Tuesday 19 January 2016

"I Am C-3PO, Human-Cyborg Relations. And This Is My Counterpart, R2-D2.”

"Don't blame me. I'm an interpreter. I'm not supposed to know a power socket from a computer terminal."
These two 28mm scale plastic “Fantasy Flight” droids come from the company’s “Star Wars” “Imperial Assault” range and can be found inside the Artoo-Deetoo and See-Threepio Ally Pack. The pair were completed as part of a larger submission for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge Epic Fail Themed Bonus Round and based upon the Empire’s attempt to recapture the stolen Death Star plans from the Rebel Alliance...

See-Threepio was initially undercoated using some “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna, before the droid was given two coats of Gold. He was then heavily washed with some “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade before being dry-brushed with more “Vallejo” Gold. I then picked out his various 'belly pistons' predominantly with "Vallejo" Heavy Blue" and Heavy Red.
"The City's central computer told you? R2-D2, you know better than to trust a strange computer."
To begin I applied two layers of "Vallejo" White to Artoo-Deetoo and then heavily washed him with Pale Grey. This transparent acrylic helped give the model some much-needed shading and also helped me to ‘pick out’ the little robot's numerous panels. These were then either painted using Heavy Blue and “Citadel” Asurmen Blue or “Vallejo” Gunmetal Grey and “Citadel” Nuln Oil. As I wanted to add a little more colour to the miniature I decided to use a combination of “Vallejo” Heavy Red and “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson for the astromech droid's wiring.

Having realised that the robot's dome was actually metallic, it was given a coat of “Vallejo” Gunmental Grey and a wash of “Citadel” Nuln Oil, before being dry-brushed with more “Vallejo” Gunmetal Grey. I then ‘picked out’ all the details and plates on the Artoo unit’s ‘head’ with Heavy Blue and some additional “Citadel” Asurmen Blue.
"Heroclix" WIPs - Molly Hayes, the Black Panther and (another) Crimson Dynamo
With my entry for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge Epic Fail Themed Round finished I am already working on the "Wizkids" models I hope to use as my Defensive Terrain submission. As a result I have already separated my "Heroclix" Molly Hayes miniature, and the three ducklings the super-strong adolescent is protecting with a piece of concrete, from their 'clicky stand', and placed them upon two different circular bases.

In addition, simply in an effort to try and make some headway in my substantial collection of "Wizkids" models, I have re-based and undercoated a highly detailed "Heroclix" sculpt of the Black Panther and the rather large eighth Crimson Dynamo.

22 comments:

  1. "These are the droids you seek", Cool as always

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    1. Thanks Martin. I was a bit bemused by R2-D2 taking thrice as long as C-3PO to paint tbh.

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  2. You must be happy with those two...they look great!

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    1. Very happy, cheers Gordon. Though I'd quite like "Fantasy Flight" to bring out some more of the droids so I can have another go on similar sculpts.

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  3. The two doids are absolutely uperbm you've caught their look perfectly!

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  4. C-3PO and R2-D2 have turned out extremely well. Fine work on both of them. Obviously I know who the Black Panther and Crimson Dynamo are but who on earth is Molly Hayes? Is she from Runaways? That's a pure guess, by the way, as I know they are adolescent superheroes, even though I've read none of their comics.

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    1. Cheers Bryan. I'm very happy with the droids. Yes, Molly Hayes is a Runaway and arguably the fourth strongest female in the Marvel universe, after Rogue, She-Hulk and Ms Marvel :-)

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  5. Nice work on the droids dude, while they look fairly simple to paint, I'm guessing the wiring was tricky and doing shiny gold is a toughie! Good job.

    I'd never heard of Molly Hayes either, I guess my SH knowledge is waning. Trouble is when I learn new stuff now it pushes out some of the older stuff!!

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    1. Thanks Andy. Very happy with the pair of 'em. The white on R2-D2 was the hardest as the grey wash kept wanting to run into the other coloured areas. Lots of "Heroclix" minis coming over the next few months, so prepare for some more of that older stuff to be pushed out ;-)

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  6. Lovely work on those two classic characters!

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    1. Cheers Fran. I have seen C3-PO with a silver leg and red arm too. But I favoured the classic look.

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  7. I'm not surprised if R2D2 took longer to paint that C3P0 - after all, he's got more colours on him! Nice job :-) .

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    1. Thanks Hugh. Much appreciated. I certainly wish more models could be painted as quickly as C-3PO and yet still look as striking. I'm a big fan of "Vallejo" Gold after painting him.

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  8. I thought you were spot on with these and as a result now have me looking at indulging in Imperial Assault! Fabulous work Sir.

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    1. Very kind, Sir Awdry. Just let me paint up all mine before you post up your masterpieces, okay? :-)

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  9. Those Droids are spot on possible top ten fodder there Simon, it would be great to see a whole collection of SW droids including various R2 heads and my personal favourite "The power droid" who doesn't love a box on legs!

    I too had to go and look up Molly Hayes, as I'd not heard of her before.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Cheers Roger. Hopefully there's a lot more painted minis yet to come before its time for your "Top Ten" once again. But its nice to see you already slotting some entries in ;-) I'm hoping to provide a little more light on Molly Hayes when I've finished painted her and post her up. But for now she has some notable wins under her belt including both Wolverine and the Punisher.

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    2. Absolutely brilliant work on your droids, Simon! You're making it more difficult to resist Imperial Assault with each post. I've a hankering for some Imperial forces...

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    3. Thanks Jez :-) Lots more "Imperial Assault" coming too, just to tempt you even more!!!

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  10. Terrific work on the droids, Simon. The only thing missing is the obligatory pic of the two together.

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    1. Cheers Finch. I've saved the "obligatory pic" for my next posting, to 'showcase' them with the Dark Lord of the Sith" ;-)

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