My Reaper BONES kickstarter has arrived!

[jaryth000]

Yeah, off topic kinda seems to be this forums 'thing'. Sometimes it can be a good thing, as really cool conversations (like painting fire, I really enjoyed reading those posts) come up, other times small arguments flare up (craft paints...), but its one huge conversation! The only downside is that sometimes truly useful information can indeed get lost. A single post that contains an important update (important to some people at least) can be lost in a nearly 500 post topic with 33 pages.

 

Still, there are always people willing to share this information with others, even if that does cause duplicate posts throughout a topic.

 

Also its good fun!

[CaptainPete]

So, I 'fixed' my first Bones mini today. My version of http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/Chronoscope/latest/50210 was really bent. Like, "Tripped and is about to do a faceplant" bent. I boiled some water, held her in there for as long as my fingers would let me, then popped her out. I noticed the weight of the base bent her back most of the way, so I just held her in place on the counter for a second then held her in very cold tap water (in a metal bowl). I worked pretty well.

 

Now, just 80-some more to go...

[ShadowRaven]

even the Craft paint discussion was somewhat useful in the end. Buglips gave it a try, found he liked certain parts, and we all came away a little better. Now I just need to corner enough people willing to actually put together a comprehensive article on the various kinds of paint

[Fromper]

So, I 'fixed' my first Bones mini today. My version of http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/Chronoscope/latest/50210 was really bent. Like, "Tripped and is about to do a faceplant" bent. I boiled some water, held her in there for as long as my fingers would let me, then popped her out. I noticed the weight of the base bent her back most of the way, so I just held her in place on the counter for a second then held her in very cold tap water (in a metal bowl). I worked pretty well.

 

Now, just 80-some more to go...

 

I think that one's supposed to be leaning back doing a Matrix pose, but she ends up leaning too far back. Mine was the same way. I had about 3 others that were similarly bent at the base, plus about 15 or so with bent weapons. And the male giant had a very twisted base, so he couldn't stand up either.

 

I found that it really only takes about 3 or 4 seconds in the boiling water to get the plastic soft enough to push it back into position. In many cases, the weapons straightened themselves out once they got hot without me having to touch them. Then, I dunked them in ice water for 15 or 20 seconds to harden them, and they were good. I had 19 of them in my vampire order that needed "boil and bend" maintenance, and it only took a total of about 20 minutes, even with starting slow while I didn't know what I was doing.

 

Wow... I'm giving someone else advice on here. I'm the newbie who still hasn't painted my first mini yet. How did this happen???

[Fromper]

So as mentioned elsewhere, I bought the Learn to Paint Kit to... learn to paint. I'm doing the metal minis in there to learn proper technique and everything before moving on to my Bones vampire box, or any of the dozen or more metal minis I previously owned and have been using unpainted in my Pathfinder games. I'm hoping to have time this weekend to finish painting the LTPK stuff, so then I need to decide what to paint next.

 

My original thought was the Dungeon Attack rats, because they seemed like they'd be easy, and there are a bunch of them so I can afford to mess up a few with bad paint jobs while I learn. But looking at them compared to the rat in the kit, the little DA rats have almost no detail or texture to them. There's no real fur texture, no teeth sticking out, etc. There's really very little there to paint. Now I'm thinking that might make them harder, not easier, since there's no details to work with. Besides, I can't think of what I'd use them for immediately.

 

Now I'm thinking that if painting the kit minis actually goes well (this might be overly optimistic), I might want to dive right into painting the minis that I'll actually use for my Pathfinder games in the near future. Of course, that means figuring out which ones those are.

 

I think that puts the Dragonman Warrior from the Bones kickstarter near the top of my list. I have a Pathfinder Society character of the nagaji race, which are humanoid snake-men. He's a big strong, warrior type who uses heavy armor, long sword, and shield. The DW mini isn't exactly how I picture my PC, but he's about as close as I've seen, since there really aren't any companies making nagaji minis. I'll probably be playing that PC on Monday evening, so I doubt if I'll have time to paint him before then, but I'm planning to play that character a few times in the next month or two (assuming he doesn't get killed), so it's worth painting him relatively soon.

 

Also, in a week and a half, I'll be GMing an adventure that involves a lot of zombies, so this might be a good excuse for me to dive into the Bones undead horde and paint those zombies, if I have time before then. Of course, the time spent reading and preparing the adventure might get in the way of preparing the minis to go with the adventure. D'oh!!!

 

After that, I don't think I'm scheduled to GM again until the end of May. That adventure involves the players getting attacked by a scarecrow, among other things. Any suggestions?

[ShadowRaven]

lots of suggestions for scarecrows, none of them will do you a bit of good as I really doubt they could get to you on time

[CaptainPete]

 

So, I 'fixed' my first Bones mini today. My version of http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/Chronoscope/latest/50210 was really bent. Like, "Tripped and is about to do a faceplant" bent. I boiled some water, held her in there for as long as my fingers would let me, then popped her out. I noticed the weight of the base bent her back most of the way, so I just held her in place on the counter for a second then held her in very cold tap water (in a metal bowl). I worked pretty well.

 

Now, just 80-some more to go...

 

I think that one's supposed to be leaning back doing a Matrix pose, but she ends up leaning too far back. Mine was the same way. I had about 3 others that were similarly bent at the base, plus about 15 or so with bent weapons. And the male giant had a very twisted base, so he couldn't stand up either.

 

I found that it really only takes about 3 or 4 seconds in the boiling water to get the plastic soft enough to push it back into position. In many cases, the weapons straightened themselves out once they got hot without me having to touch them. Then, I dunked them in ice water for 15 or 20 seconds to harden them, and they were good. I had 19 of them in my vampire order that needed "boil and bend" maintenance, and it only took a total of about 20 minutes, even with starting slow while I didn't know what I was doing.

 

Wow... I'm giving someone else advice on here. I'm the newbie who still hasn't painted my first mini yet. How did this happen???

You must have gotten lucky, because I have tons of warped bases and bent swords (and bows). I was just fooling around while I was making food, so it wasn't a long experiment. I'm going to set aside an afternoon next week to wash and bend my Bones. Then, it'll be time to add them to the painting queue...

 

And, we learn different skills at different speeds.

[Fromper]

I don't think it'll take you long to fix them. Like I said, 5 seconds in the boiling water, and 15 seconds in the ice water. And for many of them, you won't even have to touch them in between, because they'll automatically spring back to their mold shape when hot. Others might take a few seconds of adjusting them while hot to get them to where you want them. Once I got going, it was pretty much an assembly line.

 

That part was easy to learn. The painting thing is going to be more work for me. I already know that.

[CaptainPete]

I don't think it'll take you long to fix them. Like I said, 5 seconds in the boiling water, and 15 seconds in the ice water. And for many of them, you won't even have to touch them in between, because they'll automatically spring back to their mold shape when hot. Others might take a few seconds of adjusting them while hot to get them to where you want them. Once I got going, it was pretty much an assembly line.

 

That part was easy to learn. The painting thing is going to be more work for me. I already know that.

Ah, but I'm also going to wash them, which will take more time. And almost half of my stuff is bent.

 

Painting does take time to learn, I know all about that. I've been painting on and off for about 8-10 years now, and I'm still learning stuff. You mentioned that you weren't going to paint your rats because they were too simple. I disagree. I would start with them, because they're simple. You'll get a good chance to get the basics down. When you've got more skills down, you'll be able to go back over them and add that detail they're missing.

[Fromper]

lots of suggestions for scarecrows, none of them will do you a bit of good as I really doubt they could get to you on time

Well, I don't need that one for over a month. But I have so many minis now with the Bones vampire pack that I don't really want to buy more right now. I would be curious what your suggestions are, though, in case I change my mind.

[ttuckerman]

Remember to wash in cold water after you bend. The bending brings some mold release to the surface.

[ShadowRaven]

a personal favorite of mine

[Nvision]

That flesh-golem scarecrow is so kick-elf... I got screen fatigue the other day trying to pick out a miniature to put me over the free shipping threshold, when picking up some gifts. Soooo many minis, so little time.

[ShadowRaven]

I understand the feeling so very well

[Fromper]

Nice one. But I've already spent too much on paint supplies this week, plus the fact that I just got the Bones kickstarter in the mail. I really need to hold off on buying more minis for at least a month or two. I'll probably just use a generic human mini and pretend it's a scarecrow, or see if someone else has a scarecrow mini I can borrow.