Saturday 7 February 2015

Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense - WIP - Part One

Hellbaby WIP - First layers of green and olive to represent the uniform of the Allied Forces
As inevitably seems to happen with the vast majority of my painting projects I have extended the scope of my latest endeavour, and as a result will spectacularly fail to finish them within the planned deadline.

Originally I had planned to complete one or two of these “Heroclix” miniatures for this weekend. But having rummaged around my “Wizkids” collection I have discovered I have many more members of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, so have decided to spend the next fortnight working my way through them in order to submit them for Comedic Bonus Themed Round of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge; after all the B.P.R.D. is a fictional organisation charged with protecting America in a comic book.
Kraus WIP - Black boots are finished and trousers inked. Guest-star WIP appearance by Hellboy
As a result I haven’t yet quite finished this model of Hellbaby yet, but I have managed to complete most of the basic layers of his clothing. As the infant demon was discovered by the Allied Forces in 1944 I thought they’d probably dress him in a spare (ill-fitting) American soldier’s uniform, hence the green trousers and cream-brown shirt.
Daimio WIP - Black boots, trousers and jumper could do with being broken up 
Johann Kraus wears a simple brown containment suit for his disembodied ectoplasmic spirit, so in order to break up the all-tan colour scheme I’ll be painting his body armour dark brown. The were-jaguar Captain Ben Daimio should also be reasonably straight forward to paint. Albeit now I’ve given myself more time to finish painting him I may well break up the black boots, trousers and jumper.

In addition I have yet to base and undercoat Roger the Homunculus, Liz Sherman, Abe Sapien and Lobster Johnson.

20 comments:

  1. I'm really looking forward to seeing you finish painting these figures, Simon. Hellbaby somehow looks cute, ridiculous and creepy all at once! I think I have all the Heroclix Hellboy range of figures. They're still in the display box they came in and I can't remember ever using them in a game.

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    1. Bryan, I wish I'd bought them as a boxed set... some like Liz and Abe have had to travel across the Atlantic to reach my painting table as I'm such a completist :-) They're not even gathering dust in that box though... pop them on some bases and give 'em a lick of paint - you know you want to ;-)

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  2. Weird and wonderful and even if I have no clue what these are, I'll be looking forward to seeing what you do with them.

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    1. Cheers Zabadak. I don't read the "B.P.R.D." comics myself as I only ever bought one graphic novel and the pages fell out of it within a day of reading it. Put me off as a result. However I have picked up a couple of the latest issues to see what these characters are up to... only to find most are actually dead :-o

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    2. The BPRD series is really good IMO, though some of the later collections (like 1946) aren't quite up to scratch. They are very different to Hellboy though as it has one big story arc rather than lots of short stories.

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    3. Thanks Paul. I'm just waiting on some issues of "B.P.R.D.: HELL ON EARTH" to arrive to keep me motivated, and will doubtless post up some reviews of them on my comic blog when the chance arises. Anything you'd recommend though?

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    4. Starting at the beginning would make more sense as it all builds up to Hell On Earth ;)

      Think of Hell on Earth as series 4 or 5 of a tv series

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    5. Cheers Paul. I think one of the issues is #119 so that's an awful lot of back issues to find :-) You've certainly got me enthused for their arrival though, and I hope to have a bit more painted plastic to show you in a few days time.

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    6. You can ignore the 1946/8 volumes as those aren't necessary for the lead up to Hell on Earth and are some of the weaker issues. I tend to buy the tpb versions as they are easier to store and read on the train to work ;)

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    7. Thanks Paul. I'm a comic person myself, and have my faves etc on my phone for travelling :-) I'll steer clear of the 1946/8 ones and try and get a bit of a run on the current series. You'll see when they;ve arrived as I;ll started posting about 'em ;-)

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  3. Hellboy and BPRD are some of my favourite comics, so I approve of this project ;)

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    1. Thanks Paul. They certainly should be good for gaming against my Nazi Zombies as well as some of the more Cthulhu-esque models I plan to use for future Batreps :-)

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    2. How do they size up to other 28mm miniatures?

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    3. Perfectly. The only slightly under-sized one is actually Hellboy himself. I'd have expected him to have required a 40mm base in many ways, but the mini is actually a little bit shorter than Kraus. But nothing which'll make you notice when they're on the gaming table :-)

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  4. Great stuff Bk! They're all coming along nicely. I'm sure Hellboy would make a good star opponent for said Nazi Zombies. What Cthulhu you planning to use, H.P.L is one of my favourite authors.

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    1. Cheers Bob. I've just recieved the Inter-dimensional beastie from this "Meridian Miniatures" Kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2004599158/interdimensional-bestiary) and if I can get that painted up then "Fenris Games" do a whole range based upon HPL's novels (which I'm always listening too on audio; Shadows over Innsmouth being my fave).

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  5. Nice progress with they will look great when finished.

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    1. Thanks Simon. These certainly seem to have been a popular subject to paint.

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  6. Lobster Johnson? I've heard of Lobster Thermidor but Lobster Johnson's new to me.

    Thing's are progressing quite nicely. Look forward to the finished group.

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    1. Cheers Finch. I seem to have done little but post WIPs for the past few weeks. But my next posting will show that some of my mini-projects are finally starting to reach fruition. Although not actually in the BPRD, Lobster Johnson is a vigilante who worked in secret in New York City during the 1930's. His trademark was to burn a lobster claw into the forehead of his victims :-)

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