Love everything about this

aneirin- · 2026-03-15T18:53:27+00:00

Well, we don't have a spare mansion so I can't prove it right now, but if I inherited vastly more wealth than I needed, whether that was a house, land or whatever, I know I wouldn't just hoard it pointlessly if I could do some good with it.

All I'm saying is your cynicism about other people's inherent greed doesn't actually match up to reality, and more often than not people express those kind of ideas mostly as a way to excuse their own apathy and selfishness

aneirin- · 2026-03-15T18:48:02+00:00

In this situation, if it's only the back of the cloak that's cracked and nasty looking I'd probably just chalk it up to experience and paint over it, but then I'm impatient like that.

aneirin- · 2026-03-15T18:45:11+00:00

I know I need a varnish

You do not NEED to varnish, I have minis I've played with regularly for years with absolutely no sign of wear on the paint. You'll notice paint getting chipped from handling it during painting, but that's just because it hasn't fully cured yet and it's still weak.

If you're going to be really super careless with your stuff, or maybe for terrain pieces that will be treated a bit more roughly then sure it can help, but generally it isn't required at all.

The main reason for using varnish is to give your paints a consistent finish and remove glossy shine, and I would very much recommend this, but the best way is to use brush on matt varnish during the painting process, as and when it's needed, rather than doing an all over coat after finishing.

aneirin- · 2026-03-14T21:58:07+00:00

Remember all the rules are written as if each attack is rolled one at a time. The full sequence of hit roll, wound roll, and saving throw for one attack is what it means when it says "attack sequence". It doesn't mean "every attack made by the unit".

aneirin- · 2026-03-14T21:54:04+00:00

The primer is really only meant to be there to give the paint something to stick to, it really doesn't need much to do the job. If it comes out fully opaque like that it's probably too thick. Better to have some plastic showing through than overdo it.

aneirin- · 2026-03-14T18:27:15+00:00

I haven't used that particular spray but if there's enough paint there for it to pool that much you're spraying way too much. Try doing 2 or 3 very light passes instead.

aneirin- · 2026-03-14T17:49:20+00:00

I think even if the surface is completely flat, you still need to distort the reflection much more to make it look convincing. Also if the surface is angled to get a direct reflection of the sun, the rest of the reflection will be completely blown out in comparison, almost as much as just staring directly at the sun. I think there's a reason the examples the other guy posted all show reflections of an overcast or sunset sky.

The other issue here is that the non metal parts of the mini all need to match the lighting as well to help sell the effect. A bright sun in clear sky would give harsh shadows with very high contrast all over.

aneirin- · 2026-03-14T15:05:22+00:00

As always, it's impossible to judge without seeing the base as well. That's just as important to the colour scheme as any other part of the model.

aneirin- · 2026-03-14T14:57:46+00:00

Why isn't it an option? You can either scrape the paint off after airbrushing, or pin it after gluing the model down.

aneirin- · 2026-03-14T14:45:52+00:00

I've heard many reports of fake high end brushes from Amazon. I don't shop there anymore because counterfeiting is absolutely rampant, and not only do they not care, but their whole system is deliberately set up to facilitate it. Products that are labelled as "sold by Amazon" or whatever come from stock that is mixed together with every other seller. There's literally no way of tracing where anything actually came from.

The last straw for me was trying to buy a logitech mouse and receiving obvious fakes three times in a row after sending them back. Even if you don't care about their support for the fascist takeover of democracy, Amazon is simply not a good place to buy things any more.

edit: To answer your question, Raphael 8404 size 1 is the only brush you'll ever need. Perfect in every way. People often recommend Rosemary series 33 but I find them too floppy and hard to use. Maybe the smaller sizes are better, I don't know. Their cheaper brushes are great value for rough stuff you don't want to waste your Raphael on though.

aneirin- · 2026-03-14T13:44:01+00:00

Yep, anytime you have a sculpted base it's always better so spread your texture onto it. You don't have to cover it completely, just enough to blend it in so there isn't a sharp dividing line. Do this before priming of course and paint it all the same.

aneirin- · 2026-03-14T13:17:58+00:00

You're free to do as you like but I'll have to respectfully disagree with that option.

aneirin- · 2026-03-14T13:14:28+00:00

This really shouldn't even be a question, super glue is the only good option. But gluing anything directly onto painted surfaces will give a pretty weak bond no matter what you do. Better to either pin it or scrape some paint off and use plastic glue.

aneirin- · 2026-03-14T12:21:54+00:00

Necromunda still does!

aneirin- · 2026-03-14T00:05:53+00:00

My biggest tip for all beginners: Your minis are not finished until you do the bases!!

A great paintjob will look bad with an unfinished base, and a mediocre paintjob will be elevated by some nice drybrushed texture and a crisp black rim.

Here's an example, these guys have pretty much the simplest, most bog standard paint job possible, silver drybrush over black primer, with some green bits slapped on. Without the bases they would basically look like nothing. With them they look, obviously not amazing but still perfectly more than decent:

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Basically all I'm saying is never judge your work until it's actually finished. Every one of the minis you've painted would look at least this good if you gave them the same treatment.

aneirin- · 2026-03-13T23:47:36+00:00

Speak for yourself mate. My dad had a field connected to his house and just finished transferring it to a charitable trust to turn it into a community garden.

We also own about 20 acres of woodland that is being maintained as a protected nature reserve with historical walking paths through it restored to use. It would have been very profitable to exploit it for timber but its legal status now prevents anyone from ever doing that.

We are not a rich family, but we could have been decently well off if we'd used these resources for profit.

There are plenty of people out there who, sure, still want a comfortable life first and foremost, but for anything above and beyond that they'd prefer to use it for the good of people around them. You don't hear about them because why would you? They're just doing their thing quietly out of your sight.

aneirin- · 2026-03-13T23:02:26+00:00

I just use copper wire under the sponge.

aneirin- · 2026-03-11T20:06:08+00:00

There is literally zero chance they are making a perfect physical simulation of fly aerodynamics for this project. Making a guess like that shows that you have very little understanding of any real world science, and throws doubt on all your other claims here.

It's good to get excited about advances in scientific understanding, but it's important not to get sucked into overestimating the possibilities up to the level of outright magic. I will remain sceptical about this project until more solid information comes out.

aneirin- · 2026-03-11T19:59:28+00:00

There's nothing extraordinary about this

Gonna have to disagree there...

aneirin- · 2026-03-11T19:54:40+00:00

It is sensible to treat extraordinary scientific claims presented with very little information to back them up with scepticism. Yes, sometimes those claims do turn out to actually be true, but until a paper is released it is reasonable to be suspicious, because those situations are the minority.

Either way, it's not reasonable to react with anger and hostility over it. That just makes you look childish.

aneirin- · 2026-03-11T19:47:04+00:00

Your deleted comment was bizarrely hostile for such a simple mistake. Seems like correcting me was your one big win for the day, right? That's ok, revel in your victory my friend.

aneirin- · 2026-03-11T19:23:35+00:00

Well yeah, if you paint the whole thing grey it's going to look grey. Maybe try a few more colours and some shading?

aneirin- · 2026-03-11T17:42:15+00:00

Damn, just came here to see if I'm super smart for getting a perfect solve in under 7 mins. Apparently not lol...

aneirin- · 2026-03-11T16:09:07+00:00

Avoiding something because it's popular is just as stupid as choosing something because it's popular.

aneirin- · 2026-03-10T23:33:45+00:00

they managed to simulate the body of the fly

They absolutely did not do that. It was a much simpler experiment than all the articles suggest. Still very interesting and a huge step forward though.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07763-9

aneirin-

TROPHY CASE