Thursday 24 September 2015

"The Avengers Don't Get To Negotiate On Behalf Of Mutantkind."

"To me, my X-Men."
This 28mm metal miniature of the F.O.N. Operative (Psychic Hero) is made by “Nexus Miniatures” and is model NX01 from their “Superhero Dinosaur Zombie Apocalypse” range. The figure, sculpted by Ian Mountain, comes in two pieces and with the Visor head from NX03 Extra F.O.N. Heads Set, makes a wonderful proxy for the “Marvel Worldwide” mutant super-hero Cyclops.

The leader of the X-Men was initially undercoated with “Vallejo” Heavy Blue and then washed with “Citadel” Nuln Oil. I then picked out his boots, knee-pads, belt and shoulder-pads with “Vallejo” Heavy Goldbrown, before applying the “Citadel” Shade Reikland Flesh to these areas. Finally his belt buckle and visor were painted using a combination of “Citadel” Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil.
A.S.P. Trooper WIPs - The officer may well now jump to the head of my painting queue
Carrying on with my “Nexus Miniatures” obsession, I’ve continued to progress some of the company’s A.S.P. Trooper models from their By Your Command deal. Having looked at a few ‘stills’ of the Cylons from the 1978 science fiction television series “Battlestar Galactica” I’ve realized that I’ve painted the robots with far more metallic silver armour than their small screen counterparts, so have re-painted my first batch of humanity’s greatest foes. In addition I’ve discovered that one of the models I own is actually an A.S.P. Officer with a pistol, so I have duly started applying a brown undercoat on his armour so as to later paint him gold.
D-Ranger WIPs - What with the By Your Command deal, I thought my Colonial Warriors needed some reinforcements.
 Finally, I thought I’d prepare and convert three more Colonial Warriors from my collection, using the D-Ranger Helmets from NX16. In addition I’ve take the extended right arm of NX15 (D-Ranger Codenamed Joey) and cut off his gun hand before reattaching it at a different angle. I have also bent the arm down in order to bring it a bit closer to the Viper pilot’s side.

18 comments:

  1. A big thumbs up for Cyclops, Simon. I like your Cylons and I hope the leader does jump to the front of your painting queue. I'm sure he'll look very impressive with his gold armour. I like how you've converted your Colonial Warriors. Head swaps is always a good idea and with their large helmets they'll look very different to their bare-headed counterparts. Yes, I know the helmets are meant to be big, as that is how they were in the TV series.

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    1. Thanks Bryan. Cyclops was really an experiment to see how I got on with the "Vallejo" Heavy Goldbrown and I think its turned out okay. Of course the big test will be how I get on with the predominantly yellow Hank McCoy ;-) The Cylon postings seem to be very popular so I've no doubt a gold Officer will be posted some time soon. Glad you like the head swaps. I've still more Cylons than Colonials but once they're all painted should have enough for a small BatRep or two. Those Viper pilot helmets are big aren't they :-)

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  2. Look forward to seeing the gold officer and the colonials look ace!

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    1. Cheers Gordon. They're such a good range that I'm tempted to get more once these are done. Although they're now branching out onto "V" ;-)

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  3. Nice work, Simon! I knew you wouldn't be able to resist an officer... I'll be watching your progress with interest, as I'm curious to see how closely you'll get to the chrome like finish. And I only found out today that Ian Mountain was responsible for some of the sculpts at Crooked Dice. Talented chap...but must resist. Although some of the not-Visitors could be useful...

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    1. Thanks Jez. I was holding out on the gold Cylon until I realised I'd actually converted one using the extra weapons sprue I was sent as part of the By Your Command deal :-) I'm a huge fan of Ian Mountain and as you say, a talented chap indeed. Once I've got these BSG finished, and the X-Men, then I'll certainly be looking at "V"!!!

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  4. Very nice stuff Simon, Cyclops is a cracker, but the Cylons steal the show for me looking forward to seeing the gold one finished. Those are some whopping helmets, though pretty accurate to the series.

    I too saw the "Visitor" figures on Nexus's site, always was a fan of the original mini series. I think Em4 might have a couple of figures from the old Grenadier "future warriors range that could be used as "Ham Tyler" and "Chris" his hairy sidekick (Did you spot the actor who played "Chris" in the original Total Recall, he is the chap who speaks to Arnie on the train, wonder is Micheal Ironside got him that gig?).

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Cheers Roger. Very much appreciated comments. You may have picked up that I'm rather taken with the "Nexus Miniatures" range :-) I'm hoping to pick up both Ham and Mike from "Nexus" soon, once I begin my "V" project. Nice spot on the actor Mickey Jones btw.

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  5. Viper pilot! I was "this close" to buying a cosplay of a Viper pilot from the original series. (Went Star Wars Biker Scout instead though.)

    Cyclops is very nicely done. Kind of reminds me of the Joss Weadon series version.

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    1. Thanks Dai. I'm a huge fan of the original BSG - not so much the remake tbh. Glad you like Cyclops. Lovely little fellow to paint.

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  6. Nice Cyclops Bk! Your not cylons are looking good too. Good to see Starbuck and co. getting some backup. Really looking forward to seeing some BSG action on your blog.
    Nexus have V minis? Right, I'm off to check them out, loved that series.

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    1. Cheers Bob. Simple to paint but a rather nice mini indeed. The Colonial Warriors are nice too aren't they. I've just picked up most of the "Nexus Miniatures" for "V" and their human skin-wearing Uni-tech Security figures are also sculpted by Martin Buck (who did their BSG), so they're of a similar colourfully high standard. If you like "V", I think you'll love these :-)

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  7. Cyclops looks the business! X-Men is one of the few comic book franchises I know a bit about - Though only thanks to the cartoons from the 90s and the later Hollywood films.
    Never seen the original BSG - only the newer version - but have to admit those Cylons look cool.

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    1. Roy, Many thanks. I've got those "X-Men" cartoons on DVD as I was a huge fan of them when they first came out. Glad you like the Cylons. Far better than the new versions imho.

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    2. Trying to think of the other cartoon I liked, that was shown on CBBC.
      Defenders of the Earth... Flash Gordon and son? The Phantom and daughter, against Ming the Merciless?
      I'll have to google this one.

      Ha, just looked and found the wiki - so many of the cast of characters I'd forgotten about.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenders_of_the_Earth
      In regard X-Men, have to say my favourite character was Gambit.

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    3. i have a Flash Gordon or two to be painted, as well as a Ming etc. I've also got the "Nexus Miniatures" Gambit conversion kit - I'll post up a piccie just as soon as I've put it together :-)

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  8. Overall the more recent version of BSG gets my vote over Lorne Greene & co but there's no beating a classic Cylon. Yours are top notch. Look forward to seeing the gold one finished.

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    1. Thanks Finch. I'm a huge fan of the old Cylons and hopefully will do them justice, especially the officer.

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