Non-Linear Narratives, Or My Basement Is A Mess

Regular blog posts have been much more challenging than I expected! To some degree, this is because I am lazy (no big surprise there, and at least I'm in good company). But there is a deeper issue at work.

I've found that my adventures in the hobby world don't fit well into the episodic narrative of a blog. The contained nature of a blog post implies an order that is completely missing from the stream-of-hobby that is my leisure time.

The current issue I'm facing is that I have a lot of issues. I'd like to do some painting on that TAG I showed off, but it is currently un-primed. I don't want to use spray or brush-on primers any more, so I've recently purchased a bottle of Vallejo's Surface Grey Primer that I would like to try.

However, before I can try airbrushing that primer, I'm going to have to clean out my spray booth. It is currently swamped with plaster paraphernalia, because I have been working on terrain for Infinity (a lot of this is going to be Infinity-related) using the Hirst Arts Sci-fi Basic Interior molds. I've been casting like mad, but I wanted to have a substantial amount of casts completed before construction began. In the past, I've cast some blocks, built what I could, and then waited while more casts dried. That waiting was a buzz-kill, and I'd like to avoid it if I can.

I do have lots of blocks completed already - I'm guessing 50% of them for that first project, though I might be in better shape than that. But I cannot simply have the blocks in a bin. I've tried it before - even though I'm using dental plaster, the blocks will rub against each other and cause wear. On a "gothic" building, that might be desirable, but the sci-fi molds are all about crisp detail. So, awaiting construction, I have a vast forest of small blocks neatly stacked covering a third of the four-foot table end that we'd actually be playing Infinity on.

I do have other projects I can be working on. This is not the only one of my PanOceania Fusiliers - I have several others in various stages of completion. I'd like to get some work done on them, but my painting area is a mess. I can't really get any painting done without getting all the detritus of other projects packed away, or at least moved to alternate areas (like the other thirds of remaining halves of the gaming table!) But it seems a complete waste of time to sort, organize, and put away all of those items when I'll be moving it all to another room of the domicile soon anyway.

That's right, Careful Readers! Like the chinchillas of old, I will be spending all night for very likely several nights in a row moving every speck of furniture and bric-a-brac in the middle and lower levels of the townhouse to new locations, sometimes on different floors. Sometimes this will be trivial, like moving the Xbox into the basement. Sometimes it will not. For example, leaving the living room will be the Bearded Dragon (Rufus), the Guinea Pigs (Laurie and Lady Eileen), both species' habitats, including ancillaries and support structures, and a recliner. Leaving the basement will be all of the hobby materials, including two tables, two cabinets, a metric butt-ton of paints and miniatures, and the aforementioned spray booth, which when carried by one person weighs roughly as much as a Miata (hyperbole). I will even be moving all of my books, which at last measure weighed more than eight hundred pounds (not hyperbole).

But before I can do any of that, I will need to tear down the game table. With it in place, there isn't any space for any of these other items to get moved. And I think I've mentioned the little brickyards in place on it. I haven't yet mentioned the Go board, or the electronic parts, or the laundry (luckily in a folded state at this time).

But it isn't even worth cleaning off that table until we get rid of that couch...

PanOceania Fusilier 2

Infinity PanO mini two is another Fusilier, Tracy Bennett.



I've used all the same techniques that I did on Emmet, with the obvious exception of their skin tones (full disclosure: I actually painted their armor at the same time, in an attempt to ensure uniformity of their, well, uniforms). I also spent a great deal of time working on her eyes, which came out pretty well. There is a degree of asymmetry there, but I think I can justify not obsessing over it by reminding myself that faces are asymmetric in nature.

Interestingly, while the female PanOceania troops equipped with heavy armor are required to wear high heels, troops at the enlisted level are allowed more sensible footwear. I have considered many small conversions of these figures; I may attempt to replace the silly heels with feet cast from this model. Time will tell.

Careful viewers may recognize the decking beneath Tracy's feet from Hirst Arts' Starship Deck Mold #270. I've been so impressed by the level of detail on the Infinity minis that I feel compelled to make sure the terrain is as high-quality to match. The casting has been pleasant; the painting, less so. More on that later.