Wednesday 14 February 2018

"Don't Try And Attack Me While I'm Talking."

"And you'll remember who's the most powerful member of the FF!"
This 28mm plastic “Wizkids” model of Invisible Girl is miniature number 043 from the Clobberin' Time Marvel "Heroclix" range and is based upon one of the founding members of the Fantastic Four, Susan Storm-Richards. Capable of causing herself to turn invisible, as well as project energy constructs and force shields, the superheroine was created by Stan Lee and artist Jack "King" Kirby for the November 1961 first issue of "The Fantastic Four".

Receiving "her powers after being exposed to a cosmic storm", the figure was originally given a double undercoat of "Vallejo" Heavy Blue in order to 'mask' its clumsy pre-paint, and then washed with some "Citadel" Nuln Oil. Unfortunately, at this stage I realised that I had clearly recorded how I painted Mister Fantastic's all-blue costume wrong, and set to work trying to find a similar match using a mixture of "Vallejo" Heavy Blue dry-brushes and applications of "Citadel" Drakenhof Nightshade.
The Fantastic Four alongside the Silver Surfer
With Sue's attire pigmented as close to her husband's palette as I could muster, I applied a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Goldbrown and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade to her hair, before applying a dry-brush of (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Goldbrown across that area. The human mutate's skin was 'picked out' using a base coat of "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone and a somewhat watered-down wash of "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade.

Recently, I've been reading the exploits of one of "Marvel Comics" latest super-teams, "The U.S. Avengers", and become reacquainted with the powerhouse known as the Red Hulk. Admittedly, the current comic book version is actually the second incarceration of the creature, but that hasn't stopping me pulling out my old previously-primed "Heroclix" sculpt of General Thunderbolt Ross' alter-ego, and starting to 'cut in' all the tears in his black shorts.
"Heroclix" WIPs - The Red Hulk, a G.C.P.D. officer and a Hulk Robot
Alongside my "Super Rare" "Wizkids" figure, I also happened upon a collection of five Hulk Robots. As memory serves I bought these miniatures in order to provide my unfinished model of the "X-Men" super-villain Arcade with some much-needed minions, but for whatever reason then moved on to pastures new having simply under-coated them. For now, I simply plan to paint a pilot piece in order to test out a simple paint scheme for the brute. However, the prospect of a robot army of converted ne'er-do-wells is somewhat tempting, so I might look at some kit-bashing in the near future with some of my duplicate "Heroclix" characters.      

Finally, turning my attention to "DC Comics" and my "Gotham" Campaign, I have started work on three more G.C.P.D. (Gotham City Police Department) cops for Commissioner Gordon's law enforcement department. I've yet to actually field this faction 'in anger' on the tabletop using "Mutants & Death Ray Guns", so want to ensure I have plenty of points-worth for when the time arrives.

23 comments:

  1. Nice work on Sue Simon, the group shot looks awesome. Nice start on the other three pieces as well

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Dave. I'm a bit annoyed with myself for not correctly recording the right recipe for my "FF" costumes, but Sue will do on the tabletop.

      Delete
  2. The fact I've never even heard of "Red Hulk" or "Hulk Robots" shows my ignorance of the genre, but I don't NEED to know a thing to still appreciate the work you've done on the mini's Simon :-)
    Great stuff, and as Dave comments, the group shot is absolutely brilliant!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Greg. I'm hoping to get the "FF" on the tabletop soon and show off some of their arch-villains in some BatReps. Red Hulk is awesome imho, and I'd highly recommend the 12-issue long run of "U.S. Avengers" - I believe its available as two tpbs these days :-)

      Delete
  3. Cool. I really like that Susan Storm-Richards figure and paint job. I like The Thing (is it?) too, but not struck on the models for the other two of the four - great paint jobs, but I don't rate the sculpts of the models. Hey ho. Saying that though, I wasn't bothered with the two characters in the Jessica Alba version films.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Roy. I think Sue's costume is still a bit too dark when compared to Mister Fantastic's, but she'll do for the tabletop. I really like Reed's pose tbh, but Johnny Storm's is somewhat "Meh" I agree - I definitely didn't like him in the films :-)

      Delete
  4. The F4 look great now they’re complete! Your ‘clix collection is inspiring Simon

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Andy. I must confess to lovin' my "Heroclix" currently :-)

      Delete
  5. I agree with your assessment that Sue is too dark. Still good though as is the surfer. Do you know if Captain Britain's foe The Fury has been made yet?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Phil. Tbh, I don't think "Wizkids" have released much surrounding Captain Britain, and haven't seen The Fury myself. I've not yet seen a Cpt Britain I like either.

      Delete
  6. I can't see anything???

    Lol great job dude!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I never did like the original FF (they had numbers on them right ?) and din;t kike their 'colours' either. I do howver like your newer version of them and the Invisible girl is a real treat!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks very much Joe. You're spot on about the "FF" having numbers on their shirts, but I passed on the opportunity of 'picking out' such a motif and instead simply kept the "4" black on their uniforms :-)

      Delete
  8. Nicely done (possibly a little dark but I'm not familiar enough with the original Invisible Girl to know for sure).

    I wonder who would apply to be part of G.C.P.D. ? With all the super-villains around, I don't imagine that being a police officer is a particularly fun job...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Hugh. I am very tempted to try and re-paint Invisible Girl at some point. I think the "Citadel" Nuln Oil wash is the main problem.

      I certainly wouldn't want to join the G.C.P.D., as you say, you're simply fodder for the super-villains imho :-)

      Delete
  9. I've always been a big fan of the Fantastic Four. I'm sorry to say that I don't like how you've painted Sue. Far too dark - even her hair is too dark. I'm not at all familiar with Red Hulk or the Hulk Robots. I much prefer She Hulk. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I might go back and re-paint her uniform at some point, Bryan, as its too dark for me too; albeit the "Heroclix" scheme actually has her with black gloves and boots...

      I have several Hulks in the painting queue currently, as I'm planning on doing a mini-Hulk project at some point due to owning many of his opponents.

      Delete
  10. Well as you well know I'm a big FF fan, though strangely I've never painted up the team myself (I own all the figures you have on show in your version, though I converted my B'Grim a bit for use elsewhere (as you know)).I always thought the original costumes were a bit on the plain side, it would have been nice if they had added a bit of white to them (as the did later of course). I too think Chris Evens makes a better Capt America the J' Storm, in fact apart from Mister Fantastic, I didn't really like any of the casting choices in the FF movies.

    Lovely painting though, though SS is a little dark I would happily see her on my table top.

    Cheers Roger

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many thanks indeed, Roger, and as you'll see from my next posting, I have re-visited Sue Storm and somewhat lightened her "FF" costume; albeit the white of her "4" emblem is beyond my skill with a paintbrush.

      Lots more "FF" related minis to come spookily, and a BatRep too, once I've finished re-varnishing my invisible girl :-)

      Delete
  11. Looking good BK, and I suspect lightening the blue will have yielded a satisfying outcome. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Leon. Having now re-painted Sue, I'm hopeful that the change will make her look less dark on the tabletop :-)

      Delete