The Tangled Web

I think has to be one of the most unique things that I have tested out in all the time I have been doing miniature painting, and that says a lot when you consider the massive amounts of new materials I have been trying!

This is a new product from Green Stuff World, and I think you can tell what it is.  It is a spider web material that is designed to go through an airbrush.  There is the web material in one bottle, and a cleaning solution in the blue container.

I tried this out on some of my branches, and on a base.  There were a few essentials that I noted.

You will definitely want to have a spray booth and a mask.  Also, the stray fibers will 'travel' as the wind from the airbrush takes them.

The material does not cover large gaps, but does much better when you have bridging material.  If I wanted to have the web cross the branches of my base, I would need to have a thread or two... something for it to start on.

Once the material is sprayed, you can remove the excess, in this case with a simple brush.

You can see how it does better when the gaps are much smaller on the secondary branches.

The webs will be pretty fragile, so I don't think you will want to do this on gaming pieces that go in and out of a case.  I would also not try to ship any figures where I used this, as the webs would be wiped out.

My assumption is that this is for display pieces for the most part.  I could probably get away with using it on my armies, as they are all magnetized and sit in my boxes.  I would want them far away from any parts of the figure or base where I would handle them.

Obviously I will test this some more, seeing how it might work on architecture or undead figures.

I'm sure that I will discover more methods for using it.  In these tests, I was using a Badger Sotar brush.  As the instructions stated, I ran the cleaner through right away after using it.

A few minutes later I was doing some regular painting with the brush, and that did not seem to have any effect on that.  Stay tuned!

Wild Ride

These centaurs from Confrontation are a reprise of some that I painted many years ago.  Just like the original batch, the 'tusks' had to turned into beards, which was a reminder of how much I liked sculpting!!

So, I am hoping at some point to try and do some sculpting videos for the patreon page, utilizing a number of different materials.  Sculpey, Apoxy sculpt, Brown Stuff and Green stuff are all on that list!

Some of those old sculpts have been pretty gigantic, like this Mastadon... probably my biggest scratch sculpt:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2012/12/scratch-sculpted-mastadon-for-celtos.html

Snow Basing

Here are some finished images of the Soviet infantry snow basing tests!

I tried a few different materials in several combinations, experimenting until I found something that gave me the look that I wanted, but one that could be easy to replicate on many more figures, vehicles, even small pieces of terrain, etc.

Here's a link to the live session:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10212572308356784/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

I ultimately decided on a combination of the Secret Weapon Crushed Glass method and the Vallejo snow medium.  This provided some of the transparent 'crystallized' appearance of the Crushed Glass, but made it a bit more white and easier to apply.

I could also add in the Woodland Scenics snow flock on top of this!

These winter Soviets were painted entirely in oils, which is something that I will be doing in "hard copy" recorded video form on YouTube for my Patreon subscribers.  I also tried to vary the color of the overcoats, just as I had seen in some research.  I had discovered 3 distinct coat types...

As I mention during the broadcast, the weapon teams is where I really noticed the difference!  By the time I had gotten to the anti-tank rifle, I had definitely fallen in love with the combo of materials.

There are several more of these on the way, and they will make a great subject matter for basing, along with the artillery pieces and gun crews.

These methods will also work on the vehicles.  If you want to check out the live session that I did on the T-34/85, here's a link to that live session.  Just like the basing demo, this was an experiment in various materials and techniques:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10211859089046747/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

As I move forward with the new Patreon pledge levels, I will be adding more of the how to and experimental videos to the YouTube account for the Patreon supporters to view.  Right now, a $5 pledge gets you access to these private versions of the usual public Facebook live sessions.

I am adding some other levels, where I can interact with folks in private skype sessions and working out color schemes together!

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Painting Units: The Painting Pyramid Returns

It is time to announce something new for the Patreon Page!  

After much discussion and research, I thought it might be interesting to profile unit painting on the page, and how I go about that.

It will even go into the basing aspect, showing how I choose a base theme to accentuate the figures, and the colors that I have chosen for them.  Since there are some very nice units available from the Age of Sigmar and 40k systems coming out, I thought that boxes such as these would be ideal.

I wanted to feature a different type of 'army' each month, and create instructional videos in the old Painting Pyramid style!  These would be done in at least 3-4 parts, and even be available in "hard copy" form on USB drives in high resolution, just like the original Painting Pyramid versions.

I am also trying to tie in these new unit painting videos with some of the existing content from the Painting Pyramid, such as my Painting Dark Elf skin tones and Drow skin tones.  Each of those episodes is 100 minutes long, and takes you through my process of painting those two types of skin color.

The Dark Elf skin tone episode links will be sent to the $5 patrons later today, and then the Drow episode later this month.  I am also adding some new pledges at the $10, $15, $20 and $25 levels for people that offer more bonus videos, and even private skype chats and hangouts.

For higher level pledges, you will be able to get sets of bases that I created that month in the basing videos, as well as the miniatures themselves (not a raffle... you just get the figure!).

In a few days I will get the new pledge levels on the page.  There are so many new things that are planned, it is taking a while to make sure that everything is worded clearly.  For those that are already pledging at those levels, you don't have to worry, since I already know :-)

In addition to this new Unit Painting approach, I will be adding Creature Caster monsters to the video sets as well!  During the original Painting Pyramid series, I used a few of the Utraforge figures, which were predecessors of Creature Caster.  I look forward to creating brand new videos based on those wonderful monster figures!

Here's a link to the page, and remember that a pledge of just $5 can get you a lot of video content!

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

More Ogres

We return to the unit of Mierce ogres once again.  This was a group of 8 large figures that was painted with oils for the most part, with a few details mopped up using regular acrylic paints.

The advantages of oils really stand out when you paint whole units, even more so when they are this large!  This one is towering over a 40mm base!

I have a number of live sessions that I have already done showing how I approach oil painting, but this month I will be recording my first "hard copy" oil painting videos.  These will mostly feature the way I tackle units with that material.

They will be posted especially for my patrons all throughout this month... where I will be painting some of the new Games Workshop Dark Elves!

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

A Bull By the Horns

It had been a very long time since I had done this much of a patina on a figure, so I had lots of fun on this guy!

I used the Secret Weapon Weathering paints for all of this figure... the bull, the axe, the armor, and so on.  They are very flexible, as you can go with a lot of glazing, and yet still use them in an opaque manner.

That element of glazing was very key, as most of the detail areas like the filigree were sculpted into the armor.  This meant that the patina would sink down into those areas, and look very natural!

I have used the Secret Weapon paints on a number of my live sessions... everything from tanks to beastmen to Dark Sword figures.

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10212119155668250/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

The Serpent Staff

I will have to call upon the hive mind once again to fill me in on the manufacturer of this figure, but my guess is that it is from Blood Rage or Black Plague.  It is yet another example of how you can still get some fun results from those hard (or soft) plastic board game figures!

I think I have mentioned in previous posts how those two sided emery boards used by model railroad and kit builders are effective at removing most of the brutal mould lines on these figures.  Everything else I have tried to use just tears away at the material, or cuts into it in the case of hobby knives.

So, don't be afraid to snag a few of those emery boards and invest a little extra effort into your board game pieces.  After all, once you paint them and seal them... you have something virtually indestructible! :-)