Decorating Tiny Things

Late last week I ended up ordering some extra items for my miniature painting hobby.  I had some old flock around but wanted to expand my base covering material.  There are remarkably few options when it comes to base building, with the Army Painter seemingly the best bet.  I was taking a look at their Battlefield line and decided to pick up some grass(flock), stone, rocks and tufts.  I received it in the mail on Tuesday (see next rant) and started applying it to the minis I had already painted.

You forget how much glue is actually required to make stuff stick.  I was a little light on my first couple passes, but learned quickly enough.  The base builds make up for a lot of the messes in painting I had with some of the earlier models.  I really need to get some pictures, at least some sort of progress update on the work.  The rocks and tufts looks really neat, and for my first time trying to get them to work, I was pleasantly surprised at the ease.  The only tough lesson learned is that the base foundation color should be earth toned rather than white, as even with ridiculous amounts of glue, you don’t get 100% coverage.

Painting Tiny Things

As much as I love the painting, I’ve come to conclude that my paint needs more options.  I tried to make my own flesh wash and it came out all wrong.  I am far from an expert but having better tools makes a world of difference, so I went on the lookout for washes.

A wash is simply thinned down paint.  I could mix my own, and I have, but the results never turned out proper.  There are quite a few options out there, though mainly Citadel, Reaper, P3 and Secret Weapon.  Those are also in the order of highest cost to lowest, with Citadel costing more than double what Secret Weapon does.  It was the main reason I stopped painting actually, Citadel prices are just ridiculous.  A Warhammer army will set you back $500 easily.

I read a bunch of reviews, videos, and what not, then ended up picking Secret Weapon washes.  The 30 paint kit.  I’m still waiting for it to show up but based on what I’ve seen, it should make my painting go twice as fast and be twice as nice.

Shipping

Canada is an interesting country.  Something like 80% of the population lives within a 2 hour drive of the border.  This drastically improves shipping lanes as it’s mostly an east-west affair.  Canada Post has dramatically improved their shipping capabilities, to a point of near absurd efficiency.  I mentioned I ordered the base building mats on Friday?  Well, that was Friday at 8pm, the shipping from the company (MeepleMart, amazeballs) went out on Sunday morning.  I had it in my mailbox on Tuesday morning.  Amazon Canada also uses Canada Post and has near identical shipping times.  Unless it’s an emergency purchase, or I’m buying food, there doesn’t seem to be a good reason to buy things in a store anymore.

And yet (you knew that was coming) the shipping from the US is near on par with ordering from China for delivery times.  I had order a laptop earlier last year, it took a whole month for it to ship from California to my door.  The washes I’ve ordered are through USPS and though I received notice from the vendor it shipped on Sunday, nothing happened until Wednesday and then nothing again for 2 days.  It can’t be like this for people who actually live in the US right?  If you live in Podunk, I get it, but not one of the largest cities in your country?  Why the heck does it take so long to ship from San Diego to any Canadian distribution center?  And then why does it sit around for days without anyone doing anything?

I guess I’m just spoiled in service quality up here in my igloo.