This past week I had a client order some Flagstone bases from Mr. Justin over at Secret Weapon Miniatures. Now this is for an ongoing project that I am working on for my client but I wanted to show you guys these bases.

When they arrived I got them all cleaned up and washed them in warm soapy water like you should do with resin products. And of course I took them out and sprayed them black and got to work getting them painted.

When working with resin bases I personally always paint the models off base and then attach them then they are all finished. I find it easier this way to keep the unwanted paint off the bases or the models. This is my personal preference and some of you might not like doing things that way which is cool... I just prefer to do things this way. Now before I show you how these bases turned out I just have to say that I love the sculpt on these bad boys. As always Mr. Justin knocked this one out of the park and this makes me proud to say that 2Ton Studios uses Secret Weapon products.

This was prompted by a can of bad primer that I tried using last night when I was working on getting a bunch of models ready to go under the brush. Now I am mostly going to be mentioning the black primers as its the one that I use the most... and I have only really used 2 different whites.

Games Workshop Chaos Black Spray             $15.75/can
     I started out using this primer many many years ago and back in the day it was really good primer and I never had problems with it. Though it seemed to me that as time went on the quality went down as the price went up. Though I have heard that the new cans of spray are really a good primer I just can not justify spending this price per can. Unless there is no other choice I won't use this brand... and there is always another choice. Now I keep calling it a black "spray" and not a primer because it really isn't a primer and even GW does not call it a primer.

Privateer Press P3 Black Primer                       $9.99/can
     This one was one that I wanted to try and never had the chance too until recently. My local game shop started stocking the P3 primers recently and I figured I would give it a try even though it is $10 a can. I figured that as much as I like the other paints that they make I would like this too. Man was I wrong. I am not sure if it was just a bad can or what the deal was but I can tell you now that there is no way that this one is worth the price... in fact I wouldn't even use it if it was free. Even after shaking the crap out of the can or over 5 minutes when I went to spray the models it came out almost looking grey. It was like there as almost no pigment in the can. it was all aerosol and medium. And even if you have a spray booth... DO NOT spray indoors. The odor is really bad and lingers for a while. I sprayed the models last night outside and when the models were brought back inside they brought the smell with them... and its still there a little today. Now the P3 White primer I have no problems with in fact it is my favorite white primer. So it really makes me wonder if it was a bad can. I am just not going to spend another $10 just to find out.

Army Painter Base Primer Matte Black            $10.99/can
     This is one of those primers that even though it carries a higher price tag I do recommend using it. It has nice coverage even in really thin layers. Though I will warn you that the same rule applies to this as their colored primers, too close and the models look like the Stay Puffed Marshmallow Man and too far away and your models look like they are covered in powder. The colored primers are a touch more expensive at $14.99 a can.

Armory Spray Primer Black                               $5.95/can
     This is my all time favorite primer. It is affordable and has great coverage even it thin layers like the Army Painter. The one thing that I can warn you about with this primer is that it is VERY easily influenced by the temperature and humidity. When the can says use between X and Y it means it. Also if you live in an area where it is really humid you can forget about using this primer cause it will take for ever to dry. But every primer is affected by temperature and humidity this one seems more so than others. So plan your spray days accordingly. The biggest downside to this one is it can be hard to find. I do know that you can get it from The War Store. One of my local stores normally stocks it so that is where I get it from.


And before anyone comes out saying anything about how I bashed on their favorite primer or they don't like the ones that I like. Keep in mind that this is all based on my opinion and personal experiences. Also When I do spray outside I normally do so when the temperature is between 70 and 90 degrees out and humidity is below 55% whether I am spraying in the garage where I can control the temperature with a space heater or actually outside.

Just wanted to hop on here and throw out a quick update to let you all know what was happening here in the studio. Yesterday was sort of a big day as 2 jobs arrived on the same day. One being a small pocket of IG that shouldn't take but a few days as there is only a command squad and a squad of veterans. Also arriving yesterday was a small group of Trollbloods that I am doing up for a friend, again another small batch that should only take a few days as there are not very many pieces to paint in the box.

Today... a copy of Dreadball made its presence known in the studio so I am going to be working on that just as soon as I get these other 2 knocked out. This one I cant wait for cause it looks like it is going to be a lot of fun to play. I have already cracked it open and looked at the pieces and they are really nice looking... just a lot of little fiddly arms to glue on. But its all good they should be seeing paint very very soon as well.

Also in the rumor mill for the studio... there are talks of Necrons and even some Flames of War stuff making there way into the studio very very soon. Time to crack that whip and get busy I guess.

So in my boredom I decided to go back and raid the bitz boxes again. This time though I went to the IG boxes... yes I have so many bits I have started to separate them by army. Anyway I built a random Guardsman for the heck of it... also because I am in talks with a possible client about what colors he wants on his Imperial Guard Alliance. So this is where we started. The paint job is inspired by some Elysians,with a few artistic changes on my part.

So as everyone who is into 40k and well... tabletop war gaming in general may well know that Games Workshop FINALLY released an update to their old Dark Angels codex. The last edition came out LONG AGO way back in third edition of the 40k rule set. Well here we are it is 2013 and I know that old codex is more than a decade old I say it is about time. But they really need to get things in gear and look at releasing one for the Black Templars and the Tau. Then go back through and look at updating the rest of the books that came out for 5th edition.

So Dark Angels... this is actually a well made book. Games Workshop has gone to all of their army books being hardback instead of softcover like they have been all along. Of course with this also comes the fact that the book is now full color (the Chaos Space Marines were the first 40k army to get this treatment) and also with this comes a heavy price tag of $49.50us which is a bit steep if you ask me. But then again Games Workshop games in general have gone to the land of outlandish prices. If you take the price out of the situation it is actually a great book. good heavy cover and the paper is a heavy stock. Of course GW has a habit of recycling artwork going all the way back to the 1980's but then again what else is new.

The "fluff" is actually pretty good in the book. I personally am not all that familiar with the Dark Angels back story I do know that there are some pretty heavy changes with what used to be. The writer has completely cut out all references to the army having sort of a Native American inspired background. The entire army is based on knights and honor and all that kind of stuff and now the Deathwing are just the elite of the elite and are the first step to the inner circle. They are still after "the Fallen" and there is mention of Cypher in the book but the split that originally took place is now all together different. Because Cypher didn't lead the split and he is not the leader of the Fallen. The split is now lead by some guy named Luther and he is being held in the Rock. Now like I said my knowledge of the Dark Angels fluff isn't the greatest but I am pretty sure that is not how things happened.

Isn't there someone back there at GW that fact checks the stuff that is being written with the stuff from the past so that everything lines up properly? Or do they just not care anymore?

Stepping away from the fluff of the book, the army list section looks fairly stout. there are some new entries into the army like the Deathwing Knights, the Nephilim Jet Fighter, and the Landspeeder Vengeance just to name a few. The Vengeance and the new flyers the Dark Talon and the Nephilim are filling the roles of something that the Ravenwing side of the army was lacking and that was hard hitting fire support. Now just as before the army is Plasma Cannon heavy but with the new rules for 6th edition enough glances can take out tanks. The Deathwing Knights have a really cool one time use ability called smite that makes their melee attacks strength 10. The regular Deathwing terminator squad has access to a plasma cannon (see told you they are plasma heavy) but they have the Split fire ability. I could go on and on telling you about all the cool new toys and special rules they have but then what would be the point of you going out and getting one of these yourself.

I am not saying that this is going to be the next king of the heap army out there as I am a little rusty when it comes to how things work in 40k as I have been avoiding 6th edition for a little while now, but the army list looks pretty solid and with the right list build and if the dice are in your favor it should do really well. But at the same time that goes with any army in 40k. All in all from my personal opinion if you can make peace with spending $49.50 for the book then it is really worth it. If you are a Dark Angels fan you should really look at picking it up. But take this review as it is... my opinion.

Finished this piece up super late last night but I didn't get chance to get anything posted up until now. So I figured this is a good time to post up the leader of this horde.

Okay so if you remember a couple days ago I posted up pictures of the Grot Orderly. Well here is the Pain Boy that goes with the Grot Orderly.

So I didn't have that much time to paint today as I would of hoped... but I did manage to get a pair of Grots painted. The first one is a Grot orderly for the Pain Boy and the other one is an Ammo Grot for a Warboss. both of which are sitting here on the table and will be next up on the painting roster.

So I know things have started out kinda slow for this month... well other than painting I have been working on a few promotional side projects that should help things around here. Also I have been planning out a cool project with Phil over at Firebase Delta.

Anyway as for painting the last few days I have been working on orks. I am trying to get these little buggers done so I can mark them off the todo list but I think they keep multiplying while I am not watching them. I could of sworn that I was much closer to having them done but now when I check on them and go to prime the last of the models there are 60 more that need painting. I could of sworn there were less than that... but oh well... into the breech I go.

First on up from the last of this collection of models is a Ork Nob with a Waaagh Banner.

Hey gang... I just want to say happy new year to everyone out there on the net. 2Ton Studios has a few more tricks up its sleeves for the year ahead of us.

So I want to really start this year off by putting out a "Call to Arms" of sorts... in other words lets end the tyranny that is the scourge of unpainted miniatures together. IF you or someone you know is playing games with unpainted models and they either don't have the time or the ability to paint the models and have them turn out the way that they want them too then send me and email at commissions@2tonpainting.com and we can work something out to help end the blight of unpainted models.

Also I don't know if any of you know this or not but sitting here in the studio is a small gathering of painted Chaos models from Forge World that are needing to find a new home in the new year. the big one being the competition Blood Thirster that I painted for Adepticon last year. Yep... thats right folks... he is still sitting here in the studio and really needs to find a new home. So if you are interested in any of the painted stuff that is sitting here in the studio that is needing to find a good home again send me an email to commissions@2tonpainting.com or chris@2tonpainting.com

Anyway... Happy New Years everyone... I hope that its gonna be a great 2013 for everyone.