Huck's Hopefully Helpful Hints: 1997 |
Leapin' Lizards! (or Tyranids!)
Here's something to try out for fellow 40K bug players: Cut the tabs from the Hormagaunts & Genestealers, and drill a small hole in their bellies, and mount them on flying stands! You'll want to trim away at the feet a bit, to give them a leaping rather than standing appearance, and possibly repose the legs. Or cut the clear plastic pole from the flying stand a bit, and glue the pole to a regular 40K base if the flying stand gives a higher than desired look. I just finished a few 'stealers in this manner for my Genestealer Cult Army, and they break up the rest of the squad & give a definite appearance of rapid movement to the brood!
Got any cool tips you'd like to share with your fellow gamers? Send them in for next month's newsletter!
There was no Hint this month.
First up, Matt Trout with some ideas for storing figs!
"Since I last mailed you I read the Sep newsletter. Nice! However, if you use the CDs for terrain bases tip, you will have a large number of empty CD cases and nothing to do with them. What I have done (the CDs are still in the cases in case I need them) is bought a CD case which stacks four columns of sixteen CDs each. By putting (although not glueing) a CD case at distances of between every other (for gretchin) and every seventh (depending on the height of the miniatures - I have a couple with HUGE back banners) shelf, I have an easy-to-view, easy-to-get-at (by carefully removing the cases with the models stored on them) storage system. An average CD case can house up to 20 models, that gives me a potential storage space of anything up to about 320 models in a 12"x12" wide area, and with only a 15" height clearance. Obviously these stats would be different depending on what size CD rack you get. The only problem is getting one where the CDs rest horizontally. Incidentally, if you still like the CDs but only rarely use them, you can leave them in the cases - I do, and the CDs are fine. If you have access to a computer, printer and an appropriate package, you can print off 10cm by 2cm pieces of paper, folded in half so they stand up, with details of the troops stored in the CD and their points values on one side. I have almost all of my 40k troops barracked in 3/4 of the rack, with my music collection in the remaining column! - Matt"
Next up is Jamey Lawson with Epic ideas!
"I recently bought the Epic 40k box and love it! Now those are great, simple, sleek rules. I started right away to paint up the Space Marine Force. Seeing the past few WD and Epic details, I went out and thought of a way to model up the Assault Marines with Jump Packs. I took a piece of music wire, it is thin and strong, and the piece of blue foam from the back of blister packs for Epic. I cut a thin piece, only a few millimeters or so and placed a dab of superglue up and down the length of the inch of so of wire. I put the end of the strip of foam on the end and began wrapping the foam up the wire. After it sets, which is really fast I went ahead and undercoated the model. Then all you have to do is paint the 'smoke' black and dry brush it with a light grey or white. This is a great alternative to using clay or anything else. The foam has little air holes so provides depth for the black paint to seep into. I know this is hard to read and visualize but it really works well. - Jamey"
Thanks to Matt & Jamey for the tips for their fellow gamers! As promised (threatened?) the 40K Sentinels Article is also for this month, but as it's quite long it will be sent out as a separate file. Let me know if your copy doesn't arrive, and I'll resend it.
Got any cool tips you'd like to share with your fellow gamers? Send them in for next month's newsletter!
Tim's Sentinel Article
Here's what you need:
1x New Titan Base 2x Warlord Titan feet 0307001/16 1x Warlord Titan Left Leg 0307001/13 1x Warlord Titan Right Leg 0307001/12 1x Warlord Titan Leg Joint 0307001/9 1x Tank Cupola 0450/3 1x Attack Bike Heavy Bolter 0467/6 1x Space Marine Dreadnought Assault Cannon 0427/16 1x Tank Accessory Sprue Frame A 2x Chimera Turret Sprue Frame E 1x Epic Hellhound Fuel Canisters 305002/15 (two canisters per metal sprue) 1x small bit of flexible wire (about 2cm) A lump of Kneadatite (about .5 cubic cm) 1x small pinning wire (paper clip) 1x Imperial Guard Gunner Body of your choice: Catachan: 72219/14 Tallarn: 0446/8 Valhallan: 72225/17 Mordian: 72228/20 Cadian: 0443/8 Storm Trooper: 72248/4
Prepwork & Subassembly:
Warlord Titan feet: Each foot as 4 major "toes", and 4 minor ones. Cut the minor toes off the feet pads, leaving just the major toes on each foot. This gives a more graceful appearance to the feet.
Legs: Cut away the tabs on the front of the leg, where the leg plating parts would attach normally on a Warlord Titan.
Epic Hellhound Fuel Canisters: File the tabs on the backs flat, so they will fit better on a flat surface.
Driver: You may need to cut away at some bits of these figs to get them to rest flat on the chimera turret bottom (for example, the Valahallan has the blanket ends which dip down). Just snip off those bits. If desired, you can glue small knobs at the tops of the clenched fists (to better represent the trigger/steering column grips).
Dreadnought Assault Cannon: Cut away the gun portion of the arm, and trim the bottom a bit to make it look more like a separate gun (not part of an arm). Drill a small hole in the center end of the cannon, and insert/glue the pinning wire there (leaving about 1 cm extending from the cannon). This will be used to help pin the cannon in place during assembly.
Heavy Bolter: This is the hardest part - massive Fret Saw work required here. The goal is to cut away all but the magazine box and the ammo feed belt from the gun. This will require several cuts along the top & sides of the magazine box, and then again where the ammo belt fits into the gun barrel. Make sure to keep the part where the belt leaves the ammo box, too. You will also need to file back on the sides of the box, to create the look that the box is deeper than originally (this is necessary for when you will be gluing the box to a flat surface later). Be very careful not to break the ammo belt here, needless to say!
Accessory Sprue Work: You'll need the round turret hatch bit first (A-17). Cut away all the bits used to connect the doors to the hatch, as no doors are needed. This should leave just 5 small knobs sticking out from the hatch. Cut the two bits from part A-19 used to attach the Storm Bolter to the turret, so that A-19 is now flat on top, and glue it to A-17 as you would normally for the Storm Bolter assembly. Cut the Antenna from the sprue, and glue it to the top of A-19. Drill a small hole underneath A-19, right below where you glued the Antenna. Run the small bit of wire from the small whole on hatch (right by A-19) into the hole (so it looks like a small cable connecting the Antenna to the main body). Also, cut off the Hunter Killer Missile assembly exhaust bit A-14, you'll need it later.
Cupola: File the top flat, so that all the knobs that come out of the top lid are the same height. Drill a small hole in the center, the same size as the peg at the top of the Titan Leg Joint.
Chimera Sprues: Cut away both the turret tops E-4, and one bottom E-5. Cut away at the front of the bottom plate E-5 so that it does not protrude into the front area of the E-4 top when test fit into the E-4 top. Once you get a good cut, Glue E-5 to bottom of one of the E-4's as normal for a Chimera. Glue the other E-4 onto the bottom of E-5, so that you now have an enclosed, roughly hexagonal shaped boxy turret. The front should be a large open area, now that the E-5 front has been cut away. Cut a small notch in the front of the bottom E-4 (this is where the ammo belt will run into).
Assembly:
Glue together the Warlord legs, feet, and leg joint as normal, and glue to the base.
Glue the top of the cupola to the bottom of the assembled turret , centering it over the hole at the bottom of the E-4 part.
Mix the Kneadatite and fill the empty bit at the front of the turret with it, then attach the assault cannon to the putty (using the pinning wire to hold it into place. While the putty is still soft, form into position around the cannon & turret opening. The goal here is for it to look like the cloth covering around the Leman Russ heavy bolter or other tanks.
Test position the magazine box on the lower left side of the turret, and (carefully!) bend & twist the ammo bet so that it will come up into the notch you cut earlier. This will not be trivial! Once you get the proper position, glue the box to the turret. It should go about 1/3 of the way to the front of the lower left turret plate, flush along the bottom.
Glue the exhaust bit to the lower right side turret plate (across from the magazine box) in the analogous area to get a symmetrical look. Glue the hellhound canisters to the rear lower plates, one on each side, again in symmetrical arrangement & centered on each plate.
Painting & Final Assembly:
At this point, I painted all the separate parts. I glued the cupola to a wooden dowel (insert dowel in hole & glue with PVA/White Glue), the turret hatch sub-assembly to an old cavalry base, and the driver to another old cav base. This allows you to do paint the driver by himself, without having to work around inside the turret to get to him. I also did basecoating on the turret hatch. Once the driver was done, I glued him into position inside the turret, facing the cannon (the goal here is to have him "tracking" the weapon position, so if you wanted to have the cannon arced to the left you could lean him to the left, leaning down if the cannon was dipping down, etc). Note: most of the drivers will not fit into the turret if the hatch is glued in place! Thus you need to glue him in, then glue the hatch over him.
Once he's in place, glue the turret hatch in place around the driver, with the antenna in the rear. I painted the small knobs on the hatch as electronic readouts, with small indicator lights. I figure the Guard are believers in Keeping It Simple, so would limit extraneous items other than a combined trigger/steering column, controls for the legs (probably attached to the driver's legs), and green/red/yellow indicators for each subsystem on the vehicle.
Now complete painting the turret, legs sub-assembly, and base. Glue the turret to the legs when complete (or as desired, as you can tell I'm a big fan of painting then assembling). Don't twist the turret too far from straight forward - the cannon only has a 90 degree fire arc after all!
The final model leaves lots of room for vehicle wargear (I did one with a Searchlight, and another with a Hunter Killer Missile, both attached to the top left turret plates). I also like lots of flat locations for decals, too! The antenna is great for a banner, to finish things off.
Why it was as it is:
The goal was to try & recreate the original model, without the "eggs on legs" look of the old (no offense to the Perrys!). A self-imposed restriction was to use only items available in the current figure line, so that they would be easy for anyone to get.
Overall, I wanted a small turret with an open top, and the driver's upper torso projecting out of the top. After experimenting with using a Leman Russ turret, I settled on using the two Chimera turrets to make more of a smaller symmetrical shape, and a cupola to serve as the join between the legs/hip assembly & the turret. I also liked the boxy look - the Imperium doesn't seem to like curved surfaces, so it "fit" well with other vehicles. I could also imagine it as a Chimera variant of sorts, using common equipment from a fellow Guard vehicle.
The Warlord looked best for the legs; with the leg armored plate removed & some trimming on the feet they served the look pretty well.
I liked the idea of the ammo belt feed, as we use it often in the Imperial forces & I figured the turret would not have much room left over for contained ammo magazines. The latter reason is why I added the Epic Hellhound fuel canisters - they look great as external fueling points for the vehicle. The exhaust vent offset the magazine box to preserve symmetry, and again gave the look of there not being much room inside the turret (so items had to be stuck on outside).
While there were bits outside the turret, I wanted to leave room for decals & additional vehicle wargear! Thus all the upper turret plates are bare, and both upper & lower plates on the rear. This gives lots of room for other bits (like the Searchlight & H-K Missile rack mentioned above), decals, reinforced armor plates, or anything else you'd like to add. I also wanted a banner pole/antenna, and the turret simply didn't leave room for an antenna pole - thus the "extension" from the plastic hatch normally used to mount the Storm Bolter being converted as an antenna mount.
The cannon & driver I imagined all connected together on a large chassis inside the turret, with the driver guiding the cannon with a steering yoke, and moving along in that direction with the cannon. The driver would operate the Sentinel's legs with his own, via some sort of attached feedback sensors, so that as he moved his legs the Sentinel would walk along. Thus he could walk & aim/fire his weapon (it's not called Move & Fire for nothing!).
Options:
Leave the ammo box & feed off, and do not cut the notch in the bottom of the turret. If you want to do this, I would add another exhaust vent bit where the ammo box would be, to retain the symmetry of the turret.
Add extra boxes like the Rhino supply boxes to the turret plates, or extra armor bits (the Warlord Titan body armor plate 307001/11 make great Reinforced Armor plates). Also for Reinforced Armor - add the Warlord Titan leg plating bits (307001/ 14 & 15) to the legs!
Use a Leman Russ Battle Cannon blast plate C-20 over the Assault Cannon, instead of the "cloth" Kneadatite covering.
Use a Marine Dreadnought Lower Body (0425/2) instead of the Cupola, to join the Hip Joint to the Turret. It adds a "Targetter" look to the model.
Add a series of handles (like B-5 on the Chimera) to the turret plates, to show how the driver climbs up into the Sentinel. (I envisioned a ladder ala a jet airplane, but it's really up to you!)
Use the Eldar Vyper Canopy over the driver, in case of rain!
Use a Tank Commander fig (0450/1) instead of a IG gunner fig. It looks great for the command Sentinel in a squadron!
Blood Axe Sentinels! (Thanks to Eric Soulvie for the original idea) Use Ork Dreadnought Driver 0431/2 for the Driver, and possibly the Ork Dreadnought feet (0431/13) too. And also the Dreadnought banner & top bit (0431/5 & 6) too (you might want to trim a bit off, as it might look too tall)! You could even cut the top part from the dreadnought body, and place it on top of the "chimera" turret. Once you go orky, there are lots of neat ways to add other bits! Like exhaust pipes from the Dreadnought (0431/7), or add some runts hitching a ride on top (the ones that are included with the support weapons would be perfect), or some snots on the base. Once you go Green, you can go wild!
That's the first draft - hope you enjoyed it and it sparked some ideas! Please send comments in - I will be sending the final draft (plus diagrams) to Citadel Journal next week. I've talked with USA Mail Order, and they are doing a "Sentinel Kit" deal, for those who want to have a go at doing one up.
Two readers sent in some great ideas for this month!
Storage Idea for Miniatures by Tim Moran of Neutral Bay, Sydney, Australia: * Video Cassette Storage Cabinets purchased from the budget retail outlets ($25 AUS) are perfect for storing the ranks of your army, and plenty of them too !!
A Fold-Away Table Tennis Table makes a great playing table you can cover with scenery ( 1/2 or full size, depending on the size of room/collection ), is easily stored, not outrageously expensive, primarily dark green, and you can also play Table Tennis on it...but I'm yet to buy a net, bats or ball !! {I would probably use a green felt covering over it, myself, of flock the surface (which might add some interesting bounces for the ping pong ball!) - Huck}
Terrain Tips from Jason Driver of the USA: Compact Discs in Warhammer: New Uses for Bad Music As a gamer, I am always on the lookout for terrain ideas using stuff around the house. So it's no surprise that when I came across my wife's CD collection one day, I immediately started working on the best way to use that otherwise useless potential for the betterment of my gaming table (Possibly the best thing for Sade, in my opinion).
As I quickly discovered, Compact Discs are the PERFECT terrain base. They don't bend or warp like cardboard, they're already shaped for you (no cutting needed), and they're a good size for terrain that doesn't take up the whole board. Besides, being that small makes them easy to store, without needed big huge boxes (and you need that storage space for your armies anyway!).
So, where to begin? Well, first you need to get ahold of some CDs. Since I in no way am advocating "borrowing" compact discs from spouses or parents (I'm just not that brave), you need to find a safer place to get them. Used record stores are good places to look, and friends who have CDs that they don't listen to are a good bet too. In a pinch, you CAN use old vinyl singles instead of compact discs, but they won't be quite as sturdy.
You Will Need: Compact Discs Paint Spray Paint PVA Clear Tape Cat Litter or Aquarium Gravel Sand Trees or other Terrain Piece (Optional) Passport (If you are using your wife/parent/older brother's CDs)
I use store bought trees for terrain (my home-made trees always come out looking diseased). Simply glue the trunks down to the CD (One tree in the middle for large, or I suggest two trees each 1 inch from the center hole, to give room for models). Next, cover both sides of the hole with clear tape. I found that covering the bottom hole with tape makes the surface a bit more sturdy. PVA a semi- circle around each trunk and off to one side, and sprinkle cat litter or aquarium gravel. This really works well in breaking up the plain layer of sand that you are going to put down in a second. Paint the base green (or whatever color you want your forest floor to be), and immediately sand the entire CD. I use paint instead of watered-down PVA because it gives a little color to the ground, and even if the top coat ever wears off, there is still a matching color below, but either system will work. Just be sure that if you use PVA that it is watered down, otherwise it will clump and won't dry properly. Next, spray the whole base flat black (If your trees don't come off of their bases, wrap the foliage in newspaper first), wait for it to dry completely, and lightly drybrush. Any color will work for the spray stage as well, and some may not even spray a color at this stage at all. Again, whatever works for you. If you used a different color, paint the gravel you glued down earlier black, and then drybrush gray. Spray a sealant or dullcoat over the whole thing, and hey presto, a forest stand! I do mine four or five at a time, since they go so quickly, and it shouldn't take more than an hour or so to do them once you get going!
I found that placing a few of the stand next to each other makes a nice little forest for my Waywatchers to prance through, but I also wanted some clearings and other things to break up the trees. Making clearings are identical to forest stands, only without the forest. Try making more piles of stones with the aquarium gravel, making sure to leave room between piles for a figure to fit through. This is a good base for a dolmen or carved boundary stone (As in the stone in Mike McVey's awesome Wood Elf diorama), and these look really nice surrounded by other stands of trees. Small ponds can be made the same way, by putting the gravel around the edges of the CD, and then painting and drybrushing the middle in greens and blues. To put more time into the pond, instead of sanding the middle, paint the middle white, then greens and blues, covering each coat with glosscoat or varnish (See the Modeling Guide for better tips on water). To make a REALLY realistic pond, go to a craft or florists, and ask for florists epoxy. Floral epoxy is a two part clear resin used by florists to simulate water to put flowers in, but it dries as a clear plastic. Glue a piece of 1/2 inch rope or rolled up paper around the edge, putty the sides into a slope and sand the sides. Paint the middle greenish blue, and then follow the directions for the epoxy. It normally takes 24 hours to permanently set, but since it becomes solid, you can add small rushes and reeds to the sides as it is drying. Experiment with adding a small amount of color to the mixture. This is more expensive than sand, but a box will last for quite a while and the results are really impressive.
These are just a few of the things that can be done with compact disc terrain. Craters, small hills, even ruins all look good on these bases, and because they're so firm, you won't lose your terrain piece to poor basing, and since they're all uniform, they look good and clean on the table. So go on, get that old Duran Duran CD, and put it to good use!
Thanks to Tim & Jason for the tips for their fellow gamers! Next month I may include my article on how to scratch build up 40K Sentinels (email me if you'd like a copy now) that will hopefully be in Citadel Journal soon.
Got any cool tips you'd like to share with your fellow gamers? Send them in for next month's newsletter!
Experiment with your paints! Don't be afraid to try new combinations or mixtures of paints, glazes, or washes. Example: I was painting about 60 Nurglings for Games Day, and decided to see what would happen if I used just two base colors (Dark Angel Green, and Warlock Purple), mixing in other colors with them. I found that mixing in Yellow Wash with the Warlock Purple made a fantastic very strong Orange! And a bit of Flesh Wash with the DA Green made some great diseased looking green-ish shades. Both were promptly added to my list of "neat colors" for future projects, along with several other good combos I noticed while painting the seemingly endless stream of the little guys. So play around with your paints experiment, and you'll discover some cool new tricks for your figures!
See June
Simple - Come to Games Day! Hope to see you all there; I'll be running one of the 40K Bring & Battle Games. I'll also be cruising around before we open to answer any last-minute questions. Seeya there!
FYI - A web site I cannot recommend highly enough is Jason Gonding's White Dwarf Index site, at: http://www.cs.odu.edu/~gonding/WD/WDindex.html Andy Jones used it himself in his Warhammer Quest article recently! We get lots of calls asking about where to find a certain article, and we use Jason's index ourselves. If you ever need to find an article, give his site a try - it's great! -Tim
There was no Hint this month.
Our topic this month is banners - first some ideas from a fellow player:
Tim,
When you spoke of painting banners I immediately thought of the many uses that a rubber
dental pick has for detail work. They cost about $2 for three of them and last forever.
They fit perfectly on the back end of some paint brushes, too. Just dip them in the color
of your choice and draw miniature lines easily. Works great for painting small designs on
Banners and even painting the pupils of a miniatures eyes.
You can find these rubber dental picks at your local pharmacy. You may have to ask for them specifically. They usually come about 3 to a pack and are a brownish/orange color and are each about a quarter of an inch long and a quarter of and inch diameter at the base. Check out your Walgreens store or equivalent pharmacy. They are a invaluable tool for any miniature painter's painting kit.
They are marketed by a company named "Butler" and
come in a green an white package. $2 for three of them. I just saw them at Wal~greens last
night.
Gene Jordan, Belleville, IL
PaynterD@aol.com
Some ideas I've had:
- Toothpaste tube material: If you cut open an empty toothpaste tube, they make great
banner sheet material - and they smell nice too! :)
- Paper Banners are great, but make sure to seal the paper with a clear glosscoat before
painting it, or the paint will seep into the paper!
- One neat way to make a new banner design is to draw out the banner on a full sheet of
paper, then photo-reduce it down to scale with a copier machine. This lets you freehand
out some great designs!
- Conversion Banners - I love to hang bits from my banner poles! My Skaven Plague Monks
have some Zombies hanging suspended from the crossbars, to inspire the unit with the
rotting corpses! I've also nicked one of the new 40K Nurgle Icons to act as another Plague
Monk banner pole bit - it will work great!
- Banner ropes - many people use sewing thread to serve as ropes for banner poles, to tie
them together or show how they are attached. The problem is that thread will form loose
strands sometimes, ruining the effect of scale. That's why I've switched to using white
dental floss - it doesn't form loose threads, and can even be painted too. Give it a try
(c'mon, how many of you are actually using it to floss? :)
For next month, the topic will be Ideas for Epic 40,000! Buildings, flocking, craters, whatever - all the things you do you Epic forces & tabletop bits look good!
-Tim
Hints from other players this week:
Hey! Just wanted to pass along an idea for Necromunda terrain
I use. In some of your pictures I've seen you use the old Epic buildings (I believe there
from the second edition) plastic roof pieces on rubble piles. Another great use is to keep
the whole building intact, and spray with grey primer to make them look like power
transformers ( the vent fans on top of some of the pieces looks great if drybrushed for
effect). I also use small colored wire (found in old telephones and outlets or get a roll
at Radio Shack for a few bucks) glued to the sides. Some of these are cut and bent out
from the piece with the wire exposed to look like cut wires. I then take a lighter to some
of them to make blast effects and melt some of the plastic tops to make meltdown effects.
This also works great with the exposed wires I mentioned earlier. I hope this inspires you
guys to make some more of the great scenery you do. Also, if you like the idea feel free
to pass it along in any future scenery articles you write.
Chris Miller
CBMills@concentric.com
One problem I find I often have is that I loose pieces to
figures and tanks all the time. So when I lost one of the side sponsons of my predator I
decided to cover up the fact with the aid of a conversion. I decided that I would have a
large blast hole where the sponson used to be. I first made a small starter hole with a
small drill bit slightly of center. I then took a rather large drill bit and started
drilling on the starter hole. Once the hole is the size you like take your exacto or razor
blade and make sure the hole in the tank is ruff and in no circumstances a perfect circle.
Although you should leave some resemble to a circle. Once you are satisfied with this take
some black or other dark color, water it down and paint it around the blasted area. In
about twenty minutes you'll have a tank that's really seen some action.
Awoodmen@aol.com
Thanks for all the email suggestions, folks! For next month,
the topic will be Banners - how to make them, good materials to use, tips for painting,
and more, so send in your favorite ideas in!
-Tim
The subject this month is flocking!
When I flock something... I like to use sawdust. I went to the local Home Depot, and brought a large bag, I went to the Wood cutting dept, and they GAVE me the sawdust. I have used this ten pound bag to make four tables, a mess of hills and other terrain.
1.Tables and hills: Cover surface with glue, pour lots of
Sawdust all over it, let it dry. When it is dry, tilt surface on side so excess sawdust
falls off. Paint it a base color -Salamander
2.Bases: do the same as above, except paint the grassy bases
with Goblin Green and dry brush it yellow, this helps the individual blades of grass stand
out. Dry brushing Leprous brown with yellow gives the effect of sand.
- Steven Hernandez
Hi Tim,
1. Shoulda mentioned the most common stripping agent: Pine-Sol. Its the least harmful too.
2. The following was given to me as good flocking advice:
a. prepare base by filling in the slot
b. paint base
c. apply PVC (white) glue using old brush
d. apply flock, shake off excess (do this over a box or paper to reuse excess)
e. wait for glue to dry thoroughly (very important)
f. 'flatten' flock
g. brush on a 50-50 mix of PVC glue and water
h. wait for glue to dry
I. seal model & base (if you use sealers
If you don't coat the flock (the ground foam style of flock)
with the 50-50 glue mix then the sealer will adsorb right into it and the flock will flake
off in no time. Hope this helps
- Ron Kilby
I have a tip I would like to share about bases. After a day
of paint the perfect mins what are they going to stand on (oh no not the big black base)
what am I going to do? Well what I do is this. It's quick, easy, and fast. I use
Fleck-Stone. Fleck-Stone comes in a spray can and covers the bases with a permanent coat
of colors. Currently I use (textured) forest green/black. You can pick it up in almost any
good craft shop (even Wal-Mart). If you feel like changing the color of the base just
spray it with a different color of Fleck-Stone.
- Jon Beatty
As for me, I have often used simple sand as a basing material (I used to live in Florida, and would simply go to the beach, take a bucket-full, sift it, and wash in Chlorox (to kill off any bugs -else it smells a bit!). For regular rank & file, it works great!
Thanks for all the email suggestions, folks! Topic for next
month: Conversions! Send in your favorite ideas, tips for making them, and any other items
of making your own unique models!
-Tim
The subject this month is stripping paint from figures! (those of you who always get it right the first time can stop reading & go back to Mt Olympus now :) And here's some tips from your fellow players:
I don't have any good way of stripping plastics, but by far
the best way to strip paint from metal figures is to spray them with easy off oven
cleaner. Spray liberally (I use a pie tin, and then let the figures soak for 10 minutes),
wait a while, then scrub under running water with a soft toothbrush. (any small debris
caught in tiny cracks can be picked out with a toothpick) You will need to replace any
plastic bases/arms and whatnot, but the metal comes out clean. Just be sure to wear rubber
gloves, when spraying and handling the wet figures.
------Chris Gross/cry@ccnet.com------
If a miniature is metal, I will take the miniature off its base, and plunk him in acetone. If you include the base, it will melt. After a couple of hours, even days in the acetone, I take the miniature out, and brush him over with a tooth brush, while he is still dripping. The tooth brush can never be used again, so don't try it.
If the miniature is plastic, I dunk it in brake fluid for a
couple of days, and agin brush it of with a toothbrush. Brake fluid works great on plastic
epic vehicles, or plastic miniatures....except the mm epic figures. The paint will come
off, but you will lose detail, as the miniatures are small.
Steve Hernandez PXUL82A@prodigy.com
Here at our store in Buffalo, Adventures Unleashed, the general consensus from our staff and customers is that using nail polish remover and scrubbing the miniature with a toothbrush works best. Generally I work on several miniatures at a time. I pour a few inches of nail polish remover in a jar. I then drop let's say 3 miniatures into the jar. I seal it up and swish it around for a few moments and then leave it to sit for 5-15 minutes. I then pull one miniature out (usually with a bent paperclip used as a hook) and hold it over some sort of work surface that can be damaged. Here at the store I hold it over a small tub so that the gooey little paint bits don't get off the table and into the rug. I then scrub the miniature lightly with the brush to get a bit of the paint off. When it gets to the point where the remaining paint isn't coming off very easily I throw the miniature back to soak, and grab an new one. The scrubbed off paint takes on a new and exciting thick sticky texture that just loves to coat your fingertips and stick to things so just be prepared for it- wearing gloves might be recommended. Repeat the process over each of the miniatures until you have mostly pewter showing. Usually the deepest darkest cracks are a lost cause but if you are careful you might be able to pick out the remaining paint in the cracks with a pin. But if it doesn't look necessary then in probably isn't.
Note: I have not confirmed this but it is rumored that the
nail polish remover will melt plastic parts so be informed ahead of time. Pull off space
marine arms, plastic crossbows, and bases before stripping the paint off of the miniature.
I hope that helps.
-Nick Adventures Unleashed.
As for myself, I've also used my trusty Dremel power drill with a stripper bit for small removals (when I wanted to keep the rest of the paint job). In a pinch I've also just dunked figs into boiling water (suspend the metal figs, don't let them settle on the bottom of the pot!). A hard scrubbing later, and most of the paint came off pretty well!