Laoke

I was fairly slack getting it reshipped: I probably could have had it a week or two earlier. I assume there's three orders in particular that delayed people? I haven't been tracking this the way I normally do : ) I split it into 3 separate $200 NZ orders for boring tax reasons: this was my first one from Wave 1. Looks like they're averaging out between $50-$75 NZ for reshipping, depending on package size & weight, with a transit time from the reshipper of about a week. I did this for Bones 2 & 3 as well. Apart from anything else I get so much less worked up about it if I'm controlling the shipping myself, and it's worth any additional cost just for that level of control for me. Oh, and it's using the NZ Post YouShop service for the reshipping. I looked at other options but they cost the same if not more so I went with the easiest option.

Just in case anyone's tracking this: I got a wave 1 order delivered to New Zealand via a reshipper on Tuesday. Have any of the Australasian direct orders landed yet?

Hi there! As the fiendish Day-star climbs higher into the southern skies, and my lovely wife and I hiss spitefully and clamber back into the depths of our hole, as a result we've been getting our paint on! In this installment of Lady Wifington Pants, I mean, Paints, we have 77142: Townsfolk: Blacksmith & 80058: WWWOz: Lion. 77142: Townsfolk: Blacksmith Demonstrating her amazing freehand, this burly blacksmith has pants with tiny pink hearts on them, and a subtly tartaned apron. It's close to being an avatar of me except for, y'know, the ability to actually swing a hammer and not hurt itself. 80058: WWWOz: Lion This one was painted for her sister. Admire the freehand! Ignore the wet sealant on the boots!

So while I've been painting some figures, my delightfully talented wife has been indulging her artistic streak. Basically she saw my feeble attempts, said "hold my tea!" and proceeded to give me a much needed humility lesson : ) While I've taught her everything I know, I in no way have taught her everything she knows... and it shows a bit, especially with her freehand : ) 77501: Minotaur He's big, he's blue, and he's coming to a labyrinth near you! 77022: Michelle, Female Human Ranger I just adore the shading & freehand on her cloak. 77441: Ostarzha, Elf Cleric The freehand on this is very subtle and hard to see, but utterly gorgeous. Translucent Green Weapon Sprue And while it doesn't really fit here, I can't see myself making a separate topic for it. Here's one of the green weapon sprue weapons I painted up with Tamiya Clear Green on the blade & pommel. Whosoever pulls this sword from this lump of blue "granite" will be the Queen of the Kingdom!

I finally got some shots that actually get the color balance right:

Hi there! You might remember me from such threads as "Bones! Do they blend?" and "How to use Tamiya Clear Paints to varnish your translucent patio furniture!". I don't paint much over the Southern Hemisphere Winter, as I'm too busy snowboarding, but now that the sun is out again it's time to start working through my Immortality Shelf and get some paint on some figures. Today we're looking at the Blackstar Corsairs: 80080: Blackstar Corsair Echo, 80079: Blackstar Corsair Delta, 80078: Blackstar Corsair Charlie, 80077: Blackstar Corsair Bravo, and 80076: Blackstar Corsair Alpha. In general these have all been painted up as a unit, using a speed paint method. The undercoat is MSP 09066 Blue Liner. The main base color is MSP 09288 LED Blue, shaded down with a succession of glazes of MSP 09280 Nightmare Blue. I love the shading this gives, it's a very striking effect. The visors I've done using a base coat of MSP HD 29806 Fireball Orage, working up to MSP 09051 New Gold, and then layering over Tamiya X-24 Clear Yellow. This gives a great depth of color to the visor, and is supposed to look like the gold leaf covering a traditional spacesuit visor. The back power packs are basically a MSP 0939 Pure White base, worked up to Fireball Orange on the central core & MSP 09094 Clear Red on the retaining arms. Details have been picked out with Vallejo Model Air 71.064 Chrome. The weapons are Blue Liner, dry brushed with VMA 71.073 Black Metal then knocked back with a wash of Nightmare Blue to tie them back to the rest of the figure even if only slightly. 80079: Blackstar Corsair Delta 80080: Blackstar Corsair Echo 80078: Blackstar Corsair Charlie 80076: Blackstar Corsair Alpha 80077: Blackstar Corsair Bravo

Hi! You might remember me from such threads as Bones - will they blend? & Painting with numbers the Laoke Way. I've been away from the paintbrush for a bit, as it's summer here in The Land Of The Future, but recently one of my wife's best friends spawned a delightful little halfling which the doting parental units decided to name Peregrine. I know. Cute as a button! Anyways, as a gift to the little sprogling, she decided to paint up a figure for him - and, while she was at it, she painted up one for our collection at the same time! 77218: Woody Stumpwimple, Halfling Ranger This is the one she painted up for us. I love the freehand on this one! The face is a bit naff from this angle and with the lighting being as basic as it is, but it's much better in person. 89012: Lem, Iconic Bard And here we have Peregrine in all his diminutive glory! She's really happy with the way the face came out on him, and I have to agree - the cloak is also pretty amazeballs!

I've heard it's the FreakFlex range, but looking at them online I'm not sure that's correct >.>

It's already been covered, but yeah - stoatly different paints. The Tamiya Clears are alcohol based acrylics and a total pain in the fae to use, although they will clean up in water (thinner works much better though). I've found that ink-based washes behave best with the Tamiya Clears. Standard washes tend to cause patches of opacity to randomly afflict the figure like some mottled plague. They do give a really interesting effect on the translucent Bones though, adding definition and clarity to the figure. I really like them for that reason. I've heard that Badger ave a range of translucent paints that don't have the stink incidentally. I'll look for the details once I get home

I mix Reaper Brush-on Sealer into my liners when I want to lessen the intensity of the hue, if that helps (RBS is basically acrylic medium, you could use that instead if you have ready access to it).

Very nice, a lot less "gummy" looking than what we get with the Tamiya Clear Translucent paints!

I'm glad someone got the reference : )

What mini are you most excited to paint? Probably the T-Rex / Carnosaur / Hood Ornament for the 6000 SUX Which mini do you think will be the hardest/take you the longest to paint? Going off previous experience, Nylarothep What mini are you buying the most of (now or planned at retail)? Either Kobolds or Goblins, probably both. What do you hope to see most in Bones 5? More orcses. A catdragon. 'mecha scaled to face off against Khanjira. A literal capstone of a pyramid. Dino-riders (basically could be achieved with a sprue of lower torsos compatible with most humanoid scales in a bow-legged riding stance that you could use to create dino-riders / cavalry out of pretty much any figure).

So, over the past few weeks leading up to my 45th birthday I've Spent 2 weeks snowboarding on Mt. Ruapehu, AKA Caradhras Visited the Hobbiton Movie Set in Matamata, courtesy of my lovely wife And seen the Matilda Musical in Auckland It's been a great first 45 years, looking forward to the next : )

Danke, I did - my lovely wife booked me on the Hobbiton set tour in Matamata, so we spent a delightful spring morning traipsing through The Shire : )