Schwarz-Brot

So lately there's been a number of posts regarding attacks and catastrophes. We live in strange times and one can't help thinking about what's wrong with this world. In this sense I post a very contentious question. I do not expect any of you to answer the question. It is more rhetorical in nature. I want people to think about it, not to brag. If I think about recent news the London bridge attack comes to mind. It was deemed a terroristic act and many around here gave their condolences and concerns a voice. I didn't, though I obviously took my time thinking about it and the victims. The topic was opened hardly two hours after the attack. Not soon after there's the fire at Grenfell Tower. Many die and again many voices of condolences. Again, the topic was opened the very same day. This time there's no terrorism involved, at least as far as we can tell. Again, my thoughts were with the victims and those related to them. I did not read through all those repeating posts. So I do not know, if anyone from around here was involved or not. The topic starters clearly were not in both cases, which is what I want to point to. Which leads us to the latest incident, Finsbury Park attack. It's been a few days now, but still no topic on this. NO CONDOLENCES. And I ask you - every single one of you - how comes? Please take the time and think about it. Finsbury Park Attack. It ticks all the right marks: many injuries, one man dead, deemed a terror act WITHIN MINUTES. Media coverage was enough for the last of us to note the incident. While I am sure many of you are like me and do not voice their condolences via this forum some around here usually do. Since no one raised his voice I ask myself what might be the reason. I take there's very few to no Muslims on this forum, which for sure will feel more offended then the rest of the world does, and they are right to do so. Still, at least those of you who live in or around London or any other larger city for sure deal with Muslims regularly, if not on a daily basis. Heck, I would be surprised if you did not have any in your circle of friends or at least in your chess- or sports- or whatever-clubs, in classes at school or university or wherever. You don't? I ask you, why is that?! To me, there is ZERO difference between any immigrant, any refugee, any visitor, any native and any locale, between Male or female or anything inbetween, atheist, Christ, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, whatever, between homo- or heterosexual, between me and any of you. Though the refugees story of life might be more interesting to hear than yours or mine. I admit, I am very open minded, more than most of the folks surrounding me and I of course understand if someone doesn't want to try homosexual relationships. But I really do not understand why a gay wouldn't be allowed into my sports team. This would be a reason for me to IMMEDIATELY leave that team forever. And I would brag about it loud enough for others to realize. Same goes for any other group. The point is - I do not care about groups. It's all people. So why would I be less shocked by an attack on Muslims conducted by a Locale than by an attack of a (not really) Muslim on Locales. Not reacting to this latest attack like to any other attack is like approving what happened, even if we do not intend to do so. Which is why I took the time to post this. I want to live in peace and wealth and I am lucky I was born here. I want everyone anywhere in the world to be able to do so, too. Think about it. I repeat, I JUST WANT YOU TO THINK. If you feel offended, there's obviously a reason to do so. The next time I visit London I'll lay down a flower at Finsbury Park Mosque. Maybe you should, too. I offer my condolences to any victim any relative and any friend of Finsbury Park. Jan. Moderators, Admins: Please feel free to close this if necessary. I understand I chose some harsh words in places and I did so deliberately. This post of mine might very well provoke some harsh answers. If you feel the need to delete this post, this is fine with me. I just felt this was important to put out here.

They work. Tubes give better light coverage, LEDs might get you blind spots. Didn't look at the actual products you linked, just general knowledge.

Try e2046.com vor anything comic/anime/manga related. Not my kind of stuff, so I never ordered there, but I know folks who did. Everything went smooth all the time afaik. http://www.e2046.com/advanced.php?search_keyword=harley quinn&cat=0 If it's out of stock they list the original manufacturer usually, so there's ways to hunt things down.

A literal truckload of tools. A small and a large wood turning lathe with LOADS of tools and additional gear, Welding stuff, about 50 files, huge 200mm(!) bench vice, drill press, a heavy duty press, And best of all - a super small lathe for metal work. This is going to aid my modelbuilding AND metalwork greatly. Most tools are lower-end industrial grade or better hobby stuff. Basically I paid the guy and have the opportunity to take whatever I want from a garage filled to the roof (literally!) with all kinds of wood and metal tools. Next week I'll haul home the next load. I know there's a belt saw in there and I bet there's even more metal working tools in the back of the garage... We only managed to dig about halfway in because it is just full of stuff, accumulated over a lifetime of a passionate DIY-guy. Please tell me, who needs 4 presses of about the same capability in his diy workshop?! This is going to kickstart my own workshop, that I am working on at the moment. Most of these tools are pretty old and need a good service, but that is fine, after all these are used tools. Really looking forward to polish them up. And the seller is happy as his passed away dad would have loved to see his tools getting even more use by someone who cares.

Never worked with it. First try would be flaming the ends with a lighter. If it does not work an alternative might be soaking the place to cut in a drop of super glue first. Let dry, cut. Good luck.

Good morning, I would like to comment on something I've been seeing since yesterday. This is that when entering the forum, for example, the RIP section of AFV, I see that I do with the identity of some other member, just as if I had put the password and nickname of it (impossible since it does not HE...) And I do not like it, I find it very strange ... Maybe the administrators can shed some light on this, and in their case fix it, maybe it's because of the attacks in the forum ... Best regards to all

You know I already commented on the WIP-thread, and there's nothing to add. This is pure art.

Very classic pose. I think you did a good job. Well, one never stops to learn when painting miniatures. I don't know, where you really stand, but I will offer you some food for thought anyway. Please consider it constructive criticism, I don't mean to offend you. For me this is a more like a maxi then a mini - 75mm? Or even bigger? To me it looks like you mainly worked with an airbrush to lay down the basecolour and get smooth transitions. This works well and is a good idea if you have the skill. Nothing wrong here, so lets start assuming you work with an airbrush: - with an AB it is very easy to lay down the lighting situation first. Kind of preshading. I usually paint the whole model with black primer (vallejo PU Airbrush primer) - but with a brush, to get into the deepest nooks. I then spray white from where I want my light source (I use Schmincke Aero Color SUPRA-white for its opacity and ease of use through my AB). This way you get a very dramatic light-situation right away from the start. On large miniatures (54mm and up) I may do a grey first or after that for areas that cannot be seen well but hold some interesting detail, or if I feel pure black might be a bit too dark. Just make sure everything that's not facing the light source is explicitly darker. - this preshaded miniature should already look like a black and white sketch of what you want to achieve. I am sometimes tempted to leave it like this, it looks somehow impressive. So now it's time to add some colour: with transparent layers add the basecolours. Using transparents the sketched-in light will show through and give you a dramatic and impressive shading effect. You may even add colour-transitions as you did on this miniature. Working with transparent colours it won't change the light-situation. - Grab a brush. Use the brush to basecoat any small areas that cannot reasonably painted with the AB. Any detail, face, hair, weapons, straps, stuff like that. I usually use opaque colours for this stage but have the general lighting situation in mind when I later add shadows and highlights. - I consider the model being basecoated at this stage. Though it already should look really good. So now I'd go for highlights and shadows. My preferred way is doing harsh edge highlights first for everything, than work deep into the shadows with many layers of glazes.* I usually overdo the lights pretty much in areas where I want the focus. Typically this would be the face and/or a special item the miniature holds. In your case I'd chose the face. You can guide the view by over exaggerating areas with contrasts. [*I know many people do have another workflow. I can only describe mine, so take it with a grain of salt] - large, smooth areas are boring to the eye. Adding some damage, patina, scratches or a symbol helps with that. Just don't overdo it. A little goes a long way here. In your case a smaller "79" on the breastplate would have been an option, or some shot markings (is that the word? - "Abschussmarkierung" in German). - Hair loves washes that run into the crevices and a careful drybrush afterwards. Then add a ring of light, to make it shine. Look at photos of hair care models (the human ones) to get the idea. - You got the shadows on the face very well. To push interest in that area you might experiment with blue and red super thin glazes to add to the skin tones. They are an easy way to really push skin colours to the next level. Especially blue-ish beard shadows are effective. Scars in brighter skintones or in red tones add more interest and hide poorly sculpted areas. - last general step to my miniatures (apart from basing and other stuff not directly related) is usually a darklining. When googling the technique search for blacklining. It's the same, I just don't use pure black but dark colours. Using a wash, but adding only a little in a very controlled way into every edge and every area where to different materials touch. Even between face and hair. - This last step could still be added to your miniature. It would add some interest into the large areas of the armour - the seams don't look right at the moment - They would greatly benefit from blacklining. Space marine armour also looks good with harsh edge-highlights usually, though at this scale I wouldn't go for it. I hope you find some new and helpful information in my write-up. If you have any further questions, need more information or examples, drop me a line. I'll gladly help.

I understand your troubles and why you are ranting. I feel the same pretty often. The problem I think lies in automated mailing systems. Many online sellers use automated systems to buy and print postage labels. Those systems are set up to automatically send the tracking information to the buyer as soon as the money came in and the label was printed. This is why it often happens minutes after buying an item. There's a difference between a shop selling via an automated system and someone who sells every now and then. Apart from that, when paying for express delivery or a guaranteed delivery date something like this simply must not happen. I totally agree on that. Express shipping has to include express in-house handling. Else it is just a farce.

Quality before quantity. I wish more people would think and act this way. You have my deepest respect. Thank you so much for sharing every single step including every mishap. This makes this build unique and is well worth reading through so many pages of content. There is so much information, I bet every member of this forum could easily find something to learn in the depth of this thread. No matter what topic they build. I know you said you wouldn't go for any other build. I can understand this very well and respect your decision. But still I hope you rethink it. Jan

Thank you, guys!

might be worth a try, @Codger. Though I don't know why I would want a thinner one. I may give it a try next time, just to check it out. To get a better shelf life I squeeze all air out of the bottle before putting the cap back on. It still is fresh after about a year or so (They even tell you to do so on the back of the bottle...) Never apply too much. It expands not only a little, but quite much in my experience. The backing says 3 to 4 times the initial volume and I can say this is true. I use it for many other things then modelling as well. It is a very versatile glue all around.

Well, I disagree with a HUGE part of the linked article. My opinion (regarding both, brush material and the article) may be biased from mainly painting miniatures, though. I feel there is a big difference in the way brushes and paints are handled by traditional modellers and pure miniature painters. For example I would never ever recommend any brush size below 0. I paint any detail, including eyes, with a brush that "large" on 28mm miniatures. If I really, really need anything smaller, it would only be for a very small light point or something like that. Toothpicks then are a way better choice then a brush with just three hairs. I said it many times before and I will say it once more: Painting with brushes is a very personal topic. Everybody has his own individual way of handling the brushes and paints and it takes lots of experience and time to get predictable results. It is hard to advise in any way and will always boil down to personal taste and experience. Sanding sticks I wouldn't buy. They are extremely helpful but very easy to diy. I simply take wooden spatulas (like those doctors use) or wooden coffee stirrers (is that the word?) and glue a piece of sandpaper to it. A friend of mine uses thin sheet metal (.3 or .5 mm thickness) and double sided tape. Works even better.

- I'm pretty sure you're going to need more and finer grits of glass/sandpaper very soon. - don't delay the decorating tools too long. Many parts are easier to paint before assembly. - for your first brushes don't go for the most expensive ones, if you do not yet have any experience in brushpainting (read: How to take care for your brushes). You are going to kill them FAST. - When buying brushes I'd recommend against synthetic ones. I know they have their fanbase, but I feel real hair works better. Anyway, try 'em out - nothing beats experience. - I always advice against modelling manufacturers brushes. They are usually of decent quality (they don't do their own, they buy them as well), but they are also usually well overpriced. Those you find in hobby- or artist stores are of the same or better quality and can be cheaper as well. Most important advice: Have fun!

Roy, what about etching those thin pieces?