpents also made an appearance in my most recent battle report from Fire Island, though these were special riverine/amphibious troops from the third Trident. These particular specimens are obviously recruited from a low gravity world or orbital installation.
I’m really happy with this color scheme, both in terms of my personal aesthetic preferences and its balance between color pop and and reasonable battlefield subtlety.
Next is a 25mm (large) hover APC from Daemonscape miniatures. Actually, the design was done by Jon Tuffley of Ground Zero Games for his 25mm Stargrunt II line, but he sold most (all?) of the 25mm molds to Daemonscape some years ago. This is a cast resin miniature with 3-4 parts. This is big enough that it looks quite okay with 40K style miniatures too. I used it in the first battle report.
I used shard camo stencils from Fallout Hobbies to do the camouflage pattern. Remote turret is magnetized and can be removed leaving it usable as a civilian vehicle or ambulance.
If the texture looks a bit uneven in parts, I’m honestly not sure if it’s just resin flakes I neglected to sand off or an effect of the spray paint (or maybe spray painting over some dust — I had this sitting out on the work bench for quite a while. Wash your minis before priming!). Anyway, I think it looks good and you can hardly tell with the weathering.
This is painted in a riverine/coastal camouflage pattern so that it will go well with my Star Wars Miniatures Battles rebel force, but it also works as a Shadow Serpents support vehicle.
Speaking of Star Wars miniatures battles, here’s a side by side with the custom 3D printed S1 Firehawke tank I built earlier in the year.
Finally, here’s the piece that I think came out the best. No, it’s not a Schleich. It’s a ‘heroic’ 28 (30mm) scaled ceratopsid from the Reaper Bones line. I think this one came in the 4th Kickstarter.
He was really fun and relaxing to paint and he came out great. It’s just a black undercoat with successive dry brush layers of Khaki/Zandri Dust, German Camo beige, and Grey Black and then a pastel highlight for both of those.
The interior of the mouth was painted with Vallejo Pastel Green washed with Citadel Athonian Camoshade, while the tongue was an Army Painter Speedpaint Holy White/Blood red (4:1 mix) over white. The eyes were a dab of Contrast Iyanden Yellow with the pupil and lines painted in with Vallejo Grey Black.
This is a really versatile miniature that will be at home in fantasy, sci-fi, and weird war scenarios. As you can see he is already making friends with German power armored troops from the Pellucidar colony! He will undoubtedly make an appearance in one of the Konflikt ’47 scenarios I’m going to run at Fall In! But more on that tale later…
Orion