Warp Hunter Pt2

Hi Guys,

Thanks for stopping by!

This week i've carried on painting the warp hunter, i've finished off the black lining in between all the panels and then covered all the green areas with a biel-Tan wash. Following this I then set about adding a line of green around all the panel work, with the exception of the white and red areas which had a lining of skull white and scab red respectively.

















I then set about adding the OSL to the main weapon, both at the barrel end and then also further back on the hull of the vehicle, this was achieved by spraying blue followed by lighter blue followed by a fine spray of skull white in the middle.

I also added a drakenhof nightshade wash to all the white / grey areas prior to edging the white bits.

You can also see more detail of this over on my WIP thread on +Fritz 40K 's Warmaster forums.

Incidentally if your after a bit more info on the bastion I have a regularly updated post here.

For the most part the warp hunter is done, I need to detail some of the gems but everything is magnetised where it needs to be and with the exception of the gems were done!!

What's my motivation!???!?!

Hi Guys,

Thanks for stopping by!!

A lot of people talk about how they find painting boring, or tedious or simply they don't enjoy it. Some people enjoy painting and collecting more than gaming with their miniatures for me I like to dabble in all aspects of the hobby, I enjoy collecting, painting, gaming and creating supplementary aspects to the hobby such as gaming terrain etc.

While sure you can play games with proxies models, or even just assembled models without paint on them I think that by not painting your models your missing out on an aspect of the hobby that can be enjoyable. I used to hate painting, never could find a way to not be doing something else other than painting and as such I've amassed a large collection of mini's that are still in their boxes, but I'm slowly working through them. The trick to painting if you don't enjoy it is to break down what in particular is it that you don't enjoy about it? Is it that it can be time consuming, or you just think your not good enough at painting to warrant spending the time doing it. I guess everyone will have their own reasons for why they put it off or just don't bother with it, everyone's reasons i'm sure are valid to some extent.

As I said I used to be one of those guys who actually detested painting, I didn't think I was good enough and the whole process in truth I found a bit tedious. What changed? It was a slow change at first but the first step in changing my mindset towards painting was actually joining a community, in my case it was +Fritz 40K 's warmaster forums. I got chatting to one of the guys on the forum about how much I had to do and how I could never find the time or the will to do them. The guy turned around to me and said "do me a favour, go get a glass of water, a paper towel and pick up your paint brush." there's more to the story but i'll focus on this element to begin with. I laughed it off initially and said maybe later or something along those lines but upon reflection this was probably on a subconscious level where I first realised that I was the reason that my models were sitting there crying out for some attention. All of the excuses I was making to myself were obstacles I was putting in the way to avoid doing something that I didn't enjoy.

Later on in the discussion the guy pointed me in the direction of a motivational paint thread on the forum and also made a bet with me, I would paint 5 models (in this case chaos terminators) in 7 days, he would over the same duration paint some of his to do list ( I think it was 20 daemonette's he was part way through painting and a Demon Prince), however he added an extra element to the bet in that if I met the deadline he would also paint up a unit of something else over the course of 2 days. He'd upped the anti so I felt obligated to add my own sweetener to the deal and added a unit of dire avengers to the bet with a new deadline. This might seem convoluted but by having a bit of fun or an ongoing bet with a friend over something you both agree to that gives you an excuse to do something rather than put it off.

One of the big things I did to help speed up and remove one of my other excuses was to buy an airbrush, i now use this to prime my models, undercoat them, 2 stage highlight them and when trying to use stencils etc and honestly it's one of the best investments i've made. I save money on not buying spray primer because the airbrush does it better anyway, it allows me to put layers of detail on the model simply by spraying it removing the need to learn how to layer with my brush and those large areas of space on your tanks that used to take hours with a normal brush and ended up with brush strokes etc are now done in minutes with a very even coat which just makes it look better. Airbrushes are expensive!!! Well I used to think this too, but actually you pick pick one up relatively cheaply (for the same cost as a riptide or  stormraven gunship!)

The point of this was that sure painting wasn't fun but by turning it into something else I had to get the models done, and I did but this led me to another realisation. Painting while still being dull and somewhat tedious I could make it interesting by finding the right motivation, and you know what I kinda enjoy challenging myself, pushing myself to do models in a short space of time in this case but I now have made a bet with myself if you like whereby every time I pick up a new model / unit to paint I find a way to add in something new each time, be it learning a new technique or learning how to use a stencil just something to challenge myself with.

I also find something distracting to put on in the background to distract myself from the passing of time, be it music or a bat rep or just some random videos on youtube.

I'd be interested to hear about your motivations or lack thereof when it comes to painting and what you do to overcome them, if the idea of making a wager with a pal sounds like the right way to get you in the right frame of mind then go for it, if you can't find anyone to make that wager with then head over to the warmaster forums, make an account and drop me a message!

Thanks for stopping by!

Eldar on the desk update.

Hi Guys,

Thanks for stopping by!

I figured I'd do a follow-up to my original 1k eldar list post as more of an update on progress as well as exactly what needs doing to each model / unit where appropriate, I was also considering doing this as a weekly / bi-weekly thing and maybe even as a vlog on youtube because sometimes these things are just better on a video than still images... not 100% on this but as always any feedback / suggestions are welcome. I do feel I need to be using youtube more especially now I'm seemingly starting to get a regular reader base for the blog. I believe I should be thanking +Fritz 40K and those on the Warmaster forums for their help and support in this regard.

Anyway I digress, back to the topic at hand, my eldar game league list, as a reminder for those who have yet to read the original post here is my initial 1k list which i've also included an update as to exactly where I am at with each unit:

HQ
Autarch w/ Fusion Gun, Laser Lance, Mantle of the Laughing God, Jetbike (BNIB / yet to be converted)

Elite
5 Striking Scorpions (being stripped)
Exarch w/ Scorpion's Claw (being stripped)
Wave Serpent w/ Holo-Fields (BNIB)

Troops
5 Dire Avengers (painted not yet based)
Wave Serpent w/ Holo-Fields (BNIB)

3 Windrider Jetbike (jetbikes under-coated awaiting guardian body conversion)
3 Windrider Jetbike (jetbikes under-coated awaiting guardian body conversion)

Heavy Support
Fire Prism w/ Holo-fields (painted not yet based)
Warp Hunter w/ Holo-fields (base-coated, highlighted, needs detailing and based)

I have been somewhat distracted with terrain making of late and after making the bunker highlighted in my previous blog posts Pt1 here, and Pt2 here I am almost done with quite a large project which I will post more details of next week.

So here's where I go into a bit more detail about my conversion plans or general outline for what I want to do with each of the models.

With the Autarch I'm basically looking to build / convert him from scratch using green stuff and a dire avengers exarch sprue, ofc I will magnetize where I can for extra options.

The striking scorpions are all old metal models, one of which is missing a sword so I have some bits on hand to make a push mold of one of the other models swords and will just make a new one out of green stuff, the painted scorps are currently sitting in a tub of acetone to remove the paint.

The wave serpents I want to keep pretty much standard but by following the conversions guide on Andrew Hicks website I want to magnetise for all options etc, I may even try to do some freehand designs on the hull to break up to open space on the panels. Andy's website is amazing for inspiration if your a budding or even a veteran conversion oriented person, this guy has some serious skills.

The jet bikes will stay largely standard with possible magnetising of the weapon options so I can include under-slung upgrades, but the models were second hand originally and have a very rough paint job as well as the riders already attached, I'm already looking to remove the riders and remodel them following +IDICBeer 's guide here and I'm also contemplating just stripping these as well.

The warp hunter is currently being painted and as it stands has a nice freehand on it of the Biel-tan symbol and also has some options magnetized underneath for weapons

I will be in the process of moving over the next month so I will try to keep up with my blogging commitments and keep you all with plenty to read about!

Let me know what you think, if you have any comments suggestions questions or any general feedback I'd love to hear it, thanks again for stopping by!