Nothing gives me a kick to paint like looking at some nicely painted miniatures. Last weekend I had a chance to go to the a contest, or Herzog von Bayern in Germany. It was the 12th edition and my second I were at.

The contest takes place in Ingolstadt, a beautiful old city which is known for it’s Audi factory. The whole event is in old castle called Neues Schloss where the Bavarian Army Museum is.

Another benefit is that at the same time in the castle’s courtyard during the weekend is a local fest. So after many hours of looking at miniatures it is nice to sit on the bench, have a cold beer in 1 liter glass, called “Maß”, eat a Wieswurst with local music played live.

The Duke of Bavaria 2012 contest started on Friday and lasted for 3 days. Usually most of the people come on Saturday, that is when the deadline for entering miniatures is. The results are given on the next day, so on Sunday you can pick up your entires. So in general it is a two days contest. Each painter entering in the contest has to pay €10 fee.

You really can’t feel bored there because just to watch the entries takes 1 or 2 hours. They are all gathered in one big room. There are no display cabinets so the entries are just on the shelves. So you can carefully take them and watch from really, really close from each side. Great thing about the Duke of Bavaria is that you can talk to people how did they paint something and then they just show you on the model! You can learn so much from just looking and talking to those masters of brush.

There were also some classes (including  miniature painting classes), each devoted to different topics…

… and display cabinets where judges show their own great works:

Also there were many shops, where you could spend some money. Plenty to choose from – little companies or big names like Pegaso.

The Duke of Bavaria 2012 contest

The form of the contest is very open and categories give that feeling:

1. Junior Cup
2. Beginner
3. Standard-Class
• Standard Painting
• Standard Open
• Standard Flats 30 mm
• Standard Flats over 30 mm
• Fantasy Standard Painting
• Fantasy Standard Open
4. Master-Class
• Master Painting
• Master Open
• Master Flats 30 mm
• Master Flats over 30 mm
• Fantasy Master Painting
• Fantasy Master Open
5. Dioramas / Vignettes
6. Out of competition

For every category there are two classes: Master- and Standard-Class. You can enter only one for each category, i.e. Standard class Fantasy Painting and Master class Painting.

In each category you get a display place where you can put your entires that fall into this one category (the design of the display (Cloth, stairs, socket) is a freely selectable form, the standard size of the displays is approx. 30 x 30 cm). So if you have 3 single 32mm fantasy miniatures + 2 single 32mm sci-fi minis – they all go together as one entry into Master/Standard ‘Fantasy Painting’ category

Judging at Duke of Bavaria is also a bit different from what you know from other contests.

Judging System:

The judges give 0 – 4 points.

4 points mean GOLD
3 points mean SILVER
2 points mean BRONZE
1 point means RECOMMENDED
0 points mean NO AWARD

In every category there are 3 jurors, which means:

10 – 12 points GOLD
7 – 9 points SILVER
6 – 8 points BRONZE
3 – 5 points RECOMMENDED
0 – 2 points NO AWARD

So the rules are very unique and this is what makes Duke of Bavaria special. It means that there can be more than one bronze, silver or gold. The organizers motivate their decision about such formula that they don’t want painters to compete with each other – just with themselves.

There are also many special awards given from different clubs, i.e.:

• best painted Bavarian soldier (award given from the museum director)
• best native American miniature (from one of the judges)
• best creative entry (award from Massive VooDoo monkeys)

and many, many different awards from painting clubs around Europe (Belgium, France, Italy, Czech and Germany). What orginisers could do better, would be to write about those awards before the contest, or maybe it is supposed to be that way?

Ceremony

I have never been on a ceremony that lasts almost 1,5 hour. But it is in a wonderful chamber and all the winners’ entries are shown (so you know what they get medals for).

Entries

The key part of every contest, have fun watching them!

If you would like to know more about the contest, here is the oficial web page, and to see how was it last year and what great miniatures were there, just click here.

– Sea.man

Related posts:

1. Hussar 2011 – Report from miniature painting contest
2. Hussar 2010 report
3. Grey Seer 2011 – miniature painting competition report

If you liked the article and would like to read more, visit us at Chest of Colors for more articles, gallery of painted miniatures and active forum for miniature painters.

The article was originally published at Chest of Colors: Duke of Bavaria 2012 report.

Men and their cars… What can I say, we do love our cars. The bigger, the faster, the more powerful – the better! Of course, red cars are faster, we all know that.

Here’s a short story of 3 little green ones and 1 red one.

No, it’s not about a bunch of Martians and their home planet.

Red One Went Faster

All pics were used courtesy to Jarhead, famous member of the famous Massive Voodoo group.

Related posts:

1. Between the Lines – Episode 3
2. Between the Lines – Episode 7
3. Between the Lines – Episode 1

If you liked the article and would like to read more, visit us at Chest of Colors for more articles, gallery of painted miniatures and active forum for miniature painters.

The article was originally published at Chest of Colors: Between the Lines – Episode 8.

Every month there are many new releases from different companies. Those releases go from simple conversion kit (heads, shoulders, legs) to minis of various sizes without forgetting accessories. We decided to have a look on what has been released over March and April, and what you see here is a selection of our favorites.

You’ll find here a compilation of what we think are the most interesting releases of these months. I would like to present you some of those most interesting in my opinion. There is always place for the discussion, so feel free to post your favourites from recent releases.

If you know new company, then tell us about it too, we’re always looking for some news ranges.

We’d like to thank all Chest of Colors members that post information about new miniatures. This article has been written I wrote this article based on their findings posted at the forum.

Of course this list is very personal and shows just two points of view, but we are more than open to talk with you!

Hero scale (heroic or sci-fi):

Sea.man: this barbarian from Heresy has really something that makes me wanna buy it. For sure you might say that it is just another well sculpted barbarian, but just look at his facial expression…

Hellspawn: Come on!!! This is just another barbarian, nothing new here, pile of muscles, oversized axe like he needs to compensate for something, and an angry face like he hasn’t pooped. Nothing I’d like to paint. Though, if you want to stay in the barbarian style, have a look at this wip of a female barbarian from the Hasslefree Miniatures range which is really nice and different from what we can usually see.

Still looking for the male or did I managed to turn you on with the female?

Sea.man: for me Kingdom Death produces two types of miniatures, first are those controversial ones which I don’t understand and second that I like to call normal ones. But for sure this company knows how to release nicely detailed miniatures.

Hellspawn: Ah, I knew you were more a female type of guy and you’re right, it’s nice to have a change in the weirdness of the previous releases, though, this bunch of minis isn’t what I prefer. But to stay away from the weirdness and come back on something more usual, Reaper Miniatures released this month a nice bunch of minis with this one that caught my attention. She’s perhaps not one of their best minis, but in this batch I liked her.

Isn’t she lovely with her helmet?

Large scale (54mm or above):

Sea.man: Knight Models turns out to be one of the leading large scale companies, the licences to use well known heroes helps a lot, but I think that we have to agree one thing – they really do those characters justice with such great sculpts.

Hellspawn: Yeah, Knight Models is one of the companies that I’m always enjoying the releases of their large scales, they do provide really nice quality products and they use their licences wisely, of course, they did released some lame ones. Do you remember the release of Darth Vader that was made some times ago?

He’s totally silly while they could have done great job, on him (of course, this is just my personal pow on it) but it’s true that lately, the releases are just more and more interesting and I’ll for sure try to grab some of the DC releases if I can find some of my favourite super heroes sculpted.

You spoke previously about the Kingdom Death releases and I said that they weren’t really my taste, but I have to admit that this one is really good, she’s nicely sculpted far from the weirdness Kingdom Death usually provides us, she’s sexy, and she has something that attracts me (and no, I’m not talking about the titties here or the thong), she definitely has some character.

Don’t you think I’m right?

Busts:

Sea.man: this Hussar bust from Young Miniatures is very close to my heart, because it represents the famous cavalry from Poland. The character of the majestic knight looks very well executed and this panther skin…

Hellspawn: I’m not super excited about busts, I always think they look silly or something is missing, so won’t comment on this one and will just say that the paint job is really nice, as Sea.man said, panther skin is very well executed just like the feathers.

Sexy:

Sea.man: this sexy lady with big gun, who hunts lions in Africa in steampunk era comes from Castle Miniatures. I think it is a new company, but if they produce more large scale models like this one, then they will become very popular.

Hellspawn: You call that sexy? Sigh, she’s far from sexy, her boobs looks like eggs, she’s not really smiling, and what the hell is this gun? It’s weird, mix of a sniper gun with a melta gun canon…What is she hunting? Giant bugs? Cause she’s definitely not hunting lions in Africa with such a gun and, dressed like that, she’d better be a nice shooter then cause otherwise, she’ll end up in the bug’s belly. Now, this is what I would call sexy:

I’ve always been enjoying those Pin-up minis from Andrea Miniatures. They look like coming from the 50’s but the paint job is just insane and make them soo real that I would love to see more of those. Don’t you?

Proxies:

Sea.man: this Otherworld liche makes a really nice addition to vampire army or war band.

Hellspawn: OH MY GOD! This mini is soooo gonna end in my Vampire Count army, this is for me A MUST HAVE for any Vampires Count or Tomb Kings player.

Sea.man: those marines (or just call them seamen ) from Titan Forge look absolutelly fantastic, they are full of character and the ogre with the mermaid is just great! The price (€35 for three) isn’t bad either.

Hellspawn: they’re really nice yes; Titan Forge released lately a nice pack of minis that would suits nicely any Ogre or Vampire Counts armies. Though, Titan Forge aren’t the only ones who did nice alternatives this month, Raging Heroes thought about Dark Elves (and later Dark Eldar) and also the Ork (fantasy and sci-fi ones) players with their releases. They’re launching the “Blood Vestals” and a nice Big Boss

Conversions parts/Accessories:

Sea.man: MaxMini surely knows how to keep up with Games Workshop‘s releases with their bits you can fully customise your Necron army.

Hellspawn: indeed, those heads will surely fits any Games Workshop armies, though, I would have seen those more on a Chaos Space Marines themed on the Thousand Sons than on Necrons but hey, this is just my taste.

Talking about customization, look at what CoolMiniOrNot thought about:

They previously released the Instant Mold (which you’ll find a review I made here but this month, they released a combo box of Instant Mold and what they called Instant Putty. So basically now, you can: a) mold your own parts, and b) directly “sculpt it”

Don’t you think this is gonna be really helpful? Players are gonna be able to do more personalization for cheaper than before, it’s great!

Of course, considering this article is about new releases and this section about accessories, we couldn’t make an article about monthly releases without talking about the new range of Games Workshop paints and the accessories that goes with:

Though, having nice tools to convert and big range of paints isn’t helpful if you don’t have something to order everything. So here comes Back2Base-ix with their nice bunch of shelves:

Funniest release:

Sea.man: Wyrd has made this War Pig Rooster especially for Easter, not sure if this is a limited miniature or even will it have its rules for Malifaux, but it is quite funny

Hellspawn: It’s a funny one indeed, not that much to say about it, besides that it’s a pink “bunny” on a skinned chicken ^^.Talking about chicken, those, usually runs heedlessly, but I think that the term “headless” can easily go to this:

I think that Privateer Press should definitely stop going for sooo huge shoulders because this is plain ridiculous. This guy here looks like more Sleepy Hollow than anything else. They should definitely look to rework on their bases because Privateer Press has a serious problem here.

Bases:

Talking about the bases, let’s get back to the ground, well, if we can talk about ground here cause Dark Age released a bunch of bases on the theme of ice explosion.

Hellspawn: They do look more like water with waves than ice to me, but hey, they’re not the worst releases this month, cause look at the next section.

Sea.man: Quite ok, but check those bases from Tabletop-art. Not only those look great, but the idea to sell them as a deal is sweet.

Worst release:

Sea.man: some might say that this one is cool, but for me this Lord of Pestilence from Avatars of War is big NO. There are too many things going there, seems overloaded to me.

Hellspawn: What the hell is that? Chtulhu-headed fat dorf? Anyone has a bag because nausea is coming…

Well, I don’t thank you for this choice, Sea.man. It’s something, that I would have gladly pass on, hehe, though if you managed to make me throw up with your “worst release” choice, look at those two from Zenith Miniatures and Reaper:

Don’t you think those are ugly as well?

Best paintjob:

We couldn’t end this compilation with such horrible things, this was just impossible, cause knowing that our readers could have nightmares just thinking about those “things” (cause we can’t even call them minis) was not something we wanted so here are a few of what we think are the most amazing official paintjobs of the month.

First one is from a new company called Infamy Miniatures and I thought that even if the mini isn’t awesome, the paintjob on the bottle is just insane. Look at it:

The second that catches our attention is from another new company called Origen Art. This mermaid is superb, no wonder seamen usually fell in love with their charms:

So here is the end of this compilation of some of the releases of this month that catches our attention. This isn’t of course the whole bunch of the releases that arrived this month, only a part of it, but what do you guys think? Was it good? Do you agree with us?

Want more?

On the Chest of Colors forum we have a section called Manufacturers, where forum members and even a few miniatures producers post information about latest releases. Feel free to join and leave feedback. Also, if you know some new company, or even better – you make your own miniatures – don’t hesitate and post information about new miniatures, conversions parts or companies. The more hobbysts see those miniatures, the bigger chance it will find its fans. Somehow we have to spend our hard earned money, don’t we?

– Sea.man & Hellspawn

Related posts:

1. Miniature of the month: March 2012
2. Warploque Miniatures: Jebzakkah B’Ork – Review
3. Forge World Chaos Decimator – Review

If you liked the article and would like to read more, visit us at Chest of Colors for more articles, gallery of painted miniatures and active forum for miniature painters.

The article was originally published at Chest of Colors: New releases: Hand-picked miniatures of March and April 2012.

Recently I got hold of products of Polish company HobbyZone and I’ve been using them (HobbyZone paint station and paint stands) for over two weeks now. I must admit that despite my initial reservations based on my experience with the Games Workshop Paint Station, they allowed me to organize my paint station and made fitting it into my constanly shrinking miniature painting space much easier.

Catalogue photos:

I mainly tested the paint station, but in addition to the HobbyZone paint station review I also managed to prepare a review of the two paint stands that I have. Now I can see all my paints! Previously I kept them in my drawer. I hoped they should remain in place on the Ikea antislip mat, but whenever I opened the drawer I found them in a completely changed order. Ikea can wipe their backs with their mats!

After testing HobbyZone products I prepared a review of the HobbyZone accessories I had. You can read about my opinions below.

Paint stand

Much joy from a small thing! According to the producer’s description, the paint stand is a perfect solution for keeping your painting place tidy while painting models. We’re assured that thanks to firm slots chances of spilling paint are really slim.

It looks like this:

What do we get?

The stand measures 42,5 cm x 18 cm x 9,5 cm and is supplied in elements which need to be assembled. Assembly is childishly easy, doesn’t require and gluing and parts fit perfectly. Adding even a simplest manual (even on the company’s website) wouldn’t be a bad thing, as it could that shelves should be mounted in a zipper-like way (with slots shifted in relation to the previous shelf) – just like on my photos.

Parts to build the stand:

Building is childishly simple:

Of course it’s not necessary, but it would answer the only doubt one could have while assembling the stand.

Variants

Paint stands are available in 2 variants, the difference being in the size and number of paint bottle slots. It can be either 40 x 36mm slots or 54 x 28mm slots.

These smaller slots are suited for “dropper” bottles, for example Vallejo or Reaper MSP. The larger ones can hold even more “bulging” bottles – like Games Workshop‘s or P3, but also those of smaller diameter. Unfortunately it results in a disadvantage: when something is universal, it’s never perfectly suited to its purpose. It’s true also in this case – many of my paints fit pretty loosely to those 36mm slots. It doesn’t make them any less usable, but is not as “professional” and convenient as better fitting smaller slots, which hold paints (for example Vallejo) much better.

Vallejo and Reaper MSP series paints sit perfectly in 28mm slots:

Unfortunately universal 36mm slots have their disadvantages:

Inks and pigments don’t fit into slots:

When placing an order one should choose the version of paint stand they want shipped. Moreover, the producers are very flexible and don’t even mind such sophisticated ideas like mixing different types of shelves within one stand – you just need to write what kind of shelves you want and it can surely be arranged with HobbyZone!

Comfort

I have one stand for my Vallejo and Reaper paints (smaller slots) and one for P3 and Citadel paints – the universal size (which means: larger slots).

As you surely know I have a complete mix of various paint bottles, but despite this the universal size didn’t suit my needs that fine, which I already described above. It is surely a personal thing, because a person relying more on Games Workshop paints would surely have a different opinion. I have few paints in such bottles and smaller bottles move loosely in those large slots.

As you can see on my photos, even GW jars sit there pretty loosely, just like P3 ones. The best fit I got was with Vallejo alcohol-based metallics:

Only alcohol-based Vallejo metallics sit firmly, while other paints sit rather loosely:

I tried to fill unused slots with MIG pigments and Winsor & Newton inks, but they didn’t fit there. Fortunately I managed to find room for them on the HobbyZone paint station (which you will see below).

Currently I am only missing one Vallejo stand and a benchtop organizer for complete happiness, but there’s always time to pick these up…

HobbyZone paint station

The paint stand I have is called a professional paint station by HobbyZone. Actually I prefer to call it a “tabletop”, but let’s use the name given by the producer. The difference between types of paint stations is in sizes and number of shelves. The professional one has three shelves and measures 60 cm x 40 cm x 8 cm.

What do we get

The paint station is made of a base and three shelves with slots for paints, brushes and tools, and two additional side shelves (that I call “ears”). My table came assembled and glued, and only the “ears” (side shelves) required putting into prepared slots, but it was very easy.

Paint station in parts:

It’s very easy to add side shelves:

Completely assembled HobbyZone paint station:

Wide choice of different tool slots:

The side shelves are stabilized by additional supports, which prevents them from bending and makes them stable

Moreover, the paint station is very functional even without these additional shelves and some may even prefer it this way as it takes less space. I was told one can also order it unassembled, but I didn’t make use of this option as it has no impact on pricing.

Holders on sides of the paint station make it very portable, which solves my current organization problems. Additionally I can have all the useful things really close at hand, and paints selected for painting 4 models simultaneously fit into their slots just fine.

Variants

Just like paint stands, paint stations are also offered in 2 versions: with larger and smaller slots, and the choice is made when placing the order. Moreover, you can use the without changing the price and creating a freely selected choice of shelves customized to your needs.

As I already mentioned it, since the producers were really flexible regarding customization of their products, I could choose the kind of slots I wanted for my paint station. As far as I know they wouldn’t mind similar requests from other customers too.

My paint station has slots for large and small paint bottles:

Surface of the Paint station

I remember I used to have a Games Workshop paint station, but it became really worn and ugly with time – I didn’t mind glue and paint stains but I felt that instead of washing the thing I was rubbing dirt into it. (Hehe, I must sound like a frustrated housewife, but hey, you must be cleaning your desks before major holidays, too ) I like to have my workplace clean because working in a mess makes me tired fast. That’s also one of the reasons why I didn’t decide to get the HobbyZone paint station before.

Then I was convinced by laminated suface of the paint station. I think it will make the table more resistant to damage and wearing, and will allow it to look neat for a longer time. And it has to look this way because it sits in my dining room, which is also my workshop. So far cleaning is easy and I haven’t experienced any problems, so keeping the paint station tidy and in good order didn’t cause any problems, but I’ve been using it only for like two weeks.

Convenience

Now a few words about the base of the paint station – the tabletop. The first thing is that HobbyZone offers paint stations in a few sizes, and I decided to get the biggest one (which is called “professional”, so how could I resist! ) The width is comfortable – moving from a large table onto it was no problem for me and I didn’t feel it’s too small for my needs. Of course I can’t tell if a broad-shouldered man would say the same, but for me the size is OK. I only find the depth of the tabletop a bit too short, so I keep it pushed like 10cm back onto the table, which increases the depth of the paint station and my workspace. But would I decide to order a deeper one? Not really, because I would be unable to keep it on my wardrobe. So in my case the size is just fine I think I don’t really find the difference in levels of both tabletops a problem, because the base of the paint station is pretty thin.

This reminds me of a problem I had with the Games Workshop paint station, which had a thicker base and it made my forearms hurt after working for a longer time. You know, the difference of levels and sharp edge of the paint station made my arms go numb and painful. Bear in mind that I often happen to sit and paint for longer periods of time, so such problems can discourage to use this kind of equipment. That was one of the reasons why I was unsure if I would like the HobbyZone table. Fortunately its thickness is just right – it assures stability of the whole thing, while not making it painful for the painter’s arms. I have to admit that while carrying the loaded paint station around I felt as if the base was pretty flexible due to its low thickness, but I hope it won’t end up in the same way as the Games Workshop paint station, which soon became warped… But whatever I would call the GW thing, I wouldn’t call it “flexible”.

The base is thin enough so it doesn’t cause any pain even during long painting sessions:

Workmanship

Quality of the paint station caused no objections on my end, and the HobbyZone logo doesn’t jump at you, and is a nice visual touch instead. You know that for me such little things can mean a lot

Of course, like a typical woman I had a crazy idea to repaint the paint station to a color more harmonized with my apartment, but I quickly realized that the white color of the paint station has a big advantage – it doesn’t create any color cast, which would alter the way painted models look. White also reflects more light, which makes your workspace brighter and better lit (without blinding you ). I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but even if it was just accidental – it must have been a lucky accident.

Elements of the HobbyZone paint station are glued solidly and neatly, and edges are finished in a clean way so it seems there’s no risk of tearing or chipping. Of course I am judging after like two weeks of usage, so I can’t tell what it’s going to look like after a year or two.

Gluing is neat, workmanship is flawless:

Possible improvements:

I did a little improvement to the table, which allows me to carry it more securely (and it’s very important to me). I fixed the miniatures and elements I was working on to the paint station with Blu-tack or Patafix. This keeps them secured to their places and I don’t have to fear the possibility of anything dropping from the table when I am transporting it.

My problem was that I couldn’t find suitable water glasses to fit in the slots prepared in the paint station. They could become another product from HobbyZone, but on our miniature painting forum I was told to use disposable plastic cups, and they fit perfectly, so this problem was already solved. Not that I wouldn’t prefer something more durable…

On the photos you can see that for now I prefer to use the slots originally planned for water cups to keep my sculpting tools and a coaster on which I keep spare little bits, and I carry my water glasses on the tabletop:

I keep my water cups on the base, as I don’t have suitable glasses to fit in the slots:

Final verdict

As you can surely see, I am very satisfied with the improvements and reorganization I managed to achieve thanks to the paint station and paint stands. I would rate the quality of these products as very good, they’re easy to keep clean and much room for paints, toold and miniatures I am painting allows me to keep most of the things I might need while working on miniatures (and surely also other models) close at hand. I hope these products are durable enough so I don’t have to replace them with new ones (and remember they’re getting some rough time from me – painting every day and being carried around a few times a day).

If there’s anything I don’t quite like, it’s the larger-sized paint slots. I can’t say they’re bad, but they simply don’t suit my needs all that well. Although supposed to be universal slots, they aren’t well suited to some of more frequently used products. And if they’re supposed to be a good fit for a particular kind of bottles, then they could be fitting more accurately. It may be a matter of taste though. I dealt with it by moving some of my supplies onto the paint station, but this means I have some of my rarely used products there where I don’t really need them so much. They could rest on paint stands, but I hope such paint stands are still to be produced.

I think that HobbyZone started well with a line of products for us, painters. Now they should open their minds to suggestions coming from the hobby community and react to market situation. There are some suggestions from me in this very review.

Prices of their products are not high in my opinion. People who spend a few hours daily painting, should be able to spend some money on equipping and reorganizing their workspaces.

Would I recommend these products to other painters? Yes, with completely clear conscience. Just remember that it’s not any kind of a magic solution which will tidy up and reorganize your workshops. In my case it worked well because I always wanted to have easy access to tools, paints and models that I am working on, and to be able to carry my painting equipment easily – and both the paint station and paint stands allow for easy portability. I got what I expected.

Ideas and suggestions

First thing is what I already mentioned: shelves with different shapes and sizes of slots. It would allow to customize paint stands for the kind of products one actually uses. Especially that HobbyZone is pretty flexible as far as customizations go.

Another idea I have is to make similar shelves, but instead of paint bottle slots, they would have little drawers for fine modeling supplies, like glue, flock, sand, static grass, etc. If they keep the same size as paint stands, one could build a whole wall of such shelves.

Alternatively they could also split benchtop organizers into smaller modules (let’s say in 3 variants: empty, shelves and drawers), which could be combined depending on your needs and preferences.

The last idea I would like to remind about was to provide those unfortunate water cups, which would fit the slots in paint stations. I would most likely buy them for my paint station.

And let’s not forget the display cabinets section on HobbyZone website, which is still empty. I really wonder when we will see anything there and what will they look like.

And what would you like to suggest to HobbyZone? Maybe you have used their products and would like to share your own opinion? I am curious what you have to say on this subject and sure that the HobbyZone crew will check this review and comments here.

– Ańa

Related posts:

1. 1001 Ways to paint Yarry (warning: 101 pics)
2. How to paint marble bases
3. How to paint OSL effect on a jump pack

If you liked the article and would like to read more, visit us at Chest of Colors for more articles, gallery of painted miniatures and active forum for miniature painters.

The article was originally published at Chest of Colors: HobbyZone paint station review.

I’ve been told that I should pay more attention to issues important for painters, as Chest of Colors is the site for painters.

Well…

OK, if that’s what you ask for…

The first ever Between the Lines tutorial. I’ll deal with one very important issue. Beware though, it may turn upside down everything you knew about painting so far.

Colour Theory

Many thanks to Camelson, superb painter and friendly chap who let me use one of his minis as an example for my tutorial.

Related posts:

1. Between the Lines – Episode 2
2. Between the Lines – Episode 8
3. Between the Lines – Episode 1

If you liked the article and would like to read more, visit us at Chest of Colors for more articles, gallery of painted miniatures and active forum for miniature painters.

The article was originally published at Chest of Colors: Between the Lines – Episode 7.

Titan Forge is a fairly new company based in Poland.We have recently received some of their miniatures, which allowed us to prepare this Titan Forge review. Let’s not waste your time then and tell you few words about them.

About Titan Forge

Titan Forge’s target group are without any doubts GW gamers, playing both WFB and 40K. Their products (miniatures, bits and bases) are clearly sculpted to supplement your GW army. Is it good or bad? I’ll leave this question for you to reply. It needs to be stressed though that there usually is a twist to them – we can see some pirate ogres or undead orcs. Anyway, why don’t you follow the above link and check Titan Forge ranges by yourself.

Sculpts

Sculpting is not bad. Speaking honestly, these are not the best sculpts on the market and their quality varies between individual pieces. Nevertheless, it seems that new miniatures are received better by viewers. You can check some opinions on our forum. I hope that this progress will continue and next miniatures will be even better. There are some miniatures I do like already.

Titan Forge products are packed in blisters or cardboard boxes filled with some chips. I haven’t found any sign of damages after transport, so I guess that they protected properly.

Casting

Quality of the casts is satisfactory. I’ve seen better resin casts for sure, but Titan Forge has nothing to be ashamed of. On the next few pics you will see some of the standard issues that you can encounter when working with resin: mould lines, excessive flesh, air bubbles etc. These are not as significant problems as with Finecast products, but the faults are there and need to be mentioned.

Titan Forge guys put a lot of attention to make assembly easier. Check these triple pegs or even metal pin!

Unfortunately, there still are some gaps to be filled after assembly.

Nice surprise

While we speak of assembling – you will be spoiled with choices! Titan Forge packs a lot of additional bits. In case of ogres there were at least two heads for each ogre. Very nice from them. You can choose bits you like the best and there will still be more waiting to be used in the future.

Another thing I liked a lot about Titan Forge miniatures is that most of them came with ready bases suiting the sculpts perfectly – sea theme for pirates, graveyard for the undead… I suppose this will be appreciated especially by gamers who will get interesting bases for their minis without any effort. By the way, these bases are also available separately.

Summary of Titan Forge review

Generally speaking, my feelings about this company are quite ambivalent. Yes, they clearly base their product on GW games, yet they try to introduce some variety by playing with GW ideas and concepts. Sculpts and casts are not perfect, but it seems they are constantly improving. There are better prices on the market, but this is balanced to some extent with all add-ons…

I think I’ll just keep my eyes opened and wait for further Titan Forge releases. I can recommend some of their miniatures already and I’m sure I’ll paint few by myself with pleasure. I suggest you do the same, especially if you are a gamer.

Related posts:

1. Forge World Chaos Decimator – Review
2. Dark Art Miniatures bases – Review
3. JMD Miniatures: Succube – Review

If you liked the article and would like to read more, visit us at Chest of Colors for more articles, gallery of painted miniatures and active forum for miniature painters.

The article was originally published at Chest of Colors: Titan Forge review.

While working on my latest commission, I had to find out how to make lava for the model’s base.

Introduction

I already did several lava bases so in order to avoid boredom I had to come up with a new idea or end up with boring and uninspired results.

So I returned to browsing the internet for photos of lava:

Now this is something I haven’t done before!

What we need to make lava

How to make lava that is boiling and splashing? We will need:

• sheet of plastic (I used a thick plastic sleeve)
• scissors
• source of heat (I used a candle)
• filler putty (I used a modeling putty for plastic models)
• Vallejo Water Effect
• hygroscopic balls (you will find them in a new wallet or handbag, where they’re supposed to absorb moisture)
• Maskol
• foam
• airbrush (you can do without it, but I used mine)
• paintbrush
• paints: white, black, Vallejo MC 952 Lemon Yellow, Vallejo Ink Skin Wash, Winsor & Newton Orange Ink, Vallejo MA Mahogany, Reaper Red Brick 09001, and saturated red of your choice.
• retarder (because regular Vallejo paints tend to clog my airbrush)

So how to make lava like that?

I pulled, stretched and bent stripes of plastic over fire:

I made a test application of the lava surface on a sheet of metal. The consistence of my putty made it a suitable material to imitate lava:

When the putty was dry, I finished the rest of my lava base with Vallejo Water Effect. Its thickness is similar to that of mayonaise, so it feels perfect for the task. If you want to make finer splashes of lava than mine, you can apply some water effect on a piece of thin wire:

Painting lava

I left the base to dry overnight and in the morning I started with priming the base. Then I used my airbrush to apply several layers of paint to build up colors of lava:

I checked if it fits to the scenic base:

I could see I was going in the right direction. Now I only needed more contrast, so I returned to painting.

I highlighted the hottest parts once more with Vallejo MC 952 Lemon Yellow, once more applied Winsor&Newton Orange to increase saturation, glazed some parts with my red, and then with the side of a paintbrush I painted cooled cracks with Reaper Red Brick 09001 and black:

Finished lava base

Finishing touches were done later, when the model for which the base was made was ready. Now you should know how to make lava splashes for your minis and see the finished thing here:

I hope this tutorial was helpful to you. If you have any hints or tips, feel free to let me know about them or discuss this technique in the comments below.

– Ańa

Related posts:

1. Lava tutorial – Base for Taxxis
2. How to make movement trays for your units – Tutorial
3. Rocky seashore bases by Demon Color

If you liked the article and would like to read more, visit us at Chest of Colors for more articles, gallery of painted miniatures and active forum for miniature painters.

The article was originally published at Chest of Colors: How to make lava splashes – Tutorial.

Hello again! March was very productive at the Chest of Colors forum. This month you can see some great entries in the Miniature of the Month March 2012 gallery. The pictures I collected come from various sections of the forum.

Two of those places are the members’ own threads in Polish and English sections of the forum. The third source of photos is the Tale of Gamers thread.

Have fun, enjoy watching the miniatures and remember that you can always give feedback to the authors at the forum!

Authors say

Here are some comments from the authors of this month’s entries:

I finished this paintjob a few weeks ago. It’s meant to take part in the Lowlands competition at Games Workshop. And therefore, I tried painting it Eavy Metal style. All metallics are painted NMM. The gems are painted with a gloss varnish after I took the pictures. If you have any feedback and suggestions for my next mini, please share them
– MaGie

Time for a new mini. I have been working on this for a while. halfway through this mini i suddenly got my layering/gradient to work so this mini is painted with a mix of technics but I am happy about the final result. it is also my first attempt with OSL. This is a great mini to paint had a lot of fun but in my opinion the eye are Honorable to paint as they are sculpted as two small “spots”. I am looking forward to your comments.
– Little Jimbo

Hi – for some years I’ve been collecting some models to make an army of dark elves. I don’t like the games workshop flashy clean , fair skined – pissed off – overspiky dark elves so I gathered verious models from past date confrontation, Hordes and my own convertions of Games workshop and confrontation models. Here are some things I’ve already done and I hope to post new stuff as it goes but still I don’t have a proper skill or camaera to make better photos. I will try to push some discipline as there are some other big projects comming an the current games workshop rulespack does not motivate me to play so I’m making an army with 7th edition in mind and hoping for better future.
– Rzymek

Miniatures of the month March

#1: Corvus

#2: JoeK

#3: MaGie

#4: Le6n

#5: P1per

#6: clevischi

#7: Jason

#8: Tuffskull

#9: Pandadosmares

#10: Little Jimbo

#11: Nameless

#12: Pae

#13: Hellspawn

#14: Sublimebrushwork

#15: ScottRadom

#16: Khaine the betrayer

#17: Rzymek

#18: Arctica

#19: Ajduk

#20: Loler

#21: Irkuck

#22: Arbal

#23: Slawol

#24: Ctan

#25: JerzyK

#26: Grabz

#27: Sea.man

Rules and voting

Everybody can vote for 3 miniatures of their choice. There will be one Miniature of the Month (the winner) and up to two honorable mentions. The number of honorable mentions will be reduced if two miniatures tie for the title of the Miniature of the Month, so the maximum number of awarded entries is 3.

OK, so now you should be ready to vote:

The poll is open until the end of April. The results will be posted after the poll is closed and the winner will receive a honorary badge to display in his profile on our miniature painting forum. In case of a tie, the badge will be awarded to the winners. Up to two models will also receive honorary mentions.

Feel free to comment on this month’s entries, explain why you voted the way you did, or even discuss votes of other users – we’ll be happy to read what you have to say. So don’t be shy and share your opinion with us. Thank you!

Related posts:

1. Miniature of the month: January 2012
2. Miniature of the month: February 2012
3. 5th Chest of Colors Miniature Exchange Summary

If you liked the article and would like to read more, visit us at Chest of Colors for more articles, gallery of painted miniatures and active forum for miniature painters.

The article was originally published at Chest of Colors: Miniature of the month: March 2012.

Hi there!
When I found out about the release of a Forge World Chaos Decimator and Chaos being my soft spot I just couldn’t resist ordering it. Additional benefit being the fact that now I can share this Forge World Chaos Decimator review with you.

Ordering

So, using my old habit when it comes to Forge World to order their releases early to get “fresh” moulds, and thus reduce the chances of miscast, I pre-ordered the Decimator and each weapon set right away. If I am not mistaken the release date was due on the 2nd of April and I received it on the 4th of April so kudos to them for shipping early (had I lived in UK I’d prolly had receive it before release so that’s a good point for them.)

Anyway onto the miniature!

Unboxing the Chaos Decimator for review

As you can see from the next picture, the body kit comes in a bag of 23 parts plus a standard 60mm base (not shown) and assembly instructions. In this Forge World Chaos Decimator review we will focus on the model itself.

The weapons as for all dreadnoughts are sold separately. To my surprise, they now come into the same “new” blisters Games Workshop uses.

Resin

As you can guess, and to my dread, you can recognize Finecast sprue and resin! I was starting to ramble and think about how many air bubbles I’d have to fix but I soon realised that this is not your everyday finecast. Both body and weapon’s resin is somewhat new (comparing to what FW used a year or so ago).

To make this Chaos Decimator review more complete I should describe the material used. I am by no means professional when it comes to resin but I suppose this one is more or less from the same recipe as the Finecast one, but of much better quality. If you compare it to Finecast, this one is harder, while still being more flexible than what Forge World used to have. Like its finecast counterpart, it’s light and the mold lines are very easy to clean.

Casting quality

On this particular mini I found just a few mould lines, not badly placed (nothing in the way of details for example)

Also, as you can see from the pics, the details are sharp and crisp. To my relief the only air bubbles I found were on the resin excess you will throw away.

Overall I’d say that, unlike Games Workshop, Forge World has mastered this resin. This is what finecast should and must be. Great quality and no bubbles or any of the troubles we got used to see from Finecast.

Assembled Chaos Decimator

Anyway, I am cleaning and assembling it as I write this so for this Chaos Decimator review I’d just provide you with the official Forge World picture of the final product as I still have to magnetise all the weapons (which, considering how they are attached to their mounts shouldn’t be too difficult)

So this is the beast in its splendor:

And the size comparison shot provided again by Forge World:

Chaos Decimator review – Conclusion

To conclude, I think both gamers and painters alike would enjoy this mini. It is nicely detailed but without being overwhelming.

Being Chaos and rather big, it might prove to be more challenging to paint it up to competition standards than the Contemptor but I am sure we will see a few Decimators on the coming painting events! The dynamic posing and its size might also make it a good candidate for dioramas.

All in all I am happy with my purchase from Forge World, the quality of the sculpt and casting being very good, now we just need a cool Chaos Codex to come too!

– Ariakas

Related posts:

1. Titan Forge review
2. Games Workshop: FineCast Jabberslythe – Review
3. Warhammer 40.000 25th Anniversary Space Marine model – Review

If you liked the article and would like to read more, visit us at Chest of Colors for more articles, gallery of painted miniatures and active forum for miniature painters.

The article was originally published at Chest of Colors: Forge World Chaos Decimator – Review.

This will be a little walkthrough / tutorial on how I painted my Malifaux Seamus the Mad Hatter from Wyrd Miniatures. This Mad Hatter tutorial is also the first one I ever wrote.

Seamus the Mad Hatter – tutorial

For priming I used a combination of black and white primer.

Generally I use a basecoat color, 3-4 shadows and 3-4 highlights for one part/detail. So I end up with a total of 7-9 colors which I use to create the transition from the deepest shadow to the brightest highlight.

Paint mixing ratios

All my paint ratios in this Mad Hatter tutorial represent my drop count (I have all my GW paints refilled in empty Vallejo-like dropper bottles which makes it easier for me when mixing colors) – for example:

GW Tallarn Flesh : VMC Dark Flesh #019 (3:1)
3 drops GW Tallarn Flesh : 1 drop VMC Dark Flesh #019
GW = Games Workshop / Citadel VMC = Vallejo Model Colour

Dilution

Dilution of my paints is about 50% paint to 50% water for glazing (highlights and shadows) and my basecoat is a little bit thicker so about 70% paint to 30% water.

Ok, let’s get started with painting the Malifaux Seamus the Mad Hatter miniature.

1. Face, eyes and skin:

It’s good for all the readers of my Seamus the Mad Hatter tutorial to know that I always start with the head/face of a mini and then move to the next part. I only paint one part at a time and pretty much finish it before I move to the next one. For the skin I used GW Tallarn Flesh as a basecoat color and applied 2-3 thin layers until I had nice even coverage.

• Basecoat: GW Tallarn Flesh

After the skin was basecoated I painted the eyes:

1. First I painted the eye-socket white.
2. Next I thinned down some VMC Black #169 (about 20% paint : 80% water) and used it to outline the eye-socket by letting the paint flow into the recesses by itself.
3. Usually I mess up the white eye-socket a bit or my outline will end up being to intense/thick. Therefore I carefully repaint the eye-socket white and correct the black outline a bit.
4. Next I painted black dots for the pupils with a less diluted paint (70-80% paint : 30-20% water).

Once the eyes were done I switched back to his skin and started with the shadows.

I applied the first shadow always moving the brush towards the deepest parts which will later receive the darkest color and using many layers always leaving a bit of the previous brush stroke untouched to build up the first shadow. Then I applied the second and third shadow also leaving a bit of the previous shadow untouched to build a transition towards the darkest shadow. Colors I used for the shadows:

• Shadow I: GW Tallarn Flesh : GW Scorched Brown (6:1)
• Shadow II: GW Tallarn Flesh : GW Scorched Brown (3:1)
• Shadow III: GW Tallarn Flesh : GW Scorched Brown (1:1)

The last shadow color (Shadow IV) was used for the deepest recesses like his mouth and facial wrinkles.

• Shadow IV: GW Scorched Brown

Then I started painting highlights. It’s pretty much the same as with shadows – moving the brush towards the highest parts which will receive most of the light, always leaving a bit of the previous highlight untouched to build a transition from the basecoat to my last highlight. The method presented here, in this Mad Hatter tutorial, is the one I usually use. Colors used for the highlights:

• Highlight I: GW Tallarn Flesh : VMC Dark Flesh #019 (3:1)
• Highlight II: GW Tallarn Flesh : VMC Dark Flesh #019 (1:1)
• Highlight III: GW Tallarn Flesh : VMC Dark Flesh #019 : GW Skull White (1:1:2)

I used the last highlight (Highlight IV) only for a few bright-spots.

• Highlight IV: GW Tallarn Flesh : VMC Dark Flesh #019 : GW Skull White (1:1:4)

2. Hair:

I basecoated his hair with the following mix:

• Basecoat: GW Shadow Grey : VMC Black #169 (2:1)

Then highlighted it getting brighter towards the outside with the following colors:

• Highlight I: GW Codex Grey (1:1 water)
• Highlight II: GW Codex Grey : GW Skull White (2:1:3 water)

3. Coat, tuxedo and hat

I did some preshading and highlighting here that’s not something I usually do it sometimes just happens.

After this was done I messed around with mix-ratios until I was satisfied with the colors and came out with the following mixes:

• Highlight IV: GW Enchanted Blue : GW Hawk Turquoise : GW Space Wolves Grey (2:1:9) + some GW Skull White
• Highlight III: GW Enchanted Blue : GW Hawk Turquoise : GW Space Wolves Grey (2:1:9)
• Highlight II: GW Enchanted Blue : GW Hawk Turquoise : GW Space Wolves Grey (2:1:6)
• Highlight I: GW Enchanted Blue : GW Hawk Turquoise : GW Space Wolves Grey (2:1:3)
• Basecoat: GW Enchanted Blue : GW Hawk Turquoise (2:1)
• Shadow I: GW Enchanted Blue : GW Hawk Turquoise : VMC Black #169 (2:1:1)
• Shadow II: GW Enchanted Blue : GW Hawk Turquoise : VMC Black #169 (2:1:2)
• Shadow III: GW Enchanted Blue : GW Hawk Turquoise : VMC Black #169 (2:1:3)

I painted highlights and shadows like described in the face part always moving the brush towards the deepest shadows and brightest highlights, using many thin layers and slowly building up the color.

The last highlight (Highlight IV) was only used on the upper parts as a last “popping” highlight like on the folds on his arm or his collar.

4. Belt-thing on his hat

• Highlight III: GW Bestial Brown : GW Bleached Bone (2:3)
• Highlight II: GW Bestial Brown : GW Bleached Bone (2:2)
• Highlight I: GW Bestial Brown : GW Bleached Bone (2:1)
• Basecoat: GW Bestial Brown
• Shadow I: GW Bestial Brown : VMC Black #169 (3:1)
• Shadow II: GW Bestial Brown : VMC Black #169 (3:2)

5. Pants

I paint every part as described above (first I apply the basecoat with 2-3 layers and then paint the shadows and highlights) so for the next few parts of my Mad Hatter tutorial I will only post the colors I used.

• Highlight III: GW Bestial Brown : GW Graveyard Earth : VMC Yellow Ochre #121 (2:1:3)
• Highlight II: GW Bestial Brown : GW Graveyard Earth : VMC Yellow Ochre #121 (2:1:2)
• Highlight I: GW Bestial Brown : GW Graveyard Earth : VMC Yellow Ochre #121 (2:1:1)
• Basecoat: GW Bestial Brown : GW Graveyard Earth (2:1)
• Shadow I: GW Bestial Brown : GW Graveyard Earth : GW Scorched Brown (2:1:1)
• Shadow II: GW Bestial Brown : GW Graveyard Earth : GW Scorched Brown (2:1:2)
• Shadow III: GW Bestial Brown : GW Graveyard Earth : GW Scorched Brown (2:1:3)

6. Weapon – wood

• Basecoat: GW Bestial Brown : VMC Dark Flesh (2:1)
• Shadow I: GW Bestial Brown : VMC Dark Flesh : GW Scorched Brown (2:1:1)
• Shadow II: GW Bestial Brown : VMC Dark Flesh : GW Scorched Brown (2:1:2)
• Shadow III: GW Bestial Brown : VMC Dark Flesh : GW Scorched Brown (2:1:3)

7. NMM

Some of you may be checking this Mad Hatter tutorial in search for my NMM recipe. When I painted the NMM parts like his blade I tried to to push the highlights up to pure white and the shadows to a dark almost black tone. The colors I used for the silver NMM parts were:

Silver NMM

• Highlight IV: GW Skull White (pure)
• Highlight III: GW Codex Grey : GW Skull White (1:3)
• Highlight II: GW Codex Grey : GW Skull White (1:2)
• Highlight I: GW Codex Grey : GW Skull White (1:1)
• Basecoat: GW Codex Grey
• Shadow I: GW Codex Grey + VMC Black #169 (3:1)
• Shadow II: GW Codex Grey + VMC Black #169 (2:1)
• Shadow III: GW Codex Grey + VMC Black #169 (2:2)
• Shadow IV: GW Codex Grey + VMC Black #169 (2:3)

To increase the last shadow a bit on the silver NMM parts I used some very diluted black (like a wash it was mostly “black water”) and carefully glazed this mix at the very end (bottom) of the last shadow.

Gold NMM

All Gold NMM parts were painted with the following colors:

• Highlight III: GW Skull White (pure)
• Highlight II: GW Snakebite Leather : GW Bubonic Brown : GW Skull White (1:1:3)
• Highlight I: GW Snakebite Leather : GW Bubonic Brown : GW Skull White (1:1:1)
• Basecoat: GW Snakebite Leather : GW Bubonic Brown (1:1)
• Shadow I: GW Snakebite Leather : GW Bubonic Brown : GW Scorched Brown (1:1:1)
• Shadow II: GW Snakebite Leather : GW Bubonic Brown : GW Scorched Brown (1:1:2)
• Shadow III: GW Scorched Brown (pure)
• Shadow IV: GW Scorched Brown : VMC Black #169 (2:1)

When painting small details like the gold NMM stuff on his bag or the belt buckle on his hat I usually don’t use the complete range of mixes. I basecoat the area as usual, use the first shadow/highlight but then I leave the second mix out and jump to the third shadow/highlight.

For large surfaces it’s the same procedure as with the other parts.

8. Bag & accessories

The NMM parts were painted with the colors described above in an earlier part of this Mad Hatter tutorial and for the bag I used the following mixes:

• Glaze: VMC Yellow Ochre #121 (80% water) — only glazed over the highlights to get a bit of a yellow in there
• Highlight III: GW Bestial Brown : GW Bleached Bone (2:3)
• Highlight II: GW Bestial Brown : GW Bleached Bone (2:2)
• Highlight I: GW Bestial Brown : GW Bleached Bone (2:1)
• Basecoat: GW Bestial Brown
• Shadow I: GW Bestial Brown : GW Scorched Brown (2:1)
• Shadow II: GW Bestial Brown : GW Scorched Brown (2:2)
• Shadow III: GW Bestial Brown : GW Scorched Brown (2:3)

Ok that’s pretty much it. I hope you enjoyed reading this little walkthrough and found something interesting.

Done!

And here are some final pictures of the miniature. If you recreated the steps presented in my Seamus the Mad Hatter tutorial, you should achieve similar results:

– P1per

Related posts:

1. Brown armour for Imperial Guard – Demi_morgana’s method
2. How to paint NMM chrome – SENMM Wolf Priest tutorial
3. Simple bases in 5 steps

If you liked the article and would like to read more, visit us at Chest of Colors for more articles, gallery of painted miniatures and active forum for miniature painters.

The article was originally published at Chest of Colors: Painting Malifaux Seamus the Mad Hatter – Tutorial.