Hellspawn Hero

Hellboy
15 mm

"Don't mess with me, lady. I've been drinking with skeletons!"

This miniature is released by my favourite mini company as part of a pack called "friendly demons".  Its a pretty good proxy for Mike Mignola's wisecracking demonic comic book hero.  I whipped up a couple of spectral foes for him too, using Rebel Minis' Nazi zombie pack:

"Aw crap!  Nazi ghosts?  Worst kind of ghosts!"

Now I just need a 15 mm pyrokinetic woman, amphibian man and homunculus, and maybe a plague of frogs.  Anung Un Rama...

"They Came From Planet Tubby"

Mysterious Tele-Aliens
15 mm

The origins of these strange biomechanical aliens are shrouded in mystery.  They dance and babble in childlike voices, until they suddenly disappear, only to turn up on a new world.  Strangely, they can communicate instantly with others of their kind via their abdominal view screens, and so have become a widely used faster-than-light messaging network for other species.  They have been known to alarm some human religious leaders, but are considered an extremely useful oddity by most sentients.
 

(This "squad" was my entry in the Dropship Horizon 15mm SF painting contest.  A lot goofier than my original plan, but time was tight.)

The figures above were my original plan for this contest.  Khurasan GOTA Clan riflemen with Mekanoid Melee Bots for support, on scratchbuilt starship bases.  But my KM order just arrived this week and there's no way I could have finished them nicely for the 15th.  So, Tubbies it is ;)

Jen Haley MURDERS Khurasan's Paranormal Investigators

I don't normally post about other people's paint jobs... but damn it, woman:

"Something's spooky out there Mulder, and it's Ms. Haley's brush control."

I was still am pretty proud of my paint job on this set, but yet again, Haley shows me why she's soaring with the eagles while I'm still ****ing with the ducks.

According to Jon's TMP post, Khurasan will begin selling these with a new wave of releases starting next week.

Ooh! A painting competition!

The excellent blog Dropship Horizon is holding a 15mm sci-fi painting comp.  Their post itself is pretty clear, but in a nutshell:  three categories: squad, vehicle/mech, terrain piece.  Must be sci-fi.  You can enter one entry per category.  Lots of prizes.

The comp closes in a month so, if you're me and your stock of 15mm figures is sadly depleted, time is a bit tight.  But hopefully I can pull something together and even have the time to paint it nicely.

Ice, Ice, Baby

Ice Warriors
28 mm

You might have to be a real Doctor Who fan to appreciate these old enemies who made a reappearance this past year, in the Eleventh Doctor episode "Cold War".  As with the recent reappearance of the Zygons, I think they managed to update the concept while keeping the same goofy 60's-special-effects charm of the original design.

"That one!"  "Duh-okay boss!"

I really liked their appearance in the 1972 (Third Doctor) episode "The Curse of Peladon", where, while abrasive, they weren't the bad guys any more, and ultimately helped the Doctor discover the real villains and maintain peace.  These two figures depict the Ice Lord Izlyr and his bodyguard Ssorg from that episode.

Ozymandias (15mm terrain)

Ancient Stone Head
15 mm scale

This was an idea I had a while ago for an interesting, cheap scenery piece.  I don't normally make, or have use for, scenery/terrain but this was too fun and easy to pass up as a holiday project.

Sacrificed: one "Clone Wars" Pez dispenser; surprisingly solid and tedious to saw through, I have to say.  You could probably use any action figure head or even a Barbie (if you didn't mind your relic looking like Barbie).

I glued the sliced head to a 2.5" diameter wooden craft circle with hot glue, and smeared some more glue around to make the ground uneven.  Then covered with a mix of sand and ballast and spray-primed.

Wow... at this point I was pretty pleased with the result but I felt it still kind of looked like a toy.  It needed a bit of scale.  So I painted on some lines to make it look like it was originally carved out of massive blocks.  And, of course a little bit of scraggly desert vegetation to add some colour.

 

So there you have it.  One mildly-interesting terrain piece, the mysterious ruins of a long-lost temple or monolith.  Could be better, but as a test run I can't complain.  Maybe someone else can improve on the concept with some more details, or better source material.

"Astounding!  I'll definitely get published in the Xenoarchaeology Bulletin for this!"

"Luminous beings are we..." (Gingerbread post!)

"My ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes..."

 

Merry Christmas!

Well I didn't have a lot of time this year, but I did produce my yearly gingerbread "house" that I like to share here with my readers.  This year... Star Wars.  I wanted to do the Dagobah ship raising scene but an X-wing would have been a lot of gingerbread.  So, here we have Luke, R2 and Yoda decorating for "Life Day".

Yoda's hut was done by draping a sheet of dough over a hemisphere made of crumpled foil, and baking it.  Once the foil was removed, a hollow dome-shaped cookie remained.  Overall, not my best or most elaborate gingerbread creation, but still fun.

ARE YOU MY MUMMY?

The Empty Child
28 mm scale

A basic but tricky conversion of Hasslefree's "Rose" mini, which was obviously inspired by the super-eerie Doctor Who episodes "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances".  Which also featured a character named Rose.  We're down the rabbit hole here, people!  Anyway, a lovely little figure, and I'm happy with the final result.

Goes nicely with Heresy's Ninth Doctor..  I mean "Doctor Malcolm Ecclescake".

"You'll have to act creepier, Captain Jack is stealing the episode."

The whole squad

DEVGRU SEAL Squad
15mm

The Professionals

OK, I finished them!  This is actually my first fully-painted "real" squad of miniatures (five Riflethings painted over five months doesn't count).  And probably my last, to be honest.  But it was a fun challenge and the results were worth it, I think.

I wish I could say the gangers have a fighting chance here... but no.

Also, dear readers, we've got another addition to the family coming in the spring.  As joyous as this is for me, I expect my posts will become even more sporadic next year.  But I'll try and post some interesting new stuff in the next few months, and keep Painting Agency on your blog feed, because I'll be back :)

Some DEVGRU SEALs... and their "dog"

DEVGRU riflemen and marksman
15 mm

So I painted three of these cool guys to start - two assault types and a sniper.  I tried to stick with "realistic" military colours - pretty drab but with sharp highlights - but they're not based on any specific uniform the US military now uses.  As people have said, they would definitely fit in any current or "mid tech" near-future scenario.

BigDog load-bearing robot
15 mm scale

I felt like my SEALs needed some kind of very-near-futuristic technological support, so I sculpted this guy to carry all their extra gear for blowing things up and shooting at people.  BigDog has received a lot of attention for its impressive ability to walk around in an eerily lifelike fashion while carrying heavy loads.  This version would be roughly donkey-sized IRL.

This was a fun sculpt.  I'm not very good at sculpting anything but pouches, so I just let this take me wherever it ended up.  The fabric protecting the legs saved me from having to do anything too mechanical-looking there, and careful painting hides the irregularities in the rest of the frame.  Overall, I think it's a good dog.

Elite Fighters

DEVGRU ("SEAL Team 6")
15 mm

I don't know what I'm smoking, thinking I'll get all these guys painted.  But at least they're based, so I'll have a go at a couple of them at least.  They're really cool figures, no wonder they've become quite popular as both modern and near-future troops.

Back from the dead...

Narg Freebooter Hero
15 mm

Haven't done much painting lately, but here I am again!  Just finished this neat little guy, a 15mm.co.uk sculpt I originally saw painted up on Spacejacker's blog.  His gun was a bit of a mess so I replaced it with something a bit better: an M-7 Lancer, an energy rifle capable of stopping a rampaging Geth dead in its tracks.  Not, admittedly, my smoothest conversion but it's good enough IMO.

Alien Plantimals
15 mm scale

I made these out of acorn stems I found in Florida.  I thought they'd be perfect for some kind of barnacle/plant-like sessile alien.  The "tongues" are just wire.

"I don't know, those things just freak me out."  "Reeeelax, they suppoooosedly harmless."

Move along, move along...

Prang Constable
15 mm

Yet another Eli Arndt sculpt from 15mm.co.uk.  After seeing Spacejacker's nice paint-up here, this was a figure I had to get.  I suspect this version is vaguely inspired by, of all things, the TV show Space Precinct.  It also occurs to me that with his green flesh and rippled chin he resembles a Skrull, albeit a very fat one.  Nerrrrrrd!

I had the same problem with a blobby, indistinct hand weapon that he did, but picked an easier solution: I removed it.  Now my constable has the traditional space-policeman's electro billy club.

"You're a little out of your jurisdiction, Judge!  Here we believe in 'due process'."

I saw "The Wolverine"...

Artist's impression of about half the film.

The wife took me out to see the new Wolverine film for my birthday.  Without getting into plot too much, this is a solo story about Logan after his self-imposed exile from the X-Men and human society following the death of Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix.

Though it is based on the 80's comic miniseries, what you do not get is this:

... as a film.  Most of the same players are there: Mariko Yashida, Yukio, Lord Shingen, ninjas, the wounded bear etc.  But they are changed substantially in their actions, interactions, alliegances and motivations.  Also, there are (spoilers, highlight to read) the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, a toxic/power-stealing mutant, a fight on top of a speeding bullet train, a freakin' giant robot samurai, and Wolverine losing his metal claws... but growing back his organic ones. I rather missed the more pronounced good girl/bad girl contrast between Mariko and Yukio from the comic, it paralleled the two sides of Logan's character. Here the women are as close as sisters (and that's nicely done), and Yukio helps Logan as much out of loyalty to the Yashidas and her best friend as anything else.  And as reviewers seem to have noticed, it can't seem to decide if it's an action drama about a character tormented by his own inner nature... or a summer blockbuster spectacle with the requisite over-the-top special-effects-driven finale.

But I liked it anyway, and if you like Wolverine, you probably will too.

(Hmm, I should re-paint that Clix figure some time...)

Straight Outta Quantico

FBI Special Agents
15 mm

We just got back from a much-needed week's vacation on lovely Manitoulin Island, and so... it's time to post something cool I've been sitting on for a while here.

I was lucky enough to get first crack at painting these new releases from Khurasan.  One agent demands scientific rigor, the other allows himself to explore extreme possibilities.  Together, they're a doggedly unstoppable truth-seeking duo, even if they're always stopped short of actually finding it.

Anyway, on to the sculpts.  Holy crap, so tiny!  These are easily as finely sculpted as "Dave and Desiree", and perfectly proportioned.  There were a few pesky double mold lines that took some care to remove, but overall prep was not bad.  I didn't even try to remove the attached bases, as I was scared that I'd snap them off at the ankles; instead I embedded them in the middle of washer-shaped plastic pieces so the street surfaces didn't bulge up.

Conspicuously absent from these figures: powerful flashlights, yappy Pomeranian, implied pornographic VHS collection, or creepy living black oil.  Present: 90's style ladies' pantsuit.

"Wait, I think I heard something..."

"What's in the boxes, Reg?"

Time War Veteran

The Ninth Doctor
28 mm

The Doctor: I'm The Doctor, by the way.
Charles Dickens: Doctor? You look more like a navvy.

Finally done!  I'm not 100% happy with some aspects of this guy, but are we ever?  Mostly his skin seems too dark, #9 was actually pretty pale.  And in retrospect, some brown tint on his leather jacket would have looked good.  I thought of adding a tattered British war poster ("Keep Calm and Timey Wimey On"?) to the base but that might clutter it.  Maybe later.  Anyway as I mentioned last post the base is supposed to be vaguely London Blitz, brick rubble and dust.

'Cause I'm a Rocket Man

Star Pilot
15 mm

Finished my spaceship pilot from 15mm.co.uk.  Not a great sculpt, TBH, but not difficult to paint.  I tried for a shiny gold NMM visor on the spherical lump that is his helmet, I'm not sure if the effect is so great, but oh well, still learning.

The stripes on the base are outright cheating.... I colour printed a web graphic and sliced it into thin strips, then glued them down and blended them in with a little grey paint around the edges. 

"Uh... I'll just use the other landing bay."

Eccles-cellent!

A couple of new projects:

Ninth Doctor
28 mm

Heresy's "Doctor Malcolm Ecclescake".  Great name, and so horribly British ;)  Again, the likeness is uncanny.  I gave him a "London Blitz" themed base, to tie in with one of my favorite episodes:

"Are you my mummy?"

Star Pilot
15 mm

A figure from 15mm.co.uk.  Just your classic space jockey, as found in every grimy fictional space port ever.

I wear a fez now, fezzes are cool!

The Eleventh Doctor
28 mm
 

Well, he's done!  I'm not entirely happy with the photos, but I do like my paint job (I'm allowed to do that, right?).  I didn't even try for that subtle tweedy texture on his coat, I just got on a roll last night and did the blending on it and that was that.  I would have highlighted the pants more, but IRL they're this super dyed denim that barely reflects any light.  His skin looks more yellowish here than it really is, I may try to reshoot these if time allows.

In other news, I've done some painting for Khurasan Miniatures, and I'll post those whenever I get the greenlight to show them to you.  A few new sculpts of amazing quality, with a hint of 90's TV nostalgia...

To CAPTCHA or not to CAPTCHA?

"Completely Automated Public Turing tests to tell Computers and Humans Apart".  We all hate them:

 

 But they do work... sometimes a little too well.  A few times I've actually given up on trying to post comments on blogger because of a series of near-impossible captchas.

Anyway, I've had to thin out a bunch of spam comments from older posts on this blog recently, and while that was totes fun, bro, I'm wondering if I should give in and put authentication on my commenting the way most other blogs seem to.

What do you, my regular readers, think?