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Friday, August 16, 2013

Painting Bones & More Bones

Just a few notes on painting Bones.

- One thing I like about painting Bones is that you can often bend the mini into a position that makes areas easy to reach. Space between the head and the sword too tight? Bend the sword aside, paint, hold it until the paint isn't totally wet, and let it go. It works fine, and since the material has memory it'll eventually return to its true pose.

- I'm painting some Bones skeletons (because, you know, the dozens I have aren't enough). I'm using this guide from 1000 Foot General. So far so good. I'm doing the swordsmen, because the other skeletons are too bent and I need to boil-and-bend them.

"My" method is to paint white (prime first if metal or hard plastic), then wash brown, then wash black, then highlight, then seal. Or if I'm using Quickshade, I'll basecoat the whole mini, then wash it with Dark Tone and/or Strong Tone, then highlight, then seal.

I used to prime white, ink wash brown, and then paint the bones white. But that takes a long time.

I like the first method, but inks seem to have dropped off the Reaper and GW product list.

- I like the lightness of the Bones. But it's making me wonder about basing - should I base them (on penny-sized pieces of metal, or washers, or in 25mm round bases), or just leave them "loose" without a base? I'm going to try a few without bases, and see if they're stable in play. I hope so, because if I can get by without basing them they'll be less fragile, easier to pack, and take more punishment.

- I'm trying to jury rig a clear "flying" base. I had one for a mini, and it got broken somehow. I can't fix it, so I need to replace it. But the cost of a pack of bases is crazy high for what you get. I need to find some kind of thin, clear plastic that I can turn into a base. Anyone have a good idea for that?

8 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    1. Aargh! Gah. Stupid Blogger. Blogger needs a confirm button on removing comments. I was trying to hit the bottom next to it so I could reply. I'm very sorry Dustin, I didn't mean to remove your comment.

      It was a suggestion about using empty Chessex containers as a temporary base, right? I was looking for a permanent one, but I like that idea.

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    2. Dustin wrote:

      I like to use the square clear plastic boxes that Chessex dice come in, upside down as temporary bases for flying characters - main advantage is that they'll fit over most other figures so you can actually have the flying character in the same square without crowding.

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  2. I've got a ton of the GW flying bases. I could drop a couple in the mail for you.

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    1. I'd be happy to trade you any of the Bones on my trade list page, if you'd like something in return. Hit me up with an email at p underscore dellorto at yahoo.

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  3. I can't find them offhand, but I used to use small plastic vials that were square for FTIR or UV-Vis spectroscopy. Basically 1cm x 1cm x 5cm (more or less) clear plastic (hollow) boxes, and they'd come in packs of hundreds. I don't recall them being very expensive, but I also can't find a link to them. They would be pretty good for gluing to a weighted base, and then likewise gluing or placing a miniature on. You could also make a carve-out or indent in the base of an existing miniature to make them either flying or grounded, which would be cool.

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    1. That'd be great for making something fly, but this is for a flying creature - I just broke the base somehow between "buying the mini" and "finishing the paint job." So I have a slot for a base, but no base . . . but it looks like someone might hook me up!

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