Sunday 29 May 2011

Finecast Chaplain Update 1

Trimmed, cleaned and ready for paint

At the risk of sounding like a GW PR, prep work on finecast resin is easy. The material is soft and cuts like cheese. Clipping parts from the sprue and scraping off mould lines and flash is a doddle, if a bit fiddly - and you have to keep your eyes peeled for thin lines of resin across certain details. It seems, sometimes, to be a decision you have to take whether to remove some flash or not. 'Is it meant to be there?', you might ask. 'Is that detail, or crap to take out?'. You don't get that often with metals.

It's different to work with than other resins I've come across. Many are hard, dense and very heavy, leaving you with difficult sanding and filing options. Finecast isn't like that. It's more like plastic.

Having finished cleaning the flash, it's time for a soapy wash, and then primer. I'm leaving him unassembled until after I've painted those details that cover each other.

Primer showing off parts to re-prep.

It's an interesting fact that spraying a model black shows you all the details you haven't looked at yet. Like the gap between the raised leg and tabard, and the stringy thing above the helmet/mine on the floor. More prep work needed...

Saturday 28 May 2011

Citadel Finecast

So I succumbed to the pressure and bought a new resin Chaplain today.

Clamshell Front

Sharpness of detail not quite captured here

To be fair, whether you agree with GW's hyperbolic PR over the past fortnight or not, the models do seem to be sharper in detail than their metal predecessors, even if they're from the same moulds. I didn't get a chance at seeing a Coteaz figure - having just painted one made of metal, a direct comparison seemed in order. Croydon's GW had sold out by this afternoon, though.

I would like to see side-by-side photos of various models - metal and resin versions - bare and primed. This would show off the differences quite nicely. The current state of the GW website doesn't help with comparisons at all. The photos of painted Finecast kits are (mostly) the same photos used for the previous metal kits.

Finecast:

Metal:

I'm also not sure if I agree with the price hikes, though - no-one likes paying more for new stuff that isn't really new, and if you were to take the stance that resin is a cheaper material than white metal, than it looks like GW is ripping us all off in true style. If, however, you look at the costs involved in setting up a production-line almost from scratch, and the R&D costs of this particular recipe of resin (that apparently is safer to work with than traditional resins), then you could account for the increase in price. £2-3 on a single figure is a bit steep, by all accounts. I still have some 15 year-old lead blister packs with £3 on the sticker!

It remains to be seen how easy these new figures are to work with - there are new modelling techniques many hobbyists will have to get used to. I've worked with resin for many years - garage kits, commercially available kits, and casting from my own moulds. Every resin is slightly different, and   there's something to be said for experience - knowing how to fix certain things; how to shape and bend the material, and how to treat it correctly when painting. I'm going to have to get used to this resin type, too, and hopefully my experience will get me through the learning curve quickly.

Chaplain WIP coming soon, then...

Thursday 19 May 2011

Legion of the Damned Prep Work

Mikey got a squad of LOTD for Christmas this year, and is about to start them.
I'm helping prep the metals, as he hasn't worked with metal figures before.

Lots of flash to remove, pinning to set up and barrels to drill.
I used 0.7mm for the barrel sides, 0.9mm for the muzzle ends.

Barrels drilled

He'll be doing the rest - gluing and cutting pins and parts, green stuff, priming and painting.

Roll on the WIP!

Saturday 14 May 2011

There be Dragons...

A couple of new projects started this week.

Some decorative baby dragons. White metal seems nicer to work with than lead. Maybe it's the knowledge you won't get ill if you lick your fingers...

Straight out of the blister, there's plenty of flashing

As you can see here on the bottom right


Cute little buggers, and they'll make an interesting focal point for a larger diorama I'm working on.

Here's their mama.

An oldie, but a goodie.

I've taken an old lead Beastlord Rakarth Dragonrider kit and removed the rider. I've added a couple of putty spines to cover the saddle area and primed. Next up - a decent colour scheme. More details later.

Tuesday 3 May 2011

Nurgletes are horrid little daemons

Next to an original 1996 lead Greater Daemon of Nurgle in the loft, I found a blister pack of 9 Nurgletes.


They're also lead, not white metal, so extra care was taken when cleaning the metal flashing from them.

I've primed them and have started drilling pin holes in their feet - for easier painting and basing.

Nasty little buggers from above

A mini army of rot from the front  
Drilling base - note the dangerous lead shards on the paper.
Each nurglete will be a different colour, with plenty of visceral detail. Yuk.

Wolf Lord Ragnar Blackmane

Here's a new 40k paintup to get stuck into - a 1997 lead Ragnar Blackmane - Space Wolves Wolf Lord

Some pics to get me started. Primer and temporary pinning next.



Must remember to wash hands more often. Lead is nasty stuff compared with modern white metal.