[The Backlog Project was a January 2023 Otherverse Games and Hobbies community project. As such, you may happen across references to Otherverse and see its logos. The goal of the project was to dig into our respective piles of “shame”, select some yet-to-be started/unfinished projects, and see how much we could knock out in one months time.]
Progress Has Been Made!
Shock! Quelle surprise! I did end up getting sidetracked by a nasty cold, but otherwise, I think things are largely on track.
I duly began the project by taking a more detailed stock of the magnitude of my folly. 151 Steel Legion infantry to paint. Is that number significant somehow? A particularly strong variant of Bacardi rum? The number of original Gen 1 Pokemon?
I really don’t know how I ended up with such an odd (and large number) of infantry. I suppose I’ll blame the siren call of eBay, and the ease with which old metal models can be readily stripped of old paint and be repainted ad infinitum.
I figured that the only way to really paint this many models efficiently (without the paint drying out on my pallet) would be to do it assembly-line style. Each model would have one stage or one color added at a time, until I’ve done all the models in a single color, then rinse and repeat.
Over the years, I’ve also acquired a fairly large number of 28mm resin bases of various styles and brands. While I certainly don’t mind using the existing slotta bases and caking on the texture paste, I do enjoy using resin bases where they make sense. If nothing else, it shaves the time needed for the more labor-intensive texture paste step in the transformation.
Stage one of the transformation was removing slotta bases, clipping off the metal tabs for the slotta bases from each model, and gluing them to their new resin bases.
Once that was done, I needed to add texture paste to the models that still had slotta bases. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough 28mm resin bases for *all* the infantry models, and some were rather stubbornly attached to their existing base.
The next stages were pretty straightforward. I painted the bases their typical mud brown base color
And then painted their jackets a drab military green.
The next stage is to paint their helmets, bedrolls and pants khaki. This stage is still in progress, and the painting speed has slowed somewhat. Once you have color on the model, you have to move a bit more carefully to avoid wrecking the previous stage and having to do lots of corrections later.
An representative example of the state of most of the infantry:
I also got another model in the mail that I couldn’t resist assembling. More specifically, I got the model almost 3 months ago, but it happened to be missing some critical components. Thankfully Forgeworld is good about sending replacement parts, and I was finally able to put it all together.
I always loved the FW Stormblade kit, and I figure this is one of the kits that will disappear from their catalog sooner rather than later. Since it was in-stock around the holidays, I picked one up to bolster my Steel Legion superheavies! The “Arkurian Pattern” chassis has some interesting differences from the standard plastic Baneblade kit, and it was one of the easier FW kits to assemble in recent memory. It’s not fully assembled yet, and I did leave the main gun loose to make painting the underside of the massive Plasma Blastgun easier.
Ian
Something of an expert on printing, kitbashing, and hunting for models to keep his beloved abandoned GW factions alive a little longer. Usually finds the bandwagon about 10 years after it left the station. Can usually be found repairing old cameras or rusty hoopties in his spare time. Voted most likely to ask “Can I use this soda-can carnifex?” at an official tournament.
