1/24/2026 - I did a thing.

Today I made a shitty lil blog.
Welcome to my shittly lil hobby blog.

Back in November I participated in a tournament my local gamestore, The Four Star Open hosted at the Chicagoland Dice Dojo.

four star open four star open

Everyone, for their participation, recived a 3d printed turn counter, stylized as a bolt action stripperclip.

turn counter

Today, instead of something actually productive (like painting my american army that's been sitting primed for a month), I decided to paint up this little freebie. The visual inspiration would be this ammo can of military surplus 30-06.

30-06 ammo can
painted turn counter 'bullet'

After going through more of my tiny bottle of brush on black primer than I'd like, I got started on the "bullets". I began with a base coat of Vallejo Model Color Green Ochre slightly darkened with a touch of Vallejo Model Color Leather Brown. After a few too many two thin coats, I moved on to the metalics. I began with Army Painter True Copper on the tip, the base, and thinner almost highlights on the lower third and where the "bullet" begins to tapper. I then blended the main casing with thin layers of Vallejo Game Color Polished Gold before giving the whole thing a coat of Vallejo Gloss Varnish. Not too shabby for someone who usually only paints in 50 shades of feldgrau.

painted turn counter 'bullet'

Next we moved on to the base. After an all over base coat of Vallejo Model Color US Olive Drab we tried, and failed, to neatly paint the embossed lettering with Vallejo Model Collor Golden Brown. After too many layers of yellow (because it's fucking yellow) we went back and touched up our shaky handiwork with more US Olive Drab.
After watching a million people on instagram oil wash their warhammer minis, I've been itching to try utilizing oil washes instead of the usual slopjob layer of acrylic wash. I plan on trying the technique on my American Tanks, and this was the perfect item to test on before commiting with one of my nice and costly models...

painted turn counter base

So instead of doing that I grabbed the fuckin bottle of Army Painter Soft Tone and some Speed Paint Medium to thin it. Which could have been fine if I hadn't used a cheap ass brush that shed hairs onto the base I was washing. In trying to carefully pick the loose hairs off the model before they became completely embeded on the surface, I managed to rub away a large section of wash that was already curing solid.

There's a reason you're not supposed to try to fix you're wash after its started drying and before it is completely dry.

It so that it doesnt come out uneven and splotchly like mine came out after I tried to fix it after it had started to dry and before it was completely dry.

After my dumb ass finally let the fucker actually dry I went and grabbed a torn off sponge from a blister pack and attemped to even out my accidental wash weathering with some more US Olive Drab. And since we'd already fully committed ourselves to the aesthetic of battle beated grime, I grabbed another bit of foam and stippled some Matte Black paint chipping.

final painted turn counter final painted turn counter

And there it is. I will probably hit the base with a blast of matte varnish if and when the temperature leaves the negative degrees. Because of the curve of the bullet feed and the new layers of paint causing extra friction, this turn counter may not actually be useable as a practical turn counter, unless I dont mind really fucking up the paint job I spent this evening working on. idk, maybe I can find a way to lubricate the shaft (obligatory "lmao") or something later.

Anyway. Here are some more gratuitous photos of this painted tchotchke I took with "the good camera". I definitely caused my pile of shame to avalanch while trying to grab a backdrop cloth that I ended up not even using. Enjoy. I guess.