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Monday, June 23, 2014

Alright!  
Tonight I have a little treat in store for the blog.  A lot of gamers and hobbyists paint 25-28mm models on bases and they sometimes need ways to help them get better at painting and techniques.  One great way to help is to sort of be open to cheating after a fashion.  If you don't naturally have great control or steady hands you need every advantage you can get.  One of the not so well kept secrets is that those that are considered very good at painting often do this as well.  

What am I talking about anyway?  What constitutes cheating to get a higher quality result in a faster amount of time?  Tools and tricks.  In the case of having an item or items that make your painting life easier we should be looking to use everything we can get!  Now I'm going to show you a great and extremely cheap way to do just that, and also sort of recycle after a fashion.

When you paint a single figure or even mutliples it's great to have something to hold onto that helps you control the model in your hand without actually touching it.  This is often just called a grip.  There are any number of things you can actually use for this and there are even products for sale for this purpose.  Really it can be anything that you like the feel of in your hand and that also holds the model well.  It's common to see models with pins in a Pin Vise, but I do like to paint with models that are already glued to a base so that might not work.  Another common technique is to attach a model to an old paint pot that has had its lid secured and has some blue tack on top of it.  For our purpose here the idea is actually very similar to that.

For my little method here you will need:  

Two twist caps from a 20oz. beverage bottle

Some masking tape


1.  Stack your two twist caps one on top of the other

2.  Tear off a strip of tape about 6 or so inches long and attach one end to the sides of both caps at once like this

3.  Wrap the tape around the two caps firmly until the other end is smoothly applied.  It should look like this

4.  Now, you actually already have the grip finished.  Simply apply about a quarter sized piece of blue tack to the top of this, or however much you like really, and then a model to the top of that!

Voila!  Super cheap and perfectly functional model grips that actually last for a long time.  If you ever needed to fix them you only need a fresh strip of masking tape.  

Now, I actually have about 10 or 12 of these made at the moment and pretty much replaced all the other ones I had created out of paint pots with them.  Ok that one the Assault Marine is on I kept.  I have that many made because it's the common number of many squads or units.  I came up with the idea because I'm always on the lookout to recycle everyday objects into useful hobby materials.  This is one of the great ways to save time and money when you're a wargamer.  Almost everyone drinks a soft drink or bottled water now and then.  Just save up the twist caps until you have what you need.

Well, I hope that's helpful to even one person out there.  If so I'm thrilled!  Can't wait until the next blog tomorrow and see you then!

To be continued...

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