So I decided to get Nemesis and have spent the past few days doing homemade Sundrop treatment on my Awaken Realms game minis. I have almost all the Tainted Grail figures done and some of Nemesis.
The benefit is you can choose the color you want. I used the airbrush to Zenithal shade then applied Nuln oil on the Menhir and Drakenhof Nightshade on the Intruders. I finished with a light airbrush of white.
Never pay extra for Sundrop if you have an airbrush.
Haven't posted much but been busily painting Chronicles of Drunagor heroes and working my way through Marvel United minis. Down to 11 of those out of about 90 or so. Just wanted to share some of my favorites.
baelthazar wrote: ↑Mon Aug 09, 2021 11:36 am
Very nice! I love Baron Zemo's look here!
I just cancelled by CoD pledge, but you are making me regret my decision!
Thank you! I will say the minis are good, but some I definitely liked more than others. A couple of the heroes were very fidgety to paint. But monsters are my next task, so hopefully those can be batched cleanly.
My game group is going in on DESCENT: LEGENDS OF THE DARK and seeing the detail on those minis there's no way in hell I'm going to get them painted in time to play. I think I'm going to just paint the heros and sundrop all the monsters. I feel like the game's art style kind of lends itself to that anyway, and my decision was even further reinforced by the lack of enemy art references to use as a painting guide.
i really like the art in Descent. the stylistic approach sometimes works well (this case) or not for me (too many bones...although it is a great game so i just ignore the art).
and the minis for descent are amazing. I'm assembling terrain later today and i'm going to start a solo campaign afterwards just to see what it's like.
hepcat wrote: ↑Fri Aug 13, 2021 10:47 am
i really like the art in Descent. the stylistic approach sometimes works well (this case) or not for me (too many bones...although it is a great game so i just ignore the art).
and the minis for descent are amazing. I'm assembling terrain later today and i'm going to start a solo campaign afterwards just to see what it's like.
The minis are indeed amazing but damn, they are sharp and pointy. I keep poking myself with them as I pull them out. I am really excited to paint them. Just have 7 more Marvel United figures and 3 figures for Journeys in Middle Earth.
hepcat wrote: ↑Fri Aug 13, 2021 10:47 am
i really like the art in Descent. the stylistic approach sometimes works well (this case) or not for me (too many bones...although it is a great game so i just ignore the art).
and the minis for descent are amazing. I'm assembling terrain later today and i'm going to start a solo campaign afterwards just to see what it's like.
The minis are indeed amazing but damn, they are sharp and pointy. I keep poking myself with them as I pull them out. I am really excited to paint them. Just have 7 more Marvel United figures and 3 figures for Journeys in Middle Earth.
They are probably going to be super hard on a drybrush, I would imagine.
It was like me trying to assemble chaos marines. You have to hold them together to get the glue to set. Man, that hurts.
Anyone use or have opinions on the small vortex paint mixers - something like this to mix dropper bottles and Citadel paint pots?
I've already added stainless balls to my containers but I think because I don't paint frequently and go through them, they tend to sit around and separate. Even with the mixing balls, some of the Citadel Contrast paints are really difficult and slow to mix properly by shaking. Not impossible, but annoying.
I don't know if I'm just getting older or lazier, but I keep seeing Youtubers with similar vortex mixers and I'm wondering if I'm missing out on an open secret.
Price isn't the issue as much as it feels...excessive? I don't know if that's the right word. I'm not a miniature painting savant by any means. I'd like to think this will lower my barrier to painting, but I don't know if I'm just looking for another "thing".
What sparked this was that I had a not-great outcome from painting the Nemesis queen using contrast paints and I suspect it's because I didn't shake it enough. I fixed it with dry brushing and some edge highlighting, but keep seeing these vortex mixers on various Youtube painter streams making me think it's worth it.
Definitely not going to get an RSI from shaking paint, but I won't say it haven't pitched a dropper bottle while shaking it.
Work smarter, not harder. Trading money you can afford for time is perfectly acceptable. And Christmas is only four months away. I assume you need a wishlist at some point.
I have one, but I only use it on a couple of bottles of contrast that give me troubles like apothecary white and ultramarine blue. But I use it for the dropper bottles of army painter religiously.
“We can never allow Murania to become desecrated by the presence of surface people. Our lives are serene, our minds are superior, our accomplishments greater. Gene Autry must be captured!!!” - Queen Tika, The Phantom Empire
I've never tried one, but I've heard good things about their effectiveness, and have had one on my wish list for a while now. Given how thick settled acrylic pigments tend to be, it would be a huge boon. The one caveat that I've heard is that it is hard to get a good quality one that doesn't peter out after a month.
Smoove_B wrote: ↑Tue Aug 24, 2021 2:44 pm
Anyone use or have opinions on the small vortex paint mixers - something like this to mix dropper bottles and Citadel paint pots?
I have a vortex mixer and really like it. It's fast, works well, and is especially useful for someone like me who will neglect his paints for weeks or a month at a stretch.
I have a LabGenius Mini Vortex Mixer from Amazon. It's very nice for old Reaper and Army Painter dropper bottles. I've transferred my few Citadel Contrast paints to dropper bottles and those mix up well too. They're pricey, but my wife views my miniature and board game habit as less expensive than a sports car or girlfriend.
"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." - Albert Einstein "I don't stand by anything." - Trump “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867 “It is the impractical things in this tumultuous hell-scape of a world that matter most. A book, a name, chicken soup. They help us remember that, even in our darkest hour, life is still to be savored.” - Poe, Altered Carbon
hentzau wrote: ↑Tue Aug 24, 2021 3:48 pm
I have one, but I only use it on a couple of bottles of contrast that give me troubles like apothecary white and ultramarine blue. But I use it for the dropper bottles of army painter religiously.
Ok, I'll bite, how do you use that vortex guy for the Contrast pots?
Blackhawk wrote:Yeah, but how does your girlfriend feel about it?
Sophie likes the sweet sweet paint.
"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." - Albert Einstein "I don't stand by anything." - Trump “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867 “It is the impractical things in this tumultuous hell-scape of a world that matter most. A book, a name, chicken soup. They help us remember that, even in our darkest hour, life is still to be savored.” - Poe, Altered Carbon
hentzau wrote: ↑Tue Aug 24, 2021 3:48 pm
I have one, but I only use it on a couple of bottles of contrast that give me troubles like apothecary white and ultramarine blue. But I use it for the dropper bottles of army painter religiously.
Ok, I'll bite, how do you use that vortex guy for the Contrast pots?
I watched the Amazon video and now I understand. It's a vibrator.
AWS260 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 24, 2021 11:42 pm
I have a vortex mixer and really like it. It's fast, works well, and is especially useful for someone like me who will neglect his paints for weeks or a month at a stretch.
That's me!
baelthazar wrote: ↑Wed Aug 25, 2021 9:04 am
Ok, I'll bite, how do you use that vortex guy for the Contrast pots?
The people I've seen using it on Youtube just hold their thumb across the cap and have the base of the pot tilted into the vortexulizer (technical term) at ~45 degree angle.
I've found I don't have much motivation to play Descent with unpainted minis, so I think I'm going to just suck it up and start slapping some paint on. I did try sun-dropping a few of them, but it's not helping me get past the mental block.
I did these SoB Temple Dogs. I did not like the red and white color scheme they suggested, so I went with a jade/stone look. I airbrushed the eyes a bit to make them look like they are glowing (like on the box).
Then I did the Spider Queen. She was Zenithal shaded and finished with contrast paints and drybrushing. I also used some TurboDork paints for a cool spider shimmer. I still need to work on the base.
Lastly, the Intruder Queen, done in homemade Sundrop. I will probably add some blood effects to her with Blood for the Blood God paint.
Last edited by baelthazar on Wed Aug 25, 2021 10:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
“We can never allow Murania to become desecrated by the presence of surface people. Our lives are serene, our minds are superior, our accomplishments greater. Gene Autry must be captured!!!” - Queen Tika, The Phantom Empire
baelthazar wrote: ↑Wed Aug 25, 2021 9:40 am
Lastly, the Intruder Queen, done in homemade Sundrop. I will probably add some blood effects to her with Blood for the Blood God paint.
Is this the 2nd printing / updated version of the miniature? I picked up a retail copy of the 1st printing and didn't realize just how much they improved the minis. The characters in particular are insanely more detailed and better sculpted for this new updated version that just delivered. And of course there's no way to get them unless you're a KS backer. I'm going to pain mine, but have resigned myself to making them "good enough' because the sculpts are not great.
Yeah, I got mine back in January and it was the first printing with the original minis. They're usable, but the 2nd printing miniatures are so much better.
Not painted yet, so maybe it doesn’t belong here, but wanted to show off the latest piece of terrain I’ve printed up for my pulp alley games:
“We can never allow Murania to become desecrated by the presence of surface people. Our lives are serene, our minds are superior, our accomplishments greater. Gene Autry must be captured!!!” - Queen Tika, The Phantom Empire
Smoove_B wrote:Wow. I can't wait to see it all setup. Have you turned your basement or garage into a giant 6'x6' playing area??
I have a dedicated room in my basement but the best I can do is 6’x4’ layout…what I usually do for my gunfight games. But this behemoth is going to be used on a 3’x3’ play area.
“We can never allow Murania to become desecrated by the presence of surface people. Our lives are serene, our minds are superior, our accomplishments greater. Gene Autry must be captured!!!” - Queen Tika, The Phantom Empire
Here’s a pile of my Egypt terrain. It’s about half of what I have printed. I have a huge wall set I’m working on, plus the first floor of a pyramid (plus interior floors and walls), a bunch of buildings, etc. but these are the (mostly) finished pieces.
“We can never allow Murania to become desecrated by the presence of surface people. Our lives are serene, our minds are superior, our accomplishments greater. Gene Autry must be captured!!!” - Queen Tika, The Phantom Empire
