HK Workshop

Adventures and Failures in Circuitry, & 28mm.

[hk8607]

Went manic and bought an AnkerMake 3D printer...

Along with my Mars 2 resin printer.. I have more stuff now.

[hk8607]

I've decided that I want to actually be able to USE the office where my paint bench, electronics bench, and 3d printer is at..

:|

I have started the slow process of cleaning and organizing. I miss hobbies.

[hk8607]

A great tool for miniatures & a fun model to build.. The Tamiya Drill

A manual pin drill (or pen vise) is an essential for models/miniatures. You have to attach arms.. you have to pin things.. you have to drill tiny little holes in all sorts of crap.

Purchase from the kit from Amazon: (you literally build it like a model https://tinyurl.com/ModelDrill

You honestly feel a lot ‘safer’ having to drill things with this tool. It has a slow RPM that isn’t going to shoot a bit into your thumb very easily..

[hk8607]

Building a static grass applicator for miniatures/dioramas

Two really good methods of making a static grass applicator for your miniatures..

HackaDay: https://hackaday.com/2018/03/21/building-a-static-grass-applicator/

YouTube: (Solo Contracting) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3tTzSo2bek

You can even find pre-made ones off of Amazon now, but they are nowhere near as fun to use. It’s much more fun to shock the crap out of yourself.

Good write up here too: https://modelrailwayengineer.com/best-static-grass-applicator-plus-top-tips-apply-static-grass/

[hk8607]

Pictures of my ‘painting station’ I built from a Kobalt tool station. This is my old setup, when I have the time I’ll clean up my office and take some pictures of the new desk and lighting (nice LED lights/strips for painting). The CNC/die cut paint station/pot holder that I have was INSANELY expensive when I bought it years back (its been 5+ years). There was like a single company in Prussia that were making them custom. Shipping on the thing was crazy... Now you can buy the things of Etsy/Amazon/eBay for next to nothing. They really improve the organization of your station.

The new desk is directly beside my electronics solder/workstation. :| Some of the things I do in this house shouldn’t be done in a house.

[hk8607]

3D printing random things over the years.. & the urge to start back with the hobby

I have a Prusa Mk3s+ and honestly have barely used the thing. I printed a bunch of random stuff originally, but packed it up due to some projects taking place in my house. I plan on dusting the device off and and doing some self printed upgrades pretty soon.

I printed a bunch of accessories for electronic projects. I made a solar charger/mount for my mail box’s notification system.. I made a tool holder for the various things needed to 3d print... and of course a rockupuss. My original MonoPrice Maker Select v2 was modded to hell and back with various upgrades (gear/extruder) and self-printed enhancements.

I plan to roll out pretty soon and upgrade the firmware to the newest version on the MK3s.. Hopefully self leveling has improved.

I have a lot of ideas related to my 9-5 job actually.. some casings for self built USB buttons.. some stands/holders for equipment... It would be NICE to be able to self prototype some of the things I envision day to day.

Tons of stuff I’d like to print now. Hopefully I can make myself go at it and not drop it all together like I did painting. =/

STL file for the measuring cube can be found on Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2722562 GO tip the creator!

Video of the cube printing is here: https://youtu.be/AOlIOsS9WK0

[hk8607]

Mansions of Madness miniatures

These miniatures were included with the Fantasy Flight boardgame, Mansions of Madness (Gen 1 I think?).

I have ALL of the figures painted, but can’t find the pictures. I’ll upload them as I find them. Like the Arkham Horror miniatures, these helped a TON with painting human faces and clothing. 

Will update as I find the others.. I gained a LOT of inspiration from viewing other peoples painting of these figures.

[hk8607]

Failed Diorama..

I was originally making this for a really good friend, but I ended up dropping the thing off of a shelf. I became super discouraged and never tried to restart it. I regret that. Looking back I really wish she would have had it to remember me by.

This was one of my first attempts at making a water type base using a modeling solution that simulates water. You have to actually build up and contain the liquid until it drys. After it cures it looks like water (you add the blue/green paint yourself). Originally the solution is clear.. I found the kit at Hobby Lobby? I’m still terrible at painting faces/figures.. but I was getting better at land scapes!

[hk8607]

Skaven Vermin Lord diorama

Miniature was given to me by a friend.. I really had NO idea what the hell the character was,, (or was supposed to look like).. but I winged it. Lots of fun to paint.. I enjoyed crafting the cauldron, fire, and ‘brew’ in this one. Crafting the extras from nothing is always fun.

I still suck at painting and taking pictures though :|

It was fun dry-brushing the bit of fur on this model!

[hk8607]

Warhammer Demon Prince Diorama

These miniatures were given to me by friend/co-worker. They were extremely fun to paint.. I managed to use some spare arms and legs as decor on this one.

[hk8607]

Some NPCs & Characters from our Shadowrun game

I played a Street Samurai that was essentially Ron Perlman.. it was only fitting I bought a miniature that looked like him

I played around with using green stuff to sculpt onto existing miniatures (Bones). It worked OK. I learned a lot.

These were really fun to pain.. the NPCs, the props.. I LOVE Shadowrun’s setting.

[hk8607]

My 1st real diorama (Summer & Winter)

I’ll have to find better pictures, but this originally was a dual sided diorama.. One side was an elven ranger (summer w/ running water) and the other was a Valkyrie in a winter landscape..

Before I messed the WHOLE diorama up with a dumb mistake.. the colors were an AMAZING contrast. All that green and blue on white.. it was awesom.

I ended up ruining the miniature when I attempted to clear coat it with spray. The humidity was high and when I sprayed the clear coat turned into a ‘white’ frost that coated the entire diorama. I was extremely sad.. I’ve read that I may be able to save it by reapplying heat (and melting the glaze) gently.. but I’m too afraid.

I made the mushrooms from toothpicks and drops of hotglue. The water was done with a ‘water kit’ I purchased, it was my first time dying water and free-flowing it onto a surface. It still ended up looking amazing pouring from the roots/rocks of the tree.

Icicles were made from hot glue. (have them hanging from trees) 

The tree was made from copper wire (literally from old cat 5 I had too much of) and wood putty. I was pretty proud of that one =p

The rocks on the snow side were made from pieces of cork that were dry-brushed to look like stone/granite. 

The snow was actually made with baking soda.. I found a method of making it online and it worked GREAT. It applied like a paste. It was fun to place on the various objects and figure.

Still.. I wish I had pictures before I sprayed it. I’ll find some better/larger ones and update this post later.

[hk8607]

Painted Munchkin figures.. (very fun game)

Not the best miniatures to paint, but color adds a lot to them.

I enjoyed playing Munchkin with a lot of my friends.. I ended up buying the Pathfinder expansion pack and never played it. o.O

[hk8607]

Making custom accessories for dioramas and minis..

The main thing I enjoy about creating these things is taking an object and turning it into something else.. Attached our little odds and ends that I crafted for things..

The strap to a bolter is actual thread that I LOOPED and drilled into the weapon... for all it’s detail it just sits on the ground on the actual diorama. :p 

Hand made pennants and flags from green stuff and melted plastic.. I use to cut plastic strips from drink bottles and then use the heat gun to warp them. I’d make the poles from toothpicks or paperclips w/ putty over them.

Here are some scrolls that I edited and printed for a diorama. I printed them on paper and then stained the paper with paint/coffee.. to age them up. They ended up looking pretty dang good.

The scroll printed and painted up ended up looking pretty good! The banner on the space marine’s back was made from a paperclip and a plastic banner I made/painted from a mountain dew bottle. Warping the plastic with heat, brought out the motion..

The pot of boiling ‘goo’ was made from melted hotglue that had paint mixed in to dye it.. I then sort of filled up a pot I made (out of plastic) and crafted a fire pit for it to sit on. I like the wetness that the contents of the pot hints at...

The fire was made from scraps of popsicle sticks and painted to look like flames.. Dry brushing fur is always fun.

The wrap of the sword was made from dyed sewing thread. It was a lot of fun applying the blood. The actual sword is on the figures back and can’t be seen well... but a lot of work was put into it.

[hk8607]

Ned Stark bust that a friend gave me..

First thing.. I still didn't know what a light box was and how to take macro photos.. I know these things now and actually have built a really NICE lighting box.

I am was and probably still am horrible with eyes..  I know now what power of a very fine marker/pen can do though

This was still fun. I wish Ned would have worn more colorful clothing, but actually painting something larger (this was like 75mm?) was fun.

WHY did I think these pictures were OK? Lord they are blurry.. I may re-capture this one properly in the box later in life to redeem myself

[hk8607]

2x Dice Towers I ‘painted’ for a friend..

The 2 actual towers were made by one of our players.. He ended up giving me the smaller castle one made of foam. He did a really good job.

I found out how CRAPPY materials react to paint.. and how they just SUCK all the detail out. They still ended up looking nice. I was able to weather and throw some patterns on them. 

[hk8607]

Our D&D 5e party members..

I really wish I knew about ‘light boxes’ and how to take better macro photos with these.. They ended up looking really good considering. Paladin, Wizard, Bard, and Thief... and a random old guy wizard NPC.

The bard is HEAVILY influenced from the Wheel of Time series.. with the ‘Gleeman’s Cloak of many colors’. I liked the way it came out. I ended up painting a camo pattern on the thief. The paladin was ‘nature’ based.. so it was fun with the tree/elf motive.

I have more NPCs that I painted for the campaign, but this was the player party figures. I miss D&D,..

And yes.. there are random Ultramarine logos on the wizard’s cloak and Paladins armor.. =p I had a lot of left over stuff. 

These were fun. I had a good time imaging what the characters looked like from the player’s description.. I think most players were happy, but our wizard ended up ordering a custom miniature I painted later in the campaign.