Tuesday 11 February 2020

"Your Insolence Has Exhausted My Patience."

"Your persistence is admirable. But your arrogance will prove fatal!"
This 45mm tall plastic “Wizkids” model of Major Maxim is miniature number 054 from their Indy “Heroclix” range and depicts the Hammer operative during a raid upon Eddy Owen's house in England, when the "robotic monstrosity" was searching for a mystical artefact from Atlantis known as the Helmet of Second Sight. Working for a secret organisation "built out of the remnants of the Nazi Empire", the cyborg first appeared in the August 1998 issue of “Danger Girl” and was created by J. Scott Campbell Andy Hartnell.

Willing to "stop at nothing to complete his orders", Maxim was initially primed using some "Vallejo" Black and then treated to a coat of "Citadel" Abbadon Black. I did consider subsequently dry-brushing the figure with "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal, as I do for all my predominantly black miniatures. But decided against it as I wanted the hulking brute to appear as devilishly dark as he does in the heavily saturated "Cliffhanger" colour comic books.
"Wizkids" WIPs - Four of the eight "Heroclix" U-Men currently on the painting table
The Major's belt buckle, pipes, medal, breathing apparatus, goggles and cap badge were painted with "Citadel" Ironbreaker and later shaded using some Nuln Oil. I then picked out his armband with a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Red and "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson, and tidied up its sculpted Hammer emblem with a touch of Abaddon Black.

As a final touch I dotted the fascist fiend's eyes with a couple of dabs of "Vallejo" Dark Vermillion, and washed them with (more) "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson. I also pigmented the fluid tanks at the sides of Maxim's breathing apparatus with "Vallejo" Steel Grey", before dappling the areas with "Citadel" Asurmen Blue.
"Knight Models" WIPs - The Black Manta has been dry-brushed, layered and shaded
Having finished Major Maxim I wanted to give him some Hammer agents to command as quickly as possible, so having painted some "Wizkids" U-Men in the past, I quickly dug out some more figures from my embarrassingly large "Heroclix" backlog. However, as I wanted some of these frogmen to be armed with specialist weapons, I converted a few of their firearms using some spare pieces of "Gale Force Nine" 15mm plastic tanks.

In addition, my recent trip to "Beachhead" 2020 reminded me that at last year's show I bought a few cheap "DC Comics" super-villains made by "Knight Models" for their "Batman Miniatures Game". Considering I am currently using a lot of "Citadel" Abaddon Black and Ironbreaker, my figure of Black Manta therefore seemed an obvious subject to paint alongside my U-Men... 

10 comments:

  1. Very nicely done Simon. Just Googled Danger Girl and I see I have some required reading to do!

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    1. Thanks Michael. You'll be able to read my reviews of "Danger Girl" on my comic blog "The Brown Bag" soon. The links will be visible just above my Followers on this blog.

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  2. Great work on Major Maxim Simon, and nice start on the other models

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    1. Cheers Dave. Simple stuff, but its helping me clear some space on the painting table :-)

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  3. Though he looks good, I'mnot a big fan of the Majr's sculpt (though it probably does look like the comic version.
    I must admit I thought the U-Men were and underwater futuristic pop group at first glance, but like John Snow, "I know nowt".
    The Manta does look a veyr interesting sculpt btw.

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    1. Thanks Joe. The figure is a bit less dynamic than Major Maxim appears in the comics, but as such was far more painter friendly ;-) The Black Manta is an interesting pose... not quite as I imagine him, but nicely animated nonetheless.

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  4. Well black is the theme for this post! Major Maxim looks good and must be a big model given the size you quote. The others are coming on nicely, especially the frogmen!

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    1. Cheers Undercoat. Definitely a "Citadel" Black & Ironbreaker vibe going at the moment, just to help clear some space quickly on my painting table :-)

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