Sunday 10 March 2019

"We Must Survive. We Must Survive."

"That gun will not harm me."
This 40mm tall metal Cyberman miniature is sold by “Warlord Games” and can be bought as part of their "The Tomb of the Cybermen" expansion set for the "Doctor Who: Exterminate!" miniatures game. Sculpted to closely resemble actor Michael Kilgarriff as the Cyber-Controller from the 1967 television story "The Tomb Of The Cybermen", the large imposing silver cyborg "directed lesser-ranking Cybermen and Cyber-Leaders from the Cyber-Tombs..."

Initially undercoated with a double helping of "Citadel" Abaddon Black, the emotionless monster was subsequently treated to two layers of Ironbreaker and a wash of Nuln Oil. He was then dry-brushed with more Ironbreaker, before I 'picked out' the Cyberman's eyes and mouth with a little more Abaddon Black. Luckily though, unlike the rest of the Cyber-Controller's mechanical minions, I didn't need to additionally paint all the somewhat torturous body-tubing which covers his limbs black and was therefore able to simply leave these silver.
Aggedor WIPs - The Royal Beast of Peladon has been shaded, dry-brushed and detailed
As a final touch I applied some "Vallejo" Heavy Orange to the model's "enlarged, dome-shaped semi-transparent brain case." On the small screen this part was actually lit from the inside, so in order to try and replicate that pulsating glow I randomly dabbed some "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson over the area and allowed it to haphazardly congeal.

I also momentarily considered basing my Cyber-Controller on a static grass-flocked base, in order for it to be fielded alongside all my other "Doctor Who: Into The Time Vortex" Cybermen. This was particularly tempting as I have already previously painted a Cyberman from this particular era courtesy of the "Nightmares In Silver" Cybermen Collector's Set 1966-2013, so could have potentially used the figure as one of the Cyber-Controller's minions. In the end though, common sense soon made me realise the error of my ways, and the extra-terrestrial giant was given a snowy stand.
"Black Tree Design" WIPs - The Silurians and Myrka have all been washed and shaded prior to more dry-brushing
Sticking with "Doctor Who", albeit this time miniatures previously produced by "Black Tree Design", I have continued to make some good progress on a selection of 28mm scale models from both the Third and Fifth Doctor's tenures. Foremost of these has been the sacred symbol of Peladon, Aggedor, who appeared in two of my favourite Jon Pertwee serials "The Curse of Peladon" and "The Monster of Peladon".

In addition, I am slowly working my way through a dozen Silurians, including their leader Scibus. I've actually spent a little while experimenting upon a couple of the figures with a combination of Brown and Green washes to try and capture something of their reptilian nature, but have also been practising a similar shading technique upon their genetically modified deep-sea creature, the Myrka.

18 comments:

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    1. Thanks Simon. Simple stuff, and I'm not entirely happy with his black eyes/mouth-piece...

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  2. Great work on the cyberman Simon, the rest are progressing nicely, particularly like the colours on the silurians

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    1. Cheers Dave. I've managed to already finish Aggedor, and hope to get the dry-brushing on my Silurian pilot pieces completed soon too :-)

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  3. I like what I see, great job!
    The Aggedor is a great figure too, very Star Trek TOS with even a hint of old school Godzilla. I'm considering picking it up voor 15mm.

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    1. Thanks Wouter. I’m not too sure about the black eyes and mouth, as they make the face look a little dark. You could certainly paint Aggedor white and proxy a Mugato - it would look a lot better than the old Mego action figure LOL!!

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  4. I do like your paint job on the Cyberman, Simon. The others are coming along well. I look forward to seeing them finished.

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    1. Cheers Bryan. Lots of “Doctor Who” getting finished currently ;-)

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  5. Digging the cyber controller. There is something about those early cybermen which seems more terrifying than the more modern upgraded incarnations.The fact that they look like men in jump/boiler suits rather than iron man seems more earthy and sinister. Maybe the retro style personifies a horror Harlan Ellison might have written. Thanks for sharing these; I'd like to see some more!

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    1. Thanks Horridperson. Very much appreciated and the rest of the Telos Cybermen will be posted soon - I hope. Apart from the classic Star Trek story “City On The Edge Of Forever:, which I believe Ellison penned the screenplay for, I haven’t seen much of his work sadly.

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  6. The cyberman is nice. I like the brain thing on the top of his head as that really draws the eye and becomes a vocal point. Agreed looks very retro! I actually remember that creature and also some excellent artwork set in the mines of Pelladon so looking forward to him being done enormously. The Silurians and pantomime horse are also coming along nicely!!!!!

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    1. Cheers Undercoat. I'm hoping to get some more of the Telos Cybermen done soon. I first recall seeing Aggedor as a "Weetabix" card and have had a soft spot for him ever since LOL. Pantomime horse is a good description of the Myrka, as that's precisely what it was :-)

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  7. Yet another Cyberman variation, but very different from most of the others.

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    1. Thanks Joe. There should only be one Cyber-Controller; albeit "Attack Of The Cybermen" showed him to have abandoned his glowing orange dome by the time the (Sixth) Doctor returned to the Tombs on Telos.

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