"Alright. You Know The Drill."

"We neutralise the threat and bring out Carmack's team."

This 28mm scale model of a Corporate Security Force operative is produced by "Anvil Industry" and can be downloaded for free as part of their Corporate Security Security Force bundle of STL (Standard Triangle Language) files from the "Anvil Digital Forge" "Patreon" subscription service. Consisting of a multi-shelled male body standing to attention armed with a shotgun close to the chest, with standard Regiments neck joint and closed visors male helmeted head, the miniature was produced using "Elegoo" Water Washable Resin on a Mars 3 Pro 3D Printer.

Initally primed using a couple of layers of "Vallejo" Stormy Blue and shaded with "Citadel" Nuln Oil, all of the figure's boots, body armour, firearm and visor were later base-coated with Abaddon Black. The policeman's footwear and protective plates were then dry-brushed with "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal and shaded with a splash of "Citadel" Nuln Oil.

"They have been attacking the Human Resistance for 600 years."

So as to add some colour to the distinctly dark-looking model, I applied a combination of "Vallejo" Gunmetal and "Citadel" Nuln Oil to the operative's shotgun and parts of his helmet. In addition, I used some "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade on his belt, as well as "Vallejo" Heavy Red and "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson on two large cartridges positioned at the back of the lawman's belt.

To be honest this miniature has been close to being binned a number of times as I've really struggled to find a palette I liked for him. At one point I had actually 'picked out' a number of the model's armour plates in "Vallejo" Gunmetal, "Citadel" Nuln Oil and the Contrast paint Skeleton Horde. But I didn't think this looked right so eventually went with the tried and tested dark blue/black uniform worn by the majority of modern-day Police specialist riot teams.

"Big Mr Tong" WIPs - Three Village Militia primed in "Citadel" Abaddon Black

Alongside the first of several planned Corporate Security Force operatives by "Anvil Industry" I have also completed another 28mm scale metal SpyBot by "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio". This tentacled mechanoid can be bought individually as SKU: MINI 649 or as part of the four-figure deal - DEAL 193.  The single-cast model was predominantly pigmented using "Vallejo" Heavy Grey, "Citadel" Biel-Tan Green, "Vallejo" Gunmetal, "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade and "Mig Productions" Extreme Rust Wash so as to tie them in with my previously painted automatons.

Lastly, I've been busy printing and prepping many of the "Big Mr Tong". miniatures I want to get tabletop ready during the forthcoming Thirteenth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (AHPC). As I plan on ignoring all the event's side-quests this time around, I plan to work on several of the prolific sculptor's ten-figure ranges, including a wonderful troop of Village Militia who remind me of Terry Pratchett's Ankh-Morpork City Watch...

This posting and many others can now be viewed on the main "Fantorical" website.

(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge” December 2022

"Shortly after the Interex campaign the Luna Wolves became the Sons of Horus."

This month's optimistic intention to reduce my ‘peak of potential’ will be marvellously molded by Curt Campbell’s Thirteenth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (AHPC), or rather my mad dash to clear my painting desk before the event starts on December 21st. First up will be the remaining Sons of Horus space marines I need to finish so I can field a 500-points traitor legion for "The Horus Heresy" by "Games Workshop".

Fortunately, I've already built, painted and even flocked a large proportion of these multi-part plastic figures. But over the next few weeks I still need to quite heavily focus upon the thirty-one-model force's third tactical contingent comprising of ten Blackshields - warriors who have entirely denounced their parent Legion,

"Big Mr Tong" WIPs - A Sardaukar, Cyberman, member of the Village Militia and Dalek

To mix things up, I'm using several old "Forge World" resin kits I've had lying around since I last visited the Nottingham-based dedicated specialist's booth at "Salute" several years ago, alongside the pieces found inside the Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Age of Darkness boxed set. So, each member of this pariah formation will contain elements taken from various armour variants (e.g. helmets, insignia-marked shoulder-pads etc), as well as extra equipment and weaponry.

In conjunction with this aim, I'll also be prepping many of the numerous miniatures I want to pigment during the forthcoming AHPC. I'm actually planning on ignoring all its side-quests this year, and simply focusing on completing approximately one hundred 28mm figures instead. A good portion of these models will be 3D printed sculpts taken from my "Patreon" subscription of "Big Mr Tong". But I also have plans for a contingent of Golemmar Gnomes by "Artisan Guild", which I hope to use (as Halflings) for "One Page Rules" Age Of Fantasy: Skirmish ruleset.

November 2022 - A renewed interest in "Doctor Who" has seen "Warlord Games" gain some ground

As far as the past four weeks' progress is concerned, I have enjoyed my most productive November since I first started recording my output some nine years ago. Indeed, I’ve now almost painted as much during the past eleven months as I did the entirety of last year. Much of this success has undoubtedly been due to my fascination with 3D printing the 28mm figures of “Big Mr Tong”. But I’ve also surprisingly rekindled my interest in the “Doctor Who” range of metal miniatures produced by “Warlord Games” due to the Nottingham-based manufacturer announcing the line’s imminent end, and resultantly offering a myriad of free exclusive models whenever an online order attains a certain price point.

With the AHPC starting in approximately three weeks’ time I have little doubt that even more science fiction sculpts by “Big Mr Tong” will be ready for the tabletop, and hopefully they should be accompanied by an equally impressive number of “Games Workshop” Sons of Horus Space Marines for “The Horus Heresy”, as well as the remaining 15mm “Battlefront Miniatures” German Panzergrenadiers I need to complete for my “Flames Of War” force. I am though, still busy perusing all the fascinating miniatures available via the various companies on “Patreon”, so wouldn’t be at all surprised if another one of those didn’t suddenly catch my eye…

This posting and many others can now be viewed on the main "Fantorical" website.

“Scooby Doobie Doooo!”

"Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?"

This 28mm scale model of Scooby Doo was sculpted by "Big Mr Tong" and can be downloaded for free as part of the Mystery Inc. set of STL (Standard Triangle Language) files from his "Patreon" subscription service. Based upon the leading canine character from "Hanna-Barbera Productions" 1969 cartoon television series, the miniature was produced using "Elegoo" Water Washable Resin on a Mars 3 Pro 3D Printer.

Created by Joe Ruby, Ken Spears, and Iwao Takamoto, the figure was undercoated in "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, shaded using plenty of "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade, and heavily dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna. I then painted on some of the Great Dane's spots using a combination of "Citadel" Abaddon Black, "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal" and "Citadel" Nuln Oil.

"Big Mr Tong" WIPs - A Sardaukar, a Cyberman and a Village Militia Officer

Scooby Doo's collar was carefully 'picked out' using some "Vallejo" Steel Blue and "Citadel" Drakenhof Nightshade, whilst I applied a little "Vallejo" Gold and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade to the dog's tiny nameplate. Finally, I treated the model's nose and closed mouth to a lick of "Citadel" Abaddon Black, before highlighting the miniature's marvellously detailed face with some additional thin lines of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna.

Sticking with "Big Mr Tong", I have started 3D printing, basing and priming many more of his figures in preparation of this year's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. Event number Thirteen is already less than a calendar month away from starting, and so as to overcome some of my frustrations at last year's awarding of bonus points (or rather lack of), I've decided to achieve my five-hundred-point target by simply knuckling down and pigmenting a hundred 28mm models during its three-month duration.

"Anvil Digital Forge" WIPs - A Corporate Security Force operative

In addition, I've picked up one of the Corporate Security Force operatives I received from "Anvil Digital Forge" as part of their Patreon programme, and started applying a predominantly blue, black and silver palette across the pilot piece. I was originally planning on adopting a colour scheme more in line with the Judges of Mega-City One (and still may well do so). But I thought I'd try something a bit more 'realistic' first.

To be honest. I'm not yet convinced about all the 'silver' metal, so do plan to 'pick out' the officer's belt/pouches in brown, and the two large cartridges at the back in red. I'll also be applying either some "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade or Agrax Earthshade to the policeman's armour plates to help differentiate them from his chunky firearm. "Anvil Industries" are really churning out some great sculpts for this digital arm of their company, so I want to establish a fairly quick approach to these miniatures before I get swamped with all their awesome-looking STLs.

"Two Men Enter, One Man Leaves."

"Fighting leads to killing, and killing gets to warring."

"Greetings Motorheads, and welcome to another broadcast covering some of your favourite vehicles of our post-apocalyptic age. I'm Rex Wonkers, and alongside my colleague and famed fossicking legend Lance Sourdough, I'll be looking at three more desperate souls who have put their names forward as competitors in our upcoming inaugural Juice Cup."

"Now all of these desperados will be travelling at breakneck speeds on the 20mm plastic motorcycles found on the Implements of Carnage One sprue by "North Star Military Figures". However, in addition to predominantly just riding around the designated killing zone as a moving obstacle, two of our competitors will actually be armed and dangerous. Right, Lance..?"

"Now when men get to fighting, it happens here."

"Correct Rex. The Nottingham-based company's Code NSPIoC05 frame contains a quartet of machine guns, and a pair of these automatic weapons have been snipped down to their bare barrels and then jammed through the bikes' windshields, courtesy of a bit of drilling. Not the most complex of conversions admittedly. But definitely effective."

"Furthermore, a wheel from Implements of Carnage Two has been cut in half and stuck onto the back of this trio's other rider, so as to provide him with a miniscule amount of extra armour. I'm not sure just how much protection a semi-circle of hardened rubber is going to give, but I suppose it's the thought that counts."

"Weapons?"

"Too right, Lancey Boy. Now all three of our brave bikers were primed with "Citadel" Abaddon Black, heavily dry-brushed with both "Vallejo" Brown and Gunmetal, as well as later drenched in "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade. Each rider's leather suit, visor and wheels were then appropriately pigmented with either "Citadel" Abaddon Black, "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna or "Citadel" Sons Of Horus Green.

"Finally, their limbs' armour plates and helmet were treated to a combination of "Vallejo" Gunmetal and "Citadel" Nuln Oil. Whilst the racers' seats and belts were given a lick of "Vallejo" Heavy Brown or "Citadel" Rakarth Flesh. All of these areas were subsequently shaded in "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade."

"And with that update, Rex, it appears we've come to the end of our transmission. So, it's goodbye from me and him, and I look forward to speaking to all you wasteland survivors again in the next edition of Cars, Crashes and Carnage..."

3D Printing - Day Four - "Artisan Guild" And "Age Of Fantasy: Skirmish"

"Artisan Guild" WIPs - Gaki Yhimotto, an Apprentice Arcanist, and Gyros Shipwrecker 

These miniatures were created using "Elegoo" Water Washable Resin on a Mars 3 Pro 3D Printer and are available as STL (Standard Triangle Language) files from "Artisan Guild" on "MyMiniFactory". The figures are from the sculpting team's "Arcanist's Guild" and "Golemmar Gnomes" releases, as well as their "Patreon" (free) Welcome Box Bundle - Troubles In Taverns.

I decided to support this particular wargaming content creator because I already owned a number of their very characterful (some might say 'cartoony') miniatures, having previously bought them from a licensed merchant over on "Etsy". One of main motivators for buying a 3D printer was to stop me from paying others to produce the figures I wanted and having calculated what it would cost to just purchase the six Apprentice Arcanists as physical products, it was clear I'd be forking out more than an entire bottle of "Elegoo" Water Washable Resin - from which I could print approximately ten times their number.

Packing a build plate with Golemmar Gnomes and Depth Diggers. But doing the Giant Clay Golem on its own

In addition, I thought the company's range of models would really suit the Age Of Fantasy: Skirmish ruleset by "One Page Rules". I've had my eye on this PDF for quite some time, having been completely bamboozled by the latest incarcerations of Age of Sigmar by "Games Workshop", and resultantly would highly recommend supporting them on Patreon at their Tier 2 Miniature Collector.

Not only does this membership level grant you access to an astonishing number of STL files (currently covering Lust Daemons, Ratmen and dinosaur-riding space lizards), but it also provides you with digital copies of all their different rulesets. Furthermore, "One Page Rules" have a super-handy Army Forge builder which quickly enabled me to compile a 250-point Halfling force - or rather a Gnome mining party using a combination of the figures I received from "Artisan Guild".

"Artisan Guild" WIPs - Two Depth Diggers and a (troublesome) Orc War Shrine

Printing off my miners, their beasts of burden, and colossal golem was very straightforward, as all the miniatures come supplied with pre-supports. As a result, I initially thought it was simply a case of packing my build plate with as much stuff as I could and (im)patiently waiting until my Mars 3 Pro had done its magic.

Overall, this factory-line like approach served me well. But I did encounter some problems when tackling the large pieces of scenery provided with each release. As with the figures, these sculpts came pre-supported. However, I found the supports unable to resist the pull of my resin tank's FEP once the print was approximately a third of the way through, and this caused repeated failures. In the end I only successfully printed out the terrain when it was laid flat upon the build plate, and "Chitubox" Basic had provided it with sturdier supports.

“When You Cross Swords With A Sardaukar, You Know It.”

"I have promised the Baron five legions of my Sardaukar terror troops."

This 28mm scale Sardaukar was sculpted by "Big Mr Tong" and can be downloaded for free as part of a ten-figure set of STL (Standard Triangle Language) files from his "Patreon" subscription service. Based upon David Lynch's vision of the Emperor's elite warriors as first seen in his 1984 American science-fiction film "Dune", the miniature was produced using "Elegoo" Water Washable Resin on a Mars 3 Pro 3D Printer.

The model was undercoated in "Citadel" Abaddon Black, and heavily dry-brushed with "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal. The super-human soldier's belt was then 'picked out using a little "Vallejo" Steel Blue, and his firearm with Gunmetal. Finally, the entire figure was 'drowned' in "Citadel" Nuln Oil and the Sardaukar's distinctive green face-visor realised using a combination of "Scalecolor" White Alchemy and the "Citadel" Contrast paint Warp Lightning,

"A small force will follow through and under your instructions subdue survivors."

Alongside my test-piece I have managed to complete two more of Big Mr Tong's 28mm scale Cybermen too. Like so many of the sculptor's miniatures these are freely available to members of his "Patreon" and are based upon Eric Saward's incarnation of the travelling Time Lord's archenemies as first seen in the March 1982 "Doctor Who" story "Earthshock".

Just like the three Mondasians I've previously pigmented, these two models were primed in "Citadel" Abaddon Black and given a couple of coats of "Vallejo" Gunmetal. They were then shaded using "Citadel" Nuln Oil and dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Gunmetal, before I applied a combination of "Scalecolor" Speed Metal and "Citadel" Flesh Tearers Red to the visible power cylinders on each of their hand-weapons.

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

Lastly, I have managed to get all the flesh finished on what I hope to be the final four German Infantrymen I need for my 50-point "Flames Of War" German Beach Defence Company. I actually find this part of the 15mm plastic soldiers the most difficult and time-consuming aspect, as the individual fingers are understandably super-tiny to highlight. However, now I'm on to simply layering and washing their backpacks, rifles and equipment, I hope to get them tabletop ready reasonably soon.

In addition, I have shaded the first of four Panzer IV Tanks I aim to tackle once I've finished my second German Panzergrenadier Platoon. This quartet of heavily armoured vehicles have been patiently waiting for me ever since I primed them in "Vallejo" Dark Yellow a few months ago. So, my plan is to practice my brush techniques on one of them whilst I work through the crews of two 7.5cm Tank-Hunter Teams I also need to fill out my Late War force.

"Personal Guard Fully Activated."

"We will take the bridge at once. Continue the reactivation."

These three 28mm scale Cybermen were sculpted by "Big Mr Tong" and can be downloaded for free as part of a ten-figure set of STL (Standard Triangle Language) files from his "Patreon" subscription service. Based upon Eric Saward's incarnation of the Mondasians as first seen in his March 1982 "Doctor Who" story "Earthshock", the miniatures were produced using "Elegoo" Water Washable Resin on a Mars 3 Pro 3D Printer.

Having been washed, cured and then removed from their supports (applied through "Chitubox" Basic), the trio were primed in "Citadel" Abaddon Black and given a couple of coats of "Vallejo" Gunmetal. The models were then shaded using "Citadel" Nuln Oil, and dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Gunmetal, before I applied a combination of "Scalecolor" Speed Metal and "Citadel" Flesh Tearers Red to the visible power cylinders on each of their hand-weapons.

"At Isstvan V, Horus dealt a vicious blow and three loyal Legions were all but destroyed."

Alongside the cyborg invaders of Captain Briggs' space freighter, I have also finished painting another 28mm plastic Space Marine by "Games Workshop" for my five-hundred-point Sons of Horus traitor force. This multi-part figure comes from the recently released Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Age of Darkness boxed set and is wearing MK VI armour.

The miniature was undercoated using "Citadel" Sons Of Horus Green, washed with Nuln Oil, and dry-brushed with (more) Sons Of Horus Green. I also applied some "Citadel" Abaddon Black to one of his shoulder-pads (by mistake), as well as his grenades, Bolter, backpack, wiring, and some of the areas in between his "iconic armour".

"Lost Heresy Miniatures" WIPs - An Away Team Red crewmember, First Officer Lenoy and Captain Tiberius

The model's power tubes, wiring and firearm were later treated to a combination of "Vallejo" Gunmetal and "Citadel" Nuln Oil. I then applied a coat of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna to the space marine's stud-covered shoulder-pad, before applying some "Vallejo" Gold and a splash of "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade to it. The rivets (or bobbles) and its edges were later highlighted with some additional touches of "Vallejo" Gold.

Finally, I have settled down to working my way through a handful of "Star Trek" flavoured resin prints by "Lost Heresy Miniatures". As part of my Patreon's subscription Sci-Fi Welcome pack I was lucky enough to be sent a sample of Bill Thornhill's Away Team Red figures and scoop up Captain Tiberius' alternative command uniform off of "MyMiniFactory"...