Owww. My Eye!

Some of you might have noticed my falling off the face of the planet for a few days. I got stuck into finishing my Space Wolves at the end of last week in the idea of finishing them for the tournament on the weekend. The long story: I sprayed the new space wolf shoulder pads grey and the primer went bubbly. Super uncool. I had to scrape 20 shoulder pads clean and prime them by hand. Not only did this waste lots of time I ended up getting a little piece of metal shoulder pad lodged under one of my eyelids. I could not flush it out with eye drops or water... Soooooo... Off to the emergency room at midnight on a school night. Not fun. AND a waste of time. (to be fair it could have been a rock from the way home BUT either way it was a painful experience). I have been popping drops of anti bacterial solution into my eyes since then. Between not sleep for that and not sleeping in prep for the tourney I am shattered. You can pictures of the offending grit to the right.

I will get you guys a proper tourney report (or what my sleep deprived mind remembers) tomorrow. In the meantime here is my army as it appeared at the tourney. I am super pleased with how the vehicles turned out. Also Big ups to Tim, Rat and Drew who kept me company the night before and helped me to get the last minute nitty gritty done. (I got full painting marks at the tourney... Was very happy about that)


The colours are really flattened by my flash. I will get pictures taken soon.


Here is a picture of a custom Mephiston that Mouse Muffins is working on. HOLY AWESOME! Hope the pictures do him justice. I am going to see if I can get him to photograph him painted for the blog.



Why is it only now that I realize that I did not paint the headlights on my rhino and razorback... Sigh... Sorry guys... (and gals)

AND THE WINNER IS...

If you have been following my blog you know that I put up a poll to help me decide what army I should finish next. There were several options but the winner (in a tight race... Thanks for the votes guys! :) ) was to finish the messy Space Wolves that I got from DPS painting service. In a previous blog post I reviewed the painting efforts of DPS painting service and found these efforts wanting in a big way. I am glad that you guys are making me go back to fix them before they rot in a figure case somewhere. On the other hand, fixing these models is a major pain in the... well you get the idea.



Step 1: Match the grey! As I said above the painting on these models is messy and desperately needs touching up. In order to do this I need the main colour that the models are painted. Grey. DPS used their own custom grey for the base coat. One hour of colourful language and four paint pots later I have a very close match. The only real problem is that DPS's grey is shiny-er than mine. I think a good matt spray varnish when I am done will fix that. (knock on wood)

Step 2: Fix the really crappy assembly job. Now lots of the models (read as all of the models) were assembled without being properly cleaned. This is a real problem because, as we all know, if you have a beautiful model that has obvious mold lines it ends up looking really average. I spent all of last night and today going over every figure with a hobby knife, trimming the flash off. I really thought this would be a simple job. Once I started... it wasn't. It took forever, Anyway. Just finished. Every model is now properly cleaned.




Step Three: Figure out the army list and change the weapons. Out of 50 marines 15 of them had plasma pistols. There is no way to make that work with the army list and I desperately need a fist or two on the troops.

I just found out that there is a smaller tournament next weekend. 4 games, 1 day, 1000 points. As I have never played wolves before figured that I should get some practice. My basic list revolves around what I can get done. 2 ten man squads of Grey Hunters, a Land Speeder with Multi-melta, a 6 man grey hunter squad in a razorback, 9 blood claws in a rhino with a wolf priest (chaplain)...

Which brings me to Step Four: Vehicles:
I have the Rhino, a Rozorback, and a land speeder. I assembled them and primed them last night. I used Army Painter "Uniform Grey" spray and I am generally happy with the results although I go some funny textures along the front of the tanks. I think I will be painting mud now... Anyway... I got wild with the Badab Black.




Urrrgh... Back to painting...

Oh, up to 26 painters for the marine painting project. 12 marines out. Tuesday another 6-8 will go out. Check the blog for a current list of marine chapters to be done. I am super excited to see what is coming back. I will keep you posted.

NERD RAGE!!! (A review of an ebay painting company)

So, as I reported earlier this week, I got the 5 squads of space wolf models from DPS off ebay. DPS is a prolific painting group as far as ebay goes. They have up literally hundreds of sales complete with pictures at any given time. If you read the fine print however you will find that you will not get the models pictured in the sales. They will paint you our own set of miniatures that "match" the pictures they provide online. Ok... Lets talk about my experiences.


Because of this paint per order system I was able to order 5 squads at once that all match painting wise (rather than getting 2 squads from one place and three from another). Space wolves come in a variety of greys depending on the painter so I thought that would really bring the army together colour wise. Savy readers will ask why I bought the terminators and scouts separately (they would be a different grey). As they were elite troops I figured I could get away with it. Funny thing: They are the same grey... Funnier... They are not a GW Grey that I can find... Huh? I went back and discovered that PPS is the same company (sister company anyway) so they probably use the same colour scheme. Sweet! Now theoretically that means they should be painted to the same detail right? We'll get to that later.


Shipping time... Models arrived two weeks past their maximum shipping date and I had to contact them to find out why. While I was not happy about this I do understand that these things do happen with modern shipping and customs. They told me that there had been some issue with customs and that they had to resend the box. Fine. I would expect someone to tell me the end customer that things might be late. Hmmmm. Not happy point one.

Arrival: OK, so they arrived. Whew. I always get a little nervous when dealing with new sellers on ebay. I opened the box. The models were packed exactly the same as the termies and scouts had been. Every model came in custom cut foam to each model. It is impressive to behold. I am very happy about this.



Bases: Like the termies and the scouts the bases were magnetized. Cool. One more plus and similarity right? Nice.

Painting: Here is where the similarities end. While the PPS.bay models were carefully if not very originally assembled their DPS cousins are not so well built. Sure I got 5 squads of the exact same models (I expected that though). My problem is some of the models have serious mold lines that need trimming and repainting. OK, this is not ideal BUT when they custom mixed their grey for their wolves it turns into a massive pain. The grey is too light for Shadow grey and too dark for Space Wolves grey. I am going to have to play my least favorite game. Colour matching. Grumble.


Speaking of the greys needing to be touched up, the painting is painfully messy. A few of the heads (especially the helmeted ones) are horrific and need to be torn off and fully replace because the paint is too thick to fix. The brown haired heads with mustaches are victims of this.

The armour is messily highlighted and shaded. I need to reshade every model in one place or another and every model has missing highlights. That is funny is that because I have ten sets of 5 identical models I can see that they could highlight things correctly on all models but they didn’t. If you could combine the highlights across the 5 matching models it would be a good job (if sometimes too thick). So a hand is highlighted on three models and not on the other two for example. Very annoying.

Also the transfers are messy, not straight and are popping up on the edges. Sigh. Again, I hate transfers. I have only ever seen one army use transfers well. I will try and get pictures to show you how I think it should be done.

Overall:
The paint jobs do not match the ebay pictures. They are not consistently done. They are messy. After dealing with PPSbay I am very disappointed especially since they are essentially the same company. I’ll be honest I am not a fan. I would skip DPS and go straight to MPG (Miss Painting Group) or PPSbay (ironically but at least you see what you get before you buy the models and it comes amazing fast).


Sure they generally look good at table top level but they could have been great with a little extra work.. Click the images above to see the close ups and you will see what I mean.



Until next time...

P.S. Set the clock... I put another Forgeworld order in last night... lets see how long that takes?

Beginning to think that I won't have the orks done in time.. What say you?

My first review of a model painting company.

Buying painted models and armies on ebay can be a risky proposition and that is why I will be running a multiple part series reviewing the work and business practices of some of these companies.

Now buying pre-painted armies and units is a controversial subject with many people taking hard lines on whether or not it should be allowed (in a tournament setting). Let me explain why. Many argue that if I buy a tremendously painted and converted army from someone else I should not be eligible to a painting score or awards at that tournament since it is not my hobby being scored. For this reason, some tournaments run penalties for players who do not use their own painted models. To be fair I think there is something to this argument, I believe that you should not be awarded a “best painted” trophy for something that you did not do. On the other hand I do believe that you should be entitled to the painting score your army deserves. While I have “bought” quite a few armies over the years I have done extensive work on almost all of them to get them to what I consider my regular standard.


Now if I can paint and convert fairly well (in most tournaments I get max painting or close to max painting scores) why would I buy someone else’s work? Well the answer is fairly simple. I paint incredibly slowly and I have ADD (literally) that manifests itself in a constant need to play different armies. While I have a job that gives me 12 weeks of vacation a year to paint and hobby the rest of the time I am fairly busy and don’t have much opportunity to hobby. Thus I sometimes have to get my new hobby fix from buying someone else’s work.


This leads back to the original discussion of painting companies. There are a surprising number of people you could pay to paint your models for you. Some of these people are incredibly talented and expensive and conversely there are some people that are incredibly cheap but… lets just say you get what you pay for. Does this mean we straight to the top and expect to mortgage our house for a squad of ten marines? Well it could but I am not that guy. I am my Mother’s son and will always look for a good deal on quality workmanship. Essentially I will be looking at companies that paint above the table-top level. (Upper middle of the pack so to speak)

Our first vict..errrr.. I mean company to review is called PPSBay. They regularly have items up for sale on ebay which is how I found them. I bought all the foot troops needed for a Space Wolves Army between them and another company that shall be mentioned later (after their products arrive). I bought a unit of 5 wolf scouts and 5 wolf guard terminators. The prices were quite reasonable considering the quality that arrived. I was shocked by how quickly I had miniatures in hand. Even with my wonky local post office I got my box of goodies within 6 days of payment (including a weekend). PPSBay is located in China so I was pleased that my package arrived so quickly. A big tick in the timely box.



Now my camera is in the shop so we will rely on the pictures from their ebay sale. I would not normally do so but the photos really did reflect the actual miniatures that arrived. This is not always the case with all ebay sales. I really like the reliability that you can actually trust that the pictures of the models reflect the models being sold. Another big tick on the positive side of the board.


My models showed up in a tough cardboard box with reinforced taping on the edges. The models themselves were inside resting neatly in custom cut foam trays. Nothing was broken and packed like that I would have been surprised if they were. Of all the things I have bought over the years these models were packed the best. A+ from me! Additionally I didn’t realise that the bases came magnetized so I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the box. It will make life easier when I go to make my display board later.

Down to the nitty gritty: the quality of the paint jobs. As mentioned above the pictures do an excellent job of showing exactly what arrived in my post box. The painting is generally clear and crisp. The highlights are extreme in a good way, that really make the models “pop” on the table top. Details are carefully rendered and none of the details are drowned out by over thick paint jobs. The flesh on the scouts is perfect while the flesh on the terminators will require a tad of tiny touching up especially around the problematic eye area. That being said that is me being really picky. The flesh is well done. Speaking of the problematic eye area, the eyes are very well done which is usually my first gripes with commission work. All in all I am very happy with the miniatures appearance.



No gripes? Really? Ok, I do have one. I have to say that for all of my happiness with the models I do think that the yellow is really average. The basic coat is very minutely blotchy which is ok but the highlighting is really not up to par with the rest of the models. Additionally the unit emblems are transfers. I despise transfers. I really do. I always have. I have always thought that they make your models look cheap and poorly done. Now, this is a good thing and a bad thing for PPSBay. I knew that the models had transfers when I bought them and I expected to have some trouble filing and cutting them off before I could go back and repaint over them. What worked brilliantly for me is that PPSBay did not seal the transfers at all. Now for me that is a real boon. I was able to get most of the transfers off with light rubbing by my fingernail. BONUS! If you like transfers though I see that as a major problem. Usually I buy painted models expecting them to be done. Had I expected that I would have been annoyed but once again that is just me. Overall, I was very pleased with the quality of the work done by PPSBay.



As mentioned before I only bought prepainted models and did not have them complete any commission work. I am pleased with their work and plan to try them out on further commission work in the future. I would give my overall experience an 8 out of 10 paintbrushes. I hope this review has been helpful. Until next time…

B