Spray Stick!

Needed to get some of my Space Wolves undercoated ready for painting next weekend (Charlene is going away Thursday until Saturday so I'll have Thursday night and all day Friday to get as much hobby stuff doen as possible) and had to disassemble an old bookshelf yesterday in order to make space in our spare room. Whilst doing so I had an idea to use one of the slats from the book shelf as a "spray stick" as it'd make it much easier to get to all of the bits compared to putting the mini's on a tray.

Below are some pics of the results, I also wanted to praise the spray I was using as well though, the army painter spray cans are great! My first time around I didn't shake the can as much as I should have and had some poor results, however if you read the instructions it says shake the can for a good minute and a half, and the results are much better if you do that!

This is my first time using their "Wolf Grey" primer and it came out great, just the colour I was looking for and it didn't obscure any of the detail.

Also included are some pictures of odds and ends on my painting table.

The spray stick + figs ready for priming, I had initially intended to put screws in and glue teh figs to the screws but Charlene pointed out the obvious and asked why I didn't just try blu tac, problem solved. It's strong enough to hold the stick upside down without any fear so job's a good 'un. 

 

And the proud owner of the spray stick in all his glory, my wife was so proud... (Yes I'm lying, there were many comments on my geekiness)

Action Shot!

After spray shot showing, well... a stick and blu tac!

Painting station including my WIP Logan Grimnar

Close up of Logan, only really the armour (bar battle damage) and face done currently, still a long way to go.

The sprayed figures and other work in progress bits. Hoping to finish the Carnifex, Lictor and Hive Guard over next weekend and get started on the Space Wolves. The Rhino still needs the Razorback Turret to be magnetised so that it's fully interchangable before spraying (Assume the best way here is to spray all bits separate to prevent the Spray potentially bonding the pieces?)

More "to do" bits, need to convert those marines at the bottom into Long Fangs using IG Missile Launchers and a step by step from Rupert40k over on 3++, assorted other parts of the army above them.

I ordered a couple of foam cases from Mantic to experiment with, wanted to see if I could use these to transport/post the finished 10 man Grey Hunter units safely. I think the large one (pictured) would be sufficient and they do feel pretty secure once the case is closed, however the smaller one wouldn't close with even 2 of the mini's in. I'm not really sure how much use the smaller ones would be for any figures to be honest.

Well that's the update for now, I'll be posting a battle report up next with my latest game against Dave where my 'Nids got a pasting against his Marines. Just need to sift through the pictures and add them to the text that Dave sent over to me amd I can put it up.

First! and General Introduction

OK so first of all I should welcome you (Should anyone ever find this) to what will be the first of a bi weekly blog following my bumbling antics in the world of a 40k hobbyist. Now that those pleasantries are out of the way I want to share a little bit about myself and the future content of this blog.

About Me

I'm a 27 year old male originally from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs (That's around the middle of the UK for those of you not from these parts) but moved down to Exeter in Devon on the South Coast around 6 years ago now, meeting my future wife who I have now been married to for nearly 2 years, and having a beautiful baby girl called Esme who is now coming up to 10 months old.

I originally started playing 40k with second edition when my mum used to let me look in the window of the Games Workshop store in Hanley while she did the banking, from there I moved to fantasy and had a stint through my high school years playing high elves. Following that I drifted away and have just recently started collecting again, picking up Tyranids to play against a good friend (Dave) I know from the local church.

I enjoy playing but don't get much of a chance to as I rarely brave the local store, playing all of my games against Dave when we get chance, which recently has been lucky to be twice a year!

As a result I generally spend a lot of time modelling and painting but not so much playing, perhaps that will change though in the future as I approach a fully painted army and pluck up the courage to go along to a local gaming group.

Post Content

Most of my posts as a result will be based on collecting / modelling / painting, with the occasional aside into my family life should I feel so inclined.

Since having our first baby my wife and I have had far less free time but as she is involved in hobby's of her own, and is in the process of expanding her baby photography businesss I do tend to get a couple of nights a week that are dedicated "hobby nights" which generally means once Esme has gone to bed I get a good couple of hours hobby time. - Hence the title "Two times Two" for two hours hobby activity, twice a week. (You may gather I struggle thinking creatively!)

At the moment I am finishing off painting my Tyranids, which have been painted (poorly due to time constraints) in a Kraken colour scheme, as well as building a Space Wolf army which is 90% built but 0% painted.

The majority of the posts for the time being therefore will be dedicated to following the progression of these two armies, documenting the hobby time I'm spending on these armies after each session and adding pictures and comments, hopefully receiving feedback to help me improve my hobby skills.

I have no pretensions that people will wish to read my random thoughts so if no-one chooses to read the blog, that's fine as this will also serve me as a filing system for paint schemes, thoughts, future motivation etc.

Check back next week for pictures of my currently painted Tyranids and Work in Progress (WIP) images of my Space Wolves. Please chip in with any comments you have as it'd be great to hear from anyone who is following.

Rich