SIPtG on Hiatus

Well, the title of the post says it all.

The paints are back up on the shelf, the projects are mothballed, and the brushes are away in their case.

My longer than usual absence from the blog recently has been due to a new employment situation, which will also be keeping me away for a bit longer, thus necessitating the hiatus.

Last month, I left a cushy state government job to throw my support behind a gubernatorial candidate here in my home state of Maryland.

The campaign trail is a demanding one, and I generally work seven days a week for between 12 and 14 hours a day. Thus, any time I had to devote to paining toy soldiers has vanished.

The good news is that the campaign only lasts until either next June or next November.

So, keep an eye out for my triumphant return next summer or winter!

Until then, keep painting!

SIPtG Turns One!

Just a quick announcement: Today is the blog's first birthday!

Let's all wish the blog a happy birthday.

(Is it weird to wish a blog a happy birthday? Yeah? Oh well.)

Happy birthday, SIPtG!

Anywho, I just wanted to say thank you to all the readers and folks who've left comments. I've enjoyed documenting my hobby work over the last year and appreciate that there are people out there who want to read about it.

Also, the last year has seen a few milestones:

• In May, the blog hit 1,000 total pageviews, and

• Since April 20, the blog has received at least one pageview a day.

I know this is small potatoes to most, but I'm happy with the little corner I've carved out on the internet.

If you haven't already noticed, I'm an excruciatingly slow painter. My initial intentions of updating the blog on a weekly basis quickly fell by the wayside, as my generally meticulous nature became doubly so when painting miniatures.

I've been working at getting faster and I hope to bring you more than the sixteen posts I wrote over the last year by July of next year.

Speaking of the next twelve months, I'm planning on finishing up the squadron of Grot Tanks I've begun; completing enough Cawdor models to field a legal gang in a game of Necromunda; and dabbling a little in Oldhammer.

So until next time, keep painting!

New Stuff: Games & Gears Pro Studio Brushes

Last fall I took the plunge and backed my first Kickstarter campaign. Since then, I've pledged support for a few more.

One of the more recent campaigns I've backed was Games & Gears' Pro Studio brushes. A few weeks ago, I received my order:

I pledged at the £25 level and received a total of nine brushes, as pictured above.

This included the Core Set, which consists of brushes in sizes 000, 00, 0, 1 and 2:

As well as the stretch goal rewards of the 3LX, 4RX, and the S1 and S2 specialist brushes:

All of the brushes are sturdily constructed with big, thick handles. The Kolinsky sable hair bristles are strong and snap back with good resiliency. Also, the bellies provide an adequate reservoir for dispensing paint.

Interestingly, compared to the Raphael 8404 brushes I regularly use, the Pro Studio brush heads are noticeably smaller:

I don't know exactly what this will mean performance wise, as I've only been able to play around a bit with these Pro Studio brushes, but I'm excited to start using them.

I think the dual heads will be helpful in blending better highlights, and I'm looking forward to trying my hand at wet blending. After a little more experience with them, I'll be able to give a more thorough review.

Next up: An actual update on the basecoating and shading of the Grot Tank.

So until next time, keep painting!

Review: Forge World Model Masterclass Volume Two

While finishing prep work on some new projects, I thought I'd review one of the cooler books I recently picked up: Forge World's (FW) newish Imperial Armour Model Masterclass Volume Two.

This modeling and painting guide follows FW's popular Model Masterclass Volume One, and is laid out similarly to its predecessor.

The latest volume features detailed how-tos for painting FW vehicles, like an Imperial Reaver Titan and a Land Raider Proteus. It also shows the building and painting of several dioramas, including a pitched battle between Eldar and Imperial forces on an ice world, a snapshot of an Imperial airbase just before a mission, and an Imperial city sector captured and turned into an Ork stronghold:

There are also a number of shorter spreads on various FW models that touch on a few aspects of painting or just showcase the painted model itself, such as a Khorne Great Brass Scorpion, a Nurgle Blight Drone, an Imperial Guard (IG) Vulture Gunship, and a Renegade IG Minotaur. In total, the book covers 17 projects/models.

Additionally, the new volume details painting concepts not touched on in the first, including marbling (also called enameling), mottling, which is similar to marbling, lacquering, and lettering. It's worth noting that many of the techniques covered require an airbrush.

Almost all of the techniques covered, including weathering, metallics, and tonal variations, as well as the new concepts, are applicable across modeling platforms, which is one of the best things about the Masterclass series: You can take what you learn from the books and apply the knowledge to nearly any modeling project.

Overall, the new volume, like the first, is well organized, has beautifully detailed photos, and includes thorough step-by-step instructions. Still, much of the content is a holdover from the first volume, which in my opinion provides a much more thorough explanation of and better foundation for basic techniques like weathering and metallics.

Thus, I don't consider this latest volume to be a must-own like I do the first, and would only recommend purchasing it if you have an extra $40 lying around.

New Stuff: Vallejo Paints

Boy Howdy, do I love getting new hobby purchases in the mail. Who doesn't, right? Yesterday, I got in an order of new paints.

They're a combination of Vallejo Model Color (VMC), Game Color (VGC), and Model Air (VMA) colors:

VMCs include Transparent Woodgrain and Natural Wood, which I'm going to try out on the stocks of my Cawdor gang members' weapons - decided to go for an old school look. I also got Transparent Red (blood effects!) and Orange (wood tint).

Game Color paints include Wolf Grey, Dark Fleshtone, and Filthy Brown. I always meant to pick up the Citadel equivalents of these (Space Wolves Grey, Dark Flesh, and Vomit Brown, respectively), but never got around to it. And since GW doesn't make them anymore, I went with Vallejo.

Lastly, we have a selection of VMA metallics, including Aluminum, Chrome, Steel, Copper, Rust, and Black. I've been meaning to try these out, as they look really cool and I've read nothing but great things about them online.

I ordered these paints from the War Store, which runs a first-rate online hobby shop that fills in nicely for my FLGS when the latter doesn't have something I'm looking for. I say first-rate because I've always received good service from Neal and his crew, and this time was no different.

If you look closely at the picture above, you'll notice that instead of Black I actually have Metallic Gun. Turns out they packaged the wrong paint. But I sent an email last night and by this afternoon I had the correct paint on its way to my door.

These new paints will fit in nicely with my collection, which consists of a ton of older Citadel colors (Deadly Nightshade FTW!), some VMCs, a handful of VGCs and VMAs, a few Reaper pots (including some of their MSP HD series), and one P3 (Coal Black is kind of awesome).

You may have noticed in the pictures of my last post that all of my paints are in dropper bottles:

A few years ago, I bought a bunch online and transferred all of my Citadel colors into them. I would highly recommend this, as I haven't had a single color dry out on me and the droppers provide a high level of paint dispensing control that flip-top pots just can't reproduce.

Anyways, I'm gonna start trying out some of my new purchases, so, until next time, keep painting.

Showcase: Painting Studio

Because I'm still basecoating my Cawdor gang, and posting workspace photos seems to be all the rage these days, I thought I would share some pictures of my studio.

My painting studio is in my bedroom, so I don't have a ton of room to work with. I've attempted to make the space as modular as possible, which allows me to put up and break down different setups when needed.

Hobby and painting setup:

The table is an old IKEA piece. It provides a huge amount of workspace and the wood/laminate combo is pretty cool too.

The wall-mounted storage bins are Stack-On, while the paint holders are actually nail polish racks. Both work great keeping my bits, tools, and paints visible, organized, and off the tabletop.

The drawer unit under the table is also IKEA, and works like a charm keeping bigger tools and supplies out of my workspace (if you couldn't tell, I'm a bit of a neat freak).

The big, heavy-duty task lamps - the grey and black ones are from my father's old home workshop while I bought the brown one at a neighborhood flea market a few months ago - are bolted into the table for stability.

The lamps on either side house OttLite bulbs while the one in the center uses regular daylight florescent tubes. Together, the three lamps provide more than enough light for hobby work, painting, and photography.


Airbrush setup:

I purchased the spray booth new, then built the rest of the extraction unit out of a piece of scrap wood and a dryer-hookup kit from a local DIY store. It goes together fairly effortlessly and I haven't passed out from paint fumes yet, so ... that's good.

Photography setup:

The light box is a generic kit you can acquire through any number of merchants on the internets. The lights that come with the kit are garbage, but the light box and tripod are really useful.

At the other end of the room I keep un-built kits (yeah, I have a lot to get through), supplies that I don't use on a regular basis, and my White Dwarf collection:

Big surprise, the above shelving unit is also IKEA, which I'm pretty sure is the official furniture outfitter of hobbyists the world over.

Overall, this setup works well for painting toy soldiers part time. Of course, a dedicated hobby room would be nice, but that's just not in the cards right now.

Till next time, keep painting.