"Rough Days at the Paint Station" Topic

For some reason, all of my problem miniatures have come to the fore simultaneously and taken the time of nearly half a dozen of my hobby sessions.

First, that aberrant Rustoleoum tan spray entirely covered 40 zombies with dusty bumps. (I posted about this earlier: TMP link The figures I don't particularly care for, so I'm not super bummed about it other than I have to work harder than normal to rectify the situation. First I washed them all again with plain water to see how much of it would just come away. That left a fair amount of repriming to do which I had to do manually. That took the better part of two sessions. My brush on primer is not tan but a Polly-S red, so not only did I have to cover the metal again, but I had to find a matching tan with which to cover the primer. That took forever. The dusty bumpy surface, soaks up primer voraciously as well as wreaks havoc on the brushes,splaying the tips badly. Further, the Rustoleum that remained is coming away such that I'm having to touch up all over the place. I think once sealed they will be fine, but I still have powdery residue on my fingertips with even light handling. All this was to try the dip method – known for it's ease and simplicity. These have defied my expectations and I've moved forward and am putting in the base layers. I don't even really need these figures, but thought I could whip them out quickly and effortlessly. Nope.

An another front and in a former session, I hurriedly did two layers of drybrushing on 18 15mm cavalry models – horse hooves and hair – ignoring all the sneaky spurs on the hooves I had earlier neglected to clean off. Later, under the bellies and between the legs I found the usual patches of unprimed metal. I spent half a session re-covering some of those spots, undoing much of the the dry brushing work I had done prior. Then decided the spurs were too noticeable I did another pass carving those off as well as some angle webbing I missed at the initial cleanup. And now all 18 models have glittering legs with bare metal shining through, so I basically have to do the legs and some of the tail/manes all over again. Way past spot fixes at this point.

All part of the hobby, but if I had taken more care at other times I could have avoided some of this. Partly it's a vision deterioration thing too. I almost dread sitting down to this again, but I'm so backed up I just don't have a choice.

On a positive note, I have become a firm believer in the superiority of broom bristle spears/lances. I finished gluing the last to my Perry Cossacks, and the final 36 are ready for priming and I am delighted. I am also delighted I did this relatively early – the Eureka Cossacks have their lead/pewter lances, and I pray they remains sturdy enough for regular handling.

Some days it's one step forward, two steps back. I feel your pain!

Ah, yes – been there, done that – don't worry, things will get better!

Sounds like you have a horde of Cossacks – as a descendant of those wanderers from the Sea of Grass, would love to see some pics

Partly it's a vision deterioration thing too.

I remember taking the tour at Sully Plantation link where the guide quoted a letter from one of the Lees requesting glasses appropriate for a man entering his forties.
Exceeding that by some fraction, I just got my first pair of progressives. Age related vision problems are usually correctable. See an Ophthalmologist link . It's working for me.

Consider an Optivisor.

You still have Polly-S paints!?
And you used them on figures you don't even like?
link

Glasses and light, of course.

But past sins continue to catch up. That's what they do. Running a CLS game from time to time lately with troops who were in storage with a friend for about 15 years. After every game, I pick out the one or two worst units for repainting before they're put away. The Westphalians are on deck, and I'm thinking I might just as well start now on six regiments of cavalry.

that aberrant Rustoleoum tan spray entirely covered 40 zombies with dusty bumps.

Hey, they're zombies, who's gonna know?

I sprayed a bunch of finished Samurai figures with spray on tacky glue thinking it was sealant once.

that aberrant Rustoleoum tan spray entirely covered 40 zombies with dusty bumps.

My word, that just happened to me last weekend. Same brand, same colour. An hour or two in the PineSol and the spray came off nicely. Primed them with my usual primer and everything was great. The sad thing was I wanted the figures to have that tan uniform colour and I thought I could save time.