289: Pyrkol wound trackers for 40k

I just got a bunch of these wound tracker dials. I think they are a much nicer design than the dice from GW.

I already have magnets on the inside of the hull of my planes, from magnetising the stand on. Now I can stick a dial on. I will certainly be sticking magnets on the inside of the hull of future vehicles.

More info on how the flight stands are attached: http://iron-legion.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/250-magnetising-flying-stand.html

I found the tracker dials on www.ebay.co.uk. Search for "pyrkol wound".

270: Airbrush medium makes a lovely thin glaze

Andrew mentioned to me that airbrush medium (AKA thinner) is handy stuff. I was looking for a lazy way to shade an orangey yellow on my guardians sashes. I mixed some airbrush medium with some orange, and used it like a wash over some yellow.

This was quick and I think it worked well.

The glaze is thin in the sense that it has low viscosity and in the sense that it is see through. Note the difference between a glaze and a wash. This is on the border.

For my first go, I tried adding some retardant too: don't! For the first time, I managed to make some paint that never dries. The airbrush medium is quite slow drying anyway.

I wonder if airbrush medium plus grey might be a solution for the tricky problem of shading white.

268: Filtering airbrush paint

If you find that a certain paint just keeps making your airbrush spit, it may have curdled. If there is air in the bottle can start to cure in there. Perhaps there is air in from the factory. I have had this when I half used a bottle and then left it a few years. Lumps come through and block the brush.

First, give the lid a thorough clean with some pipe cleaners.

Prepare your bottle like it's going to rob a bank with some tights (I believe pantyhose is the US term).

Screw the lid over the top.

Trim the hosiery.

The newly installed filter will prevent lumps escaping the bottle.

I intend to do this pre-emptively on all bottles I have opened. Just as soon as the Mrs gets some more ladders. (I don't look fabulous in hosiery).

Reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0xMTPdBonI

I thought I would write this one up, as I don't like to watch videos where I could have got the info by skim reading much faster.

261: Recovering from varnish frosting

I found a way to fix frosted models!

1. put the pieces in an electric fan oven at set to 50 degrees C (120F) to pre-warm them. 
2. oven started cold, and I only left them in for 10 minutes throughout the process I am describing. I would not do this with resin or thin plastic bits (swords etc).
3. I took each piece out, sprayed it, and put it back in again.

(Gas oven would be a bad idea: water is a combustion product, so they are intrinsically more humid)

The longer version.

 I had sprayed the guns for my Crimson Death (which are magnetised) with dullcote a while back. It was cold and humid, and I got the dreaded frosting. This was a bit of a downer, and it has taken a while for me to get the drive back to tackle the job.

The guns are mostly black with green gems. I repainted over the black, as it was quick (I had just painted black and edge highlighted), and the frosting stood out over the black worse than the green. My gems have a 5 step highlighting process that I could not be bothered to do again. The black came out looking shiny in places and matte in others, so really needed matte varnish again.

Warming and spraying again worked well. It made the black matte, and on the gems that I had not repainted, it actually removed the frosting. I can only assume the solvent in the dullcote re-dissolved the frosted layer and this time dried properly because is was warm and the humidity was low. I imagine that if the original frosted layer had been too thick, this would have been less successful. These gems were frosted, and this is them after the fix.  

The formation.

258: Photos of minis with an Android phone: Open Camera

Open camera is an Android app that is way better than the stock google camera app, when it comes to photographing minis.

One problem with the google app is that it will not focus. The auto focus keeps changing, so you just think it's sharp, then as you take the picture it blurs again. Open camera has a focus lock.

Under the dot menu, there is a padlock. Tap that to lock the focus. The camera will focus where you tap on the screen. Apart from that, it will not change. You can make fine adjustments to the focus by moving the camera closer or further from the subject.

Its a good idea to have an uncluttered background. A white sheet of paper curved up the wall is popular. The auto-exposure will then give you a dark image. The model can be almost silhouetted at worst, a little muddy looking at best. The exposure needs compensating for the bright background. In Open Camera the brightness setting is right on the main screen. It will then use it's standard algorithm for guessing the exposure, and brighten it up from that baseline. Then you can see tonal variation on the model, not the tonal variation on the paper.

If adjusting the exposure seems like too much hassle, then use a mid-grey background.


Here's a work-in-progress shot using Open Camera.

257: A Storm Talon that doesn't look too bad

A ways back in the dim and distant past I showed you all how I'd converted up the Storm Raven to make it look a little less goofy (in my opinion of course).  I've even stuck to the same naming convention for this post!  Well with the release of the new Space Marines codex and all the formation-y goodness in it, who could resist the lure of a Storm Wing.  All I needed was the little addition of a pair of Storm Talons.

Of course, what had been stopping me buying Storm Talons before was an equal dislike of the stock model as sold by GW.  Just like the Storm Raven, I found it a little too blocky, too deep for its profile, and with a few design choices that I just couldn't make myself like no matter how hard I tried.

Thank you Internet (I'm pretty sure I'm not the first to utter those words ;), there seem to be plenty of others out there that feel the same way and have made some amazing conversions of the Storm Talon.

• Excommunicate Traitoris has made a fantastic and subtle conversion, and one that I ultimately took the most inspiration from.
• This and this conversion really went to town, and retained the rotation of the under-slung assault cannon.
• This more realistic plane variant is really nice too.

There are a couple of conversions that really stand out though for their inventiveness:

• This A-10 Warthog conversion is inspired and if it didn't require the purchase of Storm Raven wings and a Punisher Autocannon from somewhere I would have been copying this heavily.
• Whoever came up with this ED-209 style assault walker conversion was truly inspired.

Anyway, I'm obviously getting lazy in my old age as I wanted to fix up the Talon with as little work as possible.  Its not a perfect conversion, if I had the money and time for lots of extra parts then I'd be doing more, but this is a pretty quick and easy fix (as long as you don't mind that the Assault Cannons no longer rotate.

All the images should be nice and big if you need when you click on them.

 First step is to make the Assault Cannons, add the skid plate from the very bottom of the standard setup, and remove the square tab from the underside of the body.  It's right in the centre of the circular mount for the underslung turret, you should be able to make out where it was in the image.

 Join the Assault Cannons together, add the skid plate, then glue directly onto the circular section of the underside of the body (where the little tab used to be).
I've also constructed the rest of the body so you can see the new silhouette, much more streamlined compared to the image below it of the standard build.

 Engine pods.  I like to mount the wings so they are tapered from the front, I think they just look a bit better that way.

I also mounted the rocket-pods under the wings, to the lower parts of the engine pods.  This required a very small amount of trimming to get them to fit nicely, but it was just a little bit, and just to make the join that little bit nicer.

That's it, all the work I had to do.  Below are a few shots of the completed model so you can see its final silhouette.  I'm pretty pleased.  It still has that compact, punchy feel of the original model that goes so well with its rules, but has removed the worst offenders for silly modelling choices.

 

 

So, what do you think?

256: Dropper bottles (or not) for airbrush paint

The new Forgeworld and GW airbrush paint comes in normal pots. They use the same pots as for their standard bristle stick range.

 Many commented that they prefer dropper bottles, like Vallejo.

Plenty of others are fine with pots, and use pipettes to get small amounts of paint out. Indeed, they like the pots because they can get the paint back in easily. Though it is also possible to get the dropper top off the Vallejo bottle to get the paint back in, it is a little messy. (I heard they have different bottle designs, and with some it may not be possible).

As usual, I do it differently. I got a bunch of empty dropper bottles (where the dropper end is a little easier to remove than the Vallejo bottles). I mix my own, starting mostly from Vallejo Model Air.

Using a milligram balance and making up at least 5ml of paint at a time is more precise than using a dropper. I converted one of the lids to a funnel. I add the extra water last to rinse the spare paint from the funnel.

255: Edge highlighting

Edge highlighting is a basic technique, but it's one I think I have got better at in the last year or so.

The arrows point out a few regions where I have put bright white straight onto pure black. This is something I would have avoided before. The lines need to be very thin. I think I got away with it here.

• Use a fine brush. I use Winsor and Newton 000 for the finest edge highlights.
• Use retarder. This slows the paints drying time. Without it I can't move fast enough to get the paint onto the model before it dries on the brush. I use Vallejo retarder. The bottle says no more than 5% retarder. I have got up to 14% and it still cures, but this may depend on the paint you are using.
• Prep the brush. Wet it first. wipe enough water off that there is no longer a drop of water on the end of the brush separating the bristles. Get a tiny amount of paint on the brush and wipe off the excess.

Dont do this

The tip will fall one side of the edge, and then the other. You will not get a straight line.

Do this

Use part of the brush just back from the tip.

Drag with the brush. Try not to stab with it. For some hard to reach areas this may be impossible. It's a good reason to assemble some parts after painting.

The ideal angle is 5-30 degrees.

I like the strength of the edge highlight to vary. I think trying to get it completely uniform is difficult and does not look good. I usually try to get the corners a bit brighter. So I first touch the newly loaded brush near a corner, and then wipe the paint toward the corner.

 

The next stroke starts further back, but again wipes towards the corner.

 

And so on.

You should end up with a subtle graduation of paint along the edge. I have heard that some prefer to try to hit the edge highlights with one stroke, but I got better results this way.

The only other detail about the technique is to suggest that doing several steps of edge highlighting with brighter colours is a good idea, particularly for large surfaces. Let me know what I missed, and how you do your edges in the comments.

254: Fleshy eggs from popcorn

In which I will show how to make alien egg sacs. I put these on a mysterious objective marker. Should also be handy for terrain or Tyranid bases.

1. Start with a bag of cheap popcorn kernels. Nothing fancy. You may need to wash with detergent.
2. I usually use oil, if I am planning to eat them. This will cause problems. I found that I could get them to pop by leaving the grill to get hot, then putting a tray in very close. A few should come out right.
3. Glue them to your base.
4. Dilute PVA to seal (also acts as a fine primer).
5. Paint.
6. I also added some UHU glue strings to complete the look.

A "before" shot.

253: Mathhammer with GNU Octave

Many folk understand how to do basic mathhammer. For example 10 marines shooting bolters at marines (outside 12").

n_shots×prob_hit×prob_wound×prob_not_saved=mean_n_dead

10×(2/3)×(1/2)×(1/3)=1.1

It gets more complicated with things like rending. Still quite possible, but a bit more headscratching is required. Even trickier is shooting at vehicles. To do it properly you need to account for things like multiple immobilised results removing extra hull points.

There is a general method. You get a computer to roll the dice for you, lots of times and keep notes as it goes. This kind of thing is called a Monte Carlo Simulation. An early use was designing nuclear weapons in the second world war.

GNU Octave is a free (open source) maths scripting language. It's quite good for this sort of thing.
 To get octave to roll 10 dice, you can do this.

> rolls=ceil(rand(1,10)*6)
rolls =

   2   6   2   4   2   2   3   3   5   4

rand gives a matrix of 1×10 numbers. They are between 0 and 1, so you have to multiply by 6. We only want whole numbers, and dice don't give zeros, so we round up. This is what ceil (ceiling) does. Next, how many hit?

> passed=sum(rolls>=3)
passed =  6

rolls>=3 returns a matrix of 0s and 1s. As we need 3+ to hit, it gives 1s to represent the hits. sum adds up the hits. Roll some more dice to wound.

> rollstowound=ceil(rand(1,passed)*6)
rollstowound =

   1   2   4   3   4   2

Find out how many wounded

> wounds=sum(rollstowound>=4)
wounds =  2

Time for amour saves

> savingrolls=ceil(rand(1,wounds)*6)
savingrolls =

   4   1

How many die?

> deathtoll=sum(savingrolls<3)
deathtoll =  1

You can combine this lot into a script file ("example.m") that repeats 100 times.

n=100;
totaldead=0;
for i=1:n
    rolls=ceil(rand(1,10)*6);
    passed=sum(rolls>=3);
    rollstowound=ceil(rand(1,passed)*6);
    wounds=sum(rollstowound>=4);
    savingrolls=ceil(rand(1,wounds)*6);
    deathtoll=sum(savingrolls<3)
    totaldead=totaldead+deathtoll;
end
mean_dead=totaldead/n

Run this, and it spits out a number near 1.1. This is more hassle than first calculation, but when it gets more complicated simulations will beat the back of an envelope.

Note that I have put semicolons on the end of some lines. This suppresses output. So this script will just show you the deathtoll each loop, and the mean average at the end.

If there is some interest in the comments, I can expand this into a series of posts. Or, if I have time I can mathhammer on your behalf. My numbers are out of date now (vehicle damage table changed), but I did figure out the most cost effective way of taking down a Heldrake. At that time the highest probability of downing a heldrake in one per point spent that I could find was an Imperial Fist dev squad on a quad gun. The best value hull point stripper was a Stalker (you know, the Rhino chassis AA vehicle).

251: Wound markers

Normal people leave a die on or near a model indicating how many wounds it has left. I am an idiot, I forget, pick it up and roll it.

I made bandage wound markers to solve the problem.

1. Wrap clingfilm/foodwrap around a round pencil.
2. Wrap some toilet paper (unused) around that.
3. Liberally paint on dilute PVA.
4. Wait for that to dry, and give it a couple more coats.
5. Cut the newly made tube into sections.
6. Paint on a couple of red dots. I added some water to try to get the impression of blood seeping through.

Most models have something that the bandages can be hung on.

Ouch!

250: Magnetising a flying stand

After a cursory search I could not find an example of how to do this for a flyer. I found a few tutorials for skimmer bases. I did this for the Crimson Hunter/Hemlock Wraithfighter kit. I would wager that it could be adapted for most flyers.

I used 4mm (diameter) by 3mm neodymium magnets.

1. Before gluing the fuselage together, stick a blob of greenstuff in the dorsal half of the fuselage, where the top of the stand will come to rest. To stick greenstuff, scratch with a knife, apply some superglue and then push in the pliable greenstuff.
2. To mark where the top of the stand will sit, hold the fuselage together, and push the stand through, so it leaves a cross mark in the greenstuff. You can prevent the greenstuff from sticking to the stand by putting clingfilm/foodwrap over the the greenstuff. (Beware superglue will stick to clingfilm, so wipe up any that may have squeezed out from behind the greenstuff blob).
3. Wait for the greenstuff to cure.
4. Drill the top of the flightstand to hold a magnet
5. Drill the greenstuff, where the cross is marked.
6. Glue in the magnets.

 

 

Now the model can be pick up without the stand dropping off. Handily removable for transport.

249: Rainbows on heated steel

Interference in thin films of oxide make heated steel pretty colours. So, the hot end of a gun can be painted light blue, and as you proceed to cooler parts it goes through purple to weak orange.

I got this idea from some blog or other, but could not find it again. (Let me know, if you have an example). I used it on a multi-melta.

Using inks/washes or possibly very thin paint build up some rings. Try to vary the intensity, so the colours blend. If it comes out a bit strong, it can be knocked back a touch by drybrushing with the base metal colour again. 

Update: Thanks to Siph, here's my reference.

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/how-to-paint-heat-stained-gun-barrels.html

 

246: A Cork Tor Hill

Hills made from foam seem common. I think cork is a good material. When the edges are torn, it has a nice rocky texture. It's more robust than foam. Creating a landscape with visible rock strata is a good way to walk the line between looking natural and having some flat surface to put a model on.

- That's 9mm plywood. 6mm or maybe thinner would do, but I had an offcut. I bevelled the edge by variously hacking at it with a file, a surform (wood grater thingy) and a dremel.
- Toilet rolls cut to random lengths.
- 6mm cork sheet ripped up. I bought mine from amazon.co.uk. You can get it in craft shops. hacking up an old cork noticeboard would probably be a good way to go.
- (hot) glue gun and lots of it. I filled the inside of the toilet rolls around the edges to stick it good and proper.


I used caulk: mastic gun tube, used to squirt around top of skirting board, and paint over. I built this up in layers. and poked extra bits of cork in occasionally. I put the whole thing in a fan oven at 50 degrees to speed things up. This is still several evening's work. Not that long each evening, but it took a few days.

I flocked it with cork dust.
- coat with PVA
- chuck on cork
- shake off excess
- wait for it to dry
- coat with dilute PVA to bind up any loose bits.
This was repeated 3 or 4 times (with oven acceleration).

I added more random battlefield debris (ork, marine, eldar, ...). Painted and added some sickly looking grass.

Done!