Sleuthin'

Country Sleuth
28 mm



Every small English village needs one of these - that apparently utterly normal lady who somehow seems to find out everything that's happening, and delve to the heart of any nefarious goings-on. While not a physical threat to murderers-most-foul, her sharp mind and dogged determination will bring all to light, by the end of the second-last chapter.

Figure by Copplestone.

Canvas

The Dance
8"x10"



I painted this canvas as a birthday gift for my girlfriend. It's based on a photo of some traditional Korean dancers, but I obviously took many liberties with the source. I sort of imagine the scene as an struggle or contest occurring in ancient legend, with an otherworldly audience* observing. To keep the tone light, one of the smaller beings has brought some refreshments. No it doesn't make much sense, to be honest... but I hope she likes it! [EDIT: She likes it :)]

* audience members borrowed from "Spirited Away"!

"Crom, I have never prayed to you before..."

...I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad. Why we fought, and why we died. All that matters is that today, two stood against many. Valor pleases you, so grant me this one request. Grant me revenge! And if you do not listen, the HELL with you!
- "Conan the Barbarian", 1982

I was feeling uninspired by my current project so I quickly painted up another tiny mini:

Barbarian Hero
10 mm

Transparent

I picked up a couple of these clear plastic boxes at Michael's Crafts the other day. Dirt cheap of course, thanks to overseas sweatshop labour and lax environmental controls :(





As you can see they make pretty decent single-miniature display boxes. A couple of sheets of foamcore were used to raise the mini's base, all held together with double-sided tape.

Banzai!

I was originally going to paint my helicopter chick here up with a big British flag on her battle knickers, it seemed fitting for a steampunk character. But the general anime style of her pose and hair changed my mind, so I redirected her nationality a bit. Later in the process she'll have a rising sun motif on her torso. I wish I'd given her a katana though...



Oh, and I can already tell the helicopter is going to be a pain in the ass to paint.

Eine Symphonie des Grauens! GRAUENS! Hahahahaha!

Count Orlok
28 mm





Finished! And I'm really happy with how he turned out, he looks truly cruel and menacing. He's posted on CMON here.

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On a slightly tangential note,
I'd just like to take this opportunity to pay a little tribute to my girlfriend, who on more than one occasion has had to eat dinner with me at my coffee table, because my dining table looked like this:



And she's never complained. Thanks, baby, you're the best!

In Progress

  

I think Count Orlok himself is essentially done. The castle arch is made from three layers of black foamcore board, faced with stone-wall-patterned polystyrene sheet. The inside of the arch is covered in greenstuff epoxy, and I'll add the arch stones and the ground texture with epoxy as well.

In Progress

Smooth transitions on black or grey are hard - the human eye notices very subtle changes in brightness without colour to distract it. But I think I've done okay so far.

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Steampunk Flyer
28 mm



This mini should have wings. But I didn't like them much. I think she looks better with a few modifications... Including some retro-technological stylings.

Wee man

Dwarf
6 mm



This guy and a few other extras came with my "Fellowship" set. I painted him up just for fun this evening, while doing laundry.

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Mini Exchange #11

I just received this "Archangel Sergeant" from Rev in the UK. I might replace her wings with rotors or something and go for a "Steampunk" look.

A whole new kind of "small"

I just picked these up from Copplestone Castings. The set is called "Heroes and Halflings", but they are pretty obviously the Fellowship of the Ring. The humans are a whopping 10 mm tall, the hobbits are more like 6 mm!



My Nosferatu vampire (see below) hasn't gone anywhere yet, but I'm thinking he should be done in greyscale/B&W to fit his cinematic appearance.

Nosferatu

Count Orlok
28 mm



Another great, cheap Mega Miniature - the Count from F.W. Murnau's 1922 film "Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror" (he's also appeared in "Spongebob Squarepants").

Feeling of Accomplishment

"Buger thyss, I'm goinge home!"
28 mm



Well he's done, I mounted him on this little wooden base to make him a little more gift-worthy. The dead grass is bristles from a cheap paintbrush. My dad will have to wait a little longer for his gift though, I can't bring myself to put this guy in the mail...

Just in time too, there's another Mini Exchange underway. "Thoth the Keeper of Scrolls" is on his way to dougaderly in New Hampshire.

Lazy bum

(That'd be me... almost no painting for weeks. Didn't help I was sick TWICE.)

OK so I really have to finish this gift for my dad. Here's what's done so far:



I'm thinking a freehand-painted patterned border on the tunic, and maybe some tufts of dead winter grass poking out of the snow would make him more visually interesting. And he needs rosy cheeks since it's winter.

"The Empire will compensate you if he dies."

Boba Fett
25 mm



"You like to hurt folk."
"Part of the job."
"That's why you TOOK the job."
- River Tam and bounty hunter Jubal Early, "Firefly"

Well, he's done. I think he looks fantastic too, the saturated colours give him a comic book vividness which doesn't really match his appearance in the films, but works well on this scale. The figure is kind of small (for a miniature, even) so this helps to make the details more distinct as well.

Again, thanks to treide for this great figure.

Gift for my Pop

"Buger thyss, I'm goinge home"
28 mm



This is a belated birthday gift for my father. I imagine this fellow being a warrior who has just decided that he doesn't want to fight on the battlefield anymore, and is heading back to his family instead. It's a crisp, characterful sculpt, available from Discount Hobby for a whopping $1. Dad always taught me to be frugal :)

Progress

Amid the post-holiday work blitz, I'm getting a bit of painting done... I like how the high-contrast look is turning out on Boba here.

For England!

Universal Carrier
35 mm long



Just another WW2 mini, Allied this time. Not an amazing paint job, I'll admit. Though this is meant to be a British or Canadian vehicle, the "American" white star was a common Allied air-recognition marking, used to reduce friendly* aircraft attacks on ground vehicles. The cartoon is presumably from a training manual, this was NOT a "tank" by any means and using it as such probably got a few soldiers killed.

* military saying: "friendly fire... isn't"

Ho ho ho...

It being the holiday season, I've been busy with some less metallic, more.... edible crafts:

"Nightmare Before Christmas" gingerbread house
~22 cm





I'll be back to the painting soon... since I have a few more days off :)

"What if he doesn't survive? He's worth a lot to me."

Boba Fett
25 mm



I just started another mini sent to me by "treide". This is a West End Games "Star Wars" (obviously) figure from the 80's, probably quite rare :) And it's everyone's favorite bounty hunter, no less! I think I'm going to try the same high-contrast style on him as on my last mini, I like how it turned out, even on a simple subject (below).

"We've lost contact with the colony on LV-426."

Facehugger Attack!
25mm




Well, he's finished. Poor bastard, he thought he'd be getting a huge bonus from the company for his "discovery". I think this mini turned out looking decent, I tried to produce a dramatic, high-contrast paint job rather than flawless blending. The sculpt itself was rather lacking, specifically it had problems with some of the clothing details being indistinct or poorly-rendered. This is typical of many sculpts from the late 80's, however.

The eggs are plaster casts of some ones that came with my Alien Queen, a probably-rare set I bought WAY back when (c. 1991 in fact).