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.

A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight

It's been hot lately...  hot and humid actually, in the finest New Jersey Summer tradition. Without the benefit of air-conditioning, strapping an optivisor to my forehead and crouching over a sizzling hobby-lamp, brush in hand, quickly looses its appeal.

Yes, I'm attributing my recent hobby drought to global warming. It's very much in vogue to blame stuff on the scourge of climate change; seems right that I get with the times. Perhaps I should apply for a a government grant or some such thing.

That is not to say that no progress has been made on my never-ending project: Fractured Dimensions' Bearded Devils. In fact they're just about done:

Mostly touchups and some work on the bases remain.

To further pass the buck... Asslessman at Leadplague diverted me from the task at hand with a post about an app called Prisma.

The picture up top is a product of said app. Fun, simple, and impossible to put down once one gets rolling:

   
 For comparison's sake, the original WIP pic:

In other news, a package arrived yesterday from Mike at Mortal Arrow Miniatures:

Much more on that shortly.

PTS XV: Wash Day

Copious washes have been applied to FD's bearded devils. In the shaded basecoat technique this is done to establish and intensify shadows. The trick is to do it without simultaneously obliterating the mids and highlights from previous steps (damage, yes... obliterate, no).

I used two different washes (a GW Violet/Greenshade mix and Vallejo Flesh Wash) on the shield. These were allowed to run together while wet for a grungy, rusty effect.

I quite like the result. Now to see if I can avoid slopping paint on it going forward (fingers crossed, everyone).

Next up: touchups and refinements to the aforementioned mids and highlights.

Halftime Highlights

Progress is progress and always preferable to no progress. So says the glass-half-full crowd. The opposing camp, being less charitable, wonders why FD's bearded devils are taking so damned long to complete.

Patience.

Painting time's been somewhat limited lately. Even so, I hope to finish before the snow flies ;-).

The next step in the process is complete. All the highlights are done. Now come washes to establish the shadows (the shaded part of James Wappel's shaded basecoat method).

Mold-seams magically appear,  requiring  remedial action

Lattice pattern on kilts needs special attention

Some pink is added to the vertical portion of the kilt

Block Party

Too late for a Paint Table Saturday post, the next step on FD's Bearded Devils is done. All the colors are blocked in. As with Bael and Ashratu, Reaper Cinnamon Red and Vallejo Vermilion are the stars of the show. The fluorescent orange beards are a new wrinkle.

My technique borrows heavily from painting guru James Wappel. He advocates getting all the base colors in place straight away and that's what I've done here. It really helps to see how (and, for that matter, if ) all the colors relate to one another.

When watching Wappel's videos his speed is enough to make a plodder such as myself feel ill. Suffice it to say that it took me a while to advance these three to this point.

Next step: work on the highlights. Onward.

It seems that while Mortal Arrow is no longer FD's distributor, they're still selling whatever stock they have on hand. At last check there was some neat stuff remaining.

The End is Somewhat Nigh

Fractured Dimensions' Bearded Devils are officially under the brush. Impressive looking multipart minis with all sorts of deeply recessed bits that are nearly inaccessible by brush. The heavy black undercoat in their under-kilt regions is an attempt to deal with the worst of it.

As for the end being nigh, Mortal Arrow will no longer be the distributor of Fractured Dimensions miniatures after today. (I've no inside info on what happens to the minis after that.)

Some work was required to fit two of these guys onto standard 25mm bases (a ledge made from mica flake gel in one case and a strategically placed shield in another).

A little putty-work was needed to deal with gaps at their necks and to rebuild a miscast claw.

Hopefully there will be enough progress to warrant a proper Paint Table Saturday post.

Power Couple

Courtesy of a name change for Wyrd's metal Lilitu (WYR4030) and a whole lot of red paint, Ashratu, consort of Bael, is complete.

I've a fair number of Wyrd minis that work well alongside Fractured Dimensions' Demons and Devils. Sadly, the Wyrd metals are out of production while Mortal Arrow will only be distributing Fractured Dimensions miniatures until the end of this month (May 2016). A word to the wise: get them while you can. 

A Beelzebub in hand is worth two in the bush

I don't know the sculptor of this particular piece; a cool mini that proved a bear to assemble. Both arms are separate and needed to be pinned. Given the tiny size of everything involved and general ham-handedness, I managed to drill straight through and totally mangle her left shoulder.

This was addressed with green stuff... twice. The first attempt seemed fine until I put paint on it, at which point it became clear that it was a lot of things but fine wasn't one of them.  Anything worth doing is worth doing well so I had a second go at it with better results. 

The palette is much the same as Bael's except for the blonde hair. This utilized a basecoat mix of Reaper's Chestnut Gold and Moldy Skin highlighted and shaded with the other colors shown below.

Some more pics:

The blood spatter was a late addition to a base that seemed a bit bland.

The skull is from Reaper

FD's Bearded Devils (the muscle of the group) are next on the agenda. More on that next time.