Weekly Waffle #301
8th October 2022
Welcome back and the first thing I’m going to say about this weeks waffle is that it is dedicated to Slap Chop. I talked about coming across this technique last week and shared some pictures of the Rialto Assassin I had used it on and was waxing lyrical about how quickly, for me, I was able to paint it. The only fly in the ointment was that I couldn’t find the bases I had already painted up. Now if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram you will know that I managed to find the bases and have shared some completed pictures. But if you haven’t, then where have you been, then here are some pictures of the table top ready mimi.
For me the thing I really want to try and get across this week is how what using this technique has done for my painting confidence. I’ve made lots of mistakes this week but I haven’t let them get me down. But the real winner for me is that I’ve been able to produce eight minis to a table top standard that I am happy to share. Now I know eight isn’t a lot but I’ve only spent about thirty to forty minutes one each of them. I’ve seen a noticeable improvement in my brush control over this time as well. There is still a long way to go but as I talked about last week it’s about those small gains. The other less tangible thing is that it’s kept my mojo topped up. The satisfaction of actually finishing a project is priceless and just inspires you to move on to the next project. And I have a few of those lined up.
This weeks efforts have been focused on getting some more Carnevale minis painted up. In particular the two new offerings for the Guild which are a box set of Shiphands and a blister of Baroni and Pilferers. Both are very nice sculpts but do have to say a couple had very pronounced mould lines that took quite a lot of cleaning. But once that was done it was time to get painting. They were all primed with the airbrush using my trusty Vallejo black primer and then I started to make a few mistakes. I used xxx grey to do the first dry brush but because I was in a rush I messed up twice. The first mistake was that I didn’t really give the primer time to dry and harden properly. Ideally you want to prime one day and the start your painting the next day so the primer can really do it’s thing. I didn’t and I compound the error because the grey was to thick so the dry brush wasn’t as smoothe as it could be. These were just the result of me rushing but if you take your time and get this bit right then the end result will be better. It’s the old adage that preparation is everything. I’ve learned my lesson and will make sure I put a bit more effort into these early stages next time.
Now even though I made some mistakes early on which inevitably filter through into the end result I am happy with how things turned out. I mentioned it early on this week that I have actually noticed my brush control getting better with each session. That is important with this technique because you are wanting the contrast paints to do a lot of the heavy lifting here for you. That means that if you get colour in the wrong place it’s not an easy thing to fix. A tip whenever using contrast paints is to start with the darks colours and work up to light. That way if you get the dark in an area you don’t want you can go back in with some grey. If you then end up with a lighter colour going into a dark area you can use a clean damp brush to remove most of it and most of the you will get away with just that. Remember we are looking at table top ready in a reasonable time frame. We aren’t gunning for a best painted army nomination. That comes later. So just go with the flow and get your minis on the table.
With all that being said the result of this weeks hobby time has been to add two new options to my Carnevale Guild. First up we have the Shiphands consisting of the Smuggler, the Whaler along with the Dog Keeper and his loyal pups. Five minis all bases using the same cobblestone bases so the they tie in with the rest of my Guild minis.
Next up we have the Baroni and a couple of Pilferers. The Baroni in particular has a fantastic dynamic sculpt and I’m really going to have to find a way to fit her into a list.
Now with a host of minis table top ready I’ve used a bit of hobby time to just add a little more. By adding a few extra steps it’s possible to get something that I think looks even better. The thing about using this approach is that you have something ready for the table top so anytime you spend now Isn’t stopping you from using the minis. You don’t have to do it but going with some extra highlights gives you two wins for the price of one. The first is the takes your minis up a level and gives them a bit of extra pop. The second is that it’s working on that all important brush control which makes future projects quicker and neater so you can paint even more. I’ve not managed to get any pictures of the finished project yet but I’ll have them for you next week.
I know that over last couple of updates I’ve been waxing lyrical about this Slap Chop method and I do really think it is good technique to have at your disposal. After watching quite a few videos on the subject there are a couple of things that I’m taking away from them. For me this isn’t about trying to paint an army in a weekend so not a true speed painting approach. It’s more about not having minis sat on a shelf overwhelming me for months. Im going to break things down into a couple of sessions. Starting with priming and then leaving things to allow the primer to dry and harden properly. Next up will be to do the dry brushing. This is where I start to slow down a little bit because the smoother you make this step the better the finished mini will be. It’s a balance as I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this but that little bit of extra time here pays off later. The you get to adding the colour and again this is about being quick but it has to be neat. Or you will loose time fixing any mistakes. At the end of this stage you have a table top ready mini and you can leave it there if you want. I like to steel a step out of Ninjon’s book by then doing some additional highlights. You can spend as long as you like on this step but I think you get a lot of bang for your book out of this step. Anyway I’ll let you decide.
The carnevale experience is progressing nicely and I just need to get some games in now. I have a few more minis lined up for painting and I’m going to put the lessons learned with these into practice. The mojo for painting is still there and I’m looking forward to how they will turn out. I’m also trying to work out how I keep the painting up whilst at the same time trying to turn some of my attention to doing a bit of kit bash work.
It’s Orktober and my true hobby passion is kitbashing Orks so I’m going to turn my hand to a new project. The aim will be to have it finished by the end of October but I’m aware that might be a big ask for me. I’m going to keep that as the overall goal but if I manage to finish the build this month I’m going to consider that a win.
That’s it for this week. I hope you have enjoyed the waffle and there will be more for you at roughly the same time next week. Until then keep safe and enjoy whatever the hobby brings you.
