Constantly Risking Obscurity

Akiko Rocks the B3

2009-07-09T10:48:00.003-04:00

Oh, man. Oh, man. Oh, man. I just heard Akiko Tsuruga for the first time on local jazz station WEMU. She rocks the Hammond B3 harder than anyone I've heard in a while. And by rock, I mean jazz.

Go to her site and listen: http://www.akikotsuruga.com/Eindex.html

August

2009-07-02T07:08:00.002-04:00

The room dimmed as we danced
Spinning weightless laughing
Embracing with gaze fixed
And morning came
To prove it was not a dream

Unlikely Pie

2009-06-29T13:31:00.004-04:00

Someone left a "Marionberry" pie in the break room today. It sounded like a joke to me... I mean, come on. Marionberry? Were they out of Halleberry or something?

As it turns out there really is a Marionberry. Part of me is disappointed.

New Project Blog... a Nurgle...um.... Thing

2009-06-26T09:42:00.002-04:00

I'm painting a large model for a friend during our weekly hobby sessions, and it's a monstrous Nurgle abomination. Actually it's a Nurgle Dreadnought, but very few parts come from the Chaos Dreadnought kit.

Check it out:
http://nurgledread.blogspot.com/

This will be an interesting one to try and pull off.... it's a complicated conversion and I'm not relly sure how to paint it to do it justice.

Are You Smarter Than A Freakin' PhD?

2009-06-18T15:53:00.007-04:00

Go read this: http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/1742-6596/150/5/052252

I'm serious. Is this a joke?

Have I lost all ability to comprehend anything technical / scientific? To be fair, there are five authors. If I could understand 20% of that I'd feel better.

The Squirrel Underpants are to keep your head from exploding, a practical application of the lowest common denominator. Squirrel Underpants are the opposite of science in both real space and k-space.

Paint Creek GW Reboot

2009-06-05T15:22:00.003-04:00

This is a follow up to my previous rant about the fallen state of the Paint Creek Crossing GW store.

I stopped in the store today just to see what was going on. I've done this a couple times since Lance "left" and it's been a friendly experience. For the first time today I had a chat with Brett, the new manager there who will be staying on for a year or so to get the store on track. My impressions?

Breath. Of. Fresh. Air.

Brett really seems to "get it" when it comes to gamers and hobbyists. People coming in and playing at the store in a friendly way is something he encourages! People who antagonize and cause grief for others will be asked to leave. (He indicated that a few key players had already been asked to do so... I'm pretty sure I know who he meant.) We chatted about upcoming releases in a way that was informational and not hard-sell. I had a smile on my face. I felt comfortable.

...and I bought something before I left.

Friday Voynich-ness

2009-06-05T09:37:00.003-04:00

So here's the fun. How long will it take the Wikipedia entry for "Voynich Manuscript" to reflect the fact that it was the subject of an xkcd comic?

Inquiring minds want to know. I want to know.

Ultraforge Makes Quality Yuckiness

2009-06-03T12:08:00.003-04:00

This was a fun one to paint. He's on eBay right now, along with the Imperial Fists Land Raider Redeemer w/ Chronus.

Lord of Pestilence
Land Raider Redeemer

Lord of Pestilence, WIP 1

2009-05-29T01:08:00.004-04:00

Big thanks to Sholto for the response to my last entry. I soaked the model in Melaleuca "Sol-U-Mel" and brushed all the old primer off quite easily. After a half hour or so in Sol-U-Mel I rinsed and reprimed, and it really seemed to take so much better.

So I started painting.... I like it so far. Ultraforge minis are pretty amazing.

btw, there are some on ebay right now (new, unpainted) if you are interested.

My First Brush with Resin

2009-05-28T00:10:00.002-04:00

I have a number of Ultraforge models that I plan on painting and selling (or just selling... anyone?) and I am thrilled at how great these sculpts are. And they're big! Even this one, the "Lord of Pestilence" towers over a terminator and is almost as much mass as a dreadnought, and he's the smallest of the Nurgle-esque models UF makes.

I tried to prime him up tonight for painting, and made a discovery. Resin resents being painted. To get paint to actually stick to resin takes an act of congress or something, even after carefully scrubbing the thing in soapy water. Thankfully, automotive primer spray stuck quite nicely, but getting it in all the little nooks and crannies of this model was a struggle. I also found that a spray of Testors Dullcote would create a workable surface, but I don't think I would use that unless I needed to repair an area and didn't want to destroy the paint around it.

And yes, that is the same LR Redeemer in the background that I posted a WIP pic of earlier. I just can't seem to seal the deal on that one....

Dreadnought Arm Swaps

2009-05-07T00:04:00.004-04:00

I've been trying out some video tutorial making lately. Here is one I put together that describes making dread arms swappable between Black Reach dreads and box dreads.

Painting for Quality, part 2

2009-05-06T09:19:00.002-04:00

The second installment of Painting for Quality is up at mybattalion.com. Check it out. I really need to figure out how to do macro mode and movie at the same time. If I could get that working I could really put together some useful tutorials.

I bought a Targus flexible tripod at RadioShack over the weekend. It's the best $8 I've spent in a long time.

Pandemic.... ?

2009-05-04T16:08:00.004-04:00

Swine Flu (aka "Pig Sniffles") has been all the talk around here lately. I just heard that the nearby Plymouth/Canton schools have been closed due to suspected cases. Considering how much panic has been going into this, I thought I'd give it a little analysis.

Flu kills a lot of people. About 36,000 Americans die each year from it. That's about 1/100 of 1% of the population in whole. So far the Swine Flu, aka A(H1N1), has confirmed numbers of 876 infections and 26 deaths in the U.S. and Mexico. That is a 2.9% fatality rate, much higher than the overall influenza fatality rates each year.

The WHO defines pandemic as "widespread human infection." We are currently on phase 5 of their pandemic scale, meaning that human-to-human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one WHO region has been confirmed. Assuming it gets to full blown pandemic mode, the expected infection rate is 25-35% of world population.

6.77 billion humans x (25-35)% infection x 2.9% fatality = 49.1-68.7 million deaths worldwide

Let's hope that equation is very wrong.

And not to let potential tragedy go without some attempt at poorly timed humor, this may be the time to move to Madagascar. Or not.

Painting for Quality, part 1

2009-04-30T13:56:00.002-04:00

I am publishing a four part article series on MyBattalion.com designed to take painters to a level higher than basic tabletop. Part 1 is there now. I plan on publishing one segment per week.

Let me know what you think!

Old Guy Update

2009-04-28T14:02:00.002-04:00

Last week I experienced what some would call a "rite of passage" of aging. I got bifocals. At some point in the past I could have imagined not liking the idea, but I absolutely love these things! I can see again! It was getting hard to do much of anything up close with my glasses on, and my vision isn't clear for very far with them off. I have to retrain myself to not look over my glasses at near objects now.

By the way, did I mention I love my bifocals? I really do.

The only complaint I have is that I have to actually move my head to look at things. If I hold my head level and look at the floor using only eye-tilt the floor is somewhat blurry. It's disconcerting at first, but you adapt quickly. And I can see!

Social Networking for Gamers

2009-04-25T10:37:00.003-04:00

Go sign up at mybattalion.com. I've been hot and cold about social networking in general, but I'm interested to see what a niche specific social network will produce. I've already discovered a local gaming club that plays regularly in the neighboring town, which was terribly difficult in the low signal to noise ratio environment of facebook.

Don't even get me started on myspace....

Working with Water Slide Decals

2009-04-25T00:56:00.003-04:00

I've been thinking about decals lately, mostly due to having to paint so many Blood Ravens chapter symbols on my growing army. It's a bit of a pain to get them consistent, and somewhere along the line I had enough people ask me if they were decals to actually make me want to try decals.

The problem, as most of you who have tried to use decals on space marine shoulder pads know, is that flat decals don't sit well on aggressively curved surfaces. From various other tutorials around and about the interwebs I discovered "Micro Set" decal solution. Basically, it softens the decals so that you can smoosh them into position, more or less. Its counterpart, Micro Sol, is even more effective at softening. The fellow at the hobby store told me that if Micro Set does the job, then there's no need for Micro Sol. They were out of Micro Sol anyway, so I bought what they had. I've been testing it with decals on Mr. Missile Launcher here, and the results have been encouraging. Basically, you brush Micro Set on the shoulder, place the decal, then brush more Micro Set over the decal. A few minutes later the decal should be soft enough to tap down with a moist towel into some semblance of flat. I've had to make multiple passes with Micro Set over the highest part, so I might pick up a bottle of Micro Sol and see how that works.

After the first try I was surprised to see the first decal dry up and fall off the model! Maybe I wet it too long and it lost all its adhesive. For try #2 I put some matte varnish over the decal to try and "glue" it in place and hopefully obscure the edges a little. Big mistake! The varnish (Vallejo Game Color matte varnish) clouded the decal significantly. Spot testing the varnish elsewhere didn't cause the clouding. With the current run I wet the decal with a cloth from the back, hopefully retaining as much of the adhesive as possible.

Once I get these things to wrap around a should pad properly the next step is to print my own and see how they work. I bought a Testors decal printing kit (a paltry $10) and have been experimenting with the free image processing software Gimp to get exact measurement printing. Gimp 2.4 was terrible at it, but Gimp 2.6 is wonderful. Once I get a reasonable decal sheet of Blood Ravens icons I'll post them here. I'm a little concerned that the spray sealer that covers the printed decals will stand up to the rigors of Micro Set, but I'll find out in time.

Masking - No Salt Required

2009-04-10T08:17:00.008-04:00

Salt masking has been all the rage lately, mostly thanks to giganticdark's amazing Space Marine. The technique requires multiple passes with a double action airbrush, which can be something of an inconvenience if you don't actually own one. This tutorial describes how to use a brush-on masking medium to achieve natural looking wear. This is a very basic tutorial, so please experiment and see how you can alter it to produce more complex effects.

The key is this stuff: Vallejo Model Color Liquid Mask. It's a water soluble acrylic that dries to a gummy consistency like rubber cement. The key here is that when it's set it is easy to remove, revealing whatever color was under it.

Step 1: Deepest color. I started with a Rhino that I had basecoated Red Gore. To the area I planned on weathering I painted Reaper Shadowed Steel (basically boltgun.) Viewing the result, I think I would go with a brighter metallic next time, like Chainmail. After the steel dried I applied a very diluted wash of VGC Orange Fire, the brighter of their two oranges, to give the impression of corrosion. Let this coat dry thoroughly before continuing.

Step 2: Apply the mask. Put some of the mask on your pallete, pick a bit up with a coarse brush and then tap the mask lightly on the areas you want to reveal when the process is complete. Try to keep the pattern of application somewhat random while controlling where you want to wear to show most. It's much easier to see when dry, so don't be afraid to apply a little, let it dry, assess the pattern and then apply more as needed. I haven't tried this myself, but the "toothbrush spray" technique may work for random splatter patterns. Let the mask dry thoroughly before continuing.

Step 3: Match the base color. Paint over the mask and wear color with the base color again. I know I sound like a broken record on this, but multiple thin coats make for smooth paint jobs, not thick paint globbed on in one coat. Let each coat dry before applying the next, until the wear area roughly matches the rest of the paint color.

Step 4: Remove the mask. Use a colour shaper, pencil eraser, or a stiff brush that you have an irrational vendetta against and gently brush the mask off the area. It's gummy and will pill up, but it comes off eventually leaving the wear color from step 1 revealed. If you get it on a brush, soap will do a pretty good job of removing it.

That's it! A low sodium technique for natural looking wear. I'm sure this group can figure out interesting variations to get the most out of this. Show me!

My Level 18 Tourist has GDSM and Magicbane

2009-04-06T15:36:00.005-04:00

This one comes from the "if you have to ask..." department.

I'm a long time fan of the game Nethack. Even before it was Nethack, I was busily souring my first stab at higher education playing its predecessor hack. It took me something like 17 years to win it for the first time. Yes, I kept coming back for that long, and I'm still coming back.

Currently, I have a very unlikely game going... a tourist in Gehennom with basically a full ascension kit in hand. I don't have the Book yet, but the Bell and the Candelabra are mine. As you can see from the screenshot, I have nearly every intrinsic. Currently, I am on a very low level (or high, depending on how you think of it) in a locked room doing the "cursed scroll of genocide" with nurses thing to gain max hit points. I still have two wands of wishing (wow didn't always mean World of Warcraft, kids!) that can be charged again with the Platinum Yendorian Express Card. I can hardly believe I'm saying this, but I may just ascend a tourist.

And for the uninitiated, GDSM is "gray dragon scale mail" and Magicbane is a unique artifact athame.

Blogger Tip: Wrapping Text Specific to Multiple Images

2009-04-02T11:24:00.011-04:00

One thing I've struggled with in my blog is the ability to post multiple images and have text roughly aligned with each image. That way I can actually write about the image that's next to the text.

It's going to take some html changes. Don't be scared. You can do this.

If you don't know what html is, don't worry. It's the language that a web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.) uses to know where and how to put stuff on the page you are viewing. Html "tags" tell when to start and stop a particular format. The starts look like <this> and the stops look like </this>. Got it? Good, because you don't need to know any of this. Read on.

Here's the quick list of what we're going to do:

Load an image into the post
Add some text to go with the image
Add a snippet of html before the image
Add a snippet of html after the text

So start by composing a new blog entry and import an image into it. Just for grins at this point, click the "Edit Html" tab in the upper right of the compose window. The code for the image is a big scary block of html that starts with <a onblur="try... and ends with ...border="></a>. It should be about 5 or 6 lines total. Again, you don't need to understand it... you just need to be able to find the <a> at the end.
Okay, so switch back to "compose" mode (upper right tab) and add some text to the post. Now, switch back to "Edit Html." If you entered your text to the right of the image if should show up after the </a> part. That's good. That's what we want. Now find the end of your text. That should be pretty easy to do. Got it? Great. Guess what... we're half way there.

Okay, here's the fun part. Go back to the html and find the beginning of the image code again. Right before the <a paste this code:

<table style="border: medium none ;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="100%">

Good, now go to the end of your text and paste this code in:

</td></tr></tbody></table>

Good. Now go back to "compose" mode and look at it. Okay, so it's not so impressive.... yet. The trick of this is that those code blocks can be repeated to get the text to stay with the relevant image. Each separate picture and the associated text is surrounded by its own "table" tag. This way, the browser knows to keep them separate. The post immediately below this one is a good example of two pictures with associated text.

Here is the updated post html, the parts I added are red. Since there are two pictures there are two "table" tags included, as you can see below:

<table style="border: medium none ;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="100%"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_3ihIMghm0Ew/SdL8iy14piI/AAAAAAAAAgo/O01RTN0EYxA/s1600-h/wip1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 243px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_3ihIMghm0Ew/SdL8iy14piI/AAAAAAAAAgo/O01RTN0EYxA/s320/wip1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319591784571512354" border="0" /></a>Hmm. The title sounds like "Kibbles and Bits"... Menites and Kans, Menites and Kans, I'm gonna get me some Menites and Kans.

But anyhoo.... I converted a Killa Kan from various bits, and I think he turned out okay. Meet Stompy and Chompy. I think the rationale behind Chompy's name is self evident, and of course Stompy is up on one leg. The third in the set is tentatively named "Clyde," named for the ghost in Pac-man who broke the rhyming pattern. I don't know what Clyde will be, but he won't be a stock Kan. Anyone care to share ideas?</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table style="border: medium none ;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="100%"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3ihIMghm0Ew/SdL9zj8cVzI/AAAAAAAAAgw/h6ZnKSndALo/s1600-h/wip1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 176px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3ihIMghm0Ew/SdL9zj8cVzI/AAAAAAAAAgw/h6ZnKSndALo/s320/wip1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319593172141889330" border="0" /></a>Also up are some models from the game Warmachine. I play the "Protectorate of Menoth" faction, and I absolutely love the models in this game. I have a standing challenge for a 500 point fully-painted game around May 1, so I'm planning what models need painting. My opponent will almost assuredly field Khador, so I'm in for a first-class whuppin'.</td></tr></tbody></table>

That's it! Go to town and let me know if it works/doesn't work for you or if you've found a better method to accomplish this.

On the table: Menites and Kans

2009-04-01T01:31:00.017-04:00

Hmm. The title sounds like "Kibbles and Bits"... Menites and Kans, Menites and Kans, I'm gonna get me some Menites and Kans.

But anyhoo.... I converted a Killa Kan from various bits, and I think he turned out okay. Meet Stompy and Chompy. I think the rationale behind Chompy's name is self evident, and of course Stompy is up on one leg. The third in the set is tentatively named "Clyde," named for the ghost in Pac-man who broke the rhyming pattern. I don't know what Clyde will be, but he won't be a stock Kan. Anyone care to share ideas?

Also up are some models from the game Warmachine. I play the "Protectorate of Menoth" faction, and I absolutely love the models in this game. I have a standing challenge for a 500 point fully-painted game around May 1, so I'm planning what models need painting. My opponent will almost assuredly field Khador, so I'm in for a first-class whuppin'.

My First Eight!!!

2009-03-30T13:53:00.005-04:00

Since I discovered CoolMiniOrNot way back in '05 I have had the singular goal of getting an 8.0 score on one of my minis. Today I looked at my gallery and realized that I had one! The duel entry from Chicago Games Day '08 had been hovering in the high 7's for ages, but today it's at 8.0.

So why would this make me so happy? The miniature isn't any better looking at 8.0 than it was at 7.8. It still didn't win a trophy. I think the big deal is that I've always defined 8 as the "great" range for minis on CMON. To think that about 100 people think my mini is (on average) "great" is an encouragement. Golden Demon is a tough competition. To even think about competing against the likes Chris Borer, James Wappel and Vincent Hudon takes some cajones. It's easy to get discouraged, especially competing in categories like 40k single model.

The simple plan: Keep painting. Get better. Win a silver. Win a gold. Win a sword.

...someday

The Dollar Store = Kitbash Heaven

2009-03-27T08:41:00.004-04:00

I have a confession to make... I'm frugal. Okay, maybe cheap is the right word. Either way, I've discovered in the past couple years how great the dollar store is for kitbash raw materials.

In case the term is new to you, kitbashing is taking something and disassembling/destroying it to get at its core components, then using those components to make something else. The toy section is especially handy, since a lot of the items have similar scale to wargaming. My BattleWagon shown here is a kitbash of a garden variety GW Ork Trukk, a dollar store steam roller toy and a dollar store Hummer Limo toy. Other bits from older GW models plus some styrene (used gift cards) were used as well. The big shootas in the front were originally the exhaust stacks from the steamroller.

The other Dollar Store item I really like is clocks. For only a dollar you get a wealth of cool gubbins like gears and springs and clear plastic disks. For Orks, all those fiddly little gears look great. I even used some broken gears to base my Grand Scrutator Severius last night.

Other Dollar Store items you might find useful:

laser pointer (true LOS!)
hobby paint brushes (for glue mostly)
craft sticks (tongue depressor sized or smaller) for wooden planks
plastic shot glasses for mixing 2-part epoxy
steel cookie sheets for carrying magnetized models
basing material (small rocks, spices, etc.)

Three Fails

2009-03-25T09:13:00.002-04:00

1. Failed my "job" roll
My application that was supposed to go into production today wasn't correct. I'm scrambling to finish it now.

2. Failed my "parenting" roll
My five year old had been telling us that his pre-school class does "show and tell" so he had to bring something, typically a toy dear to him. It turns out that his class does no such thing, and this was just a sly attempt to take his favorite toys to school. The fact that it took three weeks for us to find out is the embarrassing part. Nice one, Jay.

3. Failed my "40k gaming" roll
I played a substitute game of 40k Saturday for a friend who had to cancel on someone. It was a 1500 point game vs. Space Marines. Since my friend plays Orks I took Orks too. The list I faced was that Salamanders character (Vulcan?) to 10 marine squads in rhinos, three Dreadnoughts, Three Predators (AC, 2xHB) and three Land Speeders. Ouch. I got destroyed. Granted, I had to scrounge to get to 1500 points, I've never played Orks before and I've never actually won a game of 40k, but I was still the optimist! Once he had nine kills points to my 3 we called it, roughly the end of turn 4. In honor of my Warboss' crushing defeat in the unstoppable grip of his Dreadnought I am painting my opponent a Warboss head to place under the foot of his Dread. In fact, I should pledge some sort of hobby favor for any loss I incur.

Wait, maybe I should make the "plain, blue police box" I owe someone first... (yes, I mean you.)

Imperial Fists Land Raider Redeemer WIP 1

2009-03-22T23:29:00.003-04:00

This one has been on the shelf for a few months awaiting completion, and I think I'm going to get it done this week. I don't know how I would have done this without an airbrush. Seriously, I'm on at least coat 10 of yellow on the multimelta gunner and it's only now starting to look reasonably smooth. One of the goals for this one was a painted interior, so I ended up painting in the middle of assembly. That was a new experience, but I think it turned out well.

This is headed for eBay fairly soon. I made Chronus and the gunner removeable so you don't have to field them if you don't want. The final piece will include an "on-foot" Chronus in addition to the Chronus shown in the pic, both converted to Imperial Fists.

If anyone is seriously interested in purchasing this before it goes on the block, shoot me an email.