Disc World

 

Zomtober looms but Mortal Arrow's War Snails have not been forgotten. I recently got some 3 1/2" (about 90mm) acrylic discs through eBay. After roughing up the top of one with sandpaper, I set about building it up as needed with putty.

The green is green stuff (no surprise there). The grey is plumbers putty which has a short working time but, unlike green stuff, sets rock-hard and can be sanded. This quality allowed the edges to be finished cleanly.

 
The snails enjoyed an extended stay in a solution of Dawn and water. I followed this with a one hour soak in a 50/50 mix of Super Clean Degreaser and water as suggested by  Steve Gabriele (AKA stormbringer72). This had the unanticipated effect of softening the resin. I had stuff from four manufacturers in play: two (Scibor and Secret Weapon) were unaffected, Studio McVey was slightly affected, Mortal Arrow was heavily affected.

Cut to the chase: it seems that the material eventually regains much of its original hardness once removed from the solution. No harm, no foul.

While it was soft I was able to easily remove various resin bits that were a byproduct of the casting process. In particular, a lot of extraneous material was removed from the spiral shell's interior, allowing it to sit properly on the body.

Things as they now stand:

The Devil's Own

 

Fractured Dimensions' Bearded Devils are complete. Pictures have been taken. A post has been assembled.

It seems like they've been on my paint table forever because they've been on my paint table forever.

In any event, they're done, I like how they turned out, time for some images before moving on to new business.

The Three Amigos:

We're putting the band back together:

 

All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my closeup:

The Devil's in the Details:

The Usual Suspects:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The War Snails await.

Snail Mail

The United States Postal Service has been good to me of late.

The arrival of a big box of Tome of Horrors goodness from Pacesetter Games has produced much happiness here in the paint cave. LINK Justifiably so... it was a delivery three years (and many dollars) in the making.

While cause for jubilation, it must not overshadow a package that arrived several days prior from Mortal Arrow. The contents of said package? Snails, giant snails.

To be more specific, they are the War Snail, Flogging and War Snail, Ferrying, sculpted by the inestimable Pedro Navarro. Pedro's sculpts can be seen on his blog: Link Link

These were generously provided by Mike at Mortal Arrow so I could paint them for the website. Their completion will be a priority.

For starters, they look great; chunky resin brutes with detail galore. Each consists of an interchangeable shell and a body. The Ferrying Snail's body is a single piece, The Flogging Snail's is three.

Ferrying Snail

Flogging Snail

The shells each have a substantial lug of resin on their underside. I immediately set about removing this bit from the spiral shell for the scale shots above. 

4" Base Mockup

3 1/2" Base Mockup

I intend to base these and, as the largest base on hand is way too small, something suitable must be obtained. From the cardboard mockups, 3 1/2" is the winner.

The size of the base allows ample space for a little scenery so I tried out some broken column bits. I may want to play with the elevations as well (sm column frag low, snail slightly elevated, lg column frag slightly higher still). We'll see.

I'm relying on the method described by Miniature Tim for removing any residual mold-release. (My first foray into resin miniatures so fingers crossed.) They are therefore currently taking an extended soak in a solution of Dawn and water.

Next up: order some 3 1/2" disks.

WOOHOO!

Once again... WOOHOO!!!

After more than three years, closure has been achieved in the CSM Tome of Horrors I & II Kickstarter/Ponzi -Scheme boondoggle. I got a box of miniatures yesterday.

In fact, I got a box of outstanding miniatures and took many pictures of same. Worth the wait? Let's not get crazy, folks. Three years is three years, after all.

Still.. some great sculpts, unusual subjects,  & quality casting. Behold:

Babbler

Basidirond

Blindheim

Boneneedle

Bullywugs ( AKA Tsathar)

Cassomolar, President of Hell

Catterwaul

Dire Corbies

Disenchanter

Flumphs

Gorbel

Iron Cobra

Jaculi

Kamadan

Splinterdrake

Overall, casting quality is excellent. The only exception being the flanks of the Disenchanter, just below the hump, on both sides. Here the mini's surface is deeply pitted. A picture on Pacesetter's Facebook page shows an example with the same issue so mine's likely typical in this regard.

Cassomolar may be the best sculpt of the bunch. Fine work by Patrick Keith. Its small size was a big surprise, however, in view of its price ($16.95). I can't complain though, technically it was one of my free selections.

The Dire Corbies, on the other hand, are larger than expected... absolute brutes.

In making my selections I focused on certain sculptors (Keith, Kline, Williams, Prow) and subjects tied to the old Fiend Folio (11 of 15).

Very seussian

Finally, a word of gratitude to Bill of Pacesetter Games. He really pulled the fat out of the fire here. Well done, sir.

PS - Love the flumphs.

PPS - WOOHOO!!!