Resolution Kept

My new year's resolution for 2011 was to paint an average of 1 Citadel preslotta figure per week for a total of 52. I reached that goal in November which is just as well because in December I have been to busy with a combination of work and holiday stuff to paint. Note to self for next year: A lot of December gets taken up with decorating and shopping (searching Ebay for things for other people instead of old lead is so strange).

So goal for next year - 100 more to add to the collection below. Nearly doubling the amount is a challenge but I feel like I'm finding my painting rhythm and the FS dungeon floor tiles and furniture and groups of similar figs like Red Orcs and Fantasy Tribe skeletons should make it do-able, particularly now I have my basing system sorted out. Besides 52 figures didn't make much of a dent in the lead mountain and I'd really like to fool myself into thinking that its getting smaller.

Merry Christmas all, and success in your painting projects for 2012

Cheers, Caius

FA figures:

FF figures:

Add the two FS wizards on thrones for 52

And so to battle:

Cardboard dungeon floor is holding up nearly as well as the lead 

Late for Halloween

Lots of monsters getting wrapped up as the year deadline starts to close in:

FF Undead

Glowing blue eyes on the center ghoul definitely inspired by reading too much Fire and Ice over the last couple of months - not sure I'm going to bother with book 5 though.

Bloodworm

Yes I decided to go with a scheme other than blood red

Flyman

So many of these figures are hard to do justice to - this guy is no exception.

Goblin Family

Difficult to know what to do with the goblin girl in the center - such a simple figure I decided to keep her very plain

More very soon

A Game of FS Fives

The FS5 thrones seem to be one of the most enduring of the older citadel models. They often show up in lots of old Ral Partha or Grenadier models on ebay. Presumably they were added to those collections because those ranges lacked an equivalent. Of course they are mostly missing the wizard and almost always missing the lectern.

Just to prove my point - having just painted the two on either side I found the one in the middle two weeks ago in an auction lot at a small convention.

My version of FS5-1:

And FS5-2

OK I've taken dozens of pictures today - so I'll have a couple more updates very soon.

7 weeks to go - at 11 miniatures to finish - some of them are nearly done

Cheers

Who's Counting

I have been very lax for the last few weeks - not posting. But I have been painting.

With 11 weeks to go in 2011 I have 42 pieces of citadel pre-slotta painted:

So I have lots built up to show over the next few weeks

I have selected the pieces I'd like to finish by the end of the year (I have to aim for slightly more than 52 because my record of sending figures back to the dip suggests they may not all make it) :

... and I seem to have a good start on next year:

Seems like I might want to think about upping my goal slightly.

Cheers, Caius

Critters, crawlers and carbuncles

Finished three large-base-small-creatures this week.

FF50 Giant Scorpion, FF51 Tentacled Crawler and FF9-1 Carbuncle - an armadillo like creature with a giant ruby in its forehead  from South American myth apparently (and not as I believed until a few minutes ago just something from White Dwarf and later Fiend Folio - at least according to Wikipedia)

Actually I thought I'd also finished three undead from the FF series too - but looking at the pictures there is significant clean up and blending still to do. There is nothing like seeing your work at 5 x actual size under stark lighting to show how careless and lazy you are.

Cheers

Caius

Pre-slotta Vacation

This week I participated in a couple of figure projects that don't fit with the theme of this blog.

First I completed and entered a figure for the WAMP site's Hasslefree competition. I have had the Geisha fig for a couple of years and the competition seemed like a good vehicle for getting her painted.

Then this weekend, which was possibly the most beautiful weather we have had all year, I spent all day both days in a classroom at games Plus in Chicago taking a masterclass with Mathieu Fontaine.

His site - http://www.akaranseth.com/category/blog/gallery

The class used a plastic GW Ogre to demonstrate a number of concepts and techniques. I learned a lot despite my many many years painting. It was also interesting so see 17 painters lined up with their kit, vision aids, and lamps.

My ogre isn't finished - we did pants and skin one day, faces and metals the next - with a lot of discussion of technique and color theory mixed in - so the hair, belt, boots, and fist are only base coated really.  I should also credit that the right eye on my ogre was painted by Mathieu.

On a final note Games Plus in Mt Prospect is possibly the best game store I have visited in many many years. The selection of miniatures is outstanding with full display racks of many ranges and manufacturers I have only seen on line.

http://www.games-plus.com/

And yes - actually I worked on several of the pre slotta project figures as well - its been a busy week

Pre Slotta Basing

Ok - I was planning to do this at some point anyway - and Glassboy asked. So this week is all about how I am basing these pre-slotta miniatures. (Besides I have been distracted by a couple of side projects this week including a Hasslefree geisha for the Wamp competition).

The answer is - the most ridiculously complicated way possible.

When I first painted these minis 30 years ago - I painted the bases a middle grey and called it good.

Then they got glued onto plastic slotta bases, I filled the edges with milliput, covered with flock and a sprinkling of rough sand or cat litter, and I painted the plastic edges dark brown. I still have several armies based this way that look quite handsome.

Then came Adepticon paint judging which gave extra points for base effort and my goblins sprouted handmade pumpkins, and my empire army painted flagstones.

At the outset of this project I decided to base them all with greenstuff cobblestones. The first 20 or so FA figs had their bases filed as flat as they would go and I sculpted each base with a thin layer of greenstuff cobblestones and left some gaps which I filled with sand. However I did not relish the prospect of sculpting at least 52 and probably hundreds more greenstuff bases. And there was often a mounding effect. So the following system has evolved over the course of the year:

I made sculpted green stuff cobbles on a variety of plain bases:

Then made molds using a two part silicone rubber - I used "smooth on" brand

And cast bases using a two part resin (also "smooth on" they came as a kit). Note that when you use this method your castings are slightly smaller than the original. Also there is quite a lot of wasted resin - if you are me - and that the resin bases often need a good sanding on the bottom.

If the model is suitable, and not particularly rare, I'll remove the metal base and pin it to the cast resin base. But this does not work for figures with thin feet, dragging tails etc. So for most figures I leave the original metal base (or most of it) and use a Dremel to rout out an indentation for the metal base to sit inside the resin base.

Then I use green stuff and sand to repair the cobble look. OK it is just has time consuming as when I started but it looks better and there are no mounds.

My bases are painted with dark brown, the cobble stones get two coats of P3 hammerfall khaki, and the sand is dry-brushed with earth brown. Then they get a generous coating of Citadel devlan mud wash, after which I pick out some highlights and hit them with figure flat.

All of the bases also get some additional treatment - static grass, rocks, twigs, leaves etc. to reflect the creatures habitat.

The idea is that the cobblestones and consistent colors bring them all together as a set

He is a progress shot of the whole project to date. The upper shelf are completed. Overall I've probably spent nearly as much time basing as I have painting - but at least the bases are nearly all done.