Meanwhile . . .

I have previously complained about Excelsior's efforts in regards to Warzone and Chronopia. It seems I have yet something else to gripe about. Taking my 4 freshly based and resculpted Karnophages outside to prime on a gloriously sunny day, a misstep on my part saw one of the figures tumble off the box I was carrying them on and plummet 4 feet to the ground. Maintaining my senses enough not to lunge for the figure and send the rest of his brethren to a similar fate, I watched the figure fall, confident that the relatively soft, yielding lawn would cushion the fall.

But, it was not to be. To my dismay, the impact was accompanied by a snap and the base spinning away from the figure. Chastising myself for not doing a better job of attaching the figure to the base (which would normally be the cause of such a fracture), I was suprised to find that the figure had instead cracked right at the ankle. Whatever pig iron alloy Excelsior was using to cast their figures, it was less durable then the epoxy used to glue his now bodiless foot to the base.

The amputee was thus treated to more time under the sculpting tool as I reposed him to place both feet on the ground and resculpted the mangled ankle joint. Perhaps foolishly, I failed to go back and take preventive measures to keep the same fate from befalling the other figure with a raised foot. Though I don't make a habit of dropping figures, I'll nonetheless have to take care.

Since this extra work means that I've only just put the first coat of paint on the figures (intending to, but forgetting, to take pictures of the figures with their resculpted joints), I decided to take advantage of my new lighting setup to snap some pictures of another relatively recent paintjob of mine. A Dark Apostle of the Word Bearers chapter of chaos space marines, the figures is made of the Grey Knight character model body, the head of a fantasy sorceror, a plastic power fist and the mace wielding hand of a fantasy chaos knight. As an homage to my old Dark Angels army, a battered and dirty Dark Angels shoulder pad can be seen lodged in the dirt.

Though memory fails me somewhat, I believe this figure was painted between my second and third years of law school - or, almost two years ago. Like my Grey Knight, he was painted just for the heck of it, though I did enter him into a painting competition at one of the local GW stores. He didn't win, but I'm still generally pleased with how he came out. The red and gold areas are a bit flat looking and could have done with some more severe highlighting. The gem on his left shoulder I am extremely pleased with however. I think I managed to pull off the reflective effect pretty well. All in all, I think he makes for a great adversary for my previously posted Grey Knight.

All Together Now

Helping my Dad clean up some trees he cut down while on his day off and then going for a run through the neighborhood (which, I noted with lung-burning clarity, is far more hilly than a treadmill) kept me from making much progress tonight. But, the Karnophages are epoxied together and to their bases. The reposed figures are in the front row with their original poses represented by their comrades in the back.

I'll let the epoxy harden overnight to be on the safe side (even though it is 15 minute set) and tackle the sculpting, basing materials and priming tomorrow. That coupled with a trip to the D for my brother-in-law's birthday on Saturday means these guys likely won't be seeing any paint until Sunday. With any luck I'll be able to get a good few hours in then and knock out most of the flesh.

WIP I

First WIP picture here. Figures filed clean of mold lines and flash, scrubbed of any mold release residue and holes drilled to pin their reposed arms on (pin already inserted in one).

Following a night of air drying new biceps will be sculpted on the reposed arms, they'll be based, primed and ready to go. Painting hopefully to begin Friday evening (yeah, I have that exciting of a life that I'll be painting on a Friday evening).

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You!

So, after a day of reflection, I've decided that assembly lining 13 figures might not be the best way to ease myself out of display painting and into army painting. Thus, I've decided to instead work on a unit of four Karnophages - depraved mutations of human beings that stem from the same storyline as the previously mentioned Bauhaus Hussars. That beauty to the left is an example of one. :)

These guys are something of a mainstay of the whole Warzone mythos, and as such, I had painted a unit of six of them (seen below) way back in the day. My painting style has changed much since then and my skill has vastly improved. Thus, even though I intend to speed my way through these guys, I hope for a far better result.

Never content to leave my toys the way the manufacturer intended them, I've since bent arms in much the say way I had my original figures in order to ward off my most hated of miniature flaws - repetitive poses. Unfortunately, it appears that Excelsior made use of a cheaper, far more brittle alloy than Heartbreaker, and all of my reposing efforts have instead left me with broken limbs. A bit of pinning and resculpting shouldn't take more than an hour or two though, so I'll hopefully have first stage work in progress pics up by the end of this week.

Say Hello to my Leedle Friend

Yeah, cheesy title, I know. But, it needed to be used at least once.

So, after tinkering with this figure for the last two months (honestly, I was making steady but slow progress the whole time) and a considerable amount of butt-kicking by Julie, I present to you my latest painted figure: a Grey Knight space marine in Terminator Armor.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the figure consists of the body of a classic Grey Knight Terminator model which I've had lying around since I started playing 40K with arms from one of the recently resculpted Grey Knight Terminators. Though the new figures' weapons have a different configuration to the old, I rather like the way they add some bulk to the figure and make him more imposing than the original.

Though you can only somewhat see it in these pictures, I'm particularly pleased with the way the based came out. Built out of layered plasticard, it took more effort than any previous basing attempt. But, I think the results speak volumes for the merits of such an endeavor.

This is a closeup shot of the Nemesis sword. It's my first attempt at duplicating Tom Schadle's style (www.minivault.com) and while I'm generally please with how it came out, it's obvious that i have a lot of work ahead of me yet. It was also a great lesson in just trying to paint a darn straight line which I'm finding my twitchy X-Box afflicted hands are none to skilled at.

All in all, I've got to say that I have really enjoyed painting Jolie and this figure. I've taken far longer on each than I ever have before and it's made the whole process somewhat therapeutic. A far cry from the feverish marathons that I often subjected myself to pre-convention. Of course, the mountain of bare pewter strewn about my painting desk is a distinct reminder that I don't have the luxury to paint at this pace if I'm to make a dent in my collection. Thus, I'll be reversing gears on my next project and assembly line painting 13 Bauhaus Hussars for Warzone. I'll get initial pics up once they've been cleaned and based.