Self Quarantine Continues
2020 has thrown us all a curveball in the form of Covid-19. And it would appear that I was not spared. In hindsight, I am not surprised that I got sick. Before the lockdown, I used to use packed to the doors public transportation regularly, probably didn’t wash my hands as much as I should have, and I’ve never had the best of immune systems.
So here I was, still recovering. Not allowed to go to work.
Trying to keep busy.
Quarantine Day 15
I was in unplanned-for territory now. Well, none of this was planned. But still. I really didn’t know what to do next. So I settled on a drop pod that was sitting built, in assemblies, and partially painted for about a year. There was a problem with the design that prevented the doors from closing all the way. I was able to fix this problem with my Dremel. Had to bore out the holes where the doors connect to the frame. I was able to do this, and finish the paint job in a few hours.
Day 16
Difficult decisions. Do I want to return to smaller scale projects, like Sisters or White Scars? Or do I want to continue knocking our larger pieces? I chose the latter..
It was time to attack my Traitor Knights Lance. Another backlog project.
I already had all the models in hand. And the Wardogs were already built. I had 3D printed bits made for all of my Knights just waiting to get used.
These boxes were taking up the most space on my shelves. It was past time.
The Knight Desecrator and Knight Tyrant were up first.
Day 17
Finished building the Knight Despoiler, and magnetized all of the torsos on the larger models. I then sorted everything and got it all ready for priming and airbrushing.
Day 18
Today was spent at the paint booth preparing all these pieces for painting. Took most of the day. I also began testing colors out for my paint palette. Before I began to build these, I decided they would be Knights from the traitor House Devine. A a once noble house that was seduced by Slaanesh. So I was going to need purples, pinks, reds, and golds.
Day 19
I spent today airbrushing the armor purple. In between airbrush coats I worked on the metallic torso. Earlier in the morning(late last night) I did a mock-up of my paint scheme using a blank template I found online, using my iPad. It pays to have a plan. And this really did help me visualize what I wanted the Knights to look like.
We are now into April. My covid symptoms were pretty much gone by now. And I would soon be cleared to go back to work. But Covid was already taking its toll on my job. As an essential worker, we do not have the ability to work from home. Given our staffing crisis as it was even before covid, they decided to adopt an alternate schedule. One designed to maximize (recallable)time off and keep people together in crews(bubbles). That way in case of an outbreak they could isolate the affected crew. This meant much more time off at home. And currently, my crew was off. I was happy.
Don’t get me wrong. I love my job. But the idea of getting sick there? I do not love that. People would rather come to work sick, than use their sick time. It’s unfortunate, but a fact. I’ve seen so many people sniffling and coughing while working over the years. I was the guy that regularly brought bottles upon bottles of disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer into the office to be used.
Needless to say, during covid, I had no problem staying away from the office as much as possible.
So the hobby-fest continues.
Day 20
Airbrushing and masking makes this task so much easier. And cleaner looking. I love that powder coat you really only get from an airbrush. I did make a couple of mistakes on a panel that has two colors. I masked the wrong side. So I had to redo that panel. Oops.
Day 21
Working on the Knights individually now that they are all close to being done. Starting by focusing on the Tyrant. It is always great to see a large model come together.
Day 22
After finishing the base, the Knight Tyrant is finished. Complete with a few Slaanesh upgrades and some chains I have had in my bits box for 20 years.. I made an abandoned encampment on the base. Work continues on the next knight in line.
Day 23
I did a 6 hour hobby session to finish the Knight Desecrator following the Tyrant. This is definitely a chaos model. Two down. One to go for the big boys.
Day 24
The Knight Despoiler is finished. That makes 3 knights finished in 3 days. It was a great feeling seeing this house come together over the past few days. Next up would be the Wardogs. However, I was pretty knight-ed out at this point from these three. So I decided to once again table the Wardogs for a later date and do something else.
[They would end up tabled until spring of 2021]
I honestly think that my self recognition of getting worn out on a project helped me to not get burnt out sooner. So, had I tried to work on the Wardogs, I probably would have fallen to fatigue. But recognizing the fatigue, and changing things up, kept me fresh. For the most part.
Day 25
With House Devine in the rear view. I wanted to knock out another big piece. It was either the Adepta Sororitas Battle Sanctum or the Forgeworld Xiphon Interceptor for my White Scars. I ended up going with the Battle Sanctum. The reasoning was due to me only having one more disposable respirator mask left. And the Xiphon was almost completely resin. I do have a history of respiratory issues. So I did not mess around with resin dust.
In April of 2020, a respirator mask of any kind was almost impossible to find. Unless you wanted to be price gouged by PPE hoarding asshats looking to make money during a world crisis.
Day 26
Finished base coating the outer walls and the inner walls of the bottom floor. Also did a test wall, to choose which colors to use. And started the pedestal for the Celestine statue.
Day 27
First floor is about 75% done. The window areas are proving to be tiring. They are so tedious.
Day 28
The first floor is almost 100% finished. Just need to glue on the balcony railing and do touch ups before moving on to the second floor.
Day 28 would be my last full day of quarantine. I was scheduled to return to work the following night. I spent almost a complete month straight at my hobby desk. With a couple days off to rest. And granted I wasn’t sitting there all day. I was also doing stuff around the house, resting, hanging with my wife, and succumbing to my other mistress. Playstation.
I was truly fine with being home all day, everyday. I have always been the type to stay in any way. So COVID-19 wasn’t going to bother me much.
Well, aside from apparently infecting me that is.
To be continued…
[This post was originally published at Otherverse Games & Hobbies]
Robert
All of the following are true, except for one:
Robert is: a Hobbyist with too many hobbies to list, a Music Lover, an RPG/JRPG Gamer, a Mustard Lover, Chaotic Neutral, a Japanese Speaker, a Veteran, an Otaku, an Aviation Professional, a New York Rangers Fan, a Chaos Lover With Loyalist Tendencies, in a toxic relationship with spicy foods..
