"You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry..."

"That's my secret. I'm always angry."

These two bulky 38mm tall plastic “Wizkids” models of the Hulk are both miniature number 58 from the Marvel “Heroclix” Infinity Challenge range. The figures have been given different paint-jobs in order to represent Bruce Banner’s grey alter-ego when the scientist first transformed into an “unidentified creature”, and then the gamma-powered monster’s more recognisable colour scheme; green skin with purple pants.

First published in May 1962 the creature’s co-creator Stan Lee chose grey for the Hulk because he “wanted a colour that did not suggest any particular ethnic group.” Unfortunately colorist Stan Goldberg had problems with the grey and this resulted in the behemoth appearing throughout the publication in different shades of grey, as well as green. After seeing Issue One of “The Incredible Hulk” Lee chose to change the skin colour to green and for the next two decades whenever the monster’s origin was retold he was depicted as being green. Indeed even the reprints of the original comic were recoloured…

"Is he man or monster or... is he both?"

In December 1984 however Issue 302 of “The Incredible Hulk” reintroduced the grey Hulk in flashbacks and confirmed that when the scientist was first struck by the detonation of a gamma bomb, his transformation was grey-skinned. Since then the reprints of the first issue have reverted back to displaying the original grey colouring, and the official “Marvel Worldwide” fictional canon states that the Hulk was initially grey.

In order to cover up the grey Hulk’s pre-paint I initially painted the model with “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey and then pained his split trousers using a combination of Heavy Blue and “Citadel” Asurmen Blue. As Banner’s shirt during his first transformation is usually depicted as being a yellowy-orange in colour so I painted it using “Vallejo” Heavy Ochre. To dirty it up I gave it a wash of “Citadel” Nuln Oil. Finally I applied more of the Shade to the anti-hero’s skin.

For the green Hulk I used a very similar approach and just changed the paint colours. I therefore used “Vallejo” Heavy Grey and “Citadel” Thrakka Green for his ‘gamma-irradiated’ skin, “Vallejo” Heavy Green” and “Citadel” Nuln Oil for his hair, “Vallejo” Heavy Violet and “Citadel” Druchii Violet for his trousers, and finally “Vallejo” White with some watered-down “Citadel” Nuln Oil for his torn shirt.

Stormtrooper WIP - The buckethead's armour just needs to be properly picked out before a final grey wash

Having completed my miniatures for the Nostalgia Themed Bonus Round, I have already started painting the figures I want to use as my Epic Fail and Gambler/Risk Taker submissions. As a result I have begun progressing the "Star Wars" stormtroopers I based and primed just before the start of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. These three sculpts from the "Imperial Assault" boardgame by "Fantasy Flight Games" will hopefully form part of a number of models based upon Darth Vader's failed attempt to retrieve the plans to the Death Star from two droids...

For now I've just been concentrating on a test figure to try and work out how best to paint the bucketheads' distinctive white armour. To begin with I've heavily washed the white undercoat with a grey to help see all the figure's wonderful detail and then picked out all the black areas. Currently I'm tidying all these 'joints' up and 'whitening' some of the darker armoured areas before I apply a 'softer' grey wash over the miniature.

Star Wars WIPs - Darth Vader, Artoo-Deetoo and the Corellian Bounty Hunter known as Dengar

Obviously such a submission wouldn't be complete without the presence of the Dark Lord of the Sith himself, as well as the first of the Rebel Alliance's robots. I've already dry-brushed Darth Vader's costume with some charcoal, and undercoated his red lightsaber. But still have some metallic areas to 'pick out' as well as wash his attire before applying some shading to his cloak. Artoo-Detoo still has a long way to go as, having washed him to see the sculpt's detail, I've only just started to work on the undercoat for his chrome head.

Finally I thought I'd try and paint a small number of "Star Wars" Bounty Hunters for the Gambler/Risk Taker Themed Round, and perhaps one or two of their prey..? To begin with I've undercoated and washed my favourite of George Lucas' 'Scum & Villainy' creations, the Corellian mercenary Dengar...