Weekly Waffle #324 – Is it me or is it cold
9th March 2024
In this week’s weekly waffle my planning head has ruling the roost and I have been making sure I have everything I need for Adepticon. I do a lot of project work for a living, and I love a list. So, I’ve had a long list of things that I need to make sure I have for our trip. This cover everything from clothing to toiletries to hobby supplies. What will be going in my checked luggage will be in my carry-on bag. I know for a lot of people this would really boring, or they just wouldn’t bother and would throw things into a bag at the last minute. But I can’t do that which is ok for me because I do enjoy the planning. The end result is that I have everything I need in its relevant packing cube or bag and all of them are in my suite case. Which has been weighed and well below the weight limit I’m allowed for the flight. Although that may not be the case on the way home.
So, my bags are just bout packed, apart from the things I need to use this week and I am all ready to go. Everything that needs printing has been printed and I have dollars in my wallet. I have even arranged for a lift to and from the airport which means I don’t need to leave my car in the long stay carpark which will save a few pounds.
On the hobby front this week I have switched back to another Nuts Planet 1/35 scale Tiger series miniature in the form of Frost. He has more of a modern warfare feel to him that Silencer Bane who was a little more sci-fi in his appearance with the exoskeleton he had. I wanted the two models to feel like there were part of the same unit, or group, so went with a very similar colour scheme. The motivation for this was really about keeping the painting going and trying to build on what I had done before as opposed to trying any new techniques.
I’m going to save new stuff for when I get back from Adepticon so that I can try and put anything I learn from my classes into practice. Something I’ve not been that successful at in the past. Which I think is because I try and do everything at once as opposed to getting to grips with new techniques one at time and building up my skill.
Anyway, back to this guy. I started him in the same way I started Silencer Bane by using the airbrush to put down the primer and then a couple of zenith coats of brown. Again, the idea behind this was to give me a reference as to where the shading and highlights should be. For me this approach gives me two practical things. The first is that I take some reference pictures that I can then refer to throughout the project to check the highlights. The second is that when using thinned down paints they go on a bit like glazes. But I’ve really not thinned them down that far. You then get a different look based on how light or dark the zenith is. I know this is a bit of cheat, but I think of it as just another way of learning. For anyone that has ever done any skiing you start by learning to do a snow plough, then once you can do this you start to turn using the snow plough and then put your skis parallel, then when you master this, you start to learn parallel turns. I see this zenith approach as being the snow plough to parallel step. With the snow plough lining up with the snow plough turn. All things that work and there can always be a place for them. It’s just learning other ways of getting a result. And my thinking at the moment is that this way and slap chop can only take you so far. If you want really good results you need to keep pushing yourself.
Even though I knew what to expect with painting this guy it was still a bit of slog compared to the more gregarious Wild West Exodus colour scheme of Hans last week. The concentration to try and always be thinking about where the light would be coming from and then how much to highlight or shade an area should have takes a little bit of the fun out of painting something like this. Especially because it’s not going to be a gaming piece so once it’s done it’s just going to end up a box somewhere. But having said that it’s a really nice model to be practicing something new on when you don’t have to worry about what happens if it goes wrong. It’s not like I would have to buy another because it’s a key unit in an army or something like that. And I think the effort has been worth it.
Mr Frost here fit’s in well with Mr Bane and both models have been nice, if somewhat challenging to paint. For Mr Frost I haven’t pushed the highlights just a much because I want to go for what I thought was a more natural look. I have to say that I’m not sure which one I prefer, and I don’t really think there is a right or wrong answer. Which is all part of the learning curve to understand what different approaches look like and then when you understand this you can work out when to use a particular approach. But what do you think of Mr Frost.
And how do you think he stands up alongside Mr Bane. Whilst I hope the light direction is obviously the same for each of them, I’m hoping the pictures show the difference in the level of highlights. I think it particularly evident in the trousers. For me I can’t decide which one I prefer. The stronger highlights I think will work better on gaming pieces, but the more subtle approach would work better for a competition piece. Not that I have any plans of entering any competitions any time some but it’s something I would like to have a go at again in the future. But what do you think.
You can see more Nuts Planet miniatures at my gallery here.
That’s it for these guys and that is another weekly waffle coming to a close. Just one more now before I set off for Adepticon and I’m planning something a little bit special for next week. Or at least it will be special for me and is all about setting me up for the trip from a hobby perspective. Clearing the mind and making sure I have no hobby baggage hanging over me. Which all sounds very pretentious so I’m going to shut up now. I hope you all keep safe and enjoy whatever hobby time you have this week. I’ll be back next week and hope to catch you all again then.
And to keep you entertained until next time why don’t you have a look at so other content I’m enjoying at the moment:
