On The Table: Star Phantoms

What do you do when you don't feel like you've finished a project in a cool 15 years or so? Stomp your way into a full blown army full of throwback and retro models, new school bits and bobs, and a few techniques you haven't touched in just as long of course!

Enter: The Star Phantoms.

Friday Quick Tip: Gundam Nippers

 

As some of you may have noticed, I've been slowly working my way back into the hobby pretty heavily. From consuming as much about the lore as I can, to learning the new fun stuff in the rules, to getting my mitts on the new hot models, it's been a wild ride to be back and active again.

One of the very first things I snagged was a new set of clippers. And let's just say, the clipper game has changed since I was grabbing my first set of GW clippers. One of those big changes was the overlap with the Gundam world. Gundam nippers are a different breed, and with good reason. The hobby over there needs precise and clean right away off the sprue for a lot of people and the better the 'nippers' the better the nip (?).

Doing a bit of online searching and I found these red handled beauties: the P.I.T.4.5 INCH Model Nipper. They're right in that sweet spot of good, reliable, and affordable. 

I picked them up a year and a half ago and I have to say I'm super happy with them. As long as they make these little dudes will likely continue using them. They've seen me through Indomitus, Leviathan, and a number of boxes of models I'd rather not put into writing and still going strong. I highly suggest these as a go to for anyone in the market for a new pair.

You can find them here on Amazon.

If you have a favorite hobby tool you think everyone should be using, drop the link in the comments so we can check it out! It might end up featured here as well!

Friday Quick Tip: Easy Deck Plating

 

Coming back to the hobby after what feels like a solid decade away was daunting. I just wanted to jump back in and get going. I had a plan of what I'd start with and it would change every couple of days. I eventually got stuck in with a Raven Guard Intercessor Kill Team that I would expand into boarding actions as a full fledged 40k army. In selecting that, I also needed to sort out just how I would build out the bases. I'd done a rusty space hulk basing before and wanted something that would simplify that down a little further. A little plasticard and some glue later, I think I've come across a basing style that is as simple as it is effective. 

On The Table: Raven Guard

 

After finishing the initial set for my Intercessor Kill Team, I decided to start in on the rest of the force and get the other kill teams/options worked up as well as the add ins for my 40k Boarding Action army!

Little did I know just how long that bit would take.

Reinforcements: Raven Guard Assault Intercessor

 

It's been a long time since I was painting models, playing games, and looking deep into the internet for the best techniques for painting and modeling my figures. But here we are. Nearly a decade later I'm right back into the thick of the miniature wargaming hobby.

To start things off I've jumped back in with battle damaged space marines of course.

Maelstrom's Edge

Over the last couple of years, hobby time has been at a premium, and what time I've had has been dedicated to a project that I can say I'm very excited to announce here!  (Albeit a little late in doing so!)

Reinforcements: Farseer and Warlock Jetbikes

After a lot of work and probably one too many breaks, I've finally finished this set of conversions!  I've learned a lot along the way for conversion work.  This is also probably the most converting I've done in a while/ever.

Reinforcements: Eldar Farseer

Another commission model!  A good work up to the trio of jetbikes I have on my plate for the next round of paint and a nice break from all of the Space Marines I usually end up painting!

Reinforcements: Logan Grimnar

Continuing to get myself back into the hobby, I've been working on some commission jobs for a few friends.  To start things off I got cracking on a Logan Grimnar.  

Army Surplus: NOVA 2013 Charity Raffle

As part of their annual charity push, NOVA Open has a three raffles going on that anyone can participate in! 

Unboxed: Plastic Farseer

For my upcoming commission project, my friend wants to do a Farseer and Warlock biker set.  To do that, we decided upon the new plastic Farseer kit from GW!  So, to show off the new kit, I've done a short unboxing.  Hope this helps those of you who have been looking at the kit to see just what you can use it for!

Reinforcements: Falcon Guard Dante

Falcon Guard Count-As Dante

As a birthday gift to a good friend of mine, I started this model a while back.  Things of course didn't work to plan and I got side tracked for a good 9 months or so with school.  Well, classes are out now (only one more course to go!) and I am trying to get my legs back in the hobby.  It's been a while and most of this model was already finished it just needed some touch up and additional detailing.  Thankfully it wasn't a huge project to finish this guy up and it helped me gain a little of that fine brush control that I let go when I work on canvas paintings.  

It's just nice to be back :)

Unboxed: Los Bandidos Mexicanos

A few months back, Blackwater Gulch ran a kickstarter that I decided to get behind.  I had met Necros briefly at a past Dakkacon get together in Philadelphia once and I was taken by the idea of a warband game with the flair of the old west.   In the end, I just opted for a single gang in the form of the Los Bandidos Mexicanos.  I figured they would be a fun little project sometime down the line to break of the monotony of all of that space marine armor I seem to find myself painting. 

Now that I've got my set, I figured I would share the un-boxing here.  Lots of images after the cut!

Space Wolves Rhino

It's been a long, long time since I've had a chance to sit down and paint something for my armies.  Things have been extremely busy for the last nine months and have started to finally calm down for a few weeks.  It won't last of course, but it's nice to finish a new model when I can!

Art: XVIII

XVIII

20"x16"Acrylic on Canvas

Some of you might remember the last space marine painting that I posted a while back.  This painting was started soon after finishing that first piece and was to be in the same vein.  The background went in quickly enough, but with life getting in the way, I couldn't find the time to settle in and work in the marine. 

With a long break through winter, I was able to get back to the easel and broke out the paints again and in a single sitting, I finished the painting off, all while preparing a dinner! 

I'm really quite happy with this piece and feel it as a natural evolution from the first marine.  Future iterations would see much this same sort of evolution and a push toward more dynamic compositions. 

If you're interested in seeing more of my work outside of the hobby, feel free to browse my art website/blog here.  Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy my work!

Reinforcements: Shadowseer

After warming up the old painting hands with some space marines, I felt this model come together a little more naturally.  The model is a commission for a friend of mine and is actually a gift for another friend who has just recently gotten into wargaming.  Mutual friends from countless hours of MMO's and FPS's, I have 'known' this friend for some years now and hung out on more than a handful of occasions.  Having a personal relationship with people who will end up owning models I work on makes it a little more special when I do a commission.  While I'm sure every person that commissions me to do a piece appreciates what I do, you get to really know that appreciation more-so when you get to see those models in play against you!

Reinforcements: Falcon Guard

In an effort to get my painting hands back before I dive into a slightly more involved commission project, I thought I might start out with some simple tactical marines.  The other reason for this squad is that I wasn't aware that my friend and I were going to be swapping gifts and when he told me my gift was being worked on, I had an instant flash of what I should do for a return gift!

Terrain: Shipping Container

Hello from the overburdened world of art school!  I thought I would take some time to get the finished results of the shipping container up for everyone to check out.  It really didn't take this long, I just haven't found time to put the finished piece up!

On The Table: Shipping Container

As many of you might have noticed, things have slowed down to a trickle here on TPC. I've recently started classes at Maryland Institute College of Art and it's near completely wiped my free time from existence. I'm constantly trying to keep afloat in what seems an unending torrent of work. As a way to keep myself sane though, I've been working on a small project over the last week in the shape of the shipping container you see above!

On The Table: Leman Russ

In a spark random inspiration I decided to remodel a Leman Russ that I've had sitting around in my cases for far too many years.  It was in rough condition and had a few parts missing, but I though that with a little work and some real primer, it could work out nicely.  With a dremel, a bunch of plasticard, and a lot of green stuff I got to work on creating a historically inspired, lived in tank.

A lot of tread heads will instantly recognize the directions I've gone with and some of the inspirations I've drawn from.  From WW2 to modern tanks, there are a lot of little things all over this bad boy that tells the story that so many wargamers leave out of their models.  These lived in touches create narrative, realism, and just make it more interesting to look at!

I'm not certain when this will catch paint just yet, classes have started back up for me and I'm really not sure how much free time I'll have in the coming weeks.  But with some luck, I'll hopefully get things going on at least a few of the lingering projects on my table.

I hope everyone is doing well out there in hobby land, and if you've got a cool project you're working on, feel free to share it here!  Especially if it's a neat new piece of armor!  Happy Painting!