Thursday 28 July 2016

"The Crime Isss Lifffe! All Mussst Be Purggged!"

"You mock the lawww, Dreddd! Ffflamesss of jusssticce conssssume you!"
This 28mm pre-painted plastic model of Judge Fire is by “Wizkids” and can be bought as number 112 from their Indy “Heroclix” range. Immersed from head-to-toe in ethereal flame, this Dark Judge earnt his name when he was still alive by burning down a school for violating noise regulations. Wielding a “flame-spewing trident”, the skull-headed lawkeeper was co-created by John Wagner, Alan Grant and Brian Bolland, and first appeared in August 1981 within the pages of Issue 224 of “2000 A.D.”

As I wanted to paint this version of Judge Fire entirely aflame the figure was primarily undercoated with “Vallejo” Heavy Orange and then heavily washed with the “Citadel” glaze Bloodletter. In order to try and bring out the sculpt’s excellent detail the Dark Judge was then dry-brushed with more “Vallejo” Heavy Orange before I highlighted his flames with Heavy Ochre. Lastly I applied some additional Heavy Ochre to the miniature’s raised edges, such as his shoulder-pads, skull and ornate belt-buckle with a “Winsor & Newton” University Series 000 brush.
Star Trek WIPs - Scotty and some 'Red Shirts', plus James Tiberius Kirk
These “Space Vixens From Mars” personality figures are the first of several 28mm metal miniatures from the manufacturer that I hope to paint up as proxies for a “Star Trek” inspired game of “Lost Patrol”. For now I plan to limit myself to Captain Kirk (using the company’s Colonel Steve Purbrick model) and an Away Team of four ‘Red Shirts’ including a (Grey-stuff) moustached Montgomery Scott.

I’m hoping that these characterful yet plainly sculpted miniatures will be the start of a much larger project which will eventually allow me to field some skirmish-scale battles involving the Federation battling the Klingon Empire, the Romulans, and the Gorn, as well as some other extra-terrestrial races too…
Evil Tree WIPs - This large "Horrorclix" model has been undercoated and washed 
 Finally I have started work on the largest of the models found within the “Horrorclix” Starter Set by “Wizkids”. This Evil Tree was originally destined to be simply placed upon one of the 40mm thin-lipped circular bases I reserve for objective markers. But having found it to be such an animated figure, and far larger than I anticipated, I have instead super-glued it to a 60mm round base so as to use it as a living, moving figure.

As a result I have under-coated the miniature with “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna, and subsequently washed it with “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade. Over the next few days I hope to build-up the monster’s twisted and terrifyingly warped details with a series of increasingly lighter brown dry-brushes. 

30 comments:

  1. You seem to have an never ending supply of self combusting super heroes at the moment Simon! Loving the sound of the away team, that should make an exciting instalment for Lost Patrol and as for that tree, I feel that I should have one of those! Great job all round Sir.

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    1. Thanks Michael. Practice makes perfect, so I tend to paint my minis as to whatever technique I'm trying to get used too (whether it be metallic robots, black-clad future federated troopers or, currently, fiery fellows). "Star Trek" is a sudden inspiration having stumbled upon a long forgotten bag of minis :-)

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  2. What an interesting mix of figures you have gathered here, Simon. I'm afraid I don't think your experiment with Judge Fire has worked. He looks too orange. There is not enough variety in the flames, in my opinion.

    Your Star Trek team should be a useful addition to your collection. However I do fear for the longevity of those red shirts. We all know they are always the first to die.

    Far and away the best figure you've shown here is the Horrorclix Haunted Tree. This is one of my favourite figures from the game and I'm sure you'll do an amazing paint job on him.

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    1. Cheers Bryan. Like my photos of the Human Torch the yellow doesn't seem to really show up with my pics, and that's despite fiddling about with the colour resolutions on Paint Shop Pro. Judge Fire is a good deal more yellow to the naked eye. But perhaps another lighter highlight would make that difference more visible..? I plan to paint the "Mongoose Games" version at some point so perhaps that one will turn out better. I'll certainly be trying my hand at painting his torso etc black.

      The "Star Trek" proxies should be quite a simple distraction, and as you say, I can't see even Scotty surviving "Lost Patrol" for too long ;-)

      Glad you like the tree, you are entirely responsible for me buying the mini; and its quite the size too!! Hopefully it'll prove fun for some Ghostbustin' fun I have planned :-)

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  3. More good stuff, Heroclix can't have many figures left for you to buy

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    1. Thanks Martin. Sadly Vampifan is always making me aware of minis which I think would make excellent additions to my "Heroclix" collection!!

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  4. Nooooo you know what happens to Red Shirts!!! Great job on judge fire. The Evil tree looks like a lovely mini looking forward to seeing it finished

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    1. Cheers Simon. Hopefully not all of the Red Shirts will meet a grim doom. But we'll have to see. My fingers are crossed that the Evil Tree should be finished quite quickly.

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  5. The tree is the pick of the bunch for me Simon, good idea keeping it as a mobile figure rather than an objective.

    The away team are cracking though I fear for the longevity of the red shirts....

    Fire is always tricky to get right, there are some good websites that I used for Bushido, personally I always struggle with water.... :-/

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    1. Thanks Andy. There certainly is lots of characterful detail on the Evil Tree, hence my decision to turn it into a figure rather than an objective marker.

      Putting on a Red Shirt is always hazardous imho!! Hopefully Scotty's moustache will save him!!

      I've a couple more flaming minis on the tabletop to paint, so I'm going to see how they turn out. What I wanted was a simple three-step fire-technique - which does the job. But feedback would suggest I need a fourth dry-brush. I may well try reversing the colours, which I understand many people do in order to create the impression...

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    2. Lighter colours closest to the core Simon then darker the further away you are with reds and oranges last and a final pure white at the tips. This guy is who I copied...

      http://www.hot-lead.org/advance/fire_theory.htm

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    3. Cheers Andy. I have another figure which I'm going to try out some reverse colours on, as he's purely electrical energy. I'd be very interested in your thoughts when I post him up.

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  6. Great stuff as always, sir! Will we be getting some Judge Dredd batreps soon?

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    1. Cheers Gordon. There may well be a "Judge Dredd" BatRep coming soon, based upon one of my fave stories "Cry Of The Werewolf" ;-)

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    2. Oh, yes please! "Cry of the Werewolf" is one of my favourite Dredd stories as well. Great artwork by Steve Dillon and a terrific story.

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    3. Your wish is my command Bryan ;-)

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  7. I like the evil trss, do not forget wood goes grey over time so a light dry brush with a grey or two should help bring out some detail. May not work but it just may.

    Like Bryan says for Me Judge Fire is a bit too orange and no one wants a Just David Dickenen... have a think about red, purple or even blue washes to deepen the colour, and yellow cream and even white to bring out the highlights, a tricky job to do well which is why you do not see me trying it.

    So Bravo sir, Bravo.

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    1. Thanks Clint. The original pre-paint did indeed have something of a grey look to its final highlight, so I'll take you up on that top suggestion :-)

      I'll certainly be trying an additional stage or two on my next all-flamin' mini. Though my next one is is a bit bigger...

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  8. Nicely done. :)

    Something else to maybe consider with flames/fire is reversing the normal sequence of shade to highlight, off white or yellow in the 'shade' area, through yellow-orange in the main colour through to red-orange it the tip.

    This may be a useful reference:
    http://hot-lead.org/images/advance/DP_fire.jpg

    http://hot-lead.org/advance/fire_theory.htm

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    1. Cheers Leon. I may well reverse my colours for the next attempt and see how that pans out. That fire looks very good in the piccie, thanks for the link!! :-)

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    2. I think it is tricky because our painting brain says 'dark up through to light' and for fire that is reversed, making it seem and odd thing to do.

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    3. It definitely warrants some thought. But I'll keep painting away and experimenting. Although I'm perfectly happy with how both Human Torch and Judge Fire have turned out. I've an electrical creature up next which will be white core with yellow highlights. So I'll see how that turns out...

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    4. Always worth experimenting, and at the end of the day it is only important you are satisfied, and I think you should be more than satisfied. :)

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    5. Absolutely, and as I say, I don't think the pics actually do either Human Torch or Judge Fire justice. Fingers crossed though that Zzzax will turn out somewhat differently...

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  9. Your best flame effects yet! Will we see the other 3 Dark Judges?

    Always a fan of all (Most) things Trek. Love the sculpted 'tache!

    That tree is a lovely sculpt. Will have to keep an eye open for one.

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    1. Thanks Dai. I like him :-)

      Lots of "Star Trek" coming over the next few months... Lots!!

      I was half contemplating using the tree for the my "Doctor Who And The Seeds Of Doom" project. But instead will now probably use it for some Ghostbustin'.

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  10. Nice stuff Simon, though the tree is the star of the piece.

    Cheers Roger

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    1. Cheers Roger. The Evil Tree is rather nice, and hopefully won't prove too difficult to paint up either.

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  11. I like your flame effects, Simon, and completely understand that sometimes the photos doen't do the paint job justice. I personally would have started with a darker colour, but possibly a wash of maroon or equivalent would contrast the lighter colours?
    And who doesn't love a bit of classic Trek? I am thinking of doing something similar, but will be using "Forbidden Planet" as my template - so Atomic Age sci-fi and monsters. But as I currently don't own anything for this project yet, it's going to have to wait.
    Nice tree too.

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    1. Thanks Jez. I'm hoping to try out a few more flame techniques with a couple of other models before I'm finished with this experiment :-)

      I'm hoping to have something of a "Star Trek" September, so expect plenty of Final Frontier-inspired primed minis over the next few weeks as I get them ready.

      In the meantime I've almost finished painting my Evil Tree, so I should be posting up a final WIP for that particular "Horrorclix" mini next time round... and after that the finished article.

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