Tau Hammerhead Gunship

Another rather clean vehicle, Tau really are fast and easy to paint.

Again, he waits for a new owner, battles to fight and brothers to stand with! Find him here at Ebay

Also check out my other auctions this week, there are two weathered Leman Russ and a limited and long sold out terrain piece! All auctions are here.  I hope to raise enough money for a new compressor, so the work at the studio can continue.

Considering they were done at two sundays, my heart cries for all the painful hours of brushpainting my own Tau tanks back in the gaming days.

You can vote for him at Putty and Paint or Cmon as always!

Painters Unite! Episode 1

Welcome to the first of hopefully many to come episodes of Painters Unite! Our new weekly column, that lists interesting auctions of the week and little interviews, blog introductions and painting services. If you would like to know more about the idea behind this, feel free to read here!

This weeks featured sales:

Sleipnir sells some of his cabinet works and waits for offers. Be fair, it's his first time and believe me, it never hurts so much again. You can find them here at Das Bemalforum or Facebook.

I am selling two Cadian Leman Russ tanks and one rare GW ruined church terrain piece, made of resin AND a Hammerhead Gunship this week. 

Find them here on Ebay!

I am happy that we already found our first artist to tell us about him, showing some works and offering them to for sale. So spotlight on: Sleipnir!

Let me introduce you myself... just for those who didn't knew me by now.  

My name is Arne. I'm aged 28 for some days now and live together with my wife and 2 kids near Hamburg, Germany.

Arne wrote a tutorial for the lichens, even with a video!
Find it here!

For me there's mainly one big aspect in painting miniatures: pure relaxation. During the last 3 years I've found some great friends in this big community, one just around the corner and one from Sweden. So painting becomes more and more important for me.  

While I try to spend as much time with my family as I can there are just a few moments to slack some paint on miniatures. I always try to improve my skills, testing new things and experiment a lot. Seems like that's my "secret" of improving as every new finished project is one step ahead to the previous one.  

We all know that this hobby is quiet expensive: hoarding miniatures, buying new brushes, testing new mediums like aquarell colors and oils. All this (and other things like incoming bills) are forcing me to sell some of my miniatures to keep this hobby alive.  

It's the first time for me selling painted miniatures and I am quiet curious on how the feeling will be if I'm packing them for their trip to someone else, knowing that I probably never see them again.

If you like Sleipnirs works, vote for them on Putty and Paint or visit the Blog Miniature Fairy Tales, where Arne is a member!

And remember, your sales can be featured here, ebay and privat alike! Just write us! If you'd like to be featured as artist or blog also write me a short message!

Contest of Chaos

Ahoihoi fellas,

the awesome Blog of the "kouzes" is having its fifths Brithday. Congratulations guys, keep on your awesome work.

Why am I posting this? Simply because I love these guys and their works. But that's not all, to celebrate their birthday, they are hosting a contest. And its about CHAOS *insane laughter*

Oh the warp shivers with joy. The rules - which can be found here - are simple just convert/sculpt and paint a disciple of the dark gods till June 30th ans send them pictures of your little warplover....

Lets give them an incredible birthday present by sending in many crazy and awesome looking entries

Oh and when your at it, just check out their blog and the awesome projects they have over there, like this one:

Thats all for now. I'll go back to may workbanche and prepare for the Duke of Bavaria next week.... Times running quick..... After the Duke I will tell you what i was doing the last weeks, so stay tuned

Hope to see you next weekend.

P.S.: Oh, and before i forget it, a little reminder of the Razorshark auction, which ends today. One cool flyer, isn't it?

Masking your vehicles

Hello out there!

While painting the Razorshark  I thought it would be nice to take some pictures of the masking process, as the Leman Russ Sqadron  needed a different masking. We're not trying to paint camo here, it's more about getting crisp and clean edges.

As we don't have a tutorial about this I will make a short one for you, until the next big one including this is ready. I mean hey, many of you want to paint their Tau NOW!

Stuff required

-Masking tape (I use Tamyia) or crepe tape (cheaper, but you have to stick it to something before putting it onto the model)

- toothpicks

- scalpel

- any masking fluid (I used Humbrol Maskol)

What we do

First we prime everything. We could prime certain areas first, then mask others that should get darker or brighter and use white on them but this is much effort. I rather prime them again after the first color is applied. That's different with parts that are seperate. I used two component priming, but some things like the rifles should be black in the end anyways. 

Again doublesided tape is our friend and holds everything for priming.
Everything is primed black, then parts like the rifles are removed before applying the white primer.

It always good to have some kind of holding device, this one used to scrubbed my back, before the cats got their paws on it.

We first spray the interior (in this case the rocket mounting). As every layer of paint builds up with the following we don't want to much layers and have to mask the areas around. Things like cockpits, storage rooms etc are the same and have a simple shape. It is easy to tape around them.

Then just spray your chosen color and remove the tape AFTER the paint has dried to avoid getting paint from the tape to the surface of our vehicle. Be sure your tape sticks well and has no areas which are loose.

Well this was simple.

But what about that nasty plating? Be happy, it isn't that difficult too. We use our masking tape again, laying it over the areas where different armor plates meet. First we use our toothpick, finger nails, whatever fits to press the tape into the recesses. then the rest of the tape is sticked to the surface.

Next step is removing the tape on the side we want paint. The scalpel is used where our toothpick hast lined out the recesses. After that the tape is removed on the side we want to airbrush next. In this case, the small area should remain white, while the rest will be orange/brown.

We mask everything we can reach without too much effort that way. It fits wherever two armor plates meet.

Even organic or round shapes are no problem with this method. It would be a pain to cut such shapes before applying them to the model. You can see that the front panel is already taped.

But there are still areas I really don't want to tape!
No problem, I know that. There often are angles hard to reach. These are painted with the masking fluid, which protects them from spraypaint and can be removed very easy after we're done. Just make sure it is a thick coat, so you can remove the whole thing. I use a toothbrush to rub the stubborn fluid away where I didn't paint thick enough.

The purple areas are masked with the Maskol.

Then we spray our colors, let everything dry and remove the whole masking.  It makes sense to spray the small areas first and than mask them, to paint the big ones. I did the other way (hey, I was really tired and in zombie mode) and it cost me most of the painting time to mask and unmask.

And everything looks fine and crisp.

This is the result of bad organization. The whole thing is masked, just to protect a few little areas. A mistake you only make once, believe me.

Hope there was some help for you.

Tonight the next Tau model waits, the hammerhead!

If you liked the article feel free to share it on Facebook or elsewhere in the community.

And don't forget, Razorshark Auction ends tomorrow!

Study works

No miniatures today, but a lot of color...

Today we had our first presentation in this years main draft and so I made three pictures, a model and some plans tonight. I tried to do something new, adding classic mediums like water color to the pictures and catch more atmosphere then correctness. I really like this way of expressing your visions in the early stages and think I am gonna stay with it from now on.

An old industrial area in Hamburg, situated at a big basin of water with some nice port character.
Thought how perfect all these old halls and empty squares would be for artists and the people living there to get them self a place to express them.

One of the channels there, with my vision of it. Think I am getting better at this.

So what could we do with these rooms...

Maybe some painting this weekend, 

read you soon

Old tank new glory - New and fine pictures of the Tallarn Leman Russ

Hello out there,

fellow dreamers. What a beautiful sunny day we have here in Dresden. Lasercutting, rendering, airbrushing some university stuff, thats what this day brought to me. That reminds me of the unfinished lasercutting tutorial I started around that time last year. Maybe time to finish it, what do you think?

The Valhalla Predator wasn't the only old work that needed some new photos and so here comes the second of my latest vehicles, a Tallarn Leman Russ, figthing and rusting for ages of war in the deadliest deserts of the 41st millennium.  

As with Valhalla, you can find more views and bigger pictures of him here on Putty and Paint or cmon .

Some readers told me our articles were a bit too long and heavy with pictures. Thinking of the big amount of cool Blogs out there, they might be right. It sure takes time to keep an overview, so I decided to give you the opportunity to decide if you WANT to see more pictures  and keep our Blogposts shorter. What do you think, is this the right way to do it? Tell us in the comments please!

I'd like to remind you of my running Ebay - auctions . This week the Tau Razorshark Strikefighter and a limited Codex Dark Angels are sold, two nice opportunities to get something unique and rare. And yes, I ship worldwide.

Have a nice day my friends and enjoy the sun

(T)Raumschmiede Reborn

Some may have noticed a change around here.

Actually this was planned for quite a while, because change started long ago. As Klaus and Luke joined my team and seem to stay for a while (once you invite painters, you never get rid of them again) we started to think about the whole design, direction this Blog will develop in the future and what we want to do.

The old design was a nice idea but never really good. It fit for the first year, a painter trying to share his stuff, some thoughts, having no really idea what he was doing. But this phase is over now, we have some massive articles, a lot of readers and made ourself a small name in the community.

To be honest this project grew bigger than I ever had imagined and I am speechless every time I see how many people read my thoughts, follow us or ask us for help and new tutorials. You deserve quality content and we will do everything possible to make ours better.

We decided it was time to get more professional. New design, new planned contents and some really cool stuff in the future. 

Todays post is just about saying thank you for supporting us and making the dream this whole thing started with come true with every day and every reader.

We say thank you.
Your crew of dreamers.

Tau Razorshark Strike Fighter on Ebay

Hello dear readers,

yesterday evening the Razorshark went to ebay, where he waits for a nice new owner. 

He sure was fun to build and paint, the first project with my new Silverline Airbrush and also (sadly) the last project with my old compressor. Unless I find some unknown rich relative or a new job there won't be airbrushing for a while now.
That's really sad, as some articles are nearly finished but will have to wait now. I think I am gonna sell some of my older works soon to buy the new one.

If you like to see more and bigger pictures, feel free to have a look at coolminiornot or puttyandpaint !
Votes and comments are appreciated.

If you want to own him yourself you can find the auction right here at Ebay ! It will end Sunday the 28th of April.


Talking about Ebay I'd like to remind you of yesterdays post. If you haven't read it yet, you can find it here 
I am happy to announce that the first painter wrote me, his works will be featured in next Monday's first article, as can be yours. He also will be the first to write some lines for our new weekly column. If you like to join us, feel free to contact me.

Have a nice day my friends.
Martin

Miniature artists unite! Read if you sell or love to buy miniatures in the internet / Valhalla tank rolling in

So todays post will focus on two things. First is a new line of articles I would like to launch every Sunday, but I need your help for that. Second are new pictures of the now finished Valhalla Predator.

New articles? What could that be...well, it's a simple idea. There are many great artists out there who like or are forced to sell their miniatures. Projects they put their heart, soul and joy in and that should raise an appropriate price. Don't get me wrong if you are a buyer, everyone loves to hunt for bargains. Me too, but I think there is quite a difference between buying and old and dipped Rhino for 10 bucks or a fully weathered and blended tank everyone will be jealous of.

For example, the artist has to buy the model first. Than he invests hours of work into building and panting it.

Let's guess he invests 10 hours into a Landraider, which is a centerpiece of most Space Marine armies. He pays 60 bucks to get it. If we think of a very low price per hour, let's guess 5 Euro (and yes, thats damn low) he had to sell the Raider for 110 Euro (you can change the currency, it doesn't matter that much).

If people only bid 70 (and yes, this things happen, remember the Leman Russ Squadron I painted for that giant Step by Step? Over 90 pictures, all edited? Read by over 2000 people until today? The buyers weren't willing to pay the BOXPRICE) he worked for 10 bucks. That's one per hour. Would you want such a salary?

Don't get me wrong here, it's not about my tanks only, it's about many artists works. If you go into a store you want to be treated nice, because the people there are payed to do so. Same with restaurants, craftsman, etc.

I can't count how often I read through the forums or hear the people in our local stores complaining about that expensive painters out there, be it commission or Ebay start prices. And as a person who knows many of that "expensive" painters personally (and happen to be one myself) that makes my heart heavy.

We are no evil businessman bathing in your money, we are normal persons just as you, trying to make our way through everyday life  and the bills everyone has to pay.

I remember many times we were sitting in someones kitchen, talking about how price dumping (hell yeah, I can dip your entire army for 50 cent per model...) and the missing awareness of how much work the painter invests in his models kill auctions. Take your favorite miniature, sell it for 5 Euro and you'll know what I mean.

The second killer is a lack of advertisement and awareness. There are many people out there selling their stuff and advertise it on their blogs, but how many people do they reach? A few hundred at best (most of them not interested in buying, not able to spend much, ...).

So what I thought of is a weekly column featuring auctions that run for the week the article is published.

If you are selling something (and I really mean things you invested time, that are important for you, ...) on Ebay or want to sell it on a direct way you can contact me via our (T)Raumschmiede Facebookpage  or leave a comment here on the Blog so I can give you my mail adress. 

I'll than publish them, so  our readers are aware of what's sold. If you want to do so on your own Blogs or websites from time to time, feel free to do so. 

To make the article interesting to read I'd like to feature YOU. A little interview, your work area, little tricks to keep motivated, whatever you can think of. One artist per weak, volunteers shout here ;)

The article will be posted every Monday (because most auctions start Sunday evening and I can't post links until the auction started )

People don't know what we are doing? So let us show!

And yes, this "service" is for free. It's for us painters, not the sake of money.

 Today I only have one auction I stumbled upon and it's an Ultramarine Cybot from my friend Schiraga.

It is painted to look good on the battlefield (and he did a nice job there, I really like his crazy painting style) and the great thing about it (and my main reason to feature it) that he doesn't keep the money!

He uses it for the regular painters meetings "Malerwartung" in Göppingen to buy material etc.

I think that's awesome and so I want to share it with you!

For the good cause! 

It ends today, so be fast ;)

And now to the promised part two, one of my favorite tanks in new glory.  Here comes Valhalla - Eternal war.

If you like him, feel free to vote here on Putty and Paint or coolminiornot !

Have a nice day my friends and help me starting our new article series ;)

Tau Razorshark WIP

Just a little wip today. I started him last night to try out my new Silverline and I am quite happy with the smoothness of everything. That airbrush just rocks, now the only thing I still need is a new compressor, as working with the old one is unpredictable. It suddenly stops pumping and such things, really no fun.

I made some Shots of masking him to add a new chapter to our tutorial line, just have to edit this.

Some Decals, classic black for the engines and edge highlights on the black stuff (I wanted to do something close to the original Tau color scheme...which I failed with the white, but it looked to good to spray it red) and the weathering stage, which won't be as dirty as usual this time. Maybe he gets ready today?

It's all about community! Advertisement for an awesome auction and a magic trick to keep you readin ;)

Hey folks,

I experienced some massive headaches while sitting in my architectural theory class and decided to calm down a bit while browsing on putty and paint . What I found was a really great miniature, for me, as a Tau collector of the thirst hour and as a crisp and beautiful paintjob.

And wait, what? This is on sale! To help somebody realizing a short film. As I love art in every form and especially such small personal projects, I would have loved to buy this myself and dedicate my money to the cause. As we all know, I don't own such things as money, so I wanted to advertise it at least.

So if you love Tau (it is a 54mm Tau Fire Warrior, how awesome) or just the art of Angel Giraldez (and who does not) here is your chance to make yourself a gift.

You can bid on it here on Ebay!!  

You don't know Angel Giraldez?? Oh, don't mind, that's just the guy who paints that friggin awesome Infinity Promo Paintjobs...check out his blog here!! 

Really, have a look and make so many people happy...YOU for owning such a beauty, ANGEL, for letting his plan work and THE FILMCREW for being supported. With just one bid, awesome, isn't it?

Personally, I don't know Angel and I am quite sure he never heard of me either, but anyone who does something (painting, in this case) to help others deserves respect. 

And now, as promised...some magic inspired by the galactic president who dried my tears when my Whirlwind went white. The matte varnish dried out misty and whitish (my Valhalla tank was jealous) and over 15 hours of work and the money I hoped to earn from them destroyed within 5 minutes. Some may call me a negative thinking person, but I was pissed, distraught and really really mad at this point (my compressor broke just half an hour before and that layer of varnish was his really last task after trying to fix him).

I mean...come on, really?

Winter is coming...the white mist spreads, this was an early stage...I don't have pictures of the full white effect, I...I just couldn't photograph this...and I really didn't think of it as I was quite distracted by the whole thing. What happened next? Well, I wrote some messages with Zaphod, complaining about how unfair the world is, how I hated that varnish and stuff (yeah, quite whiny but hey, who wouldn't understand) and suddenly he sent me a loooong list of ways to REPAIR this! I wanted to share the one I tried with you, to avoid such negative feelings in your hearts when you are the ones, coincidence chooses to annoy.

I never heard of the possibility to repair such things and so I was happy to hear, that gloss varnish is our friend and savior...yes, it is so simple. Just spraycoat the whole thing with gloss varnish, as this negotiates the misty effect. After a good time of drying you can repeat your matte (I used satin for the second round) varnishing. And I learned that you should never thin your varnishes with water, from now on Tamyia Thinner will be my choice.

The left side is glossed, while the right still is misty. I think it's easy to see the difference.

After glossing the whole tank, the yellow was bright and full of life again. No mist, no white, just my beloved yellow. That little trick really saved my day and maybe someday, it will save yours too.

Read you soon again my friends and don't forget to check Angel's Fire Warrior Auction ;)

Yellow Storm finished, Blight Drone finished, me finished too

Goooood morning people!

It's a beautiful sunny day, it's warm as hell here and I am in damn good mood toay. The last days were kind of a nightmare, my compressor broken, the whirlwind covered in whitish misty varnish, yesterday my cats broke into my studio and went on total destruction tour, laying almost all my gear, projects and furniture to waste...I would have never expected how much damage such small animals could cause.

But as we all know, no way to change the past and so I went on, cleaned the chaos and finished the whirlwind and Blight Drone to enter them in Golden Vinci competition 2013. That's also the reason why the tank didn't went to ebay yesterday, I would like to know whether he can win something there and sell him afterwards. 

So without any further delay, enjoy the glory of our beloved empire...

I like how he turned out in the end and I learned a lot from him. I will take my time to study some real world references to avoid unrealistic scratches in the future, I will never mix my varnish with water again, I know what AK Streaks is good for and where I will stay with oil color. Painted lenses really do ad something to the tank ^^

I would love to hear your opinion down in the comments!

No empire without enemies, no order without chaos...here comes the Blight Drone! Most of you will know this fella, because he was the hero of  this Step by Step tutorial! Now he's based and I consider him done until the rest of his battle brothers are painted. Then, in the far future, there may be some changes and special effects.

Next in line are a Tau Hammerhead with Farstrike as pilot and a Tau Razorshark Strike Fighter. Assembly line work again. 

If you like what we are doing here feel free to follow our blog and like us  here at Facebook! When we got more likes there we can see the statistics and work with them, who reads, which topics were especially interesting, such stuff. It is also a good feeling to see new people following us :)

Have a nice sunny day, hunt your friends with water pistols, have a barbecue for dinner or just enjoy doing nothing.