2016-03-18

GBU March 2016

GBU means General Blogging Update, as my regulars (well, not sure if that's a thing here but hey-hoo) might very well know. GBU is also short for a BS-update which indicates I have done nothing of true importance when it comes to the hobby.

The importance of hobbying and
getting parcels can be seen above!

It might also happen that updates might be a bit slower from now on because I have got one minor, one big and one medium commission, not counting my own project and a project that I am hoping to do with a fellow blogger - most of these projects do not belong to me per se and I can't really post them here.


Those projects will be but mere memories of butter, as the age old saying goes.
     With all that aside, here are some WIP:s from the wagon-project:


1) Rasool and I taking some size comparisons before I started sculpting on the goats. A dwarf is roughly 135-150 tall in LotR (according to some "lost" documents held by Christopher Tolkien, the same documents where we can learn that the two blue wizards are called Alatar and Pallando!) and I am around 177 cm so we can from this picture deduce that Rasool is around 210 cm (the joke was that I am the goat... ha... ha).



2) The wagon. I had numerous problems with the design since I had to keep it different enough as to not awake the Trademark Gods, but close enough to look interesting. I trust my own design skills but not when I want to make something in honour of something...

These three sluts gave me a lot of headache and even more experience...

Hrm...
    Needless to say, I now know how to handle very small miniatures and the next batch I sculpt will hopefully - inchallah, wallah - look as alright and maybe better.


After a while I tamed them [the sluts] and made this little mockup. I settled for no reins, just like GW does on most of their non-plastic models. As most companies does with bow-strings and similar things which are out of the "resolution of the scale", which is a very prudent tradition I think. It was mr FoB that learned me the term "resoultion of scale" when it comes to details on a model. Some things you will need to exaggerate and some detals you will just have to avoid or hide; a nose is small, but you can never not sculpt it on a bare face, as an example. But wrinkles can be simplified and so on...


As you can see from this excerpt, I made quite a lot of changes to the design but think I still managed to keep the general look of the wagon.
      Can't be too close or someone might get corporately angry. Also, if it is not evident, I changed the design up for ease of wargaming and modeling, meaning changing the size of certain details so that the final model can actually be handled in the already mentioned branches, which of course are wargming and modeling, which in fact are the two main concerns I hade before sculpting this model; trying to make the model easy to wargame and model with - but I digress (and "joke").

The other two repeter crossbows I ended up discarding and changed up this design enough to not breach any possible trademarks - while it looks very different from this one, it still is close enough, and what's even better, it would theoretically work IRL.

No I can't fucking tell the wind is blowing, goddamn 
undertext which I was too lazy to delete before 
posting a stolen picture on own blog...

Ha-hrm... back to the reins and the things that a goat-pulled wagon needs. This 1.2 second part of the movies enlighted me slightly when making these:


Which on my model is shown above the three dwarven crew (used white "blue"-tack to keep it from falling off):




The goats were a hassle to make, because I never really could settle with a nice balance of fantasy and realism. In the end, they turned out sufficient. Joshua mentioned a beast like the one depicted above and sort-of used their ugly faces. They are big goats, that's for sure mr Lahey.


Here the goats are before getting their piglike snouts fixed.
      That's all for today on the WIP:s and goats and sluts and so on.


Today I got some plastic card delivered, thanks to mr FoB. This huge sheet cost me some money (with freight), but compared to GF9 and other companies' prices, it was a goddamn, fucking, FLIPPING STEAL!



So yay Sweden for making super cheap plastic-card! "You oooold, you freee, you mountain-high North, you silent, you joyous beauty!" [national anthem, which I presume these happy Bananas in Pajamas above are singing - what on Earth would they else do, I mean, them being in Sweden getting free money and free apartments and free education?! Surely they sing and praise Sweden.]
     L     O      L.

Also, don't forget to visit these guys.
    With this crazy "bird" I bid you farewell and may all your hobby dreams sort of come true.

The top ten next updates that will Blow Your Coc - hrm - Mind!
Lastly, please, do hold your breath for my next update because you WON'T believe number eight!

2016-03-13

Jarn Hills War Wagon 100%

Finished painting the Jarn Mountain War Wagon (for Dwarwes). It was troublesome due to all the silicone and release agent residue on the different parts. The wheels were especially troublesome. As is normally the case here, the model could use roughly 20 more hours of painting, but I know when to leave well enough alone... I have never particularly enjoyed painting.




The model was made with the intentions of making a mould, so I refrained from making reins and other details which add very little but trouble [when making a mould].

Three crew. A gunner, a driver and a loader.

Järn (jaern) means iron, so go figure what model I am not trying to infringe copyrights on. Ell... oh... ell...



Lastly:

1) I promised a reader to scan the rest of "LotR: The Collector's Guide", but I am sadly too lazy to do so.
2) I said I was going to do a paint-tutorial on the converted Mirkwood Palace Guard-miniatures and have failed to do so, because I feel I am not a good enough painter.
3) Comments! I have yet to reply to some comments. This will be rectified soon enough!

2016-03-11

Painting the Dwarwen War Wagon

This is the first stage. A bunch of washes (it is really called something else, but I can't for the life of me remember what it is called... ).
Feels good finally painting this beast. Fuck yeaaah! Wooops... (I just love girls when they fail - as they do 100% of time, it is impossible to not love these little bastards).



Six goats, one chariot (in four pieces: 2 wheels, one chariot in 2 parts), 1 repeter crossbow, 3 crew and 1 super-duper-yoke. I decided to base it on a dynamic 120 mm base for various reasons.
    Some work-in-progress pictures below:





I have actually made a mould of this model. It was a sinister story, a left-eyed, blind-sided thing that left me confused...




Much like the TSA-wannabees of the American DMV I confused myself enough to make an equivalent mistake... the moulds are kind of okay but still...

I will probably finish painting the model tomorrow.
    There are numerous reasons I have been absent from the blog (see image below) and the hobby but I will not bore you with details. I do hope your weekend will be slow and filled with hobby and very little family and clan-related things, may your day be boring and predictable!






The horns were a mess to make. The gradients especially...




But the collars and yokes etc was simpler. I just followed the above schematics....


Lastly, Joshua, here's some lessons in Swedish...

With that, I bid you all adieu!