Long time no update! (again!)

Helloooooo!

It's been too long since the last update. No really.

Don't worry though, the hobby's still been rolling along, even if I haven't really been posting.

So lately I've been going through a bit of a patch with real life that made me neglect this blog (seems like it happens every year doesn't it? Ha!), but I did keep up with my painting.

It seems I do my best thinking while painting, which is probably why I do it so much. Meditative really.

I'll admit it, when it comes to painting little toy soldiers, I'm something of a lifer.

Now that I've got a bit more spare time on my hands though, I decided to get started on a project that I'd been keeping for a special occasion - Tyson Koch's Super 3D Dungeon Boards, from Kickstarter.

So... without further ado, here's a test piece of detail:

Now, as far as casting is concerned, the pieces are far from perfect, but you do kind of expect that with polystone resin pieces.

Resin casts are very individual, and may come shrunken or warped, rarely absolutely perfect. It's a bit of a gamble really, and since I intend to play dice games on this thing, it's cool in a 'meta' sort of way.

In terms of surface, think greasy (yuk), super smooth or matte.

These ones were a mix of super smooth and matte, meaning I had to just hit the surface with a bit of matte varnish before priming it in black:

 

So what's up with the airbrush then?

I figured now might be a good time to dabble with using an airbrush. 

I'd used an airbrush before to lay on base colours (particularly for my Imperial Guard tanks) but not to lay on colour gradients.

So, after half an hour:

 

Slick! Too slick.

Verdict? Mmmm... no.

Something about the smoothness of the result didn't sit right with me.

The airbrush worked great, but it looked much too smooth. I like the idea that there would be some contrast between the smooth gradients on the miniatures and the textured finish of the surrounding surface to help them stand out.

So I broke out an old friend -  the trusty GW tank brush:

 

Years of friendship leave a scar on the stoutest of hearts

Here I was halfway through. Better, no?

...and here's where I got after an hour. I put in the painted pile of loot in the out-of-bounds corner of the board, and its really added interest to a dull corner.

Look at it from a distance, however, and it's the river of lava still draws the eye most.

I like it!