Kiddy toy painting challenge

Well, over on the Dragon Painting forum, Angora runs a monthly painting competition for kicks and giggles as well as a way to get painters to push their realms of comfort.

This months challenge was a pretty different one, so I thought I would show ya what I come up with, and the process I take for it.

Basically, we are to find a dinky plastic toy of some sort, prime it up and paint it.
Should be pretty cool to see what everyone comes up with.
After rooting around in  my kids toy box, I was allowed to take an old Mcdonalds happy meal toy. (Think it was McD's anyway) Think it is a Ben10 toy but I honestly couldn't say with much surety.

Here is what I'm starting with.

All primed and glued to a base now. I hope to start slinging the paint tonight. All those big open surfaces may ground this project before I get too far, but I will try to persevere through to the end.

Facebook plug and giveaway

As of late, I have decided to utilize Facebook a bit more to promote the blog and use it as good resource for quick postings of hobby stuff without a big write up, picture uploads, etc.

To that end, I would like to ask my regular(or not so regular) blog readers to head on over to my Scotty's Workshop Facebook page and throw it a like.
As a thank you, once it hits 50 likes, I plan to do another random giveaway!

Thanks for following!

(Link to the page in the right hand column)

Inexpensive and easy homemade flock!

Thought I would post up a quick tutorial about how I go about making my own homemade flock for figure basing and terrain projects.
I am by no means the first person to do this so I cant claim complete originality with it.
Hopefully you'll be able to find a good use for it.


First things first, you have to get a god source for sawdust...and quite a bit of it.  Best bet is to find a local mill/cabinet shop or the like. People that have home wood shops will not have to worry about this part. As I am without my own wood shop, I go with my wife to a craft store that does holiday wood cutouts in bulk. Seems as long as she is in line buying something when I ask for a container of sawdust, they have no problem getting me some for free.

I usually take a big cleaned out coffee can for them to fill.

Once you've got your sawdust. you'll need to decide what color flock you want. I've just gone with green here for simplicity sake but soon I plan to make a rust colored batch for a Dark Age board.

When the color you want is in mind, go buy the cheapest craft paint you can find. You'll want it a bit darker than what you want the end result to be. This is the most expensive part of the entire project. ($2.00 or so)
A good long stirring stick is also a must, I use BBQ skewers but Popsicle sticks or a plastic butter knife should do the trick as well.

More after the jump!

Random giveaway winner!

Well folks, two weeks have passed and it is now time to draw for the winner of the box of random hobby goodness.
Here is a quick pic of what the winner will be receiving.

After putting all of the names in the hat, the winner is....................................................................................................................................................




                                        Crazy Bald Head! Congrats!
Hopefully you can find a cool use for all the stuff inside.

I'll need you to contact me with an address within 4 days time or another random winner will be selected.

Again, thanks for following all, and stay tuned for the next giveaway. You never know when or what it might be!

Lady in.....Pink

So those of you that know of the Throne of Angels Video Blog know that he gives away a ton of cool stuff at random. If you dont know that, you may want to go check it out and subscribe cause as I said, he gives away a ton of cool stuff!!!

I recently was drawn out of his hat for a random giveaway, and recieved my prize in the mail just a few days ago.
I got a very awesome Limited. Breast cancer edition, Halo figure by cool mini or not.
These were all cast in pink resin as a fund raiser for Breast cancer awareness. ( or so I assume)

So, my question to all of you is, do you assemble this fig and leave it plain pink as it is,throw it on a shelf and forget about it, or would you paint it up as you would any other figure in your collection?
Or, the third option: paint it up, but paint with heavy pink accents to keep the figure in line with what it was originally made for?

Here's the awesome figure in question.
                                      (I assure you, she is bright freakin pink)

100 follower milestone and a random giveaway!!

Well, its finally happened. I hit the 100 follower milestone, which I think is awesome!
Its pretty flattering knowing that there are like minded people out there that like to check out my hobby endeavors.
So, as a thank you to all of my followers I am going to do a random drawing giveaway.

The actual items I will be sending out will be somewhat of a mystery as I plan to throw in a smattering of hobby materials and supplies I like to use myself. There may be a fig or two thrown into the mix and possibly some totally off the wall stuff as well.

What I need from all of you is a comment on this post stating interest. That way I am assured that the package is going to someone that will want and use it.
I'll leave it open for two weeks, and then choose a random commenter for the giveaway. If you are not a follower yet and stumble upon this in that time frame, just join the site and throw a comment on here and I'll add you to the drawing.

Thanks again to all that follow or just occasionally peruse my blog!

Madrak Ironhide, World ender and plans for 2013

Well, in an effort to start off 2013 better than 2012 ended, here is the first figure I've finished completely.
This one is another commission to go along with Janissa Stonetide from before.
This figs pose is extraordinarily goofy so it made him somewhat difficult to paint. He just doesn't seem to flow very well from one part to the next. The worst and best part of this project is that its really making me want a Trollbloods army bad!
 The base was left unfinished again at the owners request.

I've also added a Completed figures tally to the sidebar so that I can keep better track of my own progress throughout the year.  Perhaps watching the number rise slowly will help keep me motivated to sling paint.
I have great hobby ambitions this year, as I am sure most of us do.
As of right now I plan to get the Majority, if not all, of my Dark Age figures fully painted and table top ready.
This is one of the games I plan to delve pretty deeply into as I like where its going a lot!
What with the awesome new Core being fleshed out and the new, Mayan inspired Kukulkani being previewed, it just keeps getting better and better.
     (Dark Age studios paint job)

I also have plans to continue work on my Confrontation armies throughout the year so I will be ready for the imminent release of Confrontation Phoenix!

Along with those, I am tentatively optimistic about Relic Knights. I bought into the Kickstarter for that one, so hopefully it wont be a dud.  We will see when March rolls around.

Definitely looks awesome though!

 I'm sure other games will be stuck in here or there. Warmachine and Hordes are always a constant of course.
It certainly seems as if Cool Mini Or Not will be getting a fair amount of my cash this year though.

EndZone paint night and IKRPG start

Well, after a bit of a break for the end of summer activities that always seem to zap everyone's time, we were able to get together and have another very enjoyable paint night.
Lots of painting going on of course, but a lot of people were there to get help on setting up a character for an Iron Kingdoms RPG session that will start early next month.
As of right now, I will be playing a Dwarven Ranger/Arcane mechanic.
That could change as I get more familiar with the rules though. Really just going for what sounds cool at the moment. My good buddy grim will be playing a Dwarven Military officer(retired)/bounty hunter.
Our Dwarves will be brothers that were booted out of the Rhulic military for some unknown reason, and moved to Northern Khador to open up a mechanics shop.
My dwarf does the work in the shop and Grims dwarf hunts down those that don't pay up.
That's how our back-story sits as of right now anyway.  More as things progress over the next few weeks!
I really only ended up painting for a small portion of the night, but I did get some good progress done on the Extreme Black Ivan I'm working on. as soon as I get some decent pics snapped, you'll be able to see him in all of his beat up, rusted glory. :)

 The table where most of the paint was happening.

 And, the character building table.

Memory lane and a bit of an explanation

Well, first off, I guess I had better address why my posts are so few and far between at the moment.
As seems to be the typical case in September, my Job goes absolutely bonkers and I rarely go home for more than just dinner and sleeping.

All can't be blamed on a hectic work schedule though. The free time that I do happen upon has been taken up by a Mr. Jim Butcher, and his amazingly awesome Dresden Files novels. 
Once the temperature begins dropping more rapidly and the days get considerably shorter, working should ease up and hobby updates can commence as usual.

In the meantime, I thought I'd show you a fig I painted a couple of years ago who holds the top spot in my collection as being the piece I am most proud of.
The Cyclops of Mid-Nor.
I finished him in 2010 just in time for Gen Con. I entered him in the Gen Con painting competition and was pleasantly surprised when he made it past the first cut and into the top 8 for "Large Figure category"  He didn't earn me any sort of medal or anything but I was more than happy with my first crack at a real, legitimate painting competition.
He also happens to be my only figure currently rated above an 8 at CMoN which landed him in the Cool Mini or Not annual for 2011.


Thanks for having a look.

New Online Wargames Magazine worth checking out

Looks like some of the guys from the Dragon Painting forum have put together an awesome  gaming ezine that is definitely worth a download. Kinetic7
Focusing on some of the amazing Skirmish style games out there now. 
I've looked over it pretty extensively, and Ive got to say that I am very impressed.
Some really great hobby articles by very talented artists and a couple interviews with some of the best Miniature painters around.

Free to download, so why not go have a look!?

Just in case you missed it.

Tre Manor, Creator and sculptor at Red Box Games has put up a great Kickstarter project. It has already funded which really comes as no surprise, he sculpts some of the greatest fantasy figures on the market these days.
I really hope to jump on this project and lend some funding to it. Maybe you want to have a look and do the same?

Miracles can and will happen

That's rights folks. the other day my wife proved that Miracles Can, and occasionally will occur.
So first off, you need a little back story. The summer time is when I really start to stock up on figs as I start to work a lot more(more money) and I have less time to paint.
Well, at the beginning of this summer my wife stumbled upon my stock of unpainted and unassembled figures. I had them hiding in a few drawers and for some reason she decide she needed something in said drawers. Needless to say she was a bit upset with all the figures I have amassed and neglected.
Over the last month or two I have been slaving(I hate assembling figs) away at trying to make a decent dent in the hoard you may have seen in some of the more recent posts. I guess this had not gone unnoticed by her and she took it upon herself to head to the local shop and pick me out some figs!
Yup, you heard right.
Not only did she go and randomly pick some figures for me, but they were ones I had wanted, and were for a specific Dark Age sub-faction and can be played together. Which is awesome!
She assures me she had no help in her decision, which can only mean she does listen to my endless babble about Wargames!
I am now the proud owner of St. Luke and a blister of his arsenal troopers. I think I will have to give these guys a quick assembly and paint job to show my appreciation.

Looking for color suggestions on these guys as well.  ;)

Army painter: Grass tufts

For the longest time, I have been making my own grass tufts using the really long woodland scenics grass, and then just cutting it down to size as I saw fit. Not a bad option all in all, but it isn't a fast or clean one either.

The other day, my local shop got the Army Painter tufts in stock, so I grabbed a few packages to give them a go. I always wanted to try them, but I hate paying shipping for stuff online so I never snagged any till now.

If you have been on the fence about giving these a try, I would say go ahead and make the jump. They are very inexpensive for the amount you get and are about as quick and easy as it gets.
I went ahead and grabbed a variety, so I could put them on all sorts of figs that I already have finished.
I think I'll be grabbing the rest of the range...possibly even the ones with little flowers on them. :)

 Apply with a small dab of superglue to the base, and then press the tuft into the glue spot with tweezers.

Memory Lane: Adventurers

Occasionally, I get the itch to paint figures that aren't necessarily for any game. I use them primarily to try out new techniques or color schemes before I apply them to my various armies.

After a few years of doing this I have accumulated a decent smattering of random figs, that would probably be fairly well suited for an RPG or some such thing. More than likely it wil be pathfinder, eventually. 
Here is a small selection of some that I have finished and ended up liking quite a bit.
From left to right(I think) Reaper, King Denethal, Chronopia, Barbarian and a Chainmail, Eleven Rogue.

Oh how I wish that WoTC still made their Chainmail figs. I really, really liked them quite a lot. 
Thanks for taking a look.

A peek at the madness

While I was perusing some of the blogs I follow, I came across some that have posts showing off their work/hobby space. I always find it rather interesting to see what other peoples set ups look like, so I thought I'd snap a few pics of my own area....messy as it may be.

When we moved into our new house in 2010, my wife was kind enough to grant me about a third of our unfinished basement to use as I saw fit. Of course, once we decide to finish it up , I will have to consolidate a bit. But for now, I am spread all over the place, and I freakin love it!

                              The desk as a whole

                             Where the actual work gets done

                      Primered projects, Projects waiting on primer, and those that need some sort of fixing

                               Works in progress/projects that are ready to start

                            Top right drawer with extra paint pots and Inks.

                        Second right drawer with basing supplies

                                 Top left drawer with figs that need stripping or newly assembled

                                   2nd left drawer with more of the same as the top

               Extra blister packs. These things come in handy for a ton of stuff, so I  Never toss em.        

                And, across the room is new boxes and blister waiting for the chance to make it to the desk

Well, there's my mess. Thanks for taking a look.