Ben's Bits n Bobs

[Ben_S]

If I get chance (depending on the weather and stuff), then I might make another entry too. My gf likes ducks, so I ordered this guy:

The intention is to paint him as a statue (probably some kind of bronze) as a Christmas present (if I can keep her from seeing it before then).

 

[Ben_S]

The duck lord turned up. Here he is (32mm scale), next to Frostgrave/Gripping Beast figures:

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I did manage one coat of primer on the dwarfs on Friday, but will have to wait to finish the job.

I spent some time this afternoon assembling TT Combat MDF, but it's nothing that interesting to look at. I do have to work out how to fill some gaps though.

 

[MusingWarboss]

That idea is completely quackers.

*silence*

Thank you, thank you. I’m here all week.

Where’s my coat?

 

[Ben_S]

Not a lot to show, but I have the dwarf statues primed:

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I want them to be a grey stone, so I suppose I could say this is half done already...

(More seriously, I need to remember how to paint stuff.)

 

[Ben_S]

I made a start on painting last night, by trying to drybrush grey over the primer. But I was rather heavy-handed and overdid it. So, then I tried a brown wash (simply very watered down craft paint), applied before the grey had fully dried. I hoped this would add a bit more colour, instead of a flat black/white mix. But, again, probably overdid it a bit and had them looking rather more brown than I'd intended:

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Still, I did another (better) drybrush of grey over this and I'm reasonably satisfied with the result:

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This is probably tabletop ready, given that it's only terrain. I might try adding a bit more, but equally I might end up leaving them here...

 

[Fold]

They look good Ben. As said elsewhere some moss and other weathering would really sell the effect and finish them off. Maybe a few chips and cracks (though that’ll require some repainting), water marks etc… I might be tempted to push the highlights with another very dry lighter dry brush too.

 

[Ben_S]

I was working from home today while my gf was at work, so I realised I needed to push on with the duck lord statue.

My original plan was to try following this recipe but then I, er, didn't.

Starting from a black basecoat, I did a heavy overbrush of burnt sienna, then added some metallic bronze drybrushing for highlights and a bit of wash for shading.

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I have a greeny-blue craft paint called Lagoon that I've used for verdigris before. As it happened, I still had a jar that I'd watered down to make a wash. (I think it was just paint and water, though perhaps I added some washing up liquid - I don't remember now.)

Here's what it looks like wet:

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Looks a bit of a mess there, I know, but the effect is better once dry:

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I managed to do everything today, even gluing him to the base. A few bursts of spray paint and the brown/bronze in quick breaks during the day, then the wash applied this evening while my gf was having a bath. Again, it's at a point where I could call this done, but I might do a few more touch ups.

 

[MusingWarboss]

He looks perfectly fine to me!

If you wanted you could desaturate some more of that paint with a grey and add the occasional bright bloom up but that’s down to you.

Not every bronze statue has to look like it’s been in the open air for decades or a century or more.

 

[Ben_S]

They look good Ben. As said elsewhere some moss and other weathering would really sell the effect and finish them off. Maybe a few chips and cracks (though that’ll require some repainting), water marks etc… I might be tempted to push the highlights with another very dry lighter dry brush too.

I decided you were right and did a bit more.

First, I added some green stippling to the pillars. First, with 'sage' (a very desaturated green that really didn't show much at all) and then a bit more with 'soft green' (which did show a bit). It's mostly fairly subtle, but does add a bit of variation:

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As for cracks, the models did have a few lines, which I assume were down to wear on the mold. (Remember that 2nd edition space marine powerfist?) So, I applied some Agrax Earthshade to accentuate these:

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Now, I think I'll call this a finished set:

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Which means I have a FYSC entry. It might even be my first this year. (I'm not sure of that - I may have managed one or two earlier in the year, but it certainly hasn't been a productive year.)

 

[Brendan Flynn]

That duck is reviving memories of Runequest back in the day.

 

[Ben_S]

Anyone following this plog probably already knows that I'm a fan of the Northstar plastic X-grave/Oathmark models. But you do end up with a lot of spare heads and arms. So, I recently picked up a box of Arab archers/spearmen from Gripping Beast (I paid just under £20 on eBay, for 40 models) and set about converting them into cultist-types:

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Still some clean up and gap-filling to do, but I'm happy with this start.

The box is eight identical sprues of five, so not a lot of variety. Three of the five have left arms attached, but separate from the body (so I cut those off). There are two without arms, one of which is my favourite of the lot but the other my least favourite - the pose is intended to be either firing a bow or throwing a spear/javelin and looks a bit awkward doing anything else. It's the one seen here holding a lantern.

These can serve as faceless mooks for Frostgrave or indeed a range of fantasy or pulp games. I intend to do some with guns (from Stargrave kits) too.

 

[MusingWarboss]

They seem to work remarkably well. Is that one guy lobbing a skull??

 

[Ben_S]

Is that one guy lobbing a skull??

He's not supposed to be. I originally tried that arm on the lantern guy, and he really did look like he was about to lob it.

 

[MusingWarboss]

He's not supposed to be. I originally tried that arm on the lantern guy, and he really did look like he was about to lob it.

He would’ve looked like a shot putter!!