BigGrim Does Boarding Actions!

Finally got around to blocking in details using GW Leadbelcher. I picked a slew of particular sections to paint. It’s all down to personal preference. I chose places that broke up the vast swathe of blue. There are no right or wrong answers here in my opinion.

Today I drybrushed the walls blue. All paints today are GW.

First, an all over drybrush of Maccragge Blue. Once dry, a coat over the top half of the walls with Altdorf Guard Blue. Finally a light drybrush of Teclis Blue over the very top of the walls and we’re done with blue.

The walls dried and now I’ve given them a heavy wash of brown homemade wash. They are now drying…

Pillar Caps have now been drybrushed. First a coat of Retributor gold, then Stormhost Silver. Finally, they’ve been varnished with Colour Forge Mat Varnish.

The blue walls have now been given a heavy wash of homemade black wash. As mentioned previously, the wash foaming up is no bad thing as i can burst and deposit the ink in the recesses.

Here are the golden pillar caps with one heavy wash of home made brown ink.

And here they are a second heavy wash of brown ink. Once dry, I’ll give em a light drybrush of Retributor Gold and then a super light dusting of silver. Probably GW Stormhost.

When it comes to terrain, I do not use GW inks and washes. That way lies madness and bankruptcy. Instead, I make my own.

I mix a 50/50 ratio of de-ionised water and pledge multi-surface floor polish in a small kilner jar. To this I add between 20 and 30 drops of Liquitex acrylic ink. For brown I use Transparent Burnt Umber and for black, I use Carbon Black.

Give it a mix and slap it onto the terrain with a big ol’ paintbrush. (Y’know, the kind you use fer your walls.) I use a 30. Don’t worry that the wash foams up. This can actually be a plus, as it hangs around and deposits the colour is various nooks and crannies.

Finally got a decent evening for priming. First up, the walls.

The walls were carefully primed with the rather lovely Colour Forge Republic Blue. It’s a superb dark blue that almost seems to have a purple tint in a certain light. Very, very nice.

Next, the Pillar Caps. These were primed in the ever reliable Retributor Armour. It really is a glorious gold. I had them bunched a touch too tightly on the paint sticks and I’ll need to go over the sides and some nooks and crannies by hand.

First up, Foamcore!

I sliced three sheets of A4 Foamcore into roughly 4 4.5cm wide strips. I produced 12 strips total. I applied doublesided tape the length of the piece and put it aside.

Next, I built the walls into 4 section lengths, using pillars and end pieces where needed. I basically made 4 identical sections out of all the pieces by three sets. I then masked off the tops of the pillar caps with 6mm Tamiya tape and attached them to the foamcore strips.

On the pieces with exposed teeth, I masked them with 18mm tamiya tape. It is nearly the perfect width to wrap around both sides. All are then attached to the foamcore.

Finally, the pillar caps have been stuck to painting sticks with double sided tape. All is now ready for a day with good weather for priming.

With everything organised, I started sanding. In GWs wisdom, they made the male connectors too thick for the female ports. The tops of the pillars are also too thick for the caps. So! Sanding.

First thing to bear in mind, you are gonna do a LOT of sanding. Do NOT use your good modelling files. I buy cheap nail files from amazon. Decent grit and completely disposable.

Cheap Nail Files!

For the male connectors I sand both sides and the inside of the upper “tooth”. This allows the walls and pillars to slide together easier and the filing of the tooth allows the cap to slip on the top without getting stuck. Additionally, I filed on every side of the pillars plug. It’s a lot of work but it’s worth it to make the set easier to use.

This also generates a lot of plastic dust. The wee black thing in the second pic below is a little hand vacuum. Bought off amazon and rather useful for keeping yer work place clean. Indeed, when I was done, I emptied the waste area and pulled out the filter frame, which I washed out. Left it to air dry overnight.

Here’s a link if you want one for your own desk.

Hand Vacuum!

Next, I’ll be looking at masking the exposed plugs and male connectors and mounting lengths of wall on strips of foam core.

So. I’ve worked on the first of my own Boarding Action sets. I learned quite a bit about the required prep work to make it work better.

My Friendly Local Store, The Pop Shop, has bought a set for themselves and asked if I’d paint it, having done a table for them already. I said yes. This project log is here to document the work I do on it, so I can link it on the stores Discord. This will be of use to others who buy into this fantastic game mode.

First prep work once basic building is complete is organising and preparing to sand.