Wednesday 8 June 2016

"And How Exactly Do We Take The Citadel, Assuming We're Still Alive By Then?"

"You wanna get through this? Do as I say."
This 28mm metal miniature of a female post-apocalyptic survivor is by “Copplestone Castings” and can be bought, along with four other models, as code FW31 Scavenger Heroes from their “Future Wars” range. The figure has been converted in order to better represent Charlize Theron’s character Imperator Furiosa from the 2015 motion picture “Mad Max: Fury Road” and as a result has had her long pony-tail removed in order to create the appearance of the female road warrior having short close-cropped hair. In addition to this simple modification I have also ‘amputated’ the miniature’s left arm, from the elbow to wrist, and replaced it with the plastic sword hilt of a “Wizkids” Silver Samurai figure. This has (hopefully) somewhat replicated Furiosa’s famous hydraulic mechanical limb.

Once I finished these simple alterations I gave the entire model an undercoat of “Citadel” Abaddon Black, and then painted her footwear using a combination of “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna and “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade. I then ‘dirtied’ the black trousers of Immortan Joe’s top soldier by enthusiastically dry-brushing “Vallejo” Heavy Charcoal all over them and subsequently shading the entire area with “Citadel” Nuln Oil.

Having realised that the majority of the Citadel soldier’s attire was seemingly black I decided to break up the somewhat monotonous colour scheme by picking out her patches, belt, undershirt and waist pouches with “Vallejo” Heavy Brown and her numerous straps with either “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna” or “Doombull Brown” before  washing them all with more Strong Tone Quickshade.
"Doctor Who" WIPs - Bok the gargoyle and a Yeti simply awaiting a "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey dry-brush
Lastly I painted the war rig driver’s formidable-looking scoped SKS rifle with “Vallejo” Gunmetal Grey, her bionic arm with “Citadel” Ironbreaker and her ‘skinhead’ with “Vallejo” Charred Brown. As with Furiosa’s heavily-worn slacks, I then generously applied some “Citadel” Nuln Oil across all these areas. Although in order to make her prosthetic limb stand-out a little from her weapon, I gave the Imperator’s left arm a wash of “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade.

I am also continuing to work on a number of “Black Tree Design” miniatures from the company's “Doctor Who” range. This rather diminutive sculpt of Bok from the 1971 BBC television serial “Doctor Who And The Daemons” is sadly an infinitely less awe-inspiring figure than the Animated Construct I recently finished by “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio”. It is however a rather quaintly accurate representation of Stanley Mason’s lack-lustre costume, and as a result is proving a rather fun diversion.
"Guild Ball" WIPs - Velocity, Hoist and their club captain Ballista
In addition to the living statue I have discovered yet another of the manufacturer's model Yetis. However, rather than simply paint the hairy robot brown, as I have done in the past with all my other Abominable Snowmen figures, I thought I might try to copy the grey colour scheme I have occasionally spied artist's using when illustrating the classic Patrick Troughton era monster. If nothing else I thought the formidable-looking automaton would then somewhat stand-out upon the tabletop as an obvious main host for the Great Intelligence.

Finally I am making slow progress on the “Steamforged Games Limited” miniatures Velocity and Hoist. These “Guild Ball” mechanical players have now had their metallic armour, joints and internal workings undercoated black in preparation for me to pick out their detail with “Citadel” Ironbreaker. I have also assembled the Engineer’s Guild Season one captain Ballista. The amount of intricate detail on this three-piece metal sculpt is phenomenal, so I’m not expecting to get the Lord Artificer actually finished any time soon. But as least he's built and ready for the paintbrush...

22 comments:

  1. Some nice figs dude, I've been hearing quite a lot about "guildball" recently, while I'm not ready to relinquish my passion for Bushido anytime soon, I might have a little lookie......

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Andy. I find the "Guild ball" minis a little too detailed and complicated to paint for my liking. But the two mechs are nice and hopefully should be finished soon. Obviously I'm very tempted by "Bushido" because of your awesome posts - so I'm going to try and paint up both ranges!!

      Delete
  2. Love the copplestone, used to own most of the range!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Fran. I'm a huge fan of "Copplestone Castings", so expect plenty more; especially once I've painted Max and start doing some BatReps using the minis :-)

      Delete
  3. More lovely figs! Great job on Furiosa!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Gordon. Glad I decided to go with the arm conversion on her now. She was worth that extra time imho.

      Delete
  4. Imperator Furiosa has turned out very well. I'm looking forward to seeing you painting Max and then posting a batrep. I have a few Mad Max type figures of my own to paint (Including Max and Furiosa), which I should get done. If only I didn't have so many other figures to paint.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Bryan. I actually don't think the photos of Furiosa do her justice. She's not quite so all-black as the piccies suggest. But hopefully once I've finished Max and got a BatRep posted you'll see her in all her formidable glory.

      I too would be further advanced with my painting schedule if not for others tempting me with new shiny models ;-)

      Delete
  5. Nice variety. So many interesting things going on!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Clint. Always like to have a few irons in the fire :-)

      Delete
  6. Well done that man, Imperator Furiosa looks great! As always so much going on Simon, just look at those mechanical players - wow! Mind you, I can't talk as I've just picked up the Frostgrave rules.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Michael. I look forward to seeing your "Frostgrave" warband. I've plenty of new minis and BatReps coming over the next few months for that particular rule-set.

      Delete
  7. Very ice work on the conversion. :)

    I am looking forward to your Guild Ball progress especially. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks PulpCitizen. I certainly hope to be focusing on "Guild Ball" over the next few weeks.

      Delete
  8. The sheer variety of projects you've got on the go always amazes me, along with how much you get done during the week. But I guess there's only so many times you can visit the submarine museum...
    Nice work on Furiosa and the others are coming along nicely too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Jez. I always like to have a few things on the go, as you know. I do try and get an hour's painting in most days when I can, and that lets me make consistent progress on my projects. Bok is now finished, and should be posted soon, along with a certain sci-fi super-computer to aid my Liberator's crew.

      Delete
  9. Nice work on Furiosa Simon. Nice paint job and conversion. The wip figures look very nice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Simon. I know post-apocalypse is your thing too, so I'm glad you like her.

      Delete
  10. That's a serious firearm Furiosa is holding. Would have been handy in the movie.

    Can't say enough good things about this conversion. fantastic job.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Finch. Much appreciated. Simple stuff really. but I am glad I went the extra mile and replaced her arm with a mechanical limb. Hopefully I'll get her on the tabletop very soon.

      Delete
  11. Okay, this is the THIRD time I've tried to comment on this post! >_<

    I'll keep it brief then.

    Great stuff!

    That is all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your perseverance, Dai. Much appreciated :-)

      Delete