"Biddi-Biddi-Biddi."

“I'm freezing my ball-bearings off!”

This 28mm scale white metal model of a ‘family friendly servo-bot’ is produced by “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” and can be bought as part of their two-figure blister SKU: DEAL 342 Robots 2. The sculpt is clearly strongly influenced by the automaton Twiki played by Felix Silla in Universal Studios’ 1979 science fiction television series “Buck Rogers In The 25th Century”, but somewhat surprisingly isn’t depicted carrying Doctor Theopolis over his chest.

The "ambuquad" was initially undercoated with two coats of “Vallejo” Gunmetal and shaded in “Citadel” Nuln Oil. He was then dry-brushed using (more) “Vallejo” Gunmetal before having his elbows ‘picked out’ with a little “Citadel” Abaddon Black. Finally, the robot’s eyes were given a spot or two of “Citadel” Seraphim Sepia to give them a hint of yellow.

"CoolMiniOrNot" WIPs - The Black Widow, Iron Man and Incredible Hulk

In addition to Twiki I have also been soldiering on with a handful of plastic 40mm models taken from the Marvel United core box set by "CoolMiniOrNot". My classic-coloured Black Widow has now had her eyebrows, lips and famous red hair base layered, so besides having her S.H.I.E.L.D. shoulder insignia being ‘picked out’ with “Vallejo” White and Pale Grey, she simply needs some shading and dry-brushing before being finished.

As a result, I’ve spent more time on the likes of Iron Man and managed to prime the third of my super-team’s members - the Incredible Hulk. I’m still in two minds whether or not to use some metallic red paint on Tony Stark’s alter-ego or not, so have made some progress on his armoured suit’s golden elements first. In the past I’ve always found “Vallejo” Gold to be a bit ‘flaky’ when applying it as a dry-brush, so such a move also means I don’t have to worry about having tiny spots of gold ruining the surrounding paint-job.

"Warlord Games" WIPs - This Weirdstone has been primed, shaded and dry-brushed

Perhaps this month’s biggest change of plans though has come with the arrival of my “Sláine: Kiss My Axe!” starter set by “Warlord Games”. I don’t have any experience with applying a brush to the Nottingham-based company’s new resin, so thought I’d start on the skirmish battle game’s large Weirdstone first. I have absolutely no idea what the scenic piece does in the rule-set, but it certainly seemed to take a nail file well whilst I was cleaning it up.

The model should also prove a reasonably quick project, as despite the sculpt containing a number of animal bones and skulls, as well as an impressive-looking rib-cage, it is predominantly a large rock with various runes engraved upon it. I’m also rather curious as to how the two MDF Celtic huts and Fences will ‘paint up’, so plan to give them a ‘go’ next once the magical totem (and perhaps its accompanying Drune Priest) is completed…

“They Dig In And Dominate The Ground In Front Of Them…”

“…Pinning the enemy down so that the infantry can counterattack and wipe them out.”

These three plastic 15mm miniatures are produced by “Battlefront Miniatures” and can be found inside the company’s Code GE784 sMG34 Machine-gun Platoon blister for “Flames Of War”. The models consist of a choice of two different Non-Commissioned Officers (NCO), a Machine-gunner, Reloader and the Einheitsmaschinengewehr (Universal machine gun) itself.

Unlike my other “FoW” German soldiers however, the NCO was the only model I initially super-glued onto a wooden strip, as the other two infantrymen clearly needed to be in position upon their actual medium-sized base before I primed them all in “Vallejo” German Fieldgrey WWII. In addition, I actually needed to cut away some of the ammunition feed so as to allow the Reloader to lie upon the ground at an angle so as to stop his feet jutting off the end – something which would really trigger my obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

"CoolNiniOrNot" WIPs - The Black Widow and Iron Man are slowly having their details picked out

All three of the models were shaded using “Citadel” Nuln Oil, and dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” German Fieldgrey WWII. Their details were then ‘picked out’ predominantly using “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna, Gunmetal, Buff, German Camouflage Dark Green, Heavy Brown and a series of “Citadel” Shades. Lastly, I pigmented the sMG34 Machine-Gun using a combination of “Vallejo” Gunmetal and “Citadel” Nuln Oil.

This week’s painting challenge, randomly chosen upon the turn of a playing card, is to pigment a single 40mm model, so I have been busy making some additional progress on my plastic Black Widow figure by "CoolMiniOrNot". I’ve actually found the chibi-like sculpt itself to be pretty straightforward, but can’t say the same about the Soviet spy’s pre-sculpted base.

"Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" WIPs - These two robots have been primed and shaded

The detail on the Marvel United miniature’s stand itself is excellent, but my difficulty has come in trying to apply a steady band of slightly watered-down “Citadel” Abaddon Black around its rim – as in places this area almost completely merges into the smashed rubble. I simply can’t get the line of the base as straight as I would like, at least not without repeatedly having to tidy up the grey of the rubble, so may well end up having all the stands “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey instead.

Lastly, I’ve been working on a couple of the ten 28mm figures I found myself needing to finish for last week’s self-imposed task. My plan is actually to use this as an opportunity to finish off a load of partially-painted figures by “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio” which have been lingering in my queue for many a month. However, first-up will be a pair of recently arrived robots from their Heroes And Allies range…