Sunday, September 4, 2016

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.

13 comments:

  1. Marvellous stuff Finch, and I'm drooling at the thought of how these terrific sculpts are going to turn out under your tip top brushwork. That flogging snail look especially good, and certainly outclasses the Beasts of Nurgle "Failcast" sculpts I'm currently painting.

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    1. The Flogging Snail is really a Flail Snail by another name. (The Flail Snail being another iconic Fiend Folio beastie.) It's been a good week for this FF junkie.

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  2. My apologies to Michal Kucharski. I needed to pull this post down and then re-post it due to the fact that it wasn't showing up on anyone's blogroll. (Not the first time this has happened.) In the process Michal's earlier comment was lost.

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  3. These look amazing Mr. Finch and the smaller base would be my choice too - best of luck Sir.

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  4. These both look excellent models. I'll have to look at the resin cleaning method myself as the few Resin miniatures I have painted were a pain in the ass to get a good basecoat without it streaking or peeling. I detest using spray primers.

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    1. My experience with resin's been limited to a few scenic bits added to the occasional base. Hopefully this method works as advertised. Been soaking three days so far.

      I've used spray automotive primer in the past with good results. Was considering the same here given the miniatures' size.

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  5. Those are excellent glad you finally got your FF stuff! I cant wait to see them painted.I find resin is nice to paint and when undercoated properly, it takes a accidental finger rub a lot better than metal. I soak my resin parts in Super Clean Degreaser and water (about 50/50) for about an hour and the paint goes on excellent.

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    1. Interesting. One hour sounds better than a couple weeks. I'll check it out.

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  6. I do give it a once over with a toothbrush but nothing that makes it tedious. On my first resin kit, I used Forge Worlds recomondations as a guide and found they worked great.
    https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/resources/PDF/Datasheets/Working_with_ResinFW.pdf
    good luck :)

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    1. Lots of useful info contained in that link. Thanks.

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  7. Yet another set of great looking minis. You're one lucky painter Finch. :) The minis somehow remind me of creatures/characters who would inhabit a Neil Gaiman world ... weird of me I know. :)

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    1. I'm currently building a miniature, giant snail and am therefore in no position to comment on the wierdness of others. ;P

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