Paintfest Round 2

This past weekend saw a bit of progress on painting!

Me and a couple of friends decided to get together this weekend at our LGS (The Last Square, Madison, WI) and paint together.  We did it for several reasons, but really one of our friends (Michael) just received a new air brush and compressor.  He was all "geeked" out about getting to use the tool.  In addition, his lovely wife is battling cancer, so this was a way for Michael to get a sense of normalcy.  We were all really glad to get the group together.  Michael has not played FoW in over a year.  He was tired of the game and it really showed.  Heck, if you are not having fun then do something else!  That was Michael's motto and I really understand.

Is it a bad sign that you pack your car the night before?  Or that you believe you need a list to make sure you brougth everything?

Air brush - Check
Compressor - Check
Brit Paras - Check
33 brushes - Check
110 bottles of paint - Check
Cup for the air brush to actually work - ahhh.  yeah.  forgot that.

So I was not able to air brush with Michael, but he took to it like a trooper.  He is building a Tiger I model and did a great job with the base coat and practicing his dots and thin lines.  I was finishing up my son's Leman Russ and doing detail work on Brit Armour.  Joe was going to town on his new buildings.  Be sure to check out his pictures in the terrain section of the flames of war forum at flamesofwar.com where he talks about his Total Battle Mitiatures buildings.  They do look fantastic!

Then it happened.

I had just finished a pin wash on the Leman Russ using MIG Brown Wash.  I was about to start a wash on the Brit Armour with MIG Dark Wash.  I see the pigments in the bottle were stuck at the bottom.  So I violently shake the bottle.  In 2.3 seconds I realize that the bottle was not fully sealed.  That was 2.3 seconds too late.  I splattered EVREYTHING.  My stuff, my hands, the table, the surrounding 23 feet.  The good news - I did not get Joe, nor his buildings.  The bad news - Michael got it worse that anyone or anything.  I splattered the poor guy.  Hands, face, arm - EVERYTHING.  The new, nicely painted Tiger I - nailed it.

After 20 minutes of clean up and me feeling as big as a tick, Michael was presentable.  With Joe's help, we got as much as we could cleaned up around his work area.  But the Tiger I was staring at me.  I knew I ruined the model.  I can't clean enamel off acrylic that has not yet been sealed.  If I put the thinner on the model, the basecoat is ruined.

The first think Michael says when he gets back "Hey, that looks like rust!"  I think it is utter "bs", but that is his view.  I wanted to crawl away.  I figure my penance should be painting three battalions of Soviet Strelk.  But Michael continued to insist and tried his best to make me feel better.  I don't.  And I won't for a while.

We did keep painting, but my heart just wasn't in it.  So Michael, if you are reading, I am still very sorry and feel like a total loser!  Thanks for the comments to make me feel better.  But I still feel like a dork.  Oh, replace a couple of letters in Dork and you get a better picture.

After a few drinks at home and a day to put it behind me, I did finish up some stuff last night with my son.  He is painting his Grey Knights 40K guys.  He used the air brush and put a basecoat of Vallejo Model Air Gun (Metallic) on the guys.  Promising start!  I used the airbrush to fix my Typhoons (a victim of "splattergate") and to put a light grey on the underside of the fuselage.  I also now have all my Brit Armour tracks finished and just a little detail work needed before decals and weathering.  But it will be a few weeks before I can finish since I have some time off coming up and a trip planned.

So a gentle reminder to all - Check and double check that your MIG bottle is fully closed before violently shaking the bottle!

Paintfest Results

Well, cold hard reality hit me in the face.  I had great aspirations for Paintfest, but it didn't quite work out that way.  But I did get some good painting done!

All my British armor has been primed, base coated and panel highlighted.  I even had a spare minute or two to get the wooden handles all painted and stowage boxes painted.  All my American halftracks and Priests got the exact same treatment.  So in a pinch, they could hit the table right now.  The crews of the 17pdrs got primed and a base coat of British Uniform.  Tank crews got the same.  The British paras are a different story.  Due to some "technical" issues, about 60% were basecoated (all were primed).  I was applying the basecoat with my airbrush, but I was constantly getting the mix wrong.  I finally gave up and resorted to a brush.  Wrong!  After four guys, I decided to stop and return later with the brush.  I did get a primer coat on my Ruined British HQ from JR Miniatures and a cottage I picked up a year ago.

My real accomplishment was getting my son's Leman Russ 40k model painted up.  Did the primer, basecoat and higlighting.  I went with a version of American desert armor color.  I still need to paint the details and get a wash put on it.  But I like the way it looks.  I am a little afraid that I went a bit overboard on the highlighting, but my son tells me he likes it as is.

So next on the "to do" list will be getting the basecoat on the Brit paras and then get the vehicles completed.  But with work and great weather, well it might take a bit of time.  Plus our family vacation is coming up!