Finish It Addendum – Tau Orbital
Long ago I ordered a bunch of Tau Battlefleet Gothic stuff including a partially used Tau Orbital box set. For those who don’t know, each box has two tops, two centers, and a variety of arms of which each center can hold four.
I used the center and one of the tops to make my Nicassar Rig. However I had a bunch of leftover bitz for a long time. For the Finish It challenge, I flexed my dormant conversion skills and took a Tau Drone piece and a Space Marine Melta Bomb to finally use up these leftover parts to make this:
She’s an ugly baby and she’s not optimized for the best play, but it can put out a lance and a squadron of attack craft while also having two shields, a Tracking System, and another HP to make it moderately durable.
This will be painted at the same time as the other Tau defences such as the Orbital City and the Nicassar Rig. Next: the Ork Nobs that are currently in progress and then Tau transports!
Q4 Finish It! – Tau Wardens and Messenger Escorts
For the Q4 challenge, the purpose is to finish an unfinished project. Long (LONG LONG LONG) time fans may remember when I first began painting my Tau Kor’or’vesh fleet. It all began with a forum post made by an unknown user named Tyberius:
As you can see above, this wonderful person made this (and many other) sheets for Battlefleet Gothic Ordnance. There is another version with blue instead of red but I liked this one better.
This led me to my color scheme for the Tau: Maroon/red, gray, and bone.
Sadly, my ambition got the better of me. My scheme was incredibly complicated, requiring black pin washes and edge highlighting over the entire model. Plus, I got it in my head to label each ship with a unique name in both T’au AND Engilsh! Hand lettered! The detail was exhausting. I gave up after completing the capitol ships and the Castellans. The Wardens, Messengers, and all other support models fell by the wayside.
Until now. Behold! The first installment of the Q4 Finish It challenge!
This concludes the portion of the fleet with this color scheme. The transports and orbitals will be painted the standard Tau Ochre with a brown pin wash and a simple highlight. Additionally, there will be four Nicassar Dhows, whose paint scheme I have not decided on yet. I am considering the fine line of paints from Turbo Dork, whose glittery sheen is stunning!
Next: Orktober begins with Ork Nobs! Following that, I’ll pick up on the Tau with ten Emissary class transports!
Year Long Painting Competition – Shokkjump Dragsta
Only 20 Gretchin, 2 Runtherds, 10 Nobs, and one Trukk, and this challenge is complete!
Next: the 4th Quarter “Finish It” challenge begins! I’ve got 8 Tau Wardens, 2 Messengers, 4 Nicassar Dhows, 10 Transports, a Kor Air Caste City, and a custom built Nicassar Rig that can be transformed into a Caravan by attaching the Dhows with magnets! That’s why I’ve been working so hard to get ahead for the 6 month challenge and the Q4 for the Orks! Despite how far ahead I seem, all three challenges are going to be a photo finish. Stay tuned!
6 Month Painting Competition 2 – Solar Auxilia Support
This 1/2 year painting challenge is 80% done, just have to do 8 Leman Russes in three months!
Next: Ork Shokkjump Dragsta that I can hopefully finish before the end of the month so that my 4th quarter “Finish It” Tau will have some breathing room!
Year Long Painting Competition – Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun (repaint)
Long ago I painted up a Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun; the pewter one, not the newer plastic. This was in my old Ork color scheme which relied on Dipping. For the new Ork project, I stripped it and removed the custom “orky servo arm” I’d added.
Now, as the first entry for Q4 of the year-long painting competition, that Big Mek is painted again!
The OSL came out very well with a little drybrushing of white and some contrast paint.
Next: Legions Imperialis Solar Auxilia Support, then I begin Q4 in earnest by going back to my Battlefleet Gothic Tau fleet!
September Random Painting Competition – Hail Caesar Epic Carthaginian Elephants
September’s Random Painting Competition started off with an exchange. Long ago, I participated in the Reaper Bones Kickstarters 1-3. To participate in this competition, I had to bring a mini that was the size of one normal figurine. Me and my wife pawed through my unused Reaper minis, and found this gem:
This is Darkrasp, an Evil Priest, and seemingly out of stock on Reaper’s website. He’ll hopefully make one of the other competitors in the competition a wonderful subject for detail.
After handing over Darkrasp, I chose two folders at random, with the intent of picking one of them to be the mini I paint this month. One contained a Star Wars Legion Clone Trooper. Wonderfully detailed but a bit boring. The other envelope contained this:
This is a base of Carthaginian War Elephants from Warlord Games’ Hail Caesar Epic Battles.
The shields on the sides are perfect for freehand details.
The figures on top are also highly detailed.
Finally, I based the mini with gravel that I used to use for Warmachine, and some green flock that I have no idea where I got it from, but this is my first use of it.
Next: Ork Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun!
Year Long Challenge – Ork Trukk, Q3 complete!
Trukk is done! Note that something is wrong with my iphone camera; the gunner’s eyes are red in real life, not yellow.
This concludes Q3 of the year-long painting challenge!
Next: The random mini for September, then Legion Imperialis Solar Auxilia support, then getting a jump on Q4 of the Orks with a Big Mek with Shokk Attack gun!
Review and Guide – Dumoad Smart Strip Advanced Paint Remover
When I began the year-long painting competition to spruce up my old Orks, I ran into a problem. Some of the Orks had been painted DECADES ago, their paint incredibly firm. Furthermore, they were painted according to the old “Dipping” method, which encased the minis in a thick coat of actual floor varnish.
Suffice it to say, they were extremely resistant to my usual methods of stripping. Isopropanol, Simple Green, and L.A.’s Totally Awesome bounced off, barely making a dent. Pewter minis were less resistant, but plastic, especially larger minis such as Trukks showed almost no effect. Not even a week-long soak helped the most stubborn Trukk.
After some research, I stumbled upon Dumoad brand Smart Strip Advanced Paint remover.
My first obstacle when using this product was the lid; the packaging recommends using a coin as a lever to open it, but I found I needed to use two screwdrivers the first time. It was exceedingly stubborn.
Afterwards, inside, I found a white paste, slightly more viscous than Elmer’s Glue. I used this to strip some of the more stubborn minis. However, the case study for this guide will be my Ork Trukk painted in an Evil Sunz scheme:
The first step was coating the Trukk in the goo, a process that was extremely messy due to the nooks and crannies on the model. Afterwards, I stored the Trukk in a gallon ziploc bag to keep the stripping compound from drying out.
Side note: the paintbrush I used to apply the Smart Strip actually improved in functionality, as it had accumulated years of paint residue near the handle!
After a day, I rinsed the Smart Strip off. This took a deal of scrubbing with an old toothbrush and a pipecleaner for narrow areas. After allowing the Trukk to dry, this was the result:
A decent amount of paint and varnish were removed, but there was still some left. Based on my experiences stripping smaller models, I decided to repeat the process.
It became clear that repeated applications put undue stress on the plastic parts. Many pieces fell off or partially broke. Despite this, I did one final application:
The bonus of the weakening of the glue bonds let me pop off some pieces to get stubborn areas clean. After drying, I used tweezers to scrape off parts of the paint that had peeled away but were still in contact with the Trukk. This is the final result. Enough paint removed that a fresh coat should cover up most of the worst of what is left.
Overall, I would classify the stripping ability of Dumoad Super Strip as good. It’s not a miracle, but it is effective, especially for stubborn minis. This should be your stripping agent of choice for minis with old paint jobs, or other circumstances like floor varnish. Pewter minis hardly need something this powerful, so it may be a bit overkill, but it also works well in that case.
Next: This Trukk gets painted and I learn what surprise mini will be the challenge for September!
2nd Half Year Painting Competition – Legions Imperialis Solar Auxilia Dracosans
Two posts in one day?
Not exactly, the Flash Gitz have been done for a few days but I’ve been too busy to upload them. However, I’ve had the Dracosans built for a while as prep for painting, and they are not very complicated models, though they are very detailed.
As I said, these models are detailed, the increase of surface area due to all of the gaps, creases, and other details makes these models…
T H I R S T Y !
As previously explained in my Solar Auxilia Paint Scheme, the surface of the mini is washed in 50/50 Nuln Oil / Lahmian Medium. Each of these Dracosans, despite the fact that they are Epic Scale, took 10 drops from my eyedropper of both Nuln and Lahmian! Much more than comparable models of the size.
Next: Ork Trukk to complete Q3, and coming in September… something? The Random Challenge will be upon me! Hopefully I can make progress on the Solar Auxilia as well, because Q4 is going to be packed! The Q4 “Finish It” challenge will be to finish my unfinished Battlefleet Gothic Tau fleet, which will be around 26 separate minis! Add to that Q4 of the Orks which will be just as packed as all the other quarters!
There’s still a lot on my plate, but I think I can “open a hollow leg” like my Grandma used to say! Metaphorically of course. Stay Tuned!
Year long painting competition – Flash Gitz!
Long time fans will remember my custom Flash Gitz from 5th edition.
Now, they are in color!
Starting off with Da Grand Baron himself:
Finally, what Flash Gitz would be complete without an Ammo Runt?
Next: Legion Imperialis Dracosans!