Rainy Sunday on Rynn's World

So after posting about deadlines and being so busy, I woke up today and it was actually RAINING here in San Antonio.  That makes maybe 10 times in the year that we've lived here?  And it is STILL raining, nice and steady, about 6 hours later.  So I decided that on a nice, cool, rainy Sunday, I was doing some painting damn it!

I looked at my options last night, thinking I'd like to bust our the brushes I haven't used in months, but when I saw the growing list of models I wanted to assemble and/or paint, the wind rushed back out of my sails.  It was too much.  I was overwhelmed and hadn't even started yet.  What was the point?

But the cool wet breeze got me moving today so I picked the best two of my Crimson Fist Devastator squad that still needed colors and went to work.  It was pretty quick and I decided I wouldn't sweat over the small stuff too much.  (I have to suppress my inner perfectionist and just be satisfied with my work, else I'll never paint anything and never be done.)  Right now I'm happy with the results.  Later, when the perfectionist returns and I look again under a different light source, who knows...?

I was most eager to paint my heavy bolter, and while I liked the helmeted look he had going on, I tore off his head with some needle-nose pliers and added a Rambo-esque screamer from the Sanguary Guard kit.  I like it.  Imagine him roaring at enemy almost as loud as his weapon does!

The base colors went on fast -- royal blue dry brushed with a lighter combo, black on the big bolter with a very quick silver drybrushing, then the hands and chest plate, easy stuff.  The head took the longest -- it's probably the same with everyone who paints miniatures, but I find the smallest things take the most time.  I spent more time on the head than the whole blue body, drybrushing and all.  And it really wasn't that much work -- flesh colored, then flesh and brown mix on the hair, then a couple washes till I got it the way I liked. Plus drilling a handle drill bit in the bottom to make it all easier to work on.  I am also finding that just mass producing models ("mass" being the wrong word since I turn out a dozen models a year on average) isn't good enough for me -- they almost all have to have some individual flare, some small bit of personality.  This guy's got it.

I actually salvaged this missile launcher marine's red helmet from another model who had served as a double-wielding bolter and pistol sternguard model of mine.  But when I decided to go Spartan on the sternguard squad (hopefully coming soon), I disassembled that model for parts and kept the head safe, knowing I'd want to use it on someone else.  So after a head transplant, this guy got himself a better brain for picking targets.  He was quick to paint simultaneously with the HB model, and with the same technique.  The previous owner also based this model, which is simple and looks good enough for me -- though I still didn't bother painting it.  Someday.

Whenever I get the whole squad done it'll be another "Heavy Handed" blog episode for my Crimson Fist army.  If I get another nice rainy day sometime soon, that may not be far behind.