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Kings of War: Armada is a fantastic game, full of beautifully crafted miniatures. Still some wargaming veterans might feel intimidated by the unusual scale and plentiful detail of Armada ships. Today I will present to you how easy it is to paint Armada Salamanders ships as can be seen in Gallery: Armada Salamanders. All techniques presented in step-by-step tutorial can be applied to different colors to produce a variety of awesome color schemes for your fleet.
Before we start, some notes:
Step one: Undercoat
I started with a thorough layer of Games Workshop Chaos Black spray. Chaos Black spray is my go to choice when it comes to undercoat, leaving a solid, durable layer with detail intact. Some might consider adding a zenithal preshade on top, but the techniques used in this tutorial would render such practice irrelevant.
Step two: Hull base
Hull, being the largest and most detailed part of the ship, was my choice of where to start the actual paintjob. I applied a solid layer of thinned Games Workshop Warplock Bronze all over the miniature, except for sails. I used an airbrush, but this can easily be done manually.
Step three: Hull highlight
Next, using a medium size, soft brush I applied a highlight of Army Painter True Copper. Flatbrush was my technique of choice for this one, as it applied a solid layer of paint sparing most recesses, thus leaving some of the previous layer still visible.
Step four: Hull final highlight
I then applied an edge highlight of Army Painter Shining Silver to make all the detail pop and provide a bit more contrast between recesses and exposed edges.
Step five: Masts base
I left the Hull for a bit and moved on to masts, applying a thick layer of Vallejo 72.045 Charred Brown. Once again I would like to point out that the colors I used are my personal preference and you can use any brand, or even any similar color, to achieve similar results.
Step six: Masts highlight
Another step was to apply a slightly blurry highlight of Vallejo 42.043 Beasty Brown. By blurry I mean a thinned down paint applied with a relatively large, soft brush. You can see in the picture how this layer seem a bit misty, partially translucent and not as strong as usual base application. This can be achieved by keeping a brush barely loaded with thinned down paint and sliding its edge up and down the surface. If I ever decide to have a Patreon this technique will probably be the first thing I would like to do a deep dive into, but for now my chaotic description must do.
Step seven: Masts edge highlight
Due to masts shape they do not have edges on their sides, but they still can be imitated with standard edge highlight of Games Workshop Karak Stone. If you struggle with edge highlights check out this in-depth article from 2018, where I describe the process and share some related life hacks.
Step eight: Wash
Here’s where real magic happens. I applied a strong layer of Army Painter Strong Tone wash over the miniature. This is probably the most important moment of the entire paint job. Wash applied en-masse blends all the colors beneath, toning them down a bit, adding coherency and that extra juicy look. One thing to look out for is large drops of wash forming on flat areas and lower parts of the miniature, then leaving stains of very dark paint while drying. This can be avoided by removing the excess of paint with a soft wet brush few minutes after application.
Step nine: Sails base
Once wash dried out nicely I moved to Sails and lower hulls. I applied a thick layer of P3 Coal Black, which is something between dark turquoise mixed with dark grey.
Step ten: Sails highlight
Next I applied a flatbrush highlight of slightly thinned Vallejo 309 Periscopes. This exposed most texture of the sails why also providing a more juicy color overall.
Step eleven: Sails highlight
Another highlight was applied with a 1:1 mix of Games Workshop Pallid Wych Flesh and Vallejo 309 Periscopes. A much more visible highlight to build volume.
Step twelve: Sails final highlight
Final highlight was applied with pure Games Workshop Pallid Wych Flesh. Similar to edge highlight this one was applied to most exposed detail and edges on the sails. Looks messy and ugly, but everything goes according to a plan…
Step thirteen: Glaze
Glazing is a topic on its own that usually refers to rather time consuming and precise application of strongly thinned down paints. The way I apply glazes is more simplified. I apply them with a large, soft brush just like washes, except I avoid applying too much paint. This way I both smooth up and juice up the colors underneath. In case of Salamanders I used a 1:1 mix of Games Workshop Akhelian Green nd Aethermatic Blue contrast paints.
Step fourteen: Green osl
Final color range to add onto the miniature was Greens. I applied four paints one after another to build volume and then add depth to weapons and any fire elements across the fleet. In this tutorial I deliberately linked all the steps into one, as this particular topic was just recently covered in Tutorial: Painting Green Glow that you can read in order to get a better grasp of the entire process.
Step fifteen: Bases
The paint job done and sealed with a matt varnish the last thing left to do was a base. Again, this is something I covered before in KoW Armada Water Bases tutorial that I invite you to read in order to get to know the process. In case of Salamanders I simplified basing by applying one thick, smooth layer of AK Interactive Atlantic blue, then another rough layer of the same texture to finally add waves with AK Interactive Water Foam effect. Very simple while also quite effective.
This marks the end of the tutorial. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below or via social media.
I hope you find this tutorial interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Oh those sweet looking puff of smoke. Such a fine detail. So much character. So many conversion possibilities. Be it fumes from magic cauldron, engine exhausts or freshly tossed smoke grenades. There’s only that many Kill Team Moroch boxes a hobbyist can get their hands on, am I right?
What if I told you there exists an unlimited source of similar, miniature scale puffs of smoke and they come as cheap as a bottle of PVA and Cyanoacrylate glue combined? Witness Me!
Before we start, some notes:
The Basics:
Just before we turn everything milky white with miniature smoke, a word of introduction. I recently purchased a Warhammer 40,000 Phobos Kill Team to add flavor to my existing army. Inside there was a single piece that really got my blood rushing. A tiny grenade with a cone of smoke. Such a wonderful piece. I wished to get more to use as tokens, but also cut and re-purpose for other projects. Sadly this piece is rare across the 40k range and I was left with only one way forward: Completely back engineer and make my own miniature smoke.
Fortunately it wasn’t that difficult and today I bring to you a relatively easy step-by-step tutorial so that you can follow me into the smoke!
The method described here requires a piece of wire, wire cutters, cyanoacrylate glue, PVA glue, hobby drill, tweezers and some tiny balls. The latter can be made with Green Stuff, but I strongly recommend you to read this article and save yourself the hustle instead: Unlimited Tiny Balls for Modelling
Let’s get into it!
Step one: Wire
I started by cutting a piece of soft wire into smaller fragments. The size of these fragments depends on the size and complexity of planned smoke cones. I also found that double twisted wire works better than single line, because it holds the cyanoacrylate plus PVA glue mixture much stronger.
Step two: Mounting place
Next I drilled a tiny hole in the spot where I wanted the smoke to originate from. In this case it was at the head of a tiny grenade, glued firmly to a base.
Step three: Mounting
Using cyanoacrylate glue I then glued a piece of wire into the hole.
Step four: Shaping
Once dried firmly, I then shaped the wire to resemble a basic smoke streak. This can be done with either tweezers or by using soft finger pressure on a wire rested on a rounded surface, such as a side of a brush etc.
Step five: The Mixture
Next I applied some PVA glue and then cyanoacrylate glue onto the wire, in this order. I didn’t wait for these to bind…
Step six: Volume
… and glued a bunch of tiny balls around to form volume. This step requires some creativity and precision, but gets much easier with a pair of slightly wet tweezers and a bowl of ready-to-use balls. Once again I advise you check this article out: Unlimited Tiny Balls for Modelling
Step seven: Finishing touches
Finally I used cyanoacrylate glue with activator to add more volume around the wire and finalize the shape. Activated Super Glue does not run down so easily, allowing it to bind larger areas with a nice, smooth surface.
Done! Prime, paint and ready to play. Smoke away!
I hope you find this tutorial interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional warhammer 40k miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
It is middle of the night. You and the boys just engaged Prey Sight and head out in search for the guilty. “In Midnight Clad”, but not without some fancy ‘fleshy’ adornments. Time to pimp that Night Lords armor.
If this sounds like something that tickles your fancy, or if you just want to make your Horus Heresy Night Lords feel like the real Eight Legion, then this tutorial is for you. Ave Dominus Nox!
Before we start, some notes:
The Basics:
Before we head into the night to wreak sculpting havoc, let’s go through some basics. Night Lords are all about skulls, chains, flapping coats of tanned flesh, hooks, bones and bat wings. Some of these are easier to get than others. Skulls come in a phenomenal package straight from GW. Bones and hooks are plenty amongst Games Workshop boxes, be it Drukhari, Savage Urruks, Kroot, Skeletons and more. Getting these is usually as simple as asking around friends who might have a pile of leftovers. Bat Winged Helmets are really something that you’d rather get 3d printed as the effort and time required to sculpt these greatly exceeds the value. As for all the rest, here’s where I come in, to help out my VIII Legion brothers.
Chains:
I’ve been searching for a cheap source of miniatures-compatible chains for a long time. Went through some of the classic wargaming related products, like Green Stuff World, but without good results. Most chains were just too big to fit the theme. Finally after a thorough research I found Trumpeter Universal Fine Chains and for the love of the Long War, my hobbying changed instantly. These come in three different sizes, are relatively affordable and are great to work with. They tend to come a bit rusted, but it is all the better as paint and glue stick stronger this way.
Ok, so we have them chains. This is how I go about mounting them on miniatures.
Step one: Drill
First I pick spots where I want to mount the chain and drill small holes with a hand drill. At times I skip this part and hide ends of the chain behind pauldrons, or in recesses, but most of the time I like to have a clear spot where a chain is mounted at.
Step two: Glue
Next I apply a small drop of Cyanoacrylate glue (Super Glue) on the hole and use tweezers to insert the end of the chain inside. This way I have a chain mounted strongly onto the miniature and doesn’t have to worry about keeping it in place myself.
Step three: Other end
I then fit the chain on the surface and between the holes. Once I am satisfied with how it looks I cut a proper length and glue the other end inside another hole.
Step four: Seal it
With everything dangling around it’s time to seal the chain in place. To do this I apply a drop of Super Glue onto a toothpick and slide the tip around the chain. This is also the last moment to add some shape corrections before it’s finalized.
Skulls:
Skulls are perfect to add a bit of character to your miniatures. They’re positive, always grinning and just funny to have around. Fortunately for us, the hobbyists, Games Workshop put out the best possible source of Skulls in the history of wargaming – the Citadel Skulls! Now what’s left is to siimply mount them onto our miniatures. Here’s how I go about it.
Option A:
I drill a small hole in the upper part of a skull to then mount it on a chain, partially supported by a piece of plastic in close vicinity to the point of contact. I use Super Glue to bind it in place.
Option B:
I mount a piece or an entire skull in place with Super Glue. This works very well as a piece of ornamentation.
Flesh:
Alright, here’s what most of you really came here for. Sculpting tanned flesh.
The process itself is rather easy and does not require sculpting skills. I started by mixing Green Stuff into an evenly colored green mass, then divided it into few small balls.
Step one: Glue
Similarly to other sculpting tutorials I begun ‘sculpting’ by applying a small drop of Super Glue into a chosen surface. This is to keep Green Stuff from coming off and sliding left and right during work.
Step two: Green Stuff
Next I glued a small ball of Green Stuff on top, flattening it with a wet finger. Keeping your tools (and fingertips) wet makes Green Stuff less sticky.
Step three: Basic shape
I then used the rounded tip of a sculpting tool to shape the ‘flattened ball’ into something resembling a butterfly. Four diagonal moves in total.
Step four: Upper edge
Next, using the same rounded tip of the sculpting tool I flattened the upper edge of the ‘batterfly’, resembling a flapping piece of skin. The more rough it is, the more texture it will retain later on so there’s no need to smoother it to perfection.
Step five: Lower edge
Finally I flattened the lower edge of the ‘batterfly’ just a bit, so there was a line of overhang below where glue kept Green Stuff in place.
Step six: Shaping
Using a pair of tweezers I then grabbed, teared and shaped the lower part of the sculpt to add an impression of movement. Job well done… although something still seemed missing.
Step seven: Studs
That’s what I’m talking about! A pair of studs to bolt a piece of flapping skin to the armor.
These can be made of anything really, starting with a tiny piece of a toothpick, or some sort of plastic leftovers. Personally I like to use nail cosmetic glass balls. You can read more about them in Unlimited Tiny Balls for Miniatures article.
Now look at this serious lad. All the skulls, a chains and some fancy fleshy souvenirs from previous raids. I bet no one will joke around this guy!
Below are some pictures of how I went about skulls and chains on my personal collection:
And if you require even more inspiration, why not check Gallery: Crimson Fists, for plenty more pictures of my heavily Night Lords themed 40k army. Ave Dominus Nox!
I hope you find this tutorial interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional warhammer 40k miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Sculpting fur on miniatures might seem a bit difficult. Still with new Codes: Chaos Space Marines hitting the stores, 2nd edition of Horus Heresy ravaging countless battlefields, Warcry: Heart of Ghur at the horizon and oldies such as Mordheim living the life as never before (not to mention furry going mainstream) – I’d imagine a lot of miniatures hobbyists wouldn’t mind a simple yet effective fur sculpting tutorial. I actually managed to post one many years ago, sadly it’s not up to nowadays standards. This is why I decided to completely revamp the article. If you’re one of the hobbyists aiming to adorn some of them Horus Heresy Space Wolves, or dig the furry style of Mordheim Kislevites – buckle up and enjoy, as this tutorial is for you!
Before we start, some notes:
The Basics:
Before we go on a sculpting rampage, let’s talk some basics. The entire process is rather simple and consists of preparation and few main steps, after which you repeat the steps until satisfied. I assume standard Green Stuff is the most popular and available sculpting material out there thus I chose to use it for this tutorial. Apart from Green Stuff you will also need a proper sculpting tool, some cyanoacrylate glue and a miniature to work on.
Mix a piece of Green Stuff until it’s ready and make small balls out of it. Once done, we are ready to begin fur sculpting.
Step one: Glue
I started by applying a small drop of cyanoacrylate glue (Super Glue) onto the surface. This is to ensure instant binding between Green Stuff and the miniature, thus making the sculpting process so much easier.
Step two: Apply Green Stuff
Next I applied a small ball of Green Stuff on top of the glue and flattened it slightly with a fingertip.
Step three: Straight lines
Using an edge of a sculpting tool, I then sculpted a series of relatively straight vertical lines. These doesn’t have to be perfect or even. Just a bunch of lines from top to bottom as can be seen in the pictures above.
Step four: Diagonal texture
I then cut and pushed with a tip of a sculpting tool to add some diagonal lines, shortening and sharpening the lines from previous step.
Step five: Messy texture
Finally I used the very tip of the sculpting tool, gently pushing it in and leveraging, pushing particular strains of fur up and to the side, so they became rounded and a bit shaggy. This is basically how I sculpt fur on different surfaces.
TIP:
You can repeat this step multiple times, by adding more balls of Green Stuff and sculpting intertwined layers on a larger surface, or to add volume.
Step six: Shaping
Having a fur covered coat or a piece of gear is great, but to really make it feel at place, I recommend shaping it’s upper part to resemble a piece of tanned leather. It is quite simple. First I pushed a rounded tip of the sculpting tool between excess fur on top and plastic surface. I then pulled down gently, to squeeze the upper fur. I’ve done this multiple times to get a nice smooth line, then smoothed if further. Depending on how much fur gets underneath the flat area it can either rest on top, or be squeezed further to look like flapping around. It’s all up to your personal tastes.
Step seven: Ragged edges
Very last step was to add motion and rough up the lower edge. I used pliers to gently grab and pull the lower part in the direction of where I felt the strains would lean. This technique allows for a really good control of the final shape.
That’s it. Job done. Few bolts, skulls or other adornments here and there to give an impression of fur being bolted to the armor and the sculpting process is complete. Nothing special, just a piece of leather with fur dangling around to buff that Space Wolf theme.
Below are some other examples of this tutorial being used in practice.
I hope you find this tutorial interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional warhammer 40k miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
As a full time professional miniatures painter I strive to specialize in techniques that provide the maximum effect on the gaming board, while being relatively simple and easy to mass duplicate. Here I will present to you a Step-by-step guide to painting green glow effect similar to that used in most of the projects, for example Gallery: Cult of Yurei and Gallery: Legio Vulpa.
Before we start, some notes:
Step one: Duck Egg preshade
I started with a soft layer of slightly thinned airbrushed Vallejo 71.009 Duck Egg Green (air). While airbrushing I made sure to cover potential light source areas plus the immediate surroundings.
Step two: Green base
Next I airbrushed a layer of Vallejo 72.733 Light Livery Green (air) without thinning. This layer was applied on top of previously airbrushed Duck Egg Green.
Step three: highlight
I then highlighted green with Vallejo 72.101 Off-White, pulling the edges out to create a solid base for future juicing up back to strong toxic green.
Step four: glaze
Next I manually applied a glaze of slightly thinned down Vallejo 72.733 Light Livery Green over the most intense green parts of the miniature. This includes plasma coils, glow on the side of the barrel and large rectangle area at the back.
Step five: highlight
Then, I once again applied a highlight of Vallejo 72.101 Off-White. This time I kept it contained to most exposed areas, barely few lines and dots to add focus points and add more overall contrast on the piece.
Step six: wash
Finally I applied a mix* of Vallejo 72.089 Green Ink ( 3 drops), Vallejo 72.085 Yellow Ink (2 drops) and water (10 drops). I made sure to apply the paint to deepest recesses only, avoiding exposed plasma coils and edges.
* You might notice a GW Waywatcher Green bottle in the picture below. The Vallejo mix is a recipe for GW Waywatcher Green, that is out of production. You can find more GW Glaze – Vallejo mix recipes in this article.
Work complete. Four colors, six layers an an interesting effect of toxic green plasma coils / ghosts / goo is done!
I hope you find this tutorial interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional warhammer 40k miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
As a full time professional miniatures painter I strive to specialize in techniques that provide the maximum effect on the gaming board, while being relatively simple and easy to mass duplicate. Here I will present to you a Step-by-step guide to painting orange glow effect similar to that used on my Games Workshop Crimson Fists army as can be seen in Gallery: Crimson Fists.
Before we start, some notes:
Step one: White preshade
I started with a soft layer of airbrushed Vallejo 72.701 Dead White (air). For the purpose of this tutorial I went straight from the bottle, although usually I thin the paint down just a bit with a drop of Flow Improver and a drop of Airbrush Thinner, resulting in less speckling. While airbrushing I made sure to cover potential light source areas plus the surroundings.
Step two: Orange base
Next I airbrushed a layer of Vallejo 72.709 Hot Orange (air) without thinning. This layer was applied on top of previously airbrushed Dead White.
Step three: highlight
I then highlighted orange with Vallejo 72.101 Off-White. Such a bright color might seem like an overkill, but this one is a bit cream’ish and can get juiced up to bright orange easily later on.
Step four: glaze
Here’s where real magic started. I thinned down Vallejo 72.709 Hot Orange (air) with a bit of water and manually glazed over the most intense orange parts of the miniature. This includes plasma coils, glow on the side of the barrel and large rectangle area at the back. Vallejo air series are perfect for hard glazing, retaining a lot of ‘juice’ even after thinning.
Step five: highlight
Finally I once again applied a highlight of Vallejo 72.101 Off-White, but this time limited to barely few dots and lines in the most exposed areas. This created focus points for the eye, while also providing better overall contrast on the piece.
Job done. Three colors, five layers is all it takes to achieve an interesting effect that will steal a glance or two on the gaming board.
I hope you find this tutorial interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional warhammer 40k miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Welcome to tutorial for modelling Flames. Here I will present to you a Step-by-step guide on how to create fantastic, highly detailed flames for miniatures in a matter of seconds.
Blazing flamethrowers, crackling braziers, torches or balls of magical fire – in the world of miniatures wargames flames add a lot of character and dynamic to our favorite tiny characters. With 3d printing prevalence and a lot of bitz selling companies getting your hands on some awesome parts has never been easier. Still why pay and wait, when you can make your own flames of chosen size and shape in a matter of seconds and from materials you probably already have at home!
Before we start, as usual, please take note that what works for me might not necessarily work for you.
Step one: Foundation
It is best to start by finding a base shape to build the flame around. It can be anything solid including toothpick, wire, piece of plastic, or even the miniatures themselves. In this case, with an idea of flames gushing out of a flamethrower, I cut a small piece of a toothpick.
Step two: Ingredients
Next I poured few small drops of PVA glue onto the piece of toothpick. Just enough to cover the wider end. Right after that, while PVA was still wet, I poured Super Glue on top and moved the shape around so that Super Glue covered entire PVA beneath.
Step three: Shape
Here’s where modelling kicks in. I used another toothpick to mix both glues and guide a quickly hardening ‘paste’ around and finally in one direction to form a cone. The mix creates an organic, irregular texture when drying, which provided additional detail to the flame.
It might seem difficult at first, but once you get how the ‘paste’ behaves it will be as simple as barely few moves of a toothpick to get a desired cone.
Three steps, that’s all it takes. With a bit of practice the process takes less than a minute and can be applied to any surface. Below are just some examples of the results:
I hope you find this tutorial interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Welcome to Painting Warhammer 40,000 Crimson Fists tutorial. Here I will present to you a Step-by-step of an easy and fast painting process for Games Workshop Crimson Fists Primaris Marines armor as can be seen in Gallery: Crimson Fists.
Before we start, some notes:
Step one: Undercoat
I started with a thorough layer of Games Workshop Chaos Black spray. This is a standard procedure for me. Chaos Black spray is my go to choice when it comes to undercoat.
Step two: Base Color
For the initial layer I chose Vallejo Model Air – French Blue (71.088). The color is a somewhere medium tone blue, with much vibrancy that got a bit toned down by black undercoat beneath. I applied a thin, dry layer of French Blue by airbrushing it on top and around the miniature. I took extra care not to make the layer too strong.
Step three: Highlight
Next I applied a mix of Vallejo Game Air – Ultramarine Blue (72.722) proportioned 5:2 with Vallejo Model Air – Light Sea Blue (71.089). This layer was also airbrushed, but this time I applied it zenithally and on the most exposed areas of the armor. Once again I took extra care to keep the layer dry and soft.
Step four: Shading
I then applied Vallejo Wash for Dark Vehicles (76.518) by airbrushing it from the bottom of the miniature (reverse zenithal) and onto low parts of large areas, including lower shoulder guards, sides of leg armor and lower part of the backpack. This particular paint is very thin, forcing me to apply it by multiple tiny, mist-like “puffs”, that dried out almost instantly. It significantly toned down all the armor and blended any dry specks leftovers from previous layers.
Step five: First Highlight
Next I switched to manual brush and applied an edge highlight of Citadel Layer – Hoeth Blue. I picked only the most exposed edges, skipping all places that were too difficult to reach or hidden from sight.
Step Six: Second Highlight
Finally I applied an edge highlight with Vallejo Game Color – Glacier Blue (72.095). Contrary to previous layer, I kept this one concentrated on top areas and corners, adding extra focus and depth to the exposed armor detail.
That wraps up the armor. Only five layers of paint for an eye catching effect of dark blue armor, that stands out on the gaming board. Now with this solid base out of the way, we can start building character of the miniatures, by adding more colors and enriching the overall feel of the miniatures – but that is a topic for another day. Stay tuned for part two of the tutorial.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this article. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate it if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it interesting. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Forget about tiresome Greenstuff rolling! From now on, when modelling Lava bases, the only thing you’ll need to do is to pick a ready-to-use tiny ball from a box! Below is a short guide on how to gain access to unlimited tiny modelling balls.
Remember that time when you laboriously rolled about three dozen Greenstuff balls only to drop half of them on the messy floor and then accidentally squash the rest to a pulp? From this day onward traumatic events like this are forever left behind you. No more rolling, no more squashing! As of now you will be able to draw an unlimited number of tiny balls, perfect for any kind of miniatures modelling, from these three sources:
Most clothes and shoes comes pack with a tiny bag of Desiccant. Inside you will find few dozen Silica Gel balls of varied sizes. These work well with typical miniatures hobby paints and are perfect for overall modelling.
These super tiny glass balls come in small packs and can be obtained from many places including cosmetic stores, Amazon and Ali-express. Different sizes and colors make it a perfect modelling material.
Yup, you read this correctly. Air Soft Gun ammo is just a bunch of tiny balls. Usually ceramic, plastic or metal sold in packs of hundreds. The latter might be a bit expensive and inconvenient, but ceramics and plastics are great for our hobby.
Below some practical use examples:
I hope you find this article entertaining. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate if you considered sharing this content with your hobby buds, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service be sure to contact me via this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Cheers!
Magnetized bases is nowadays new hotness when it comes to miniatures transportation. This solution allows for comfortable transportation and fast deployment of your army. Once commited to this form of handling your plastic dudesmen, you will probably go back and magnetize all of your stuff. Regardless of choice of container, be it a professional carrying case like A-Case, or just a plain paper box with a piece of metal mounted at the bottom, first thing to do is actually magnetizing the bases.
And here’s where word of mouth and slight issues might discourage you from this glorious path to ultimate wargaming comfort. The internet is full of common misconceptions about magnetized miniatures. That is because a lot of hobbyists decide to go the most straightforward way and just glue a random magnet to the underside of a base YOLO style. This might result in a magnet falling off a base mid-transport, which in turn might transform your precious collection into a pile of scrap. Below I will show you how to avoid this fate with a very easy life hack.
Before we start, some notes:
This tutorial focuses on Games Workshop bases specifically as they tend to have empty undersides.
For conveniences sake I highly recommend magnetizing bases before painting.
Please take note that what works for me might not necessarily work for you.
Let’s start by toppling the topic of magnets falling off a base. This happens because the entirety of miniature’s weight is held in place by a relatively tiny spot of contact between a magnet and a base. The smaller the area of contact and the heavier a miniature – the more probable a COVFEFE in your carrying case. To avoid this, but also keep the size of magnets reasonable, I propose to use sockets. A socket extends the area of contact to the sides of a magnet and greatly increases strength with which the magnet is held in place. A proper material for a socket will also increase the bond between the magnet and plastic base.
Another thing is choosing a right size and the amount of magnets for each miniature. Personally I tend to go with two magnets for infantry, three to four for large infantry and cavalry and more for anything larger, depending on weight. The size of these varies depending on what bases I work with. For Games Workshop bases I go with 5x2mm magnets, which work as a charm, providing just enough strength to keep miniatures in place, but not as much as to prevent me from comfortably picking the miniatures.
Boy oh boy, so much theory… “where’s the actual tutorial?!” you might ask. Ok, let’s just go straight for the easy step-by-step.
Step one: the PVC
Start by drilling holes in the PVC one beside another with few mm in-between. No need to be very precise. Once done, use a hobby knife to cut the PVC into small two-holes pieces, as seen in the picture below. These are now “sockets” to hold the magnets in. Test if all sockets fit the bases, make some adjustments if necessary.
Step two: Mounting Sockets
Turn the base upside down, apply some Super Glue onto the surface and glue the socket on top. Avoid sticking your fingers through the holes as you might end up becoming one with the base by accident 🙂
Step three: the Magnets
Apply Super Glue into the sockets and glue the magnets in. Try to glue all the magnets in same direction for better effect. I found that it is better to put the magnet just barely into the socket, then flip the base and push it on top of a flat surface. This way the magnet will slide inside a socket up to a level of the base’s edge, thus providing good connection to a future metal transportation surface.
Hey! That’s it! These three simple steps will greatly increase your magnets (and miniatures) survivability during transportation. I’ve been using this solution for couple of years now, with no bad experience what so ever and I hope it will work for you just as well.
I hope you find this tutorial interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook.or Instagram. I would also appreciate if you considered sharing this content with your hobby buds, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service be sure to contact me via this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.
Cheers!
