All posts tagged: WIP

Work in Progress Wednesday – Update on What’s on My Desk

The last few weeks have seen a bunch of sporadic hobby projects for me, but for some reason, little writing here. So, here is a look at my workbench and the randomness therein. While one of the things I have promised myself to work on is to finish a bunch of my half-finished projects before starting anything new, I have failed at that big time this week. I have found with myself that sometimes I just don’t feel like painting. Just the idea of it overwhelms me with ‘meh.’ Odd considering that this is my hobby and one of my biggest stress reliefs. Instead, I find the desired to build models to be where I get pulled. So that is where I have been since I finished the Megaboss. Mentor Legion Terminators It started with moving my workspace inside. My gracious wife recommended we move the boys into the same room and use the smaller bedroom as my new office. And in this new office, I could finally setup the bookcases with glass doors to …

WIP Updates 8-9-17: Ork Megaboss and Stompa are back!

Trying to get in the habit of writing more WIP posts, especially as I bounce from project to project. In my typical hobby butterfly fashion, I set the Dark Imperium box aside in favor of finishing off some Orks!   Rainbow Warrior Deathwatch But first off, I did finish the Deathwatch marine I painted using the Rainbow Warriors scheme. I took a bunch of pictures along the way and plan to do a full tutorial on painting him shortly. Though I am still 50/50 on the leopard print. I may go back and fix that first. Also, for the Rainbow Warrior Project, I am helping to set up the site. So in all my glorious free time (hehe) I am setting up another WordPress site for the project and allow all the contributors to showcase their miniatures. I’ll post more updates on that as I make some progress. Stompa!! In Ork news, I broke out the Stompa project box (yeah it’s taken that long I have it in a file box!). Where I last left …

Caught up in the #New40k Hype Train

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 Imperialis 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  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, …

Some WIP Shots and Slowing Things Down (for now)

Between the reemergence of the sun, writing books, and chasing after two little boys, I have realized that I need to slow some things down. But part of that slow down is to make sure the articles I publish here are not rushed or forced. So with that said, let’s check out what is on Joe’s painting table first and get back to the boring blog stuff after. WIP Blood Bowl With two Blood Bowl teams completed (Orcs and Dwarves), I had turned to the balls and tokens so that I could get a fully painted game in. As with many things on my painting table, I got started and then distracted. At this point, both teams (and the human team) are mounted to bases and primed. The ball mark, the one meant to fit in each base, is press-fit into a spare base. All the others are glued down. I’ve made decent progress on the Dwarf team’s markers with all the base colors and wash completed. I will probably only do basic cleanup on …

Catching Up – Squaduary, Posts, and Looking Ahead

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 to 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

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.

Work in Progress Stompa and Inq28

Stompa Progress and Squaduary

Making good progress on the Stompa (still to be named) as I am focusing on his central body section before moving on the extra bits. I also have an update on the INQ28 squad and announcing my pledge for Squaduary. I’ve been working on adding more work in progress posts, in part because I know many of you like them, but it also relieves some pressure to create big, full posts every week. Stompa Progress I’ve been working on the Stompa during couch time and following the same steps as the Morkanaut. But the sheer size of this beast is a bit overwhelming. Not only is it about twice the height of the Morkanaut, but the surface area due to his bulk is massive. So I started by focusing on just the main body piece. While it’s the largest, once I get it done I can crank out all accessory pieces and glue them on as I go. At this point I have all the rusty metal done and the colored panels highlighted. I need …

Hobby on the Couch - Ork Style

Orks in Progress and Hobby on the Couch

There is nothing as satisfying as painting Orks. Ok, there are plenty of things that are more satisfying, BUT they are a blast to paint. Especially when done on the couch with a glass of whiskey. As a way to restore some hobby time from the sprint that was Dreadtober, I’ve been working on a couple of the Orks that have been lingering in the Closet of Doom (TM Mordian7th). The simple and crude nature of Orks makes them quick to paint and rather fun. I also wanted something I could work on while watching movies with the family. It’s how I painted a bunch of the Tyranids before and figured why can’t Orks watch a flick or two as well? Megaboss When I saw the Orruk Megaboss I knew I needed one for my growing Ork hoard. That is something as I haven’t had a ‘must buy’ impulse for new miniatures in a while. At the time I did an unboxing video and some rough ideas on how I would turn him into a 40k …

Mentor Legion Scout Squad WIP Squad

Mentor Legion Scout Squad WIP

As I mentioned in my last post when I finished my Librarius squad, I plan to mix in ‘required’ painting with the fun projects. As the librarians were my fun conversion, I am working on finishing my Mentors Scout Squad as my required choice. I had these guys nearly base coated a long while back and decided they would be a great unit to finally finish. While scout squads are not everybody’s cup of tea, I like the diverse look they bring to the Space Marine armies, especially since I tend to always put helmets on my Mentors (they are smart guys after all). Unlike my other scout squad which was armed as snipers, this squad was built for close up action with half armed with close combat weapons and the other half with bolters. The idea was that I could combat-squad them into a ‘hold position and shot’ squad, and a ‘take out the soft targets’ squad. As with the sniper squad, I am keeping the colors a bit more muted than my traditional Mentors, …

Mentor Legion Librarius Squad WIP

Mentor Legion Librarius WIP

So life is getting back to the new normal again, started a new job, our house sale has closed, and we can start looking for a house to buy. In the mean time I took the inspiration left in my last update post and started building out a Librarius from the new Space Marine codex. I already converted the Librarian from the Dark Vengeance kit, and while I considered buying the new models from GW, I decided that it would be much more enjoyable to hack together my own from bits on hand. First up was the Dark Angels Company Master, Balthasar in his striking robes and huge sword. Fairly straight forward on this guy as I just removed the DA insignia from the robes and gauntlets, replaced his head, and added a Psychic Hood from the archives of From the Warp. The head is from the Centurion kit but couldn’t tell you where the back ordainment came from. Librarian number two was originally the Ultramarine captain from the Assault on Black Reach set. I didn’t like …

Mentor Legion Command Squad WIP Step 4

Mentor Legion Command Squad WIP

I normally don’t like posting work in progress shots as the in between steps can be a bit embarrassing for me. After watching prodigious posters such as Moridan7th or Greggles share every step, it made me more confident to go ahead with my own. So after unpacking the first project I threw my self into was finally working on my Mentor Legion Command Squad. I built these guys up a few years back to lead my ‘side project’ of Mentors into a full blown company. Step One – Primer The models were primed black with white over spray. I have found this to be the best balance between creating deep shadows and being able to paint lighter colors. Step Two – Base Colors Next up all the base colors were blocked in. I like the block-in, wash, highlight steps as they help me see where the model is going and provide nice incentive to finish the model once the wash is in place. The colors I used for each block: Green: Caliban Green White: Pallid Wych …

Using Trello For Hobby Progress

Using Trello to Organize my Painting Hobby

The Problem So I have noticed over the years that I am a hobby butterfly – much like many of you out there – especially the great Mordian7th :-) But as my life is getting busier between work, my son, grad school, and other projects I have been trying to get some organization to my progress. So I want to share how I am using Trello to organize my painting hobby and make sure I keep posts ready for this blog. I’ve tried the excellent painting charts made famous by Mordian and Admiral Drax using Excel and color charts, but it ended up being more work for me to know when something was ‘almost done,’ ‘done,’ and posted to the blog. It apparently works for them, but I needed something a bit simpler and general – as I have multiple projects going at once (as you can see in the picture above!). Using Trello to Organize my Painting Hobby For some of my other projects, I started using a tool called Trello that organizes your tasks into cards that you …