Marching Fort wall section (part 9)

Well, it's finally finished! Sorry for the lack of WIP shots, but I've been working in dribs and drabs and before I knew it it was done.

As I mentioned, I decided to make the ditch look wet. This is just some Humbrol enamel gloss varnish over a coat of acrylic matte varnish over the whole shooting match.

I flocked with some Army Painter field grass and then added some various tufts & flowers.

Some kitty litter rocks were added during one the previous painting sessions. These were dry-brushed with a couple different craft store acrylic grays. In hindsight I probably should have added them in more than just the ditch as the concentration of stones there looks a bit unnatural. Next time.

Here you can (barely) make out the work I did to mount the log stakes in the berm. As you recall they were separate for painting. I put some white glue down into the gap and them wiggled the fence in. Once dry, I added a bit of spackling on the sides to cover the gaps on the sides. After a day, I sanded and then painted over the spackling with more craft store acrylic burnt umber. 

 Not much to see on the backside. Just a few dry looking tufts. I debated adding some flocking here too, but decided that with all the marching going on the the marching fort, no grass would be able to take root!  =]

Now I have a decision to make. Carry on with more sections or noodle with trying a waddle fence. Stay tuned...

Three Color method (2 & 3 finished)

It's been a long time since my last update. We had a creeping funk around here and every single one of us got sick in sequence. That ate up the better part of three weeks. At least we didn't all get sick at once...

Pretty much the same technique as last time. The main difference is that I've given up on the Testor's Dullcote - it's just too humid here in Florida for anything save a skunk to spray outdoors. I've opted instead for a soluble acrylic matte varnish.

Without further ado, here are the second and third Scots levy painted with the three color method:

As you may have noticed, I've plussed up the basing vegetation a bit. I was inspired by Christopher of Bunker Hill's amazingly bushy grassy bases.

The other benefit of the bushy basing is that it covered up the "cankle" on my one-footed javelin hurler that needed repair.

Said repair proved problematic. I pulled his base off again while painting him and had to redo the repair. I think I didn't sink the pin far enough into the foot the first go around.

I'm very happy with the new brush on matte varnish. I only had one issue: it pooled in Old Footy's armpit and I didn't notice it until the next day. I probably should have just left it be, but I decided to try to poke it out with a wooden toothpick.

I managed to get the bit of varnish out, but cracked his foot repair again. This time I choose not to re-repair as the painting was nearly finished. I just dabbed on some super glue and then matte varnished over the crack when the glue was dry. All the more reason for more bushes!

I also toned down the wood grain on the spears. My first three color levy looked like he was toting a piece of zebrawood. Hope you like them!

Finished! Sorta...

I believe I've finally finished the three test levy!!!

It's amazing what something as simple as painting the edges of the base does to make the whole figure feel finished.

 I'm not too fussed about the AP Battlefield Rocks. They make better sticks than rocks. I'll stick to the Woodland Scenics talus from now on. The one broken-off piece of talus I used on the levy in the green tunic's base (above) just painted up so much better. I may also try play sand instead of the AP flock too.

I went a little too sparse with the watered down PVA while applying my AP Battleground ash grey flock and kitty litter mix. It seems my old eyes were having trouble distinguishing the glue from the semi-transparent Lumina clay. This left some shiny, bald spots. Which wasn't too big of a deal as that just helped determine where to glue down the AP static Field Grass. A few of their Winter Tufts finished things off nicely. I still need to play around with how much of the base gets grass and how to make the shape of it look more natural.

Overall, I'm very please with the way everything came out. I'm still not entirely happy with the highlighting. Probably because I did next to none! I'll play around with that more with next batch of levy. Feels great to have these three in the can though!  =]

Now on to the other thirty-four little men...

First Base

No, I'm not holding hands with Christine Anderson during recess. I've gooped, sandified, and painted my first bases.

Even thought I bought some Vallejo White Pumice, it seemed so messy that I decided to use Gareson's method which he kindly demonstrates on his blog. This calls for using Lumina Air Dry Polymer Clay which is much tidier than the pumice. I'll use the pumice for some wattle buildings or something.

He also suggests using sand and kitty litter as basing materials. I had already purchased (a recurring theme!) some Army Painter basing stuffs (battleground basing and battefield rocks) so I figured I should try to use those. I ended up mixing some clumping cat litter I had hanging around in with the battleground basing. I considering using play sand, but mine seemed too fine (and also too moist).  I ended up cutting the battlefield 'rocks' up a bit. They look a bit big and too wood-like for my taste. I also experimented using for Woodland Scenics talus to make a larger rock.

After gluing on the basing, cat litter, and 'rock' mixture, I applied a mixture of equal parts water, PVA, and cheap craft store burnt umber paint. Then I dry brushed with a tan and beige that I mixed up from burnt umber and some light ivory craft acrylics. I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. It was a bit laborious, so I may try to find ways to optimize (mix burnt umber paint into the Lumina clay?).

Next stop, static grass and tufts...

Of Bathing and Bases

So with a small handful of minis de-flashed, it was time to hit them with some primer. But first I need to give my minis a bath. Who'd have thought such a simple thing can go poorly?

I had read about various methods of cleaning the metal figures: Dawn dish soap, mild degreasers, etc. I found myself at Whole Foods (which I often do since my wife is a hippy vegan) so I picked up a bottle of CitraSolv natural citrus degreaser. All natural, smells good. What's not to like?

I made a dilute mix of CitraSolv and hot water in a mixing bowl. I put the minis in, swished them around a bit. Took them out and gave them a bit of a scrub with a toothbrush with the bristles cut down to about half height (what my dad used to clean his finger nails after working on the car). Then I gave them a good rinse and set them on a towel to dry.

And then I got a bright idea --- always a warning sign. Why not give the polystyrene Renedra bases a quick wash? They probably have some mold release residue too, right? So I put them in and let them stew for a moment. When I went to give them a quick swish around, I didn't feel 30 bases in the mixing bowl. I felt about three. The bases had begin to melt and stick together! I pulled them out and rinsed them in a panic. I pried them all apart and stood them up to dry.

In hindsight, a simple warm, soapy bath would have been best for the bases. But it's not all bad. Now both sides of the bases have a slight texture so I won't have to worry about getting them upside down! Makes me wonder if they don't spray on a solvent to make the texture in the first place.