Wolverine

It has been a very long time since I painted something. 

I got a PS4 sometime in the fall and that distracted me for a long while. 

After that, I just didn't have the drive to paint anything. Well, that changed last weekend. 

I was in Seoul and came across a random Wolverine snap together kit. I impulsively bought it and at the time, I expected it to be prepainted. 

Well...it wasn't....

But, for some reason, seeing all those yellow pieces gave me a boost of energy to paint. 

I didn't take many pictures of the process unfortunately. 

I started with the head. Getting the colors for this piece were tricky. The head was supposed to be either purple or red. I wanted it to have a metallic look to it, though. So I bravely mixed copper, red and blue together and got the color for the armor. The face was also strange. It wasn't quite grey. I ended up mixing a dark silver and grey together to get that color. 

The battle damage was the fun part to paint. The model had tons of claw marks and dents. Fun stuff. 

Next, I did the body. This is where things went a little bad. I didn't want to snap the kit together and paint it as one piece as that would be very hard. So, instead, I left the pieces seperate. Since the kit is a snap together, that meant I couldn't put the two halves of each body part together. This resulted in some nasty lines all over the model. You can particularly notice this on the right glove. 

His head and claws came next. The head was tricky. I did the yellow and the skin tone before the black. I used blue tac to cover the yellow and skin and it worked for the most part. I did go a little over on the helmet's yellow. Still, I am happy with it. 

Then I finished up some things here and there and it was done. I think it looks sharp, especially from a distance. I still have to put the decal black stripes on him, but I am not sure if I'll bother...I hate decals. 

I think he looks pretty good on my shelf...in front of my backlog of models to paint. 

Catching Up on my Silvermoon Models

I have been quite distracted recently. I bought a PS4 about two weeks ago and Destiny has owned my life. Prior to that, though, I did manage to paint a number of Bushido models. 

I focused on getting a number of Silvermoon models done in hopes of evening out our Ito vs Silvermoon games as they were pretty one sided with the limited Silvermoon models that I had. 

Hanami was the first of the batch. I decided to use more yellow with my Silvermoon models. I also tried my hand at a flower tattoo on her leg that turned out very well. 

Next up was Old Zo. He is the tax man. I wanted to get him painted as quickly as I could since my friend and I agreed that he would add the most to my current Bushido models. In the game, however, he didn't end up being too effective. I think we just need to figure him out a bit better. 

Sukuratchi and his animals were next. The forums seem to love his pets as they are great for tying up big enemy threats. After my success with Hanami's tattoo, I decided to try out more yellow and more flowers. 

These guys are just some extra thugs. I didn't realize that they were the same models as some other characters I already had. So I just did a quick, basic job on these guys. 

Finally, I painted my new favorite character. 

Oda and Tautola. 

This model can be played two ways. One is the combined model and the other is seperate. 

I used 3 magnets for this. One is under Oda's feet, the other is on his small base rock and finally, the third if behind Tautola's head. 

I also continued with my flower and yellow theme and really went all out on Oda's clothing. 

Currently, I have 4 more unfinished Bushido models. They are 3 mercenaries and the big Ito snake. I am also waiting on a shipment of Bakemono for my third faction. 

But, until that arrives, I think I will be busy shooting aliens in the face. 

Hanami and Zo

I got this beautiful package earlier this week. 

It is the second half of a Bushido shopping spree I had mid last month. 

I bought all of the Silvermoon models (except one that was sold out). 

I let my girlfriend randomly choose the first two to paint. She chose Hanami and Old Zo. 

I really like how she turned out. I decided to put some free hand flowers and a rose tattoo on her thigh. 

I also tried to use yellow again. It went pretty well. I used the GW yellow wash and tried to put some light white marks here and there. This is something I am going to continue to try out. 

I went with a similar color scheme for Old Zo. Zo, however, has a detail I have never encountered, glasses. I looked up some tutorials and finally just went with a bright blue and white over that. 

I have also been into terrain building lately. This is the newest piece that I built. The static grass held on a little better on the stone path than I had intended. 

These guys are next. I went with a new brown primer. Hopefully that works out. 

Zuzzy (final thoughts)

I was pretty annoyed with Zuzzy in June and July. I didn't get any kind of communication and had basically given up on ever getting these mats. 

It is such a shame that the company is so small and unable to properly communicate with its customers. A simple email saying that there is a delay would satisfy most customers. 

I do think the company is reliable. I have seen a lot of people say that their mats hadn't been sent and then turn around an say that they did eventually get it. 

When you get the mats, you are super happy. The quality and design of the mats are great. I have played on a number of tables, but I have never played on a mat that seems a cool as a Zuzzy when it is all painted up. 

So, as consumers, I guess we have to weigh the problems with the process versus the end result. 

For me, I don't think I could recommend Zuzzy in its current state. The long shipping times are actually quite acceptable. It is a niche market and they are a small company. The no communication is a whole new problem, though.  These days, there is a lot of competition in basically every market. Customer service is a must for an online company. 

If you come across their mats for sale, I would say to buy it immediately. But otherwise, it is a hard sale. 

Now, if you are extremely patient and trusting, then it might be an okay thing to try out. Eventually, you will get your mats it seems. But if you are the kind of person who constantly checks your inbox after you order something, well then you may end up going crazy waiting. 

I hope that this company can get its administration and customer service side running a bit better. It would be great to see more people ordering these mats!  

As for me right now, I am certainly pleased. But I know there are a lot of people waiting patiently and impatiently for news about their orders. 

Zuzzy (Verdant Fields)

After painting my first mat, I had said to myself that I would leave the second mat until later. 

Well, the next day I got the urge to paint it up. (I guess technically that is 'later')

This is what the mat looked like before painting. 

Although this is the smaller version, the idea is the same. This mat had a lot more texture than the other mat.

I didn't take pictures of the process this time and just went at it. The process took about 2 1/2 hours again. 

I started with a black primer over the whole mat again. From there, I covered it with a dark brown. Next, I put on a lighter brown in the areas I thought I was going to leave brown. 

It then got a wash and when that dried, I went in with the green. I put the green in all of the forested areas and tried to go a bit heavier in the parts that looked particularly dense. 

I then washed the whole mat again with a light coat of black. Finally, I went in with a brush and dry brushed the hell out of each area. I tried to lighten up the green and the brown. 

I would say that I am happier with the end result of this mat more than I was with the other mat. This mat simply looks a lot more vibrant and exciting.

Both mats will certainly serve me well. I will hopefully be testing them out this Saturday with some games of Bushido. 

Zuzzy Mats (when painted)

When I first ordered my Zuzzy mats, I was told that they didn't really need to be painted. I disagree. 

Although they are very well textured and they do have the appropriate base color, they still look rather plain before they are painted. 

Here is what it looks like as is. 

I did a test paint on one of the free smaller mats that Zuzzy sent me. It was fairly small, so it didn't take me too long to do it. 

It got a black base coat to start. 

From there, I did a inconsistent dark brown layer. 

A did another quick pass with a slightly lighter brown. 

Next, I went in with a brush and added the brick details and the black cracks with a cheaper black wash. 

My last step was dry brushing  with a light brown and the a light brown mixed with a grey. 

It was a good quick test job. I wasn't completely sold on the black lines, but a friend convinced me that he liked them. I also used the cheap black wash on the bricks and it didn't really work well. When I completed the bigger mat, I changed to the GW wash for just the bricks. 

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So, the next day, I started on the bigger mat. This time, I went and bought some cheaper acrylic paints. I used mostly Vallejo stuff with the test mat. 

I got to painting the larger mat and I think I underestimated how much work it would be to complete the bigger mat. 

I used my airbrush for the vast majority of this mat. The first layer was a black primer. 

The black primer didn't fully cover the mat, but I was using a lot more primer than I expected and I figured it would be okay like this. 

Next, I went over the mat with the cheaper brown acrylics I bought in the morning. My original test mat was a bit more grey than I intended. This time I wanted I give it a more earthy look. 

A lighter brown was used sporadically over the mat to give it some contrast. 

I then went in with a brush and did the details just as I did with the smaller mat. I painted black wash into all of the little cracks. This time, I actually painted the bricks with the airbrush. It didn't make much of a difference. 

A light black wash was the used and it was done. In total, it took me about 2 1/2 hours to complete. 

Overall, it was quite a great learning experience. I had never painted a mat before and I had certainly not painted anything of this size before. I am happy that I ended up going with a more brown look. 

I think this setting will work really well for Malifaux and the western style terrain I have.