(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Planet Of The Apes" August 2020

"Crroked Dice Game Design Studio" Conversion WIPs - Landon, Dodge and Taylor

This month's themed attempt to reduce my mountain of metal, plastic and resin models will focus upon a motley band of miniatures taken from the Post Apocalyptic range of "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio". These figures have been lurking inside a cardboard box for several years, and having finally found all the different heads and weapon-hands I wanted so as to create three bearded astronauts, I thought it was about time to apply some paint to the collection of thirty odd models.

The figures actually come from a variety of sets produced by the Lincolnshire-based manufacturer, most notably their line of "savage Simian Minions straight from the labs of Professor Andros." Released way back in February 2013, these Mark Evans sculpts really capture the look of  Franklin J. Schaffner's 1968 American science fiction film "Planet Of The Apes", and rather splendidly come armed with rifles, batons, and "a sinister man-catcher", as well as mounted versions too.

Simian Minions WIPs - Ape with baton, Ape with man-catcher and Doctor Zaius

I've also been able to get my hands on some nicely sculpted proxies for Cornelius, Doctor Zaius, Zira, and General Ursus. However, I was somewhat stumped as to how to portray the likes of Taylor, Landon and Dodge until I spotted the company's spacemen from the Albion Rocket Corporation and their range of spare heads, hands and weaponry. I've even gone so far as to source a 300mm tall resin ornament of the Statue Of Liberty, which having super-glued onto a "Citadel" 160mm circular base, should make for an eye-catching scenic piece.

In addition, I thought it might be more motivating to try and see just how much of this project I can paint in twenty-four hours of hobbying. Admittedly, I've no intention of attempting such an ordeal in just a single sitting, but thought a timetable of twelve two-hour sessions across the next four weeks would help me better appreciate how prolific I can be when I'm purely pigmenting miniatures taken from the one genre instead of moving between manufacturers to the point where I lose all sense of focus. As the majority of "YouTube" videos I tend to watch on such challenges seem to already have their models assembled, based and primed, I felt it wouldn't be cheating if I did something similar either.

July 2020 - "Wizkids" remain my 'go to' company when the mojo and motivation is struggling

Productivity wise, the past four weeks have surprisingly been one of my more successful Summer stints to date, as I tend to paint far less during this particular season than at any other time of the year. Superheroes were definitely the theme of the month as I had hoped, yet I didn't get anywhere near as many "Supers Unlimited" figures by "Kitbash Games" painted as I had anticipated due to the release of a number of Skeleton Warriors by "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio".

I also swooped upon the opportunity to polish off a couple more costumed crime-fighters from "Wizkids" range of plastic "Heroclix" miniatures. Such 'pre-painted' diversions are always welcome when I find myself struggling for motivation, but it now means I really need to knuckle down so as to get a few more of "Kitbash Games" resin sculpts completed over the next few weeks...