More folks for Drake's Branch...(Size comparison page 2)

[Elbows]

Did five more of the wonderful Knuckleduster minis.  Sadly when I flat-sprayed them they became gritty/greyed out --- an issue with the humidity I guess. Not bad enough to need a re-paint but it definitely took some of the vibrancy out.



And while I can no longer find the wonderful Gale Force 9 Badlands rocks I stumbled up on a fella who makes rather nice resin hills on eBay.  Not cheap (around $30 USD shipped to my house) but very useful.  These are definitely wargaming pieces, since all of his different designs have plateaus for easy model placement.  I painted this up yesterday.  I'll probably try to grab another 2-3 or three eventually.



My blog has some more pics, and I'm starting to touch up and re-base my older figures (the badly painted ones will get a full re-paint).

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

You've done a lovely job on those Knuckledusters!

[Elbows]

Thanks m'lord!

[Treebeard]

Ok ... I need these Knuckleduster.
Wonderful paint job on them.

Do you have a size comparison with Artizan, Deadman's hand and Black Scorpion ?

[Elbows]

Don't have any artizan, but I'll put some figures together for a size comparison today (mounted on the same bases).  They're definitely taller, but they tend to be more slight/accurate than, say, Black Scorpion who are a bit more "beefy" proportions.

There is a post on my blog which shows off some Conquest indians, the DMH cavalry trooper alongside some Knuckleduster.

http://myminiaturemischief.blogspot.com/2016/03/new-inhabitants-for-drakes-branch.html

[Elbows]

Here are some comparison pictures and notes on scale:

http://myminiaturemischief.blogspot.com/2016/09/old-west-size-comparisons.html

[Treebeard]

Very useful. Thank you Sir.

[Jeff965]

Lovely painting Elbows, I'm not a fan of "the dip" but you have certainly mastered it

[Elbows]

Thanks, Jeff.  As a non-painter...I shall endeavor to use all sorts of foul trickeries and deceipts! 

[Elbows]

Two painted, three re-based and touched up.

New Mountain Man from Foundry and Conquest Plains Indian up front - three re-based/fixed Black Scorpion in the rear.



After looking at some assembled minis last night I will say that the DMH minis are probably the most slight, followed by a couple of the Conquest Indians (they probably work well together).  There are some pretty large size discrepancies in the Conquest Indians, but they're still lovely.  Foundry fit all over the place, being large and then having plenty of very slight indians.

Black Scorpion is the largest with Knuckleduster 32's being a bit smaller, but okay fit.

[Argonor]

I find that three single miniatures is about all I can manage in an evening, but it's a realistic goal and gives me a start/stop point (about 3-4 hours I'd say).

No idea how you do that - I need several sessions of that length to finish a single mini 

Even when using block-and-wash, I can maybe do one (or two if they are fairly alike) in one afternoon.

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

No idea how you do that - I need several sessions of that length to finish a single mini

Same here! Minis looking great BTW.

[Elbows]

To be fair my block painting is exceptionally simple.  It can take me longer to do larger creatures etc.  But I do average about a figure per hour (not counting the drying and the drybrushing of the base afterward etc.).  I watch a movie or two whilst sitting and then I'm good. It helps immensely when the mini is exceptionally easy to paint - the foundry mountain man was excellent.

[hentzau]

I've been doing the army painter block paint and dip for my figs, but yours look a heck of a lot better than mine.  What are you using for your dip?  And do you actually dip or do you brush it on?  And do you do anything else afterwards other than bases and dullcote?  Great looking figs!

[Elbows]

I use normal Army Painter dip (though I'd love to find a varnish/stain which works well and is cheaper - I've had very mixed success trying various cans of minwax).

I dip my miniatures entirely (including the base, as I find that wood glue with my basing mixture ...covered with dip = very robust, not much chance of falling off).  I use small bent nose pliars and dip the whole thing, then instead of shaking it off as I used to do - I assemble a small stack of paper towel shreds.  Holding the miniature still with the pliars I carefull dab away pools of excess.

This works pretty well, however you still have to check after 5 or 10 minutes and look out for large pools which can sometimes ruin the figure.  Sometimes I find I have drawn far too much out and the miniature doesn't have any shading left.  Only important thing to note is that I prefer hand torn paper towel vs. cut.   The shredded fibres pick up dip much easier --- BUT --- after about 5-10 minutes of drying the dip is going to be too tacky to use paper towels on, so sometimes I have to use a small toothpick or something to carefully draw out the excess if it's pooled up in the back of a knee or around a groin or arm or something.

I think if I could shake them vigorously without getting varnish all over the house I might try that again, but I've been happy with the paper towel method.  I find brushing it on I get far too many streaks and while I do this for some larger creatures it generally sucks.  Once dipped and drawn out I let them sit for at least 8-10 hours (normally over night).  I hit the up with matte finish (anti-shine from Army Painter, normally) and then I do the bases.

I have a complete step by step thing on my blog using an Eldar figure:

http://myminiaturemischief.blogspot.com/2016/06/step-by-step-spiders.html

It's the exact same for the Old West guys (albeit primed black and hand painted vs. the spray on armour colours)