Vindicator #1 - Day 9 + Supplemental #2

Nothing new and spectacular to report again, I'm afraid.  I'm close to done with this tank, but it's all tiny little steps that either involve oil paint or an airbrush - or both.  So long drying times and a limit on running the compressor (quiet time, boooo) abound.

Day 9 carried on the trend nicely.

The metal bits have been washed and are ready for sealing.  This pic is also the closest yet in terms of color accuracy.

More of the same here with the treads.

It was late last night when i realized that the wheels needed some paint too.  

After that, it was a quick coat of Tamiya Clear (technically on day 10) to seal in the details and give me a nice, glossy coat for the next weathering steps.

Supplemental #2
While the subject of incremental progress is on my mind, I thought it'd be worth talking about what this means in terms of my process.  I'm looking back at my previous posts right now and the big thing that's hitting me is how much time I end up having to waste because of my day to day schedule.  I'm looking at at least three days so far, that could have been eliminated if I worked 9-5.  Barring any crazy good luck, this isn't going to change anytime soon.  So it's time to think about how I can keep the next Vindicator from taking two weeks to finish when it really should only be one.  I need to change my process.

Right now, I'm kind of treating this tank like I would any single miniature I want to paint to a high standard.  If this was likely to be a one-off, everything would be fine and dandy. Though it is kind of an experiment right now, so I can justify the extra time I'm using as a kind of sunk cost in research.   However, I have 2 more Vindicators on deck.  And maybe a bunch of other left overs.  I can't really allow myself to spend that kind of time on EVERY model.  Especially when it doesn't have to be that way.

The big thing that I've been missing time and time again is that painting an entire army involves a fundamental shift in the balance between technique an process.

Painting a single miniature as a one-off  involves a great deal of focus on technique.  There's no need to recreate it (usually) and its all about how nice you can make it look.  So you break out your secret painting weapons, spend a great deal of time on details and focus all your energy on one model.  Till it's done.  

But when you need to paint a bunch of stuff in a similar scheme, process comes to the forefront.  You've got to be able to recreate a scheme over and over again.  You can't generally afford to spend a month dicking around on one model.  You gotta get organized, man.  Or at least I do.  'Cuase all the little delays and reinventing the wheel adds up over time to huge delays and burn out.

Now I'm not saying that this is an absolute divide and I'm certainly not trying to create some kind of dichotomy.  Clearly technique and process have their roles to play in either of the two scenarios I've used as enablers for conversation.  It's just that his is useful as an illustration.

Time to do some thinking.