u/wintersdark

I'm super happy with these. Roughly 2hrs each (10 hours for the group), and (almost) entirely just single coats of AP Speedpaints applied with shakey hands and poor vision, then the whole model washed down with my favourite oil wash (2pt Burnt Sienna 1pt Black, heavily diluted in spirits).

The glossiness will go away over 24 hours as the wash cures, leaving a nice matte surface.

These are not amazing (and of course are unbased) but I think they look really damn good for quick paint jobs, and FANTASTIC at arm's length.

Recipe:

* Primed white.

* AP: Broadsword Silver, Talos Bronze, Orc Skin, Hardened Leather, Pallid Bone, Slaughter Red, Grim lack, Moon Lake Coral, Prismatic Blue

* Cheats I don't do for regular troops: a light dry brush of Vallejo Lively Green over upper surfaces of orc skin, and Bright Bronze over the Talos Bronze. Also some AK Fluorescent Green over the prismatic blue (to make the Wierdboy UV reactive)

* Orange hoses are all Orange Fire highlighted with Sun Yellow. Groups of wires look good with speedpaints, but individual ones didn't work as well as I'd like, so just a quick slop of traditional paint did the job.

* Final touch-ups with Gunmetal silver over all the tiny spots of silver for buttons in leather or buckles that where covered with the slopped on speedpaints of other colors.

* Oil wash burnt sienna:black 2:1, washed over the entire model then brushed back off raised surfaces with a clean brush

I love how much color variation you get just with this. It's a great result with minimal effort and a total lack of skill. No need to work for nice thin highlight lines! I'm highly inaccurate with my paint application, but most bits of colouring outside the lines are irrelevant as subsequent adjacent speedpaint layers just create a blended, dark intermediate line that's further blended in with the final oil wash.

Done on normal troops? The squad of Gretchen took 2 hours total (not doing the "cheats" entry).

I'll never stop simping for these speedpaints (and oil wash!) While they're not always ideal, this is SO MUCH EASIER that what I used to do, gets better results, and is much faster.

I put these on all my bikes. In this case, Bosley's 30mm lowered, 10mm back Rally style footpegs, as well as a 30mm lowered brake pedal tip. Powder coated to match the Husqvarna blue.

It's absolutely amazing how much of an impact lowering your pegs has on the comfort of your legs and knees while seated, how much easier and less energy transitioning from standing to seated.

Also, it's equivalent to raising your handlebars *only when you're standing* which I really love. I don't want higher bars while seated, but I do want them when standing. Better yet, you're not putting risers on that bring your bars up *and back towards you* - always a bit of a problem.

It's something often overlooked but man... If you're 6'+? Give em a serious thought. Best comfort and energy saving mod ever.

Well, I posted here some time ago asking for advice, and now I've taken that advice.

It's new bike day! (Well, new to me):

A 2022 Husqvarna 701 Enduro with Rade Garage rally tower, Rade Garage auxiliary tank, upgraded forks(6500 cartridges) and revalved shock, seat concepts seat, luggage rack, giant loop bags (tank and Mohave rear), barkbusters, heated grips, double take mirrors, pdhs bar mounts, axp skid plate, yoshi exhaust, engine guards, and a bunch of small stuff (new gas caps, pedals, etc)

I guess the PO bought it new, spent an absolutely surreal amount of money trying to make it a pure on road bike, then traded it in for a Norden. Works for me, as there's basically nothing else left you can do to it. Except pegs. I need lowered pegs.

It's more comfortable than my old T7 was, weighs about 130lbs less. Handles 80mph with total stability, which honestly was surprising given the Motoz Rallz. I really expected it to be sketchy at speed but it's absolutely not, incredibly stable. No real vibration at speed, though it shakes like a paint mixer at idle, and sounds horrific - I'm used to the 690 engine noise though.

I've just had it along a dirt road on the way home from the dealership, but holy hell is that 130lbs difference *enormous*.

First thoughts:

* It's faster than the T7 was, though you need to work at launches because...

* The gearing is.. weird. I'll probably play with the sprockets, because first is so tall and...

* It does not like being lugged.

* But if you wind it up a bit, holy hell does it go.

* Height wise, it's perfect for me, I can just comfortably flat foot it. However, weirdly for such a tall bike, it's pegs are *so damn high* my knees are fully above the seat!

* That instrument cluster is ridiculous for a 2022, and one that was NOT cheap

* The quick shifter is better than I expected, but it's weird that it autoblips when you're using the clutch and downshifting.

* I've never had such a hard time finding neutral on a bike, except when I don't want it. See above re: working at launches.

I'm really happy with it though, and am super glad so many people recommended it. And that I stumbled across one so ridiculously kitted out.

Doubletakes, barkbusters and grips in a box, going on tomorrow.