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I'm trying out another river segment, built in pretty much the same way as my first one, but this time I'm using a a material that is new to me, SculptaMold from Amaco. I saw it used on Luke's APS on Youtube and liked the look of it, so I popped down and bought a bag from Gordon Harris art supplies. It cost me about twenty-two bucks for about 1.3 kg, which should be enough to do a reasonable amount of terrain. It would probably get a bit pricey if you wanted to build a whole table, but for my purposes it's OK. It's a plaster and paper (?) fibre mix; I don't know if there's anything else in there. Depending on the amount of water you use it can be mixed to a cottage cheese-like paste, as I've used it here, or to a more liquid slurry that can be cast in rubber moulds. It sets up more slowly than plain plaster; by the time I'd finished laying out the river banks and setting in all the gravel, it was still quite workable, so I slapped together a little rocky outcrop on a plastic cutting board, using some bits of pine bark and the left-over goop from the river banks. I wasn't really keeping track of time, but I'd guess that you probably have 15 to 20 minutes of working time, which is plenty for most things. When it's wet, it retains a quite knobbly cottage cheese texture, which is fine if it's going to be under flock and stuff. If you want a smoother finish though, just leave it for about another ten minutes or quarter of an hour to stiffen up a bit, and then it can be smoothed with wet fingers or modelling tools, or just with a wet soft brush. It's early days yet, but at first acquaintance I think I'm going to like it.

September 25, 2016 will be a sad day for folks in the Denver area. That is the day that Caboose Hobbies will close its doors for the last time. This isn't just any brick and mortar hobby shop, his is the largest train store in the world. Its almost a ritual for members of the CMPA to bring out of state sculptors and painters to the store and watch them go wild at the number of things they find for basing and dioramas. I remember Jeremie Bonamont loading up on all kinds of things while he was here doing one of his US traveling tours. I think Michael Proctor ended up shipping a good chunk of it over to France for him. This is not a closing like we have seen in the past either where the business is being shut down for being poor. They do a very thriving online and in store business. In this case they are falling victim to progress as the area becomes more and more gentrified and the value of the land has now exceeded the value of the leases held by the landlord. The owners are simply retiring at this point. The current owner, the son of the original owner, has worked the store since 1969 and moved it to its current location in 1981. I'm hoping that maybe some of the employees will band together or someone will step in and buy it to keep it going, but that may just be a dream.

Hello everybody! Some time ago I asked on a suggestion for placing a thread about alternatives to many materials that you modellers in the "first world" use and take for granted, but are more difficult to find when you are away (and shipping ends up being more expensive than the material itself). It was suggested this subforum, so here it is where I am posting. But I intend to make it even more than a simple "materials alternative" thread. As I thought about placing it in the WIP subforum, I realised... all these tips and stuff are very intimately related to one particular Work In Progress: myself, as a miniature painter/modeller. So, I cannot warranty entertaining posts, but at least a dumping place for a lot of stuff I came to realise, mostly on my own, and that can perhaps stir in you, fellow hobbist (hobbier? urgh), an urge to try something, if you haven't already. First, a word of caution: my native tongue is Spanish. In many ways Spanish, as a language, is more twisty and flowery. Please forgive me if my English, other than being grammatically wrong at places, is also full of twisting sentences. Sometimes language is more a rhyme than a simple statement; if you don't understand something I say, please, speak up and let me clarify. To start, allow me to -briefly- describe myself. I am Argentinian (Argentina is a south-american country waaaaay to the south, reaching into the South Pole area lengthwise), 32 years of age, married, one daughter, and a degree in Aeronautical Engineering. I work in an airline, corporate official, which allows me to browse the web when the job is "slow". I love airplanes mostly because of their grace, of their aesthetic glory. That some fascination comes with certain forms of art; and since I could never draw well some time ago (about 10 years ago or more) I did some miniature painting (stemming out of my RPG hobby; I've been deeply involved in that for about 15 years). I was never that good, but I loved to learn about techniques and trying to apply them. I converted every Space Marine I was about to paint (and that is the reason I never had more than a dozen of them painted). I painted alone, for I could never find a group to paint with, to learn and share ideas. But of course Internet is there to teach us, in a way. This is the first community I actually post to because it is so nice, and so full of people not only willing to teach, but also willing to learn. And I find that is when you do not fear to give your opinion of something you learn the most, out of your own suggestion, and out of other people's. So, sorry for the lengthy intro, and soon I will be posting about alternate materials, and things I find valuable in this modelling hobby. It goes as a given, but anyone that feels like sharing, please do. Take over the thread if you want, the more stuff for thought/experimentation, the better!

I've noticed that when I get minis that come in multiple pieces, they often don't line up precisely. The bigger the mini, the more gaps and distortion there seem to be. Specifically, I recently got #10006 Gauth (!!!GRANDFATHER! OF DRAGONS!!!)!) and the pieces of the body have some significant gaps now that I've got him assembled. I'd like to paint him for the 2015 annual diorama contest, but before I prime I'd like to make sure my finished product is going to look smooth and complete. Does anyone have any suggestions? What materials do you use? Etc. Also, I've never done a fig this big before. Is one bottle of paint going to be enough for the base color, or do I need to order more before I get started? I use the 1/2 oz bottles of Master Series Paint. I'd hate to get started on my base coat and find that I don't even have enough paint.

Next year's Reapercon will have a retro sci fi theme. I thought I'd start a thread to gather helpful and useful tips and hints for costuming ideas. Here's something (mildly edited) I posted on the 2014 Reapercon Cosplay thread: I was in Jo-Ann fabrics earlier today and found something cool and sci fi looking. It's metallic-look flexible mesh tubing, about 8mm in diameter, intended for flower arranging (I gather you loop it around, or something, with the flowers). It's super flexible and super lightweight and comes in 20 yard packages for about five bucks. It comes in various metallic colors and iridescent white, although I gravitated towards straight silver. I imagine it snaking all over a retro astronaut outfit. It's more delicate, and more showy, than the flexible plastic tubing I found at the hardware store (which is meant to hold multiple computer cords together and also looks pretty cool and astronauty).