T-minus two days

Grindstone, meet nose.

Productive morning thus far, so much so that I feel comfortable taking a couple minutes to blog.  I had a disappointing session yesterday.  I had hoped to finish the jump packs and get some work in on another area as well, but instead I didn't even finish the packs.  They weren't as far along as I had thought they were, having just red, black, and white basecoats.  I got the red, black, white, and silver areas done on them yesterday, but still had work left to do, plus finishing the Sanguinary Guard.  As usual, I was beginning to worry about finishing on time.


Jump ahead to today and things are looking much better.  I got a nice, early start on painting as planned.  The first order of business was to finish the jump packs off.  They are done now, writing and all, and just need gluing and varnishing.  I may wait on the decals regardless of how much time I end up so that I have a chance to read up on how to use the Vallejo decal fluids so I get it right the first time.  Three marines need decals, so I can get six others finished today if I discount the decals.  The squad just needs base touch-ups on the painting front, which is trivial, so I'm content to call that squad finished.

Jump packs: done.

The Sanguinary Guard are clipping along as well.  I have some little details left to finish, nothing major, plus some writing and then the torsos will be done.  I clipped and cleaned the wings, then took them outside for priming.  Being in my painting home away from home, I've never primed here before but didn't anticipate any problems.  I also didn't bring anything to prime on, figuring I could just use some newspaper and a table instead of the usual cardboard.  Turns out I was a bit optimistic here.  The first half of priming was marred a few times by breezes and general clumsiness, resulting in the wings hitting the table and ground a couple times.  They survived though, and the second half went much better.  The wings are drying now and should be ready to go after lunch.  The biggest hurdle remaining is the banner.  I may have mentioned that I plan to use the "painting" with washes approach, which I think should work well for this application.  I'll study the studio banner for a bit to determine what colors I'll use as a base, then slop on Devlan Mud and Baal Red as needed.  To-do list update:

Sanguinary Guard:

• Glaives - done
• Banner
• Reds - done
• Purity Seals - done
• Blacks - done
• Silvers - done
• Basing
• Writing - done
• Any details I missed - mostly done
• Wings - primed
• Varnishing

Assault Squad:

• Jump Packs
• Decals - may wait
• Touch up the base edges
• Varnish

All told, I think finishing today is a reasonable goal.  I may not get to varnishing everything, but all the models (save the ones needing decals) should be glued and effectively finished if I can keep up the pace I've had all day.  After these two squads are done, I'm not sure what I'll turn my attention to.  I have some ideas, but that's a matter for another post...