Thursday 4 July 2019

"The Sea, Once It Casts Its Spell…”

"...Holds one in its net of wonder forever."
This 28mm model of a Deep Sea Diver is manufactured by “Reaper Miniatures” and can be purchased as Code 50085 from their Chronoscope range. Sculpted by Tim Prow, the underwater explorer is destined to join my party of adventurers on “Gamma World, as a proxy for the French conservationist and innovator Jacques-Yves Cousteau.

Based upon the standard diving dress known as hard-hat or heavy gear which was apparently invented by the Deane Brothers and Augustus Siebe, the figure was undercoated with “Vallejo” Heavy Brown, and the waterproofed canvas suit washed with “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade. His weighted footwear and belt were then pigmented using a combination of “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey and “Citadel” Nuln Oil, before being lightly dry-brushed with a little (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey.
George Foreman, Missus Hudson and Jacques-Yvette Cousteau face some Cyber-Reavers on "Gamma World"
The diver’s leather shoes were ‘picked out’ with a layer of “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna, and this extra opaque acrylic paint was additionally utilised as a base coat for his helmet. I then applied some “Citadel” Ironbreaker to the miniature’s metallic shin-guards, shaded these areas with Nuln Oil, and then added a smidgeon of shine on them with a light dusting of (more) Ironbreaker.

The surface-supplied diving helmet was treated to a generous covering of “Vallejo” Brass, before being thoroughly drenched in “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade. For sanity’s sake, I then used some “Citadel” Abaddon Black to significantly darken the rigid head enclosure’s view ports and delicately dry-brushed the ensemble with (more) “Vallejo” Brass.
Large Earth Elemental WIP - The huge "Bones" model has been based and primed "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey
Finally, I turned my attention to the ocean-bed explorer’s hands, which I have seen painted as both thick leather gloves and naked flesh. Having felt there was an amusing naivety to the idea of a clunky, predominantly enclosed adventurer walking around the radioactive wastelands of “Gamma World” with his bare fingers exposed, I decided to go with a mixture of “Vallejo” Heavy Skintone and “Citadel” Reikland Fleshshade.

Having almost finished my post-apocalyptic quartet, I have found some time to both base and prime another denizen of the science fantasy role-playing world “originally designed by James M. Ward and Gary Jaquet” in 1978; A Large Earth Elemental by “Reaper Miniatures”. This formidably-sized “Bones” sculpt, “summoned to the Material Plane” by some misguided magic-user will probably end up being used as a wandering monster in my games of “Gamma World”, as I’m quite keen on having a few such hazards randomly traversing my tabletop whilst the main opposing forces are busy battling it out over useful wreckage and loot objectives.

22 comments:

  1. Nice work on the diver model. I keep meaning to get him for 7TV. The elemental looks a great mini to paint up.

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    1. Thanks Simon. I'd definitely recommend the mini, especially if you can pick him up in metal. The Elemental is a bit big for my liking, and a tad intimidating as a result. Fingers crossed though :-)

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    2. It will be definitely metal. I am not keen on the bones character for human type sculpts.

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    3. Neither am I, Simon. I find the "Bones" material too bendy and some of its edges look torn making them difficult to file down flat.

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    1. Cheers Phil. Time will tell once I've got Sherlock Holmes on the tabletop and my own "Gamma World" fantastic four start looking for post-apocalyptic loot :-)

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  3. Now that's what I call an Earth Elemental - big, chunky and hard as nails. He looks like the Fantastic Four's Thing on steroids!

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    1. Bryan, brilliant. I've just spluttered my coffee !!!

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    2. I never gave the Ben Grimm link a thought, Bryan, until you mentioned it. Now I'm somewhat tempted to paint the brute brick-orange ;-)

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  4. I do like a good Seep Sea Diver miniature Simon and this one is a cracker, lovely work Sir.

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    1. Thanks Michael. The Deep Sea Diver is one of my favourite "Chronoscope" sculpts :-)

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  5. Fantastic job on the diver Simon, great looking earth elemental, should look great

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    1. Cheers Dave. Much appreciated. I'm still trying to decide to either just paint the Elemental grey, or pick out some of its different rocks in other colours etc... Its such a super big sculpt that it seems a shame to just do it grey.

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    2. If you do it all in the grey, you can then use washes to change the colours of some of the stones, you can even add moss with a green wash by stippling it on

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  6. That diver has a great paintjob, really good work. That elemental is a beast! Can't wait to see him painted up and brought to life.

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    1. Thanks Undercoat. I have a few more "Reaper Miniatures" ahead of the queue before the Earth Elemental, but hopefully I can get him done before the end of the month.

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  7. The work done on that diving helnet is superb, as normal I enlarged the photos tp see all the detail that you've picked out - superb job.

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    1. Cheers Joe. That's very kind of you to say. The "Vallejo" Brass is an excellent paint imho, and did most of the work on the helmet for me :-)

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  8. Great stuff Simon! I didn't know Reaper made an old school diver like that, perfect for a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea theme :)

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    1. Thanks Ivor. Indeed, the Deep Sea Diver would be great for "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". As a complete aside, thanks for showcasing those "Knuckleduster" minis on your blog - I've picked a set up for myself :-)

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  9. Nice work on the diver, the shade makes a while lot of a difference.

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    1. Cheers Wouter. I agree with the shading. its worked well on the diver.

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