Bolt Pistol

More painting less writing. 

Airbrush Spraybooth

I have been meaning to post this for a week or so and have just been too busy to get the tutorial written. So here is the build in photos. The fans are 100 cfm, 12V PC fans. These were ones form an older PC project. Really as long as you can pull 150 cfm or more you are normally fine. Most small commercial units max out at 180 cfm. It really comes down to how quiet you want the thing to be.

The fans are brush-less but not spark proof. Sounds scary right. Not really, unless you are using rattle cans or spraying straight alcohol the fuel/air ratio is to low for anything to ignite. Also I use a mix of water, flow aid and matte media to thin my paints. None of the products are flammable. I do not show the exhaust tube and shroud in the pictures but really they are not needed. No matter what anyone tells you or how well you vent it DO NOT USE RATTLE CAN PAINT IN THE BOOTH!!! 2 reason 1) it can ignite and loosing ones eyebrows or house is never a good hobby sacrifice. 2) the propellant will kill the fans by eating through the varnish on the motor windings causing them to spark and then see reason number 1.

The entire thing was built form scraps from other projects so cost was nothing but if I had to add a price it could be copied for $20-40 depending on the fan selection and filter price.

Enough typing, on to the photos.

Obtainium Pt.2

Last time I showed off a bit I got from a vendor. This time the parts are going to cost you but they are well worth it. Tech Deck, the company that sells finger skateboards has a full line of terrain for them. All of it is modular, really durable, highly detailed, affordable and best of all scaled perfectly for use on the terrain table. The bits start at $5 but I have gotten large sets for $20 but on clearance for as low as $7.

So what kind of board could you build with them? They work perfect for a training ground board. If you have ever seen Starship Troopers, Appleseed ExMachania or S.W.A.T. you will remember scenes of troopers running through make shift city buildings or hills. Mimicing that look is reall easy with these sets. In this setup give them a quick coat of grey paint, a wash and drybrush and you have a full table set in a few hours. The modular design means that every game can be different. It also adds that vertical element that so many tables are missing.

What if you want a more rustic, dirt mound look. Turns out they have those also. They are part of their BMX trick line. That should get you going, so next stop the toy store.

Obtainium: terrain edition

obtainium (noun)
1. any item, found or obtained for free.
2. materials used to create art work such as assemblage, mixed media or sculpture that wasn't bought new, but obtained in other ways, such as second-hand, dumpster diving, chance findings or donations.


Building good terrain relies heavily on obtainium. In most cases it is found as raw materials like foamcore, craft sticks, etc. Other times it comes as finished products by companine like GW and Woodland Scenics. Sometime obtainium comes in even stranger forms. 

I got this from a vendor that sells industrial AC units. This is the perfect start to a 40k generator building. Scale wise it is just the right height, large enough to hide things behind but not so big as to dominate a table. The model comes appart you can see all the details. These kinds of models are great and strangly easy to get. Mine was a gift but if you talk to the people at your local heating/AC shop they usually have old models collecting dust that they are willing to part with. Other places to check are big box hardware stores. They get in alot demo/display models for sales that get thrown out after the sale is over. 

The parts are out there, you just need to obtain them.