Magnetize MRAdd portals to SSR- Paint Warcry skull bridges (2)
- Paint Gloomhaven party (3)
- Collect Greebles
- Organize raw materials and collected trash
Order resin
So yeah, not so much. I didn’t touch the bridges and, sadly, I didn’t break anything. I know; I’m disappointed too. That’s not to say I didn’t make any progress.
Mimic Roulette seemed like an easy project to tackle on weeknights, but eventually I just wanted it off my desk. So what did I learn…
- The chip board banding was too thick, warped too much, and smirked at me. Fortunately, its demise left behind a lovely ghost print.
- Nickel stripping is too cheap to frustrate yourself over and cutting tiny tiny pieces increases the odds that there will be blood. Thankfully this one only took a minute to figure out, makes alignment a non-issue, and looks quite tidy (by the third one I had gotten better).
This would be all the love that Gloomhaven got – 3 minis keel hauled in black.
Next time, I’ll use cereal box for the banding and make the supports the full width of the chest to help them blend. If I build the supports 1-2mm above the lip, with the magnet recessed flush, they should help to keep the lids aligned without exposing the magnets to breakage or adhesive separation.
Since I still have the shack to paint, I figured I’d test some different wood textures, for science. Sean @aardnor_minis recommends yellow ochre dry-brushed over a dark brown, which I was planning on using for the door and window frames, as well as any patches. Jeremy at Black Magic Craft uses a black base for his Shipwreck Cottage, building up khaki’s and creams, and I threw in a medium brown base to see if I couldn’t bring in a touch more grey.
I think the Vandyke Brown + Yellow Ochre dry-brush is confirmed for the new wood; it lends a lovely oak tone. I pushed the dry brush a little lighter, and I like the effect of woods aging at different rates. Apparently I am going to have to invest some time in learning how to take a picture if I’m going to convey that here, but I think it looks pretty spiffy.
The aged wood was based and dry-brushed, washed with a random mix of Army Painter Strong, Dark, and Military Tones, and dry-brushed again.
Jeremy’s formula above is, hands down, more realistic and sun bleached, but there is something about the blue-grey on brown that appeals to me. By the final dry-brushing, it’s mostly the temperatures that differ, and I prefer the cooler tones on top. At some point I’m going to find an excuse to do the Cocoa base with Dungeon Grey and Orc Skin dry-brush and just stop there.
I painted the insides and handles black, and washed the banding – basically the bare minimum to close them out and hide all the glue goobers from my failed closure experiments. I ended up mounting the handles a little lower than I intended, after the first set of rings snapped to the magnets and stayed there. Whoops. Hopefully the change in mounting will make this a non-issue.
At this point I was pretty much over the chests. I had originally planned to sculpt some potions and scrolls for the inserts, but I wasn’t feeling it, or the dry time on joint compound. Instead I pulled together some bits-and-bobs I thought would look interesting with the the Scrooge McDuck treatment, hot glued them to small squares of foam, and started mixing bling.
I was impatient with the Elmer’s and it blobbed out in an enormous glop – far too much for the 1/4 pack of glitter already on the bottom of the cup. At this point an intelligent person would cut their losses, dump it, and try again. Obviously, I am not that person. I added the remaining 3/4 of the glitter, stirred until it looked like gleam of bordello cake frosting, and slathered that shit everywhere. I had serious doubts about how it would dry, but I was late for dinner, so I dumped the excess on a piece of construction paper and crossed my toes. It didn’t turn out too bad, considering. Obviously there are things that can be improved, but the inserts are pretty much what I envisioned.
In summary…
- It’s very hard to control glue with a wooden stick – next time, in addition to pouring the glue into the mix cup first, I’ll use a bag, frosting style, to prevent inadvertently coating the top of other treasure.
- Without containment, it will ooze everywhere – not necessarily a bad thing; the larger puddle would be right at home in the Cave of Wonders.
- Glitter will infect every hand towel, dish towel, and rug in your home and breed like tribbles. I was dreading it and still managed to underestimate the scope of infection. I’m pretty sure it hooked up with the dust bunny under the bar and they’re pounding out disco kittens in the corner as I sit here. Send satin.
With the prizes inside, it’s down to the whammy, which I had been putting off because I had no plan and less motivation. But it’s a mimic right, how hard can it be? Yeah. Anyway. I joined Jamie Dagger’s Twitch stream to help drag my ass into gear and carry it home. The Commodore ’64. Good times.
The primary thing was to make sure all the inserts were swap-able, so I used the same foam base as the treasure piles and sculpted a mouth from polymer clay. I managed to bake my thumbprint into her tongue, which is hi-larious now that it’s washed. The gums are based in Wine and washed in Dark Tone, with a dry-brush of Raspberry on the tongue. The teeth are based Mustard and dry-brushed with Camel to the midpoint and Desert Sand at the tips.
Note to self: next time, don’t bake the foam.
Coming from a sketch and a vague notion of three-card monte that could eat your face, I’m OK with how this prototype turned out, so I figured I’d try some shiny(-er) pictures. It’s still my iPhone on auto and I don’t own a sweep, but rock what you got. I got freezer paper.
