“My Name Is Sherlock Holmes.”

 "It is my business to know what other people don't know."

This 28mm model of a Sherlock Holmes is produced by “Reaper Miniatures” and can be bought as Code 50059 from their Chronoscope range. Sculpted by Michael Brower, the multi-part metal figure is clearly based upon Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional private detective, who made his debut in the 1887 published novel “A Study In Scarlet”.

Supplied with the option of having Holmes holding either a lantern, magnifying glass, pipe or book, I initially attempted to assemble the amateur sleuth carrying his trademark pipe and iconic mounted convex lens. However, the magnifying device proved far too flimsy for my fat fingers and frustratingly broke off whist its hand was being super-glued in place.

Four brave adventurers confront a pair of Golems beside a stargate on "Gamma World"

As a result, I permanently attached the consulting detective’s handheld Victorian lantern instead, and undercoated the entire piece with two coats of “Citadel” Abaddon Black. I then layered Sherlock’s travelling cloak with “Vallejo” Heavy Brown, shaded it with “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade and finally dry-brushed the loose garment with (more) “Vallejo Heavy Brown.

Due to wanting to create some considerable contrast between the model’s outer and inner clothing, I decided not to try and replicate the detective’s somewhat recognisable light grey tweed suit, but instead supply him with some much darker men’s wear by applying a combination of “Vallejo” Dark Grey and “Citadel” Nuln Oil to his trousers and waist-coat. These areas were later lightly dry-brushed some (more) “Vallejo” Dark Grey, and actually worked out well for my sanity’s sake as I found some of the detail towards the top of the figure’s torso as little difficult to discern.

"Reapers Miniatures" WIP - The super-villain Ape-X has been primed, shaded and dry-brushed

I pigmented Holmes’ famous ear-flapped travelling cap or rather, deerstalker, with “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna, and despite the sleuth narratively seeming to prefer an “old and oily black clay pipe”, also applied this colour to his tobacco pipe. Both of these areas were then shaded using a splash of “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade, and his shoes were ‘tidied up’ courtesy of another coat of “Citadel” Abaddon Black.

With the last of my “Gamma World” adventurers completed, for now at least, I have made a little progress on one of my post-apocalyptic landscape’s main inhabitants; the diabolical Ape-X by “Reaper Miniatures”. I intend to use this “Bones” super-villain from the Fort Worth-founded company’s Chronoscope Range as my explorers’ main antagonist, pitting the polymer model’s seemingly endless army of Cyber-Reavers against Sherlock Holmes, George Foreman, Jacques-Yvette Cousteau and the robotic Missus Hudson in his quest to acquire “super-science artefacts”.