Tuesday 17 January 2017

"I Have No Idea What It Could Be. It Was Greyish In Colour..."

"Not every discovery has been announced."
These five 28mm metal models of Grey Aliens are produced by “Copplestone Castings” and can be bought as code FW36 from their Future Wars range. Supposedly the extraterrestrial beings responsible for "forty-three percent of all reported alien encounters in the United States", these aliens are named for their unique skin colour and were made famous "from earlier depictions of the Roswell UFO incident from 1947."
"At no time, when the astronauts were in space were they alone: There was a constant surveillance by UFOs."
Smoothly sculpted and somewhat diminutive models, the figures were initially undercoated with two coats of "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey and washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil. The aliens were then dry-brushed with more "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey, before receiving a second heavily watered-down wash of "Citadel" Nuln Oil.  Finally, the gun-toting 'leader' had his space weapon painted using a combination of "Vallejo" Brass and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade.

With these latest (admittedly odd) additions to my "Mad Max" project completed, I have momentarily turned my attention towards painting a rather smashing sculpt of Tweak; one of Judge Dredd's "most important allies" during the lawman's epic adventure across "The Cursed Earth". This 28mm scale resin model was an extremely generous Christmas gift from Dave Stone and, now I have super-glued it upon one of plastic circular slotta bases I use for all my "2000 A.D." related miniatures, has been given a generous double-coat of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna.
Tweak WIPs: The alien has been undercoated "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and subsequently washed 
Described in the "Judge Dredd Wiki" as a "furry alien with dark brown fur covering the majority of his body... [and] large black eyes" I initially planned to simply dry-brush the figure and 'pick out' his claws. However, having scrutinised his appearance in "Tweak's Story" it's clear the "leader of an unnamed planet" actually has lighter fur around his snout and formidable-looking hands, so I'll be applying a lighter brown to these areas in order to make the "noble and loyal creature" far less monotone in colour.

34 comments:

  1. The grey's turned out really well Simon, great start on Tweek glad your having fun with it

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    1. Cheers Dave, and many thanks once again for the superb sculpt of Tweak. He's a corking model :-)

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  2. Tweak was a 2000Ad character that just did not work for me. But good to see it again after all these years.

    The Greys though are much more my cup of tea, and I must say they look Fab.

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    1. Thanks very much Clint. I'm pleased that the Grey Aliens have come out as nicely as they did. And hopefully a good paint-job on Tweak will help bring back some more good memories of the corking "Judge Dredd" epic that was "The Cursed Earth".

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  3. Your Greys have come out really well. I do like them a lot. Dave very kindly gifted me that figure of Tweak. Mine is fully painted and just waiting for me to finish painting Spikes Harvey Rotten before I showcase them on my blog. You are right that Tweak is not just one colour (I painted mine black). His snout and hands are lighter in colour. Dave has sculpted him superbly.

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    1. Cheers Bryan. I was a bit worried the Grey Aliens would turn out a bit flat-looking but happily don;t think they did. Tweak is a corking mini and I look forward to seeing yours (and Spikes Harvey Rotten) :-)

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  4. The Greys look amazing Simon, what a great job!

    Tweak is gonna be great, I've just started painting him too, that Dave is a very generous fellow! we'll all have to have a Tweak showdown....lol I'm heading more toward the brown but with detail around the snout and claws!

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    1. Thanks Andy. Good to get the Grey Aliens done. A Tweak showdown would be a laff!!!

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    2. Agreed! I'm certainly up for it, chaps.

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    3. Well I won't be posting mine until late next week I'd have thought, so I'll certainly include/add some links to your versions when the time comes :-)

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    4. A Tweak off sounds awesome glad you all liked him

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    5. I'm in then, although i deliberately steered away from calling it a "Tweak off" Dave....... **reproachful shake of the head**

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    6. Sorry Andy had been a long day!

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  5. Spot on Simon, I must get some of these - they are just right for an idea I have for next year's challenge!

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    1. Cheers Michael. Good to see you thinking ahead as well ;-)

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  6. Not familiar with Tweak, so cannot say how accurate the sculpt or the colour scheme are.
    But i do like those Greys - might have to get some for the current Doctor Who project, as you can never have enough aliens.
    And my latest Black Tree order showed up yesterday and i'm champing at the bit to assemble and paint my Dalek patrol. Having recently rewatched the two-part 'Magician's Apprentice/Witch's Familiar', I'm leaning towards the new colour scheme for my old-school Daleks, as I think the silver and blue colour scheme works well (with a black dome for the commander (?) Dalek). It appears that the Special Weapons Dalek only came in the ivory and gold colour scheme, so I'll probably follow that.

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    1. Thanks Jez.

      Lots of colour schemes for you to choose from for your Dalek Patrol, so I look forward to seeing what you come up with? The Abomination (or Special Weapons Dalek) is usually depicted in its Imperial (white & gold) livery. But was later used by the renegade faction and shown in the "Emperor Of The Daleks" comic strip with the Daleks' grey livery, marred by dark green stains. So you do have some colour choice ;-)

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    2. I'd not seen the comic strip and qss just going by its appearances on the tv. As it was in the white and gold livery in both Asylum of the Daleks and the aforementioned 12th Doctor two-parter, I'm inclined to go with this classic paint scheme - especially as it's a bit of a girly livery for something that's so destructive, which appeals to me.

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    3. The white and gold livery is certainly my fave too Jez.

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  7. The greys look super, I never liked Tweek myself, but if that's your bag, go with that man.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Cheers Roger. I don't know though... you don't like Tweak, don't like "Mad Max: Fury Road", don't rate my "Heroclix" Captain America to be in my Top Ten of 2016... You're a hard man to please these days ;-)

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    2. And I'm full of snot! so nothing seems to be pleasing me at the minute so not your fault, just ignore me (everyone else is).

      Cheers Roger.

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    3. LOL :-) You get better very soon my friend. Take care!!

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  8. Hmm, I wonder if one of the greys is called "Paul" :-) ?

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    1. :-) I did actually think about using some quotes from that film for this posting, Hugh. But I haven't actually seen it.

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  9. Nicely done with the greys sir. :)

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  10. The Greys turned out to be a very nice group. Rude middle-finger fellow I think is my fav of the bunch. :)

    Tweak was a cool character! Very happy to see they made a figure of him.

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    1. Cheers Dai. I'm rather pleased with how the Grey Aliens turned out. Dave's sculpt of Tweak is excellent :-)

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