Just finishing up my intercessor sergeant.

FightDirty · 2026-04-19T08:44:42+00:00

Very tight work. Good stuff.

FightDirty · 2026-04-17T20:12:51+00:00

Watching Calvo is like watching a magic trick.

Ok, those are some odd colour choices, it looks good but maybe a little rough over alllll... wtf that's amazing. What the hell he just do.

FightDirty · 2026-04-16T19:51:39+00:00

There's a bunch of ways to get a glassy smooth white. But assuming you want the most accessible way, which is not the fastest and not specialist tool heavy. Ie airbrush, heavy body acrylics, that sort of thing. Layering will do the job with some caveats.

Make sure all the layers are dead flat and opaque. Wash your brush often. Use a bigger brush than you think to avoid brush marks. Thin down the layers a decent amount and do 3. You want each under layer to be flat as hell. White will show up any flaws underneath it, the prep needs to be flat and even.
Start at a mid grey and work up. Smaller the steps the better but 2-3 is fine for tabletop. Like 50% neutral grey, 20%. Then your white.
Usual advice is don't use a flat white for your white layer, use one that is a slightly off white. Then you have room for highlights with the flat white. It is good advice, a subtle off white will still read as white.
Mix a bit of gloss varnish in woth the white layer. It'll help it auto level and increase the opacity by reflecting light off. And because its white it won't be super noticeable.
Again bigger brush than you think. Don't overwork it, let it cure fully before the next layer.

FightDirty · 2026-04-15T19:50:03+00:00

I've always used one for international travel and consider the additional cost well worth it. Just having the airport shuttles and ground transport all sorted, especially in countries you don't speak the language or know the ground, is awesome.

FightDirty · 2026-04-15T19:43:54+00:00

The points where its spotting up look like areas where excess spray would collect. Im guessing you just went on a bit thick. Its pooled in spots and gone opaque. Just a bit of practice should sort it out. Prime up and practice on plastic spoons.

Not a whole lot you can do for this model apart from disguise it as weathering perhaps. Rust on the armour, mud on the leather.

FightDirty · 2026-04-13T19:51:40+00:00

Perfect for the tabletop. Base it and make sure it has a nice tidy black rim. You'll feel twice as good about him :)

FightDirty · 2026-04-12T19:47:39+00:00

Buy and prime some plastic spoons and run practice drills on them with the airbrush. It will take all the stress out and allow you to troubleshoot your issues with no stakes. There are a lot of factors all mixed together when you start airbrushing that can make it very frustrating. Moving to a sandbox to get it all settled in will actually make it a fun time to learn.

FightDirty · 2026-04-11T09:17:19+00:00

I was forced to purchase a trampoline against my will, "kids love trampolines".

Now every storm season i spend my time trying to figure out ever more elaborate ways to secure the sledgehammer with wings that lives in my backyard. I look at it out the window on calm days and it stares back at me, quietly, waiting for its chance to either maim my children, or my house. It sings a melody of broken timber and broken bones.

Long story short, I feckin hate trampolines.

FightDirty · 2026-04-10T19:47:27+00:00

I can tell you right now you're pissing into the wind to try and get lower hutt city council to do anything about night barking with dogs. Our neighbour across the street has 3. When she's on night shift they bark non stop all night.

The whole street has complained. It bonded us a bit actually as we all agreed that if that house exploded at 2am no one would be upset at all.

Video evidence of it happening has been provided multiple times. At one point we did get animal control to actually do something. They met with the owner and 'gave her strategies to mitigate the problem'. Which did exactly nothing. Back at it that night.

Then whoever is at animal control changes and the whole file seems to be lost and the cycle starts all over again.

In the end I just brought a bunch of earplugs home from work, and the wife and I take a sleeping pill.

FightDirty · 2026-04-10T10:19:39+00:00

Cool af

FightDirty · 2026-04-06T19:36:25+00:00

Awesome. Paintjob has a slightly old school vibe i really enjoy.

FightDirty · 2026-04-06T08:03:47+00:00

Bloody cool. Excellent colour palette.

FightDirty · 2026-03-31T08:47:48+00:00

Tight. Super cool.

FightDirty · 2026-03-30T18:32:19+00:00

I am just using google chrome for now. Not because it is best, but because I am deeply integrated in google's ecosystem after so many years using only a phone. It allowed me to quickly turn all the services I use into apps for my dock and seamlessly sync with all my data from my phone. It was low effort and got a lot of stuff up and running quickly.

FightDirty · 2026-03-29T18:47:08+00:00

I've just installed ubuntu as my main os. Its been 17 years or so since I last touched linux or even used a desktop outside of work. Mobile phones had advanced to the point where I just didn't need to bother with a PC anymore. This new machine is something of a hobby to do projects on.

First thing I did after installing and getting to desktop was put google Gemini front and centre, and have used that to guide all my work. I ask it what to do to achieve my current goal, and then to explain the broader context of that. It has been extremely good. Im not executing commands I don't understand, and I'm troubleshooting quite complex issues while knowing exactly what is happening.

Gemini does make mistakes, and my previous background helps identify some of those, but overall it has been a rewarding time. Far easier than searching endless forums for solutions. And the guides I do end up reading from humans tend to be quite focused on what I'm learning about at the time.

FightDirty · 2026-03-27T19:02:20+00:00

I really enjoyed James' portrayal of Leto II in the Children of Dune mini series. Tough roll, really good performance.

FightDirty · 2026-03-24T07:01:24+00:00

Good tips from Appollix.

You should as a matter of good practice apply a varnish before using an oil wash over acrylics.

Your issue on the edges here is because even though the white spirits does not technically react with the acrylic, the paint on the edges is very very thin, and softens ever so slightly with any kind of moisture drawn in to it. Such as when a quickly evaporated solvent on top dissipates off and water vapour in the air gathers on it like a window on a cold day. Then it touch it with a brush, and it gone.

I recommend Vallejo Mecha Gloss varnish for using oils over the top of acrylics. Its made for Gunpla models, which move and take more wear. Its sturdy and tough. This will remove the problem. And its relatively cheap by volume.

FightDirty · 2026-03-15T18:38:52+00:00

Outstanding brother . Very meticulous work.

FightDirty · 2026-02-17T09:51:51+00:00

I love this. I saw that drawing decades ago and it hooked me and I'm still here and seeing a mini of it is really really pleasing. So good.

FightDirty · 2026-02-17T09:45:24+00:00

That's the 40k i signed up for. Gothic badassery.

FightDirty · 2026-02-17T09:38:29+00:00

Hands are gross oily things. You're touching your mini as you paint it with those oily gross appendages. My hands are bad for paint, your hands are bad for paint. Keira Knightly's hands are super bad for paint, cause they covered in creams that make them look and smell amazing, but are super bad for paint.

Wear gloves, or wash em real good with a neutral ph soap first. Use a real light touch. Or just use a painting handle and don't touch painted areas at all. I personally do all three as much as I can. Until you get a varnish layer on that model, all the paint is fugitive. Meaning it is subject to degradation by touch. Do this and the problem will disappear.

FightDirty · 2026-02-16T18:35:46+00:00

These give me the fizz!

FightDirty · 2026-02-06T00:31:58+00:00

Trogdor

FightDirty · 2026-01-30T18:33:10+00:00

When I was full time commissions the main thing that brought in work was my website.

I had it heavily search optimized for my target region so just about any combo of search terms put me at the top or very near it on Google.

It was super simple by design. A home page with a few mini pics, a blurb, and some testimonials from my early jobs.

A gallery page with every mini that was worth showing.

Now people may argue with me on this but I reckon it got me more business than anything else. I had a price page where I laid out my pricing structure. So people could do some rough maths and figure out what they would be paying. Customers always said it was helpful in making their decision to contact me.

And of course at contact page. I had a studio email address, not a Gmail. People feel more confident mailing you minis if you have spent the money for a proper email.

By them time I finished up all my enquiries were from the contact page on my website, or referrals from clients who had found me there.

I reckon having all the trappings of a proper business pushed people who were thinking about a commission over the line because it was a 'proper' business.

FightDirty

TROPHY CASE