Sunday, January 16, 2011

Mr. Melta Man


     Hello everyone! Finished my Melta Gunner for my command squad. I liked the scarred head. Had to use it. I had to work on my stubble technique a little. One large change was a little bit of stippling of a slightly darker shade to create some slight variation across his head. Came out pretty good.

     With this guy done, I have only one more model to complete my command squad. Mr. Vox caster will be next. I've got a good lead on an airbrush compressor and that will be critical to some ideas I have for my vehicles and some various other projects.

Local GW store closing...


     So I had mentioned some issues that I had with my local GW. Imagine my surprise when stopping by and discovering via a little flyer on their counter that they are closing up. I seems that the mall is jacking up their rent, so they really had no choice. I heard that the battle bunker that was closed a few months back is being reopened within the next year. Of course that has been and on-again-off-again rumor and a now don't know what to believe.

     The MOST interesting result of the announced closing of this store has been my interaction with the employees that ARE NOT being relocated. They are now awesome. They don't ask the silly canned questions and feigned interest held only long enough to make a product recommendation. I stopped by the store today and it was a great experience. More like hanging out, than trying to avoid the silly sales pitches. Turns out, when you turn the GW-ness down just a bit, the atmosphere of the store changes for the better.

Forge World stuffs...


     I've decided that I'm going to start a Red Scorpion army. I got some of my first bits from Forge World. They made a small mistake and sent only one upgrade kit when I had ordered two. Thankfully, the stellar customer support has sent out the rest of the order via express delivery. On a slightly related note, a friend of mine received his copies of the Badab War books, and they seem incredible. I haven't seen them, but he has read through some of the awesome rules and scenarios in those monsters. I'm a little sad that many 40K fans might never enjoy these. I'll endeavor to bring some of these to a table soon.

New Camera...

     My wife purchased a new point-and-shoot camera. A Canon Powershot, to be precise. I tried it out on the photos you see here. Interestingly enough, I think I'll stick with my old Kodak. The color balance is a little weird. I'm sure that I could have negated that with some trixy editing, but as my computer is still broken, I don't have the needed tools to do so. The other interesting problem  with using this camera is the face detection. It detects the "face" on my model and forces the camera from macro mode to portrait mode. This bit of software is annoying as the focal logic is very different in these two modes. So there IS such a thing as a camera that is TOO smart. I did take a funny pic with the camera, and with that I'll leave you to my most recent shots of my Melta Gunner:

 "Bring It Down" - This order allows all weapons in the unit to be fired as if twin linked against the a target vehicle or monstrous creature.
 


     That's it for now. Hope you enjoyed, and as always feel free to leave question, and comments.

4 comments:

  1. Great work mate, i love how you've highlighted the chipping on the armour! It gives it real depth!

    Keep up the good work!

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  2. The camera I use is also a PowerShot. The SD1400 IS to be specific. I usually don't put it on "smart" mode, though. By putting it on "regular" mode you can force its settings so it's always macro or a certain color mode.

    As far as your melta gunner goes, well, I'll be bringing a couple models for you to paint when I come visit next month.

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  3. Thanks GunGrave! I appreciate it. It's a really easy technique but it adds so much.

    Ash, good tip on the camera. I might give it a try. Of course, I might just stick with my old trusty camera. The Devil you know, right?

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  4. Holy Gee-wizz!

    You are a paint master!! Please no Red Scorpions, you'll put me to shame!

    I'm actually planning a guard army next so I'll be scouring your blog for pointers. You're doing a cracker of a job on these guys and I love the blue/grey scheme (and the very subtle blending/shadows)!

    Cheers
    Jack

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