Back on track?

It only took 2 years and a boardgame.... But then it was time for speedpainting!

Got myself Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition from Fantasy Flight games some time ago, and guess what? It contains tons of minatures! Now these minis aren't very good sculpts, the detail is a bit poor. But on the other hand a great project to get going with the brush again.

Started of with one of the most boring models, ze Cave Spiders. I think these took me under three hours at least, watching paint dry included and basing. Not the best of paintjobs, but paintjob nonetheless.

Stagnation

Summer does something to you...

Havent been painting a single spot in two months time. So much comming upp; kayaking, hammocking and fishing, not to talk about work. But vacation is coming!

My biggest problem is that my ratio at which I buy new models haven't decreased. Almost bought the whole model range for WoC and started collecting Orcs and Goblins. As if I hadn't already got way to much unpainted models. Let's hope for bad weather from elveneth of July!

Why not to buy Iwata from Ebay

Just... Dont do it!
I have learned the hard way. Bought mine from a seller stationed in Japan beacuse the price was way lower than here in sweden (we have to pay about 170£ if we buy it via a Swedish retailer). I was a bit worried that it could be a fake, but it looked authentic with the name engraved on the body and not printed. When I compared it to my friends Iwata Eclipse every part looked exactly the same. The only difference is that my friends airbrush works and mine does not. I don't like tho whine, but I would like to say that it's a pretty huge difference.

I tried everything in the book. We even changed the parts between our airbrushes. His worked with my parts, but mine didn't work with his parts. I took it apart completely but to no awail. Only thing i can think of is the gasket in the air valve that may interrupt the airflow in some way and causing it to skip. I took it apart but I couldn't see any obvious damage to the gasket. Otherwise it has to be the air canal that run through the body that's not correctly manufactured.

Warranty should be the best option, right? Well, it ain't. This is why you shouldn't buy your Iwata from Ebay, unless you can find the seller as an authorized retailer listed on Iwatas website. I cant press this enough, just.... just dont do it! That extra £ is totaly worth it. Anyway, now I've ordered a new one from www.spraypal.com and yes, they are a listed retailer so my 5-year warranty won't be void. Yay!

Turned out to be a very expensive airbrush in the long run and I've lost some of my creative spark during the process but I'm sure it will return to me when i receive my brand new gun.

Airbrush skipping problems

Wow, just.... wow.
 Recieved my brand new shiny Iwata Eclipse about 3 weeks ago. After rummaging about for a while I found a compressor that should do the job with getting something out of it, an AS189 with tank and airfilter. I was happy as an otter when it arrived and fast as a shark to get the painting going.

Is this the rascal in this drama?

Said and done, connected the brush to the compressor. Put it to 30 psi to begin with and diluted my paint with about 3/1 ration of water/paint. Then I went to try some doodles on a piece of paper- This is when the shit hit the fan. Oh, the horror! From the very first line i tried to draw it began skipping. For you who don't know what skipping is: Skipping is when you get a broken line when spraying with your airbrush. Paint flows, creating a beatiful thin line only to stop and only give air. Starts flowing again, stops, starts, stops etc.

I thought it would be an easy fix. Changed the psi to 20- Same problem. Thinning the paint even more- Same problem. 15psi maybe? Nope! Thinned the paint to almost water and then it flowed as it should, but the paint is way too thin and splashes of the pressure if you try to put it onto a model. This is when I went into forum berzerk-mode. I checked every single site I could find about the problem:

Paint stuck in the nozzle: 

Cleaned the whole gun thoroughly and tried to look if I could see some paint residues in the nozzle but to no awail. I even took it to a friend of mine who works as dental technician and borrowed their ultrasonic cleaner and let it soak in 30 minutes. Problem persists.

Damaged needle: 

Needle looks fine. Dont feel as sharp as my ancient airbursh though so could be a  manufacturing problem, but no bend or other damage that i could see. Going to compare to a friends Eclipse soon.

Compressor issues: 

Water in the air? Hard to say, tank and airfilter should minimize any traces of water. Pressure problems? Also hard to say, tried to hold a steady flow against the skin but coudnt feel any changes in the pressure. Going to try it with another compressor at previous mentioned friends place.

I'm a wee bit worried about the Iwata. It was listed as 0.3mm needle and Eclipses don't come with 0.3mm needle but I took it for being a typo from the seller . It also came with the wrong spanner, a spanner made for screw-on nozzles, not self centering as the Eclipses. Fraud maybe? Looks authentic thou and came in sealed package.
Hopefully there's problem with the compressor since it's the cheapest equipment so I can send it as a warranty errand and buy a cheap one from a local store while waiting.The Iwata is ordered from Japan.

Iwata incoming

Oooh, I´'m exited. After some long thoughts and a bit of research i finally decided which airbrush to go for. I had Iwata in mind pretty early since that's the brand that turned up on most searches and seems to be a solid choice. The hard part was to decide which model.

 I tend to go for expensive stuff when I buy something, this is how my mind works; 1. I start looking at the cheapest alternative. 2. I Look at the second cheapest, thinking "Hmm, not a biggie. Lets go for that one instead." Then repeat step 2 untill my bank account reach its pain treshold or no more costly options are available. This time I restrained my impulses to go for the super-mega-top-notch-high-line-model. My vote went for the Iwata Eclipse HP-CS. Not the cheapest one and not the most expensive either. The pro's seem to agree that it´s a good choice for first timers and an allrounder.

Full plate and packing steel

Ordered it from ebay since it's half the price compared to Swedish retailers. I'm a bit worried though since I noticed that the description says that it got a 0.3mm nozzle and as far as I know they only come with .35mm. It's new and unopened so it's not modified in any way. Hopefully thats just a mistyping from the seller and not a fraud, fingers crossed. But they had only possitive feedback so I should be okay. Otherwise I'll be forced to make a trip to Tokyo to clear the air with someone.

Also a .3mm could prove to be more of a challenge to use. I know for a fact that airbrushing isn't easy. I got myself a real low budget one many years ago. With low budget I mean really low budget. You know the kind of equipment they make from broken parts that they sweep from the floor. Then put together to some kind of abomination that even the 7:th circle of hell would be proud of.

I was doing mural paintings at that time for a laser tag arena and it wasn't pretty on close inspection, lots of stains and splashes. As I'm older and wiser now (ehr...) I understand that much of my problems then was partially caused by too thick paint in the gun. But my first first tries with the Iwata will probably make puppies cry in despair anyway. I'm not looking for miracles to happen beacuse of the equipment, but it will surely speed up the process with laying the initial shadow and highlights.

Guts 'n Glory: Chaos Lord of Nurgle

Just an little progress update. Actually not much of progress at all. Only bland everyday chores that stops me from doing fun things. 
All work and no play makes Stefan a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Stefan a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Stefan a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Stefan a dull boy.

Despite all the boring stuff I rewarded myself with a bit of playtime; that Chaos Lord have been standing on the shelf for way too long time now, tantalizing me to paint him. So thats what I did, he´s gonna get it good!. Not much done yet, only a couple of base layers and a few glazes here and there to catch the overall look. Planning to do my first stumbling attempts of NMM on the axe since it´s quite a big piece that shouldn´t be too difficult. At least I hope so.

It´s not a very clean paintjob so far but i should be able to make it a bit smoother with a bit of work. Only put about 45 minutes on him so far, mostly trying different purples on his stomach. But I´ll get there eventually. He really is a delight to paint, lots of little details (or infections). No wonder that he got so much exposure, it´s an awesome model.
Here he is:

Think I´ll give him a rest for a while now so i can grab myself in the collar and finish the cannon fodder (Marauders) They´ve been gathering dust for too long now.

Pimp my Warrior

Long time no see.

Back at the paint rack at last. Been busy with work and rereation the past weeks. Took a ski tour to a cabin in the woods for some table rpg with old time friends and it was a blast. Lots of shenanigans for 3 days.

Anyway. While in the woods I loitered on ebay for a while and found some cheap Warhammer stuff for my Warriors of Chaos (or Marauders) and today they came to my mailbox. Bring out ze heads!:

Yep, Space Wolves Heads. Most of them are going to look good on my minis, not sure about the one with the helipad/flat top haircut. Looks bit too posh for a frothing maniac, but I can put him in the middle ranks just to get some extra diversity. There´s also some hi-tech armor plates on the back of the head, but thats not a problem, at least not on the Warriors since the fur trimming on the cloaks will hide them from view. Also got three helmeted heads that´s going into the bitbox of oblivion. I´ve got no plans whatsoever of turning to the dark side (40k).

Now over to another topic. I feel quite certain about which paintscheme to go for with my warriors now. Wrote about them in my previous post- The internet is for Khorne and I´m going for the dark red theme so the ever elusive step by step will be here in a near future.

Thats all!