zemjw

I've been 3d printing bases with the center recessed for a while now. I glue the base into the recess then fill in any gaps with filler. Golden Coarse Pumice Gel is my latest go-to for that. The edge of the base also makes it look neater, as I struggle to keep things even when building up around an integral base. Once the base is filled in it can be covered with sand, etc I find this makes it look like they're on a standard base without the hassle of removing integral bases, with all the problems you note. It will depend on the depth of the base. However, as it's going to be covered, hacking away chunks of cauliflower to make it fit is fine. There is a variety of integral base depths, so I sometimes have to shim them with a circle or two of plasticard to make their feet ground level.

I found some pictures I took of them more years ago than I care to admit. They're next to Studio Miniatures zombies, if memory serves This is them "raw" and this is them on bulked up bases Not great, but not as badly out of scale as they were I found a couple of blog posts I wrote about this back in 2011 (ouch) https://zemjw.blogspot.com/2011/05/zombie-base-tutorial-1.html https://zemjw.blogspot.com/2011/05/zombie-base-tutorial-2.html As mentioned in a previous post, I would now 3d print the bases with a recess, which would be much neater.

I have a bunch of them painted up. They are definitely on the small side - true 25mm at best. However, they work not too badly if you put them on a really tall base, as once they match at head height the proportions etc. are fine. I painted them before I got a 3d printer, so it was a base and a lot of filler to bulk it up. If I was doing it now I'd print some custom tall bases with a recess to drop the integral base into, which would make it easier to look like they were on roads. The other downside is that they are all the same pose. I did some minor conversions, but I do prefer a bit more variety in my undead than they offer 😁

99% of my 80s and 90s stuff is GW dwarfs and Orcs. Fortunately the fantasy scale creep doesn't matter so much for them, and actually works better with the dwarfs. I did try to get a few Goblin wolf riders to bulk out the two I had. However, the size difference there was absurd, so I've had to accept that the two will not be fielded as part of a unit. Fortunately the old Grenadier stuff is still out there, and I managed to grab a few dwarf bear riders before Brexit and new one stop shop VAT rules kicked in. The Reaper metal dwarfs are usable with most of my other dwarfs. I backed a Ral Patha kickstarter a few years ago and, much as the dwarfs are really nice, they're smaller than old school GW ones. Sadly, the one Bones USA dwarf I have is so big that it went straight into my "never gonna paint that" box

Yup, it's something I've noticed with the few Bones USA figures I have. Sadly it's not just Reaper, and I've almost become resigned to collecting separate 28mm and 32+mm science fiction stuff. Infinity had a huge size jump a couple of years ago, to the point where some Stargrave figures barely come up to their chest. The new Bones USA ones, however, fit in nicely with the newer Infinity. I accept people (and aliens) are different sizes, so one or two larger/smaller figures in a group are fine. However, when half the party is 5' 10" and the other half is 6' 10", it looks wrong. I wish you Good luck with your quest. However, when manufacturers can't even decide if 28mm is to the eyes or the top of the head, I'm not sure how successful you will be. As an aside, who has ever said "I'm 6" tall to my eyes" ⁉️

I've used My Hobby's Mr Surfacer on a vehicle, but it would probably obscure details on a mini. There are spray and brush on versions, so it could be worth a try. The approach was to spray, sand, spray, sand etc, with the surfacer gradually filling in the gaps without the model getting too bulked out. Be warned, however, that it's some of the stinkiest stuff I have ever used, so ventillation and a respirator are strongly recommended ☠️ edited to remove Tamiya as the manufacturer.

I was 16, starting to decide what to focus on for my exams and future (not that that worked out as planned). I was doing a lot of cycling in those days, out most days after school and longer runs at the weekend. Now I'm in the house 23 1/2 hours a day, although I still do indoor cycling (road bike up on a trainer, not Peleton) I was painting WW2 (airfix plastic and possibly Ros & Heroics 1/300) and ancient Macedonians (Lamming, Essex and others) at the time. I still have the Macdeonians in the loft, still largely unpainted. I am actually scared to look at the ones I did paint. In my memory's eye they're neatly painted. In reality, there was no shading or highlighting in those days, and I didn't do eyes. I was probably dipping my toes into fantasy figures, but it was probably another couple of years before Games Workshop really got going (apparently White Dwarf was first published in 1977, so I could be wrong about that)

Latest Zombicide game up on Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cmon/marvel-zombies-zombicide Not cheap, but already well over target Ends Feb 4th, delivery June 2023

I got mine on Tuesday (18th January), but I am in the UK. Casting is pretty clean, will need some filing around the joins, but not much

Got my Colony 87 figures last week and my Dagon sculpt yesterday. This means my only outstanding Kickstarter is the Color and Light book from 3d Publishing. The most recent update from them is that it's at the printer, so I may clear my list in the next couple of months. If only I could say the same for the lead pile 🙄

The latest Wargames Atlantic newletter states that their conquistadors are "finished tooling" and "preparing for production". They're proper hard plastic, so may be worth a look, although it could be a month or two before they're available. Antedeluvium Miniatures do some undead conquistadors, which could save you some conversion work. They're metal and in the UK, so postage could be an issue

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/giochiuniti/pathfinder-arena Already well over fund target, with 19 days to go

I just bought the first two seasons last week. I sort-of stumbled over the game while looking for solo board games. I'd completely forgotten there was ever a Kickstarter for it. Managed to grab the last two boxes at 30% off from an online shop, although obviously without all the Kickstarter extras I've bookmarked this thread for when I start painting the figures 😁

Kickstarter for a resin Dagon sculpt. Currently live and ends Monday 6 Nov, so not much time if you're interested https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2004599158/dagon-epic-tabletop-miniature/

I never used to be able to get the needle cleaned after a session. I cleaned it and cleaned it again, but there was always a thin coating of paint when I next went to use it. What finally fixed it for me was an ultrasonic cleaner - the sort you get for watches and jewellery. Water and cleaner mix, pop the needle and tip in, run for about 10 minutes and all was good This is the aspect I hate the most. So much so that I haven't dragged everything out for at least two years. I have several vehicles that I want to use it with, but I'm stalling on them, and leaning towards spray cans for the basecoat. Not as smooth, but not so important with vehicles. It doesn't help that I can only airbrush in the kitchen, which is less than ideal