All posts tagged: building

Magnetizing the Big Mek in Mega Armor

Published by Joe B

Quick tutorial post on how I added magnets to the Ork Big Mek in Mega Armor. While I don’t generally add magnets to my minis, this guy seems like a good candidateÂ to work on. This Big Mek is from the Meganobz box where you can build one of the Nobz into a Big Mek. The arm weapons don’t have options, so it is the backpack mount that I magnetized. This way I can either arm him with the Kustom Tellyporta Gun (which sounds fun) or provide a defense with the Kustom Force Field (probably more helpful). Drilling the Holes Once the main body and legs were built up, I left the top armor plate off. This is meant to be the weapon’s platform but works perfectly for adding the magnets. I set the piece in place and used a small drill bit to drill through it and the top of the body. To prevent the magnet from moving, I didn’t use a larger bit as the top plate so it would hold the magnet in …

Caught up in the #New40k Hype Train

Published by Joe B

Yes, I got swept into the massive hype of #New40k (can you blame me?). Between building the minis from the Dark Imperium box and a whole pile of Sector ImperialisÂ buildings have kept me busy. I think I have built more miniatures in the last few weeks than the previous six months. While it has affected my posting schedule here, and my writing goals for the next book, it has been a ton of fun getting caught up in the thrill of 8th Edition. Gaming Table I think I bought a set of Secret Weapon’s TableScapes two Â years ago and they have been sitting in the box, languishing ever since. But with excitement of the new edition of 40k being easier than ever to get into, I decided to break them back out as well as the box of GW building kits. While it is only a 4×4 set, it will be plenty big enough to get some games in at the house and I can expand upon it later. Eight of the tiles are roadways, …

Brush Stroke 3

Published by Joe B

Another Brush Stroke from the archive, issue three continues the Mansions of Madness painting. With a lava skin tutorial, a Lorimar conversion, and tips on scraping mold lines. Brush Stroke is the weekly newsletter of Broken Paintbrush, sharing the latest blog posts from that week as well as other great hobby posts from the web’s archives. This post archive’s last year’s newsletter. If you want to stay up to date, make sure to sign up in the form below. Painting: Jenny Barnes This week I finished up painting Jenny Barnes from Mansions of Madness. I put together a tutorial for how I painted her pale skin and blue dress (including a downloadable PDF). Painting: Laval Skin When I started working on the Hounds of Tindalos, I came across James Wappel’s post on painting lava skin. It is amazing how he can put colors and layers together to create such amazing work. Building: Lorimar Kraus Scientist is an amazing converter and decided to modify the already great looking captain from the Betrayal of Calth box. This …

How to Improve Your Hobby Building Skills

Published by Joe B

In a rush of excitement, you rip open your brand new model kit. While thrown back at first by the sheer number of tiny pieces, you smash it all together with glue, slap paint everywhere you can, and plunk it on the table top. But at some point, you realize that you are unhappy with how it looks, especially compared to your buddies models. If you are new getting into the hobby, or a long timer gamer wanting to improve the look of your army, then you understand the frustration of trying to figure outÂ what to work on. Or comprehend all these terms thrown about by veteran hobbyists. This is why I put together this list of ways to improve your hobby skills. I’ve created theÂ series From Beginner to Happy to get you to the point of being happy with your hobby skills.Â While this won’t be an exhaustive guide to all the hobby basics, I madeÂ an overview of topics youÂ can work on to bring your models from 3-color minimum, so something you are happy to …

Using X-Acto Hobby Knife for miniatures and craft projects

Cool Tools: X-Acto Hobby Knife Blades

Published by Joe B

Today’s Cool Tool is going to feature the mighty X-Acto hobby knife and the ubiquitousÂ #11 blade. While most hobbyists have a set of X-Acto blades in their hobby supplies, did you know there are a bunch of other blades to use? Right tool, right job. For our hobby, having a sharp blade helps with all sorts of things. Removing parts from sprues, scraping mold lines, cutting off unwanted bits, creating battle damage, and cutting plastic card for kitbashing. Affiliate disclaimer: links to amazon are affiliate links, meaning that if you buy them through my link, I get a tiny cut from Amazon (at no change of price to you). Other than the scalpels that I mention below, everything else is products I use and recommend. So if you need new blades and want to help pay for my server bills, considerÂ the links below. The General #11 Blade That is where the mighty #11 X-Acto blade comes in. This is the ‘standard’ blade that comes with most knife kits and the one you see in the …

Hobby Spend Resolutions of 2017

Published by Joe B

I know I already talked a bit about my hobby goals for the year, but after talking with a few guys on Twitter about not buying any new kits, I wanted to revisit it here. Thus I present my Hobby Spend Resolutions of 2017. As some of you may know, I have my version of the Closet of Doom (TM) with way too many kits that need to be built. To combat this pile of gray sprues, keep me motivated to finish more projects, and yet reward myself for completing mini-milestones I have put together the following plan. We pretend that Closet of Doom has been trademarked by the great Mordian7th as he is the first to have used the word. I’ve broken down each of my major projects into Must Finish and Wish List. There are more things in my box of sprues than are on the Must Finish list, but I figured this would be an excellent way to make it easier to accomplish some smaller goals first. Ork Dead Mob Must Finish …

Good Reads 2016 Some of My Favorite Posts of the Year

Published by Joe B

This week’s Good Reads is going to be epic. Rather than just adding in the last few week’s worth of posts, I have gone over all my previous Good Reads, articles sent me by others, and even a few of my own thrown in to bring you some of my favorite articles from 2016. So I bring you: Good Reads 2016 Edition! Before we get to far along, if I missed your posts or a blog altogether, please forgive me. There are so many amazing articles published every day that I can only see so many! So if you think I made a mistake in skipping an article, submit it to the comments below, send me an email: joe@brokenpaintbrush.com or hit me up on social media! I’m not kidding about this: haveÂ zero shame in sending me your links! I had originally set this up to be one massive article featuring all the posts, but quickly realized it would not only be too long to read, but was becoming painful to edit! So instead I broke …

Good Reads 2016 – Building Articles

Published by Joe B

Step 1: Build an Awesome Model. Not everyone likes to convert their model, but this collection focuses on those who go all out to make unique or brand new models from spare bits, lots of putty, and pure imagination. These are my collection of Good Reads 2016 Building Articles pulled from my bi-weekly Good Reads post, emailed in links that I missed, and a few posts of my own. Click through and check them out, bookmark it for later, and don’t miss the other Good Reads 2016 Collections: Good Reads 2016 Main Page Good Reads 2016 PaintingÂ Articles Good Reads 2016 InspirationalÂ Articles Good Reads 2016 GamingÂ Articles Good Reads 2016 Humor and Story Articles Dark Eldar Incubi Conversions The clever and amazing NafNaf has put together yet another crazy cool unit for his Dark Eldar, a carnival themed army of creepy clowns and circus monsters. The new unit is a fantastic conversion of Incubi with top hats. In fact, NafNaf is making such creating stuff, that Thor from Creative TwilightÂ also featured his Incubi in aÂ Blogger Showcase. Thousand …

Dreadtober Build Showcase – See What They Built

Published by Joe B

You ready for some awesome! Dreadtober has started and the participants are ready to show you their built models. This is the Showcase of the second challenge for Dreadtober: Build the Model. Each participant was challenged this week to build their model, be it a dreadnought, Deff Dread, or Warjack. Below you will see each of their accomplishments, so cheer them on! AJ Progress is good! Had some issues with the airbrush on my highlights, but we will see how it goes. Magnets are set. Facebook: vigilanteminiatures Ashley Finished my assembly this week. He’s a really fun model, I’m really looking forward to putting some paint on him his week. Editor’s Note: Ashley did an awesome shoutout on the 40k Radio podcast for Dreadtober too! Check out Episode 6 around the 30 minute mark (listen to the rest for great 40k as well!) Twitter: chickhammer Â | Blog:Â chickhammer.com Glenn All the info should be here: https://www.facebook.com/NarrativeGuys/photos/a.1886477544910058.1073741829.1882082195349593/2118834075007736/?type=3&theater Facebook: NarrativeGuys Grenn Dal I am progressing nicely and have finished the build phase and am moving onto the painting …

Tutorial on building a custom model with bit bashing and scuplting

How to Build a Custom Model Through Kitbashing

Published by Joe B

Sometimes you are going for a unique look, other times you want to add new dynamism to a model. Either way, learning how to build a custom model through kitbashing is an excellent way to make something truly yours. For my examples, I use a Space Marine Dreadnought. They are boxy, unwieldy beasts of a model that are cool, but static looking. I want to fix that problem and show you how I took a Blood Angels Furioso Dreadnought and turned it into a charging Ironclad for my Mentor Legion. Making a Plan As with any project, itâ€™s important to have at least a rough idea of where you are going. It can change, reform, and flow as your build the model and get further inspiration. For this dreadnought, I had a Furioso model sitting in my bits box from the Baal campaign box set (really got it for the Tyranid models). I needed something to build and paint to create these tutorials for Dreadtober and thought it would fit the bill nicely. That and …

Dreadtober Challenge 2: Build Your Model

Build Your Model a Dreadtober Challenge

Published by Joe B

This is it. We are starting to actual begin working on your Dreadtober model! The challenge this week is to build your model. Glue, knives, and magic may all be required. Well, hopefully between your fellow Dreadtober participantsÂ and the helpful tutorials below we can skip on the magic part. But I do hope that as part of this challenge you are trying new things to push your hobby skills a bit further. As a reminder, these weekly challenges are only meant to be guidance and milestone markers to provide encouragement along the build. If your model is already built or you prefer to paint on the sprue, donâ€™t let me stop you from your hobby style! Challenge: Build Your Model This weekâ€™s challenge is pretty straightforward: create your Dreadtober model! It doesnâ€™t matter if your model is still in its box or already partially assembled, the goal is to have it fully assembled by next Saturday. For those who like to paint the model in sub-assemblies, magnetize the crap out of the model, or have …