What lives in a pineapple under the sea?

For your entertainment, we explore marine life forms.  Giant life forms.

These two beasts are from Mierce Miniatures.  As I have mentioned before, both of these are mounted on bases that are slightly larger than a DVD.

The primary challenge of the crocodile was its sheer bulk.  Tentacle frenzy was the main hurdle to deal with on the Octopus.

I think this view gives you some idea of just how intertwined those tentacles were.

So there you have it.  The next time you go out for a swim, be sure to keep one eye on the lookout...

Meet me at the Altar

Here's a combination of Mechanicum figures.  These were some of the toughest ones to handle of the entire army.

While the vehicles and the walkers were more complex in terms of weight, size and pieces, these presented one conundrum after another in terms of painting.

These had combinations of dainty parts, and hard choices about how much to try to paint prior to final assembly.

Some also had bulky parts, which made them more unbalanced.

I learned a great deal of technical things while working on this project... the use of the hair dryer to manipulate warped pieces, for instance.

I learned that I could prime and paint a piece that needed to be bent, and hitting it with the hair dryer would not compromise the paint at all.  Thus, I could bend the painted sections as needed, and simply attach them later!

This concludes another review and group shot set!!!  More to come!

A girl and her 'pets'

You have already met Betty Wooster, so now it's time to meet her younger sister Lilly!

As you can see, she is just as High Society as Betty, and she really loves her 'pets'.  She also has a penchant for the medical profession, although her cures are certainly unorthodox!

She does not think that her laboratory pets should always stay confined, so the neighborhood around her lab tends to get somewhat infested.

As a very modern woman, she believes in high fashion and the "New Science".  This means that Lilly has a fascination for the work of Eiffel, Tessla, and even Carpathian.

She finds it all very glamorous.

This Reaper miniature was painted with the clear paints just like Betty.  The clear pigments almost have a 'glow' about them, but that is partially due to taking advantage of the transparency of the colors.

For example, the clear red was darkened with glazes of the purple clear, while it was lightened by a series of semi opaque lightened layers of the clear red mixed with a light flesh tone.

Mixing the clear paints with both the Secret Weapon washes and the Vallejo washes went well.  Those are more subdued colors, which made the high chroma clear paints a bit more toned down when needed!

Research is ongoing, so stay tuned!

A Jack of all trades...

 

Here is the Blackjack, the chosen Light support of Jesse James and the Outlaws.

 

This is more of an up close anti personell vehicle.  It has a few more lifeblood points than an Interceptor, but it also lacks the template firepower.  There's also a significantly higher cost involved (45 points more).

 

I wish that it also had better speed than an Interceptor.  Knowing that a Mercenary Buggy could also bring a few nasty characters across a template and sniper infested table makes me think that is a better choice as well.

 

The Dust Cutter proved to be a lot more versatile, and the extra 20 points were well worth the high movement, firepower and the ability to lay mines.  I'm trying to find some kind of niche for the Blackjack as it was fun to paint.

 

As you can see, it also looks kinda neat!

From the wilds of Norsgard

Does anyone love Wulfen?  I sure do!!

These wonderful miniatures are the creations of Norsgard Games and toys.  Here's a link for you to their Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Norsgard/204145149680535?sk=timeline

These miniatures were cast in resin.  I have put some bark on the bases which are supplied with the figures.

Each one has a very distinct look and personality.

The resin was very easy to clean up, and quite resilient.  I am really looking forward to painting these!

There are also a number of fun sculpts in the works.  Each of them looks amazing!

As I paint these up, I will be sure to show you all the finished results!  Stay tuned, and go check out Norsgard!!!

The creature from the Black Lagoon

We return to the Black Lagoon to get a few more views of this colossal monster from Mierce Miniatures.

The side views showed much more of the skin colors, while these images let you see the armor from a different perspective.  You also see more of that pinkish color...

They really show that staining process that you saw in the work in progress images.

Also, I wanted you to see some of the water splashes.  On the Octopus man, it wasn't really needed.  On this figure, I thought that the water should splash over the rear foot in particular.

I did a number of layers using the clear Vallejo Water Effects Paste.  However, to get that foamy water splash, I had to mix in a tiny bit of opaque color..

You want to be very careful as you do this, mixing in less than you think you will need.  You can overwhelm the clear nature of the Water Effects Paste very easily.  This happened to me in another test.

A size comparison to a rather large beast in its own right.  That bear is standing on a 60mm base, and the character looks like a goblin riding a puppy.

There's one more set of images to come, and that is this guy side by side with the gigantic Octopus Man.  Even these massive backdrops could barely contain both of them!

Stay tuned...

Another grand experiment begins!

As you know, one of my long term tasks over the next year is to test and play around with the Reaper Clear colors.  There are six in all, and I have been rapidly finding uses for all of them!

I painted several figures using mostly the Clear colors, mixing in a few 'regular' more opaque colors with them, as well as a few of my glazes.

The results were already intriguing, as I learned how versatile they can be!!

I used them as a straight glaze, as regular paint, thinned down with flow improver, and much more!

What better figures to begin such experiments than with the Wooster sisters (yes, that's my name for these fantastic Reaper Miniatures).  This is Betty, and like her sister Lilly, she is very fond of her "pets".  This particular pet is a Reaper BONES dire rat.

These high society ladies have brought their pets to Wappelville with them.  They find Dr. Carpathian's work to be very fascinating, and quite modern!

While very astute and experimental themselves, the Wooster sisters are continuing their experiments in town, courtesy of a lab which their Uncle, Bertram Giles Wooster (owner of the Final Slumber Funeral Parlor) has provided.

Who knows what kind of mischief might be caused if some of their 'pets' should be turned loose in the alleys of Wappelville!!