Pig Iron to shut down

I was saddened to receive an email this week from one of my favourite model production companies Pig Iron. They announced that the company was to be shut down with the following message.
"After much deliberation and soul searching both myself and Lisa have decided to close down Pig Iron at the end of March 2016.

We've been wrestling with this decision for many, many months but the constant pressure of running two businesses at the same time has taken its toll on us both and we feel its time, after nearly fifteen years, to take a step back and live a more 'normal' and relaxed life. On top of the business side of things we’ve both felt the need to explore other areas outside of the gaming industry but the constant 'background noise' of Pig Iron has always taken priority.

Wargaming, sculpting, painting and scenery making will still play an important part of our lives so we’ll be keeping the Facebook site open to keep in touch with the wider gaming world.

Moving forward, it would be a shame for the miniatures to disappear and we’re currently exploring ways of keeping the ranges going with other parties and we’ll keep you updated on any developments over the next month or so. Any suggestions are most welcome so please get in touch on: enquiries@pig-iron-productions.com.

All current and new orders will be fulfilled until we close the webstore down but we won’t be getting any more stock from Griffin Moulds. If you need to get in touch regarding your order please email us at the address above (Don’t forget to check your spam folder for any replies).

The last fifteen years have been an exciting challenge and very rewarding plus we’ve met some great people along the way and hopefully made some cool miniatures for your games.

Sincere thanks to all the people who have purchased our miniatures and supported us in other ways over the years.

Lets not say goodbye, lets say, “Stay in touch…”

Simon and Lisa - Pig Iron."

The heads for my veterans were from Pig Iron

I sincerely wish Simon and Lisa all the best for the future and thank them for some of the models that they have produced. I have purchased many bits from them in the past to personalise my Astra Militarum army the Emperors Feth and their sculpts have always impressed me.


March will be a doffing of the cap to a great company.

James

Imperial Fist Update:

Well the Spartan Challenge has kept me busy lately, but last week I was away with work and didn't fancy taking the Spartan on the flight through the warp so I took an infantry model with me instead.

Whilst I have a formulaic approach to tanks and flyers and feel pretty confident about what I am doing I am actually way less confident about infantry and pretty worried about messing them up. This is a snapshot of the infantry I need to finish off: 

Its taken me a while to get to this stage and I am on the final straight (all Vallejo is Model Air). So far on the bulk of my infantryI have:

- airbrushed with Vallejo Primer, 

- then sprayed with Vallejo Gold Yellow, 

- painted helmet grills in Vallejo White, 

- painted all the armour edging in Leadbelcher,

- used a sponge and dabbed a mix of Vallejo Black and Vallejo Hull Red to represent chipped/damaged armour

I haven't been able to decide what to do next for ages - so I needed a test piece to experiment on.

I know I need to wash them next and have been planning to use the same technique I use on the tanks - airbrush in varnish, then mix an oil wash using white spirit and Windsor Newton Burnt Umber oil paint. So I took this guy with me as a test piece for this technique.

I've got to mention that this model is a Forgeworld Open Day limited edition model and one I have admired for a few years now - I think the shield looks great and it is the same armour variant as in my army so a perfect match. He was only sprayed yellow when I took him with me through the warp so in the confines of an air-conditioned hotel room I added the following: 

- Warlock Bronze, then Runelord Brass on the chest eagle, shortsword and shield emblem

- All the purity seals were painted with Blood Red (old citadel range) and Deneb Stone (old citadel range)

- The hammer was painted with Leadbelcher and Runelord Brass

- The helm crest was painted Vallejo White and then washed with Nuln Oil,

- All the edges of armour was then painted with Leadbelcher,  

- Edging of shoulder guards and vents on back pack painted Vallejo Black

At this stage, and I wonder if anyone else ever feels like this at the halfway point, I have to say I hated how the model looked and couldn't convince myself it would ever look decent!

On returning home to good old blighty I then airbrushed some Vallejo Satin Varnish. 

Why use Satin varnish? I use Satin because I like the way it feels against my skin....sorry wrong topic, I mean...I use Satin as it retains some of the movement that Gloss has when you put a wash over it and doesn't make your model look shiny like a Gloss varnish does. At the same time Matt would be my preference but a wash on Matt varnish just doesn't find the recesses well enough and so I have opted for the varnish in the middle...Satin.

Once dry I then plucked up the courage to mix up the wash. I used the Winsdor Newton Burnt Umber oil paint and mixed it with AK Interactive white spirit (this stuff doesn't smell great so be warned). Its hard to be scientific about the correct amounts of spirit to oil paint; I basically just mix enough of each until the wash slide easily down the pallette when I dab the brush on it - trial and error really. This was applied liberally over the whole model, with particular attention given to the rivets and recessed areas.

Then I put some of the white spirit in a shallow dish and with a 'cotton bud' or 'Q-tip' if you are reading in the US I soaked up a little of the spirit and used this to wipe away the wash that wasn't needed in areas such as the middle of the shoulder guards or leg armour. I've never done this before and was pleased with the results. It has left the wash in the recessed areas and looks naturally graduated whilst keeping the centre of the armour sections nice and yellow!

 

Once dry, I dry-brushed Leadbelcher onto the black areas, and highlighted the shield and chest emblem in Runelord Brass. Here he is now:

I am really happy with the result and I have now developed a goto technique for my infantry - just another 60 Astartes to go!

More Spartan challenge to come soon in the week....happy painting and modelling till then....

Part 2: For Sparta!

Part 2: For Sparta!

Ok so to recap, I have built the tank, primed with Chaos Black and then airbrushed Vallejo Grey Primer.

When I did the black and grey I left the recesses darker and ensured the raised areas got plenty of the Vallejo grey. This is a form of pre-shading which will leave the recessed areas darker once I have airbrushed the base colour, in this case Vallejo Gold Yellow. I like this approach as it is a simple way of getting some shading, but most importantly it gives some variation in colour to the larger panels. This is something anyone can do; I picked up a couple of cans of Chaos Black and Mechanicum Grey from GW earlier in the week and these would do the job even if you don't own an airbrush - simply spray the black and then a lighter layer of grey on top. I tend to spray from the direction of the light when doing this, ie directly above to imitate the natural effect of upper surfaces appearing brighter. I can recommend it even on infantry to give you some easy shading.


Next I airbrushed on a couple of coats of Vallejo Gold Yellow. There are plenty of recipes online for painting Imperial Fists, I looked through a few of these but ultimately found this to be a great yellow by accident - I ordered the wrong paint and thought I'd give it a go, looks good to me so have stuck with it! It's quite a 'rich' yellow with some thick pigment and it makes a great base for all the weathering I love - still shining through beneath all the oil washing and chipping.



I masked off three stripes and sprayed the area between with AK Interactive Heavy Chipping Fluid. This is going to produce a natural looking chipping effect, it is amazing stuff and really simple to use. Once the Chipping Fluid is dry, spray on some paint (Vallejo Dark Sea Grey). Once this is dry get a toothbrush and some water. Wet the surface of the paint, and brush gently, the paint will flake away in a random and interesting way. I think it looks great and is far easier than trying to do it with a brush.



I think with yellow you need plenty of dark contrasting colours to make it stand out and these stripes will help frame the yellow. I would also recommend Tamiya Masking Tape, I have used it for years, I get it on a dispensing roll. It's never stuck too hard and pulled paint off and it makes a perfect edge every time without any paint bleeding beneath it.

I then painted the tracks and any metal bits in Leadbelcher. A quick wash of Nuln oil and the Spartan was ready for the next stage....



Time for some decals. I got the latest FW Imperial Fist transfers - the updated decals are subtly improved with more detail that is in keeping with the FW 'look'. I use MicroSol and MicroSet with decals. You only really need these on an uneven surface. Buy a bottle of each and they'll last a lifetime.



I asked the Dads for advice on which decals to use and white ones got the vote - they make a nice contrast with the dark grey I think. Before I add decals I always take a modelling knife and 'chip' some bits off before I set them down. This gives them the same weathered look as the rest of the tank without having to try and paint over them - doesnt work I've tried it when I forgot to do this once!

Weathering powder time:



Using the weathering pigments from Forgeworld (aged rust, light rust, dark iron, dark earth, fresh mud) and some Lamina Medium I daubed these liberally on the tracks leaving a little Leadbelcher showing through in places. I will come back to these later and drybrush a little more Leadbelcher on to finish them. It's a simple technique to produce some nicely aged looking tracks. Nothing difficult here.



Now for something I have done on my Terminators and Kheres Dreadnaught. Using Vallejo Hull Red I airbrush along the seams of plating and any recesses on the tank. This is to represent wear and collection of dirt and dust. It's a burnt umber kind of colour which I would never have guessed would look good but somehow the contrast looks great to me and once you go in with some chipping and dirt type dust colours it looks ace.

So that's it for now. To follow is some chipping, then varnish, then some oil washing in the recesses, weathering powder in the lower areas and it's well on track for completion. Hope you like it so far, drop me a line if you want to know about anything I have done.

The Emperor's Feth Astra Militarum Army Part 1 - The beginning & thelist

The Emperor’s Feth

I enjoy hearing about how people started in this hobby, chatting about armies, lists and I absolutely love looking at painted models. With this in mind I thought I would blog about my history with 40k, what I’ve been up to, and introduce my 1^st army The Emperor’s Feth. I hope that you enjoy what I’ve been up to and would love to hear your story and what you think of my army and list. Over this post and more over the next few weeks I’ll showcase this army with my thoughts and how I painted each unit so please read on, enjoy and comment by all means…

The Beginning…

So as The Emperor’s Champion (Rich) says 2009 rolls around and out of curiosity I walk into a Games Workshop in Stockport, Manchester. As it happened, that week 5^th edition was due to be released and 40k was being pushed in the store. I got chatting with the manager and had a good look around before my eyes finally came to rest on an Ogryn model. It looked ace – bigger than the others and full of character. I had no idea of the rules or army, all I wanted was to paint this beast and so I bought it with a few paints and a brush and there was the start of my love affair with the Imperial Guard or as it is now known the Astra Militarum.

Above: The first model!

Tournaments

Over the next few weeks 5^th Edition Imperial Guard was released with a bunch of new models which nicely relieved me of any spare cash I had at the time. As I was building my army Rich had also been getting into Ultramarines which prompted lots of games and new models as were constantly trying to beat each other. Each week would see a new addition that one of us would have to counter with a purchase or a list change of our own – we were having a mini arms-race!! At this time Games Workshop began their 40k Doubles tournaments and Rich and myself decided to enter with Ultramarines and Astra Militarum at our first tournament and then with a Double Astra Militarum force at subsequent tournaments. We had to choose a name for our army and so The Emperor’s Feth was born. The doubles tournaments were amazing, we got to meet loads of people (Dad Dave is one), see Warhammer World, do fairly well in the tournaments and most importantly get nominated 4 times for best painted armies.

Above: The Emperor’s Feth at a tournament at Warhammer World

Above: Under pressure at a tournament at Warhammer World. Not quite sure how we got ourselves into this situation!!

Above: Dad Rich looking a bit geeky at our first trip to Warhammer World back in the day

Hobbying

It was during these tournaments where I saw some beautifully painted models that I decided that I wanted to create not just an army but an army with a theme. At this point I was considering painting a Tyranid army as I love Aliens (who doesn’t) and love the idea of Genestealers and a swarm. I started but after putting together and painting a handful of Genestealers decided it was a bad idea that would take far too long – especially as I still wanted to add to The Emperor’s Feth. So I came about the idea that The Feth would be specialists at fighting Tyranids and began to model Tyranids onto my existing Astra Miltarum figures. I also built the army list to this theme. In order to fight the swarm I have lots of bullets, flamers and some snipers and lascannons for the bigger creatures. This hobby idea is still taking shape so you will see some ideas completed and some more develop as I complete projects this year.

Above: One of The Emperor’s Feth Chimeras

At the current time I am also halfway through painting a 40k Flesh Tearers army – more to come on that in a future post – but I still have lots of Feth to continue with yet. Anyway enough chat, let’s get to it with my current list of all the models that are completely painted:

Company Command Squad

Company Commander

2 Veterans with Meltaguns

1 Lascannon Heavy Weapon Team

1 Astropath

Chimera – Multilaser & Heavy Flamer

Platoon Command Squad

Platoon Commander

4 Troops with Flamers

Chimera – Multilaser & Heavy Flamer

Combined Troop Squad

2 x Troop squads

2 x Flamers

2 x Lascannon Heavy Weapon Teams

Commissar

Heavy Weapon Team

3 x Autocannons

Heavy Weapon Team

3 x Missile Launchers

Veteran Squad

3 Plasma Guns

Camo cloaks and snare mines

Chimera – Multilaser & Heavy Flamer

Ratling Squad

6 x Ratlings

Vendetta

10 man troop squad

Vendetta

Manticore

Heavy Flamer

Leman Russ Punisher

Heavy Bolter Sponsons

Heavy Bolter

Leman Russ Executioner

Plasma Sponsons

Heavy Flamer

Leman Russ Demolisher

Plasma Sponsons

Lascannon

Grand Total – 2000 points

Above: The current 2000pt army in all its glory.

As I said earlier, keep looking out for posts on ‘The Feth’ over the next few weeks where I will post more photos, discuss each unit and include how I painted it in detail.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

James

The Spartan Challenge - for Sparta!!!

Dave and I have challenged ourselves to complete one new unit for our next game set for 19th March.
Looking through our workbenches we both had a Spartan that needed to be brought into battle readiness so the game is afoot!

The challenge is to complete a Spartan tank each in the next 61 days - easy eh? Well these things are never easy when kids and work are involved and in my case a house move in February! Nevertheless the challenge is set, keep checking back on our progress. We will post up our work with a description of the techniques or approaches we are using.

We have both already built our tanks and primed them. Dave's has started with a chaos black base and mine is airbrushed with Vallejo Primer and based with Vallejo Yellow Gold. Our first posts will include some thoughts on the build job for a spartan and why we chose our respective primers as a base.

The clock is ticking...61 days to see who is Leonidis and who is swimming at the bottom of a well!