Raiding the Dusty Wastes

I survived! I’ve had to sideline the camels for a little bit only because I was not in the best place with difficulty breathing last week. I’m back at work and making up for lost wages. In that aim I am almost done with my commission work and will be getting cash in hand.

As I lack anything new and exciting to reveal for camels I give you this…

As promised I was working with a 3D sculptor and got the cyclops created for my developing Saga Age of Magic, the Arabian Knights. The Ray Harryhausen work was taken and played with slightly but I think it came out well. My own modelling skills to get the upper torso posed better was well worth it. I can say that Fiverr is not limited to $5. This was well north of that and I still need to get it printed. I’m glad that I saved the person I worked with last as it should run me a paltry sum, by comparison, to have the resin created.

So yes, there is a running list of things to paint:

• Four camels
• A unit of levy archers
• Leader on giant scorpion (beast)
• Djinn on flying base
• A warmachine of some sort
• A huge yet to be revealed monster
• Some sort of mage that I have yet to find and purchase for painting

What can I say? I like my monstrous options. Beyond that I think that the number of warriors I have can be halved for squads of Hearthguard so no need to buy anything more in that regard. I’m thinking of maybe a couple of creatures as far as options but this really boils down to what lists I want to play. The thing about Saga is that it is mini agnostic and you can play whatever list you build for. I think that I could shuffle my minis between Great Kingdoms, Masters of the Wild (why limit the wilds to the woods?) or perhaps go to The Horde. I’ve debated on The Otherworld (a mad Arab with some Cthulhu minions as well could work) but its still in the planning if I really would want to.

Anywhat, that’s the new stuff to be printed and then I will whittle away the project until I start up on Amazons (a whole other insane project when compared to single figures).

It took a little longer than anticipated but the camels are finished. The truth of why horses hate camels has been established… clothes horses hate being outdone with fancy camel blankets.

All the freehand has been a pain but worth the final results. Now, onto the shelf these go until I finish my other units. It might just be a little bit until my next game… really my first ever of Saga… but the hobby makes me excited to think of ny first impression on my opponent. In the background I’m also doing the paint and packing of Giftmas cannon fodder so I’ll be glad to break into my second levy for less headache for details. I might’ve found an appropriate sorcerer to get printed and maybe some creatures that will round out options for multiple army lists. I’m just wondering about how The Otherworld could be made. I’ll think on it.

In other news I put down some cash for spare airbrush parts and quite happy to do so. The upcoming monsters will doubtlessly require me to break that tool out for quite a bit of coverage.

I got way too damn into my cleaning of my living space as I try and get the Giftmas presents wrapped and packed. In that, I mean that I inadvertently threw away my sprues for the Arab light cavalry and Anglo-Saxon infantry that I had lying around where I thought “they’ll be safe here”. That turned into losing the leader figure I was going to pull for the giant scorpion I have standing by for me to work on. I have since ordered a new single sprue that I will work from when it gets delivered. Onward and upward from this mishap!

I had an order of 3D printed columns arrive. It was a small shipment and I’m thankful that the pieces were hollow as it allowed cutting through and refilling with Apoxie Sculpt easy. I threw that on top of the base I’d been working on and threw on a little more filler turf. I’m quite happy with the results and will be even more so when done. The colors will be easy and so forgiving as compared to the rest of the model.

Presently, on the djinn, I decided to try and look at the musculature which will be a little tricky. With it being such a big piece that will catch quite a bit of eye I thought taking the extra care in trying to start good blends now was optimal. A basecoat of Vallejo black primer and then one of Proacryl’s Dark grey primer to build volume before sketching with a much lighter grey from Vallejo think that there is the start for step one before trying to push up to a higher contrast. Looking over more bodybuilding images than I care to admit to in order to figure out what the highest contrast might be I’m confident that next step will be pretty easy in the blending process. All the work is going into the undercoating as I don’t want to play with trying to blend colors and layers later and end up screwing the pooch. I’ll go back over it in the end with more zenithal highlighting before I work over the fleshtones which will knock down any great contrasts that just don’t work. The rest of the model seems like it’ll be a piece of cake by comparison from there.

I finished building the second unit of levy archers as outlined thus far. I considered the idea that Gerry had floated early on to play with different colored turbans but I believe the blue ones are the focal point of it all. Honestly, with so many people commenting that they really have their eyes drawn to that feature I’m not going to change it. I decided to have some in-unit bannermen. I think that there will be greater visual interest from the feature and allow me to demarcate units in a manner that wouldn’t break from the overall motif. I’ll just trade out one model from my first unit to allow for the flag bearer and pop him into the second. Having these models means that I need to sit on Photopea more and design for some time. Making decisions on colors and patterns after getting the Arabic script written as I want will not be easy. I remember where I keep my ibuprofen and hope I won’t need too much. So far the only part that caused a little consternation was modifying the levy figures in order to accommodate the wire for the eventual banners.

Gripping Beast’s sprues for the Arab Archers and Spearmen box generally just have one arm (only one lacks both) and makes for easy modification. Cutting joints with my jeweler’s saw, from when all models were made of metal, and then pinning the right position has been pretty easy given how often I’ve done it in the past. I managed only to screw up one fist that wasn’t thick enough for the drill bit to pass through without breaking the surface. It’ll be fine as I’ve covered it with a layer of glue that will hide the mistake under the paint. All other details can be worked on and put to right so casual scrutiny won’t reveal the modification.

From here I’ll just put a hold on the beast mounted leader and keep up the behind the scenes progress for other units. The downside of these updates is that I’ve come to dig deeper into the Age of Magic book and I’ve gotten the brilliant idea of what I want to do for Legendary units. I think I might need to limit my battleboards for what minis I bring to the table. A minis agnostic system is turning out to be a little dangerous to my wallet. Each step I take from here will be calculated as to how I can afford the creation process. Hiring the sculptor for the cyclops was rough enough with minimal reference material to get the model. If I really want the big bad bruisers for the table done my way I’ll need to jump onto researching images well before hiring a concept artist, a sculptor and then a printer. Should I start a GoFundMe solely for the purpose of self indulgence in this hobby?

So I’ve had a bit more of time to think about Hasn and his scorpions after reading the Saga tome for Age of Magic. I spent the money and rented the 2010 Clash of the Titans online and it gave me the chance to screencap all the great moments that the arachnid glory hit the screen. There will be a lot more fun to be had with monsters. I just need to bother a 3D sculptor about the matter of doing a custom piece. Ugh…. I am a monetary masochist. I really should start taking donations just for the insanity I go through in order to make projects like this. For now I’ll leave the images I snagged most interesting/relevant to my percolating thoughts.

Anywho, in other news, I’ll be buying more magnets as well for my forces thus far to put onto a large magnetic tray (inpsired by this Vince Venturella video). The transportation of my forces in future, and moving in general, will be that much easier.

I think that the magnets will also be quite helpful in keeping my figures from falling over in the movement trays. The camels are especially easy to topple when they’re loose with most of the weight up high. Everything else should be pretty secure.

There are perks to working in a sheet metal shop; notably, there is no cost for scrap materials I can claim as my own that the shop is going to throw out or there is negligible cost for due to sheer amount of inventory.

I had gotten the rough estimate of what size I wanted my tray to fit inside the plastic bin and then did a quick measure when I was at work. I gave a little space near the sides as I’d need some room for my hands to grab handles I’d later attach as well as the fact that the corners are rounded inside. The 24 gauge sheet steel was small enough to handle without needing huge sheets. This image comes after the initial cut that separated it from the 29″x60″ sheet and the following shear of the 29″x15″ to the final 24″x15″. I didn’t give it the extra 1/4″ that I had measured as I figured there should be some tolerance to the plan. Having worked with a friend who produced parts for ICBMs (yes, real nukes) I know there’s a hell of a lot less at stake here as well as no need for a micrometer (despite the thought it might be cool to have).

With a bit of plywood lying around from assembly and the sheeting that comes with material it seemed perfect as I was allowed free rein to what would otherwise become scrap and trashed. I picked out the 1/2″ thick material and cut it to size.

I fixed the steel sheet to the plywood with 1/4″ stainless steel self tapping screws that are used regularly for work in roughly a manner that would be even and not allow the sheet to pull up from the wood. The sides were left open as the handles would secure those areas.

I was irritated by how the taps for the screws passed through the boards entirely and how thy would end up scratching whatever surface they would sit on so I decided on going to the welding area and pulling a rotary tool with cutting wheel. It was so fulfilling to let loose and have sparks fly around as I destroyed the ends of the screws to make them flush with the bottom of the plywood.

Since its boobie appreciation month work has had us dress up in pink shirts for Fridays. Really, do we need a month to say we like boobs? I think there are other areas of interest that should be given attention but I don’t believe that neither HR nor society at large would be so keen on hearing out my thoughts.

I was none too thrilled about the fact that the rough edges and bottoms of the boards were raw. I thought that there should be some more work put into the products I would be using. I was going to be proud of what I made and the little effort of sealing the wood with polyurethane varnish was just the thing. A little paper that would otherwise be used for interior job sites went down to protect the shower. The wood, having spent many months in a storage trailer, sucked up the sealant readily for the one coat and made my life easy to avoid much cleanup.

I picked up handle hardware today and have yet to install it. I measured and made sure of the placement where I will affix them. The next step after this is the rubber feet for the bottoms and I’ll be ready to set magnetized figures on the trays

A short hiatus from painting my regular stuff here as I’ve been getting this year’s Giftmas packages ready and have been finishing a figure for Pundancer. The djinn was more than slightly irritating as I sat and pondered, more than I probably should have, what kind of fabric design it was going to get. Well, it came down to an Asian cloud motif and I set about to it. I regretted my decision at one point and moved past it. So far there the fabric is done, the  Lloyd shot when done will be awesome, and I’m on to the NMM of the belt/bracers/earrings/septum ring (the smallest of details that I’ll hit later). The skintone was actually inspired by the Grey Hulk from the early run of the comics. Most everyone assumes that Hulk is green and has always been so but he was originally wasn’t. There was also a point he was red but I think it was a short lived story arc. That aside I moved to more madness as the spears and shield were a late thought since the base looked a little naked aside from the ruins. I’ll add grass tufts to it like my other units in the end.

I have bowed to the pressure of needing magnets for my camelry and stopped by my FLGS after work this week. It has turned out to be fortuitous because I managed to snag a couple of large figure boxes from Chessex that they had ordered by mistake giving them a sale and making sure my fancy shmancy project pieces have adequate protection in my upcoming move.

As far as the magnets I’ll recommend trying to get them from places like JK Magnetics as Primal Horizon is very well overpriced and I can get so much more for the same price. I do love the shop but I need to be more frugal with my spending. This is a problem as I’ve snapped one of my camel rider’s spears again. I foresee more of the same and have looked into metal ones to avoid having to try and repair plastic. The pitfalls of the hobby.

On a separate note, the figures I believed were lost have been found. I only threw away the box. “Safe” might need to be reconsidered if I ever want to see my figures ever again.

Just a quick update as the cyclops was printed; I also found a sorcerer and a carpet to add to my forces. Johnny Carson seems to have inspired the figure and the rug really ties the room together (the Dude abides).