"Schmitter. Like The Rest Of Them. Burned To A Crisp."

"I only got a glimpse of it, but it's big and shaggy."

This 28mm scale Lava Creature is sold by "Lost Heresy Miniatures" and can be downloaded as an STL (Standard Triangle Language) file from "MyMiniFactory" along with some round-shaped eggs. Sculpted by Bill Thornhill, the figure is strongly influenced by the Horta from Gene L. Coon's 1967 "Star Trek" television story "The Devil In The Dark" and was produced using "Elegoo" Water Washable Resin on a Mars 3 Pro 3D Printer.

"A sentient non-humanoid silicon cycle life form native to the planet Janus VI", the model was primed using a double helping of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and then sporadically splodged with "Citadel" Doombull Brown whilst its undercoat was still wet. The alien was then thoroughly drenched in "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade and had its lava-like ridges carefully 'picked out' in "Vallejo" White.

"Battlefront Miniatures" WIPs - Three 15mm plastic 'D-Day' German Panzergrenadiers

These areas were subsequently treated to a layer of "Vallejo" Sun Yellow and later, Heavy Orange, before being shaded in both "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson and Agrax Earthshade. Finally, the mother Horta's ridges were daubed in (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Orange with a badly battered brush-tip and darkened down thanks to some additional "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson.

To be honest this model was a bit of a monster to print, as despite its STL file coming pre-supported, I didn't think the weak-looking struts would allow the miniature to survive the process and would 'tear away' from the build plate onto the FEP (i.e. the bottom of the resin tank). As a result, I initially placed an unsupported version of the creature directly onto the build plate and then watched the solid(ish) sculpt then shatter into a handful of pieces post-print when I tried to remove it with a metal scrapper. The second time round I used Bill's pre-supports, and despite my reservations (as I've had more "Lost Heresy Miniatures" fail than any other manufacturer) the figure printed out perfectly.

"Big Mr. Tong" WIPs - A Sardaukar trooper, Shaggy Rogers and Scooby Doo

With the first of what will probably be a long line of "Star Trek" inspired 3D prints painted, I have made some more inroads into my 50-point German Beach Defence Company for "Flames Of War" and am now just four 15mm plastic infantrymen away from completing my second German Panzergrenadier Platoon. Once these are finished, I can eagerly move on to the 7.5cm Tank-Hunter Platoon and Panzer IV Tanks I need to successfully fill out my sizeable force.

Lastly, I've been busy printing a seemingly endless number of 28mm scale figures taken from the formidably extensive range of models produced by "Big Mr. Tong" for his Patreon subscribers. Foremost of these are Shaggy Rogers and Scooby Doo from Mystery Inc. However, I have also started in earnest my plans for some bizarre battles between numerous science fiction film/television franchises by preparing a test Sardaukar trooper, which has clearly been inspired by the emperor's elite warriors depicted in David Lynch's 1984 movie "Dune"...