Sculpting II

Layer 2: Feet & Pants.
   Haven't done much today but I have managed to add another layer. It's looking pretty dodgy at the moment but I'm hoping I can fix it.

- The Witchfinder in General.

Navigator Concept Sketches

Been doodling around with some ideas for my RT navigator and I was thinking (there I go again...), as you can probably tell from the scan, of taking the 'third-eye-mutant' description and taking a little stroll with it. I'm not convinced on most of them (it's gonna be hard to sculpt thtat third eye) but I'm liking the one with a cable running from his third eye into a handheld display unit. It's bloody stupid. Keep in mind these are just sketches, have a geez...

Far-left 'Saturday Night Fever' trooper.

Most of what I've done looks too much like imperial guard troopers, which I'm trying to avoid... Back to the drawing board I guess. More to come probably.

- The Witchfinder in General.

Sculpting?

I've been thinking (usually a bad sign)... I need a Navigator for my RT warband... and since I don't have one I thought: bugger it I'll try and make one meself! Thus what follows is my first experimental foray into sculpting with GS... I'm not expecting great results, I've never done anything on this scale before but here goes!

First step: The Wire Frame.
   I couldn't find any paperclips lying around (and it's too late to go down the shops to get some) so I used a bit of copper wire I found. Stripped the insulating plastic and wound the sucker round itself til it was sturdy enough. Made a basic humanoid shape (glued the arm/chest section on for stability)... Forgot to take a photo before I started adding GS, got a bit too excited.

Second step: Fleshing it Out.

Surfing kung-fu navigator navigating.

   I've managed to get this little bugger to strike a dynamic pose, designed to look like he's navigating (pointing) which way to go. It's peen a little difficult to keep the pose due to the softness of the wire being used but I'm hoping that once the first layer of GS dries it'll stiffen everything up. I'm pretty happy with the pose so far and I think he's gonna size up well to the RT minis, somewhere in between 25-28mm. I'm gonna have to cut his wire head off when I get started on that area but it's a nice little indicator at this point of his proportions. Time to do some concept sketches while the first layer hardens so I have a rough idea of what I want to achieve...


coming soon: 
Third step: More Fleshing Out. Time to start working on the clothing...

- the Witchfinder in General.

Terrain: Hedgerow

It's been a while since I've attempted to make any terrain. Everything I've started so far, many a bald and naked hill, has yet to see completion. I'm going with something small and simple, a hedgerow. This way I have no excuse not to finish it as I have all the materials and tools I need.

I started by sawing a 11cm (well, 10.9) by 2cm section of 0.5cm thick wood to use as the baseplate, I had a bit of this wood lying around from the old house as I figured it be perfect for a sturdy baseplate. Anyway, from there I cut a section of polystyrene roughly 3cm high and 10cm long and glued it to the base, pva and sand and bob's your mother's dad's brother in law, ready to paint black.

Foundry mini for scale, cat for cat.

From here it was simple; drybrush the base, paint the polystyrene section a dark shade of green & glue on some "Spring Undergrowth". There ya go, a hedgerow in buggerall time.

- The Witchfinder in General.

Secrets of Photography 101

     I learnt something astonishingly astounding whilst taking this photograph of an updated Problemfoot... I learnt that the key to a successful photograph of your miniature is...

Beer.

A slab of it.

Containing VHS tapes.

    Problemfoot still seems to have a problem with his foot but the colours are starting to appear elsewhere... Bugger New Zealand and Peter Jackson's portrayal of halflings, Tasmania's own Jimmy Boag's got it right.

- The Witchfinder in General.

Oldhammer Legacy Warband: Contribution: Parte the Firste

Problematic foot.

     As no doubt some of you out there will know, over on the Oldhammer forum there’s a bloody great painting challenge going on right now. Yes friends, I speak of the legendary interracial Oldhammer Legacy Warband muster for which my entry is a halfling from Julie Guthrie’s Personalities range originally released by Grenadier (I think) and then picked up by Mega Miniatures (from whence I aquired it not long before the collapse). I chose this particular model mainly due to the smooth and bare shield. A little oldschool shield painting is definitely in order! The design that sprung to mind is fairly basic, being an icecapped mountain with either a blue sky or a sunset behind it and the arrow of law below. I might be getting a bit ambitious though, it’s been a while since I’ve touched brush to lead with paint inbetween. I hope I do both the miniature and the warband justice. This is the progress I’d made so far two nights ago:

 Stage the Onest: Thee Fleshe.

     I started writing this post (primarily the intro) as a distraction from painting the bloody right foot. I’ve tried three times now to get it looking right but it just doesn’t want to look good! One foot looks passable at this stage, but oh no, not the other one. In the end I just gave up and began working on the clothing, which is the stage I am currently at: Stage the Seconde: Thee Cloathe, more to come on this in the next couple of days.

     

    In other news I’ve finally moved house, being reunited with my lead after so many months, to a nice quiet place out where things are generally greener all around. It’s a lovely change from the squalid inner city hovel of untold dirty secrets I previously inhabited, though I will certainly miss its charm, the pleasant memories and its close proximity to everything. On my latest venture into the land of scraped skies I picked up a pot of Hobgoblin Orange and some old Yellow Wash, both practically full (the wash was unopened!) which was a nice little suprise on such a wet and miserable day.

     I almost forgot! A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a $20 box of 160+ mainly early 90s/some 80s miniatures at the op shop (charity store to you foreigners), which I promptly purchased! When I got home the real fun began as I started to sort out what was inside. Turns out it contained a small High Elf army (100+ models) circa 1992 with a high contingency of Marauder minitures, two bolt throwers (but only one crew), two High Elf chariots, four ‘92 halflings, four 3rd ed plastic orcs, a bunch of 3rd/4th ed card buildings and to top it off a bloody (albeit in considerable disrepair with a snapped wing and gluegloop detail obstruction) Maraduer ‘Thaindon’s Dragon’. Bloody bargain!

Well, it’s time to quit the babbling and get to painting. 

Until we meet again: 

Arise all ye faithful to the sword!

- The Witchfinder in General.