Product review - Liquid Green Stuff

Good evening my avid followers.

When I heard about the "liquid" Green Stuff being released that was all I knew about this product: that something called "liquid GS" was being made available very soon and nothing else. What exactly was it? How was it supposed to work?

Well, I picked up a bottle...a pot... just this Monday and sat down to testing.

As far as packaging is concerned, it's nothing too fancy, just an ordinary paint pot. The lid does not snap and stay open, but I've never been a fan of this, so no minuses here. Concerning its purpose (more on that in a moment), the amount you get for your money - 12 ml -  is great.

Don't be fooled bu the "liquid" part. This stuff is not liquid at all. The nearest comparison I'm able to draw is flowy toothpaste or very, very thick, old paint. It can be diluted with water or Vallejo thinner, but you'll have to be extra careful not to overdo it. A teeny-tiny drop should be enough if you just have to dilute it, but I don't recommend doing so. Why?

Because it's a) not supposed to fill any holes larger or any lines wider than a needlepoint and b) it's sandable. The latter is by far one of the great things about the LGS. Just use a very fine sandpaper (we're talking 3000 grain here) or emery board and it will work wonders. You can also wait a second after application and smooth it with a damp brush.

Application can prove tricky and will require a bit of practice, but it's nothing you can't learn after your first few holes and/or lines. I repeat, however, LGS is not intended for any work larger than gap filling and will simply fail at any such use.

When used for its intended purpose, however, it's a great product. When applying it to your miniatures I recommend using a dedicated, robust brush (I've found GW's Small Drybrush to be quite up to the task). You need a brush with bristles stiffer than your average so you can push the LGS into whatever you want filled. The brush is cleaned with water, just like when painting. Just take a second more, LGS is much more viscous than paint.

LGS dries and hardens very quickly - it took about fifteen minutes from application to being able to sand it. For deeper fillings multiple layers can be used, they don't separate or anything of that sort.

Taking all of the above into consideration, I fully recommend gettinge the Liquid Green Stuff and give it four out of five stars. I have to drop one, as GW failed to properly advertise the product and get the fanbase familiar with it prior to the release. Also, the only tutorial from GW so far are three pictures and several sentences in White Dwarf - not adequate in my book.

On the workbench

Just a tiny update today, I'm swamped with work. On the pictures below you can see how much:

Lots of stuff, all for future projects. The netters finally arrived and I should be done with them by Saturday, making all the rank-and-file night goblins finally finished.

Re-done Bologs

Hello and welcome to a sunny, if chilly, Saturday afternoon. Today I just want to show you the finished giant mini-project. I call it "mini" because, as you can see, I haven't done any work on Bologs himself (that's his name, Google it if you don't believe me), just his base.

 I know he needs a better paint job, and I do see he's chipped here and there. I just can't bring myself to strip him and do it all over again, I just love this model (and his buddy Cachtorr) too much. If you ask me, the Albion Giants set were the best giant models GW has produced. Ever. He's a cyclops carrying a menhir, for gods' sake!

 I've added an ogre gutplate to his belly. I think it looks nice and goes with a subtle theme I want this army to have. You can expect more 'nods' to ogres on the coming projects.

 Also, I purposefully altered his pose. The original just stands firmly on both legs, balancing the stone above his head. I wanted him to look more dynamic, as if he's just about to lob it.

There it is. I most definitely will be doing Cachtorr some time, but that's a very "sometime" project.

I'm still waiting for the night goblin bits to arrive and I'm beginning to worry the Polish Postal Service blew it yet again. It puts a major snag on my plans, but I guess I'll just do something else in the meantime. Maybe a mangler squig or the night goblin filler?

Anyway, see you on Wednesday.

Non-standard bases: an example.

You guys remember the giant base we discussed a while ago? Well, here it is finished, just waiting for the occupant.

  In case you were wondering, yes, it is magnetized. What you see underneath the base is something I came up with just for working with bases. It's essentially a piece of metal (I got it for free with some mail, don't ask) stuck to some insulation foam for easier holding. I must say it turned out pretty nifty.

 I salvaged the tree and the rune stone from the base's previous incarnation that did not live up to the standard I set for it.

 I made the mushrooms from some ProCreate and a brass rod. Here are some extreme close-ups...

...and with that I bid you good day. See you on Saturday!

On Games Workshop and the hobby in the recent times

Welcome again.

Today I'd like to address the recent developments in our lovely fantasy hobby. Just something I've been thinking about lately.

Firstly, the new line of plastic characters. So far, we have seen eight of them and I must say I like where this is going. GW is clearly trying to fill the void (the Chaos sorcerers, the dark elf sorceress, the necromancer) and/or give an alternative to metal models that haven't been Finecast yet (the saurus hero, the Nurgle champion, the banshee).  I repeat, I really, really like the direction in which this has been going - plastic, multi-part characters are definitely something I wanted to see for a long time. I hope we will see more of these in the months to come.

Secondly, Finecast. I won't comment on the quality of these, since I haven't yet had the dis/pleasure, but again, I think it to be a step in a very right direction, and not only in terms of material price. My main concern with metal models was the paint chipping and weight. Resin solves both of these problems. It is also much easier to work with as far as preparation is concerned and of course holds detail much better than white metal. I sincerely hope the thick blades, oversized hands and the like are behind us. What GW screwed with Finecast is a very, very lousy time management: they launched it at the very same time of their annual price rise, making most hobbyists believe Finecast is a money-making scheme and nothing more. This was a major blunder on GW's part and would provide much fuel for the haters' furnace if they ever needed any.

Thirdly, Warhammer Forge. All I can say here is "finally". It's about time Warhammer Fantasy ceased to be treated like a 40k offshoot (the joke on top of that being it's just the other way around) and got its proper treatment by Forge World. Aside form the Chaos dwarves I can't say I'm a fan of what they have made so far, but I can see great potential here.

Lastly, the "Mail-Order-Onlies" and the forgotten ones. I'm talking about Dogs of War here, for instance. We have seen a return to White Dwarf being a truly useful hobby magazine and less of a catalog. I'd really like to see an official DoW list published in WD, updated to the 8th edition ruleset, and the entire range brought back. I know there are several regiments to buy from the GW site, but what about Mydas the Mean? The Albion giants? Birdmen of Catrazza? Bronzino's Galloper Guns? Seeing them in resin and available to buy is possibly my greatest hobby dream now. You have the molds, GW. You have the material and as of now some experience in using it. You have the customer demand. Please make it happen.


Right. Done rambling. See you on Wednesday.

Tutorial: non-standard bases using the Modular Movement Tray system

Hello again.

Before we start, please excuse the quality of the pictures. My camera is at the moment dead and I had to use my phone. Very, very sorry.

Some posts ago I discussed movement trays and confessed my deep love for the Modular Tray system by GW. I firmly believe it to be one of the best products The Company makes. Yes, it's "just" for WFB, but it really, really shines here. Movement trays aside, this system is also very useful for all your non-standard bases: giants, war machines (if you are like me and use bases for them) and things like three-beast chariots. Moreover, I think I'll make these for my regular chariots and maybe even the arachnarok. I like my big models on very solid bases.

So, where do we start? With the materials of course! You will need:

• Modular Movement tray system, or rather just the border bits, there are always lefotvers
• 2mm thick polystyrene
• 1mm thick polystyrene - optional
• a cutting mat with metric measurement - nonessential, but hugely helpful
• model putty - any sandable kind will do, this is not critical, but makes the base look much better
• a sharp knife
• a caliper - I use it, but it is in no way essential, you can just as well use a ruler

Step 1) - decide how big your base should be. Seems fairly obvious. For a giant it's 75x50 mm, for a chariot with three beasts 75x100 mm and 100x100 for one with four (Settra rides one, for example).

Step 2) - find your corners on the cutting mat:

...like so. If you have leftover corner bits, these are hugely helpful - they already have the perfect angle and stuck together they measure exactly 50 mm. If you are left with the straight bits, just cut them at a 45-degree angle. There's no need to be ultra-neat, but it helps.

Step 3) - add the first layer.

Here is where I used the caliper. I blu-tacked the bits to my mat and measured this distance (and of course the length as well, what we need here is the 'lower step' of the border bits):

This is our first 'layer'. Cut your 2 mm polystyrene to these measurements and glue it in. Allow to dry.

Once the glue bonds, you can remove the blu-tac.

Step 4) - add the second layer.

Repeat the above, again with the 2 mm sheet, just now we need the 'upper step' of the borders. The second layer is bigger than the first. See here:

Of course this goes for length as well. Glue on the second layer and press it firmly. Allow to dry.

Step 5) - add the rest of the borders and the final layer if you want.

Measure the gaps between the corner bits and cut the straights to size. Glue them on, allow to dry.

The top of this base is not flush with the borders, it still needs about 1 mm in height. You can leave it at that, but I added a third layer of 1 mm polystyrene.

Step 6) - fill and sand the gaps.

Fairly self-explanatory. I used Vallejo acrylic putty and two grains of sandpaper - 600 and 800. It really gives the borders a smooth, clean look; we want that.

Step 7) - prime, paint, decorate and base the model.

That's it. I know it looks time-consuming, but it really isn't, I made the base above in an hour or so. Bases made like this are very, very solid and rigid, they don't bend or depress like the hollow ones GW makes. 5 millimeters of plastic also give any pins plenty of space to glue into.

Another idea that came to me whilst making this base is that I can also make some depressions and gouges to simulate puddles and such. Something I will definitely try.

Hope this was helpful. See you next time!

Of wolf riders and the joys of painting what you like

I'm sure you'll agree wolf riders aren't the most useful or hardest-hitting unit a warboss has in his disposal. But to me, they seem like an iconic part of any self-respecting waaagh! Just imagine the sight of goblins raiding way ahead of the approaching force, plundering food, driving away peasants and so on...

 

I used just five, purely for the sake of character. I don't imagine them to perform miracles of any kind, but what I wanted from them were not miracles, it was the feel. Plus, I really like wolf riders, simple as that.

I used ungor arms on these, which was fine until I started gluing on the heads. They are just too big. If you can, use the crew heads from the arachnarok spider kit, I think they will look much, much better and some dry fitting seems to reinforce this theory.

 This is the 'leader' of the pack. I tried to model him as if he was striking the wolf's behind with his spear. Mosh!

I also added some bedrolls and other gubbinz - really wanted to pull off the 'nomad' feel. 

I never cease to admire the new plastic kits GW releases. It really, really is an improvement with every one. At least quality-wise. The aesthetics are not sometimes my kettle of fish.

That about wraps it up for the wolfboyz. I'm still waiting for bits to arrive so I can finish the night goblin horde and finally move on to other projects. I am a one-at-a-time kinda guy.