Tuesday 15 August 2017

"Snake Eyes Is Proficient In Twelve Different Unarmed Fighting Systems..."

"Snake Eyes was one of the original figures in the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline in 1982."
This 28mm metal miniature of Snake Eyes is from a private collection and therefore not commercially available. Fortunately however, I was lucky enough to be able to acquire a spare casting of "one of the most prominent characters in the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero franchise" and subsequently decided to paint him as the Ninja Commando's carded action figure appeared in 1985.

Initially primed with two coats of "Citadel" Abaddon Black, the "hand-to-hand combat instructor" was dry-brushed with "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal and later heavily washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil. His girdle, grenade belt and visor were then 'picked out' with "Vallejo" German Grey, and also washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil.
"A wolf who befriended Snake Eyes while the commando lived in his cabin in the High Sierras."
Snake Eyes' Uzi sub-machine gun was painted using "Vallejo" Gunmetal Grey, whilst his katana sword was treated to a layer of "Citadel" Ironbreaker. Both of these weapons were then shaded with Nuln Oil. The handle to the "underwater demolitions" expert was picked out using a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Red and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade.

As my "jungle, desert and arctic" survivalist is based upon the second version of the "Hasbro" toy soldier, and was therefore packaged alongside his wolf Timber, it seemed silly not to also paint-up an appropriate-looking Canis Lupus figure. Luckily, Simon Quinton of "Brummie's Wargaming Blog" came up with the suggestion of using one of the wolves "Leading Edge Games" produced in order to "support the Bram Stoker's Dracula board game (1992) and roleplaying game (1993)".
"...Timber helped his friend, pouncing on Destro before he could shoot Snake Eyes."
As a result I patiently cut away the integral metal base to Snake Eyes' close companion, super-glued him to a typical 25mm plastic circular stand and undercoated him "Vallejo" White. The Creatures of the Night set sculpt was then washed with Pale Grey, before being dry-brushed with more White. 

With the basics finished, I dabbed the animal with plenty of Heavy Bluegrey using a piece of ragged blusher pad, and carefully washed this area with "Citadel" Nuln Oil. Finally, Timber was dry-brushed with some additional "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey, and had his fearsome fangs highlighted.

22 comments:

  1. Snake Eye's and Timber turned out really well Simon, even though they are very monotone colour schemes, you can see a lot of work has gone into both to depict the different area's

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    1. Thanks Dave. There's quite a few greys on Snake Eyes, but the camera doesn't pick them up that well sadly, and Timber took quite a while too.

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    2. Your hard work paid off, as you can see a difference, and as you know I feel your pain with photography picking up all your hard work

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    3. "I feel your pain with photography picking up all your hard work" - Oh yes ;-)

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  2. Top notch brushwork as usual Simon and yet again a great guide to how you did it ta.
    How do you get the grass on the bases looking so good?

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    1. Cheers Wargame Addict. I simply PVA it on and then brush it upwards with a soft paintbrush. This seems to encourage the flock to stand up a bit better. That's all.

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  3. Simple colour schemes but effective.

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  4. Perfect! Nailed that one Simon.

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    1. Cheers Michael. Snake Eyes needed to be right after PulpCitizen recently painted him so well recently.

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  5. Excellent work on them both dude. Looking forward to hearing next character to appear ;)

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    1. Thanks Simon, and for recommending the Dracula wolf to Leon - an idea I immediately nabbed!! Destro will be up soon, after another bit of "Doctor Who" :-)

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  6. Excellent work with one of my favourite Joes and his trusty Wolf companion. :)

    I look forward to your next G.I. Joe endeavours and maybe seeing some G.I. Joe related gaming. :)

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    1. Cheers Leon, and many sincere thanks for all your support to become a "G.I. Joe" fan :-) Spookily, I already have a Snake Eyes team-up in mind...

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  7. Top notch as always Simon, you really are the master of black. Oh and "nice doggy" too.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks Roger. I really enjoy doing these all-black minis from time to time, as its fun doing some grey shading stuff.

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  8. Great pair of figures and whilst it's difficult to paint a mostly black figure, you have pulled it off well. THe wolf is great too btw, super figure and brushwork.

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    1. Cheers Joe. I'm especially pleased with Timber as he took a lot of time carefully dry-brushing the white and grey, without getting the paint on the opposing area.

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  9. Snake Eyes and Timber look perfect mate! I was a very big fan of the character as a lad and had multiple versions of the figure and also his brother and nemesis Storm Shadow too.

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    1. Thanks Dai. I'm a fan of Snake Eyes (and Storm Shadow); but only since seeing the franchise's 2009 movie.

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    2. And that film was rather fun. Unlike the 1st iteration which was a shockingly large pile of goat's testicles...

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    3. Um, I thought the 2009 film was the first live action film, Dai. I haven't seen the 2013 "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" flick yet.

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