December+ Painting Goal (Update on day 2)

[FifteensAway]

Or, evidence of being a lunatic (as rightly accused by LAF's own Digits in one of his threads!  ):

Today, December 5th, I drop wife and her niece off at the airport to travel to her home country and don't pick her up until January 11th.  In her absence for those 36 days in between, I am setting myself the goal of completing painting an average of 30 figures per day - or 1,080 figures, painted, bases textured, and seal coated.  Everything but the lions are already primed and ready for painting - waiting bases for the lions.  Extra bonus if I go over the 30 per day average! 

The primary goal is to get the rest of the animals for my Slightly Cracked Colonials done and, at least, the German and British people, both soldiers and civilians.  The large majority of natives are already done.  Not yet the Kwaanzabari civilians or armed forces (Zanzibar in collision with the Kwaanza holiday).

If I get all of that done then there are other participants to work on, French, Italian, Belgian, United States (slightly cracked, remember).  And if I get all that done - unlikely - there are some additional quirky additions to add, some from fiction, some from cinema - or both, and some from my imagination.

Not as daunting as it seems.  Around half of the number will be animals with one large chunk being 180 figures to be painted as Thompson's gazelle, Grant's gazelle, and impalas.  And 90 crocodilians, and I think 40 hippos and thirty rhinos.  And a variety of other animals in generally smaller numbers.

Lunacy, madness, a goal, whatever you want to call it.

Moral support along the way appreciated.  Will try and post progress reports but not likely every day.

[snitcythedog]

Just wow.  36 days of hobby.  How nice is that. 

[tikitang]

I had this opportunity last summer (2022) when my wife took my kids away to her home country for closer to 63 days.

What did I do with all that time?

Well, I bought and sold a house, and took a couple of day-trips, and worked full time, but, other than that... I binge-watched all four seasons of Stranger Things.

Good luck with your 36 days: make the most of them!

[FifteensAway]

So, day one was a bit inauspicious - progress but minimal.  Day two much better, so far only the base color over primer but an essential start:

78 Thompson's gazelles (72-3-3)
51 Grant's gazelles (48-1-2)
51 Impalas (48-1-2)
60 Crocodiles + 3 Chameleons
30 Rhinoceros
40 Hippopotamus

That's 310 figures making forward progress.  And 8 more days to get that lot finish and meet the 30 per day goal + 1 if I get them all done.  Still waiting on bases for the lions.

[syrinx0]

Need pictures! Especially as I have a few Crocs and lion myself to paint.   

[FifteensAway]

Photos in due time but I am hoping to have some appropriate terrain done first so maybe in a few weeks - already have the back drop painted.  No time for 'in progress' photos with so much to do.  Besides the painting, I hope to also be working on the terrain.  And I have a game to sort out and run on the 17th - but Seven Years War and no need to paint anything for it.  And when I do provide photos, I hope to do it in a 'story line' manner rather than simply photos of figures.  Hopefully it will be worth the wait.  And, late night counting, there are actually 313 figures on the paint table just now - forgot to add those three chameleons. 

But here is a photo to guide my painting - and keep in mind I am working in 15 mm so very sharp pointed brushes and a magnifying glass may be in order!

 

[Codsticker]

  In her absence for those 36 days in between, I am setting myself the goal of completing painting an average of 30 figures per day - or 1,080 figures, painted, bases textured, and seal coated.

Remember... save time on Day 35 to have a shower, do the dishes and toss the vacuum around.

[FifteensAway]

Codsticker,

 . Thanks but I think the shower can wait until day 37 but definitely some 'last minute' cleaning on day 36.  Actually, since I exercise every day, I take a shower every day! 

As to an update.  Uh-oh, last two days not so good - though progress in other areas.  Good thing I am seeking an 'average' rate of production.  Must get busy after finish exercising for today.

[FifteensAway]

Painting progress has slowed to a disappointing crawl due to major preparation for a game I am running on Sunday at a local club meeting but not all bad - working on prepping the needed terrain and made a major sort today.  There will be, once completed:

10 bases of Jungle with 32 of the 50 total trees (and in a few cases tree clusters) from 3d prints I've purchased preprinted.  There will be some rock formations and "little green hills" on some of the bases.  The other trees are ceramic or plastic.  Roughly an 8" diameter circle per base.

6 bases of "Primitive" Palm Jungle, again some of the bases will have rock formations and/or those little green hills.  These are all a commercial product I bought at swap meets already painted, just need to base and texture the bases - maybe a little extra painting on a few pieces but not strictly necessary.  Roughly a 6" diameter circle per base.

9 bases of Acacia Tress and/or Kopjes -
       1 Very Large Rock formation Kopje with one large and one shorter acacia tree
       3 bases each with 3 acacia trees
       1 base Kopje with 3 acacia trees and 4 rock pieces
       1 base Kopje with 1 acacia trees and 4 rock pieces
       1 base Kopje with 2 rock pieces
       2 bases with 1 acacia tree each
Base sizes will vary for these.

Besides all of the above, I have five 3d printed bases to add interest, rocks or plants with one or more animals/insects on them - and lots of critters to populate the jungles - monkeys, snakes, lizards, frogs, butterflies and dragonflies, and various birds.  Those are going to be 'fun' to paint in 15mm!

All of these 'bases' are sorted into discreet 'packets' for each base now instead of scattered 'all over creation' around the homestead.  Need to create the bases, will jigsaw irregular pieces out of wood and bevel sand the edges.  Then I can start glueing, cleaning, painting, and assembling.

That all adds up to a total of 25 bases and something over 100 trees which should allow a very respectable amount of jungle, East African plains verdure, and double-duty palm jungles (will also use for my Stone Age set-up).  I'm pretty sure that all of the bases, even though they will repeat some trees, will each be overall unique.

I also have plenty of other deciduous trees and a lot more palm trees if I want/need to create more for my jungles.  Probably need to give some focus to riverine woodlands.

Now I need to get back to painting figures!  Tempus fugit.

[LouieN]

Wish you encouragement of the quest.  Luck!

[FifteensAway]

Well, I must be on the road to hell since I've certainly laid a very big stone of good intentions.  Didn't get so much as one figure finished while wife was away though some got a good start - picking her up at the airport later today.

Not all bad, I did paint a 21' long landscape 'mural' for my model railroad that is very nearly finished except for about a six inch section added late, a little hill definition in one area, and then clouds; fairly pleased with that effort.  Also got a lot of 'clean up' done around the house and moved a small mountain of stuff to a rented storage unit - but still have too much stuff.  Really need to do a MAJOR overhaul and get rid of a lot of 'junk' and that goes for her as much as me, though more me.

Oh, well, time marches on.

A bit more hopeful - and part of what slowed progress in the first place - is a manufacturer who just might be sculpting some proper African gazelle for 15 mm.  Too soon to know for sure but correspondence suggests that at least some of my requests might get fulfilled.  I figured better to wait and paint the right animals than the stand-ins but that is not an excuse for not doing the other bits.  But I was fairly busy with all that other stuff.

2023 wasn't a bad year painting wise, painted north of 1,000 figures but stopped keeping careful records for latter half of the year which was mostly focused on French Foreign Legion which will also start off the new year for a game in April.  780 when record keeping stopped but painted between 250 to maybe 500+ afterwards so easily north of the 1,000.

In the final measure, I'm glad my wife is due home; that matters more than getting figures painted.

Moving on.

[snitcythedog]

If you finished a thousand minis in one year you are north of me by about 950 so do not feel bad for doing other bits and pieces.  Sounds like the railway background will work our well for you too. 

[syrinx0]

That sounds like one impressive mural for what must be a rather nice railroad.  Definitely looking forward to pictures when you get around to it.