"Bubo Was Forged By Hephaestus..."

"...And sent by Athena to aid Perseus in his quest to save the princess Andromeda."

This 28mm scale metal Clockwork Owl is produced by "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio", and was an early bird miniature from their successful "7TV Fantasy Genre Guide" Kickstarter in October last year. Sculpted by Matthew Kent, the figure is clearly inspired by the remote controlled/stop motion model seen in Desmond Davis' 1981 fantasy adventure film "Clash of the Titans".

Due to the mythical, mechanical marvel's diminutive size, as well as my concerns over whether his thin perch would actually survive my usual painting process, I decided to pigment the little fellow a bit differently from how I ordinarily tackle my miniatures, and rely upon "Citadel" Nuln Oil to separate different coloured areas from one another - as opposed to using thin lines of "Citadel" Abaddon Black.

"Athena Miniatures" WIPs - Three (of the four) Russian NBC Troopers currently being worked on

As a result Bubo and his stand were carefully primed with "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, layered in Gold and washed using "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade. I then gave the entire bird a careful dry-brush of (more) "Vallejo" Gold, before giving the owl's face and chest a light dusting of Gunmetal. These two areas were subsequently darkened down with some "Citadel" Nuln Oil, and re-highlighted using some very carefully placed dabs of (more) "Vallejo" Gunmetal.

Finally, I managed to drop a tiny spot of "Citadel" Abaddon Black into the eye sockets of the model, and later dot them with "Vallejo" Heavy Red. I also decided to simply shade the figure's perch with some "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade, and dry-brush it with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna. I did consider using a metallic paint for the stand. But in the end felt it would easily blend in with the Clockwork Owl, so chose a much less glamourous-looking, somewhat bland colour for it instead.

"Great Escape Games" WIPs - Butch Cassidy, the Scarred Man and John Bridges

Along with my recently received "Kickstarter" goodies from "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio", I have also taken possession of four more 28mm Russian NBC troopers by "Athena Miniatures". I wasn't actually planning on getting any more of these sculpts for a while, as I was planning on focusing my energies upon the company's Spetsnaz models instead. However, as the opportunity arose to make an order with the Swindon-based manufacturer with free postage and packing, I thought I might as well.

Perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly, given my current preoccupation with "Great Escape Games" and their "Dead Man's Hand" range of outlaws, I have also dug out from my extensive backlog a couple more purchases I made way back at "Salute" 2019. These figures of John Bridges and the Scarred Man have been plonked alongside my current 'on-the-go' model of Butch Cassidy, so should now get some much-needed love and attention in quick(ish) succession...