Weekly Waffle #319
27th January 2024
I will stop counting soon but this is weekly waffle number four for this year which I am quietly happy with. This has been the first week though that has been a little bit of a struggle. As well as looking for new projects I have been trying to finish off projects that have just been sitting on a shelf. One of these is Kal Jericho and Scabbs. I have been a fan of Kal Jericho for a long time and even have the original model in its bluster. Which was something of a steal on eBay but that’s a different story.
Going back a couple of months just before I lost my mojo I had built up, primed and base coated these guys. Which in theory meant they should have been a quick win. But things didn’t turn out that way. It’s all my fault because I didn’t do a good job of the base coat so I’ve been fighting them all the way. What I should have done straight is started again but I got caught up in this thinking that I must have done it this way for a reason and got emotionally invested in working the problem.
Well working the problem wasn’t solving the problem and it took me way too long to figure this out. But in the end I did what I should have done right at the start and re did some of the base colour. I knew the end result wouldn’t be as good as it possibly could have been. However a finished model is much better than a half finished one. Just making that decision changed my whole outlook on finishing this project. It went from being one that I was going to fight my to the finish with. To an enjoyable experience which at the end of the day is what painting little plastic people should be.
Moving past that road block and accepting that I got it wrong this time encouraged me step things up in some other areas to make up for it. Two areas that I do like are the green Kal’s coat which I think has a good range to it with some strong highlights. And Kal’s face. It’s not the best face I have ever painted but it just seemed to come together nicely with just a base, mid tone, and highlight. Followed by a light magenta wash. Nothing fancy but I think it works well.
Scabs has been a slightly harder prospect on the painting front just because the model hasn’t inspired me as much. Not wanting to put him down but he is the side kick and it’s felt like that at times whilst painting him. But given the fact they are a team I couldn’t just leave him on the shelf.
That has really been the lesson for this week, knowing when to do something over again. You can’t get everything right all the time so you have to be honest with yourself. Whether you are doing a competition piece or just a table top piece like this. In this instance as soon as corrected the brown and gave it a new base coat my whole attitude to the project changed. It went from being something I had to labour through just to get it finished. To something I really enjoyed. And I think that shows in the end result. It’s not going to win any competitions but I will be more than happy to put these down on the table top and say they are mine.
Especially because I also painted the eyes a little bit differently on this guys. I normally just a white and then use a fine liner pen to put black dots in for the I pupil. But there is no colour in there. Until now. This time though I added a little bit of blue before putting the pupil on. It’s subtle and doesn’t show up on the pictures bit it is there. Now that I know I can do this I’ll start to add colour to all my eyes. It may not show but it’s just a way of getting a small win with everything I paint like this. And if I get enough small wins like this I’m hoping over time it will turn into something really noticeable.
On a slightly different front I got rather a large bill from customs for a shipment of Ork goodness from Puppets War. I’ve never been charged in the past but this time they really screwed me. It’s certainly going to make me think twice before making any more big orders from them. Having said all this I do now have quite a few projects in the pipeline now so lots of potential content. But I will be mixing it up with non 40K projects. Especially with Adepticon on the horizon and I’m sure I won’t be coming back over the pond with empty hands.
On the topic of Adepticon I nearly forgot that I needed a new ESTA to be able to enter the good old US of A. I still had over twelve months left on my last one but I have changed my passport since then so needed to do another. I know it’s a serious thing but it always gives me a bit of a laugh when it basically asks you to say if you are a criminal or not. Now just to be clear I’m not but it always makes me wonder if a criminal would answer the questions honestly.
Anyway with that out of the way the only other thing to sort out was the flights. It basically boiled down to booking with British Airways and flying from Manchester to Chicago with a change in London. Or going Manchester to Chicago with a change in Amsterdam. Which is basically going the wrong way to then come back on yourself. The prices were the same either way but in the end we picked to go via Amsterdam simply because it was a better deal and the overall trip time was just about the same.
So that is now everything sorted for this years trip to Adepticon. Flights, hotels and transfers all sorted. Having done this a few times now I’m much more relaxed about the whole thing. I’ve no doubt I’ll get more anxious over the weekend before we fly but once we have checked in and are air side at Manchester I will relax and start to enjoy things.
That’s it for this week’s Weekly Waffle and just a reminder that there won’t be an update next weekend. Not because I have in any way lost my mojo but because I will be in Rome for the Italy vs England Mach on the opening weekend of this year’s Six Nations. So until the 10th of February, stay safe have fun and don’t forget to pop back that weekend for more hobby updates. And maybe a few travel tips for anyone visiting Rome. Just to throw in a little diversity.
