[GROUP/OPEN]WIP L2PK1

[Baugi]

No, the sample trays were phased out about 2 years ago. Your kit is current.

[ub3r_n3rd]

My kit just arrived. The package looks a little beat up and is coming apart. It also had full sized bottles of everything. Did I get an older kit before they switched to sample sizes? If so are these very old or not too bad?

 

Actually the NEWER kits have full sized bottles. The old ones had the little sample pots.

[Gamgan]

Thanks for the info ! That's good news then :)

 

Wife said her mom and sister will buy me the rest of the kits for Christmas yaaay!!

 

Sooooo Garg, you suggest just buy them here on Reaper? wonder what the shipping is then.

[Last Knight]

I certainly suggest buying them from Reaper. Pretty sure Puerto Rico still counts as US, so free shipping over $35.

[Gamgan]

Here is the Kit I got today

 

 

 

I was waiting for my wife at the dentist so I opened it up and started to read.

 

Here is what the figures looked like, very minimal flash and clean up will be easy. These where well casted.

 

 

[ShadowRaven]

those should clean up just fine. Hope you have as much fun with this kit as I did

[Last Knight]

those should clean up just fine. Hope you have as much fun with this kit as I did

Same!

[Gamgan]

Thanks! Really looking forward to this. After reading about all of you who already have painted tons of minis going back to the basics and having fun with it, I wanted to try the same. I will try following the instructions step by step just to relearn something basic I can play around with on another model when I want to get fancy.

[CashWiley]

Absolutely worked for me. I was getting frustrated after painting a couple minis and having the guided instruction of the kits really got me back into the hobby in an enjoyable and measured way that has let me improve much faster than if I had just stumbled my way through everything.

 

Although the usual caveat is that they give back what you put into them. Try to really understand why Anne is having you do certain things, and refer back through this thread to see how other people have tackled things or dealt with issues.

 

And don't forget to have fun, you can't really screw these projects up because the point is to learn. If you do something you don't like, try to learn why. Turning mistakes into lessons is a good habit to develop in this hobby :)

[Gargs]

Cash hits the nail on the head. The LTPK is what got me to finally bite the bullet (along with all the helpful advice flowing through this forum). My biggest fear over the years has been that since I don't really consider myself a natural artist (I can't even draw stick figures) that I would just simply have no idea what to do and the result would be potentially awesome minis that were flat out ruined by my sheer lack of talent. I'm learning of course that a) its easier than it appears (at least to get to the quality that I am striving for -- which is notably NOT competition quality ;p) and b) most mistakes can be remedied fairly easily.

 

So bottom line, have fun and enjoy. The instructions really are pretty good and do a great job of walking you through the minis.

[Gamgan]

Ok decided to not do any real work today and since its raining outside I cant work on the ambulances anyhow... That's my excuse and Im sticking with it...

 

Since the only thing I have is the kit and all my hobby stuff is at home. I used my Gerber multi-tool to file down the figures and tried to get them as clean as possible with out hobby files or hobby knife.

 

 

 

For some reason I bought blue tacky putty and lost it so I used a hotglue gun I have at work and some waterbottle caps.

 

 

 

My first primer coat. Pamphlet says, couple of drops of primer and a wet brush. I dropped 2 drops of primer on a broken tile and I dipped the brush in a cup of water and after the excess water dropped off I would mix it with the 2 drops. I am using the drybrush as I don't want to mess up my other one.

 

I had to mix 3 times to get enough to cover both models. If the mix was to thin there would be tiny bubbles all over the model, then I would add an extra drop to make it a little less thin. I'm guessing here as I don't know how to do the *right* milk like consistency. I am going by what happens when I paint the model. Its covering nicely and not pooling any where or staying on too thick. I must be close to the right mix.

 

 

 

I am going to prime them a second time once I hit them with the heat gun first since its raining outside and pretty humid here. Lets see how that looks after a second coat, right now its looking good but still thin.

 

I'm going to follow the pamphlet's instructions except for the eyes, Ill do those first using the guide that was posted on one of the first reply's. ( the one in the craft corner here)

Edited November 21, 2013 by Gamgan

[Pragma]

Thinning paints for me is still the hardest part. That said, you seem to have hit it just right. I'm not sure whether you really need a second coat - primer doesn't have to cover, it just has to give the base coat something to stick to.

[Gargs]

What Pragma said. I'm finding so far that I just sort of have to do it by feel. There's been a decent amount of trial and error, etc. I'm guessing its one of those things that you just "get" over time. Eventually it will likely become second nature. Doing exact thinning recipes is also a bit difficult since everyone is a little different. Maybe one person's brush has a little more water on it than another's, maybe somebody gets slightly bigger water drops with their droppers than others, etc.

 

The important thing is to get cracking! :)

 

FWIW, when I did mine, I thought the primer coat was too thin as well. Somebody here suggested that it looked fine, so I went with just the one coat. Didn't seem to cause any problems for me.

[Gamgan]

Ok so far that's the first lesson learned then. I was under the impression I had to get the painted on primer as clear white in color on the model just like if I had spray painted it. Now that I think about it, that makes no sense, your right, just need the paint to stick and maybe soften or brighten up my next coat of paint. I already hit a second very thin coat of primer but mostly just to touch up missed or rubbed areas.

 

 

I think a while back I saw a video from a master painted where he sort of just sprayed a very light light clear coat that didn't really paint the model as more just glazed it over with the white primer before painting.

 

My rat came off the cap, I didn't have anymore glue for the glue gun so I hit the glue with the heat gun and managed to melt the cap in seconds... woops. Rat stuck to the melted glue/plastic really well though

[Gargs]

There are; however, some primers that also act essentially as a base coat. Army Painter in particular does this and as such they have several different colors, etc. In those cases, you would want to make sure you got a nice thorough coat of the primer on obviously.