On Thursdays, I like to take a break from my army projects. Instead, I try to do something that I can start and complete all in one evening.
My three-year-old daughter picked out these Reaper Bones Kickstarter goblins for me to paint up. She told me they should be purple like her dress.
Goblin (spear)
Goblin (mace)
Goblin (bow)
I’m fairly happy with these guys, although I’m not in love with the red of the cloth. I used the same purple wash (Secret Weapon’s Amethyst) as I did on the skin, to try to tie the model together. I think it may have ended up without enough contrast.
I guess I the Kickstarter came with three sets of these guys, so I can always try again later.
Just before my first kid was born a few years ago, I decided to make a mobile out of some egg planes made by Hasegawa. I figured I should do the same for the second, born earlier this month.
The first set was modern-era fighter planes (F-14, F-15, F-16, and F/A-18). For the second set, I focused on WWII-era planes instead.
As with the first set, I wanted to skip any of the dangly bits which might break off and become a choking hazard. This means landing gear, missles, etc. I filled in the holes with putty and sanded them smooth.
These were all pretty quick builds, since the kits are just a few pieces. I experimented a bit with airbrushed camo, hand-painted some details, and applied decals as directed, although I did end up skipping the swastikas.
Fw-190AP-47 ThunderboltP-51 MustangF-4U Corsair
I’m pretty happy with the results. I ended up hand-painting the struts on the canopies, which means they don’t quite match the rest of the plane. I should have masked it off and painted it with the rest, but that’s a lot more work.
On Thursdays, I like to take a break from my army projects. Instead, I try to do something that I can start and complete all in one evening.
Another Thursday, another Reaper Bones model. I kind of rushed and didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted, which really shows. I wanted the demon thing being held up as kind of a fiery phoenix thing, though it just turned out kind of muddy.
I did use a purple wash on the red robes, which I think has a nicely subtle shade effect.
I’ve been using some Ikea storage boxes to hold paint, but I’ve wanted to upgrade for some time. I’ve out-grown the number of boxes I had, but Ikea stopped selling that particular one. I wanted some kind of rack, and after shopping around, settled on the ones made by Gamecraft Miniatures.
These aren’t the sexiest of all the options, but I like that they are available in a lot of sizes (I also have Tamiya paints, which I may want to put on racks later) and is located in the US (which means reasonable shipping). That gives me confidence that I can expand later if needed.
They warn that there’s a 5-15 business day waiting period, since kits are made to order. I got the shipping notice very late on the 15th business day. I was definitely getting impatient, but it was (barely) within the promised window.
Rack, assembled
The instructional YouTube video is worth watching. This was my first time using CA accelerator. I let the guy at the store talk me out of getting an needle applicator bottle. This ended up being a mistake. I sprayed the stuff all over the damn place, including my hands. It still worked, though. I wouldn’t want to have tried to put it together without the accelerator.
Rack, filled with washes
All in all, I was able to assemble the three dropper bottle (26 mm) racks inside of an hour.
Paint racks, all laid out
I thought I was going to lay them out all in a line, but I think I like the angled approach after all. I’m kind of kicking myself for not buying the 45º bend pieces, so there may be a followup order sooner than I thought.
