Giant Strides?

Work continues on the OW stone giant conversion. The sculpting is pretty much done. The base needs some additional attention and then it's on to painting. I even rustled up a cave bear sidekick (this season's must have accessory for the trendy stone giant).

One of my goals was to replace the stock club (at the top of the picture above) with something larger. The new weapon comes from Reaper's Reptus weapons set (#14449). The jawbones lashed to its business-end are a nice detail and synch up well with the animal teeth hanging from the giant's belt. The Reaper club has a lot of extraneous detail beyond the jawbones that was removed. A file was then dragged forcefully along the surface to reestablish a bark/woodgrain  effect.

 Another goal was to achieve a more relaxed pose by straightening the left arm and repositioning it closer to the body. A cut was made from the crook of the arm to the point where the elbow joint would be. It was then bent to the desired position and reenforced with metal scraps. Both arms were filed down considerably at the points where they meet the body. In this way the left arm was lowered and rolled forward while the right was rotated back nearly 90 degrees.

A lot of test fitting and pinning was done prior to final assembly. In places I reshaped the mini to allow for the new pose (the left shoulder-blade and bicep in particular).

This side-by-side of the stock and converted versions illustrate the changes. The figure on the left is painted by Alex Bews and appears in OW's gallery.

The sculpting went smoother than feared (pun intended). Armed with Privateer Press P3 putty, a newly acquired set of dental tools, and some pictures of the anatomy of the arm, I had at it. The sculpting to-do list consisted of: both shoulders, the thumb and fingertips of the right hand, the end of the club, and the open end of the bag. A useful tip gained from sculptor John Pickford over on the OW forum: use Chapstick to lubricate tools and assist in smoothing out the final product. The stuff works like a charm.

I also found this post by Patrick Keith very helpful.

To form the open end of the bag, I rolled out a thin sheet of putty, formed a small tube, and attached one end to the hand. I then inserted a closed a pair of tweezers into the other end and carefully allowed them to open, thereby expanding the tube. Once the putty was thoroughly stretched, I poked at it a bit until I was satisfied with the overall shape.

Maybe it was all the poking and stretching or perhaps the result of some Chapstick in the wrong spot, but once dry the whole assembly promptly fell off. I cleaned the mating surfaces with rubbing alcohol and superglued it back on. Have my fingers crossed that it stays put.

I also have my fingers crossed that the painting goes as well as the sculpting. To be continued.

Proof of Concept

The Otherworld stone giant has at last felt the wrath of my razor-saw and bastard-file. It's a conversion project that's been lurking inside my head for quite some time. The fact that I elected to include this mini in my 2012 OW painting pledge forced the issue.

I love the sculpt (it was one of the first OW miniatures I ever bought) but always felt that the club, while true to the MM illustration, was undersized. I have therefore substituted a proper giant sized club from Reaper. This required a whole lot of filing to reposition the right arm as well as the removal of the thumb and fingertips. Obviously there's some sculpting in my future.

Equally obvious, given the pace at which I work, this may take a while to complete.
   

All's Well That Ends Well

I recently completed a small terrain piece (Reaper's 03969, Well of Chaos) that had previously been part of a painting challenge on the OW forums. Why wasn't it quite done when originally presented? Read on. 

Basing materials reside in many places; some readily apparent, some less so. One source that straddles the line between the obvious and obscure is the model railroading hobby. (I would say the allied model railroading hobby but I suspect the steam-or-diesel crowd might contest the point.) My utilization of this resource has been aided by the fact that a model railroading shop sits two doors down from my LGS. I used two products from Woodland Scenics on the well: Scenic Glue and Realistic Water.

Scenic Glue is basically a PVA adhesive that dries with a matte finish, as opposed to a standard PVA like Elmer's that dries with a gloss finish. It allows the addition of various and sundry basing bits (grass tufts, leaves, etc.) without any unwanted shine. A very useful, easy to use product.

Realistic Water, on the other hand, is not deserving of such unqualified praise. In point of fact, the stuff had me tearing my hair out. This is not to say that it produces poor results nor that it is especially hard to use. The problem lies in the number of applications required.

The degree to which the product shrinks while drying is astounding. I filled the well to the desired depth (not exceeding 1/8" as per the directions), waited 24 hours, and was left with little more than a shiny depression for my efforts. It took SEVEN such applications to bring the water's surface to the point where it was reasonably level. So, allowing for drying time, it took a week to produce a puddle. Very frustrating.

As a bonus, with each use the puddle's surrounding edge unavoidably became slightly higher. I had intended only to fill the well about 2/3 of the way. In the end it wound up flush with the brim. Some of the resin wound up creeping onto the mini in a spot where the resulting shine was unacceptable. Despite the label's warning against using any kind of sealer, a little matte varnish fixed the problem. Some leaf litter was added with the final layer. aesthetics aside, this also served to hide a nasty air bubble that cropped up earlier in the process.

On the plus side, I had used the product once before, so most of this came as no surprise. On the negative, I still have an enormous bottle of the stuff, and it wasn't cheap.

Enough of this unpleasantness. I came through my trial by water unscathed and am happy with how the mini turned out. What else could I ask for?

 

Is it just me or has Bob Ridolfi's sculpting really improved during his time at Reaper? I don't mean this as a slight towards his earlier efforts, rather that his more recent work is so good. The face on the well is superbly executed. Great concept too. With her beehive hairdo and tentacles, she looks like H.P. Lovecraft's take on Marge Simpson. Very cool..

Odds and Ends

Another post in 2012? What's going on here?

Nobody panic. Just thought I'd throw a few things out there.

Braiiiins!!: It's going slowly but work on this months Otherworld submission (two zombies with a simpatico reaper mini thrown in) is proceeding.

A Day Late and a Dollar Short: On a related subject, the minis that were intended to represent Sigfried and his father in last month's OW painting challenge finally arrived on my doorstep. Time permitting, I'll paint them up and post them on the boards.

Confessions of an Otherworld Fanboy: My lead-pile contains mostly non-OW minis. Really. At some point I should paint up something showy from another manufacturer (a dragon perhaps?) without somehow tying it to what's going on on the OW forums. Just sayin'. Then I could submit it on CMON and link to my gallery from this very blog.

Then again, maybe not. (See following item.)

Conspiracy Theory: Seems that the link to my CMON gallery is being foiled at the source. Anyone reading this post soon after it's submited will likely find the link working well enough and wonder what the hell I'm talking about. Wait a day or two. Every time I get it set up, it works briefly then craps out.

I suspect that CMON is somehow rotating the relevent URL. Were I not a happy-go-lucky, trusting sort, I might conclude that dark forces are at work here. Is CMON furthering its own network of blogs to the exclusion of all others? How does this play into their plan for world domination? Why did the neighbor's cat tell me to set those fires? Regrettably, these questions remain unresolved. Long story short, I've repaired the link in the sidebar yet again. If the problem resurfaces, I'm gonna chuck it.

If, on the other hand, everything continues to work as it should, please disregard my previous ramblings.


PS: No worries. I didn't act on the cat's instructions. I may be crazy but I'm not stupid.

Von Pickford Lives...

And so do I.

This is where I might offer a half-arsed explanation as to why I haven't posted in nearly a year. It's a long story. In the interest of brevity, and to preserve my positive state of mind, I'll forgo my tale of woe and just move on to new business.

The titular Von Pickford is none other than the evil wizard Johann Von Pickford from last year's Otherworld Miniatures' painting challenges; specifically, the December 11/January 12 installment. Chris (AKA DukeoftheBloodKeep) has done a great job of keeping the Members on the OW Forums engaged and producing painted minis from month to month. I must confess to being proud of my own small contribution to this continuing undertaking.

Ironically, the mini is produced by Reaper, not OW. The rules are pretty forgiving and require only a 50/50 mix of OW to non-OW products. I'm especially pleased with how the back of the cloak and my first halting attempts at freehand painting turned out. The skin-tone is a happy accident. I was aiming for a sickly, undead look by combining Vallejo Red Leather and Bronze Green with GW Rotting Flesh. Guess the tales of how the old masters would add green to their flesh tones are true after all. Despite my best efforts, old Johann wound up the very picture of health. Given the direction my experiment was heading, the undead angle was shelved, and I opted for ivory-colored robes as a contrast to my subjects dark complexion.

More suitably undead results were obtained on these ghouls (the OW component of my entry) by using a paint recipe similar to my previously completed wight. They're mounted on resin bases from Forgecraft. Nice bases. The garish paintjobs on the site do them a disservice.

I'm a sucker for converting figures as well as obscure/unloved D&D critters. The forlarren (also part of my OW entry) fits the bill on both counts. Sandwiched in The Fiend Folio between the flumph (undisputed king of all crappy monsters) and frost man (so forgettable that in the time it has taken to type this, I've actually forgotten him) the forlarren gets no respect. If there is, or ever was, a miniature of this guy, I'm unaware of it. I once suggested on the OW forums that Richard consider producing a forlarren. I was asked to go away and not return until I had something sensible to say ;-)

It seemed that if I wanted a forlarren, I"d have to build one myself. Or, being the lazy sort that I am, find an extant miniature that met my needs. Satyrs and demons offered the best hope and, in the end, an old Grenadier mini (M-20, Kadastraal Spreader of Plagues) came very close. Ultimately, I decided that his lack of hooves wasn't a deal breaker and went with him 'as is'.

The 'conversion' part of the project was limited to basing and painting. Placed in a woodland setting and painted in earth tones he really looks the part. A miniature's base is a chance to provide context. The same figure, if placed on a lava-themed or flagstone base, would not have conveyed the needed information.

It occurs to me too that Kadastraal was part of a box-set and some of his demonic brethren present similar opportunities for unmodified conversions. I'll have to put that on my to-do list. As things stand, I've committed myself to painting something by OW every month. There's no rest for the weary.