Khurasan 15mm force about ready for paint

I haven't been idle! I have assembled and primed my Khurasan figs, and Tomorrow's War arrived and so I've been devouring that. Reading delays game time, but offers much more in return, so look for some BatReps here in the next few weeks.

First, let me show off my Mammoth. After throwing on a chin gun, I wasn't sure what to do for the chest sponsons, as I just didn't want more weapons mounted there. However, a trip through a friend's bitz box turned up what I thought were land mines, but turned out to be 40K Imperial Guard canteens! A dap of superglue later, and this is how this beast is turning out:

I cannot wait to paint this thing. It weighs enough to be a paperweight, so don't make it mad in combat!

I also had some issues with my adventures in texturing the bases of my figs. The Golden pumice gel was grainy and fought me every step of the way, although once I tried it without sand added, it was much more pliable.

Going off Robin's recommendation over at Gruntz, I bought some of the Windsor and Newton's Minteral Gels from Dick Blick. I bought the Mineral and Sand textures, and with shipping, paid less than retail for the two. I was quite happy when they arrived.

I took a comparison shot of the two, but my phone decided not to email it...so here it is on the bases of some of my Khurasan Federal Marine Special Assault Brigade:

First let me say this: these textured gel mediums were SO MUCH easier to work with than the Golden pumice gel! They were soft and creamy, and went where I put them. They were ALMOST easier than PVA and sand, with the bonus that they layered and textured up nicely, allowing me to hide the bulky rectangular stands these figs came on.

The Sand texture on the right, was creamier than the Mineral gel (left). I am eager to see them primed and painted to see how they hold paint, but I finished the other 3 Power Armor guys in the Mineral gel.

Finally, a shout out to Army Painter's colored primer. I was hesitant to use this, as I always seem to get mixed results when using unknown primer, but this went on smooth and silky, and I was quite pleased with its results. Here is the majority of my forces primed in Skeleton Bone:

Now all I need to do is prime the Power Armor and the Mammoth when I get home from work today. Eventually I will need to assemble and prime the APC weapon mounts, but that can wait - the vehicles are useable without them!

Basing my 15mm soldiers

Yesterday I started tackling the basing of my Khurasan models. Ive always felt that pennies looked a little too big on 15mm models (after all, if 28mm models are on 25mm bases, should the bases of models half that size be, I dont know, half as big?). So instead of using pennies on most of my models, I decided to use washers that were 5/8" across.

I also watched an inspiring video by Robin of Gruntz on basing his models, http://www.youtube.com/user/trybeinganihilist#p/u/31/QZm0rz8zotA, where he uses a gel medium mixed with sand to texture his 15mm guys. Well, I've based an awfu lot of 28mm and 6mm models, so I was up for something new. Getting my coupon from Michael's (you DO subscribe to their weekly emails, right? I mean, its a free 40% off whenever you want it!), I went an got my stuff:

Following his video, I added a fairly liberal mix of fine sand, and I began working away.

Can I just say that this was one of the most painful, frustrating techniques I have tried in awhile? It took me over an hour to get 20 models done. Maybe it was the same in the mix, but the gel fought my the whole way. Using toothpicks, I finally gave up trying to get the medium in between and under the models, and just did the surrounding edges. Finally, I decided to try the gel medium without any extras:

The model on the left has the sand. The one on the right has no sand. When all is said and done, I think the one on the right will paint up just fine, and while not as easy as white glue, it was easier and less frustrating to manipulate than the sandy version.

To clean up the middle of each base, I will be putting a tad bit of white glue and sprinkling sand over the base (you know, ye olde standard basing technique). I will also do this on subsequent armies. For now, Im stuck with this.

Letting these dry up so I can prime them later this week. The sun is supposed to last for a few more days, so I'm working diligently but not frantically.