Okay, I might be occasionally described as grumpy at times, and somewhat forthright in my opinions, but all in all I think I'm a pretty well-balanced guy.
However.
There are times when even I have to count to ten and pour myself a stiff drink. Last night was one such time. Picture a fellow, relaxing in front of the fire, painting the finishing touches to his latest model. It's a wonderful moment, holding the brush, checking the model over and sighing contentedly: "Aaah, that's done." The model in question was my fimm standard bearer, and I had just the base left to paint, then the varnishing.
If you are squeamish, you might want to stop now.
I lay down my tray on the wee side-table beside the sofa I hide in when I'm painting in the living room. Upon my return, I move my lamp and reach down to return the tray to my man-cave.
I only barely tipped the guy.
The sound as the model hit the wooden floor would turn your bowels to water. So much cracking and the ticking of small bits of plastic skittering away under couches and book cases. From the noise I knew there was more than a single break. At this point I just left the room for a bit. You know when you've hurt yourself badly and you're afraid to look at the wound? A bit like that.
Upon my eventual return, I peer into the shadow and retrieve the fallen fimir. The standard is gone. That was expected. I look the guy over. "Well" I think, "At least that's all the dama...oh. Where's his other hand?" More frantically now, I re-check, discovering the weapon hand is missing, the tip of the standard is snapped off also, and the raven attached to the banner is chipped in three places. For a fall of just over 2 feet, the damage was catastrophic. After moving a couch I retrieve his missing weapon hand. More calmly than I would have expected I assess the toll of repair work, put the now multi-piece model on the tray and leave the lot in the cave.
So. He needs his hands pinned back, some paint repair to wrists and hands, the standard top needs re-pointing, the raven needs a cup of tea and a hug, and I need a drink. This time, the hands are getting pinned on. To be honest, I don't know how they weren't the first time, as my ocd leads me to pin all flat joins, be they metal, resin or indeed, plastic. This combined with two coats of varnish on every model has meant that I have had a bare handful of casualties in all the years I've been playing, and this includes one model dropped almost a storey. Not a scratch did the zombie sustain. So, it's filing and pinning for this poor fimir later. Here's the sorry state he's in right now...
So I think I'll use this disaster as an excuse to ask the hobbyweb, what stories do you have of models suffering horrific accidents? Also, is your reaction to:
1. Finish the job with a hammer as froth boils from your rage-distorted face?
2. Carefully gather the pieces and immediately set to repairing the damage?
3. Gather it up, put it in the 'to do' pile and never look at the forlorn mini again?
I'm a 2 man, every time...
Ouch. I'm feeling your pain... I actually dropped ready and JUST finished base with dba chariot not so long time ago... Little, tiny, metal pieces flying everywhere, some of them vanishing for good... And as my wife was just a short distance away I was only allowed to curse under my breath...bad things happen...
ReplyDeleteFirst off mate thanks for following my Blog.
ReplyDeleteSecond I to feel your pain, not good. Not so long ago I felt like smashing my Valkyrie with a hammer whilst frothing at the mouth. Not that I dropped it or anything I just found it an absolute pain to put together, and hated painting it.
Hope your repair work goes well, but on a plus mate the model (what's left of it) looks great.
Once upon a time I had just spent a couple of days putting together an Eldar Falcon, the most complicated model I'd ever attempted at the time.
ReplyDeleteI got into a fight with my brother just after I finished it and during the course of it he proceeded to pick up the newly constructed Falcon and throw it as hard as possible onto the ground. Needless to say it exploded into smitterenes.
That must be about 15 years ago now but I still get angry thinking about it, but to answer your question a little from option 2 and a little from option 3. Immediately gather all the pieces into a pile, leave it to calm down and then jump right back into it again.
Wow, that's a doozy Vincent. I'd have been tried for murder if that had been my brother.
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting topic, considering the time and care we put into these things, how we react to those wee accidents. Sometimes, like with Dave's valkyrie, you just have to step back if it's a nightmare model (I'm still not looking forward to trying to put the corpses on my corpse cart.) and take a breather.
The flag will fly though, I'm pretty determined to repair the fimm standard tonight.
Years ago I was a 2. Always, no sorry dear we're not going out until this #$#$%& War-hawk rider is pinned back on his absurdly tiny flying base. Now I have had children and my patience is a thing of ever diminishing returns and I am not proud but I am much more likely to be a 1 now.
ReplyDeleteThen the stiff drink and loud music to hide my sobs...
Consider yourself followed!
I am usually a 2, but that is after I scan my bits box. I have made many models so much cooler looking after they have taken the dreaded tumble. I scan my bits box and think about what I could add to the mini now that it is in pieces. In your case, the model already seemed top notch, so proceed to #2!
ReplyDeleteI am also creating my Fimir army, except mine are mostly shearls using Kroot for conversions, with some bigger Fimm added in. Glad I stumbled upon this excellent blog!
Kroot eh? What a great idea. Any pics?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/426697.page
ReplyDeleteGot some dodgy pics of them on Dakka. I bought the old "Warpstone" Fimir codex to help inspire me and worked on these quite awhile ago. Now that forgeworld has made their awesome Fimir, along with finding your blog... the project is back on!
Ah, I've seen these! Great stuff. They are quite slight, good for shearls. I might have a go at some myself if you don't mind? How exactly did you do the heads?
ReplyDeleteIt would be an honor if you tried some! I took the kroot heads and cut off their quills, then greenstuffed the back for the eggplant head look. I took a small file and filed out the kroot eyes to become a flat surface. You have to file off a tad bit from the top of the kroot jaw as well, but you will envision it when you have a kroot head in your hands. I then painted the eyes on, but with your green stuff abilities, I am sure you can do better.
ReplyDeleteThe legs are made of Tau firewarriors with the hooves cut off and replaced with kroot feet. I did this because the kroot legs were too tall and slender. I crafted makeshift tails out of my remaining feetless kroot legs with some green stuff.
Can't wait to see your attempt and spin on em! Let me know if you need any more info.
Oh and I forgot one thing with the heads. With remaining cut off kroot quills, I sliced off a pair of quill tips and glued them near the head's mouth to appear like jutting teeth. They didn't turn out as well as I liked, but with some green stuff, you could make it look more flush with the head.
ReplyDeleteCheers Braden! I plan on making a fimir shrine to hold the cauldron of plenty (to use as a chaos warshrine) and some shearl attendants to the apprentice meargh would suit it nicely.
ReplyDelete