Monday 26 November 2018

"Kamelion Is A Tool Of An Earlier Invader Of Xeriphas..."

"...And instrumental in my escape from that benighted planet."
This 28mm metal model of a Gelsandoran android is produced by “Black Tree Design" and can be bought from their "Doctor Who" range as code DW534 Kamelion. Freed by the Fifth Doctor "from the Master's control and invited... to join the TARDIS crew", this "first non-humanoid companion since K9" was created by Terence Dudley and made his BBC Television debut in the March 1983 story "The King's Demons".

The robot was initially undercoated with "Vallejo" Black and subsequently treated to a couple of layers of "Citadel Ironbreaker". The figure was then liberally washed in Nuln Oil, before being roughly dry-brushed with (more) Ironbreaker. Finally I picked out Kamelion's transparent brain pan and stomach-based power cell with a combination of "Vallejo" Black Green, Heavy Khaki and "Citadel" Biel-Tan Green shade.
"The Lord Of The Rings" WIPs - Two Nazgul and a mounted Mouth of Sauron
With less than a calendar month until the Ninth annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, I have been rather busy scouring through my collection of boxes, drawers and bags of unpainted miniatures looking for any thing especially suitable for the event's "Lord Of The Rings" theme. Fortunately, I have clearly attempted to build up a sizeable horde of second-hand "Games Workshop" models in the past, and resultantly have been busy assembling and basing, or at least re-priming, a number of the range's classic metal miniatures.

Alongside a rather nice-looking mounted sculpt of the Mouth of Sauron, which pleasingly only needed a couple of watered-down "Vallejo" Black coats to mask its ghastly previous paint-job and have him ready for the start of the AHPC, I have also discovered a pair of named Nazgul on foot to add to my gaggle of Ringwraiths. I know little about the background to the Dark Marshal and the Shadow Lord, but both are wonderfully dynamic figures and look so much more interesting than the normal heavily shrouded incarnations seen throughout director Peter Jackson's film trilogy.
Sauron WIP - The Necromancer has been re-assembled and re-primed ready for the AHPC
Similarly, I was delighted to uncover a small plastic tub containing the separate parts of J. R. R. Tolkien's main antagonist himself, Sauron. Perhaps somewhat bizarrely, I was never a fan of "Games Workshop" and their insistence on producing small 'vignette' sets for their "Lord Of The Rings" miniatures range. The Dark Lord Sauron boxed set, containing the arguably useless prone forms of Elendil and Isildur, is a case in point, so presumably I spotted a complete Sauron being sold separately at a show's stall somewhen...

To be honest though, it's taken a fair bit of work to put the Necromancer back together again, as his original paint-job was not only poor, but contained lots of powdery putty which I have had to scrape off his joints so as to create better bonding surfaces for the super-glue. I've also taken the liberty of pinning the weighty model together with wire, just to ensure he doesn't fall apart again as he presumably once did when first assembled.

18 comments:

  1. Painted while listening to the Rolling Stones I trust ????

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    1. Um... ‘fraid not, Phil. I was listening to a Peter Davison “Big Finish” “Doctor Who” audio story to keep me in the mood :-)

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    1. Thanks Simon. I seem to already be doing more prep than painting tbh, getting ready for the AHPC.

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  3. Good luck with the challenge and figure hunt!

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    1. Cheers Fran. I’m finding lots of minis I forgot I owned, tbh. Hopefully a few will appear in the AHPC as a result :-)

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  4. Great work on the android Simon, good luck with this years painting challenge

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    1. Thanks Dave. Still a little under a month to go before the AHPC starts, but in the past I’ve found that prepping the minis beforehand helps take the pressure off later in the challenge; especially when almost inevitably I depart from my planned genre to something new and shiny :-)

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  5. Love the droid Simon - yet another previously unknown mini added to my "wants" list!
    Really looking forward to seeing your AHPC 'in the paint' :-)

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    1. Cheers Greg. Tbh I found Kamelion’s sculpt rather underwhelming, with the brain pan detail in particular proving rather too soft for my liking. You can expect lots of straightforward paint-jobs for the AHPC, as I usually try to get the bulk of my 500 point tally finished whilst the mojo is still strong. The last couple of months tend to see me sag a little, so I’m hoping to get a lot of Wraiths finished over Christmas and early January ;-)

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  6. I don't recall the Dr Who robot, but he looks and sounds interesting. Well you must have a Tardis of your own with all these LotR minis you keep finding! They all look great and you 're badly tempting me with the genre, curse you! I think your plan of lots black and metal minis to get the score going is a sound one. Then you can branch out into more colourful House Marines and Aeldari Harlequins!!!

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    1. Interestingly, the Kamelion prop was a ‘real’ robot and kept breaking down, hence it was quickly reduced down to minimal screen time and then destroyed in a later story, so I’m not surprised you don’t recall him as a companion. He had a better time in some of the novels. I’ve uncovered loads of “LoTR”, absolutely loads, and most require a predominantly black/dark brown paint scheme, so expect lots to appear. Once they’re finished I may well branch out... but only into Silver as I have a tonne of plastic/metal Cybermen to paint, alongside a fair few Daleks ;-)

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  7. The Android looks excellent; I keep thing its a posable model!
    Good luck with your endeavours unearthing other long-forgotten miniatures, you seem to be doing well so far.

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    1. Thanks Joe, I certainly see what you mean about the piece looking posable. I've discovered a real treasure trove of "LoTR" minis which I'm hoping to prime and paint over the next four months :-)

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  8. Kamelion looks excellent - well done on him/it. :)

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    1. Cheers Leon. Kamelion has come out okay, imho, especially considering the nature of the sculpt.

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  9. Android is very cool - don't remember that one, but I like the sculpt.

    More Wraiths is never a bad thing. And I'm with you on the whole vignette issue. Just annoying and unnecessary for game pieces.

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    1. Thanks very much Dai. I wasn't particularly impressed with Kamelion myself, but glad he is finished and looks okay on the tabletop. I'm definitely not a vignette buyer, so was very pleased to find a lone second-hand Sauron, and one I could 'resurrect' too.

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