JUG·GER·NAUT (noun): a huge, powerful, and overwhelming force or institution*

 
I loved the little Juggernaut model, and I loved the idea of actually putting him on the table in a game. But he needed a suitable base. Eventually I hit upon the idea of using a wreck marker to show that he might be small, but he's not to be underestimated! After ah-ing and uhm-ing about which faction to throw under the bus, I settled on good ol' Cryx. It helped that the sculpt had a suitable surface for the little guy to stand on.

Here's a shot with the old metal Juggernaut for scale:

I tried to paint the Cryx jack in slightly darker and more neutral colours while using bright shades for the little guy to help him stand out; I probably could have thrown on another wash or two on the base, or used darker highlights, but overall the bright red does the job. I wanted the wreck to look like it was lying in an expanding pool of oil that was soaking through the snow, like a fresh corpse in a pool of blood. You know, really sell the scene.

I used watered-down Anthonian Camoshade for the oil, which I let seep through the snow flock, then applied less diluted layers closer to the body to try to get a gradient. I applied extra at the mouth of the pipe, to show it leaking out. After it was dry I drybrushed a little bit of white on top, applying it more heavily farther from the body, to try to make it look like the oil was seeping along the ground and soaking up from under the snow.

The mini-Juggernaut model is quite nice, but the truth is it lacks detail compared to the full-sized model - totally understandable of course. Painting that detail on was difficult, but well worth it. Pretty much all the details on the upper body - the bolts, Khador logo, handle, and panel lines, as well as some other details such as the screws on the arms and bolts on the leg armour - are all just painted onto a smooth surface. To give them a bit of extra depth I tried to add a bit of darker red underneath each detail to suggest subtle shadows. The work is actually quite rough (as I discovered from looking at the photos - I can't see this well in real life) as this is pretty much past the limit of how finely I can paint, but I think it looks pretty good in person (unless you have AMAZING eyesight).

The bolts, logo, handle, and panel lines are just painted on.

The screw is painted on. The axe glow is rough, but then it's a very small axe...

Another painted screw. Shading and highlighting is tough at this scale.

I wanted the eyes to look dead, but still have a bit of a glassy lens look.

Oil seeping through the snow.

Oil leaking out of the cut pipe.

I named him Joe Green, after a real-life strongman who performed under the name The Mighty Atom. Interesting guy, I recommend looking him up. Anyway, this was the first time I tried to paint such a small scale model, and I'm very happy with how it turned out. Especially seeing as this is the first model I've finished in many, many months. And hey, in MkIII you can never have enough Juggernauts, amirite?

"Who's next?"

*From Google.

A Dusty Boot For A 4030 CNC

I've been trying to figure out the hang of CNC machining for a while now. I quickly decided that I would need a dust boot to contain all the wooden particulates of various sizes that the machine kicks up. However, the few models that looked like they would work with my Chinese 4030 CNC machine did not impress me. So I decided to make my own.

My first design used a two-piece boot that would be magnetised. A plate would be attached to the gantry using an existing hole and some screws to clamp to the outside (so no new holes would need to be cut). A wooden beam would connect the two. A screw would press a tensioning piece against the beam to tighten it up. The design looked like this:

I ordered some strips of nylon bristles and cut two pieces of the appropriate length, trimming the bristles to the desired height.

I then glued and screwed the two strips to the outsides of the two halves of the boot.

Once it was dried the magnets held them together well enough.

Finally it all went together.

Meanwhile I was sorting out a dust collector. I bought a vortex dust separator and screwed it onto the top of a bucket, after cutting a hole out of course.

Unfortunately that didn't work out as well as I'd hoped. It turned out the bucket wasn't strong enough; it compressed somewhat under the pressure, eventually cracking.

So off I went to buy a stronger bucket. Fortunately this one stood up to the force of suction just fine.

I soon found out that wasn't the only problem; it turned out the dust boot wasn't rigid enough. As the gantry moved the hose started to apply pressure in different directions, torquing the whole assembly and causing the boot to simply fall apart.

Clearly the magnets weren't strong enough and the assembly wasn't rigid enough. So it was back to the drawing board. After stumbling across an interesting design from someone called "Pointy", I started working on a new design that would be simpler, smaller, and more rigid.

You've heard the old adage "measure twice, cut once"? Well, let's just say I had to carve the boot several times as I kept making mistakes with my measurements or numbers. And in the middle of that, my Y-axis suddenly stopped working.

I was very dispirited at this point and had to distance myself from the whole endeavor. Eventually though I came back and tracked the problem down to the actual cable connecting the controller to the stepper motor. Fortunately I was able to fashion a crude replacement.

At last I was able to cut the design and start to assemble it. The plan was to use a plastic pipe to connect the boot to the plate; this would mean a smaller boot with less force being applied directly to it. The tube would be clamped in place, and the clamps would be bulked up with additional layers of wood for rigidity. The boot itself would be one piece, with a channel along one side that would allow it to pivot with the bit in place.

In it's brief trial run the large size of the first boot prototype caused me some issues, so one of my goals with this new one was to reduce the size of the boot itself. To that end I decided to cut a groove in the underside of boot for the bristles, rather than gluing them to the outside. While working on this, I ended up putting together a jig that would help me cut the bristles to even lengths.

Fortunately that did the job, and I was able to get a fairly even skirt of bristles. When finally assembled and put to the test, I'm happy to say that the new boot worked quite well. It's not perfect, but it does do the job.

It took a lot more time and effort than I would have liked, but it does make the machine much easier to use. I wrote the gcode using a custom python script. All the parameters such as the connecting tube size and screw diameters are variables that are easily changed, so I can cut new boots to fit different parts should anything need to be replaced. If anyone would like to get the gcode so they can cut a boot for their own 4030 CNC machine, you can leave a comment and I'll contact you.

I'm thinking about trying to cut a clear acrylic boot to replace the wooden one someday, but I reckon it will be a good long while before I can be bothered. My next plans include an improved spoil board, a sort of bed extension/clamp, and a new controller box to house the upgraded components I'm using. I really hope they don't take as long to make, or give me as much trouble, as this dust boot did.

Vanished Point

I recently picked up a Pilot Capless Decimo - the Japanese-market version of the Vanishing Point Decimo. I'd heard that Japanese nib sized were smaller than Western nibs, so I picked up a medium assuming it would be about a fine. Unfortunately what I found was that the nib put down a much thicker line than I had been expecting. Plus it was insanely wet; I was getting a LOT of feathering, and I used up the ink cartridge in a single week of mild note-taking - in contrast, the Parker Vector fine nib I had been using previously has lasted over a month so far on the original cartridge, and it's still going.

Part of the problem might have been my fault; I'm unused to soft nibs (despite this being the steel nibbed version it's still quite soft) and I think I damaged the nib a little when I was first trying it out. Nothing that couldn't be repaired by someone who knew what they were doing, but, well...

... well that's what the Internet is for, right? Basically, I decided to try to "improve" the nib myself. Yes, I would probably screw it up, but I figured if I didn't like the pen as it was then what did I have to loose? It would be a learning experience, right?


First I tried to force the tines closer together to reduce the ink flow; I ended up crossing them over then aligning them as best I could. Then I sanded down the sides with 1500 grit sandpaper, then the top, then I tried to knock off the corners and round the edges before smoothing everything with the micromesh.

I actually had to sand then smooth several times. After all that the nib now runs much finer and much dryer (perhaps a little too dry), so technically I achieved my goals. However it is also VERY scratchy now, especially on the upstroke; a far cry from the original silky-smooth performance. Despite the scratchiness, I actually like it more now than before. Perhaps that's just because I'm more attached to it now after having worked on it myself? Hard to say, but the finer, dryer line is much more practical for the pen's intended use, so there is that. Perhaps I'll try to smooth it out a bit more another time, but I'll do a little writing with it first to see how it does in real life.

Ultimately if I can't get it to a use-able state I might spring for a new one; I'm hoping to avoid having to do that, but I do like the pen enough that I would consider it if necessary.

Coloured Metals

I painted this model as a gift for a friend, but it did give me an opportunity to experiment with painting coloured metals. After some experimentation I managed to pull off a couple of useful new techniques; techniques that happily work very well together.

Basically, I painted the entire model gold: Citadel Doombull Brown, Citadel Auric Armour Gold, washed with Citadel Devlan Mud, drybrushed Auric Armour Gold, and finally Devlan Mud was applied heavily into the recesses. I then edge-highlighted in Scale 75's Speedmetal, which is a super-bright white metal colour, for a model with a fair amount of contrast and very bright highlights.

I then simply glazed the red areas with Badger Minitaire Ghost Tint Fresh Blood, and the yellow areas with Badger Minitaire Ghost Tint Yellow. Finally the blue glows were applied using drybrushes of Citadel Temple Guard Blue, Citadel Baharroth Blue, and Citadel Blue horror, with Skull White highlights and Badger Minitaire Ghost Tint Plasma Glow as a sort of wash/glaze.

The base was just Citadel Doombull Brown drybrushed Citadel Blazing Orange and washed with Citadel Devlan Mud (it probably would have looked better with a cooler colour like plain grey considering Iron Man's warm colour palette, but I wanted the base to fit with the previous model I painted for my friend). I used Mr Super Clear UV-Cut Gloss varnish, and matted down the base with Vallejo's brush-on matt varnish.

The results are pretty good. Using the Ghost Tints over a metallic base was the best way I found to get coloured metals, and the yellow over Speed Metal gives a fantastically bright gold; I think it's a much better way to highlight gold than my old way of just using Mithril Silver highlights.

I'm not totally happy with the glows: they are a pretty clumsy, and the blue wash around the eyes ended up going over the yellow base to create a greenish tint. But they don't look too bad overall, and I didn't have time to try to do any better (I'm far from certain that I even could do any better to be honest).

This was a fairly fun model to paint since it was just two simple colours but was still something new to experiment with. The amount of edge highlighting needed was a bit of a drag, but it wasn't too bad and the results are worth it. I did have to try to do a bit of repair work on the model thanks to Knight Model's usual casting issues, but it was far less problematic than some of their other models that I've had to deal with - plus I was a bit lazy and didn't put as much effort into repair work as I should have, but most of the problem areas were ultimately mostly hidden by the paint so it wasn't too bad overall.

Overall I'm happy with him. Fortunately I have another piece waiting for when I put together my own Avengers models, but the way things are going that day is a long way off.


On a related note, I've been a bit demotivated when it comes to painting. One reason is that my last model, Cyclops, drew a measly two comments on the forums even though I thought he came out quite nicely. Couple that with a lack of games or people to talk to (in person at least) about miniatures, and, well, it's hard to find time for it when there's so many other things for me to deal with. So yeah, I'm probably not going to be getting too many models done for the foreseeable future. This makes me sad, but there's not much I can do about it. Oh well.

The X-Men's Smurf

After impersonating the Incredible Hulk and destroying my Drakhun, I went ahead and started on my X-men because, well, you can only play videogames for just so long before your guilt forces you to pick up a paintbrush and try to push that rock back up that grey plastic and soft metal mountain (hobbyist know what I'm talking about).

I started with Cyclops because I figured he would be a good model to practice painting gradients on (the way I accidentally stumbled onto with Batman) since, well, I hate him. A lot. So I'm actually kind of conflicted about the fact that I think he came out looking pretty good.

The model was fairly easy to put together; his left arm was a separate piece but I decided not to bother with gap filling, and it looks OK. There was of course some cleaning involved, but I don't remember it being too bad; the model is largely smooth, so it wasn't too hard to clean off mold lines and such like.

Similarly, it was quite easy to paint. The blue was basecoated in GW's Regal Blue, washed with GW's Asurmen Blue, then drybrushed in Regal Blue again to better show the topography. The first highlight was in GW's Enchanted Blue, and the second was in GW's Ice Blue. The highlights were thinned to something like a 2:2:1 mix of Lahmian Medium : Phoenix Acrylic Retard Medium : paint. I was trying to get something very transparent that would flow well. Unfortunately, even with the drying retarder, the consistancy changed as I was working (my wet palette was actually not wet enough I think), which led to some difficulties, but I was mostly able to fix them.

However, my repairs were not perfect because of a strange property of Enchanted Blue. I love the colour of Enchanted Blue, but for some reason when you thin it, it actually changes colour a little, becoming less saturated once dry (this is an actual change that doesn't seem to depend on how many layers you put down: the colour is just different). I've actually given it the saturation back in the past by lightly drybrushing the unthinned paint on top of the painted layer, but in this case I only drybrushed on top of the trouble areas while trying to fix them. As a result, there's a couple of spots on the model which stand out a bit because the colour is different, most noticeably the right thigh and... surrounding areas. It's quite annoying (and, to be honest, embarrassing).

Anyway, once I finished the highlighting I decided that the Ice Blue was too desaturated and it didn't look very good, so I wanted to glaze it with something a little saturated to tie the colours together. I settled on my brand new, unused Badger Miniataire Ghost Tint: Blue, mixed with a lot of Lahmian Medium (perhaps 2:1 medium:paint) because I was afraid it would be too strong straight out of the bottle. The result was a big improvement, helping to unify the layers and smooth the transitions.

The gold was GW Skrag Brown (I think) followed by Scale75 Elven Gold. The arm and leg bands were then washed with GW Orgryn Flesh and edge-highlighted with a mix of Elven Gold and Scale75 Speed Metal. The skin was undercoated in GW Bronzed Flesh, basecoated in P3 Ryn Flesh, then washed with Ogryn Flesh. Ryn Flesh is pretty much the exact same colour as GW Elf Flesh, but I tend to have having trouble getting a smooth surface with Elf Flesh, I was hoping Ryn Flesh would go on a bit smoother. I haven't really tested it enough to say if it does, but it looks good so far.

I decided to switch to a more neutral grey for the base; I used GW Codex Grey (I think, the name has worn off the bottle), lightly drybrushed with VMC White Grey, then washed with GW Badab Black. Speaking of the bases, normally cut the tab off models and pin them to their base, but with the latest batch of Knight Models I had decided to try actually using the models with the slot in the base as intended. This is the first time I noticed something: there's only one cast. All the Knight Models bases are exactly the same. I hadn't realised this before because I had been sculpting over the hole and then orienting the models freely, but now that I was sticking them all down the same way it became dramatically obvious that they are all standing on the exact same patch of dirt.

It's just one more way that Knight Models is getting on my nerves, just one more hassle you have to go through with these figures, one more problem for inexperienced modelers. I have to assume they don't really expect you to actually use the supplied bases or something? Since these are apparently figures for experienced modelers (as evidenced by how big a pain they are to put together sometimes), I guess they just assume you've got your own fancy bases you're planning to use. Either that or they just don't care.

Anyway, I ended up sculpting over a fairly large area of the X-Men's bases to try to hide the similarities. Maybe I'll just give in and stop using the supplied bases, I'll just have to figure out an alternative that fits with the models I've already done.

Just a small note, but this is the first model I varnished with my new spray-on gloss varnish (before using my usual spray-on matt of course). I left the gloss to dry for about a day before applying the matt, then right after applying the matt I somehow managed to knock him against a shelf as I was setting him down to dry. I didn't think I had hit him too hard, yet the paint was damaged (it was a small area, luckily not hard to do a passable repair job afterwards). I'm wondering if the varnish did not turn out as tough as usual? Really hard to say since I've never really done much testing or anything, but I'm planning to try to apply the gloss more generously next time. I might also change my method a bit; right now I leave longer than I probably need between sprays as I believe it helps avoid the Sugar Coated Frosting of Doom, but I wonder if that adversely affects the strength of the varnish coat. I'll try spraying more quickly next time, while still trying to avoid putting so much down that it runs. Well, I'll have to try on a test model first.


Overall I'm very happy with how he came out. I had some trouble with some of the larger, flatter areas, but overall I think it looks good. I'm also happy about how quick he was to assemble (barring the base) and paint. Actual painting took me almost exactly a week from start to finish (and I don't think I painted every day in that time), including varnishing, which is very quick for me. The rest of the team is more complex so I don't expect to get them all done that quickly, but I'm still hopeful that I'll manage to turn them out at a decent pace (by my standards at least), if I can resist the temptation to spend too much time on other projects. And assuming I don't need to go job hunting, which I might soon - although to be honest, I would probably get through them more quickly if I was unemployed... sigh.

Drakhun Down

I've never liked the whole "MOW-on-a-horse" thing, mainly because I had a hard time believing a horse could take that weight. OK, it's a fantasy world and all that, it's a very large horse, etc... I dunno, I just feel sorry for the horse. So when I was putting mine together, I took the opportunity to use something... else...

In order to take that much weight on a single leg, I pinned and reinforced the leg with not one, but three strong pins, and filled the base with milliput to help weigh it down. Funnily enough I had to bend the leg itself a little to get the pose to look right - the original model (Khurasan's He-Who-Kills) is 15mm scale, and actually looking down as if to chomp down on a small animal.

I decided to skip the reins (the Drakhun doesn't have any free hands anyway), but I did give him a saddle. I tried to add some detail to keep it visually interesting.

Funnily enough, the original Drakhun didn't have any stirrups. That just doesn't make any sense, so I did my best to give him some. I also sculpted a simple texture for the bottom of his feet, to replace the smooth flat surface that was originally there.

This was another one of my slow-burn projects; I started this in 2015, and even impatiently threw him into a game as soon as he was assembled (he was killed without ever getting to make a single attack... which pretty much always happens the first time you play a new model that you're excited to use).

It's been a really busy few months, but I finally got tired of seeing his disassembled parts (I left the two pieces separate for painting) and decided to finish him. So I took whatever time I could find (very, very little lately), and slowly got the paint where it needed to be. Finally he was painted, glued together, and ready to be varnished.

And then he fell down and hit the floor. His head broke off, his mohawk-blade-thing bent 90 degrees, and both his arms were knocked loose.

As you can imagine, I was about ready to kill someone. Well, I picked up the pieces and checked them over. The arms didn't look bad, the head would be a problem but I could probably figure something out. It would be a lot of work to fix the parts and the paint job, but probably do-able. Then I noticed that the model seemed to be bent.

It might not be obvious from the photos, but the leg seemed to have bent slightly in such a way that the model was now tilted. I tried to bend it back, but it just kind of broke off from the base a little at the foot. I wasn't sure I could fix it properly such that it would be robust and stand up to normal use, aaaaaand at that point I just gave in to my rage and destroyed the model, throwing the pieces away.


So yeah, I'm extremely angry and depressed and dispirited and demotivated. And now I'm feeling regret that I destroyed the model instead of trying to fix it as best I could. I liked this one, and put a lot of work into it; I had a blog/forum post title all ready to go and everything (it was going to be a click-baity line about a MOW on a horse being a stupid idea, then the first line of the post would be something sarcastic about how this is much less silly).

It's just... I'm always busy. This is my hobby, this is what I enjoy, I have dozens of projects that I want to finish, things I've started years ago in some cases, and yet I just never seem to have enough time or energy to put much work into them, and yet I keep accumulating new ones. Just yesterday I had an idea for the mini-Juggernaut model I have lying around, but even though it's a really simple idea I don't know when I'll actually ever be able to do finish it; probably 2020 at this rate. I don't know, I go online and see blogs where people finish an entire army in a month or two, and yet here I am, putting everything I have into finishing a dozen models a year (if I'm lucky).

It feels like something that should be a hobby, but has turned into a second job. What should I do, just give up and go back to spending what little free time I have on videogames? Just keep throwing away the few minutes I get to myself with nothing to show for it at the end? I mean, this hobby is itself a waste of time, but at least I get something (small, trivial, and unimportant) to show for it at the end, right?

I dunno, some days I'm just sick of everything. Today is one of those days.