Space Hulk: the Downward Spiral

I don't know how the hell it happened, but sometime in recent weeks, I decided that I simply had to get Space Hulk. And if I was going to buy the most expensive board game I may ever own, I intended to do it right, by properly painting the figures.

Last night, I showed up at the local game shop to scout out the dwindingly stock of Space Hulk. The store started out with about 60 copies, I think, and they have been selling about ten a week, so I knew that I couldn't wait until the 30% off sale after Thanksgiving.

So I bought Space Hulk. Also, I bought a Citadel paint set ($30) for all the basic colors I would need, a container of Citadel's Hormagaunt purple (for Genestealer skin), a can of Testors DullCote ($5) and some Testors paint brushes, and a can of Armory black primer ($6.50). I think I got overcharged, or else that Hormagaunt purple was insanely expensive, because after 10% discount, I paid $144 for all of that.

Today, I also went to Michael's and bought a sprue cutter ($6.50), a very nice fine-tipped paint brush for detail work ($3), and some superglue ($3.50). Then I hand-washed all the figures in soapy water, scrubbing them lightly with an old toothbrush. After they dry off, I will carefully separate the figures from the sprues and super glue the pieces into place. Right after that, I will start painting... the leftover sprues. I figure that will give me valuable experience painting the same kind of surface as these figures, and I can afford to make some mistakes learning how to apply primer, paint and finish.

Best of luck to you!

I was originally planning on 'Heroscaping' the figs -- hitting the big bits with color and then dipping 'em -- but they're so beautiful... and I keep seeing pics of them all painted up nice. I'm a pretty decent painter, so my only excuse is the month of nights it'll take me.

Oh, pride -- how you fuck with me.

I painted my Blood Bowl Teams, but...I have too many 40K figures to even begin to paint my Space Hulk figures. I'd like to keep it as a simple board game.

If everything was moulded in gray plastic I'd be more inclined to paint them, but the Red and Blue plastic is great for easy visual recognition.

I'd rebuy those terminators if I could just for 40k and start a small Blood Angels force. The models are that good.

Wow, that was time-consuming. I just finished cutting all the figures free from the sprues and then trimming the flash. I think that I have damaged one of the space marines, by over-trimming a peg that wouldn't fit properly into a hole. Not sure how I will fix that yet. I'm sure somebody at the game shop will have a tip, and it will involve spending a little more money. It does seem like the Gene-Stealers are all going to fit together nicely, but quite a few of the marines seem to have pegs that aren't going to fit nicely. I'm going to hold off on the super-gluing and sprue-painting practice until tomorrow.

I went ahead and super-glued the Gene-Stealers last night. The small tube of glue that I bought ended up being just barely enough for the Gene-Stealers, in part because glue kept seeping out after I set the tube down. It was mildly painful pushing the jagged Gene-Stealer parts together at times, though the pain was mitigated by the dead patches where I got super glue on my fingertips.

For the over-trimmed peg on Brother Leon, I am thinking of using a epoxy to try to build up more points of contact in that shoulder area. It seems like all of the Marine arms will be problematic, as the pegs seem a little too large for the matching holes.

By the way, any tips on spray-painting indoors? The temperature outside is unlikely to rise above 55 F for the next six months, and the forecast for the next few days also includes rain.

Shellhead wrote:

Wow, that was time-consuming. I just finished cutting all the figures free from the sprues and then trimming the flash. I think that I have damaged one of the space marines, by over-trimming a peg that wouldn't fit properly into a hole. Not sure how I will fix that yet. I'm sure somebody at the game shop will have a tip, and it will involve spending a little more money. It does seem like the Gene-Stealers are all going to fit together nicely, but quite a few of the marines seem to have pegs that aren't going to fit nicely. I'm going to hold off on the super-gluing and sprue-painting practice until tomorrow.

If there is still a nub left, I would recommend epoxy putty (green stuff), you can fill in the gaps and solidify the bond between the pieces. Or, you could pin it and use the putty as fill.

I found the marine pegs a bit too large at first, but when I got the angle of the arm just right and applied a good amount of pressure, they assembled perfectly.

I'd use "green stuff" to mend any broken parts on figs. It's basically 2 step epoxy putty that can be easily molded when soft, and be taken a dremmel to when hard.

It's a bit of bitch to use on the outside of figs but just google "using green stuff" and you'll be fine.

Shellhead wrote:

By the way, any tips on spray-painting indoors? The temperature outside is unlikely to rise above 55 F for the next six months, and the forecast for the next few days also includes rain.

Unless you have a well-ventillated garage, do not do this indoors. That shit is noxious.

At every trip to the store, the accountant part of me is struggling with the wannabe artist part of me. So instead of buying GW's official green stuff, I bought a tube of generic green putty for 60% less. It worked really well for fixing Brother Leon... there was still some peg left, but I built up more points of contact for the clue around the border of the arm socket.

After letting that green putty set for a while, I start gluing my marines together. Gah! Damn pegs seemed to have grown overnight, so even some of the heads were harder to attach. Of the first eight, about four of them had arms that didn't come together all the way. I was worried about pushing any harder, because those pegs seem brittle. So I left the gaps for now.

Then I hit on a great idea, that worked very well. This is important, I recommend this to anybody who has not yet assembled these figures: take an exacto knife and slightly whittle down those pegs. Suddenly, these pieces were going together smoothly. On the other hand, they were also coming apart more easily, so I compensated with a little extra super glue at the contact points. Worked great!

I went back to the guys with slightly detached arms. What little super glue that I had left, I dribbled into the gaps to strengthen the attachment, figuring that those arm pegs weren't going to be enough. Then I took more green stuff and smooshed it into the gaps. Even using the tip of the exacto blade to spackle it in there didn't go smoothly, I tended to get some spread around the whole shoulder area, and sometimes sludged up the vents on the back of the dudes. And once on, that putty was hard to get off... not because it was already dry, but because it was clingy. I did as well as I could, but there is still a little junk on them. I think that I will paint it to look like oil stains or sludge from clambering around in a filthy Space Hulk.

I'm going to do my first test spray prime tomorrow, with ten plastic zombies plus one of the Space Hulk sprues. First, I need to spend some time considering setup. For the next six months, it will be too cold outside. Since the fumes are noxious, that eliminates the possibility of spraying indoors. So I have two options:

1. Spray the primer in the communal storage area. It's almost room temperature there, but I would need to leave the door open for ventilation. I would also need to be very careful about spray, because I share that storage space with my landlord, my girlfriend, my next door neighbor, and two businesses.

2. Spray the primer on the second floor back porch. I only share that space with my girlfriend and neighbor, and neither one of them are out there much. Also, the wood floor is rotting into decay, such that it won't be safe for anybody out there by this time next year. So compared to that, primer spray isn't a big deal. However, it is the same temperature as the outside air, so maybe that won't work well with the primer spray.

For different reasons, I will probably need to move the miniatures back inside right after spraying, no matter where I spray. So I need a way to transport them while they are sticky. At this point, I'm thinking of cutting a side or two off of a cardboard box and putting the target figures in there. The remaining walls will serve as a backsplash for the spray, and the box itself will be easy enough to move back inside. However, I'm wondering how I will be able to get full coverage of the figures, spraying all sides. I suppose that I will need to do at least two thin coats, one after the other dries. Otherwise, how would I be able to prime the bottoms of the bases? Or am I not supposed to paint the bottoms of the bases at all?

Ok.
I didn't need to whittle down pegs. I just found that if some didn't fit I adjusted the angle and suddenly the pieces would go together. I also didn't glue anything, and none are comming apart. So I don't agree with the need to whittle pegs or glue bits.

For spraying - OUTSIDE! Spray is noxious and messy!

You also seem to be making a bigger deal out of the spraying than is nessasary - how cold is cold? I haven't done the SH minis, but I have done plenty of FFG ones and basically this is what I do:
1. Get an old frut box or other such cardboard box, turn it upside down, pop the minis on that and spray. Simple.
2. Line all of your guys up (standing), then spray them quickly at the front, turn the box around, spray their backs, then turn the box and see if you need to spray their sides (most times you wont).
3. Go have a piss or do something for a minute max (spray paint dries quick).
4. Knock your guys on their backs, and spray them on their front 'underside'. This area would have been missed when you sprayed them standing as you will naturally spray on a downward angle.
5. Wait another min, flip em over, and spray them on their back underside.
6. Your done, bring them inside.

Seriously, the whole opperation takes about 5-10 mins, tops. You sound like you are planing to spend hours out their or something. Spray goes very quick and dries very quick. Admittedly I don't know what 'cold' is in your neck of the woods, but unless 5 mins outside means you lose your balls just do it outside.

Have you considered brush on primers?

I wouldn't worry about painting the bottoms of the bases.

If you spray paint outside, and then bring the figures inside on a cardboard sheet you're still going to need good ventilation in your house.

It will just smell like paint for a bit, I wouldn't worry about any noxious fumes. Still you want to make sure you have ventilation.

And yes, you'll have to spray a side of the figures, let the primer dry and then spray the other side, rinse and repeat depending on what kind of coverage you're getting.

Err on the side of spraying too little rather than too much.

Too much paint will build up and can reduce some of the level of detail in a figure.

Mr Skeletor wrote:

Ok.
I didn't need to whittle down pegs. I just found that if some didn't fit I adjusted the angle and suddenly the pieces would go together. I also didn't glue anything, and none are comming apart. So I don't agree with the need to whittle pegs or glue bits.

Frankly I feel the pegs are too long for their purpose. Their length makes them too fragile and prone to breaking.

It's a poor design IMO.

I find the fit to be quite tight. You're probably right about adjusting the angle, however, that is not what I did. I just did a very light sanding on the sides of the pegs, which made the fit less tight - but I used plastic glue to keep my figures together.

I'd glue the guys together because sooner or later you'll drop one, snap a peg, and have to repair it using glue anyway.

I sprayed my Shadow Armies from War of the Ring today.
Southron = Cherry Red
Isengard = Burgundy
Sauron = Black Primer + Burgundy

I didn't paint the bottoms underside. After ready Skelly's comments #5, I'm thinking I should go back at paint the bottom underside.

Arkham Horror Card holder = Black Primer + a light dusting of Burgundy. I plan on painting yellow Arkham symbols on them sometime this fall or winter.

It was windy as shit out today so I decided to set up the spray table in the garage. I had a pretty nice spray paint + beer buzz going for awhile so I took a nap while the stuff dried.