Evil Bob's Miniature Painting

28mm MERCs Sci-Fi Miniatures

2012-02-27T07:09:00.000-05:00

Here are the first two units we did for a customer for the MERCs Sci-Fi skirmish game. The customer keeps a large supply of miniatures for us to do. I dig into the 50 pound box of metal pretty regularly and paint a batch up and ship them out to him. The American Indians and American Civil War figures in the last posts were part of the last batch sent out. There's a wide variety of stuff in there and it makes it nice to go in and pick something different out to break up the monotony of the endless stream of 15mm Napoleonics that seem to march through here.

The first unit is from the Yellow Jackets faction. I played around with a new wash on the yellow and I like the way it turned out:

The second unit is from the Kemvar faction:

These are multi-part 28mm metal miniatures. The customer had previously assembled and primed them. During shipping to me one guy had lost his arms and another 2 lost one arm. A fourth guy lost his back pack. I re-attached them with JB Kwik so hopefully that will solve the issue. If you plan on trying them out be prepared to spend some time on the assembly. The poses are pretty dramatic and being metal, they take a bit of time to put together in a way that they still look like they are moving naturally and not contorting in a strange ritualistic dance.

There's a whole sub-box of these critters so there will be more later. Time permitting I'll try and do a step-by-step process post.

20mm (1/72) Vietnam Commission

2012-02-25T08:11:00.000-05:00

A customer contacted us about a 1/72 scale (about 20mm sized) Vietnam commission. The commission would use figures made by both Italeri and Pegasus. He wanted both sides done at the same time to he could start gaming immediately.

The PAVN (North Vietnamese) were manufactured by Italeri. :

Close up view of the PAVN:

Next up are the US Marines. These figures were manufactured by Pegasus:

Both kits were made from a softer plastic, with the Pegasus kits the softer of the two. I washed the sprues and then set about finding the right glue. I took a trip to the hardware store and picked up a few packs of glues made for softer plastics. Then I cut off a few pieces of sprue and tested the glues.The best that I found is the one pictured below:

This glue formed a nice solid bond. The packaging is easy to use with a fine dropper hole making it very easy to control the amount of glue placed at the bonding site.

We used our usual cheap Walmart flat black paint for a primer. I did a test spray first to make sure it would bond to the softer plastic and it worked like a charm. Next both sides received an airbrushed base coat is an appropriate color, then the brush painting began. Despite the horror stories one hears of the difficulties of working with soft plastics the job went pretty smoothly. The figures took paint well and I used a bit more of a washing technique on these than normal to pick out the details better. I'm quite pleased with the way they turned out.

15mm American Indians and AmericanCivil War

2012-02-23T08:52:00.000-05:00

Here's another commission for a customer. This order included 15mm American Indians for the French and Indian War (FIW) period and 15mm Confederate artillery and crew for the American Civil War (ACW). The Indians were made by Khurasan Miniatures and the ACW figures are Old Glory 15's.

I can't lay entire claim to the skin tones on the Indians. The customer had started these and ran out of steam so the skin was partially completed. I added a touch of shading and highlighting and finished the details. Allison then did the tattoos and warpaint.

The artillery and crews are part of an on-going project. This batch of CSA artillery will complete that portion of the project. Next up is to expand on the previously done infantry, following up with markers, limbers, and so forth. The figures are individually based and the guns are un-based to allow the customer to use them with a variety of rule sets.

28mm Napoleonic Prussians Start Off the New Year

2012-01-05T09:59:00.000-05:00

The first order getting sent out this year is a commission of 28mm Napoleonic Prussians manufactured by Calpe. Calpe makes a great figure with fine detail and good character. There are two units for the customer: the I and II battalions of the 3rd Silesian Landwehr from 1815. Since the customer will be doing his own basing the figures are still on the painting sticks.

Landwehr uniforms were all over the place. Since supply was spotty units could appear varied not only from their uniforms but also from their equipment. We chose to go with grey trousers for one battalion and white for the other. Since the time period is rather late we didn't vary things up so much figuring supply might have been better toward the end of the Napoleonic Wars. I had sources that placed both black coats and blue coats on the Silesian Landwehr but went with the blue.

Old Citadel & Ral Partha RuneQuest and D&D Figures

2011-11-24T07:16:00.000-05:00

Here are images from a recent order Allison painted up of some old school Ral Partha and Citadel miniatures for D&D and RuneQuest. The RuneQuest miniatures were from the box they put out far too many years ago. We have several of these in our collection and I recall painting them many years ago. Needless to say, mine don't look anywhere near as good as these do. For the rougher sculpting I think they turned out wonderful!

First a few familiars from Ral Partha. These are very tiny; the rat is only the size of your little finger nail:

The group of adventurers arrayed:

Beginning of the close-up shots sweeping from left to right:

You can see the one figure which was included in the first Battle System box in the center. I was amazed he still had his mace after all these years!

The mage in this picture had the top of his staff broken off. I dug around in our massive bits pile and found something to top it off. A bit of drilling and pinning gives him a new staff topper:

The RuneQuest duck front and center. NEVER mess with a duck in a dungeon!

You can definitely see the late 70's in the figure to the right of the duck:

Freehand work on the shield:

The customer was absolutely thrilled with these. Allison at first wasn't too happy with how they were turning out. She started painting on Reapers and Games Workshop figures and the quality of miniatures made today, especially from those two companies, is light years beyond these. These figures do have a unique quality, and maybe a bit of nostalgia makes them a bit of a favorite. At least they now have a coat of paint that can show their potential and give them a place of honor in their owner's collection.

Third Batch of Reaper Miniatures Shipped

2011-11-22T07:38:00.000-05:00

This is the third batch of a larger Reaper order we are doing for a customer. These actually shipped a little while ago but this is the first chance I've gotten to update the blog. I'm pressed fro time, and Allison is doing a full-time sub position for a local high school that lasts until February so this post will be a little brief.

First up is the Jabberwocky. This model was a pain to assemble! It's all metal and somewhat fragile with the tendrils that come off the face. As for colors, she mulled it over a bit and finally decided to go with a color scheme along the lines of the most recent movie with Johnnie Depp in it. Using blacks, greys, and the RMS Dark Elf Flesh triad she came up with this:

Now we get into some more adventurers:

A close-up of the dark elf:

Some miscellaneous animals. Great for druid companions:

The order also included a box of the arabic-themed miniatures:

She took her time and put a little extra into this for the customer, working on the patterns on the cloth as seen on the vest on the figure on the left:

Again on the figure on the left she really went to town creating a pattern on his robe:

Close-up of the robe:

That only leaves 9 orcs for me to finish off. Unfortunately, while unloading the van after the show I managed to pull my back out. I honestly think I pulled it once while loading the van by myself on the Thursday before, then continued to do it in unloading/loading at the show. While the four large bins I use make it fast and easy to load and unload they really make it a two person job due to their weight. A 36 inch by 18 inch by 24 inch bin filled with metal figures gets quite heavy! I lost a little over a week trying to let my back heal up. It feels much better now though I may have to rethink my packing strategy if I am going to do a show by myself.

28mm Perry Wars of the Roses Commission

2011-11-05T14:12:00.000-04:00

One of our customers wanted to do the Wars of the Roses (WoTR) in 28mm using Perry Miniatures. Here's images of the bulk of the order so far. Missing from the images are the leaders from both the Lancaster and York houses; I somehow skipped taking pics of them.

First up are a few artillery pieces. These are all metal. The arc gun is a bit of a pain to put together. As you'll notice in the pics, its two bars are still slightly bent. While I normally don't like plastic all that much this piece would probably be better off made in plastic. Trying to get everything aligned just right while gluing it is no easy task. I did manage to get them a little more straight before delivering the order but they still had a slight bend to them.

Next is the cavalry. I did two command sets: one for the Yorkists and one for the Lancastrians. This will allow the customer to do either a unit of cavalry for both sides or one larger unit for one side.

We used several boxes of the plastic infantry to make up the foot troops from both sides:

Perry makes some swell figures and they are always a joy to paint up. Though I'm not normally a plastics fan they do a good job with their plastic sets. Now that the mercenaries are out we may do a few boxes of them to bulk out the customer's armies a bit. There's also a few more different artillery pieces we can add. In addition, some more foot would really round out the infantry. We'll see where they want to go from here.

20mm WWII German Infantry and Vehicles

2011-11-02T08:28:00.000-04:00

One of the orders we had for delivery at Fall In was a bunch of 20mm WWII German infantry. While I was getting these done I also knocked out a few 20mm German vehicles. All of the infantry figures are made by FAA and the vehicles are from Britannia.

I had previously did an order of German Wehrmacht for the customer. There were roughly the same amount of figures in that first batch, mostly riflemen, submachine guns, and machine gunners. This batch adds more options such as pioneers, panzerfausts and panzershrecks, MP44's, and mortars.

Overview of the whole batch: 92 pieces

I had a few 1943 15mm vehicles to do so I dug out these 20mm vehicles and finished them up. They weren't part of the order (and are for sale) so I used them for display on the table and when I get the chance will add them to the webstore.

There's many more pictures to get up of things we completed for the show: more RPG characters, Warhammer Bretonnians, War of the Roses cavalry and artillery, terrain, and more! As I get the chance I will get more posted.

Second Batch of Reaper Miniatures Finished for D&D/ Fantasy RPGs

2011-10-05T05:12:00.000-04:00

This is the second batch of Reapers will are doing as a commission for a customer. The first batch was posted previously on the blog here. There will be one more batch to finish up the commission, slightly smaller than this one. Since there were quite a few high quality miniatures in this order we split the order into three chunks. This allowed us to get some figures out to the customer quicker and also makes the shipping a bit easier. A smaller package weighs a bit less and there is less things stuffed in the package to bump against each other and damage each other.

First up is a troll and some other creature that I can't recall at the moment:

Some Pathfinder critters

Some miscellaneous animals

Goblins

Close up of some of the goblins


Mites

Mites

Ogre Champion and Shamen

The Ogre Shamen

More Ogres

The Wendigo Way - Crocodile Games Wendigos

2011-09-21T11:32:00.010-04:00

I really needed a small break from Arachnarok; I've had hand cramps for two days from doing detail work. I hate it when you get down to the last few details and you just have to give up for a while. So, in the mean time, I started an order of Wendigo from Crocodile Games, actually two sets.

Normally the Wendigo are painted like Yeti, all white and icy blue. I've done that before and this client so happened to buy those Wendigo a couple years back. Now, he wants his Wendigo painted like Sasquatch for the savannah and woodlands. Sounds cool, right? Yep, I think so. At least this provides a challenge. I love painting something I've painted before and painting it very differently. Yesterday I did the two captain figures, because they are the largest, in order to see if the color schemes I have in mind are going to work out. There's nothing like base-coating twenty or so figures only to have your plan fall flat once you start to apply the other colors.

Here we go...I started out by base-coating one in Burnt Umber (left: Woodlands) and the other in Light Brown 10 (right: Savannah) .

Next, I heavily brushed Wood Gray onto the Woodlands figure.

and heavily brushed Ocher onto the Savannah figure. Yes, this is very subtle, I think I could actually omit this color altogether.

Then, I lightly brushed Grayed Orange Yellow onto the Woodlands figure and used Highlands Moss to accent his pony tails, the top of his head (partially down his back), around his hands, and his feet. The fleshy part (the chest, hands, feet, face) are painted solidly with Wood Gray, highlighted with Grayed Orange Yellow, then the GOY is diluted with a bit of water (imagine a watercolor) and applied to the fleshy areas. Finally, after the GOY watercolor is dried, dry brush on a highlight of Grayed Orange Yellow 11.

I wanted this Sasquatch to have a mossy tree appearance and yet still seem realistic.

and lightly brushed the Ochre 11 on the Savannah figure and added Creamy Ivory highlights/accents to the top of the head (partially down the back), the pony tails, and the beard. Yes, for some reason I forgot to take a picture of this step. I was really enjoying myself, and when I do that I tend to move quickly. Taking the photos does kinda burden my momentum.

No pictures of the Sasquatch, but here are the colors used.

POOF! And now, here we are done! Yeah, whatever. Don't we all wish it was that easy. Like I said, momentum. Sorry there are no photos of all the little steps. I know, I suck; but here's where I'll talk about some choices I made when considering how to paint this figure two different ways.

The Woodland: Like I said, I wanted him to appear as a mossy tree and yet still seem realistic. However, I didn't want him to look like a bear or an ape. I thought about what colors look best or seem to fit with the woodlands and I decided on copper for his ponytail closures.

The feather. Why blue? I think it was because I wanted one little thing to POP. I guess that and I've got a lot of bluejays around the house here.

For the horns, I thought about deer, the way they fade from a dark brown to a creamy ivory. The toenails too are like the horns, ivory with a touch of dark brown where it enters the toe or finger.

I like the way the copper works with the green and adds to the browns as well.

For nails and horns, paint on the Stained Ivory, detail on the Creamy Ivory and then wash near the base of the head or where the nail meets flesh with the Devlan Mud.

As for the weapon, I could have gone a couple different routes but I thought that plain grey stone was best, something neutral, nothing outlandish. I was originally thinking about mossy agate or maybe even black onyx.

These colors were used for the stone hammer. A coat of Stone Grey with a drybrush of Weathered Stone.

Minus the Burnt Umber, these three colors make up the primary shades for the Woodland Sasquatch.

This triad, actually the first and last, were used as a accent green. Jungle Moss is the base and Pale Lichen is the highlight.

The Savannah: This creature needed to appear as if it came from the plains of Africa. Somewhere where the grass is a golden hue touched with lively greens. For inspiration I looked to lions and herd animals but I wanted to make sure that it was not as brown as the Woodland.The accent green, I wanted fresher and more lively. But where to put it? I didn't want too much, so I only applied near the face and horns.

The red feathers? Again, I think it was just for a POP factor. That one thing that stands out.

Notice the horns, there is a type of gazelle that has horns that begin almost black and turn to an ivory, I thought a nice deep color would contrast nicely with the golden furn. I chose the same concept for the nails.

These two colors were used for the green highlights above. Olive Green was delicately painted on, then the Olive Drab was drybrushed lightly over top, just to catch the high points of the hair.

As for the weapon, I went with an onyx or obsidian. Something about Africa or any plains makes me think about dark rocks. Don't know why, I'm not saying it is geologically accurate.

This is simply Black, with dark Gray (Gray 28), Gray 5 and white highlights painted onto the high points.

Finally, these are the colors used for the mouth and lips. Paint on the Antique Rose and then use the Porcelain Rose as the detail to create tongue groove and lip creases.

If I had pictures of the original Wendigo that I painted years ago, the ones with the Yeti icy fur, I'd have gladly posted them as well in order to demonstrate how different things can look. I always suggest playing with colors and using your imagination. If you play with toy soldiers/miniatures, I hope you are already using your imagination.

Love - Allison Chicka

15mm Napoleonic Russian Army Based for Lasalle Ruleset

2011-09-21T07:51:00.000-04:00

15mm Napoleonics are pretty popular for us. They race neck and neck with 15mm World War II for the most popular periods we paint. I can understand why with Napoleonics: the uniforms are complex and require quite a bit of research, there are usually a ton to paint up to get an army together, and it can be rather monotonous painting over 300 of the same thing over and over again! I know I was feeling that way with this order. It took me a bit longer to get the order done but to be honest I was also trying to get some of the cleaning and priming done for the Fall-In orders. More on that at the end.

There are 317 foot, 114 mounted, 21 guns and 6 limbers in this army. All figures are AB figures and the flags are from The Flag Dude. The bases are from Litko.The army is supposed to represent the Russian Life Guard Division during the Battle of Borodino.

The infantry composed of the Preobrajenski, Siemenovski, and Izmailovski regiments.

The cuirassier units composed of the Emperor, Empress, Chevalier-Garde, and Life Guards units.

The army and sub commanders.

The artillery stands. Two units of Position Batteries and one Horse Battery.

A note on the limbers: Technically there should be more space between the ranks of horses on the Russian limber teams due to the way design of the yoke. This would result in exceptionally long bases and possibly have consequences in game play. In order to make everything fit on the base size I had to condense things a bit and widen the space between the two columns of horses. This makes the limbers about the same size as the French ones he already has and keeps anything from hanging out over the edge of the base, preventing damage during game play.

The bayonets of the AB Russians are a bit fragile. In fact, almost all of them were bent over in the packaging, some more than 90 degrees. I straightened them as best I could but I didn't want to keep moving them around further weakening them, as some had already broken off. . Since they need to be packed up and shipped out to the customer I am sure some will need a slight readjustment afterward. That is a downfall of more realistically proportioned miniatures: weak parts. Personally I prefer something more robust, especially for gaming, since it will be handled more often.

Now that this order is out of the way I can jump into the Fall-In orders. There's still an order of Reapers that needs based up (about 50 figures), and some basing to do for display orders for Acheson Creations and Scale Creep Miniatures, but the painting for the other orders is out of the way. We did manage to get a couple of things done already but the lion's share of it still needs done. I laid everything out on the dining room table Saturday to get it organized and take stock of where we were and here it is:

Orders for Fall-In

These figures are already painted and simply need to be based.

The lead I already need to clean and prime yet. It will add about 3-4 more trays of figures to be painted.

Hopefully I can get it done. It will be tough as there's only about a month until the show and Allison is due to sub for a teacher going out on maternity leave. It'll be a rough October!

Along Came a Spider Part 2 - GW Arachnarok Spider

2011-09-18T21:22:00.001-04:00

So the other day I posted what was the beginning of this adventure to slay the beast that is Arachnarok. Okay, so maybe it's not an adventure and maybe I'm not actually slaying anything, but lately it feels like it. Onward and upward, or at least forward, perhaps downward, maybe sideways - at least not backwards.

I'm making progress but it is slow going due to all the legs getting in the way, and I finally did break off one of the scaffolding parts like I thought I would. I warned you, be careful. Even I, who was ever cautious, managed to bust off a piece. Bob didn't find it amusing.

Now here's some more of my progress...however, I'm not finished yet.

At last post, the carapace was done. I was working on highlighting the abdomen, painting the rigging, and beginning the legs.

The Abdomen

Paints Used:

When I mix paints I usually make up a card, like this one, to remind me how the colors I made are supposed to appear. So now you see the transition between the original Hormagaunt Purple with the mixture of Creamy Ivory.

Process/Techniques:
Last post I had only base-coated and applied the first highlight. This time I went back and added the final highlight by using a mixture of the Hormagaunt Purple and Creamy Ivory. I can't give you a percentage per say but I can say that it is mostly Creamy Ivory with a touch of Hormagaunt Purple. If you go to mix it you will find that the purple is very strong and it takes very little to make the ivory purplish. I'd say a 2:1 ratio of Ivory to Purple, almost a 3:1.
Basic application is a pseudo-Dallimore method over the other, middle, highlight. Only this time you can create additional creases and separate some of the bulbous folds into smaller bulbs. For example, check out near the back two stingers in the picture below. All those little lines provide depth and create the creases or folds.

Spider Babies and Egg Sacks
Paints Used:

Spider Babies

Egg Sacks

Process/Techniques:

The Spider Babies will eventually look just like their mama. So far I've painted them solid Model Color Red and washed them with Badab Black. Eventually they will be detailed with Red and Orange Yellow; however, not so detailed as their mother.

As for the Egg Sacks, I wanted them to stand out a little from the creamy purple abdomen. At first I thought I wanted a sickly green, almost nasal infection green. Yeah, you know which green I mean. However, after careful consideration I felt that that would look a bit off so I chose a more muted sickly green with the Undead Triad from Reaper Master Series. The egg sacks are simply painted with the base color of Ghoul Skin, highlighted with Moldy Skin, and a final dot of Bloodless Skin. They will probably be glossed in the final product to give them a wet appearance, as if they are about to burst.

Webs

Paints Used:

Process/Techniques:
So far, only the base color has been applied to the webs and they will be washed with Devlan Mud in order to bring out all the tiny strands. After that I will either dry-brush or carefully paint each strand with Polished Bone. I'm sure I'll be holding my breath a lot for that one.

Scaffold

Paints Used:

Process/Techniques:
I simply painted the scaffolding with the Wood Gray and then dry-brushed on a highlight of Grayed Orange Yellow. The "cut" ends of the scaffold that appear to be spear-like are painted Grayed Orange Yellow and will eventually be detailed in Stained Ivory and Creamy Ivory. I'll show more of that when I finally do it, which won't be until the end. The log at the back of the spider is colored exactly the same way as the scaffold.

Next up: Along Came a Spider Part 3 - finish the scaffold, the log, the legs, and begin the horns/spines.
BTW - I'm waiting on doing those spines/horns because they are good gripping points for my fingers.

Along Came a Spider Part 1 - GW Arachnarok Spider

2011-09-16T13:53:00.001-04:00

If you are feeling intimidated by this spider, you should be. Not because you have a fear of them, but simply because it is daunting to assemble and paint. Never fear! I'm here to give a few suggestions that might help squash your spider troubles.

Bob assembled the spider and found that it took him over two hours because the schematics are rather poorly put together. He suggests reading the full schematics first, then dry-fit assemble prior to actually trying to glue.
Another suggestion is this, perhaps painting it on the sprue is a better idea than fully assembling prior to painting. That way all you would have to do is touch-up where you cut off the sprue and where the glue left a residue. Right now I'm having difficulty in doing the detail work between the many legs and the scaffolding rig. The pieces that jut out from the main body not only get into the way of the paintbrush but also mess with my depth perception and I have found my brush going astray on many occasions.

*Note: These directions seem out of order, they are grouped by the body part of the spider but follow the STEPS if you really choose to paint in the order that I did. This order was done for ease of painting.

Main Body Colors for Carapace:

First let's start with the paints that I used...

Base-coat: of Model Color Red. Let dry thoroughly, may take two coats. Do not dilute with water unless your paint appears to be too thick.
Washes: Citadel Badab Black and Leviathan Purple. Used over the base-coat to go into the crevices and darken chosen areas.
Highlights: Cel-Vinyl Red and then Orange Yellow.

Techniques/Process...
Step1 - After the initial base-coat I darkened the very top of the body, the face, and the portions of the collar above the head with the Badab black. Before the black dried too much, I used the Leviathan Purple around the edges of the black and bled it into what was left of the red at the edges of the carapace. You'll see that it nicely darkens the crevices as well as all the little bumps, horns, and spines on the carapace. Let this dry thoroughly.
Step 3 - The tricky part. See Step 3 image(s). This takes a very steady hand and don't let the legs get in the way or you'll find you're making squiggly lines. I suggest taking deep breaths and holding it as you make lines. I'm considering becoming a pearl diver in the orient when I'm done painting. I typically brace my painting hand at the wrist with my opposite hand as I do the edging lines.
Use the Cel-Vinyl Red to make the first highlight. Go over all edges, all bumps, and around the horns/spines. Again, take note on the box art. You'll notice that there are also triangular accent marks that come down off the edges of the carapace, see note under picture. I used a 10/0 brush to do all these details. You may need to thin your CV Red just a little to keep it flowing, the red tends to be/get sticky and you won't have smooth lines.

Then, after the Red highlights have dried, use the Cel-Vinyl Orange Yellow to add extra dimension. Lightly go over the red highlights. Attempt to do so thinly. If your lines appear intermittent, that's okay, it'll look a little more natural than a perfect accent highlight.

STEP 3. Also, notice how the black and purple wash help to detail the carapace. However, the wash isn't the ultimate fix. Unfortunately, the model's details are too smooth to take a wash very effectively. So, if you were hoping to base-coat this monster and simply wash it; you're in for a let-down.

STEP 3. Highlight all the bumps and around the horns/spines in Red and then with Orange Yellow.

Triangular accent highlights. TIP: Basically, when I could, I held the figure with the ass-end up and drug my paintbrush from the edge toward the center giving the greatest amount of pressure when I started and letting off when I finished the stroke in order to create the triangle effect. Sometimes I works perfectly, sometimes it doesn't, don't be discouraged.

TIP: I suggest doing doodles using the 10/0 brush with paint on sheets of paper. Hold the brush up further on the handle and wave it like a wand using only the dexterity of your fingers to do the moving. Or, think of it as a pen or pencil instead of a brush, write with it, do cursive and feel the flow of the brush. Play around with creating wider/heavier strokes by putting weight on the brush and then letting off to create a thin tail. Create a simple images of animals or shapes. I liken this to Japanese Calligraphy using the subtle movements of the fingers and even wrist to glide the brush. You may gain dexterity and brush control by doing this, even practice with a calligraphy kit seems to help.

Abdominal Colors:
Here are the only two colors...

Base-coat: Citadel Hormagaunt Purple
Highlight: Citadel Hormagaunt Purple + Reaper Creamy Ivory = a pale, creamy purple.
2nd Highlight: Reaper Creamy Ivory

Techniques/Process...
Step 2 - Paint the abdomen underneath. I suggest looking at the box art to see where the abdomen ends and the carapace begins (If you care). Use the Hormagaunt Purple from Citadel straight out of the jar and base-coat. The foundation paints are rather thick, so if you find yours not speading well, dilute lightly with water or add a retarder like Liquitex Slow-Dri.
Step 4 - Highlight the abdomen. Mix the Hormagaunt Purple with the Creamy Ivory until you get a pale, creamy purple color. Apply this pseudo-Dallimore style over all the high bumpy parts and high ridges of the fleshy part of the spider's abdomen. See image Step 4 below.
Step 5 - I have yet to do step 5 on this model; however, it will involve a final highlight with the Creamy Ivory over the raised bumps and high ridges of flesh.

STEP 4

Eyes:

Colors used...

Base-coat: Black (any kind)
Highlight: Citadel Necron Abyss
2nd Highlight: GW Ultramarines Blue
3rd Highlight: Model Color Deep Sky Blue
4th Highlight: White (any kind)
*Note: after a spray varnish coat when the model is complete, a gloss varnish will be applied to the eyes.

Techniques/Process...
The eyes can be done at any point in the process, however I was feeling bogged down by the highlighting of the carapace and wanted to see progress so I painted the eyes. See Eye Image.

First, paint the eyes black.
On lower half of eye apply Necron Abyss. It will be rounded on the top; follow the contour of the eye.
Next, apply a comma-like swish to the bottom of the eye using Ultramarines Blue.
Then, apply a tinier comma-like swish using the Deep Sky Blue on top of the Ultramarines Blue.
Finally, apply a dot and curved dash of White at the top of the eye in the Black portion.

Eye: Notice the shapes that create the eye.

"Along Came a Spider Part 2" will be coming shortly. If I don't explode my lungs first.

Be 100% careful about accidentally bending the back legs attached to the fallen log and with the scaffolding on the body. Again, this is why I'm thinking it would have been advantageous to paint then assemble or perhaps do some assembly, paint, and fully assemble. Hey, live and learn.
Love - Allison Chicka

15mm FOW Pacific Marines

2011-08-08T09:43:00.000-04:00

It seems we're stuck on a 15mm kick lately. Most of our volume has moved over to 15mm, with larger armies and orders becoming the norm. Here's images of a 15mm WWII US Marine force we did for a customer. It is based to be used with an unofficial Flames of War codex. It includes 3 platoons of marines with snipers, bazookas, a weapons platoon, and HMG platoon, and an 81mm mortar platoon.

The whole force assembled.


81mm mortars and 75mm artillery.

HMG's ready for a Japanese assault.

Overall a sizable army and with the options available should have plenty of variety when played.

15mm Modern Middle East

2011-08-08T09:05:00.000-04:00

We recently did a 15mm Modern Middle East order for a customer. The figures are for Beruit in the early-mid 80's and represent Syrian commandos and PLO militia. Figures are a mix, with the only ones that I can identify positively are the Peter Pig figures.

Syrian Commandos

PLO Militia

Basing is a simple sand affixed with Matte Medium and painted. Silflor grass tufts were added at the end to dress up the bases a bit.

First Batch of Reapers Finished

2011-08-03T08:38:00.000-04:00

Based and Ready to be Shipped to an Anxious Customer!

You've already seen most of these figures, if not all of them, prior to their basing. I always feel that figures aren't complete until they have proper terrain to stand upon. There is something about green that complements the figure. I always say that it's a decorator's trick or a butcher's trick. Decorator's trick: in order to join rooms of different colors you use plants in each of the rooms. Butcher's trick: in order to make your meat appear redder and more appealing, add green paper backing or that weird green foliage to the butcher's case. In addition, the base of the figure changes the mood of the figure. For instance, below in the first picture, the female necromancer; imagine her on a sparse base with no foliage, just charred rocky debris. It would seem desolate and foreboding; which would work equally as well as the sparse grass. The sparse grass just doesn't seem as gloomy and I happen to enjoy how it makes the green in her staff and the green of the skeletons pop.

So one word of advice, "If you are ever a titch dissatisfied with a paint job; wait until you base it and see how you feel." The black of the stick or base you've been painting on is actually sucking the color out of the figure. It's an optical illusion, like when they suggest wearing black to make you look thinner. Dark colors make things look smaller but they also wash the color out of what they come in contact with.

I like how the blue on the marid has become so brilliant now that the green of the base is there to compliment. And I know, she is a water genie, why isn't she on a water base? Well, she could have been, but for continuity's sake she is on grass like all others.

I bet the first criticism here will be, "They're tavern people, they should have tavern bases!" I agree, however, let's pretend that they are in a biergarten. Always remember, if a person ever wants a particular base for a figure, all they have to do is mention it in their order and we'll do the best we can. Otherwise, we err on the side of continuity. It is no cop-out, just the uniformity of the figures in relation to other figures when in game play.

Basing for figures such as the center half-ogre can be difficult sometimes. He comes on his wooden plank base, appropriate for a pirate but then what. So, you can only use him in a tavern or a ship? It may seem cheezy but we added the earth and turf to kind of camouflage the boards and make him more applicable to general adventuring.

I hate having to paint figures that I like. They are like children; I give them a little bit of life and I don't want to let them go when the time comes. I looked at Bob the other day and said with a pouty face, "Do I really have to send them?" He of course said, "Yes" and laughed at me. But, now you also know that I put a lot of love into what I do.

15mm Napoleonic French Cuirassier and Voltigers

2011-07-23T09:25:00.002-04:00

If you've been following us you probably recall a Napoleonic French army we did for a customer: French Napoleonic Army The army was based for the Lasalle Rules. Here are some additional units the customer added to enlarge the army.

First up the cuirassier. These are the from the 2'nd and 3'rd cuirassier:

Next we have the voltigers from the 4'th and the 18'th. There are bases of both skirmishers and "open order" infantry:

Next up for this customer is a Russian army. I'll post pictures when it is done.

Ruined Temple

2011-07-22T16:11:00.001-04:00

This is a temple vignette that Bob and I created for an order that accompanies the set of Foundry's Greek mythological characters.

If you'd like to see the characters that go with this temple, refer back to a previous December blog post: Ancient Greek Heroes.

It was first painted with Grayed Orange Yellow 12, then dry-brushed with Stained Ivory, and again with Creamy Ivory. We wanted a warmer effect to the stone, something almost rosy like the photographs of Greece.

The little urn is black with Burnt Sienna designs. I looked over images of Grecian urns on the web and then did a kind of abstract people in movement and wheat pattern band at the top. I think it does the trick and gives the impression.

The foliage is from Scenic Express; Silflor miniNature prairie tufts and beech tree are the taller pieces.

I went on to have some fun with the photographs; I insisted that there should be some people in this landscape. ;-)

"Oh, hey, look at this great urn; I bet it's worth a lot!" says the barbarian. Rolling her eyes, "Let me see if it has any magical properties before you touch anything," counters the sorceress. The monk just stares, shakes his head at the ignorance of looting and thinks to himself, "Why did I even come on this adventure?"

Because they were caught-up in their thoughts, they failed to make a spot check for the giant that was hiding behind one of the columns.

And then it all becomes hazy as a magical effect takes hold of the party.

Okay, so these figures are our regular D&D gaming figs, so if you see some chips that's because people have ham-hands. And no, I don't have too much time on my hands. I simply procrastinate well.

More Display Pieces for Acheson Creations

2011-07-20T07:06:00.001-04:00

Here are a few more display stands we have completed for Acheson Creations. It includes the first few figures for the Kaiju Kaos line/ ruleset and a couple of huts. Allison did the painting on the figures and I did the painting on the huts.

First up are three pieces For Kaiju Kaos: an undead pageant winner, or some such thing, a werewolf, and what line of miniatures would be complete without an evil scientist? Overall the figures are a little rougher, but with a little care and time do paint up well. Even if you're not a Kaiju Kaos player they could fit in with a bunch of other type of games. I'm pretty sure a few will end up in my pulp or zombie games.

Next up are some 28mm huts. Now if you follow us at the shows you'll notice I've actually done in a more accurate grey than our usual newer ocher-ish color. Let me go into this a bit more. I can't count the number of people who have come up to the stand at shows and complained that we did our thatch wrong as thatch turns grey. While accurate, my experience has been grey thatch doesn't sell. Well, eventually you can sell most of the pieces, but that's only after you discount them to get them off the table. Fact is yellow thatch sells. In droves. By the dozens. As a result, 99% of the thatched roof buildings we paint up have yellow thatch and will in the future. When the sales shift the other way, then we'll start painting more grey thatched roofs than yellow thatched.

The first is the old standby Celt 1 code, with is a simple celtic hut, with a removable roof. This would serve quite well as a generic round stone hut.

Next up is a new piece, a Pict house (code Pict 1), priced from Acheson unpainted at $15. Quite a neat little piece, and fairly large as it stands 5 1/2 inches tall to the peak of the roof, which is removable. I actually painted two of these exactly the same, so we have one floating around for sale at $40 unbased, with a base with some flocking, flowers, etc figure it for $45. It needs either based or just flock applied around the outside of the hut yet, but other than that is ready to go. It will eventually find its way onto the webstore or to Fall-In. With the record we have of selling grey thatch, I foresee us having this one for quite awhile. Please prove me wrong.

Gnomy Monday

2011-07-13T15:31:00.003-04:00

I was extremely excited to begin painting these Gnome Reaper figures. I think they are simply adorable and so well sculpted; personality just oozes from these figures.
So, let us talk inspiration. Of course I perused the D&D players handbook in the gnome section for what they typically look like and wear...that was good. I didn't have to do that, I just chose to. With that said, D&D reports that gnomes are brownish skinned with fair hair and blue eyes; they enjoy to wear earth colors and like adornments on their clothing and gems. Yeah, I know, I sound like gnomes are real. But, what if they are? We wouldn't want to insult them.

Here are the three gnomes I worked on:

Cassie

She has straw colored hair and very light blue-gray eyes. Went with gold accents on neutral/natural colors. Wanting her staff to stand out, I kept it black and made the gems a bold red. My favorite part is the set of keys in her braid at the back. ;-)

Marius Burrowell

This gnome has character to spare! His face is so full of gesture. Because gnomes are so compact, I wanted to keep things very simple and keep the colors to a minimum. I think the key in smaller proportioned figures is to pick a couple objects and make them stand out and keep the others rather subdued.

Corim

I love the devilish brilliance in his eyes so I made them a bright blue in the same color as his sash. The spiked shape of his collar prompted me to choose a earthy red for his shirt. Again, keeping it simple I chose a grayed-orange yellow for his pants and dark brown for boots. All the focal point should be in his eyes and magical feat. I am considering adding a little sparkle to his flames...not sure yet.

More Black Hat/ Scale Creep Display Stands

2011-07-06T08:20:00.000-04:00

This is the latest batch for Mark Severin/ Scale Creep of display pieces. I'm running a bit late here as I wanted to get these out to Mark last week, but we had a death in the family so everything's behind a bit as we try to catch up.

These stands are more of the Black Hat figures that he carries: Late Imperial Romans and Persians.

Black Hat Late Romans

Black Hat Persians

Kardakes

Guard Cavalry

Roman Legionnaires

Roman Legionair Command

Immortal Bowmen


Apple Bearers

Dromadary Riders

Heavy Cavalry


Roman Cataphracts

There's still a Persian Chariot that I'm picking away at. When it's done I'll get some images up.

Back to the painting table!

Dancing Girls and Half-Orcs Have a Picnic - Reaper Figures & Recipes

2011-06-24T10:45:00.000-04:00

Okay, so there isn't really any picnic...I just have a tendency to need to make snazzy titles. But, it is close, there is food involved and there really are dancing girls and half-orcs amongst other figures. Yesterday, Thursday, was D&D night so I decided to make pizza on the grill again. Last week I told you my recipe, this week is no different. In addition, I have my usual blather about the minis I was painting.

Part of my day was spent painting, the other part baking and generally messing around. I finished up two dancing girls that I had started late on Wednesday. Then, I started and finished three half-orcs; a monk, rogue, and pirate?

Let us start with the prettier of the two sets; the dancing girls.

The dancing girl in red has a variegated or tie-dyed effect skirt. I've painted her before and made the skirt multi-colored; this time I wanted to keep it one color but add a neat effect. I was thinking of fantail fish or Siamese fighting fish when I painted her skirt.

This dancing girl with the coin bikini, well, I like the idea of just black; this way it doesn't distract from her boobs. The gold accents, the black doesn't detract. BTW, yeah, I think she's leaning more than she should be, I'll have to straighten her out a bit, she must have gotten a bit twisted in the molding process.

Onto some half-orcs. Did somebody say beauty and the beast? Haha!

The monk on the left is a cool idea. I went with burnt sienna pants with the bright orange loincloth. I chose the loincloth color based on Buddhist monk robe colors.

The rogue on the right is pretty standard. I wanted him dark, roguish, but not too dark. I went with browns and a nice burgundy studded vest.

I really like this ?pirate? version of a half-orc. I stuck with primary colors, nothing fancy. I wanted to stay away from bland, brown or gray colors because I felt that the gray skin needed offset. Plus, pirates need bright clothes. ;-)

What I'm most pleased with is the skin of these half-orcs. You know, traditionally they are to have grayish human skin. Makes sense to me. So, I started with a base of Gray 20, dry-brushed on some Gray 15 heavily, then mixed 50/50 Gray 10 and Tanned Skin Highlight and dry-brushed that on very lightly. Depending on how you like your half-orc flesh you could add more flesh color or brush it on more heavily to get a more human effect.

Onto some miscellaneous figures by Reaper; two assassins and a Mystic Knight.

On the left is the Mystic Knight, Jaron. I painted him similarly to the Reaper site. I liked the colors that they chose so I stuck with them. Like I said before, sometimes it's okay to let others do the thinking for you.
To the right is Blue Orchid Assassin. Seeing as how his name is Blue Orchid, I went with a Necron Abyss blue cloak and made his bracelet a blue gem. Keepin' it simple. Sometimes sticking with the acronym K.I.S.S. is the best policy. Don't go overboard, it'll make the figure look too busy.

This is Deladrin the assassin. I think she is a very nice figure. I really love the knee-pads they designed for her. She is also painted similarly to the Reaper site. Sorry, I guess I wasn't that creative. I just really liked what they did. I contemplated painting her studded leather in burgundy wine and that would have been wonderful with the brass/gold of her accents. Could have gone silver too...maybe next time. I just really enjoy the softer tone of the olive green with the gray.

I promised pizza...and so I shall deliver. Now mind you, these aren't the outdoorsy beautiful pics from the last pizza episode. No, just kitchen ones. Our D&D group doesn't do romantic. Although, one time we did have champagne with strawberries; one of our players thought we deserved a treat. Usually we imbibe in pop and fatty snacks.

Both of these pizzas, actually there are four, were done on the grill. One is a Traditional Pizza of red sauce and cheese, the other is a Santa Fe Chicken.
Use the King Arthur Flour recipe for Now or Later Pizza and prepare according to directions.
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/now-or-later-pizza-recipe

Remove from fridge, shape according to directions on olive oiled parchment paper. Let rise for 30 minutes.
Take to preheated grill, oil top of pizza. Flip pizza onto grill surface, remove parchment paper by peeling it away from the dough.
When dough browns on grill, flip it over with spatulas. Brown other side. While this brown, top pizza.

This pizza is a Traditional one. We just used Ragu red sauce from a jar. It's not to flavorful, so I suggest adding more basil or oregano. Spread the sauce on with a spoon, top with pepperoni slices and add a mix of mozerella and provolone cheese.

Of course you can do whatever you want to this type of pizza and add all the toppings that please you. Bob only likes pepperoni and cheese...he's a plain kinda guy.

This pizza is the Santa Fe Chicken with Pico de Gallo. Here's what you need:

Chicken breasts or tenderloins.
Pico de Gallo (ours is pre-made and bought from Giant Eagle in the refridgerated veggie section).
Philly Cream Cheese Santa Fe Cooking Sauce.
Mexican Blend Cheese.

Ahead of time, grill the chicken, don't add any seasoning, and cut it into bite-size pieces.
On the grill, top the pizza with the Santa Fe cooking sauce using a spoon.
Place the cooked chicken pieces onto the pizza.
Sprinkle on the pico de gallo.
Finally, top with Mexican blend cheese. Allow to melt. Voila!!

Here's the D&D group enjoying the pizza before the game begins. So, this must have been why I thought there were half-orcs having a picnic. Wonder where the dancing girls have gone? ;-)

Lovely Lamia - by Reaper

2011-06-23T15:41:00.000-04:00

I suppose I'm behind in posting pictures of what I've been working on; however, posting pictures doesn't exactly pay the bills. Bob has me chained to the painting table (figuratively) and I must keep my little mind focused. It was my birthday the other week, when I painted the marid, and Bob ordered me a beer making kit. Well, it came in the mail yesterday and I've been itchin' to being the beer brewing process; painting must come first, beer second.
So, another really cool figure I was working on is this lamia. She's not the standard lamia; well, not the one I think of. The lamia I always picture, you know, when lamia come up in conversation, are the ones with beast bodies not serpent. In my circle of friends, lamias do actually come up in conversation quite often. Here she is:

I apologize, but the images seem to be a bit darker than usual. I don't have time, however, to fiddle with the lighting. I take these photos at my painting desk when I'm finished with a mini. Bob takes better photos after they've been sprayed, flocked, and glossed, and are ready to be shipped out to the customer.

Her snake body is a dark brown with light brown highlights to the scales; pale, creamy belly. Her armor is Blighted Gold (a metallic green-gold) and gold. The reason I went with this combination is because of an illustration found on the Pathfinder Wiki, below.

I think you can see more clearly the brown, almost copper color of her snake body from the back photo. It fades from a light brown to a dark brown, almost black, tip. The tip is actually highlighted with a very dark burgundy; as is her hair.

I started at the tip by painting on Raw Umber, then up the tail with Burnt Umber, up some more with Brown, and finally at the top by the skirt Light Brown. After it all dried I dry brushed the Light Brown into the Brown, the Brown into the Burnt Umber, and the Burnt Umber into the Raw Umber sections. After it all dried the banding was washed on with Devlan Mud and Badab Black. The very tip of her tail is Burgundy Wine and it is dry brushed up into the Raw Umber a bit. It is difficult to see in the photos.

Her belly is Stained Ivory with a highlight of Creamy Ivory. You'll notice that I continued the banding around to her belly.

The armor is Blighted Gold metallic, made by Privateer Press, which has been washed with black and then individual scales have been recolored with the Blighted Gold. The shoulder plates, cuffs, spear, mask, and netted skirt are all Gold from Games Workshop that has been washed in Ogryn Flesh and high points picked out with gold again.

I chose for her belt and the tie on her spear a Burgundy Wine (Reaper Color) with a highlight of Red (Vallejo).

The eyes of the mask are Dark Green, Green, and Lemon Yellow (all from Cel-Vinyl). It is accurate to the illustration but I also feel that the green is suitably serpentine. Yellow or ocher would have also been a nice touch but I think they would have blended into the gold mask far too much.

Her hair is black with Gray 25 highlights and the very tips are highlighted again with Burgundy Wine.

"Did I leave the iron on?"

More Display Pieces for Primeval Designs/ Acheson Creations

2011-06-20T06:36:00.000-04:00

I was able to get the latest pieces Allison did based up and ready to ship out to Craig. These three will add to the displays he already has:

Tyrannosaurus with Dead Brontosaurus

I forget what this one is called. The name's written on the base of the figure, but it's glued to the display base so it'll remain a mystery until I talk to Craig later today.

Add caption

This is a re-make of the Nanotyrannosaurus.

There's more on tap for this line with a few more pieces here to be done up. In addition, Craig's sending me the first of the 15mm versions to be painted up.

Display Figures for Scale Creep

2011-06-19T16:22:00.002-04:00

Here's a selection of display figures we've done for Mark at Scale Creep. These are going to be used to display some of the figures he makes and/or carries in his shop and at conventions. Pending his approval, these will be packed up and shipped out to him.

First up are some sea creatures the Allison did: a Kraken and 2 Sea Dragons. One sea dragon is for Mark and the other will be for us to sell:

28mm Kraken

28mm Sea Dragon

A different version of the 28mm Giant Sea Dragon

Next up are some 15mm Black Hat miniatures. Here are two pieces from the Martian range:

Next are 15mm Black Hat Aztec/ Mesoamerican figures:

Mayan Archers

Aztec Warriors

More Aztec Warriors

Aztec Jaguar Warriors

Aztec Command

Here are the sample stands from the 15mm Black Hat Greek range:

Macedonian Pikemen

Babylonian Archers

Greek Hoplites

Thracian Cavalry

Macedonian Command

These are based to the customer's specifications for display on his racks. The Black Hat miniatures are pretty decent figures. There's a bit of clean-up to do on them, but no more so than usual. I especially like the Aztecs and feel they capture the spirit and feel of the culture quite well.

Two Monks, a Rogue, a Mage and Pizza - Reaper Figures

2011-06-18T00:05:00.000-04:00

Let me not lie to you. This is mostly about pizza; the best darn pizza I've ever made. After a long hard day of painting two monks, a rogue, and a mage - I decided it was time for pizza and wine. So, on this particular Friday evening at Evil Bob's, Bob and I made a trek to Wal-Mart and the state-store.

These are the figures I was working on this afternoon...

One could criticize that these figures are painted plainly. I suppose they are. As mentioned a few posts ago, I wanted them to tell me a story.

This half-elf, well, he's a rogue. I could have gone with all black, or all brown; but I needed something to make him pop. All you need is one accent color; I chose green and his light khaki pants. He is woodsy yet roguish.

The monk and priest? Well, they're a monk and priest, what more do you want from them? They could plainer, really.

I didn't want them to become too dark, so I chose to juxtapose light colors with dark. These clothes say, "I'm poor and devout, but I know how to wear my robes and still kick ass."

Above, we have traditional monkish brown with a creamy off-white. "Why a blonde beard?" you may ask. Well, because it simply stands out from his brown robes.

Here with the priest, we have hues of a grey-green, a soft tan with white, and red hair. Yep. Nothing against red-heads; I've dyed my hair red many a times. I just took one look at his face and said, "He's gotta have red hair." Look at those chubby cheeks, they just scream for red or blonde hair. I just happened to choose red.

And let us not forget this little halfling. I could have gone for traditional bright halfling colors; picture The Hobbit. That would have suited a mage; but instead I opted for a muted robe and a brighter tunic. The muted color makes him appear humble while the brighter tones mean business.

I often think of the practicality of adventuring clothes. Yes, here I am again interjecting logic into fantasy. However, I enjoy a bit of realism now and again when I am painting. Sure, I could go all willy-nilly and choose a million colors but how practical would that be? The burnt sienna robes of this halfling go with a multitude of other items should he choose to change his clothes. I'll let you know when he decides to change his clothes; it means I'm in a rubber room with a pretty white jacket with lots of shiny buckles.

So on to pizza!

We had London broil last evening with roasted red potatoes on the grill. It was fabulous, as always. Unfortunately, there were leftovers. We are all plagued with leftovers every now and again. I've shown you how to paint, now I'll show you what to do with some leftovers. ;-)
This evening I thought pizza would be fantastic; especially on the grill. Bob was skeptical. He changed his mind quickly.

Here's what you need:

London Broil marinated in McCormicks Meat Marinade, Cooked and sliced thin (1 hr of marinading in fridge)

One reciepe of King Arthur Flour Pizza Dough

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/now-or-later-pizza-recipe

Raw - Green Peppers, Mushrooms and Garlic (sliced thinly)

Philidelphia Cream Cheese, Cooking Creme, Savory Garlic

http://www.kraftbrands.com/philly/products/Pages/all-philadelphia-products.aspx

Sargento Mozzarella and Provolone mix

Olive Oil

Directions:

Make the pizza dough according to directions and place in fridge.
Grease 2 sheets of approx. 14x14 parchment paper with olive oil when dough is ready.
Remove dough from fridge, divide on floured surface. Place one part on greased parchment and use knuckles to shape dough into a pizza round (or oval). Do the same to the other ball of dough.
Next, cut up vegetables and meat (if necessary) while waiting for dough to rise for 30 min.
Preheat Grill.
When grill is ready, hot but not flaming, oil top side of dough circle and flop onto grill surface. Peel off parchment paper. Oil what is now the top of the pizza dough. Close lid. When bottom is thoroughly browned and has nice markings...about 4-5 min. depending on how hot your grill is, flip over.
Begin topping. First spread on the Philly Cream cheese Savory Garlic, then the meat and veggies, then finally the cheese. Let cook for another 4-5 min with the lid down. If the bottom is browning/charring too quickly but the cheese and veggies are not yet soft and melty, move to the top rack.
When the dough is brown and perhaps even charred and the cheese is melted and the veggies are soft - you're done!

Pair this pizza with a nice, deep red and a game. We chose Apothic Red, Spanish Quarter/Cabernet Sauvignon Tempranillo, and Carcassonne.
http://www.apothic.com/
http://www.thespanishquarter.com/
http://www.riograndegames.com/games.html?id=48

Yes, he always looks this cheezed-off, otherwise we wouldn't call him Evil Bob.

Do I appear deep in thought? It is all a ruse.

Making a Birthday Wish with a Marid - A Reaper Figure

2011-06-15T17:55:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was my birthday and I spent it being lazy, I painted this marid from Reaper and only worked on four other figures. My father had a case of beer delivered to my house; no, I didn't spend the rest of the day drinking it, although I did contemplate it. I did, however, feel that I deserved to let my mind wander instead of getting work done.
The last post was about making sure that you have a clear focus before painting. I liken it to making the model tell a story for you; finding out who they really are. On the other hand, nothing beats cheating. When in doubt, follow someone else's painting strategy.

Case in point: this marid by Reaper. I'm not altogether sure how I would have painted her...I think I was leaning more toward a regular skin tone with blue wash; kinda human but not. Seeing as how she's a water genie, I knew I needed some blue in there or some greenish color. I also found some really neat images of marid that look like fish, and that was intriguing. However, the customer seemed to like the model already painted by Reaper so, I will do as asked.

I very much like the paint job done on the Reaper site and so it is not difficult for me to borrow the idea. Of course, I don't know how it was painted or with what but I can manage on my own and do what works best for me to get a reasonable fascimile. That's my suggestion here, don't try to do exactly what is done by another artist unless you're sure you can pull it off. Just do what is comfortable for you. In the end you will have a painted model that pleases you in record time.

Yes, the paint job on the Reaper site appears to be wet-blended. That's all well and good but I don't have all the time in the world to wet-blend and make this model an expensive afternoon. I have limited time as a "professional painter" as do you as an amateur painter (you have spouses, kids, jobs, a life).

There is nothing more frustrating than picking up this sweet mini, seeing a paint job that you love, trying to paint exactly like that and epically failing. You spend all this time trying so hard to do something that you aren't yet capable of or that will take you a million hours. Hey, don't get me wrong, if you've got no life and all the time in the world then go for it. Think, however, of the other things you might be doing, think of that time as money...(oh, I know, this is a hobby), and then wonder if the backache, hand cramp and annoyance were worth it.

But I will say this, practice. Practice on simpler figures, ones that you don't have your heart dead set on; ones that you may not need to strip because what you attempted didn't work out; ones that you didn't see "professionally painted" which took days to do and has corrupted your mind. If you haven't guessed, I'm trained to be a teacher. I will give you the, "You can do it!" speech a million times, even when you say you can't.

Skin: Cel-Vinyl Middle Blue, Middle Blue 10, Deep Sky Blue, Sky Blue.

Base-coat in Middle Blue. Then, pick out the muscles in Mid Blue 10. Then, do it again with the Deep Sky Blue but only smaller this time. Finally, do it again with the Sky Blue, but only hints like the glistening of the skin; little slivers of light.

Hair: Gray 5, White, Sky Blue.

Base-coat in gray 5. Then water down the Sky Blue and let it run in some of the creases (not all). Finally, dry-brush with white all over.

Sandals: Ocher 11.

Accessories: Burnished Gold, Ogryn Flesh wash, New Gold.
Paint on Burnished Gold. Wash with Ogryn Flesh. Dab on New Gold to high spots.

Clothing: Gray 5, White, Middle Blue 10.

This is the complicated part and takes a feel. Lots of practice on my part and even then I have my bad days where things just won't work. Where her body touches the cloth, coat that in Middle Blue. Where the cloth moves away from the body and where there are creases (which would mean thicker cloth) coat in Gray 5.
Next, highlight the creases and high points of the cloth by using a 10/0 brush and painting on white. Wait for all of this to dry thoroughly.
Finally, dilute down the white until it is a watercolor. Wash over the cloth with the watered-down white (even over the blue parts). Let that dry. if you need to blend the blue to the white where the skin is no longer showing through, just dilute the blue very thinly and blend it into the white. Vice-versa you can do it with the white too.
NOTE: don't be too heavy handed. If the white isn't white enough, wait until dry and do it again. You can always add more but you can't really take away.

Naughty Necromancer - A Reaper Figure

2011-06-13T21:44:00.002-04:00

Since it was necessary to continue painting nearly naked figures today, I found another Reaper that is scantily clad. <<chuckle>> So, this nearly naked necromancer was narrowly knocked out before a headache left me knackered. Oh, alliteration how I love thee. While listening to a combination of Moby, Motley Crue, Alice In Chains, and Nine Inch Nails for inspiration I added her to my done list.

Let us talk about her a little before getting into the painting. This is what I was thinking when I painted her. I think that motivation for a figure is about as important as your actual painting skills. You can be a lousy painter and still do a swell job if you've got the right motivation. Likewise, you can be an excellent painter and make lousy choices when it comes to the direction that the figure is going to take.

When I looked at her I knew I wanted her to be pale. I wish I had another one of these to paint just so I could show you another color scheme, but I don't.

I wanted her to be like a ray of moonlight; although not undead looking. Her skin is alabaster or marble in hue; like a grave stone. Her hair white and blue, cold fire.

Likewise, her cloak and thong needed to contrast her a bit. I did contemplate doing them in white also but I didn't want to lose them in her skin. They might appear simply black with gray highlights but no, they are a purplish gray; like mist rising from the grave or smoke from a chimney.

The bracers and shin plates are silver. Gold would have been a nice alternative but again I was going for moonlight. The accessories are supposed to be skeleton parts, but again if I had made them off-white bone they would have faded into her skin.

Choosing the gem coloring for her staff. I could have gone with blue and that would have worked well with her hair. I also considered purple or red. However, when I think necromancer I think nuclear green. In this case, the blue and the green compliment each other. They are both rather cold.

I'm still considering giving her some eye makeup. I would choose blue with a hint of metallic. I'll sleep on it and decide tomorrow. She does have lipstick in a deep red shade.

These skeletons are a typical offwhite/white combination. I added that nuclear green to their eyes, mouth, and ribs to tie in with the staff - as if they are animated by it.

That's always something to consider, tying a piece together. Just because it is one figure doesn't mean that you can throw a bunch of colors together and it'll work out fine. Choices need to be made and often staying focused on a few colors pays off. The main focus is the female necromancer and she needs to stay that way. If I added too much color to the bottom here with the skeletons, we would lose that focus.

Skin:

Fair Skin triad (Reaper), Ogryn Flesh wash. Because she is so fleshy, dry brush on some gray over the skin, this helps to paint on a fair skin color without having to do a million layers. Basecoat in Fair Skin Shadow. Next, when fully dry, I went around the accessories and in her creases with Ogryn Flesh. Then, wetblend in the Fair Skin, and finally wetblend in the Fair Highlight. This takes some practice and a light hand.

Hair:

Sky Blue (Model Color), Gray 5 (Cel-Vinyl) and White.

The tip of her hair is painted in Sky Blue and towards her face it is painted in Gray 5. Then, white is mixed with the Sky Blue and dry brushed over the tip of blue. Lastly, White is dry-brushed over the gray and faded into the blue.

Cloak:

Dusky Skin triad (Reaper)

Paint on the Dusky Shadow. Then, simply dry-brush on the other two colors of the triad.

Accessories:

Mithril Silver w/ Badab Black wash.

Paint on the Mithril Silver and then wash with black.

Staff:

Brown (CV) w/ Devlan Mud wash.

Paint on Brown then wash.

Gem:

Green, Yellow Green, Lemon Yellow, White.

Paint on the green, hit the edges of the gem with yellow green, then again with lemon yellow, and finally dot with white for the gleam of the gem.

Skeletons:

Stained Ivory, Creamy Ivory, White.

Heavy dry-brush of the the Stained Ivory. Dry-brush of the creamy ivory. Finally, a very light brush of white.
Then, hit the inside of eyes, mouth and ribs with the green and lemon yellow for that undead glow.

Grave Cloth:

White w/ Sepia and Devlan Mud wash.

Paint on the white, then wash with sepia all over. Finally, hit the edges that make contact with the dirt with the devlan mud.

Something Smaller

2011-06-13T13:43:00.000-04:00

I needed to take a break from dinosaurs and bigger models. My heart really lies in painting naked ladies. Yeah, this is Allison speaking, not Bob. There's just something wonderful about scantily clad figures. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy painting barely clothed male figures too.

So, onward I went to paint up some Reaper figures for an order. Most of them are clothed, but as you can see, I started with a chain-mail bikini girl.

Eventually her lips and eyes will be glossed.

She looked like she hijacked a captain's coat, so that's how I painted her.

Her hair is highlighted, but with a dark blue. I wanted her hair to be so black that it had a blue tint. I think after she gets clear coated I'll gloss her hair lightly. In addition, her clothing will get glossed to make it appear as satin or silk.

Then there were some bosomy barmaid women. I've painted these girls before and really like the sculpt. The shape of them really take a wash well.

I love the tray of food. I think it adds so much character to this figure. In addition the lace on her apron, which I always treat as Turkey Work or embroidery is a wonderful touch.

It's really difficult to she her face up under that hair but it is visible on the model. I think it's funny and the shadow adds that mystery to her. Neat unintentional effect really.

Just as I was about to take a picture of her nicely proportionate leg, the camera batteries went dead. Bogus.

Well, I really must be going. I spent all day Sunday loafing about and crocheting instead of painting. Shame on me.

Thursdays Create Sea Monsters That Go "Moo!"

2011-06-09T22:26:00.000-04:00

Do you remember this box of black, almost unidentifiable stuff? Well, I plowed through much of it this afternoon.

Today was a mopy kinda day. The kind of day when you don't want to get out of bed, don't want to brush your teeth, don't want to get dressed...<<sigh>>. My sea monsters did brighten my mood a bit. Nothing like sea monsters to lift one's spirits. As I said to my husband, Bob, early in the day, "The sea monster says "Moo". He just gave me a strange look and shook his head. Yep, day three and I'm certifiable. Usually it takes a few weeks for me to start making the models talk. I don't do well at home.

So, here's the beginnings of the sea monsters:

Sea Monster #1

Deep Ocean

Base-coated with Dark Sea Green. It's shiny cuz' it's wet.

Use the Green and Dark Sea at a 50/50 mix and dry-brush all over the model to help pick out the scales.

Then, I took Cel-Vinyl Green and mixed it 50/50 with the Dark Sea Green to make the stripes. I diluted it a little with water just to make it flow better. I also painted the belly.

Next, I highlighted the stripes with plain Cel-Vinyl Green. I was pretty heavy handed with it.

Between the last photo and this one below, I lost it. This is about where the sea monster says "moo". There are no photos of the steps. To tell the truth there were no steps beyond this. I kinda went bonkers and couldn't make up my mind and started mixing colors together. Lets just say that the spaces between the green stripes are blue tinted and then the fins are the color of the sea and the spines are like bone. I'll tell you the colors but I honestly can't say how I really got to where I got. I was just fiddling.

These are all the colors that I used to create the effect on this model. Seriously, all of them. I mixed, I blended, I was a mad scientist. The sea monster says "moo".

Okay. So anyways, insanity aside. Here's kinda what I did:
Green Stripes:

Dark Sea Green - basecoat
Dark Sea Green + Green 50/50 - dry brush all over. Then dilute and make stripes.
Green - highlight the stripes.
Yellow Green - highlight the stripes again.
Lemon Yellow - highlight the stripes yet again. Do so very, very lightly. You will eventually highlight over the blue with this also.

Blue Stripes (between):

Dark Sea + Blue - highlight the Dark Sea basecoat.
Blue - highlight, very lightly, over the above.
Lemon Yellow - yes, very, very lightly dry-brush over.

Fins:

Dark Sea + White - dilute with water and drag from tip of fin to base but do not go to the scales.
Dark Sea + White - increase the white, dry brush over the top of the fins.
Dark Sea + White - increase again until almost white. Dry brush the very tippy tops of the fins.

Eyes:

Brass w/ Black dot.

Spines:

Creamy Ivory - Use a small brush and from the top of the spine drag down toward the body. Do not go onto the body, kinda make a jagged edge to the bottom where it would meet the body. It gives an illusion that the horn is rounded.
White - Starting at the top bring the color down, but do not meet the edge of the creamy ivory, leave some showing. It makes the spine look like the top is all polished and nice but the base is fleshy and attached to the skin. It also gives depth from a distance.

Water:

Dark Sea - basecoat. For the highlights to the water, just keep adding white until the very top of the foam and around the body of the monster is white.

I based this sea monster after the typical Loch Ness, murky greens and blues for the deep ocean. I don't usually do bright blue dragons or sea monsters because I find them unrealistic; yes, I feel the need to base my fantasy in reality.

Sea Monster #2

The Chinese Water Dragon or Koi (you choose) :-)

This is what I based my Sea Dragon / Sea Monster after. I think he's a cute little guy.

Basecoat of Grayed Orange Yellow 12.

Then a highlight of White + Grayed Orange Yellow 12. Do this heavy handed.

Obviously there are some steps in between. So, here it is:

Skin/Scales:

Creamy Ivory - Atop the last highlight from the pic above, dry brush lightly.
White -Final dry-brush, do so very lightly just to capture the tops of the scales.

Black Scales:

Black - paint on (add water if you need better flow to make clean strokes) the black in arcs.
Gray 25 - highlight the black, be a little heavy with the dry-brush.
Gray 15 -very, very lightly dry-brush to capture the tops of the scales and make it look like it is glistening.

Belly:

Wash with Ogryn Flesh, then wash the center with Devlan Mud. Push the Ogryn Flesh up a little into the scales then, when it dries, go over those scales again with Creamy Ivory to catch the tops again.

Eyes:

Brass w/ black dot.

Water:

Turquoise - basecoat.
Turquoise + White - heavy highlight the waves.
Light Turquoise (Model Color) - lightly highlight the waves.
Light Turquoise + White - do so very lightly to catch the tops of the waves and stay close to the body of the sea monster where the water is most disturbed. Finally, use straight white to dry-brush, very lightly the tippy tops of the waves and right up against the body.

I'm not usually fond of bright blue water. However, I wanted the water to look exotic like a tropical island. I felt that this sea monster looked as if he belonged in shallow water circling islands in the tropics. He reminds me of a Koi fish and he looks like sand; the bright water accentuates him.

I was actually more productive than just these two monsters. I also did a Nano-T-Rex and some other odd dinosaur. I'll post those tomorrow.

"I'm a Dinosaur..."

2011-06-08T15:22:00.000-04:00

Apparently crazy only takes me a couple days. Then again, my husband has been playing King Crimson...so, when I start talking gibberish, blame it on the music.

UPDATE:

I knew I couldn't just let it go. I think I spent half the night tossing and turning about how I wanted to change it. In the end, I did modify the blue-ringed octopus, a little. I added Golden Yellow highlights in order to boost the neon color effect. It does make the blue rings pop a bit more, so I'm pleased.

I took the Cel-Vinyl Golden Yellow and "spotted" the entire piece with a 10/0 brush. Sounds time consuming? It kinda is but I think it was worth it.

Then, on to the brontosaurus and t-rex set.

This is the brontosaurus. Obviously dead. I was working quickly and forgot to take step-by-step photos. Oops. However, here are the colors in order of use:

For The Brontosaurus

Upper Skin:

(CV) Olive Green - base-coat.
Olive Drab 13 - heavy dry-brush.
Olive Drab 13 mixed with Golden Yellow 50/50. Light dry-brush just on the spine and down the legs a little. Then, add a little water to dilute and run it along the spine and into the cracks of the skin.

Belly:

(CV) Ocher - heavy dry-brush.
Ocher 11 - light dry-brush.
Tan 6 - very light wet brush. Then, dilute with water a bit and use it like a watercolor to go into the cracks of skin. This brings all three colors together a bit, blends it and makes it seem uniform.

Gore: (Reaper)

Antique Rose - base color for innards.
Porcelain Pink - high light.
wash of Baal Red. Some of the innards are various other pinks and purples and reds to vary up the organs. But, they all get washed the same color to bring all the colors together.

Blood: Model Color

Red - dry-brush this on where the wounds meet the flesh and drag away from the wound in a spray like pattern. Make it messy.
Baal Red wash - same effect, drag away from wound and kind of slop it around. Don't be too precise because it will look oddly perfect. Slop it on.

DINOSAUR HUMOR

"I'm a dinosaur...somebody is digging my bones..."

"I'm hungry. Mom, what's for lunch?"

"I'm gonna need a toothpick after this one."

"Delicious!"

"Burrp!"

The T-Rex Coloration

Upper Skin:

Mud Gray - basecoat
Mud Gray 11 - heavy dry-brush all over.
Brown - diluted with water until it is about the coloration of a watercolor paint. Then, drag over the spine and be kinda splotchy. Next, drag down into the main body to create stripes of sorts; over the hind leg thighs and the upper arms. Also, make strips down tail and toward the neck. This will look like a jagged tooth effect down the side of the model.
Devlan Mud wash for spots - on the very very top of spine. You can add spots down the body as well.

Belly Skin:

Mud Gray 11- dilute with water. Go over belly area and down backs of legs to bottom of feet.
Tan 6 - first dry-brush on over the gray 11 area. Then, dilute with water also and do only the very bottom of belly and down the legs a little.
Creamy Ivory - very very light dry-brush just to make the belly pop.

Toenails:

Stained Ivory - basecoat
Creamy Ivory- brush over top and catch the ridges of the nails.
Sepia wash - just where the nail meets the skin.

What a Way to Start the Summer

2011-06-07T23:18:00.000-04:00

So, I'm done with teaching for the summer and resumed painting with Bob as of today. Most people think of summer vacation as the beach. I think of it as miniature painting. Not a bad way to spend one's summer vacation but perhaps not what I was hoping for.
Today started with a few loads of laundry that I've been putting off and a hodgepodge of miniatures that Bob has been setting aside for me to paint; dinosaurs and monsters. I was jamming-out to some U2, The Church, and Pete Yorn. Hodgepodge of miniatures, hodgepodge of music.
Well, let me show you what I've accomplished so far...

Hard to tell what these babies are with their black primer. We've got a Brontosaurus, T-Rex, a giant octopus, two dinofelis and a Nano T-Rex. There is also some other kind of weird dinosaur but I'm not sure yet what it is. I'll figure it out later.

Oh, NO! A giant octopus!

This is a primed box of sea dragons and a fantasy sea monster (kinda looks like a prehistoric dolphin with plates). I really enjoy the casting on the sea dragon. I plan on painting one sea dragon deep sea blue with hints of green and the other one will probably be more magical, like perhaps emerald green or a majestic blue with a bit of metallic shimmer.

I started off by base-coating the figures. This time around I photoed the bottle of paint I used. This is just a straight base-coat, there is no diluting with water.

50/50 mix of these two colors.

Yep, he's dead. It's a brontosaurus being eaten by the T-Rex from above. Really cool set if you ask me.

Then, I got side-tracked by the octopus. I couldn't help myself. I really like octopus and was obsessing over what type I would like to paint. Compulsion took over from there. I decided to go with a blue-ringed octopus.

Dry brush on the ocher 11 and then lightly dry brush on the tan 6. I hit the suction cup part of his tentacles harder with the tan 6.

To get his rings I painted on rings in black. Then, I went over the rings and around them with Badab Black wash.

Next, I used Cel-Vinyl Blue and painted within the black rings so it looks as if my blue rings have black outlines.

Then, I used Blue 11 to highlight the Blue rings. May seem like overkill but it gets worse. <<grin>>

You can see it better from this view, I highlighted the blue/blue 11 rings with Sky Blue from Vallejo. I needed the rings to look electric. They need to glow; and they do, more so in person than on film.

Lastly, I painted the water with deep sea blue and highlighted it by altering the color with white a little at a time until finally the tops of the waves are foam in white. I altered the color probably three times to achieve this effect.

No, you're right. My blue-ringed octopus doesn't look exactly like the one in the photo at the beginning. The one in the photo is a little more orangy brown. I left mine a little more yellow ocher. I just felt like I enjoyed the yellow and the blue more. Perhaps I'll change my mind tomorrow; in that case I'll just wash with ogryn flesh a little in the spaces between the black spots and leave very little yellow. <<shrug>> Don't know.

My octopus is a little more like this one, but I didn't get so neon. If I had neon paint, I might be able to do it. Now that I think of it I might go back over some of the yellow ocher with lemon yellow or golden yellow to pump up the neon. We'll see what I do tomorrow.

Well, that's all. I had grocery shopping to do and dinner to cook. Tomorrow will mean finishing out all the other figures that I base-coated this morning.

More Bretonnians

2011-06-03T07:32:00.001-04:00

Here is a few more reinforcements for the Bretonnian army we are doing for a customer. Here are the Pegasus Knights:

Here is a Pegasus Knight hero:

A Damsel to give the army a little bit of magic. We will be adding a second Damsel in the next batch:

These are the archer's stakes for the bowmen:

Dystopian Wars Empire of the Blazing Sun

2011-05-23T08:51:00.000-04:00

Here is an order for the Dystopian Wars Empire of the Blazing Sun Naval Battle Group box set. These models are made mostly of resin with a few metal parts. The bombers are all metal. Clean-up was minimal and the casting quality was high.

The customer picked the overall colors. I went with a slightly more used, dirtier look as though the fleet has been out for a while:

Warhammer Bretonnian Army Finished

2011-05-10T07:37:00.000-04:00

Here's a Warhammer Bretonnian Army recently completed for a customer. The characters have already been delivered and there are more units and figures to add but this is the core of the army. It includes two Bretonnian Battalion boxed sets and a unit of Grail Knights.

I did a typical Bretonnian scheme focusing more of Red, Blue, Black, White, and Yellow for the knights' heraldry. I reserved green for use more with the Damsels, and we already delivered a Green Knight model, so those will stand out from the bulk of the army. I would have liked to really go crazy with the heraldry on some of the knights but we ran into the usual restrictions of time and money. It's expensive for the customer if I have to put a lot of time into the model, such as with complex heraldry, so I try and keep costs down a bit for them by simplifying things.

The peasant foot were done in more muted colors reflecting their status. Brighter colors were used for thier badges and standards. The contrasts between the brighter knights and duller peasants really adds to the visual appeal of a Bretonnian army.

The Bretonnian Army

Close-up of one of the units of Men-At-Arms

An overview of a unit of Knights of the Realm

All of the Knights together

Close-up of the Grail Knights

Side view of all of the knights

Both units of Men-At-Arms

Both units of Archers

There will be images of the Pegasus Knights and a Damsel soon. Then the army will be flushed out by adding about 10 more Men-At-Arms to each unit, 5 more Grail Knights, about 10 more Knights of the Realm, and a few more Lords and Damsels.

More Flames of War 15mm WWII

2011-04-28T08:04:00.000-04:00

Here's some more 15mm World War II Flames of War figures. These are a commission job completed for a customer. The vehicles and guns are airbrushed. The detailed bases are the ones that come in the Battlefront boxed set.


German 88's.


US Airborne Anti-tankPlatoon

US Parachute Field Artillery Battery


US Field Artillery Headquaters

New Acheson Creations Korean War Figures Complete

2011-04-12T08:30:00.000-04:00

I finished up these figures this week. They are new releases for Acheson Creations and mark their start into a new line of 28mm Korean War miniatures. These are pretty characterful and while I wasn't happy initially the way they were turning out I am satisfied with the completed figures. Basing really does complete the miniatures and I am never satisfied until that stage is complete. These will be the display figures at shows and for images for Acheson's new line.

Chinese in winter uniform. These will probably also work for eastern Soviet WWII figures.

US in winter gear.

Another 15mm Napoleonic French Army

2011-04-06T09:39:00.000-04:00

Just completed another Napoleonic French army. These are again AB Figures. Completing this job gets us much closer to catching up after Cold Wars.

Again the customer will do their own basing. I'm not crazy about showing figs without basing/ flocking as I'm never really happy about their appearance but here they are anyway.

And before anyone brings it up, yes, I know some bayonets and plumes need straightened. That will be done as they are packed for shipping. I was in a hurry to get the pics done as I needed the table space to work on some prep work for some other orders.

Voltigers of the Line


Light Infantry Voltigers

Voltigers and Casualties

Light Infantry

Line Infantry


That's a lot of white straps!

Extra Officers

The flag bearers all had their hands drilled out to accept pre-made flags, probably form the Flag Dude. The customer was handling this as well.

WIP shots New Korean War figs from Acheson

2011-03-30T09:18:00.000-04:00

I've been very busy here trying to catch up on deliveries that should have been made at Cold Wars and still keep the other orders moving. To make a long story short Allison, who is a substitute teacher, has been appointed to a full time position until the end of the school year to fill a vacancy at the school. So we're short of painters here which has resulted in the schedule I had planned basically being tossed out the window. As a result I have quit taking on new customers and am concentrating on the work that is currently here.

Here's some WIP shots of some new figures that will be coming out from Acheson Creations. They are 28mm Korean War US and Chinese figures. Since the kit is basically the same as late WWII, these figures would also work for late winter WWII, and I think the Chinese would even fill in for some of the eastern divisions the Soviets used to halt the German advance.

These are getting pretty close to completion. There's some detail work to be picked out on them and then the basing needs done. I wasn't really happy with the way they were turning out but I put them aside for a few days and I suppose they don't look too bad.

Sculpted by Richard Deasey, they will be produced by Acheson Creations and will be the first of their Korean War line released. Once I get these finished up and sent off the Craig he can get some images done and get them put up in their webstore.

Speaking of upcoming items from Acheson here's a sneak peak of something in the works. These are images of the masters and I'm pretty excited to see what these will look like in the flesh:

Anybody want to guess what these are? I will tell you they are masters for both 15mm and 28mmm versions. I know Craig's been slow with the terrain of late but he's been busy trying to get their figure lines up to speed. With what's in the pipeline it may just be worth the delay.

I'm off to finish the Korean War figs and yet another 15mmm French Napoleonic army. <<sigh>> I think this makes what, number five?!? Once I get this banged out though there's some interesting stuff to give me a break from the Napoleonics in 15mm.

28mm JTFM WWII Vehicles

2011-03-26T10:00:00.000-04:00

Doug Kline, the owner of Battlefield Terrain Concepts (BTC), recently gave us a few JTFM WWII vehicles to do for him. They included a Sherman Firefly, a StuG, and 2 SdKfz 251/1 halftracks. We completed them and delivered them at Cold Wars.

The vehicles were base-coated with the airbrush using Vallejo Model Air paints. They were then highlighted with dry-brushing using Vallejo Model Color paints and the details were picked out as well. Finally, some pastels pastels were used to add some weathering. The pastels are Doc O'Brien's Weathering Powders.


Sherman Firefly

The German vehicles had some foliage added to them when I got to the show. I wanted to confirm with Doug a few details before adding the foliage. Here's the German vehicles before:


German SdKfz 251/1's and StuG

Here's the StuG with the foliage added and placed on the BTC bocage demo table they had set up at Cold Wars:

This is the view the Sherman Firefly would have of the disguised StuG. The StuG is at the point of the Y of the roads:

Overall I like the JTFM models. They have incredible detail. My only complaints are that some of the finer details are somewhat fragile being cast in resin. Also, some parts are sometimes warped. This can be mostly corrected with hot water. Despite the water in our house being extremely hot, some parts still had a slight warp to them. One halftrack's body suffered from this, but the foliage disguised it perfectly.

Oh, the the skirts for the StuG are a pain in the rear. It took some fiddling and trimming but I eventually got them to fit. Now that I have one under my belt I plan on going back and adding them to the StuG I did for us but never put them on.

Still they are nice models and I wouldn't overlook them on account of these two minor issues. They paint up beautifully.

Eureka Turtle Tank Completed

2011-03-18T09:12:00.000-04:00

We recently did the Eureka Turtle Tank as a commission for a customer. Here's the images of the completed model:

Architects of War Terrain

2011-03-14T08:17:00.001-04:00

Well I'm back from Cold Wars so now it's time to get cracking in the studio working on orders. As I said before I left I plan on posting some images of some of the orders we completed and delivered at the show. First up is some of the Architects of War terrain.

Some may recall a company a few years back called Barb's Bunker. Well Barb is back and it's quite a good thing. The new company is called Architects of War and they are producing some really stunning terrain pieces. These will add great flavor to any table and there will definitely be some finding their way onto mine.

Their plowed field:

The figure is a Perry miniatures War of the Roses figure. This gives a sense of scale to the field.

Their garden


The family plot


A well


Various campsite pieces

The major parts were in a resin with the details cast in metal.The resin pieces were all well cast with no visible air bubbles. They cleaned up in a snap with no mold release or residue left on them. They also took paint extremely well. Highly recommended.

Harbinger Heaven...

2011-03-12T10:43:00.000-05:00

So, I got that Harbinger finished right before Cold Wars. I'm sure the customer will be pleased. As I said before, she should have been made of plastic (although I detest plastics for the most part). To this very moment I keep worrying about whether or not she'll fall apart. Bob did pin her joints and we used JB Weld, but I still worry; it's part of my nature.

However, I want you to take a close look at our one, awesome modification. (BTW: someone else may have come up with it, but I didn't see it anywhere on the web so <<raspberry>>)

We used Jewelry Essentials CHAIN in gold Item#JC15173-02 from Michael's Craft Store.

The chain was JB Welded to her first; let to dry thoroughly over-night.

Then, the chain was positioned to them, cut to length, and JB Welded. Again, it was let to dry over-night.

Originally, the chains that her attendants are holding were molded and part of the package. Yeah, that wasn't going to work. She would have had to have been positioned perfectly in place with each attendant in the correct position in order for those short, molded chains to fit correctly. Guess what? They didn't fit. I told Bob "to hell with those chains we're going to use real ones".

After the JB Weld was let to dry, I painted the gold chains Burnished Gold and washed them in Ogryn Flesh wash.

Now it looks like it was supposed to be there and I think it matches the molded chains that are dragging beneath the attendants pretty well.

Lastly, touch-ups were done to the hands of the attendants, to her gold hip-plates and her white robes. Inevitably, I got JB Weld on her robes because I wanted to anchor those chains and the hip-plates securely. You can hardly tell, even close-up and in person.

There you have it! If you have this model, or want to purchase it but don't feel like breaking windows over her, go buy jewelry chain.

Heading out to Cold Wars and Burning the Midnight Oil

2011-03-09T22:34:00.000-05:00

We're in the midst of getting things ready for Cold Wars. Hectic is the word of the day here as we frantically try to finish orders. We've even brought in the second shift:

One plus I noticed today with living in a 100+ year old house: plenty of ventilation! The wind was pretty heavy today and as a result, I had a constant breeze blowing over my lap from the window to my left. At least the cat helped keep me warm.

I wanted to get pictures up of the deliveries but I simply ran out of time. Tomorrow morning as I pack and load things I'll get some pics and get them up when I get back from the show.

I want to take the opportunity to thank a few of our friends, without whom we would have never been ready for the show: Bobby Dern, Eric and Christie Heese, and Mike Mullig. Thanks for the hard work guys and we really appreciate you.

See you at Cold Wars!

It was a Harbinger kind of Friday!

2011-03-06T17:15:00.000-05:00

First let me start out by saying that Bob, my husband, nearly threw this out the window. The only thing that stopped him was the thought of a broken window. This model is horrible to put together. I like to remind him that this is a hobby and that is why some models are overly complicated. This one in particular is a trial of patience and more complicated than necessary. Sadly, though I dislike plastics, it should have been done in plastic and not in metal.

Bob sprayed her with Bone Shadow (Reaper Master Series) with the airbrush.

Then she received a pseudo-Dallimore of Polished Bone (RMS) and a highlight of Stencil (Panzer Aces). She was then washed with a solution of Stencil and water. Remember, the watered down solution of the Stencil will run into the creases and soften the darker spots of the Bone Shadow.

Her metals are Burnished Gold and skin is Gold Shadow (RMS), pseudo-Dallimore of Golden Highlight and will be washed with Ogryn Flesh.

Like I said, she came in multiple pieces, to assemble all of it at once would have made it nearly impossible to paint so these are the parts left off, painted and will be assembled in the end.

The gold has been washed with Ogryn Flesh and so has her skin.

The cloaks/robes of the followers or attendants are done in Burgundy Wine (RMS), dry-brushed in Red (Model Color), dry-brushed in Red Violet (RMS). Their hand bandages along with her stockings are Bone Shadow and highlighted in Polished Bone with a wash of Badab Black.

The person that ordered this wanted the insides of the sword to look as if there is fire within. As you can see there is a little bit of red applied with orange and yellow to make it look fiery.

Her lips are done in a light blush color and washed in Ogryn Flesh. Hair in Ocher (CV) and highlighted in Ocher 11.

I'm still not done with the painting but I think you see where I'm going with it. Eventually I'll post the remaining images as it is finished.