This weekend I was messing around in the garage with my three year old son and on a whim I decided to show him the various figures I’ve painted over the years. We had a great time taking them out of their storage containers and ‘fighting’ them. He was fine with them once I explained I preferred it if he didn’t smash them together! I don’t think he knew I owned some painted figures, as he’s more used to seeing my paint station scattered with half assembled or white primed models.
I was pleasantly surprised to see how well some of the paint jobs have stood the test of time so decided to take some snaps now I own a decent digital camera. So here’s a bit of a retrospective in order to try and bolster my flagging modeling spirits - you may have noticed the lack of posts recently.
I originally painted these Imperial Guard vehicles at the end of 2003 and I think they look pretty reasonable, despite the fact I seem to have had some odd preference for applying far too much chestnut ink wash and the decal work is a little shoddy!
The venerable Imperial Guard Basilisk is quite a nice 40k model, or at least it was when it was reasonably priced. Nothing shouts Imperial Guard more than a great big dirty artillery piece. In fact I deliberately left the rather crude gun shield to show off the Basilisk’s gun and breech. Personally I think the model looks better without that vast sheet of plastic glued on.
One down side is the Basilisk model doesn’t come with crew, however I evidently scrounged a couple of old metal Cadians. I suspect they’re actually from the metal kit to convert a Chimera into a Griffon mortar carrier (that’s GW’s spelling not mine).
Dusting off my Imperial Guard makes me want to have a game or two of 40k again, as long as it’s not against the bloody Tau. The latest edition of 40k is actually an improvement in terms of game play, however the Tau have some serious balance issues I believe. I’d say this is almost self evident judging from the number of Tau armies you see around these days.
Looks good to me. Maybe someday I’ll pull painted models out of storage. My three old today, concerned I was making a move to expedite her nap, suggested I return to playing with my little men (I’d been sitting at our kitchen counter converting something). I tried to explain that I wasn’t trying to move her nap forward and she very earnestly suggested again that I go back to playing with my little men, which I did. :)
Shaun my wee 4 year old likes playing with my models. Similarly I had to tell him not to crash them but we did have fun after that =] Its good to see some history on the site, I battled your guards and they looked great, no prob with the ink in my eyes
Pagumb, I like kids, they never sugar coat anything! Personally I have no problem admitting I play with toy soldiers. Like any hobby it’s a nice break from the insanity of modern life.
At least soldiers is moderately educational as it involves history, basic maths, geometry, probability and the ability to comprehend and apply large, often complex sets of rules!
Now I’m getting better at photographing my minis I’ll probably do a wee bit more retrospectin’ too since there’s a lot of posts back several years ago that have no related photographs.
Beautiful paintjob, Stu. Reminds me of the better 1/35 scale tanks I’ve seen around the ‘net (I was pretty heavily into that scale military modeling before hopping over to the miniatures genre).
You may know this already, but here’s a tip I found on the ‘net a number of years ago, to avoid the silvering effect under the decals without having to coat the model with a gloss finish first.
“Make up a brew of *distilled* water, a high quality white glue - not Elmer’s, it yellows with age - and decal solvent, (I like to use Solvaset), roughly equal parts of each. Brush this on to the area to be decalled and apply the decal as usual, patting it down gently; more decal solvent can now be applied on top of the decal if you think it’s necessary.
Wick away any excess solution as soon as possible to prevent possible staining of the paint. Once the decal is completely dry there should be no silvering evident, the white glue having filled in low spots in the paint. Overspray with the final clear coat of your choice.”
I’ve used this with good results for the past seven years or so.
Forgot to add, my son is almost two and I can’t wait to introduce him to the hobby. Not that he *has to* pick up this hobby, but I at least want him to see what I do in my little workroom with my free time.