Hobby Days 2

Well, I've been slowly working on building and painting the Chaos Marine army I posted last, and it's at a decent size.  Added to that collection are a second group, similar to that one, a squad of Jumpers, a squad of "ghost" soldiers, 2 walking tanks, 2 Sorcerers, a lord, a transport, and a tank.  The vehicles haven't been painted yet (but I started on one walker), because a) they're much bigger, and b) supporting Kelli with Evelyn and Ian are a priority.  A downside is, that I'm starting to get bored with this army.  Between a new version of the game and this army having come out this last summer, I've felt it's time to move on.  I'll build them as I feel the desire (or sell if someone wants to buy the lot for sufficient).

I'm moving on to a different army.  These guys are similar to the old army in that they're both upgraded humans in heavy armor.  The similarities tend to stop there.  The new guys are a version of the Marine family called the Black Templars.  I won't be painting them exactly the same way, but that's part of the fun of this hobby, creating your own color scheme.  These guys are the holy-knight style of army.

The first models I've gotten for this army are rather signature models for this:

The Emperor's Champion who leads the army in a Vow before battle.

Emperor's Champion

He is armed with a powerful sword and targets enemy champions in battle and wears holy armor that protects him in close combat.















A Chaplain to watch over their spiritual well-being, and a general hard case.

Chaplain

This Chaplain is armed with a mace that is both a symbol of his office, and  and a powerful weapon to boot.  Rounding out his gear is an energy pistol and shield added to the model from parts from other kits.













A Terminator Leader to bring his wisdom and experience to the field of battle.

Terminator Leader

He is wearing the heaviest armor available to an infantryman.  It provides impressive protection and allows the wearer to wield heavier weapons with ease.















I have a few more kits I will be adding to this lot, but are not quite ready for Mr. Demille's eye.  Either their paint is currently horrible, or they still need to be put together.  I will add updates as I can.  I have also accepted a challenge to complete the Chaplain in a month, so fingers-crossed!

Hobby Days

A few years ago, Kelli was kind enough to get me a starter set to a tabletop wargame. It was a hobby that I could get into that would a) get me out of the house when necessary, b) give me a creative outlet, c) get me away from the computer, and d) without resorting to all the other past times men my age seem to pursue. This wargame involves picking an army, building units from model kits, painting them up to either represent a unit from the story behind the game or your own design, and then putting them on a table to move them around and roll dice to see which ones leave first (i.e. fight with them).

Well, I've finally completed the painting for my first unit. I've gotten several kits and built them, but never got around to painting them. Here's a progression of the results:

At first, I needed to decide what colors to paint the army, here are a couple I came up with initially:

There first one is a little Phoenix Suns, don't you think? The red shoulder pads on the second's a little better, but it doesn't quite work with the third. So, I went with brown body (with purple overtone), silver trim, and orange shoulder pads.

The process involves priming, basecoating, coloring, and then washing. Priming is done with a spray can of some paint designed to adhese with itself and make it easier for following paints to stay on the model. I used a black primer to start off with. Basecoating is establishing a strong color to then color as you need, this is best accomplished with what are called Foundation Paints. These paints act very similar to a primer, but are in small pots and not a spray can. For basecoating, I used brown for the body (and it actually stayed the main color there), stone for the trim and horns (this is the final color for horn and bone, too), orange for the shoulder pads, and red for odd little bits and bobs.

Coloring is then done to provide more color to the model in certain areas. Silver for the trim and assorted metal pieces, and a brighter orange and red to fill out the base coating.

Then there's the wash. This is a thin ink that adds a slight color to the model and fills in crevices to help them stand out more than light can provide. The body and half the silver are washed in purple (giving them that purple hue) and the rest of the silver, horn, and bone are given a black wash to fill out their definition.

And here's the results:

Yeah, they look like bad guys, because they are bad guys. Most of the good guys are used to much at the store, and these guys look far more interesting. Man, am I a glutton for punishment. All that interesting stuff turns into a LOT more work when you start painting them.

All that's left to do for them is called basing. That's adding some environmental effects to that little black disk they stand on (called a base). That will involve a little glue and some modeling sand (I like the desert, so sue me). That will also cover up the mess I made on the base when I painted them. :)

So that's a little bit I've done with my time.

Clutter and a new baby

Well, it's probably known by many of you that we are going to have a new boy coming in May. That is great news and we love the idea of a little boy running around driving Evelyn crazy. Well, maybe not that part, but you know what I mean.

When I married my wife, our garage was half filled with a lot of stuff that we either weren't going to use any more, or just boxes left over from moving and new baby stuff. Last year, I made a goal for myself to clean out the garage of the assorted debris, but I was lazy and didn't get any motivation until spring came. There is no way that I would want to torture myself that much, so I delayed until this last fall. After about a month's worth of Saturdays and waiting on the recycle truck to come by and pick up all the extra boxes we'd accumulated, I'm about half way done, and we can move around on that side of the garage relatively easily. Thanksgiving and Christmas have taken some wind out of that sail, but with a little encouragement, I'll get that part finished up before the heat returns.

A threatening downside to that is that our den/office area has been the recipient of all of the assorted"Let's just store it here for now" group. With a new boy on the way, we may need to see about him having his own room. It's not terribly important when they're young, but it never hurts to get organized early. That, and Evie will NEVER go to sleep if there is ANYTHING interesting for her to focus on, and Evelyn finds babies VERY interesting. So that's another project to work on and complete before April (2 1/2 months, yikes!) Now where to put all the stuff that currently resides in the den in a place that will be accessible when we need it. Interesting conundrums we have placed for ourselves here.

It's amazing what you Digg up.

While I was transitioning from work mode to school mode, I was looking through an online news site that is called The Digg. They link news stories and other random finds for people to see and peruse through. Just so you know, you do have to be careful on it as it is not very filtered.

Now, I came across a very interesting site where an artist took some children's drawings and then made a painting based on it. It is very imaginative and shows a great amount of imagination on both the child and the artist. You can take a look at it here.

Life's Spirit

Life has a crazy way of treating you. On one hand, it does everything it can to destroy you and your dreams. On the other hand, it also provides some of the most amazing experiences that anyone could desire to have.

For a long time, I thought I would never have a girlfriend, much less get married. A lot of the reasons behind that took a lot of struggle to overcome. Depression is a nasty virus, especially when it has a legitimate reason to exist. When I was finally able to get rid of the worst reason, I found some amazing women who helped me get out of my depression. The most amazing of all is my wife, Kelli. She is my heart and my life. It wasn't till I was ready to be all I could for her, that she was allowed to find me.

Today I was called by my mother to see if I could help give my dad a blessing. 3 years ago, that would have been a cruel joke. Today, I was able to do so. Before I left, I got down on my knees and prayed for the strength and inspiration, should it be called upon. I was able to feel the Spirit so strongly when I left my lovely wife to attend to my father. I won't go over the blessing, as it is not mine to share, but let's just say that I felt confident in the blessing, and was able to say things I have never said before in a blessing.

When I returned to my wife, I was still strong in the Spirit, and I felt such a great love for her. Over the last week, she had been feeling out of sorts, and she was feeling way off of normal today. Before I left to see my dad, I asked her if she wanted a blessing, and she told me yes. When I returned from my dad's, I gave her a priesthood blessing. Again, I won't go over what was said, but the Spirit of love and joy was so strong, I nearly started crying while acting as voice. Kelli was dropping tears when it ended. Both of us received some very important revelations regarding somethings that have been on our minds lately. We have only to wait on time to see them come to fruition now.

I am so grateful for such a loving wife who inspires me to be my best so that I am ready to be able to act as the Father's servant when needed. I am grateful for wise and strong parents "who showed me the way." I am grateful for my new parents who were such great teachers form my wife.

I love you all.

Starting Out

I'm just starting this out.  Kelli's been bugging me to start one of these for a while.  Since I've gotta do this for college now, so here we go.

The title goes back to what my roommate, Devin Howe, calls me that because I'm always popping in to random songs at the drop of a hat (usually cued by events or the conversation).  It drove his brothers nuts.