(no subject)

[bzarcher]

Well, the internet's back again!

In the meantime, however, I put myself to good use. Despite two of the brushes I bought at Hobbyland self-destructing (and admittedly, they were 'budget' ones), I decided to use the still good base-coat brush to experiment with some drybrush and washing techniques on some of the lead that Mattbert and Dave gave me, or that I had from earlier and hadn't done enough with.

Now, keep in mind that before this, my minis were always as simple and plain a paintjob as possible, just because I always sucked at them.




Impressive, isn't it? The greens are going into the 3rd Confederation Reserve Cavalry, while the other Wasp was just a test of doing drybrush and a light wash over base white primer that I decided I really liked. I think I mentioned doing the test coat and wash on the Jinggau the other night, but it's even better to know I can duplicate the effect!

Comments

[ptika.livejournal.com]

The green is better and more subtle than what passes for "green" on those Wizkids Liao 'mechs. Good going.

March on, march on, in the name of the Chancellor! Hail Sun Tzu Liao!

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

Woohoo!

I wanted them to look /used/, really. Unless it's coming off the factory floor, a mech isn't supposed to be shiny, pretty, or neat, despite what some of my old paint jobs look like. Hail the Celestial Wisdom!

(Though, really, in my heart of hearts? St. Ives forever!)

[gigerlicious.livejournal.com]

Whoa, lead miniatures? Those things must be ancient.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

A few, yes. Some of them were also 'rallidium' (a variant pewter mix), but the Wasps and Stingers were all actual lead. Very cool.

[gigerlicious.livejournal.com]

Pewter alloys have been the standard for what, eight years now? Lead was so delightfully cheap and with health being a major reason for the changeover more careful folks suffered, though I do appreciate the crisper detail the pewter alloys afford.

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

More than that, actually. The last time Ral Partha made purely lead figs was...1990, I believe. However, lead is still probably going to remain the generic term for the minis for a few more years, yet. Besides, it sounds a bit more fun to pull my lead out than to pull my pewter.

The details can be really nice, but some of the older lead figs I've seen were actually fairly well done, particularly for the Thug or Battlemaster

[gigerlicious.livejournal.com]

I was still buying lead figures until 1994, though I couldn't confirm if that stuff had just been sitting on the shelf for four years or not.

I too appreciate the stylings of the older figures, as everything new in the shops these days has a real animated, 'eXTREEMe' feel to the sculpt. But really, it was the price hike that pewter brought with it that was the most significant change.

Man, you used to be able to score a zombie for a buck...

[bzarcher.livejournal.com]

Depends on the manufacturer, I'd bet, but you can still find some of the old lead BattleTech here and there, even now, if it's stuff that sucked. :D

What I really don't like for a lot of the Battletech stuff is that they brough Matt Plog and a couple other Warhammer artists in to do some designs, and they'd be great warhammer designs, but they look completely out of place in Battletech.

Me, I just miss when I could spend $5 on a fig instead of lunch...now I think $5 wouldn't even buy me a set of hex bases.