All posts tagged: conversion

Magnetising the Big Mek

Magnetizing the Big Mek in Mega Armor

Published by Joe B

Quick tutorial post on how I added magnets to the Ork Big Mek in Mega Armor. While I don’t generally add magnets to my minis, this guy seems like a good candidate to work on. This Big Mek is from the Meganobz box where you can build one of the Nobz into a Big Mek. The arm weapons don’t have options, so it is the backpack mount that I magnetized. This way I can either arm him with the Kustom Tellyporta Gun (which sounds fun) or provide a defense with the Kustom Force Field (probably more helpful). Drilling the Holes Once the main body and legs were built up, I left the top armor plate off. This is meant to be the weapon’s platform but works perfectly for adding the magnets. I set the piece in place and used a small drill bit to drill through it and the top of the body. To prevent the magnet from moving, I didn’t use a larger bit as the top plate so it would hold the magnet in …

Good Reads 56

Good Reads 56 with Orks, Maps, Mutants, and Marines. Get Inspired

Published by Joe B

Another awesome week of hobby posts is upon us. So come check out my selection of hobby posts you should not miss in Good Reads 56. Heros of the Empire These beautiful conversions and the alternative paint scheme is what caught my eye with Bruno’s Dark Angel successors. Particularly the bone-white for his Captain, converted from the Space Hulk set. And the Mutant Wilhelm has made some incredible conversions, but this may now be one of my favorites. Using a real snail shell, Crypt Horror, and Plague Drone, the Abalone Mutant was born. The paint job is also brilliant with the mix of blue, white, and purple. Drawing Fantasy Maps I’m always impressed by the tutorials at Dagger and Brush, not only because of their quality, but also they aren’t your typical topics. Like this one on how to draw fantasy maps! From DnD adventures to story based campaigns, drawing a custom map can really tell the story. Men in Black Jeff has done some incredible conversions, but for this squad of Deathwatch Primaris, he …

Good Reads 54

Good Reads 54

Published by Joe B

Cutting into your feed of #New40k reviews and battle reports, Good Reads is here to highlight some of the awesome work by fellow hobbyists. These are some of the ones that caught my eye and well worth spending some extra time on this week. The First Born With all this #New40k going on, it is fun to see people breaking out their old armies again. Like these classic Vostroyans by The GunGrave. Unfortunately, he sold them off, but they are a lovely army to look at. Sail Away Photos While not a full step-by-step tutorial, Nil’s post is a great view into how he painted this lovely bust of Sail Away. It is fun to see how other artists go about painting. You can see the finished gallery here as well. Light Up Marines Rory has a knack for finding excellent hobbyists from the forums and getting them to showcase on his blog. This time it is Bob Hunk with some incredible light-up Marines. Not only is it cool to have the weapon and lens …

Good Reads 51

Good Reads 51 a HUGE collection of hobby posts to enjoy

Published by Joe B

Welcome to Good Reads 51 where I share some awesome hobby posts from the last two weeks. With some painting tutorials, amazing miniatures, and awesome hobbyists, there is lots to check out. Alternative Magnus the Red The plastic Magnus the Red is already an incredible miniature, so it takes some skill and creativity to convert it. Rebecca took up that challenge with this creepy alternative for their INQ28 campaign. Painting a Blue Orc Popping out of his shell to give us another incredible painting tutorial, Darren Latham wrote how he painted this blue Orruk Megaboss face. While not everyone will want their orcs to be slightly blue, the details around the ears, eyes, and mouth are useful for any orc/ork/orruk player. Master of Change As this is the third Thousand Sons army that Moridan7th has painted, and then sold  :-/, I think it is fair to say he knows a thing or two about the army. He is also a painted machine, and by the time of this post, he has already finished a few other …

Brush Stroke 3 Banner

Brush Stroke 3

Published by Joe B

Another Brush Stroke from the archive, issue three continues the Mansions of Madness painting. With a lava skin tutorial, a Lorimar conversion, and tips on scraping mold lines. Brush Stroke is the weekly newsletter of Broken Paintbrush, sharing the latest blog posts from that week as well as other great hobby posts from the web’s archives. This post archive’s last year’s newsletter. If you want to stay up to date, make sure to sign up in the form below. Painting: Jenny Barnes This week I finished up painting Jenny Barnes from Mansions of Madness. I put together a tutorial for how I painted her pale skin and blue dress (including a downloadable PDF). Painting: Laval Skin When I started working on the Hounds of Tindalos, I came across James Wappel’s post on painting lava skin. It is amazing how he can put colors and layers together to create such amazing work. Building: Lorimar Kraus Scientist is an amazing converter and decided to modify the already great looking captain from the Betrayal of Calth box. This …

Good Reads 50 with Hobby Blogs to Read

Good Reads 50 with painting tutorials, Battlefleet Gothic, and Orruks

Published by Joe B

Another week of Good Reads hobby posts for you to check out and enjoy. With painting tutorials and inspiration for your hobby needs. Check out these posts from fellow hobby bloggers and check out their sites. Remembering Battle Fleet Gothic I never got into Battle Fleet Gothic but it looked like a fun game, and with the growth of other ship based games I wouldn’t be surprised if Games Workshop brings it back. Caladaris dived into his collection and shared what made this game so fun. On Commenting You may have heard me talking about the importance of community before as it is a big reason why I do this blog. Morpheus on The Fantasy Hammer shares his thoughts on commenting and why it can be so important in our hobby. Using Lots of Washes I have been getting more into washes and glazes as they can not only be super fast to get a good look but add nice variation and color to parts of your model. Da RednekkBoss talks about the goodness of washes as …

Watch This Making Scratch Built Rivets

Watch This: Making Scratch Built Rivets

Published by Joe B

For anyone scratch building a tank, or even modifying a section of 40k scenery, rivets are a common way to add interest to an otherwise plain sheet of plastic. But making hundreds of rivets can be a pain. This is why I like the TinkerTerrain’s tutorial on making scratch built rivets. In his video, he shows how he made nice looking rivets with a mechanical pencil and a candle. The video is only 5 minutes long, and he does an excellent job of showing each of the steps. For those who like to read on the go or want a quick cheat sheet, see my notes on the video after the jump. Scratch Built Rivets with TinkerTerrain Steps to Making Rivets Preparation Grab a 0.9mm mechanical pencil and remove the eraser May need to drill out the end cap as well Insert 0.88mm rod from Evergreen or Plastruct Light a candle (note here on fire safety and breathing fumes of melting plastic!) Have a hobby knife on hand Making the Rivet Two clicks of the pencil will push enough plastic through …

Good Reads 46 – with Rory’s Finds

Published by Rory Priest

OK so I am not Joe B but I am instead Rory /Thousand Eyes from over at Stepping Between Games. I am the guest writer for this weeks Good Reads, the trick here being I use these posts to find the random wonderful blogs from around the blogsphere. As such many of the tutorials I have saved for reference actually came from here, but I am not one to shrink from a challenge. So here are a few good blog posts for you all: Creative Twilight Thor has done up a wonderful post on painting the skin on his Bloodbowl Ogre, he uses a few more steps that I could have imagined but the work speaks for itself. Truly a great guide to painting up any pink skin. Painting and Converting Legion of the Dammed This next Good Read isn’t actually from a blog but from a Relic News forum post back in ’09. It contains a wonderful set of instructions for making Legion of the Dammed, from converting to painting them up. It is …

Good Reads 44 by Borken Paintbrush

Good Reads 44

Published by Joe B

Welcome back to another week with Good Reads 44, a collection of hobby articles from around the web that you don’t want to miss. With tutorials, inspiration, and some amazing models, these are well worth checking out. Acastus Knight So the Acastus Knight is an incredible kit from Forge World and Jake of Redscorps did a fantastic job of painting his. Between the well done blue and white scheme and just enough weathering, it’s an excellent centerpiece. Making Robes from Tin While not for the faint of heart (and thin-skinned), D Powers put together a tutorial on how to use thin sheets of tin to create custom robes. The end effect is incredible as it creates a much thinner robe than using green stuff. Age of Munda The freedom that INQ28 allows is an interesting concept that I have started playing with, but the rules are scattered and a bit complicated for basic games. So  I love what BigBossRedSkullz did by combining the game mechanics of Age of Sigmar with Necromunda. Allows for great narrative while minimizing …

Good Reads 43

Published by Joe B

We are into the first few weeks of 2017, and I have your first Good Reads of the year! Get ready to be inspired, learn a few new things, and enjoy some great posts by your fellow hobbyists. Sculpting a Witch Hunters Hat With the new Agents of the Imperium book out, it seems fitting that Nazroth put together a tutorial on creating Witch Hunter hats. I think his focus is on Mordheim miniatures, but the tips work well for all sorts of armies. Blood Effect: Theory and Tutorial Will from Miniatures of Tomorrow has been cranking out some amazing commission pieces, and along the way, he created some helpful tutorials including this one on painting blood effects – specifically blood splatter. Slaanesh Lord As someone who has a ton of half-finished models in boxes, I applaud Thor on finishing his Slaanesh Chaos Lord. Not only is this a fantastic looking miniature, but he also took the extra time to magnetize all the weapon options – and check out that snow! Angron Painting Guide As …

Best Articles for Building Miniatures

Good Reads 2016 – Building Articles

Published by Joe B

Step 1: Build an Awesome Model. Not everyone likes to convert their model, but this collection focuses on those who go all out to make unique or brand new models from spare bits, lots of putty, and pure imagination. These are my collection of Good Reads 2016 Building Articles pulled from my bi-weekly Good Reads post, emailed in links that I missed, and a few posts of my own. Click through and check them out, bookmark it for later, and don’t miss the other Good Reads 2016 Collections: Good Reads 2016 Main Page Good Reads 2016 Painting Articles Good Reads 2016 Inspirational Articles Good Reads 2016 Gaming Articles Good Reads 2016 Humor and Story Articles Dark Eldar Incubi Conversions The clever and amazing NafNaf has put together yet another crazy cool unit for his Dark Eldar, a carnival themed army of creepy clowns and circus monsters. The new unit is a fantastic conversion of Incubi with top hats. In fact, NafNaf is making such creating stuff, that Thor from Creative Twilight also featured his Incubi in a Blogger Showcase. Thousand …

Good Reads 42 by Broken Paintbrush

Good Reads 42 – Hobby Posts You Need to Read

Published by Joe B

A whole crate load of awesome posts from some of the amazing hobby bloggers out there, this week’s Good Reads 42 brings you some articles that you just don’t want to miss! Remember to support you fellow hobby-blogger and check out there work. Also, remember to check out the brand new Blogroll to keep up to date on the latests posts and find new blogs to read – you can even add your blog to the list as well! A Vengeful Gun At some point I need to get more terrain built and painted as I figure it will make easier to start playing again. Here Siph shows off a nicely done Vengeance Weapon platform with a neat trick to switch it from battle cannon to the Punisher Cannon. DIY Candles for Scenery In the gothic world of 40k or craziness of AoS, candles add a nice touch. Nazroth put together a nice tutorial on how he adds tiny candles to his bases – with and without flames. Other than trying to drill a teeny …