Water Cup for Miniature Painting

 

I came across this water cup for cleaning brushes while painting. I've been using other items for a water cup - turning upside down the miniature blister pack, a paper cup (don't leave water in there too long or it will leak), cutting the top of a water bottle, a coffee/drink mug (don't confuse with your actual drink or you'll be drinking dirty paint water), etc.

It's nice to have an actual water cup designed to effectively clean and hold brushes. This has nice grooves on the bottom and sides along with vertical grooves to squeeze the water out of the brush and bring it to a point. It has a slot on top for your current brush and three slots in the back to hold upright an additional three brushes.  I actually would have liked more brush holder slots and some slots for larger size brushes. It's hard to tell from the angle of the picture but the bottom actually flares out just a bit from the top making this cup just about impossible to knock over so no dirty water all over the paint space.

Reaper Miniatures Silver Anniversary Shadow Box - 1600-1611

Something a little different... the year 2017 was the 25th anniversary of Reaper Miniatures and they produced a special edition black and silver blister pack which included a unique model each month.  You could only purchase the model during the given month of production or it was a freebie by purchasing a $40+ order directly from Reaper.

Reaper Miniatures is one of my favorite companies - they make fantastic models, they're innovative, and they're a small American manufacturer (located just north of Dallas, TX) which appeals to my roots as an industrial technologist who has implemented manufacturing and distribution systems in small to mid-size companies.  In late February I had the opportunity to visit the factory and received the visitor tour - it was fantastic and I highly recommend everyone interested in the hobby to take time to do so - particularly if you make it out to Reapercon - something else I finally did as well - I'll have another post regarding those two sometime soon.

The company was just getting going as I started in the miniature painting hobby back in 1999 and my first actually painted Reaper miniature was Briana of the Blade back in November 2000 (I did a re-base and touchup in November 2013).  A quick run through Reaper's historical highlights...

* 1994 - officially started by making a line called Scrye Counters which were circular in nature and had a piece which floated on top of a base which had numbers - the top piece could be moved to keep track of points when playing collectible card games.

* 1996 - the launch of their Dark Heaven Legends line of miniatures - this is their main product line and is famous for the cauliflower/broccoli integrated base.  The best part of this basing system is that the base sits into a one-inch square and the mini's feet sit at the same height as the top of the square base.

* 2002 - introduction of the Warlord miniatures and skirmish game - these miniatures use the slotta base approach with a plastic base.  The plastic base dictates the skirmish ruling for movement and melee.  I have the second edition rulebook and do wish they'd re-visit this line.

* 2004 - release of their Master Series paint line which is sold in bottles.  Prior to MSP, they did have a paint line that was pretty good which came in little cups with twist on/off caps.   Back in the early 2000's I did a painting class for kids and purchased a bunch of prior paints - not as convenient as the dropper style nor quite as good.  I've recently jumped onto the MSP paint line and I'm quite pleased.

* 2008 - partnership with Paizo to produce Pathfinder official miniatures - based like the Warlord line using the plastic slotta base.  My beef with this line is the larger models are slotted on 40mm Warlord bases instead of a proper 2" square base.  The models themselves are gorgeous!

* 2012 - Bones kickstarter campaign - wildly successful they reached $3.4 million to move into a new line of plastics made out of a soft pvc material called bones.  I bought into that campaign and I'm still painting bones today.

* 2013 - Bones II kickstarter campaign - the fun continued with $3.1 million in funding to move more models over to bones.  I bought into that campaign as well.

* 2015 - Bones III kickstarter campaign - more bones goodies with $2.7 million in funding to continue the migration over to bones.  Another campaign which I supported.

* 2017 - Bones 4 kickstarter campaign - the most recent campaign which procured $3 million in funding and is currently in the production phase.  And yes, supported and will probably purchase more in the not too distant future.  On-track to ship in February 2019.

Somewhere in there was CAV which is their fighting robots game; pre-painted miniatures which I'm guessing started their treck down the bones line as they're made out of the same material; Chronoscope which is their potluck of anything cuthulu, victorian, or sci-fi; and prior to bones, there was a move to P-65 heavy metal which went back to a lead based metal as the price of tin was skyrocketing.  It also let them reduce pricing on bigger models - I loved this metal mixture - fantastic detail and easy to manipulate - still have a number of models in blisters.  Just don't eat it!

This posting is supposed to be about a shadow box... I collected each month's special edition miniature and displayed them on the shelf.  The blister packs are an awesome black with silver Reaper logo and glowing red eyes.  Too cool to simply open up and throw away.  So I went over to Hobby Lobby and bought myself a shadow box - something I have no experience with doing.

I purchased a 16" x 20" box with black backing and black wood trim. Opening the box I found out that I had some work to do.  The glass needed cleaning on both the outside and the inside.  Additionally, the felt inside the box was full of fuzz and particles.  I used the hand attachment on our vacuum cleaner and gave that a good cleaning.

Then I laid out the models in a 4x3 matrix.  It worked rather well as there was about an inch and a quarter border all the way around.  The models would sit nicely with just a bit of spacing.  I had about a centimeter of play in-between (yes, I'm mixing my standard with my metric - but it worked).

I had purchased Gorilla Glue double-sided mounting tape.  They claim to permanently bond pretty much anything to anything within 15 pounds.  I also used one of the given pins on each blister just to make sure. :-)  I laid out the four corner models first and then used a steel rule to place the outside blisters into an orderly fashion.  The two remaining middle blisters I gave it the old eyeball look but was able to use the natural lines of the blister pack name to line them up appropriately.

After that, it was just a matter of sealing it up, give it a final dusting, and hanging the box up on the wall.  I'm quite pleased with my project.  It's a really cool addition to the home office where I work and hobby.  I have it hanging next to the flatscreen tv and the corner shelving unit.

Hobby Desk and Stynylrez Primer...

It's been almost exactly three years since my last hobby desk update and I want to rave a bit about some a primer I've come across which works extraordinary well on Reaper's bones miniatures.

First the hobby desk.  There's been a significant change - we moved to Austin, Texas during the summer of 2016 and the new house actually has a formal office - so excited, I'm out of the spare room in the basement and actually in a very spacious den.  I went to IKEA and purchased three tables that I use in an L shaped formation - one table for hobby, the corner table for my personal computer, and the third leg I use for my work laptop and spreading out my office work when I need to work from home.

I also re-purposed an IKEA glass enclosed shelving unit that holds all my completed models (it used to be in my oldest son's room long ago).  Works great for models.  I'd like to add more glass shelves but unfortunately, IKEA doesn't produce this unit anymore.  I added a small battery operated led light I picked up from Home Depot and mounted that on the top of the unit which is a nice effect if I'm showing off models.

For paints, I came across Dr. Faust Youtube video of how he re-organized his painting desk about six months ago and he utilized acrylic racking designed for nail polish.  Absolutely brilliant.  I did some measurements and while I didn't order the exact same unit, I utilized the same idea and picked up a couple of CQ Acrylics 5 layer rack from Amazon which fit my desk space better.  Word of warning, I ordered two for myself and another one later for my son - all three came cracked or chipped in some way from shipping.  Nothing a bit of glue couldn't fix, but annoying none the less.  They hold Vallejo, Reaper, and Games Workshop paints.  Each row holds 16 bottles of Vallejo or Reaper for a total of 80 bottles of paint.  Not sure on the GW - I only have an old pot of red ink, a wash of devlan mud, and a pot of liquid green stuff (which in my opinion is the best "paint" GW has ever produced).  As they're a bit wider, I'd guess you'd get a total of 60.

As to those wall shelves I had hanging above my previous desk.... I have enough room in the new space to fit a couple of IKEA's billy bookcases and have all my rpg books, and "to be painted" models.  Those bookcases work out really well.  I went back to IKEA and bought a couple of extra shelves as miniatures don't need the full height of books/magazines.

And now to my newest find... primer for Reaper's bones miniatures.  I recently went to the 2017 Reapercon for the first time.  Reapercon is hosted in a suburb of Dallas near the airport and as that's an easy 3 hour drive for me, I was able to finally do something I've been wanting to do for a very long time.  At Reapercon they had an awesome swag bag full of miniatures, paints, and other goodies from Reaper and various vendors at the convention.  One of the goodies in the bag was a bottle of Stynylrez primer sample (in green color) from Badger Air-Brush Co.  As a side note, I was able to see a close-up demo of airbrushing minis and I came so close to going home with the con special package from Badger - maybe next year - so cool.  Back to the primer... I'm guessing that it's their in-house name or they're third partying the primer; either way, the primer is fantastic as a brush-on for the bones miniatures.

I know, I know... supposedly you don't need to primer bones.  I'll disagree with that statement.  Bones miniatures need a solid coat of something else the first layer will be blotchy and later layers will scratch off paint to the bone.  When bones first came out (and this is before anything official was published by Reaper) I tried to use the standard spray paint primer - it eats into the pvc and creates a tacky surface that never dries - those first kobolds are still tacky several years later.  Since then, I've been pretty successful using Vallejo's black with a large brush and just the right amount of water - not enough and it's too thick - too much and it doesn't stick to the miniature.  With the Stynylrez well shaken I can dip my large brush directly into the bottle and paint straight onto the bones miniature.  It sticks well to the mini and provides a great surface for both the Vallejo and the Reaper paints.

I did a quick Google search and Amazon has a large bottle of grey, white, and black colored Stynylrez primers.  Other hobby sites have smaller bottles and various color selections.  I will definitely be purchasing more in the future once this bottle is empty and hopefully that future includes an air-brush.

Hobby Desk Part 2...

Hope everyone had a great set of holidays from Halloween through the New Year and everything in-between!  Looking back at my posts the number one post by far is my hobby desk posting - almost a 1,000 individual hits and if you google hobby desk it appears in the top row of images - so there's my little claim to fame on the internet :-)

I have a bunch of new toys for the hobby desk this year.  Matthew and I went to the train show at the Dulles Expo Center the Saturday after Christmas to see the trains.  Awesome layout and great work - those train guys really know how to put together scenery and we saw some really cool work.  Here's a couple of pictures...

There was also a vendor from B&B Hobby out of Bridgeville, PA at the show who was selling all sorts of great tools and gadgets.  I picked up a Robart Paint Shaker (shakes paint bottles 5,000 times a minute) which is pure awesomeness!  Also found an Excel hobby knife and an 18" x 24" cutting pad which is perfect for the desk.  My eyes are starting to get a bit old (that's another story) and I picked up a magnifying light with daylight bulb - what a difference that makes!  Finally, I bought myself a set of diamond files - much better than the worn out steel set.

As to the desk - some things are different and some things stay the same...

* Two questions I had from before... (Q1) why no drywall... because it's a spare room in the basement and that would require more time and expense than what I want to put into it - I did throw down carpet and a couple years ago we replaced the carpet in my son's room so I took the old padding into the hobby room and now I have a bit of cushion.  (Q2) what program did I write for the computer... I used a database I built on an old product called Superbase (this was back in 1999 when I first started painting minis) - at some point blogger was enhanced to allow backposting dates, since then I've transferred everything over to this blogsite in chronological order - isn't the internet great!

* Same home built desks as before - it's 3/4" medium density fiberboard and I haven't experienced any warping/bowing with the desk.  I should probably flip it one of these days - but that means I have to clear it off first.

* I've replaced my laptop over the years with a 17" version which I use for work and home - as for music... I've gone completely to the internet with Pandora and Google Play Music.

* With a bit of sadness I replaced my Littlite with a magnifying light - the magnifying light uses a daylight bulb which is actually better and the magnification is welcome to the old eyes.

* Still have shelves of prepped and "to be painted" miniatures as well as about 70% of the Reaper Bones Kickstarter (I should have Bones II coming sometime soon) is taking over half a desk.  Outside of the Bones product, I have made an effort over the years to open up all the metal minis, prep them, base them, and put on a coat of black primer.  When I get only an hour or two in the hobby room it is easier to do some prep work.  Ideally, I like to have a bigger block of time when I paint.

* Paints - 4 years ago I was trying to decide what to do as most of my GW paints had dried out thanks to that stupid paint pot they were using at the time - what a horrid design.  I decided to go the Vallejo Game Color route and I've really enjoyed the paints.  I cut a 4" x 4" the length of the desk and then drilled two rows of 1-1/16" holes in a line of 37 across for a total of 74 slots.  The holes in the back row aren't as deep as the front so that the're elevated for easy viewing and accessibility.  This scenario works very well for me - I pull out paint as I'm using it and then put it back after updating the blog.

* Pop was replaced with beer tonight!  Breckenridge Brewery - Avalanche Amber Ale - received it from a friend over the holidays - good drinking!

* My new Excel 24" x 18" cutting mat has already proven useful and I'm using an old keyboard gel strip as an armrest which keeps the edge of the table from cutting into my arms while I'm painting.

* There's a cup of The Masters Brush Cleaner - heard about that a couple years ago and picked up a bit of the product.  This is magic for your brushes - gets all the paint out just by swiping your brush in the product - magical!

* There's a few more finished minis on the shelf - yeah!  A bunch of them are currently in travel case I use for gaming.

Hopefully we'll do this again in another four years.

Hobby Desk...

Thought it would be fun to show off the hobby desk tonight.

* hobby room is the only unfinished room in the house - it's about 10'x12' in size located in the basement - I bought a piece of inexpensive carpet from home depot to cover the cement floor - desks are made from 2x4's and topped with that wood made from sawdust (it's cheap, light, but extremely sturdy).

Going from left to right...

* newish laptop computer - used to play cd's (not very often), pandora radio (very often), and update the blog.

* two shelves of opened and unpainted miniatures.

* old laptop computer - runs a custom piece of software I wrote to enter in step by step instructions as I'm painting, then a routine categorizes all the paint used, also displays a picture of the finished miniature - I use this for reference on past miniatures I've painted or experiments performed.

* a spotlight from Littlite (pronounced little light) - this is a company that I worked with when I was a consultant implementing enterprise software systems - the company has a very interesting history to it in that the company originally (and still does) made custom sound and light boards for rock bands (Emerson Lake and Palmer was first client). They needed a small and flexible light to see controls during the concert and the littlite was born. I use two daylight florescent bulbs hung from the ceiling but this puts a little spot light on the actual work without getting in the way.

* a shelf of spray paint, glue, and air canister.

* a shelf of painted miniatures (except for the pile of in the blister mage knight special editions).

* above that is a third shelf with years of dungeon, dragon, and white dwarf magazines.

* a paint color highlight/shading reference chart.

* three boxes of GW paints - most of them have gone bad - I'm trying to decide between reaper master or vallejo game color - problem is that I can't find anyone who stocks either in the area

* a pile of based miniatures - some are primered.

* water cup and folded paper towel for cleaning brushes.

* pop.

* Jim Beam barbeque sunflower seeds and spit cup - absolutely the best seeds.

* old version of how to paint citadel miniatures.

* paint brushes stuck upside down in styrofoam.

* paint sticks for whatever.

* roll of paper towels for cleanup.

* 2 old wireless g network cards that I need to get rid of - any takers?

* a clear, 3 drawer, fully loaded filing cabinet bursting to the seems with in the blister miniatures (it's clear so I can constantly be aware of how many unpainted minis there are!).