Tuesday 8 December 2015

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge 2015 - Preview - The Pulp Challenge

Pulp WIPs - Clark Savage Junior, Brigadier General Brooks & Colonel Renwick
As the start of the Sixth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge looms ever closer I have been busily basing and priming a number of miniatures from my collection I’ve identified as being suitable submissions for one of the event's side-challenges, namely the Pulp Challenge. This four-way titanic tussle will determine who can paint the most points in Pulp adventure figures over the three months of the event; with the eventual winner receiving a painted figure from each of the vanquished.
Pulp WIPs - Lieutenant Colonel Mayfair, Major Roberts & Britt Reid
Last year I ended up painting the rather mysterious heroic-looking Black Mist by “Reaper Miniatures” having been bested by Curt towards the end of the event. This Challenge I hope the outcome will be somewhat different, and as a result I am in the process of preparing my sizeable collection of “Pulp Figures” in readiness.

To begin with I hope to work my way through Bob Murch’s obvious ‘sculpted take’ of Doc Savage and some of his infamous aides. Sold as “Doc Thompson & His Fabulous Four”, these figures should prove great fun to paint and represent the Man of Bronze, along with Monk, Ham, Renny and Long Tom. Only the geologist Johnny would appear to be missing from the set. But fortunately the range has a suitable figure in another of its packets; along with an infinitely more recognisable archaeologist…
Pulp WIPs - Richard Wentworth, Louise Mason & Kato
I have also ‘made ready’ all of the miniatures found within Bob’s terrific Mysterious Masked Avengers set. These really are four cracking figures, and should make for a very nice looking Green Hornet & Kato, The Spider and Blonde Phantom. In addition, as these sculpts stem from the 'pulp fiction' past, they’ll make for an excellent alternative entry to the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge’s Nostalgia themed bonus round if I can’t manage to get my intended submission painted in time.

26 comments:

  1. You have to admire Bob Murch as a sculptor. Pulp is not something that interests me but if it was I'd want as many as his figures as I could afford. I look forward to seeing them all painted over the next few months.

    If I had to pick one figure out of the ones shown as my favourite it would have to be Louise Mason aka the Blonde Phantom. Did you know that after she retired from crime fighting she became a secretary for Jennifer Walters (She-Hulk) in "The Sensational She-Hulk" series of Marvel comics? I loved that series and the interplay between "Shulkie" and "Weezie!"

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    1. Cheers Bryan. I have a tonne of Bob's miniatures waiting in wings for this Challenge, but felt these were some of the more recognisable ones. I do hope that you enjoy seeing them finished as much as I believe I will painting them. I certainly think you'll like the Radon Zombies of the Ionosphere :-)

      I must confess to not being all that much a follower of "She-Hulk", though I did enjoy her initial first series. I do though know you hold the character in high esteem, even collecting that awful recent series (imho). I'm afraid I also know little of the Blonde Phantom being a huge admirer of Doc Savage and The Spider, and only having so much free time to enjoy them. So I'm grateful for your info on her as that strikes me as being a nice tip of the hat by "Marvel Comics" to one of the industry's first female super-heroes.

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    2. You're absolutely right, Simon. She-Hulk's last 12-part mini-series was dire! But when John Byrne was pencilling "The Sensational She-Hulk" from issues #1 to #50 in the 1980's, this was when I fell in love with her and made me a life-long fan. Louise "Weezie" Mason was a big part of that series and far more than a minor character.

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    3. Aha... I'm a "Savage She-Hulk" fan myself Bryan. But I'll keep my eye out for "Sensational" as I'm a huge John Byrne fan and am keen to see her relationship with "Weezie". Thanks for the suggestion.

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  2. I do like Bob Murch's sculpts and did have an idea for a dozen of his packs, (an idea that didn't come to fruition).
    Good luck with the challenge, I'm looking forward to seeing what people produce this year.

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    1. Cheers Joe. There's lots of incredibly good looking undercoated minis already being posted in preparation of the Challenge. Should be a very good event as a result.

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  3. Lovely sculpts Bk! I really like your use of coloured undercoats.

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    1. Thanks Bob. The coloured undercoats really help me these days get a feel for a mini before I've even started, and let me see what a colour actually looks like when its dry.

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  4. Good luck with the painting challenge. I am not prepping anything just yet.

    The pulp stuff does look good though. Tempting.

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    1. Cheers Clint. Good luck to you too. I've still plenty of prepping left to do yet myself, as I felt I lost a lot of time last year in building up the effort to prime/base figures halfway through the Challenge. Bob's pulp stuff is very tempting imho.

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  5. Excellent. I do like the style of the Pulp figures range. I keep meaning to pick the odd pack up as they have some figures useful for 7TV. Good luck dude!

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    1. Thanks Simon. There's plenty of "7TV" potential in Bob's stuff... and I would imagine I'll be doing a few BatReps with that rule-set as a result once these beauties are finished.

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  6. Great selection of figs! I wish you the best of luck...really looking forward to seeing how they all turn out!

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    1. Cheers Gordon. Lots and lots of enthusiasm currently... It'll be interesting to see how long that lasts though as the Winter weeks past by.

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  7. Good luck with the challenge. :)

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  8. Some really nice stuff Simon, I'm loving the Blonde Phantom.

    Best of luck with the challenge.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Cheers Roger. Lots of lovely Bob Murch sculpts to see over the course of the next three months - I hope! And I haven't forgotten your interest in the gorilla... I'm just waiting for him to put that packet back on sale - along with the Hairy Hominids.

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    2. Cheers Simon, I have a very specific thing in mind for that monkey!

      Cheers Roger.

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    3. I've actually emailed Bob, as his website suggests the Killer Apes are available elsewhere on his site. But I can't find them. If they are and I can paint enough up from my current 'Murch' mountain, then they could be an early new year purchase :-)

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  9. Crikey, look at all those! I've managed to turn up a few sculpts now, but may have to look to you as to there suitability for the 'Pulp Challenge', either way it should be a blast and I can't wait to see these finished by your fair hand.

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    1. Thanks Michael. They are nice sculpts imho. My plan is to use the side-challenge to simply paint through my collection of "Pulp Miniatures" but Curt has set the period covered as 1850-1950 so I'm sure whatever you've gone for will be appropriate :-)

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  10. Nice bit of preparation there, Simon. I too am looking to see what you do with the Blonde Phantom, as I do have a bit of a soft spot for Golden Age Marvel Heroes. Based on the period specified for the Pulp Challenge, if you've got any Heroclix characters who were active during WW2 awaiting repainting, now might be the time to break them out. :)

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    1. Cheers Jez. I have plenty of models which fit the Pulp Challenge, as they're a part of my collection I really want to hammer over the next few months. A bit of "Battlestar Galactica" next though ;-)

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  11. Am so with Vampifan - Pulp is not on my list of minis to paint or games to play, but were it, Murch's sculpts would be my range. So full of cool character.

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    1. Thanks Dai. I think I can lure Vampifan into the genre though with a few of Bob's freshly painted Radon Zombies of the Ionosphere ;-)

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