Wargaming as a hobby is not only about figures and playing games with them. It is much more than just that, and an important part of our hobby is miniature painting. In order to paint you need paints, brushes and a place to store them. This is what I am going to look at today – what can I 3D print to organize my collection of paints and make my life a bit easier.
Paint Holders for dropper bottles – Vallejo, Reaper, Army Painter etc.
There are plenty of different paint manufacturers out there, but somehow in our wargaming business most of them are using dropper bottles. They seem to be the most users friendly and a lot of use like them so much that we are transferring paint from Citadel paint pots to those dropper bottles. It comes to no surprise, that I was able to find some nice options of paint racks for those bottles. Let’s have a look:
Not all of us like the dropper bottles and prefer something different, like the Citadel pots. Here the options can be quite limited at times, but I managed to find some interesting designs for you:
A lot of us are using different brands of paint and this usually means different kind of paint containers. What do to when you have paints in both – dropper bottles and Citadel pots? No worries, you are not alone and there are some options out there:
Vallejo, Citadel, Army Painter, Reaper and the list goes on… What if you are using craft paints or calligraphy and drawing inks? Maybe you prefer tubes? Luckily you are not alone. There are plenty of different solutions available:
It might seem that I would be hard to find something special in this type of rather functional design space. However, I found few interestingly looking designs and solutions. It I easy to forget that in some cases, simplicity is the key to a nice and functional design 😉
Are you looking for something specific? Let me know!
Let me remind you that if are you looking for something specific or simply need help finding some bits just let me know. I am more than happy to provide you with a list of files suitable for your project. All you need to do is to let me know by writing a comment below! I will make an article around the theme chosen by you 🙂
Previous parts of What to print for wargaming series:
I have to admit that what was going to be a short article with some general information regarding using spray paint primers is now a two part series. In Part 1 – you can find it here – I talked a bit about why priming your miniatures is a good idea, what color to choose and what options of spray paint and primers you have. Now, let’s talk about how to use those spray paints and primers.
Weather
is important
As obvious at it may seems, I keep forgetting about that. Weather is quite important, as it have a huge factor of how the spray paint is going to behave. If it is too hot outside you might have problems with paint drying too quickly before reaching the miniature. This will cause something that looks like, and is very often called as, ‘frost’ or ‘frosting’. Small dots of paint, that dried midair and reached the miniature almost fully dried, or almost dried, and just stuck to the model surface. It can also happen, when you hold the can too far away from the miniature.
If it’s foggy outside or it’s raining the humidity is going to be high and that will affect paint quite heavily. The more humid environment the longer it takes for paint to dry. It might result in paint not drying and curing properly. In some places of the model you will find patches of accumulated paint, or the paint can dry, but remain sticky. In other words, better not to spray prime you models when the humidity is high outside. There is a trick how to avoid it, but we will cover that once a bit later on.
Before you start priming
Before you jump straight into priming your models, there are few rules of thumb to remember about, and few tips and tricks to use beforehand 😉 :
– wear personal protective equipment (PPE), mask, gloves and some protective eyewear. This is a must in my opinion. If you don’t have a more professional face mask with filters, try to at least cover your nose and mouth with a scarf and wear glasses. – always spray outside or in a well-ventilated area. If you can’t spray outside try to do it with open doors or windows and preferably use a spray booth if you can. – try to prime your miniatures with a spray primer with optimal weather conditions. When it is not too hot or too humid. Do not spray prime when it is foggy, very hot or raining heavily. – read the instruction on the spray can and try to follow the guidelines as much as possible. It will make your life easier 😉 – store the spray cans in room temperature, not in a cold place as the paint doesn’t like it. Yeap, storing your spray cans in a garage is not the best idea. – shake the can before using it for around 2-3 minutes and shake it from time to time while priming. – start spraying paint slightly above the miniature or next to the miniature and with a slow and steady motion pass over the model covering it with a thin layer of primer.
– try to spray around 25-30 cm away from the miniature. A lot of people, myself included, are talking the can and put it next to the miniature on around 45-60 degree angle. This will give you an idea of the distance that is right for spray priming. – spray in one direction. Don’t make uncontrollable movements or circle like moves while spraying. If you are spraying from right to left, or top to down keep on that controlled motion and direction.
Few
Tips and Tricks
– make sure that the can you are using for priming is not cold, but warm or at least warm-ish. If the can feels cold when you hold it, try to warm it a bit in your hands. One trick to do here is to put the spray can in a bucket of warm water. Warm means NOT HOT or BOILING water! Remember that spray cans are very flammable and they can literarily explode when exposed for heat for too long. So how to define if the water is not too hot for your spray cans? If you can hold you’re your finger or hand in the water and it’s not uncomfortable or painful the water should be fine for the can as well. Leave the can in warm water for 10-15 minutes (some people leave it even for 1,5h!), shake it for 2-3 minutes and try to prime your miniatures. – when you really need to spray prime your models when it’s raining or cold outside you can try to use a simple trick with a hair dryer or a heat gun. Place it directly above the top of the spray can and turn it on before you start spraying. This is warm the air in front of your spray can and lower the humidity level. It should allow you to spray primer your models and ensure that the paint is going to dry properly. – when you are doing a lot of spray painting you can quickly clog the spray nozzle. In order to avoid it when you finish painting, or every now and then when you have a long spraying session, turn the spray can upside down and push the button. Keep pressing it until you see that the nozzle is clean of paint. – some spray cans allow you to swap their nozzles (this is the case with MONTANA series). It is a good idea to grab few clean ones when you buy the spray cans. It will give you an option to change the damaged or heavy clogged nozzles and just continue spraying.
What is a spray booth/tent and how to make one
A spray booth or a spray tent is an enclosure or a semi enclosed area used for spray painting. A spray booth keeps the overspray from going everywhere and it’s a place where you can spray paint when you cannot do it outside. More professional spray booths will also have a build in ventilation, also sometimes referred to as extractor fan system, which will absorb the overspray and in some cases even ventilate it outside.
I
am sorry for the quality of the picture, I was more into priming than
photographing 😛
I
am not going to show you how to make a spray booth with ventilation
system, but I will show you a quick way to do a spray tent. It will
keep the overspray away from everything else that you do not want to
put the paint on 😉
1. Just take an empty cardboard box, big enough to put your miniature in it. 2. Take some tape and make sure there are no holes in the cardboard box 3. Attach the miniature to something and put it in the spray booth
That’s pretty much it, you can start priming your models and do not worry about the overspray 😀
Can
Montana black paint be used as a miniature spray primer?
In the first part of this very short ‘series’ I mentioned that I am going to try Montana Black as a primer. I also mentioned that I absolutely love the Montana Black series of cans and their color palette. Let’s see if this paint is as suitable for miniatures as for MDF/HDF. The results are as follows:
Montana Black series Black Matt
As
Montana spray cans are a premium, high quality paint for artists with
high pigments density I was a bit concern that the paint is going to
be too thick for miniatures. I was not exactly right here. The paint,
when fully dry, is a bit thick. However, I did a quick one coat
primer here. So, maybe, when being more careful it could get better
results. I need to experiment a bit more with it and we will see.
I also asked few friends for their recommendations of a cheap, but relatively good, spray can primer. I ended up buying this:
It’s a spray can primer available here in Poland in almost every Auchan supermarket. I paid for it around 3$/2.5EUR/12PLN. In comparison Montana Black paint is for around 4$/3.70EUR/17PLN. The difference is not great when you buy two or three cans, but can make a difference if you need a lot of cans.
As I had to test the Montana Black spray paint and was also testing the new Kameleon Spray Primer I decided to try Den Braven Universal White Primer a second change. Here are the comparison photos:
Den Braven Universal White Matt Kameleon Primer White MattFrom left to right: Kameleon Primer White Matt, Montana Black series Black Matt, Den Braven Universal White Matt
For
me this time Montana is number 1, even though the paint is slightly
too thick for my taste. However, it might have been my fault. Number
2 is the Kameleon Primer White Matt. I got a feeling that this primer
might be very good when you know how to use it, will definitely give
it a go in the future. With the last one, honestly, I wouldn’t even
use it for terrain. Straight to the bin.
Final
thoughts
For
all future MDF and HDF projects I am going to stick with the Montana
Black and Gold series spray cans. I really love their colors, high
density of pigment and how they seal the MDF/HDF and prevent it from
soaking more paints.
While
for priming miniatures I will probably use a mix of cheap and
dedicated spray primers. For the most part I am going to stick to the
cheaper ones. Why? You may ask. The fact they work. I simply see no
reason and need to change them. Maybe for more ‘collectible’ and
really expensive pieces I am going to use the dedicated spray
primers. The same goes for painting big armies and using a specific
color of primer as my base coat.
My
final advice is to try some cheap spray can primers and test them on
few broken models. If you are happy with the result, use it. If you
prefer dedicated miniature spray can primers, stick to them. In the
end each of us, gamers, prefer different tools and use different
techniques. If something works for you, that is all that matters 🙂
If
you have any questions just write them down in the comments section
or on our Facebook page. I am more than happy to answer them or just
have a nice chat about out hobby 🙂
In almost every
wargaming system sooner or later you will find rules for some kind of
vehicles. Be it a tank, a car, a spaceship, or a simple wooden wagon.
Today I present you a list of different kind of vehicles, and I hope
that each of you will find something suitable for your games. Enjoy
your reading!
Tanks,
Jeeps and other WWII vehicles
There are many wargaming systems covering that part of our history. They might be in different scales; like 1/100 Flames of War or 28mm scale Bolt of Action. However, as different as those two games may be in case of rules, the period is pretty much the same or almost the same 😉 There are plenty of models available for World War II rule sets available on Thingiverse. Some of them are actually legendary, and well-known to the gamers. Even so, I hope that you can find a new interesting vehicle, which you can use for your games.
1-100 Modern Tanks
and Vehicles by m_bergman – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3766220 This
is one of the biggest collection of models that I have ever seen on
Thingiverse! And they are fully free for non-commercial use and
available for commercial use, under some conditions of course.
Science-Fiction wawrgaming systems are extremely popular. In most cases, having a vehicle in your ‘army list’ is a must, rather than an option. However, even if you do not need anything like a sci-fi tank or buggie, there is still room for using cars as a terrain piece. So let’s have a look what you can print for your army or gaming table.
I do know that I probably shouldn’t join those two categories together; however I do feel that models presented here are perfectly suitable for both settings. I see no reasons in splitting the models in two different categories if they can be use interchangeably in different, but similar settings.
This is a new category, as I just couldn’t miss the opportunity to put cars, excavators and all other trucks and mustangs just waiting to be printed! All those models can be used for zombie apocalypse or other post-apocalyptic like settings.
Are
you looking for something specific? Let me know!
Let me remind you
that if are you looking for something specific or simply need help
finding some bits just let me know. I am more than happy to provide
you with a list of files suitable for your project. All you need to
do is to let me know by writing a comment below! I will make an
article around the theme chosen by you 🙂
Previous parts of What to print for wargaming series:
Before
painting you need to primer your models. This is one of many ‘golden
rules’ of miniature painting. You can primer your models by using a
brush, airbrush and spray paint primer. If you have a horde of
miniatures to prime a brush is not the most tempting way to do it.
Not everyone have an airbrush, so a spray paint seems to be the best
and quickest option. However, it is often not as easy as it seems.
Let’s have a look how to make it easier for your, by providing few
tips and tricks and why you should prime your models.
Why priming is important
The case with priming is the same as with washing your models in warm water with some soap. Most people will tell you that it is essential, other will tell you that it is not important at all. I always prime my models and for me it’s just common sense.
So, why you should prime your models? Mainly, to prevent paint from flaking off your miniatures. Paint can have adhesive problems when used directly on plastic, metal or any other material that the miniature is made of. By priming the model you are creating a better surface for next layers of paint. You will find that primed models can be easier to paint as the paint sticks to them better, than to unprimed miniatures.
Painted models that were primed before painting are less likely to paint chipping when damaged during a game. Imagine that by a mistake you or your friend caused a model to fall from the table on the floor. Such fall can damage the models itself, not to mention the paintjob. Primed models, even when the paintjob is damaged and chipped in few places, should not show the bare metal or plastic, but the primer in those chipped places. In some cases, the paintjob will not take any damage thanks to the paint strongly sticking to the primer.
What color to use for priming your miniatures?
In
general there are three colors that most people use: black, white and
(light) grey. Those three colors are the most commonly used when
priming your miniatures. Before choosing the color you need to know
what you want to achieve. On black primer it will take more time and
layers of paint to get bright colors. When a miniature is primed with
white paint, all colors will be brighter, not as dark as when painted
on black primer. What if you are looking for more neutral color? Here
comes the grey primer to help you out. Grey color is considered to be
a neutral one, compared to black and white. Colors will not be too
bright, or too dark. We can say that they are going to be ‘toned
down’ a bit.
For beginner painters I would suggest a grey
primer. By many painters it is consider the easiest one to work with
and the most universal one.
It
is worth to mention that you can use many other colors to prime your
models. It makes sense especially, when you are painting an army and
can treat your primer as a basecoat.
Then you are just making your life much easier and speeding up you painting as you have 2in1: models primed and base coated at once.
What spray paint brand to use
There are many different brands on the market and at first it might be quite hard to choose the right one, especially when you are a beginner. So what brand to choose? I would say that the best idea would be to choose one of the brands dedicated to miniature painting. Which means: Games Workshop, Army Painter, Vallejo, Tamiya and the list goes on… Miniature dedicated primers were made especially for priming models. In other words they are designed for miniatures and should not melt them or damage them in any other way. Plus, they are expected to provide good coverage with thin layer(s) of paint and allow all those nice details to be seen through the primer.
The
downfall is that they can be quite pricey at times.
What about using cheaper not dedicated spray primers?
It
is natural that you will try to find a cheaper alternative to the
expensive dedicated spray primers. It is possible to get a quite good
spray primer that was not made especially for miniatures, but still
provides nice coverage and does not damage your models.
The question is which one to choose and which one is the best?
I
cannot give you one name and be 100% sure that it will not damage
your models and that you will be happy with the achieved result. I
can, however, give you few names as a starting point where to look
and what other modelers are recommending to try. Have a look at the
offer of: – Krylon primers (color master paint + primer) –
Brite Touch (general purpose primer) – Rust-Oleum Automotive
Primer (probably best for metal) – Deco Color – Dupli Color (or
Dupli-Color) – Den Braven – MONTANA (Gold and Black series)
You can find one of those brands in most countries and builders warehouses or even supermarkets. Before buying any of them please make sure that you are buying a PRIMER, and that it’s a MATT one. Believe me, you don’t want to end up with a gloss primer or just black gloss paint instead of a primer. Also make sure that you are NOT taking a VARNISH
Few things to have in mind when using cheap spray primers
Cheaper
primers most advantage is that they are cheap. Sometimes they also
provide a better protection and adhesion than miniature dedicated
spray primers. Unfortunately they are few downfalls that you need to
have in mind when buying and using those cheap primers:
– they
tend to have more aerosol in them than miniature dedicated primers
(you can overspray the miniature and it can be harder to control the
spraying itself)
– they stink. Yeap, they simply stink and the
smell can be still there even after leaving the model for 24-48h
outdoors
– it is safe to say that in most cases paint is
thicker than in dedicated miniature spray primers. This may lead,
again, to overspraying and flooding your models with paint, losing
all those lovely details.
–
they might damage your models. I am thinking mostly about plastic and
resin models, but metal miniatures are no exception. You never know
how the primer will react with plastic, metal or resin. Car primers
melting plastic or resin miniatures are nothing new 😉
Ok,
so if there are so many ‘general’ disadvantages are they actually
worth the hassle? The short answer is yes, but you need to be careful
and find the one that is right for you.
Before
applying any primer on your miniature take a spare model or a model
sprue and check if you are satisfied with the result. If you are not
happy how the primer looks, it’s too glossy or maybe it is flaking
off the plastic it’s not for you. The same goes if it melts the
plastic, it’s sticky, or the paint is to too thick – it is not
worth the hassle.
My own experience
For the last few days I was priming around 12-15 HDF terrain kits and some plastic GW models with some cheap and cheap-ish primers. We will talk about working with HDF and MDF another time though 😉
What are my conclusions? I will not recommend White Den Braven Super Color Universal spray paint for priming MDF or models. The paint is way too thick for my liking and the coverage is not too good either. However, white is a tricky color and it is hard to find a good white paint and primer. In the contrary, Den Braven Black Matt is OK for me. I can recommend it, but you need to be careful not to overspray the miniature.
I love the MONTANA Black series of paint. It is very good for HDF and MDF kits and the color palette is just amazing! Plus the price is quite good (17zł/7$) compared with the dedicated miniature primers. I have not tried to prime any miniatures with it so far, but will make a try especially for you soon. One of my friend’s advised me not to use in on miniatures, as for him the paint is way too thick for our hobby needs. However, my other friend told me that MONTANA Black series Black Matt paint is ok for him for miniatures. I will need to see it for myself 😉
What’s
next?
In second part of ‘How to prime your models with spray paint’ I will talk more how to use spray primers, or better to say how to make them work. How to prepare cans before priming and use them properly. I will also give you some tips how to avoid most common mistakes that people do with spray paints in general.
Our series of what to print for wargaming is slowly growing. You can have a look at previous parts, where I covered the topics of bases, weapons and horses. Today I want to talk about different accessories, that you might want to use in your games. Curious what is it all about this time? Read on.
Where
there is war, there are casualties
Sad but true. Where
there is war, there are casualties. I do realize that in most
wargames there are no rules for casualties. After all when one of
your soldiers is killed, you just take the model off the table.
However, I do believe that miniatures representing casualties can be
used as casualty or wound markers and to add a bit of realism to your
games. Sometimes, they can also be used as unit ‘gap fillers’,
when you are missing a figure of two and do not really want to buy
another box just for 1 or 2 miniatures. Plus, if you are a diorama
maker, they will definitely come in handy.
Every now and then
you probably miss having few figures of civilians on your gaming
table. Be it a waitress, innkeeper or just people walking down the
street. Also, during some games your objective is to escort someone
or to release some prisoners, and then all those civilian figures can
be useful. I hope that you will be able to find something for your
needs:
One day I will print them all (Hospital Staff) and make one huge horror inspired game in a haunter asylum…
Monsters!
Let’s admit it
openly. At some point all of us, gamers, have a need to paint and use
monsters in one of our games. In most cases, the bigger the better!
D&D and all other so called paper RPG players, I have some good
monster propositions for you
When I look at that Cockatrice I want to make a ‘The Witcher’ inspired diorama 😀
Objective
Markers
In almost every
wargaming system there is an option or a scenario where you need to
place some objective markers on the board. Those markers can be
represented by almost anything, however how much nicer it looks when
you use dedicated objective markers? Have a look at what I have
found.
In case of objective markers of wound/casualty markers it is a good idea to do them from scratch instead of looking for ready-made products. By combining few different objects – like barrels, weapons, ammo crates etc. you can make a simple but good looking objective marker. You can print each piece of the puzzle separately and then arrange it as you see fit. Markers made in such way give you must more satisfaction, than ready-made 3D printable designs.
It might be a good idea to look for markers in the board games section. A lot of files marked as ‘for board games’ can be easily adapted for wargaming needs.
Are
you looking for something specific? Let me know!
Let me remind you
that if are you looking for something specific or simply need help
finding some bits just let me know. I am more than happy to provide
you with a list of files suitable for your project. All you need to
do is to let me know by writing a comment below! I will make an
article around the theme chosen by you 🙂
We already talked about the concept of a limited palette (check it here). Now it is time to give it a go and try the theory in practice 🙂 If you want to have a peak on my take on the idea of a limited palette read on.
Try to answer some questions first
First
thing I would recommend is to try to answer some questions first.
Your limited palette will quite heavily depend on the model(s) and
current project you are working on. Try to determine how you want to
paint the model first: – Do you want to follow a specific color
scheme? – You need cool or warm colors? – How many colors you
want to use? – How much mixing you are comfortable to take?
After answering at least some of these questions it is time to choose your color palette.
In my case it is one of the plastic Frostgrave Barbarians from northstarfigures. I have around five of them. They are going to be a part of my warbands for Frostgrave and Rangers of Shadow Deep. So, let me answer some of the questions: – No specific color scheme, will determine it on the go. – Probably cool colors – Frostgrave = Winter is coming 😉 – 6 is the maximum (excluding the primer) – As much as it will take to finish the miniature. I want to learn as much as possible from this experience.
Ok, let’s have a look at our paint collection.
Choosing your palette
When you know what you are going to paint and how you are going to paint it, it is time to choose paints for your limited palette. Painting skin and flesh tones is not my specialty, so a color for skin is a must in my case. Barbarian without some fur is not a barbarian 😛 In such case I need some browns. Red – to mix some red-ish browns and darker brown mixes. Let’s try to paint some ice weapon or maybe some NMM (don’t really like it, but maybe I will give it a try). Blue it is then. Green is the last one. Ok, so why green? Just because xD I liked the color and was curious what mixes I will get with it. No idea how it will end for me, but I hope to have some fun mixing all those colors together.
Know your colors
I am still learning how to use a limited palette. Sometimes I am choosing wrong colors and struggling to get a satisfactory result. Next time, I am forgetting how I mixed a particular color or shade and have no idea how to do mix the highlights. So as you can see, it is a constant learning process for me. So what I learned so far?
Know your colors.
I start with making a quick color mixing guide. Just take a piece of paper, write down the name of each paint, and start mixing them together in 1:1 ratio. When you have a general idea what secondary colors you can get, try to make one or two simple color wheels to get some more secondary and tertiary colors. Now you have a starting point and a reference of available colors. You can and certainly will get more different colors, but you can now see what colors to use to get a desired shade and tint.
I created a very simple and quick color wheel that you can use for your own projects. The link to download the PDF should be at the end of this article.
What have I learned so far?
As I mentioned before, using the limited palette is still a constant learning process for me. However, I can give you some tips and advice how to make this process easier and more user-friendly:
– Make notes on your mixes. I cannot stress it enough. It will be much easier for you to determine how to mix relevant highlights, shadows or just get back to the basic color.
– Don’t be afraid to experiment. Using a limited palette is just another tool and learning step in becoming a better painter. It will help you understand the color theory better and how all that mixing works in general.
–
Washes. This is a second ‘paint’, that I missed in my palette.
Washes are an easy way to get shadows, and to unify the whole
painting altogether. This is what I missed. You could potentially use
any paint as a wash or glaze by using different techniques and
solvents. The question is, how much of different ‘painting
chemistry’ you want to include in your limited palette.
–
When choosing paints for your palette, remember that most of paints
that we use for miniature painting are not a single pigment paints.
It means that when you are mixing them together it is harder to
predict what result you will get. As in fact, those paints, are also
a mix of different pigments in various proportions. While, when you
are using single pigment paints, you can easily predict what color
you will get when mixing specific colors together. This is a very
important factor to take into account when selecting paints for your
palette as you might find using primary colors and single pigment
paints much easier, in the long run.
– White and Black should be a part of your limited palette. It is just my opinion. This is how it works for me, at least for now. I found out that I can easily work without black, but working without white was a bit difficult at times. With the set that I choose to work with it was hard for me to get the highlights that I wanted. By adding some white to some mixes I would probably achieved better results. Also, white, would end up as my final highlight in few places.
–
If you don’t like what you see, just paint it all over again. If
you are not sure if the highlight you just mixed is right, try it on
the miniature. However, prepare a wet cloth or a clean wet brush to
wipe the paint off if it is not what you are looking for.
–
Sometimes strange color mixes, might work brilliantly when put on the
model. So don’t be afraid to mix 3 or 4 colors together and use
such mix as a highlight or shadow. In some cases it can make wonders,
even if you feel that it will look odd. I for example, used some blue
for the beard in few places, followed by green-ish grey. I really
like the final result. The same goes for the helmet. I started
with dark violet mix of brown and red, and highlighted it with
pink-ish brown. In my opinion it worked quite well. Which was not as
obvious for me 😉
My mistakes
First of all, please keep in mind that this miniature was painted in just one short (around 1-1,5h) painting session. It is still a WIP (Work in Progress), as I haven’t finished painting the skin, the axe and armguards. What mistakes I made:
– I really like to turquoise color mix that I managed to get. However, when I am looking at the miniature now, it doesn’t look good compared with other brown-ish leather and cloth elements. In other words, wrong color scheme.
– I struggled a lot with highlighting the turquoise tunic. I changed the mix three to four times, but was never happy with the final result. I should have repainted it
–
I forgot what mix I used to paint the fur around his neck, and had no
idea how to get proper highlights. Now it doesn’t look to good to
be honest. I should have repainted that area using a fresh mix, wrote
down the recipe for that mix, and then try to get better color for
highlights.
–
Overall, I very often used too bright colors as my base colors. I
should have used darker mixes and leave the brighter ones as
highlights. This simple mistake forced me to use far brighter mixes
as highlight than I really wanted. It also made the whole process of
mixing much more difficult.
– Contrast. I should have used much more contrast. I am constantly struggling with this, so it is another.
When it will work and when it is a bad idea?
I got a feeling that using limited palette is a good idea with display pieces and more artistic work in general. While, obviously, it is going to be a nightmare when used for army painting. Mixing paints is a fun idea until you are too overwhelmed and too tired to make another batch or the same color for the 10th time during the same painting session.
At the beginning,
when you are trying out mixing for the first time it can be quite
difficult to properly paint a miniature during more than one painting
session. For me, a limited palette works ok, as long as I manage to
finish the model during a single painting session. The more sessions
I need to finish painting, the more difficult it gets to make
relevant paint mixes. Even with notes on recipes. I do know that
professionals are using limited palette ‘tool’ all the time and
have far better understanding of colors and how they work. However,
for me it is quite difficult at times to get the mix that I want and
that will work well on the miniature.
Try it and figure out your own way of using it Please remember that all information contained in this article are just my way of using a limited palette. Simply speaking, it is my opinion and my try on this subject. It does not mean that it is the only and right way of doing it. What I am trying to say is that you need to experience it in your very own way, do it as you want and as you need. Painting miniatures is a hobby, and as such is supposed to be relaxing and fun. I hope that your adventure with limited palette is going to be exactly that, relaxing and fun.
So far in our series of ‘What to print for wargaming?’ I covered the topic of horses and weapons. You can find the last one here.This time I had a look at miniature bases for our beloved models.
It was a bit tricky how to manage the categories. In other words it took me some time to decide whether I want to follow my usual ‘list’ or make it more themed based: ‘desert bases’, ‘stone bases’ etc. Hope that I did it right 😉
City bases – cobblestone, ruined streets, sewers, debris In this section you will find all kinds of different street type bases. Building an army for Warhammer 40k? Here it is – imperial city theme! Want more cracks in the concrete street and/or more metal parts? Got you covered. What about simple and traditional cobblestone? Yes, it is on the list. If you are playing Frostrave, Watrhammer or even Batman Miniature Game you can easily find something suitable for your game.
Science Fiction city, barracks and factories Any Infinity or Necromunda players out there? I got something for you. Sci-Fi city streets, barrack floors and factory grounds. All is here. You want to play a quick skirmish in the HiveCity, or on some kind of a drilling platform ? Have a look on the list below.
Skeletons, Undead, Zombies and all that Necromancer business… Graveyard, skulls, bones and much more! If you were looking for some suitable bases for your Undead or Skeleton army you have it all here. However it will be just fine for a Bolt Action team attacking or defending a Church 😉
I have sand in my shoes! Yes, you got it right. I am going to present you some sets of desert themed bases. Desert wasteland, ruins and stone roads covered with sand and plenty of cracked earth. Plenty of possibilities here! Ever wanted a skeleton ‘Egyptian’ like army (Tomb Kings anyone)? Not your cup of tea, ok, what about some Fallout and Wild West theme games? If the answer is yes, you will find something for you.
What about board gamers and D&D players? – no worries, I found something for you
I managed to find some interesting solutions suitable for board games and Dungeon & Dragons players out there. I present you with flying/climbing solutions and health counters!
TIP Sometimes when I am looking for some specific theme I tend to check ‘strange’ tags# and search by not so straightforward ‘search entries’. For example, under ‘banner’ you can find really cool looking ‘bases’ 😛
In other words, from time to time it is good to check tags that are not directly related to the model or theme you are looking for.
Are you looking for something specific? Let me know!
Let me remind you that if are you looking for something specific or simply need help finding some bits just let me know. I am more than happy to provide you with a list of files suitable for your project. All you need to do is to let me know by writing a comment below! I will make an article around the theme chosen by you 🙂
Painting
miniatures is only one part of our wargaming hobby. One of the other
ones is basing your miniature. There are many ways and materials that
you can use to base your miniature. Today I will show you how to make
a simple base for your miniatures with household items that probably
all of us have at hand.
Materials
and Tools
The below list contains all necessary, and some optional, materials for today’s project. Let’s have a look what you will need:
Cork
(a wine bottle or a cup coaster is fine)
Sand
Small
stones or gravel (optional)
PVA
glue (aka white glue)
superglue
x-acto
knife
cutters/clippers
safety
glasses
work
gloves
bits
from your bitzbox (optional)
As always safety first, so do not be surprised to see safety glasses and work gloves on the list 😉 Please have in mind that it is the bare minimum, which you will need to make a simple base that I am presenting to you today. If you have other materials and bits that you want to use go ahead and use them. You probably noticed that some materials have the ‘optional’ mark next to them. Depending on your projects you might need them or not, that’s why they are listed as ‘optional’.
Not all materials visible here will be used today.
Step one – choose our base and start working with cork
Different size of miniature bases.
Have a
look what miniature needs to be based and double-check what base size
you need for that particular model. Also try to think if you are
going to use this miniature in a tray as it might need a bit more
planning, as you do not want to make a base that won’t fit the tray
😉
When you have the base size you need to prepare a cork sheet (one from a wine bottle is fine), superglue and clippers. Take your clippers and start cutting or better to say ‘crumble’ the cork. The idea here is to get smaller cork pieces with irregular shapes on each edge of the small cork piece.
Remember, safety first when working with tools 😉
When you are satisfy with your cork pieces you can start arranging them on your base. When you are happy with the overall look of the base, start gluing the pieces in place with superglue.
A small drop of superglue.
Step
two – it’s time for sand and gravel
Prepare the PVA glue (white glue), container with sand and some small stones. Instead of stones I am going to use ground cork from GaleForce9. However you can use many different household items, for example whole black pepper (ungrounded) 😀
Put some PVA glue on your base and add sand and gravel. I tend to ‘flood’ the base with glue on it in my sand container 😉 I am a lazy bugger 😛
Step
three – the devil is in the detail
Now is the time to unleash your inner creativity. If you want to add some bitz, skulls, bones and any other bitz that will make your base special now is the time to do it. I am going to use some skulls from ORZOL Studio, that you could see in the ‘How to paint miniatures’ article. Please note that static grass and grass tufts can be added after painting the base 😉
I also have other bitz from ORZOL Studio, but I have an idea for a small diorama project. I simply plan to use all those swords, skulls and the undead/possessed (?) knight for it 😉
That’s it! You finished building your base!
Congratulations!
You finished building your miniature base! Now all you need to do is
to paint the base, add some static grass or grass tufts and painted
model. Just that 😉
What
about adding some paint ?
We will cover this step in another article dedicated the art of basing. Please remember, that materials like static grass, grass tufts can be added after the base is fully painted. Next time I am going to show you how to add some grass tufts and maybe some foam modeling flock.
Yay or Nay? Do you like how they look on my fresh bases?
In our first article of the series of ‘What to print for wargaming?’ I covered the topic of horses. You can read it here.
Today, I would like to present you with a list of various types of weapons that you can 3D print for your minis. This might come in handy when you are missing some weapons or simply want some variety and are planning to make some conversions. I did tried to include something for everyone. Starting from so called cold weapons and ending on Sci-Fi firearms. You will find some swords, bows, daggers, war hammers, Sci-Fi power swords, laser guns, plasma pistols and much more.
Please note that in many cases models that were listed under one section ex. ‘Swords, spears, maces […]’ are suitable for most Fantasy, Historical and even Sci-Fi systems. However, I wanted to avoid listing the same link twice. That is why you will find them in different sections of this article, even though they would suit many different settings.
Let’s
start with something suitable for D&D
I do realize that in most cases historically accurate weapons are fine for most D&D campaigns. However, spells can also produce magical weapons and this is what you will find in this section today:
If you are looking for some swords and other cold weapons (also called white arms), you can find them in the section below.
Source Thingivers/ A flying sword anyone?
Swords,
spears, maces… you name it! It’s here.
If you are playing
some Fantasy or Historical systems you will find something suitable for you here. Different kind
of swords, bows, spears, shields and other kind of white arms can be
found among those files.
I have
to say that recently I got into steampunk and those flints would fit
in that setting perfectly! However, I can also see some Dwarfs from
the Warhammer Fantasy Battle ‘Old World’ being equipped with a
weapon like that.
For some reason that sword is the most appealing for me 😉
Modern
and WWII firearms
And finally
something for all of you who are into more post-apocalyptic, modern
or World War II related systems. I present you a list with AK47,
Thompsons SMG and much more:
Ok, I do know that
you might still be looking for something unusual to what I have just
showed you. I managed to find some quite interesting firearms for
you:
However, here you will need to spend some time assembling the weapons as they are provided in parts. Which also mean that the files need to be edited and adjusted before printing.
Source Wikipedia and Abdeen Palace Museum/ They look scary enough for me 😛
Few
TIPs
If you are still
looking for something different for your models, try the Tags cosplay
and cosplay_weapon.
There
are plenty of really cool weapons available tagged like that.
However, they will need to be pre-assembled and prepared for 3D
printing, which might need some basic CAD software skills.
Even though you will need to spend some extra time preparing those files, looking at the prints, IMO they are worth the hassle.
Are you looking for something specific? Let me know!
Once again if are you looking for something specific or simply need help finding some bits just let me know. I am more than happy to provide you with a list of files suitable for your project. All you need to do is to let me know by writing a comment below! I will make an article around the theme chosen by you 🙂
Being a part of the A-Case Crew is an awesome experience, however every now and then you are being tested. Yeap, tested! I do not mean any kind of medical tests, but new ideas are being tested on you and your miniatures. Curious what is it all about this time? Read on!
The not so strange package…
One beautiful morning I received a package. It was a normal package. Nothing unusual about it. Not even a strange sign on the envelope front or back. Just another day in the office.
Package like package, everyone knows, everyone saw one in their lives.
Instructions, instructions, instructions
Pretty straightforward I would say
Ok, so let’s have a look at the instructions and what I have to do today to make it work. Do open it. Do put it in the microwave. Add black paint. Don’t look at me like that! I am just testing it… Ask the designer why I need black paint 😛
I never liked pans anyway…
How to be a hobbyist without black paint
Ok, I am a hobbyist without black paint! No idea how it happened, but let’s mix some black paint out of primary colors. At least some black-ish color 😉
My blackest black of all my blacks
Ideally you need just three colors: yellow, cyan and magenta. However, I got only yellow, red and blue. This is the blackest black that I could get…
Black paint is there. Trust me I am an engineer! 😛
What’s next?
I am as curious as you are, as I never did that before. But getting a pocket version of an ACase magnetic transport system case sound perfect! Worth to give it a shot.
When the first step, according to the instructions, is ready I will have a look at the second part of this A-Case. What we got here – add warm water, use a hot saucepan, do not drop it, let it cool… Am I in a next masterchef or what? 😀
And done!
This is our result!
Here you can find the final result ;). Not as pocket as I thought, but I still love it! Who wants to get one of those unsuspicious packages and give it a try?
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