I typically don’t overshare on this blog. At least I try not to. A big part of my job is managing the IT for a medium sized workplace but (almost) every week I also spend some time working with some young people at a local school. This group of young people all have an ID, many with ASD as well as various other diagnoses. One of the things I do when I’m there is run a boardgame session with one of the teachers there one afternoon each week. The idea is to encourage other kinds of gaming and social interaction to the usual ones of holding a game controller or a football. Not that there’s anything wrong with either of those things, but there arre also a lot of other worthwhile ways to interact socially.
As part of this, I’ve facilitated the purchase of a small stack of engaging and accessable boardgames & tabletop games to supplement some of the usual, typical stuff that they have there. (Monopoly, Uno, Snakes & Ladders, etc). Things like Top Trumps, Zombicide, Zombie Dice, Risk.. a few others – and, as you can see here – Marvel United. A little more interesting than Monopoly…
Over time, I’ve noticed a few of the students taking a long look at the details in some of the models. One of them really taking a long look at the individual Zombie Walkers from Zombicide and noting “oh, this guy’s a firefighter – cool” and another really looking carefully at the different Marvel United characters during a game I was running.
And then a couple of weeks ago, I had a close look at my own Marvel Zombies Hulk. I usually give plastic models a light spray of white primer before cleaning the mold lines since it makes them stand out a little more, and so cleanup becomes a touch easier. I noticed how the particular spray I’d given my Hulk really made his well-sculpted musculature stand out..
Over about a week, an idea seeped into my brain. Now, you guys know that while I do get a lot of stuff painted, it also can take me forever to get sets of models painted. I’ve barely touched my own Marvel United set. But what if… I relaxed my own standards a little in order to get them painted fast and then utilised Zenithal Spraying and Contrast-Style Paints to give a “Slap Chop”-ish style a go?
I mean, the kids aren’t going to be super harsh critics. Not nearly what I would be to myself for my own models. (outside of trash like those D&D models!) And of course, I knew I could learn something about these techniques that I’ve never really used beyond lip service as well.
So… I did just that. I took two sets of models home with me, and over the course of the past two weekends I’ve (somehow) managed to paint everything from two of the (smaller model count) boardgames. In the end I also ended up drybrushing and washing and doing the odd bit of blending and fine detail as well where the models needed it… but I still got them done on a pretty tight timeline – even if it did take up most of my time on these two weekends(!)
Are the models perfect? No. No, they’re not. Are there small “errors” – or at least places where I “could have done better”? of course – they’re all covered in them.
But… are they finished? Do they look better than my own sets which are still unpainted plastic? Well, clearly the answer is a resounding yes to both.
Much more importantly – are the kids going to like them?
Well, they haven’t actually seen them yet. But I think they’ll go down pretty well…
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
Super cool — I think anyone would be thrilled to play with those figures.
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Thanks mate – I need to get my own painted (one day!)
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That is awesome mate, doing this sort of thing for the children will be well received, Having a child and a grandchild that are on the autistic spectrum, I know how the children will appreciate the work you’ve put in to bring these characters to life, and look like what they may have seen in movies or TV shows
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Thanks Dave – I think it’s a pretty safe bet that a lof of gamers (and computer enthusiasts) are also on the Spectrum, if undiagnosed. You wouldn’t want to call *this* lot chidren, though – they (mostly) would react the same way that we would if we were 16-18 and called that! 😀
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Even though you claim to have dropped your standards they are way better than I could do (I’d need more superheroes in olive drab or dunkelgelb to have a chance)! The kids are bound to like them and they’ll appreciate all the small details that become that much clearer! Well done you! 🙂
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Thanks John – We all have our own areas of expertise the way I see it – you build kit-quality models from cardboard, Dave sculpts, IRO kitbashes crazy buildings – and on and on it goes!
Having said all that – with less time we played “Stupid Deaths” yesterday… 😀
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Great work for the kids Az. I am sure they will like them
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Thanks mate – they were appreciated! 🙂
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Awesome work on both counts.
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Thank you!~
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Oversharing? I don’t think you do at all, mate and I am cognizant of the same sort of thing with my website. Probably because I used to teach and I didn’t necessarily want my personal life to be out there for students to find. I think its great that you’re involved with this group and I’m positive the kids will like what you’ve painted here. They look very comic booky which is obviously perfect considering the subject matter.
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Yeah – I can see that for sure. I also enjoy the anonymity of the blog and my “online persona” which is basically just myself with the freedom to use whatever language I choose to if the context demands it, without poisoning any real-world wells that could occur due to real-world employment or interaction with individuals.
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I know what you mean. I don’t really talk about work for the reasons you describe. For one, I don’t think people visit to read about work trials and tribulations but also, I’d rather not have a co-worker stumble across my in-depth and honest thoughts either. Its unlikely to happen but you just never know!
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Yeah, venting about work in a more specifc manner than
“it’s busy” or “it’s pretty rough right now” isn’t especially interesting but does present some potential issues if the wrong person stumbles on your public comments and can figure out who you are.
Lets all complain about our direct managers and teams online and assume nothing bad could ever happen from it! 😀
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Ok, I’ll start! *1 hour later* Oh wait, can I take back some of what I just said … on the internet…!? 🤪
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I think they are brilliant mate
👍👍👍
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Thank you, Alex! 🙂
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Interesting, I had to zoom in on the photos to really see the difference between these and your regular painting. Which means at tabletop, I’m guessing it would be even harder to tell. Nice to know you found a quicker method that gives you decent results. I think Wasp turned out the best, but they’re all looking good! Glad to hear that the kids are enjoying the minis and noticing the details. My own tend to ignore my minis, lol!
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