T. U. R. T. L. E. Power

Not teenage or mutant and definitely not ninjas.

 Another Super Dungeon Explore achievement. I finished two rollers last night. I also completed painting my Burning Gels, but unfortunately I have no picture of them to share. Now I just need to varnish these fellows. Short post today, and still no end of year wrap up, but you get what you pay for, right?

 

In all seriousness, happy new year!

Von Drakk Gap Victory

I got some green stuff from GW last night. Not quite a deal, but at least I have it now. With any other bases I would have just glued some receipt paper over the holes, but since the bases are already textured, I get to sculpt the flagstones into the putty I'm using. This is not such a bad thing, it's just time consuming. Good thing I have a job, eh? Yep, once again I'm doing hobby stuff here at work. Call it consolation for the awful end to an awful season for Washington's pathetic NFL team. I will not sully the face of my blog by mentioning them here by name.

 

What good came out of the game is below:

 

Von Drakk villains and then some.

 Yep, the bases of my Von Drakk Manor villains have all been filled. Not just that...

 

Von Drakk heroes & Nyan Nyan.

 ...The heroes are good to go as well.

 

Base gap lacking.

Not too much content today, just pictures for you. Painting here would be nice, but I'm already pushing it. (^_~)*

Closing The Gap (Or Not)

 

Bat butt. Also base gaps.

Well, last night I pulled out my epoxy putty to go about closing the above holes in the bases of my Von Drakk Manor miniatures. Turns out it, over the years since I bought it at my local(ish) model train store, it has turned into a brittle roll of not epoxy putty. This sort of brought my base fixing aspirations to an abrupt halt. Today I have nowhere to go with my minis (at least not here at my desk), and it is unlikely that I will be able to finish my pre-painting necessities before the new year. I'm a bit strapped for cash, and without putty and primer these fellows will have to hang around unloved for a while until finances dictate my ability to get the items I'll require to make them as spiffy as possible.

Annoyed EV is annoyed.

This is okay however, as I have pulled out my Caverns of Roxor stuff to get back to painting the Rock Top Gang tortoises included. They are quite a hassle, make no mistake, but all I will need to finish them is a $4 pot of paint. Much more reasonable.

The reason for the hassle is their shells. They are a very dark brown, and I have not the color to properly highlight them. This is one of the few instances I hope for the usual translucent properties of Citadel paint as this will permit me to build up highlights slowly, as opposed to my usual banded highlighting.

I'll try to go into the exact process I'm using later. For now, suffice it to say I'm using a great many layers to paint these fellows.

I'm also planning on putting up images of my long since finished Fire Gels. I'm also well into the Burning Gels, and they'll be up as soon as I finish them. Which will be finished first? The Gels or the Rock Top Gang? I don't know. It will depend on which one holds my attention better and longer.

SDE Update- The Mold Line Massacre of Von Drakk Manor

Yep, that's my desk.

 

Lots of work has been put in tonight, and lots of mold lines have been removed. These minis are rather interesting to clean up, as the mold lines, while small, are difficult to remove. They go across detail, they go down jaw lines, and they go across hair at bad angles. This has been a test of my patience, and I won. Now for the real test. It's difficult to see above, but there are gaps in every last base above. These gaps need to be filled with green epoxy putty, and sculpted to match the rest of the base. This is not horribly difficult with the proper tools, but it is an unnecessary hassle. I'll power through- I have a game to listen to, and nobody in my building to worry about, so I can sculpt away. Let's see what kind of damage I can do here.

Irken No More.

Sandy bases abound.

 

Today has been very productive. As you can see above I have now based every miniature in my "Tau" army, and I have encountered an issue. I hate the antennae I have added to my troops. Passionately. This has led me to (with pliers) rip every antenna out of my minis heads and go back to square one. They are no longer going to be Irken. I have had too much of an issue with finding the correct basis for my minis, and I am no about to start sculpting every last little thing. This is a cop-out, I know, but I have to protect my sanity here. My fingers too. I had the dremel slip on me as I was trying to drill a hole and it got perilously close to my hand. Not good.

 

Counts as Crisis Suit.

 

My conversions are not ending, however. I didn't like the head that came with this robot, so I swapped it for a bead just as I did with the bigger boys. This will give the army a more cohesive look as the heads of all of my mechanical minions will look the same. The fellow above counts as my Battle Suit Commander with two Fusion Blasters. You can't see it from the front, but I also added some thrusters to the model's back so that it will look like it will be able to boost around the board in the manner of Jetpack troopers. What sets this fellow apart from the other three "battle bots" (I'm working on a better name, believe me) is the aerial coming from his back. As you can see I shaved the bolts off this fellow in the same way as the Leviathan.

 

My "Ethereal" flanked by his two recon robots (Markerlight Drones).

 

I have also put together my "mini bot" models (by which I mean putting them on their bases). I fully intend to replace their heads as well, but I'm not too sure I can find the correct sized beads at the craft store, so their default heads will remain attached until I can find suitable replacements.

 

Ready for boostin'.

 

Finally, I added thrusters (well, most of the way) to the Leviathans. I fully intend to cover up the holes that are visible there, and I intend to do it with whatever I use for the minibots' heads. I just decided that these are supposed to be Jetpack Monstrous Creatures, so they should look the part. Good thing I had these resin jump packs lying around.

 

That's it for right now. I brought Von Drakk Manor to work with me to remove mold lines and fill in gaps in bases. I know I most likely shouldn't be doing this at work, but come on! I'm not even supposed to be here today!!!