Project 365: Day 87 - TAUTAUHAN

Let's see if this will fly:

Painting Credits belong to: Daidoji (Roy Caamud), Junex (Jun Tan), Bakerofish (Karl Manalo), Secretsix (Henry Soo?)

Figures are by Games Workshop, Privateer Press, Reaper and Red Box 

Project 365: Day 86 - I'm tired of being mad

One way or another, everyone ends up in a conflict situation.

If you're even a little bit like me you'll end up in a lot of them. Most of the time I just dig my heels in and see everything to the bitter end. Scorched earth if need be. I may not be 100% right all of the time but I sure as hell do believe so during those situations

Sometimes though you just get tired of the drama and you just want to offer the olive branch and make peace. Especially when you're not entirely sure what the conflict is about and when you're dealing with someone you thought was a friend and dear to those you consider friends.

It's not about being the bigger man in this case. You really just want to patch things up. It matters ya know?

But then after offering the sign of peace, they slap your hand and just remain...unreasonable and passive aggressive.

Do I deserve it? Maybe. Regrets? Not getting the chance to talk things through.

But I'm just tired of being mad. I'm just done with that now. Especially since I wasn't mad in the first place.

I'll try walking away from this one and see where it gets me.

Project 365: Day 85 - Kaya Rebirth - WIP Part 4

Just a peek at what I've been working on:

Skin is a little bit rough. Thinking a wash should fix that.

Project 365: Day 84 - Miniatures Review Warwitch Deneghra 2010 Metal

Here's the 2010 Metal version of everyone's favorite evil twin sister.

She's poison for your heart

Again, no miscasts, warps and very faint moldlines on the model. Very nice details and good proportion all throughout. Details are tiny but sharp. I haven't glued her to her base yet because she deserves something prettier.

The witchbarbs will prove to be the most fragile parts here like any version of her model. The barbs are on thicker stems this time but pinning them in is still going to be a near impossible task. i guess this is where the plastic model have an advantage

The weapon and the body come in one piece which is interesting but may be a problem as the greater part of the spear shaft is molded with her skirt.

I made her chin tilt a bit downwards for a more aggressive pose

Some sloppy greenstuff work on her witchbarbs. They dont slot into anything and keeping them on using superglue was proving to be difficult. Ill smooth the greenstuff out later

Again, Escalation has the best character portrait of hers so far:

Image property of Privateer Press.

Can anyone tell me who the artist for these pages was? The artwork don't have the artist's signature.

I cant wait to get her painted up.

Project 365: Day 83 - Miniature Review - Kommander Sorscha 2010 Metal

I'm not shy about admitting this. I have a crush on Sorscha. I've always liked her looks and her fluff. I guess I like women that could kill with their looks!

Out of all the artwork out there, her Escalation rendition is my favorite:

Image owned by Privateer Press

 It was a real shame though that for the longest time, Sorscha didn't have a mini that did her any justice. Her earlier figs had a very mannish look to them and it was difficult to make her look pretty. Add that to my abysmal painting skills and, well...you get the idea.

I traded in my Khador army for cash and never regretted the decision. I do however still like the character very much. Imagine my glee when I spotted the Kommander Sorscha resculpt in the MKII Prime book.

I later found out that the model would be plastic and would be part of the new plastic battle boxes. I promised myself I'd get the box when I had money to spare just to get the new hotness.

Imagine my glee again when I found out that Privateer Press is offering the metal version as an exclusive!

Imagine my glee once more when I finally got her. Thanks SJ!

Pinned and assembled. She was simply slotted to the base as I have plans to put her on something more epic.

It really is a pretty fig. Sorscha finally has a pretty-faced figure to match her depictions and the mini itself was cast very cleanly with some very faint mold lines. Details are crisp and no warps on this fig. Assembling required pinning for both arms but shouldnt be a problem for experienced modellers. you can also opt to do the greenstuff/superglue combo.

Can't wait to paint her up.

Project 365: Day 82 - Food! Charlie's Grind and Grill

I thought I liked burgers. I thought like any carnivore, that there was nothing better than a good burger. Thinking about that a bit more made me realize how this wasn't very true for me. The countless times that I've headed out to eat, I find myself not ordering many burgers. Nor do I go out specifically to hunt down a good burger.

I guess it's because:
1. Fastfood joints are prolific and my eat-outs are supposed to be respites from that
2. Most places don't really offer good burgers (Brothers), are overpriced (Army Navy/ That place in Serendra...600 for wagyu burgers? really?) or God forbid, both! (Johnny Rockets)
3. Most places that would offer good burgers would offer something better.

I thought that a good burger would forever be just a bit out of reach and a good burger joint would be a distant thought.

I've hard about Charlie's from Joyce and I've been meaning to visit. My bro-in-law brought home a cold specimen from the place in a brown paper bag. At first i didnt know where it came from and I ignored the damp fries in the bag. I chowed down on the burger and for a cold sandwich i thought it was pretty decent.

I told Roxane about it and one night after work we decided to get some grub. We first thought about  going to Uncle Moe's for their cheese filled meatballs but decided we would hunt Charlie's down.

Charlie's Grind and Grill - East Capitol Road, Kapitolyo, Pasig City. Open till 2am

Awesomely enough Charlie's is just a stone's throw away from Moe's. The place is right beside a carwash which is genius really. Get your grub on while your car gets detailed.

Menu is written in chalk and I get the feeling that the whole menu may not be up there. Some interesting names for food and condiments like "Punyeta Sauce"

  Roxane and I have a tendency to get distracted by the menu and miss out on house specials. this time though we pledged to try out the house bestseller before anything else.

The house specialty is the Black Angus Beef Burger. Charlie's angle here is that their beef is never frozen and ground on site. I cant really tell ya if the beef used is really Black Angus as I'm no beef expert. I had my doubts because the burger is just at 190 bucks. That's less than my favorite Steakhouse Burger from Burger King. They say though that the proof is in the pudding, or in this case, the patty.

We ordered one burger each and added their "Fresh Fries" (30?),smoked bacon (30) and some sodas.

The lettuce was really THAT green.

Wow.

Take that picture in for a minute. Fresh veggies, big steakfries and thick cut bacon on melted cheese.

I didn't expect the fries to be a winner here. I love french fries but they tend to be the same frozen ones and if we did get house-cut fries they werent really anything extraordinary. Charlie's "Fresh fries" were fried and baked as far as I can tell and they are so good it took me a while to remember I had a burger to deal with. They're that good. Crunchy without being dry and the starch solid without being starchy. I loved the ones with the skin on and I wonder if I can request all my fries to have the skins on.

The bacon on the burger was another revelation. I added it on a whim and almost didnt. The bacon is not your breakfast bacon thinly cut and soaked in grease. These things are thick sticks of pork awesome. My heart stopped a second after i bit into the bacon as I KNOW these things aren't good for me. They have a mild smokey flavor and aren't over-cured. They remind me of the old style homemade bacon i used to have back when I was a kid.

Mr. Demille, I'm ready for my closeup!

With such an awesome supporting cast, you'd be worried that the star of the show won't be able to match up. Charlie's baby didn't disappoint. It's a good sized burger as you can see from the pic. the bread is a soft black sesame seed bun. The bread might be something that you'd not notice most of the time but I appreciated how much it held everything together. Sometimes good sandwiches would be let down by wimpy bread.

The patty is a juicy piece of moo. You know it's a good burger when the juice runs down your arm. you can tell that the meat is house ground and fresh as it still has that meaty earthy taste that I love. Right now I can't tell if its Angus since it's ground but what I can tell ya is that its a tasty, good quality beef.

Total damage, 250 for the burger and the fixins, and add another 45 for the soda. Not too shabby in the cost department either.

Now, I'm not gonna say that the place doesn't have its downsides though. The indoor dining area is a bit cramped and the smells from the kitchen kinda carry over with the AC. The place gets packed during the night and people do smoke in the outdoor dining area. The service is generally prompt and we got our burger faster than i would expect but if it's busy the service does take a dive. The manager was chewing out one of the cooks when we were there. Roxane ordered a rootbeer float and got a frosty glass of icecream and a can of Mug. Overall though, those don't really take a lot out of the exprience.

I guess I found my burger joint :)

Project 365: Day 81 - Spacewolf Terminator with ...Snow :P

Minor update: Snow!

Project 365: Day 80 - Spacewolf Terminator with Thunderhammer Finished

Apart for some touch-ups, I'm calling this dude done. A bit messy on some parts but should be enough for tabletop:

Golds getting washed out by the lighting here...

Dramatic shot

Coat detail. Did some washes in bands here to create some subtle fur patterns like what real animals would have

Closeup of the face. You can see the seams of the greenstuff work I did. I really need to get better with my sculpting skills

The 3 color priming technique I used here is interesting. I may find myself using it more in the future :)

I'm also debating on whether I should put snow on the base...

C&C much appreciated

Project 365: Day 79 - Saizen!!

 Yesterday I went down to Robinson's Galleria and headed straight for:

Photo stolen from the warp, este the web

Saizen is a japanese chain known as Daiso. Due to pinoys jumping the gun and registering Daiso here the Philippines, the folks decided to launch as Saizen.

If you think Saizen is another one of those "japan home" stores (theres one a few feet away from Saizen) you'd be doing yourself as a disservice as the place has a lot of legitimately awesome stuff. Everything in Saizen costs 85 bucks, which could be a steal for what you're buying, and an utter rip off for some (like batteries)

But if you're just interested in hobby related stuff, heres what I walked away with yesterday:

Needle Files. I need to replace my chinese made ones as these have a finer tooth. 5 peso coin for size comparison

I also bought another diamond file. I had a half-round and bought a 3 sided one this time

Coping saw! I'll see how this handles mdf and lawanit.

And something I always get from Saizen every chance I get: Craft Knife refills. Now, I've warned folks before about using cheap craft knives but this brand is very much comparable in terms of qaulity with XActo. The advantages are that this is cheaper (85 for 10 blades vs 75 for 3 Xacto)...

...and it comes in a very neat magnetized dispenser. Slide the tab out and the magnet grabs a blade for you

You can fix your blade to your craft knife without ever touching the stabby part

Another neat feature is the used blade storage compartment it has. Keeps it  from tearing trashbags and killing some smokey mountain kid and if you are so inclined, you can slide the back compartment to use the old blades for less glamorous jobs

I wish I could take pics of the store interior but they dont allow it. There's loads of other stuff that folks could use for gaming or kitbashing (i have a cloth canvas dice bag that came from Saizen's kitchen section :) )

One downside to the store is that they dont restock often and sometimes they dont restock what you want at all. They used to have battery-powered  mini hotwire cutters last year but im still waiting for them to restock. So if you find something you need, get it NOW. 

It has come to the point that if I'm strapped for cash I avoid this store like the plague as its very very easy to walk away with more than you intended to buy.

Project 365: Day 78 - Sister of Battle color sketch

Lineart by Auzzymo
http://auzzymo.deviantart.com/gallery/25595755#/d33n0ez

quick colors by me :) just trying to see if I still can do stuff...

Project 365: Day 77 - Space Wolf Terminator with Thunderhammer Part 2

Primed Thunderhammer-er. Primed from black, to grey and white to help me with zenithal lighting.

 

 

 Decided to try this out after seeing that No Quarter article from Privateer Press as well as this link:

http://www.helldorado.fr/figurines/helle-moller-step-by-step-painting-guide-by-thomas.php

Thanks to Junex for the link  :)

Project 365: Day 76 - Iron Lich Asphyxious Part 2

Some more pics of the Iron Lich...

for some reason the camera kills the yellow in the glow

Project 365: Day 75 - Im on the precipice...

I have a choice to make.

Project 365: Day 74 - Space Wolf Terminator with Thunderhammer

Greenstuff still in progress. I am still struggling with sculpting :| but I think I can manage  what I'm about to do here.

 I hate how Terminators dont have hips and can't move their arms laterally :p

Project 365: Day 73 - Iron Lich Asphyxious

Wolf's Iron Lich Asphyxious:

Hope he likes it :)

Project 365: Day 72 - Trollblood Backlog

My Trollblood Fennblades and two minimum units of Trollblood Champs. Based with Batangas and Palawan Sand :D. These guys are off to be primed.

These guys better behave or they're gonna end up like these guys:

(with apologies to SJ XD)

Project 365: Day 71 - Pinning

Just a bit on Pinning for assembly and in this bit, repair.

I'm filling out my Tharn Bloodtracker units to a full ten-man squad and I also got Unit Attachment as well. While less fiddly than some of the models in Privateer Press' line, the Tharn ladies suffer from  a bending problem. It's time to replace the weapon shafts with something a lot more durable.

No matter what game line you play, whichever manufacturer you buy from, if you're working with metal figs you'll end up with something like this. A bent shaft. Ouch!  No worries though because most of the time you can just bend em back straight.

... but this isn't one of those times. We're gonna have to operate.

Snip snip. (Nurse hand me the guava leaves...) On a side note, this is the second appearance of Lord Tetanus.

Make sure you file the contact points flat. Make sure you file in one direction.

Get yourself  an awl or a needle tool or any other pointy pokey device (patent pending)

White metal is pretty soft (thats why we have this problem in the first place) so your pokey thing should penetrate and create a good pilot hole

The pilot hole is important because it'll help keep your pinvice drive that drill down straight. Very important for narrow pieces like this spearhead. Do the same for the spear shaft.

For the replacement shaft, get a paperclip that fits the holes that you just made. Make sure you rough up the wire with a file to give the superglue something to grip to.

Take your time, keep a steady hand and an even pace and with the drilling. Dry fit the parts and use superglue to finish the repair.

I did this for two more models in the unit. I also used the technique to pin the arms for the Bloodtrackers as well.

So there ya have it :). I'll have a few more updates on the ladies once I start painting them.

Project 365: Day 70 - Spacewolf Dread WIP Part 4

Finally got a camera and I've got pics!

Just a bit of cleanup around the base and I'm calling this done. Wish I planned this out more (was thinking of doing stained glass effects on the shins but I got stuck in the planning and I didn't know if i could pull it off) but I don't think its that bad for my first dread and it's really just Tabletop quality :) Hopefully I can get to do something a little crazier when another dread comes my way.