Weekly WIP: Tapper for Guild Ball
Midweek I was thinking I would not have a lot to report in my weekly wip. I was fatigued from the pressure to paint every night and decided to take a break. Tuesday I was supposed to play games at Kessel Run and then paint but after rushing home I didn’t have the energy to go out. I also didn’t end up painting.
Wednesday I was working on my designs for the laser cutter booking I had made for Thursday. I kept making mistakes and having to re-do my designs. Obvious things like laying out based on the bed size instead of my material size and silly lack of concentration things like not holding CTRL while I rotated an object and having it be slightly mis-aligned. I also played my first game of Vassal Guild Ball in a tournament using a guild I had no experience with. I lost 12-6 but with the difference in experience I am satisfied with the result.
Assembling laser cut storage containers
It’s a tedious process of laying out my cuts to make the most efficient use of material and time. For example, having a cut for one shape also cut a second shape is efficient. However if you just attach the two shapes together the laser will cut the line twice. In order to avoid double-cuts lines have to be deleted and once this happens the layout can’t be changed.
This means that Thursday I spent the evening at the lasercutter. Some of the items didn’t cut right due to some user error. I did successfully cut 10 more shipping containers out of 4 sheets of material, up from 8 containers from 4. I adjusted some of the dimensions to fix some mistakes I made on the previous batch but there are some areas where I still have to trim to fit.
Unattractive but functional
I also made some measuring widgets which were disappointing in finish but actually useful. My laser settings were poor and my etching didn’t even cut through the protective film on the acrylic sheet while my cutting was too hot and left ragged edges. I thought I could save the light etching by using the film as a stencil. I carefully painted two coats of black paint and peeled off the film when it was dry. This is when I discovered that though you could just barely see the etching on the surface I hadn’t cut through the film. All the paint peeled off along with the film. In the end I just sharpied the labels on the widgets. It doesn’t look great but they work.
Friday was Nerdnight, where I have friends over for board games. I ended up playing Guild Ball, which was nice, but I lost 12-0 to an inexperienced player. There were a few times when the dice really let me down but the real reason I lost is that my opponent made effective use of his players and I didn’t. I will take losing when I know what mistakes to fix over losing with no idea of how to avoid it next time.
Ok, so this was a lot to report after all. What I meant was that I didn’t think I would have a lot to report when it comes to painting miniatures. While my 3 month deadline for painting the Kick Off boxed set is completely arbitrary I decided early Saturday that I wasn’t read to give up on it just yet.
I worked hard, sneaking quick painting sessions while I could at the same time as I was building the shipping containers. I am happy to say that I was able to achieve my goal without completely ignoring my family. Not only did I finish Tapper, the last of my Brewer’s Guild miniatures, on schedule for my Kick Off in 3 Months project but I was also able to assemble all 10 containers.
Instead of commenting on each stage I photographed I’m just going to share them as a gallery. If you want to see what I’m painting as I’m painting it you can subscribe to my Twitter or Instagram feed.
