Thursday 31 October 2024

14 year blogiversary

Morning #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been blogging for 14 years now!


That's right, 14 years! I've said many times over that I do the blog purely as a record of what I've achieved. The fact it's proven valuable and entertaining to other hobbyists is an absolute bonus. I said 12 months ago that I don't do it for numbers but had to acknowledge 3,000,000 page views in August. Now look at it 3,600,000, over half a million in 3 months! It won't be long before it's 4 million - it's just silly and given 739,000+ have come from China I'm thinking that's a lot of bots. So, I acknowledge, but I don't celebrate. Although, if it turns out I have a massive Chinese following then please do reach out 😁

That said I have been less active on the blog recently. I just haven't had the motivation to do the hobby let alone blog about it. Add in that much of my hobby work can be hard to capture as WiPs I'm even less inclined. 2024 is likely to be my least published year. And that's OK. The last thing I'm going to do is beat myself up about it. I don't need another reason to feel reluctant to put the effort in. It can be hard to find time when you're being pulled in so many directions. I really wish I had more time and effort to put into the blog but I'm still here!

And a number I can definitely trust is that 14 - 14 years of blogging. There are still a few of us around with that sort of longevity, I think if you committed this long it's hard to kick the habit. I've even seen a few people joining the platform. It's nice to see people on Threads and Facebook sharing their blogger links, ahead of Instagram or YouTube channels. I may not be as active in the space as I used to be, both publishing and reading, but I still think it's the best place to share your own hobby efforts. If you also have a blog and have been blogging for a week, a year or even 10 or more then this celebration is for you too! And, if you want 739,000 Chinese bots to see your blog then don't forget to share a link in the comments if you too are keeping the hobby blogging dream alive!

Friday 25 October 2024

'nids part 369 - #DreadTober Norn Emissary Tourquoise highlight & fleshy bits

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer it's #DreadTober2024 and it's  turquoise highlights. Overall I am much happier with my results than I was in previous posts.


I still feel I'm not at the standard I wish I was but the results look pretty good and I think it's finally coming together for me. I also added in the pink brain tentacles, I didn't want to go red on these and actually have so far painted the Neurotyrant and Neurolids the same.


Close up of my paint strokes. I am going to add some minor third stage highlights in places. Although I'm happier I am less confident I will get it done in time. It just goes to show how important those head starts have been. I wasn't kidding, I know my pace. In some respects I'm surprised I got this far, even though it's much smaller than last year's pledge.


We'll just have to see how I get along.


I added the final set of highlights to the turquoise and started on the red fleshy bits.


This has had 4 sets of highlights! I know, ridiculous. But I looked back on my Screamer Killers and I did a Heavy Red base, shade, Heavy Red highlight, Mephiston Red, Bloody Red and Bloody Red/White highlights. So I had to repeat.


The base in particular is starting to come alive with this.


The face too is more expressive, although the brain matter has been left red as it will all be glowy. I'm thinking orange and yellow like my last Zoanthrope update. There is going to be green glow on the vents and some of the toxic areas so the psychic ability needs to be something else and I'd rather not confuse with the blue 'plasma' from the Screamer Killers.


Hard talon black highlights next and then the glow.


I just think I'm running out of time. I think I have a couple of weeks effort left and the Sentinels haven't been touched since my last update. I'm not going to rush it though and be disappointed with the finished result. I'll do my best.

Friday 18 October 2024

'nids part 368 - #DreadTober Norn Emissary Bone highlight & tourquoise

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer it's #DreadTober2024 and it's bone and turquoise. Perhaps it was obvious in my last post and I'm sad to say it there are certain aspects of this paintjob I am not enjoying. Mainly the realisation that my skills are somewhat lacking and I may not make improvements in the future.


Throw in how tedious this process can actually be and it feels like the results are not delivering on the effort expended to achieve them.


That said, the second set of bone highlights has both reaffirmed some of those feelings and reminded me to not judge a model until it's finished.


Because, although close inspection shows brush strokes I am less than happy about I do think it's an overall improvement. Furthermore, from a distance [tabletop standard] it looks pretty good.


But the bone is done now and I will add some additional tonal variations and shading down the line but next up is the turquoise on the chitin - lets see how onerous a task this will be...


Very onerous is the answer, but not actually more than I could stomach. But overall it looks great and it looks much more impressive than close scrutiny reveals but I'm OK with that.


All of the turquoise took about 3 sessions, it was much too labour intensive for me to cope in one sitting. Now I did do some bits on my sentinels and even Leviathan Tyranids, which may seem odd to break up painting a Tyranid by painting more Tyranids but I assure you it made sense at the time. Unfortunately the sentinel progress was not worth taking pictures of so there's no update for them this week.


However, the challenge here was made harder by the choice of paint. For this side I was using a cheap craft acrylic I've used before, but it's dries quite quickly, meaning it becomes quite gloopy. Unfortunately thinning it down with water makes it flow too much. I end up with big globs of opaque thick paint on my brush while the watered paint soaks in the bristles and travels up to the ferule. Getting fine feather stokes is almost impossible.


So for the other side I switched to Miniature Paints aquamarine, which is almost identical [I know the colours look wildly different, but that's different exposures on the camera]. You can see a subtle difference when the aquamarine is next to the turquoise but when it's painted on like this the difference is indistinguishable. But the main difference is in the application. It's slightly thinner, more consistent and thins better. The second half was a much more rewarding experience, which was a relief.


I've already started the next set of highlights and I've done the base, legs, torso, head, and arms. All that's left is the carapace - the crests have two sides each and then back mound has left and right sides which are everso fiddly to get into. I hoped to have got it done, but fell short, maybe over the weekend?Second highlights are a little easier because you can see where you are going to paint. But, you have to be more careful with the brush stroke to get the lines thinner and not obliterate all the painting done here. I don't always manage it but it's looking OK. At least at this stage I am much happier. This will be as good as my Screamer Killers and High Rule Dude from DreadTober 2023, so whatever disappointment I did feel hopefully I've come to terms with it. 

Tuesday 15 October 2024

Test

Test

Don't dlvr.it

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity I've been using dlvr.it to autopost my blogposts to my other social platforms since September 2017. As time has gone on the amount of channels has been reduced and I was left posting to Twitter and Threads. Now I was only posting to Twitter to prevent my username being recycled. The platform itself is too depressing so I rarely engage with it now. However, Threads feels like a much more pleasant experience, so reposting my blog there made even more sense.

However, I recently discovered my new articles weren't being reposted. Initially I thought this was some permissions thing. Back in the day Facebook needed to update permissions on a monthly, bi-monthly schedule, but it wouldn't always remind you so often they wouldn't get posted for weeks on end.

Well, it turns out that's not the case at all. Those folk at dlvr have finally had enough of us freeloaders and their starter plan now costs $4.99 a month! Trying to find a free alternative has been challenging, not least because sending an RSS feed to socials for free is not high on the list of tech goldmines. But I eventually found this article:


It uses buffer and IFTTT to achieve the same thing. It's a little convoluted but I'm hoping I've got it to work, this is something of a test. The big difference is it's not immediately responsive, you have to tell it  when to check, but you can schedule that multiple times a day to help cover your posts. I usually schedule my posts around lunch time anyway so setting a few checks between 12 and 1 should cover it 🤞 


Currently it's also free, but that's not without a catch. IFTTT only allows you to have 2 free applets. I don't know if this applet with service whichever feeds I plug into buffer or if I need to do an applet for each platform - I guess we'll find out. Currently I already have an applet set up for a security sensor in my shed, although it's not been active for a while. It does mean I'm at the limit of my applets and any new ones means I have to archive and old one. It's a little frustrating but even if I needed more it's $2.92 a month rather than $4.99.

Anyway, if anyone blogging had also come across this issue, or wanted to start doing so I just wanted to share how I've addressed it in the hopes I can automatically post again to those platforms. Here's hoping...

Monday 14 October 2024

SHED 2.0 (part 2)

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity here's another [out-of-date] update on Otty's shed 2.0. This was from the end of July and I finally had some time off to spend a couple of days helping out. My first effort was close to my heart - not just painting, we did not use industrial amounts of Nuln Oil on it! But painting fences goes back to childhood memories of painting my grand-parents' garden fence during the summer holidays. It sounds like a traumatic experience, using creosote, with woolen mittens and plastic bags on our hands to avoid the irritating preservative. Hot days, sweating and struggling to paint the fences. And yet, it's a task I will willingly undertake regularly so I was pleased to get to paint this end wall of the shed - forever my contribution.


Inside, Liam and Phil were putting insulation into the walls. then covering them up with OSB.


Liam was particularly careful about measuring the insulation, and I joined him as an insulation team fitting the sheets into the gaps. Then Otty and Phil would be the boarding team.


Again the attention to detail here, ensuring that all boards butted up seamlessly to its neighbour. 


They were even using a spirit level when all of this side would be hidden by glass cabinets [and unknown to me it was also covered in thin MDF too, so none of the OSB is visible at all!].



With the fence painting urge in my veins I spent 10 hours the following weekend doing my own fence.


I know the garden is a mess. I've tried for years to get a nice lawn but it's mostly moss and Dandelions now. But at least the fence looks good. It'll start to fade over the winter but I think I'm committing to doing it again next year rather than leave it for a few years like last time. It may increase it's durability.



Anyway, the following week was my second day of helping and with all of the OSB done Scott was here to help with more insulation.


The other walls were clad in MDF, which would be painted.


Fill was back again too and Scott and I continued to help with the insulation.


Including filling out the gaps in the roof beams.



All walls now boarded, only the ceiling to be finished off now.


Otty has been an absolute machine throughout. So much attention to detail and so well deserved. Any gaps or screw holes were being filled and then the entirety of the walls 'keyed' for painting.



Here he's adding some panelling details


As Ben admires his handiwork for all the thin MDF clad ceiling panels.



We all rocked up to help prime the walls, the next day Otty did another coat and you can see 'Bilbo's' door with its undercoat ready for its green paint.



Otty painted the walls grey, two coats and repositioned all his cabinets and shelving units from the old shed with new cabinets and displays. Carpet was fitted and you can make out the size of the gaming table we'll have.


A mighty space it's going to be so great when it's all done.