Friday 22 April 2016

What's on my palette?

Bless me readers for I have sinned, it's been just over a month since my last confession and I just need to evaluate where I'm at to keep track and focus.


When last we spoke I was struggling to motivate myself after Throne of Skulls, this time I'm struggling because I completed the Tactical Squad, they were actually bottom of my list of things to do, although it wasn't a priority list. This time I've listed what I think should be my priority. That's not to say I have to stick to it but if I have any sense this is the order of play.
  1. Ravenwing Dark Talon/Nephilim Jetfighter
  2. Ravenwing Bikes
  3. Imperial Knight
  4. Deathwing Knights
  5. Genestealers
  6. Tyranid VSG
  7. Bastion
The Ravenwing are lacking in my Dark Angels, by all accounts they’re the most effective elements of the Codex, not so much the flyer, but the bikes have been pretty good and they’re not even the Ravenwing Knights! Both these items would be perfect to slot into my 750pt list for Double Trouble should I get the OK to go from the wife [if she’s not working].

What was troubling me was I still couldn’t get a flat black in places and have bought a number of blacks to try and achieve it. It’s still not what I was after but I’m hoping I can find a way to mitigate my dissatisfaction with other effects that will obscure what I’m unsatisfied with. I also picked up some Citadel Rhinox Hide, which GW suggest thinned with Lahmian Medium in the crevices of black add some much needed depth [?] and some Dark Reaper too. Dark Reaper is their standard black highlight, but surprisingly is mail order only. Equally surprising was the colour when I got the order. My own turquoise/black first stage highlight is darker so I’ve not conveniently got a 2 stage highlight, which might streamline the Ravenwing process, we’ll just have to see.


As you'll have seen my motivation has taken a little knock but luckily I managed to find something to progress on after a couple of days. The Knight may be down on my list but the most important thing is to re-ignite the mojo. In fact I even forced myself to do a set of Bonewhite highlights on the Genestealers to get me going. Now the interesting thing is I've done the Bonewhite on the head, chest and back on all the current form of Genestealers, that's the six with Toxin Sacs on and five with chitin plates but exposed backs. There are ten with Chitin coloured backs that won't need doing and the original Space Hulk Stealers will be relatively easy with their mainly fleshy backs.


The point being I allocated three days highlighting for each group of five Stealers:
  • One day for the head, chest and back
  • Two for the legs and arms
Multiplied by 6 gives me 18 days per highlight. But it looks like the head, chest and back will only take two days, shaving another four off my schedule for one highlight and a further four when I do the next level highlight! Maybe some of the other elements will follow suit but more importantly this process is really breaking down the build up of frustration these usually bring. Of course I'm not onto the arms, which are the really killers but I'm quietly confident I can get these guys done and hopefully well ahead of schedule, even fitting them around priority projects.

And I have to admit that although I detest time keeping I am finding this highly useful in both predicting my workload [made more fun by how I'm overachieving on it]. It's definitely something worth noting, although the subject matter is very easy to break down into it's constituent parts. Can't see the Broodkin being as straightforward to section.

Addendum
Having written all this my situation has changed a little bit. I often mention how I was forced to stop my Kendo due to an injury. One of my spinal discs is protruding onto the nerves and this causes me to have pins and needles and numbness in my hand. Over time this bizarrely switched hands from right to left and on occassion this causes an intense range of pain running up my left hand, arm, shoulder and neck. This can feel like I've been punched in the wrist or forearm or someone's just yanked a nerve or tendon. In itself it can be quite intense but the problem is that I struggle to find a position that's comfortable or where I can affect some relief from the pain. So the constant pain can often feel unbearable and I tend to think of the scene at 1 hour 18 minutes in from sci-fi 'classic' Battle Beyond the Stars as a viable solution:



So the point of all this is currently it's quite painful and painting is hard going, but possible. The Doctor has given me some tablets, that help nerve pain, but they also cause drowsiness - which will help with my sleeping but possibly cut into painting time. Another benefit is they can be used to treat bedwetting so at least I'll have dry nights ;)

It's not a pity post, you don't need to feel sad or anything, it's just frustrating I can't crack on with more of what I want to do but whatever progress will be minimal for a bit. I know everyone is tolerant for whatever updates turn up on the blog and you'll all be saying take time to recover [alongside the jokecomments of 'screw that, paint through the pain and blog about it, I expect regular content now dammit!']. After nearly 6 years blogging I know how this schtick works ;)

Anyway, I'm not dead [which can be more than is said about all these celebs at the moment], just hanging in there.

8 comments:

  1. Dave, even with the ailments you will no doubt be more productive than most. I hope the tabs help and soon you will adjust to the drowsiness. You are correct about the Ravenwing, plus the bike wing highlights look good bump them up the list

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Already on it,flitting through all these projects at the moment so it's actually quite fun but is deceptively slow in progress because actually significant elements have been achieved - the wing bits on the bikes have all been laid down and have quite enjoyed it. Just some highlights to do and then focus on the black, touch up the metals and then it's details. Despite the difficulty of bikes for some reason this bit seems so easy, I'm just hampered y my arm betraying me, from ow on I will refer to my left arm as Horus!

      Delete
  2. Nothing beats the sense of achievement of finishing something though does it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Finishing everything! That'd be pretty cool. To have conquered the 'grey tide' and have some down time, maybe spend an inordinate amount of time doing a Blanchian Inq28 warband...

      Delete
    2. Finishing everything! That'd be pretty cool. To have conquered the 'grey tide' and have some down time, maybe spend an inordinate amount of time doing a Blanchian Inq28 warband...

      Delete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Pain is just weakness leaving the body, right!? The past 6 weeks I have been struggling with arthritis in my toes (I blame the 20 years I spent kicking things for sport...). At times I just wanted to take the damn things off with a chisel ;-) Hopefully the pain eases up for you soon. The highlights on the Ravenwing feathers are beautiful, by the way.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I saw BBTS when it premiered on TV. I was 14 years old and I enjoyed it SO much more than Star Wars. Sure, it suffered horribly from a low budget, but the story felt so much more creative. That said, I'm certain that I'm better off never watching either again. :-P

    ReplyDelete