Monday 16 July 2018

"Of Course, Lager! The Only Thing That Can Kill A Vindaloo!"

"There's only three alternatives: it thinks we're either a threat, food or a mate..."
This 28mm miniature of Charley was made by "Y.F.T. Design Studio" and forms part of the company's limited release 'Scarlet Midget' - Cosplay Away Team. Clearly a "doppleganger" for Craig Charles' character in the "British science fiction situation comedy Red Dwarf", the "lowest ranking crewman" was originally undercoated using two coats of "Vallejo" Black, subsequently dry-brushed with Heavy Charcoal and washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil.

At first I had planned to add some extra colour to the third-class technician by stepping somewhat away from his more recent all-black clothing palette and giving him a red London Jets Zero-Gee football team T-Shirt underneath his leather jacket. Unfortunately however, the paint on this particular figure persistently flaked off for no discernible reason, even after varnishing, so it soon became clear that even my attempt to apply various shades of dark grey across Lister's clothing were doomed to fail...
"This week's Red Dwarf contains scenes which are unsuitable for younger viewers..."
Resultantly, I re-pigmented the majority of 'Cloister the Stupid' with more "Vallejo" Black and used a combination of "Citadel" Ironbreaker with Nuln Oil for his blazooka. I also applied some "Vallejo" Dead White to the skull and crossbones stitched across the self-proclaimed bum's back and 'picked out' some metallic adornments upon his coat with "Citadel" Ironbreaker and "Vallejo" Brass. These areas were later shaded using "Citadel" Nuln Oil and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade respectively.

I did however manage to get some colour onto the pantheist by using some "Vallejo" Heavy Red on his leg scarf and left sleeve. These scraps of clothing were washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil to help grunge them up, and then carefully dry-brushed with a bit of extra "Vallejo" Heavy Red in order to try and bring out some of their detail. 
Doombot & She-Hulk WIPs - The robot and super-heroine are slowly being blocked and shaded
Undoubtedly the biggest problem I had with this model though, was a slight miscast over Charley's face. Having viewed the sculpt's computer rendering and some of the photographed crisp-looking castings on the "Y.F.T. Design" website, I applied "Citadel" Doombull Brown over his head and hands, washed them with (more) Strong Tone Quickshade and attempted to 'dot in' the man's eyes as close to where they should have been as I could...

With two of my "Nexus Miniatures" finished, I have continued to make some good progress on some far more straightforward plastic "Wizkids" models I plan to use in order to extend my recent Fantastic Four verses Doctor Doom campaign. Despite being an old "Heroclix" sculpt from the November 2002 "Clobberin' Time" range I'm hoping She-Hulk will provide the super-talented quartet with some additional punching power, whilst I've actually dug out a handful more Doombots to add to Victor's robotic Latverian force.  

14 comments:

  1. Nice job mate How are you finding these to paint up?

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    1. Thanks Simon. I enjoyed Kryten a lot, but Lister was a complete pain tbh. I don't know whether the mini was covered in grease/releasing agent or just didn't like "Vallejo" paint, but it kept flaking/chipping all the time - even after I varnished the thing. Plus the eyes were a nightmare. Fortunately, Rimmer and Cat look great so I'm pleased to have them to do next, plus I do have another Lister with a guitar, so I'm hoping to do better with that sculpt.

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  2. Well done sticking with Lister, despite all your difficulties, well worth it imho, seeing the finished model.
    Good progress too with the others btw.

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    1. Cheers Joe. Lister was definitely a toughie imho.

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  3. Nice work on Lister Simon, a lighter skin tone would have made the model look lighter, something like Steel Legion Drab.
    Nice progress on the heroclix models as well

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    1. Thanks Dave. Tbh, I went with whatever colours seemed to stay on the mini for this one. I did consider “Vallejo” Heavy Brown - which is lighter (colour of my Draconians’ skin) but its a thin paint which would’ve taken a few coats and I simply didn’t trust the mini.

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  4. Nice job on Lister, although, I was interested to read about the problems with paint application.

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    1. Cheers Michael. Not my fave mini/post of the year, but another mini completed and a few lessons learnt.

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  5. I do not fancy Lister and Kryten's chances against those four aliens. "It's game over, man!" as Hudson once memorably said.

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    1. Indeed, Bryan, though hopefully its a good indicator of the adventures I have in plan for my ‘Dwarfers’ once I’ve finished painting the quartet ;-)

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  6. Well done for persevering with Lister, I am not sure I would. I like the little details like the skull on the back of the jacket, but overall I think the sculpt is a bit naff. Sorry. Not taking away from your paint job and the trials you went through though, so cudos to you! Hopefully the next crew member will look better and take paint better! She-hulk is coming alive! Great to see.

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    1. Thanks Undercoat, the completist in me spurred Lister along, as I wanted to get all four of the main characters on the tabletop by the end of the month.

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  7. Nice work on lister, tho0ugh I have to agree that he is a little darker than the real Craig Charles, fully understand after the paint issues though. I do really like the Heroklix sculpts though, they are a couple of crackers.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Cheers Roger. Tbh I think the "Citadel" Doombull Brown masks a lot of my issues with this mini, so its going to be left well alone :-) Hopefully I can have She-Hulk and the Doombot finished soon.

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