Finishing Up Random Projects Before Starting the Next One

Framing RPG Maps

Before I junk these tables up again, I’ve been wanting to get these maps framed. They came pre-creased from being folded in the books, which kind of sucks. You could try to iron them out, but I’m not getting that crazy.

I specifically want to frame these maps of Virginia—where I live—and Moria. The frames I get from Michaels when they do 70-75% off sales. I got these for like $5-10 each.

The Cheap Framing Method

None of the frames are exact matches, so here’s my tip: center the map on the backing sheet, use tiny bits of masking tape on the corners to keep it locked in place. I don’t want the tape to be seen, and it’ll be easy to remove if I ever decide to do expensive custom framing.

The white bands at top and bottom aren’t ideal, but right now it’s more important to protect the maps than have them super perfect.

The 50-Point List is Primed

Random project that’s been on my to-do list for months: my 50-point Warmachine list is now primed. Just crowned it black because I’m going to do volumetric style painting—painting in my own values instead of relying on zenithal.

I’ll take a picture with light on it and use that as reference for where everything should be. Complete control over lighting.

Maybe I Fixed My 3D Printer

I was going to start painting today, but thought: let me just get the 3D printer hopefully fixed so I can finish printing everything for Trench Crusade.

I took it completely apart and found the problem. I thought my LCD was out, but there was actually a very thin cured layer of gray resin between the LCD and build plate—couldn’t tell because of the lighting. I think I got really lucky and just was being a dumbass.

Even if it’s not fully working, half the build plate should be good enough to limp through the rest of Trench Crusade prints.

Perfect Time to Stop Resin Printing

I’m out of resin. Used my last gloves to clean it. About to be out of alcohol. If I was going to stop resin printing, I’m in a very good spot to stop.

That said, I now have a filament printer I’m borrowing from the Ice King. I’m more interested in that world anyway—at this point I have all the figures I need, but I want terrain and organization things.

The Golden Demon Goal

Really what this vlog will become is my daily journey of becoming a Golden Demon winning painter. I don’t know how many years it’s going to take, but that’s my main goal.

I’m going to go through models I’ve painted as a benchmark—this is my current tabletop level, this is my current tryhard level. Then chronicle how I can get to have a chance at least to place at a Golden Demon.

Really, that’s where the bulk of my life efforts go: raising children, making enough money to keep raising them, and the rest goes toward being a Golden Demon winning painter.

The Print Succeeded

Full successful print bed! About to go to bed. Everything is supported, everything’s printing. Unless something terrible happens, we’re operational again.

Transcript

Before I junk these tables up again, I have been wanting to get these maps framed underneath this thing for a while. I’ve been flattening them out. They came prec creasereased, which which kind of sucks. And what do I mean by precased? I mean they come folded in the books themselves.

So no matter what you do, what do I mean by creases? Like this right here. Uh, I think you could try to iron them out, but I’m not going to get that crazy. And actually, I don’t know if I’m gonna frame I don’t know if I’ll frame those yet. Really want to frame are these.

Yeah, as these maps of Virginia, which is where I live. Obviously, I specifically live in this part of Virginia, uh, which I’m very excited for. and Lauria, which is another one I’m very excited for. So, that was really the plan is these two. Those ones are sliding out.

Again, it sucks. They come in those in those binders, so they’re creased pretty heavily. I tried to getting them as flat as I could, but sometimes you just can’t get the creases out uh because it just messes up the material. So, there’s things you can do uh but I it’s just not worth the risk to me. I think these are as good as Okay, I want to make sure I wasn’t crazy.

This is the one we’re going to frame because this is the one that has the key. It’s the DM, I guess it would be called the DM map. And then the back side is just blank. And then this is the player map. It’s meant to be written on and filled in as the adventure goes.

And on this side, see there’s no key. Uh so you can name things yourself as you’re going. So this one I’m going to keep out of the frame. Uh and then Moria and Moria over there. And this guy, that big frame I’m going to save for something else.

But I was trying to think of what I was thinking cuz it’s been so long. These frames I just get from Michaels cuz every once in a while they do not just the 40% off but like 70 75% off frames. So I got these for like like 5 to 10 bucks. I think it was pretty pretty crazy deal. So I just keep an eye out.

That’s what’s the the crowd and skull ones in. That’s what the chain mail posters in. Uh so here’s my tip for these. Right. I popped the back off.

That’s what that is. This is the the sheet that shows you what size uh the frame is. And none of the frames really I don’t I don’t think any of them are like one to one matchups. So, what I’m going to do is I’ll center it on here and I’ll put some tape down and I’ll just very very small amount of tape tape it so it’s centered onto this white thing and then flip it around. So, I’m just going to get a little tiny square, like just barely anything.

I’ll hit that corner. Same thing. I measure this side. Okay. So, now that’s going to keep the poster locked in place.

What I’m going to do now is I’m just making just folding this over. And now this corner. Put it a little bit in. Hopefully you can see that. I don’t want to go to the edge cuz it’ll not make it maybe not as good.

It’ll um What am I looking for? It’ll hold better where it’s at right now. All right. I’m just double checking the measurements. Just about a little bit in.

All right. And now that this is locked in, I’m going to come back over here and do the same thing cuz I don’t want the tape to be seen. And I probably did shouldn’t have even put this on the front right here. All right. There we go.

Okay. So now, close enough. And again, they make real backers, so you don’t want the white. But my goal with this is to have this framed and protected uh as cheaply as possible because I don’t want to spend a ton of money on custom frames. I don’t want to spend a ton of money on actually getting it mounted because I could like buy this whole other book, you know, I could have a whole other thing.

Uh cuz this is going to keep it safe and protected. That masking tape will be easy to remove if I ever decide that I do want to do it the expensive way. Here we go. All right. So, now just push all these back down.

And sometimes if you’re lucky, like the crown and scroll poster was a perfect fit for the frame. So, I just was able to line it up, use a little bit of masking tape, the same thing I did on the two of the corners, and it and it was just really easy. But see here we have the white bands at the top and the bottom which kind of sucks but for me right now it’s more important that I can protect the mat than it is to have it super perfect. And that’s that’s not terrible. It’s even.

I think probably with the angle I’m at it might be a little bit off on the camera but in real life uh in real life it’s definitely even. So there’s one. I’ll do the other one. One more tip while I’m doing this second one. You’ll see these are the mounting brackets.

I’m going to mount them this way horizontally. You see, I’m going to pull this out and I’m just going to slide this straight up so I can slide it right back in and not worry about putting that on the bottom and having to redo everything over it. Uh, that’s a problem. I didn’t realize that it was a little bit too long. So, that’s probably why I got that big one.

But that big one is going to be way big. So, not sure. or maybe I’ll wait to do. >> So, actually, I was thinking about it and I I’m framed that one and that one will be like my DM uh my DM board and then this one I just went ahead and framed. I didn’t use the white background.

I thought it actually look better with the brown. So, I’m going to remove the white off that one too probably. And this one I’ll just dry I’ll treat it like a dry erase board so that way I can reuse this map uh for multiple campaigns cuz uh I’m really excited about this. I want to run a ton of it. Hopefully, I’ll get to do that soon.

Moria, that’s going to look silly in that big boy. So Moria, I didn’t realize was a weird size. So hopefully I can find a pre-made frame, but uh I mean it’s Moria, so I’ll probably pay to get that one custom frame someday. Here, random project that’s been on my to-do list for months, maybe a year. Probably not a year.

No, definitely not a year, but months for my 50point war machine list is now primed. Um, that’s I just crowned it black because I’m going to be doing I I don’t want to rely on the zenithol anymore uh for this specific project because I’m going to be doing that kind of that volutric style painting where I’m I’m going to be painting in my own values. So I’ll I’ll probably use the method of taking a picture of it with light on it and then using that as reference where everything should be. So that way I just have complete control over lighting on the model. Uh which again I think it’ll be a good challenge for me.

Uh I maybe fix my 3D printer. So, I had planned on starting to paint her today, but I was thinking, let me just get the 3D printer hopefully fixed or at least working enough that I can finish off printing off everything I want for Trench Crusade and then I don’t have to think about the 3D printer anymore. Like, either it’s fixed and it’s working and then it can sit, it can be fixed and it’s just sitting for me or it’s broken broken and I’m done for good. I think there’s a problem with the LCD. What I did, I did a complete scrub down of the whole printer.

I took it completely apart. So, I I took the 3D printer apart. I think I found the problem. I thought my LCD was out, but what had actually happened is there was a hole in the film of the that and I just the way the lighting was in that section, I couldn’t tell that there was a very thin cured layer of gray resin in between the LCD and the build plate. So, I I think I got really lucky and I’m pretty sure the 3D printer is going to be totally fine and I was just a dumbass.

So, if that’s the case, the 3D printer will be working again. And I just want to get through Trench Crusade. Even if it’s not working again, uh, half of the build plate should be good now. So, I can at least hopefully limp through print the rest of the stuff I want for Trench Crusade on that printer. And I’ll probably be done with resin for a while.

I’m out of resin. Uh, I used my last set of gloves to clean it. I’m going to have to reuse some gloves to process those prints. I’m about to be out of alcohol. If I was going to stop resin printing, I’m in a very good spot to stop it.

Uh, that being said, I do now have a filament printer courtesy of the Ice King that I’m borrowing for a little bit from him. So, I’ll probably enter that world, which I’m more interested in cuz at this point, I have all the figures I could need, but I want terrain. I want organization things. Uh, so that’s going to happen there. This is this is just a random get a lot of small projects done.

I’ve got my 50 points of war machine ready. 3D printer fixed, pictures framed, more cleaning done. So, I mean, actually, that was a ton of time. Probably like two hours. The last two hours is what I spent uh to get to this point.

And I got to get back upstairs before gets too pissed. But tomorrow is sit and paint for a lot of hours day hopefully. I’m excited and I’m going to chronicle everything. So, I think I think really what this vlog will become is my daily journey of becoming a golden light bulb just died. Well, starting tomorrow, I guess it only today because I primed it.

This is now going to be my journey of hopefully becoming a golden demon winning painter. And I don’t know how many years it’s going to take me to get there, but uh that’s really what my main goal is going to be is I’m starting like let me do I have something like here. This is I’ve painted this guy. This guy was like a speed paint. But I I’m going to I’m going to kind of go through the models that I have that I’ve painted currently and as like a benchmark of like this is where this is my current tabletop level.

This was my current like tryh hard level which I don’t even know how long it’s been since I’ve painted something tryh hardish. But uh just chronicle where I am today and then really see like how I can get to that next like to have a chance at least to place at a Golden Demon and really that’s where the bulk of my my life efforts raising children uh making enough money to keep raising them and then the rest of it’s all going to go towards being a golden demon winning painter. >> All right. So I was looking at this and at first uh I just had one file on it and I was like if it’s going to fail it’s going to fail. So let’s let’s fill it up.

And this isn’t even actually that full. Uh I have about half a bottle of resin in here. So I didn’t want to get too crazy on my resin usage. I think I think this is about half of what I have in there right now. So I think I’ll definitely be good.

I don’t want them to fail cuz I run out of resin. So we’ll see what we get. Okay, it’s going to be bedtime soon and there’s crazy reflections. But we have a full fully successful print bed. So uh about to go to bed.

Finally get some sleep. A decent amount of sleep for once. So, I’m not going to save them until it finishes, but everything is supported. Everything’s uh printing. So, unless something like terrible happens, it looks like we’re going to be perfectly fine for this whole thing to print.

So, I think we’re operational again. I’m not going to start like printing like crazy or doing a bunch of orders or anything yet. I just want to make sure it’s definitely good. And now I’m going to be mostly out of resin. Uh, but it’s definitely better than uh not having a working 3D printer.