Author: Joe B

Watch This: Making Scratch Built Rivets

Published by Joe B

For anyone scratch building a tank, or even modifying aÂ section of 40k scenery, rivets are a common way to add interest to an otherwise plain sheet of plastic. But making hundreds of rivets can be a pain. This is why I like the TinkerTerrain’s tutorial on making scratch built rivets. In his video, he shows how he made nice looking rivets with a mechanical pencil and a candle. The video is only 5 minutes long, and he does an excellent job of showing each of the steps. For those who like to read on the go or want a quick cheat sheet, see my notes on the video after the jump. Scratch Built Rivets withÂ TinkerTerrain Steps to Making Rivets Preparation Grab a 0.9mm mechanical pencilÂ and remove the eraser May need to drill out the end cap as well InsertÂ 0.88mmÂ rod from Evergreen or Plastruct Light a candle (note here on fire safety and breathing fumes of melting plastic!) Have a hobby knife on hand Making theÂ Rivet Two clicks of the pencil will push enough plastic through …

Painting the Dwarf Blood Bowl Team

Published by Joe B

In my excitement to get a set of Blood Bowl teams finished, I painted up two of the Dwarf players: a blocker and a Slayer. Given they are a fantasy sports team, I used bright yellow and blue for their armor. Here is how I amÂ painting the dwarf blood bowl team. As with my Orc team, I painted them to be quick so that I can finish the team quickly. Yellow would seem to be an odd choice for a quick scheme, but WarColours One-Coat Yellow made it simple. You can check out the color list at the bottom of the post. Dwarven Blocker I love the look of the Dwarven Blood Bowl players. They are tough and squatÂ but are distinctÂ from mail-clad warriors. They also have a nice balance between ornate armor and flat panels for decals. The long beards and braids add movement and regalness to themÂ even if their bellies hang out a bit. I attempted to paint the blue gems as sapphires, which I think worked out fairly well. Troll Slayer The Troll …

Good Reads 49

Published by Joe B

It is incredible to see what hobbyists come up with or the new projects they are painting. Good Reads is my attempt to showcase some of the favorite ones I found. I hope they inspire you with your projects and teach you a new trick or two. DIY Terrian is Still Cool Sometimes you need more line of sight blocking scenery pieces, especially with all those big guns out there. To solve this, Jack built up a couple of pieces from leftover cans and a few spare bits. Then with his usual impressive painting skills, he turned them into great looking pieces. Coils of the Hydra I liked how Gungrave’s Alpha Legion Dreadnought turned out. Between the charging pose and the fantastic metallicÂ blue, it makes for a very nice looking Contemptor. The details pop with his paint job as well, showing off Forge World’s excellent sculpting. Make Your Own Castle The dream of many fantasy gamers is to do a castle siege,Â reliving all those cool scenes from Lord of the Rings. John built himself a …

Good Reads 48

Published by Joe B

Skip scrolling through the blog feed for a minute and check out this week’s list of Good Reads. I’ve collect some of the posts that have caught my eye over the last two weeks and gather them here for you to check out, catch up on if you fell behind, or maybe find someone new to follow. With that, here is Good Reads 48. Seeking Guidance Alex has joined in with The Chapel project to create a unique mix of backwoods clans in the 40k world. Â This is his second Ostium Guild for the event and not only did he make these two incredible miniatures, but a great short story to go with them as well. Necron Destroyers Siph has just completed his third unit of Necron Destroyers with a nice looking half-field of blue. Combined with his Destroyer Lord he now has a Destroyer Cult formation to wipe out his enemies. AoS28 and Warhammer Quest AoS28 is picking up momentum and Crimson Oracle has combined it with his interest in expanding Warhammer Quest with …

Orc Blood Bowl Team Completed

Published by Joe B

While I didn’t finish them for Squaduary as I had pledged, I finally finished all twelve of the Orc Blood Bowl players of The Mighty Squigs. Who says you haven’t seen a purple orc! As I currently don’t have time for games of 40k, I find that board games have been easier to get the family involved. Blood Bowl fits this perfectly. I think I could even talk my dad into a match since he is a huge football fan. When it came time to which team to paint first, it was simply a matter of which team looked like more fun. And what is more fun than orcs? (though I keep wanting to spell them orks!) Whenever I start a new faction, I look at what colors I haven’t painted and what would look good on these models. I hadn’t painted any armies with purple, and I figured they would look pretty good on an orc’s green. Armed with my handy color wheel, I found that to finish the complimentary color trifecta I needed …

Why do you Hobby Blog?

Published by Joe B

The people who paint miniature wargames is relatively small. And those who choose to take the extra time to write and share pictures is even smaller still. To these, I ask the simple question: why do you hobby blog? Last week I posted this question:Â “Why do did you start Â your hobby blog, what motivates you, and what frustrates you.” I wanted to get a sense of why others choose to write and share their work. And whatÂ keeps them going. Below you can see some of their responses. I also added my thoughts about why to start blogging about the hobby, frustrations along the way, and ways to stay motivated. Reasons People Start a Hobby Blog I started what is now Broken Paintbrush in 2008 as a way to log my painting progress of my Iron Warriors. With no idea what I was doing, how to find other hobbyists, or how I “should” blog. I just started writing and posting pictures. @brknpaintbrush I blog to try and make sense of what I'm doing – kind of …

Good Reads 47

Published by Joe B

Need a dose of awesome hobby reading? Then get ready for my picks for Good Reads 47 and be prepared to spend a few hours enjoying some excellent content. Painting Black A few weeks back I wrote an article on painting black using some quick and dirty methods. For those looking for a more advanced discussion on the topic, check out David Powell’sÂ post on painting shiny black. Squaduary Finished While my Squaduary pledge was a failure, plenty of other hobbyistsÂ fished their squads in this final showcase. With at least 40 participants and 205 finished models, I think Rory created a fantastic new event. I can’t wait until next year (I really will complete something I promise!) Monster March If you haven’t seen it already and enjoyed Squaduary or Dreadtober, Swordmaster is hosting Monster March! As the name implies, this event is all about completing a Monster this month. So far it looks like 19 people have started, so grab your nearest monster-on-the-sprue and join in! Titan Maniple There are times I wish that I had …

How to Improve Your Hobby Painting Skills

Published by Joe B

In part two of Improve Your Hobby Skills series, I want to share some ways to improve your hobby painting skills. I’ve broken this huge topic down into eight areas that can improve the way you paint. As painting is a huge aspect of our hobby, this is going to be a rather long article, but don’t forget you can download the article as a PDF, including part 1: building skills. [convertkit form=5003522] Painting ability is where a lot of us focus when we think of what we need to improve. Understandable since there are so many aspects of painting to learn, so many incredible artists out there, and we spend so much time on it compared to the build. But just as with the build suggestions, I recommend you focus on one idea at a time so you don’t get overwhelmed. Also, let your painting style build upon itself, don’t pressure yourself to be the next Blanche, ‘Eavy Metal, or name-your-favorite-artist. Get comfortable with what you can do already, and progress from there. 1. …

Catching Up – Squaduary, Posts, and Looking Ahead

Published by Joe B

You know those crappy weeks where Real Life ™ destroys any hobby or personal time? Yeah, that has been the last two for me as I put it way too many hours at work to get projects completed. Finally wrapped up on Friday, only to come down with the flu. Whoa is me right? Anyway, you came here for the hobby, and while it’s been super quiet for me, I do have some updates, news, and looking ahead. Squaduary – Fail (but barely) First, February I was supposed toÂ complete the Ork Blood Bowl team for Squaduary. I was off to a great start with having half the team highlighted. After getting the highlights on, I was really happy with the purple and orange scheme. I was waiting to do weathering and the base once the whole team was completed. Over the weekend I was able to get the other half base coated and washed (though I forgot the metal bits). This was great progress, but still long ways off from completion. With it being the …

WIP Ork Blood Bowl Lineman With Purple and Orange Armor

Squaduary Week 2 – Half of ork team almost done

Published by Joe B

Short post for today but wanted to share some my updates on my Ork Blood Bowl team for week Squaduary Week 2. The first half of the team is almost finished with all the highlights. After highlighting the orange towards yellow, it works a lot better with the purple armor. I did finish the middle lineork as you can see below and on the rest, I only have the purple and black left to finish. I haven’t done any weathering or the base yet as I am going to wait until the whole team is ready so they look uniform. The next two weeks are looking super busy at work so it might be a bit quiet from me. But I do have a couple of guest posts lined up thanks to the awesome Mr. Pink and Rory. Hopefully, I can still sneak some painting in to relax in the evenings.

Good Reads 45 – Awesome Hobby Posts to Catch

Published by Joe B

Back with some awesome hobby posts from the last two weeks, I’ve some great articles for you to check out from 30k, 40k, AoS, and Blood Bowl! I even have two tutorials in there for you to learn some new painting tips. Ultramarine Battle Tanks I love tanks, and Lord Halfpenny’s mobile detachment for his 30k Ultramarines caught my eye. Between the nice shade of blue and the weathered tracks, they fit the nice balance between the traditional boys in blue and realistic military vehicles. Drakon Riders When I first looked at Swordmaster’s Drakon Riders, I thought they were simply a dragon kit that I didn’t remember, only to read his post and find out the are converted from Cold Ones and Vargheist wings! Not only a cool conversion but a nice paint job as well. How to Paint Non-metallic Metallics Painting non-metallic metals is an advanced painting concept that can look nice when pulled off. Blazmo has been learning how to do it on his Greyfox Inquisitor. In the process, he decided to create …