Elbows' new Fantasy Thread

[Elbows]

Hey Neun,

Haven't had any sessions using the proper dungeon lately, but as the game progresses and is ironed out, it'll show up more often - and you'll see a load of pics

Cosmo,

Yeah, here's the silly thing.  I looked up the Heavy Skin Tone mentioned above, and it looks like a dead ringer for my older bottle of Cork Brown.  So much so, that I wonder if I had a mis-labeled bottle or something.  My Cork Brown would have been maybe 8-10 years old though, so it is possible the formula changed a tad.  Will be ordering a bottle of the skin tone to try. 

[fred]

I looked up the Heavy Skin Tone mentioned above, and it looks like a dead ringer for my older bottle of Cork Brown.  So much so, that I wonder if I had a mis-labeled bottle or something.  My Cork Brown would have been maybe 8-10 years old though, so it is possible the formula changed a tad.  Will be ordering a bottle of the skin tone to try. 

The bottle I have of cork brown looks almost exactly the same shade as heavy skin tone, the cork is perhaps a shade paler. The Vallejo ranges are so large, and the naming often a bit odd, that I have ended up with various paints that are unintentionally similar to each other.

[Elbows]

Yeah my new bottle of Cork Brown is "more" brown, and a little darker than the pinker/paler one I had before...so who knows.  Time to order some more paints and see what I can figure out.  Failing that...I'll just mix the Rose Pink /new Cork Brown.

I gots to have my fleshes!

[Elbows]

Another playtest today...sadly we all survived.

[Treebeard]

Glad to see you get your mojo back on this project of Dungeon Bashing.

[Elbows]

Thanks, and yeah it's been nice to finally have a couple of Eureka-moments and get this thing going after plodding around somewhat aimlessly for 17 years. (gulp)

[Elbows]

Some additional...very underwhelming "Terrain Crate" bits from Mantic.  Useful for pictures, but unknown how much use I'll get out of them in game.  They're spongy plastic and rather tiny compared to everything else I own.

[Elbows]

Two more lady adventurers.

[Bloggard]

all looks great to me.

[Andym]

Nice additions! Those Terrain Crate pieces don’t look like soft plastic, the detail looks good from your photos. It may just be your good paint jobs!

[Dark choda]

I very much like the result you get on your figures from the dip.

You mentioned in an older post that you once forgot to thin your dip...  would you be able to go into a little more detail about your dipping recipe?

Army painter Strong Tone thinned down at a certain ratio perhaps?

Thanks thanks thanks!

[Elbows]

Thanks, guys.

RE: Dark,

I do use Army Painter Strong Tone dip.  However, without fail the dip will eventually start to thicken (just from moisture evaporating, even when I seal the tins well!).  This is counteracted using mineral spirits (just as you would use to thin varnish which is what dip is more or less).  I don't measure it normally, but I pour a small amount in most times.

However, after doing this for so long the dip will start to lose some of its "dip" properties.  The two females above are a good example of this.  The dip is old and not terribly thinned...and on top of that the primer coat was a bit "meh".  The result is you can see the dip didn't seat or smoothly coat the minis like other ones.  Like anything it just ends up needing to be replaced eventually.

I'm a cheapskate though and I try my best to get as much out of a can as I possibly can (which is normally quite a bit!).  A fresh can of dip is often far better than one I've been using for six months and thinning over and over.

PS: Dip likes sharp edges for it to pool or drip off of.  The lighter the detail the less the dip works.  It's particularly good on crisp newly cut plastics or well chiseled metal miniatures.  On softer detail it just doesn't do much.  The two females above, while nice miniatures have very shallow details and it all combined for two figures I'm less than enthusiastic about.

[Dark choda]

Thanks!  I'll have to give that a try.

I've always liked the idea of shading and sealing in one step but i need to remind myself to dial up the brightness of the colours I use.

Also I always balk at the price of a small can of army painter dip.

[Elbows]

You can find a 80% solution with some various wood varnish/stains.  I've tried a few but never found one which worked just like AP (and I agree the price sucks, it's why I end up sticking with one can too long!).

The other big thing is to find a suitable way to rid the model of excess dip.  Some people wring the models, some put them on drills and spin them in a can, etc.  I use small shreds of paper towel.  Dip the model and let it drip off - then hold it in the pliers and carefully wick away excess dip with small torn bits of paper towel.  If you don't rid the model of enough excess dip (harder if your dip becomes thicker), you can end up with large ugly pools around feet, knees, etc.

Like every other hobby thing it's all about figuring it out.  You'll screw up some minis and then figure it out and become more comfortable with it.  It does absolutely sepia-wash or tone-down the figures.  Some people go back and touch up the models after the dip for some highlights - I rarely do this, but it can add quite a bit.

[Grumpy Gnome]

Great paint work! I love your color palette.