Thursday 21 December 2017

"You Stay There, K-9. You're In Charge."

"Affirmative Master."
This 15mm-tall resin model of K-9, is produced by “Gale Force Nine” and is currently available for free when “you buy all six doctors” in the “Warlord Games” “fantastic multi-buy set!”; a deal which includes the First, Fourth and Tenth Doctors, as well as the Fifth, Eleventh and Twelfth. Never “intended to be a recurring character”, the robot dog was created by Bob Baker and Dave Martin for the October 1977 “Doctor Who” adventure “The Invisible Enemy”, and later went on to become the central character in no less than “three of the series’ television spin-offs.”

“One of the doctors most loyal companions”, the figure had to initially be somewhat delicately pried off its stand's rectangular-shaped peg, in order to be permanently affixed to a 28mm lipped circular base. He was then primed with “Vallejo” Heavy Charcoal, washed with “Citadel” Nuln Oil and subsequently dry-brushed with more “Vallejo” Heavy Charcoal.
Ogron WIPs - The hulking mercenaries have been layered using various "Vallejo" brown paints
With the basic layering now completed on Professor Marius’ invention, I ‘picked out’ his tracking sensors (ears), side insignia, radio signal booster antenna (tail) and dog tag with some “Citadel” Ironbreaker, and computer visual display unit using a dab of “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey. I also coated K-9's servo-mechanism for articulating his neck through the vertical plane with some “Citadel” Abaddon Black and shaded all of these aforementioned areas with Nuln Oil.

As a final stage I painted the radio-controlled companion’s retractable data-com probe and visual orientation circuits with “Vallejo” Heavy Red and washed them “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson. I did consider whether to try and ‘highlight’ some of the buttons and switches on his operator’s console for manual programming, but felt that as the minute detail appeared so fiddly, it was probably beyond my skill with a paint-brush (or at least mental sanity) to try ‘spotting’ the odd red button here and there.
Ogron WIPs - The aliens will be shaded using "Citadel" Nuln Oil & "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade
Impressively, despite this "Scientific Genius" being a "freebie" manufactured by a 'rival' company, "Warlord Games" have still released his PDF rules for "Doctor Who: Exterminate!", and a fearsome travelling companion the diminutive robotic dog makes too; armed with both a Laser Scalpel and Muzzle-mounted Shock Wand. Indeed, the "Good Dog" can not only transfer any wound upon himself if he is "within 6 inches of The Doctor or a Companion", but can also form part of the Timelord's crew without counting towards the faction's Recruitment Card total, if he is instead 'called' by the Adventure Card, "K-9 Whistle".

Having been lucky enough to watch a preview showing of the "Doctor Who" Christmas Special, "Twice Upon A Time", I have perhaps unsurprisingly turned all of my hobbying attention towards "Warlord Games" "Into The Time Vortex" range, and made good progress on half a dozen Ogrons. These hired mercenaries of the Daleks have momentarily proved a little puzzling to paint on account of their rather dark and dour palette. However, I've now settled upon a seemingly suitable concoction of brown paints and shades, and am thus carefully making my way through their belts, straps, holsters and hairy arms...

14 comments:

  1. I still have the Citadel "K9". A real trip down memory-lane for me thanks

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    1. You're very welcome, Clint. Glad you enjoyed the posting :-)

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  2. Great work on K9 Simon, and good progress on the Ogrons as well

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  3. I am pleased to see you concentrating so heavily on your "Doctor Who" backlog. Good work all around.

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    1. Cheers Bryan. Plenty more "Doctor Who" coming over the next few posts too.

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  4. One of the Doctor's companions that even I recognise! Great rendition of the icomic K9 and welldone picking out all the minue detail!

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    1. Thanks Joe. There's plenty more detail to 'go for' on this model, for those painters with a steadier hand then me :-)

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  5. Haha one of my all time fave Who characters. Nice

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    1. Cheers Andy. K-9 was a corking little mini to paint in a couple of sessions.

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  6. Brilliant job Simon, and it certainly sounds like the little fella can pack a punch on the table top!
    Looking forward to seeing some more Who as you work your way through them :-)

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    1. Thanks Greg. Much appreciated. More "Doctor Who" to come over Christmas, I assure you!

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  7. Cracking work on K-9 - he looks top notch Simon. :)

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    1. Cheers Leon. I could have done a few extra bits with the buttons I suppose. But you're not going to see them on the tabletop, imho.

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