"I Hate Personal Violence, Especially When I'm The Person."

This 28mm metal model is one of the two miniatures found within packet Future Freedom Fighters 2 by “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio”. I wanted to base this retro space liberator on the “Blake’s Seven” television series character Vila Restal, as played by Michael Keating, so as a result I have tried my best to replicate the colourful costume the lowly Delta grade criminal wore during his early stories.

To begin with the model was undercoated with “Vallejo” Heavy Brown and I then used Heavy Sienna followed by a wash of “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade. The petty thief’s upper garments from the British science fiction programme were a little less easy to replicate, especially his actual top which seemed to be a dark mixture of purple, black and dark blue. In the end I opted for an undercoat of “Vallejo” Charred Brown, and gave this ‘Color’ a wash of more Strong Tone Quickshdae. This simple compromise seemed to capture the deep dark look of the garment without the necessity for painting in lots of multi-coloured stripes and bands.

Vila also wears some sort of dark-coloured emblem on his jacket so I painted this with Heavy Violet and then washed it with “Citadel” Badab Black to help it ‘mix-in’ with the surrounding blackish-brown top. The sleeves were painted using “Vallejo” Heavy Blue and then washed with “Citadel” Nuln Oil. I find this Shade doesn’t quite darken the underlying colour as much as its now sadly ‘out of production’ predecessor, so it can make a useful alternative wash if I don’t want everything to look depressingly dark. The shirt was painted using a combination of “Vallejo” Heavy Warmgrey and “Citadel” Druchii Violet. I must confess I’m not too impressed with the Shade as it seems to be a little too ‘goopey’ for my liking. Finally I painted up the thief’s toolbox with “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey and Heavy Red (with a wash of the “Citadel” Shade Carroburg Crimson).

Having finished Vila Restal model I now only have the second Freedom Fighter from his “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” code to complete and I’ll have finished my “The Way Back” mini-project. Although ideally I hope to also finish the cult TV company’s Tweedy Mattison ‘not-Eleventh Doctor Who’ miniature within the next few days as well.

I’ve also managed to base these five models from code PLT09 Kojar Of The Forest Tribe by “Pulp Figures”. These are great Bob Murch sculpts and consist of the Jungle Man with his wife, son and daughter; as well as Bongo The Chimp. All of which have been based in preparation for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, which starts in a couple of weeks.