Schwarz-Brot

I like those threads in the other areas. They often give me ideas of kits and manufacturers I did not know about. Also I just like to see what others add to their stash. So, let me start with my latest purchase, I bet some of you did not know about these miniatures. I got me some nice 54mm resin miniatures by Ouroboros Miniatures. Pictures are taken from the Kickstarter Campaigns, though I did buy them just now, not via Kickstarter. Ork Brave: Orc Shaman: Moon Man for being really weird: Hypno: And celestial. This one reminds me very much of the weird and dark style of Kingdom Death which I really like: I received the miniatures today and can say they seem to be of superb quality on first glance. The detail is very crisp so they are going to be fun to paint. I am really looking forward to do so. They sell the miniatures at kickstarter rates at the moment till 7th August. Contact is possible via Facebook or email, they respond extremely fast and are very nice folks, I can only recommend them. So, what did you add to your stash lately?

I'd use fine Milliput. Easy to work with and very sandable. Fine Fimo would also work well after baking. It becomes very hard and is then easy to sand.

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.

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.

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?

As far as I know Imageshack offers options to adjust your images when uploading them. I am not sure, though. I always crop and compress my pictures before uploading using Gimp since webspace is expensive and PC based tools are more flexible and powerful and consistent.

I can recommend Imageshack.com Not free, but cheap enough, add free and no Problems so far. Using the cheapest option for about a year now. Works great. Another option is phoximages.de This is a plain modelbuilding picture hoster. No adds, but somewhat esotheric to use. Some options don't really work which was the reason to switch to imageshack. Never used it, but in the Lego community Flickr is the way to go. Imgur Private webspace ...

Those large embedded bubbles may indeed happen because of the vacuum. Have you ever seen what happens to a chocolate foam kiss under vacuum? The gas inside expands but cannot leave the cream because its' viscosity is too high. This is what I mean: You may get better results without vacuum. And some clarification: A pressure chamber does nothing normal atmospheric pressure wouldn't do to your mould or the resin. The pressure is equal all around, so it is not like pushing and squeezing just from the top. It is more like pushing from all sides equally. The effect is the inverse of the example above: The gas bubbles get compressed instead of expanded. You may run your vacuum chamber as pressure chamber with the pump connected in reverse, depending on the construction of both.

Screws you might turn: - avoid moisture like the plague. A friend of mine casts bases for miniatures. He showed me what happened when he used a form that wasn't completely dry after being washed for some reason. The piece looked like soft foam. - try another resin with longer open time - stir gently to avoid getting bubbles in - pour gently to avoid trapped bubbles. - vibration plate instead of or in combination with vacuum. Said friend does everything with just a vibration plate.

There's different kinds of PC fans, the most basic type is with only two leads, no pulse output. I am referring to these, as they are the easiest to work with. They are all voltage controlled and usually run at 12V DC. They can be slowed down by applying a smaller voltage. Main problem then becomes they sometimes do not start reliably any more. So maybe start with about 12V and then lower the voltage. They will still run pretty fast, and the very small ones are super noisy. That's all there is to it. You may run them from a battery (or several in series connection, to up the voltage).

Wargamers and professional miniature painters almost exclusively use waterbased acrylic paints. Some do enhance their highlighting with oil paints, but this is more common with painters of larger scale miniatures like yours.

I owned a 2001 Opel Omega Station Wagon... Was my first car. Damn, I miss it. May very well happen I'll get me another one some time in the future. The Omega B is still a pretty usual sight, the A not so much.

That's what I call rapid progress! Nice painting on the fenders.

Yeah, you're right Christian. Pretty fiddly with super small parts. Those are usually first glued when painting miniatures. @Borez, please do a test first on a piece that's not important at all! I am not exactly sure (but confident) the white metal MFH uses is the same as miniature makers use. The brass brush is probably not going to work on PE parts.

Miniature painters sometimes polish their (white metal...) soldiers with a Dremel and brass brushes like this: gives a very shiny surface without destroying detail. Maybe worth a try before buying a tumbler. Though it seems to work really well.

@Pouln, I know Ohms law. The problem is - we don't have a fixed resistance. The solution most likely changes it's electrical capabilities over time and the resistance is going to change from piece to piece. So with a voltage supply (as opposed to a current supply) you'll dial in an ever changing current. It wouldn't be reproducable at all. I don't think a different current will make a difference with Nickel plating, so it is no important point. Eloxadizing Aluminium for example is extremely dependent on constant and repeatable currents (and many other factors as well), else you'd get a different colouring (or grey) every time.