Friday 8 January 2016

"Once A Machine Achieves Sentience... Humanity Becomes Obsolete."

"Androids are thinking machines that bear some resemblance to the Ancients."
These eight 28mm multi-part pewter robots are made by “Reaper Miniatures” and come from two blisters of their “Chronoscope” Code 50097 Cyber-Reavers (4). Sculpted by Bob Ridolfi and released on September 7th 2009, these ‘Not-Terminators’ were actually rather fiddly to glue together, as the majority of their “futuristic laser pistols” come on a separate metal sprue and actually don’t attach all that well to the figures’ main torsos.

In addition, some of the joints such as the wrists, proved rather fragile and brittle, so I ended up assembling the automatons into some quite sedentary positions in order to ensure the limbs had more contact with the rest of the models. When I did try a more ‘outlandish’ pose I pinned the appropriate arm in place. But found this process so time-consuming and damaging to the sculpt that I only did it a couple of times for my own sanity’s sake.
"Most are... military machines that have developed artificial intelligence."
 All the models were painted the same way and initially given an undercoat of “Vallejo” Gunmetal Grey. Each robot was then washed with “Citadel” Nuln Oil before being dry-brushed with more “Vallejo” Gunmetal Grey. I then dabbed “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade into some of the joints in order to represent some wear and tear, and then dry-brushed the entire miniature with “Citadel” Ironbreaker.

As I wanted these machines to represent the berserk androids which roam the post-apocalyptic landscape of “Gamma World”, I thought they should look a bit battered and rusty, so ‘spotted’ each model with some watered-down “Vallejo” Copper. I then applied some more Strong Tone Quickshade to each of these areas and dry-brushed them with “Citadel” Ironbreaker so they blended in a bit better.
"Defective robots."
Finally, as I wanted to break up the all-metallic look to the wandering military machines, I painted their weapons pure “Citadel” Abaddon Black, and ‘picked out’ their eyes with a combination of “Vallejo” Dark Vermillion  and “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson.

Having finished these androids I have not only started painting up another eight Cyber-Reavers, but started work on a few more inhabitants of "Gamma World" including Jeeves the Clockwork Robot, Sherlock Holmes and some Brain Eaters. The "thinking machine" and great detective have actually been sat gathering dust in one of my drawers for a considerable time, although I did try and give them 'a lick of the brush' back in March 2015 when I applied some layers to their basing. 
"Reaper Miniatures" WIPs - Just some basic undercoats, initial layers and dry-brushing for now
The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge has however re-energised my enthusiasm for the sculpts so I have re-done their basing and started painting them from scratch. I plan to have Holmes wearing a black suit with a light brown cape and deerstalker. Whilst Jeeves will be painted alongside more of his automaton brothers so I can apply the same techniques to his figure as I do theirs. The "Bones" Brain Eaters will have predominantly green (gamma-irradiated) legs with (hopefully) pinkish brain tissue...   

28 comments:

  1. Good work on your not-Terminators, Simon. They look suitably menacing and your paintwork has certainly brought them to life. Your three WIP figures are as eclectic as I've come to expect from you, with Jeeves being my favourite out of the three. Is he holding a cigar in his left hand? If yes, it could be a robot cigar like Sam Slade's annoying sidekick, Stogie, from the 2000AD comic series of Robo-Hunter!

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    1. Thanks Bryan, I do like to mix my genres up as well you know ;-) Sadly that's not a cigar Jeeves is holding, it's actually a rotating sawblade!!!

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  2. Looking good so far, I love the clockwork robot sculpt!

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    1. Cheers Andy. Jeeves should be finished this weekend - I hope.

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  3. Another splendid entry Simon, you are certainly racking up the points.

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    1. Thanks Michael. I had to paint up something nice and simple after spending all my time on the shredded clothing of my Hulks!!

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  4. I do like those robots! Cheers PD

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  5. Hmm, I wonder what other types of machine warriors roam the badlands? These look dangerous enough, but maybe there are worse horrors?

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    1. Lots of "Bones" horrors coming Hugh, many inspired by your own corking paint-jobs and posts :-)

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  6. More cracking work Simon, you're rattling through some stuff at the moment! Keep it up.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks Roger. I want to have painted quite a few things this year, so your "Top Ten of my Paint-jobs" isn't as easy as last year's one seemed to be ;-)

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  7. EASY!!!! I only had had 48 posts for you to have to look trough, you post two/three times a week. (Ha ha).

    Cheers Roger.

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  8. The androids/not-Terminators look excellent. :)

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  9. I don't remember the original films Terminators being all that dynamic, so I think these poses are true to the screen versions.

    Very nice work.

    Brain Eaters are weird concepts. Never worked a way to include them in my rpg sessions either.

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    1. Thanks Dai. The androids' poses are as good as the sculpts allow without damaging them too much imho, so they'll do. As you say, they weren't exactly the most dynamic creation on the 'Silver Screen' either. Brain Eaters don't feature in the "Gamma World" bestiary I own. But the models were so good that I couldn't resist them. Their legs are similar to those of a Parn (Sword Beetle) though, so I may use them as something similar to them?

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  10. The terminator poses look appropriate to me. Nicely done.

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    1. Cheers Finch. Though the poses were achieved more through necessity than anything else ;-)

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  11. Nice work, Simon. Your cyber-reavers look suitably "Terminator"-is, although sorry to hear of your issues with their fiddly nature. And the walking brain is now certainly a model that's been added to my list, as I started speculating on how I would paint it as soon as I saw it, which is a sign that I will be buying guide at least one. Do I go 'Devil Shrimp' or green lobster? We shall have to see...

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    1. Thanks Jez. A final eight Cyber-Reavers are currently just drying, awaiting a coat of varnish :-) The Brain Eaters are a bit smaller than I anticipated but still require a 40mm base due to their size. Mine will be green below and pink on top!

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  12. Not sure why the random word 'guide' appeared in there - obviously predictive text trying to make me look like an idiot.

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    1. I have seen some metal Brain Eaters, Jez, But I reckon the "Bones" ones are an absolute steal at £2 each; and are the sort of sculpt which the material seems to lend itself to.

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