Dalek

One of the most memorable moments of the Doctor Who reboot came early, with the episode Dalek. It's also one of my favorite episodes, so when one of my Cult of Skaro miniatures suffered some surface damage during assembly, I knew what I'd do with it.

The Dalek on show is heavily damaged, with cracks in its casing and a great deal of wear and tear on the surface. I replicated the cracks with scored lines, in several places bending the plastic back from a gash or, once on each side, applying copy paper to a gouge to represent the peeling Dalekanium.

I also applied washes and liberal amounts of drybrushing to the surface, as the prototype is covered in dirt, dust and even verdigris around some of the hemis (or balls) and eyestalk.

I'm very pleased with how it's turned out- now I just need to write a scenario pitting him against 9th Doctor and Rose!

Comparison shot with a standard Dalek.

Warlord Games Zygons

A classic Doctor Who monster, the shapeshifting  Zygons first showed up in the 4th Doctor adventure Terror of the Zygons, where a shipload of them crashed in Loch Ness- their pet Skaraksen even became the Loch Ness Monster. They've shown up twice (as I recall) in the rebooted show, once in the 50th anniversary special, Day of the Doctor, and then in a two-parter at the end of season 9.

These models (from Warlord Games' Exterminate! line) are based on the redesign from Day of the Doctor.

All the red tones were very enjoyable to paint. I went back and did plenty of "research"- rewatching the relevant episodes before I painted them, resulting in a fairly screen-accurate paint job. I especially like the model on the left, the pose (I believe borrowed from a publicity still) is excellent.
These should be fun to field as agents in game- their shapeshifting abilities provide a nice twist to the standard factions.

Next up- the Cult of Skaro!

Star Wars Build- Bandai Models General Grievous

In the past six months or so I've started on yet another collection- 1/12 scale Star Wars action figures! Somehow Hasbro's Black Series had escaped my eye till then, and now I've discovered (and purchased) not only those, but Bandai's line of model kits. The Grievous looked awesome (and is a particular favorite character of mine), and so I thought I'd start there.

May I simply say I was very impressed with the build. It was very smooth to assemble (one of the best builds I've had in a long while), and the detail is spot on. I took the above picture after I'd assembled the kit, but before any painting aside from the eyes and lining on the armor. From here out, I'll try something a little different than usual- there's so much detail on the figure I want to focus on the photos, only adding a few comments on the build.

And after! As in the film, I added plenty of battle damage to the armor with washes and lining, scratching up both with toothpicks afterwards.

The war mask and eyes may be my favorite part of the model.

The hands, on the other hand, were probably my least favorite- all of that recessed detail was very difficult to paint.

The lightsabers are all accurate to RotS- I really would have preferred the sabers seen in the latter half of Clone Wars to these, which are all existing hilts like Obi-Wan's and Vader's. Still, painting lightsaber hilts was very enjoyable!

I enjoy taking pictures of my action figures outdoors, and Grievous may be my favorite to do so- he's a character I've wanted a high quality figure of since I was a child, and the wait was well worth it!

Any thoughts on this different style of build and post? Leave a comment, and let me know know which you prefer!

Sign of Things to Come

Bandai Models General Grievous- look for more pics tomorrow!

Stranger Things in LEGO- The Wheeler Family Basement

When I was six years old, a LEGO catalog was delivered by accident to my home. This was the first I had heard of the construction toy, and from the moment I opened it I was hooked. I can remember agonizing over my first small purchase- a Batman dragster. More sets were the main item on my Christmas list that year, and soon I'd amassed an impressive collection. I played with them throughout my childhood, creating fantasy worlds in which my Castle Knights rubbed shoulders with Darth Vader and Dumbledore, and a system of alliances and conflicts emerged between myself and my brothers- vast conferences were held, and wars took up the whole of the house. These youthful endeavors influenced me greatly on my current path, seeding my love of tabletop and roleplay games and encouraging a burgeoning interest in fantasy. I still buy LEGOs, and build the occasional MOC (short for My Own Creation). This is the most recent of my builds, an environment from the Netflix show Stranger Things (a show I've thoroughly enjoyed, and one I ought to do a review of).

This is the basement of one of the main protagonists, Mike Wheeler, and is where he and his friends play D&D. The basement is filled with references to the show, and sharp eyes may locate some buried hints to others. I had a lot of fun adding in details to fit the extremely cluttered atmosphere of the set, which certainly shows in the finished model. Here, I'm particularly pleased with the small bowl on the bookshelf (a mere two pieces) and the small replica of the Kenner Millennium Falcon, which was featured in one episode.

The area around the couch was where I started, and also is probably the closest to the prototype. I was inspired by the awesome awnings on the official Ninjago City set in creating the curtain in front of the window- I do wish the pieces were available in a different color, though! Behind it is a system of panes accounting for the antistuds showing above the window.

A central component of the basement is, of course, Eleven's blanket fort. This was probably the section that took the longest- I went through several different versions of the structure before settling on the final one. A pie tile used as a waffle and a walkie-talkie round out this section of the basement. 

Here's a better shot of the center of the room, occupied by the gaming table! It's set up for a session with a map, miniatures (a box for which is present on the coffee table) and a DM screen- but where's the fourth player, Will?

A hint may be found in the center of the frame, where a stylized Demogorgon lurks. While a simple build, it was only recently made possible- the base piece is Jack Skellington's bow tie, and the head is the flower included with Sally. The entire basement is built around a 16/32 stud baseplate, with baseplates covering it and hanging over the edges. I then added the frame under the overhang, so there's a large hollow underneath the whole build. 

There's not quite as much detail pack into this side, but I like the detailing around the cluttered worktable on the left. In the spirit of the show, I don't believe any of the chairs are alike- they all have different bases, as well as the tables.

This picture presents a better view of the shelf behind the stairs. That was the last detailing I finished on the model, before the frame was added. It was a very enjoyable build, I love adding in detail work, and the nature of the prototype gave me pretty free reign to add as much as I wanted! I've entered this in a Stranger Things contest over on LEGO Ideas, and I'll provide a link to the entry below for those who want to check it out. 

New Etsy Listing- Female Wizard

I got a new Etsy listing up yesterday, the first in a long while. This particular miniature is from Wizards of the Coast's recent Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures line, and was packaged together with another I posted a couple years ago. I like the more realistic sculpts seen in the NMM line, in particular the females- they almost remind me of the simple style seen on early TSR miniatures.

I used the same colors on her dress as my recent Eowyn miniature. I've recently grown to like a heavy contrast between my base color and highlight. You can see this most clearly on the hair, which started as a dull dark brown.

This cloak is pretty much the opposite- with a soft, layered transition between colors. It's the first time I've used this color as a highlight on a large area, and I think it goes well alongside the sharper contrasts elsewhere on the figure.

I enjoyed painting the spell effect like a meteor of sorts- a burning red with a smoky purple tail. The book also got an intricate pattern of words and images, meant to evoke the spell sections in the actual D&D rulebook.

Take a look at my Etsy Page for more prepainted miniatures and custom order information!

Defenders of Helm's Deep- Legolas

"[...Y]ou comfort me, Gimli, and I am glad to have you standing nigh with your stout legs and your hard axe."

Legolas, Helm's Deep

If I had to choose a single race in LotR to be my favorite, I'd have to choose the Elves. They're such a folk of contrasts- mixing beauty and childlike joy with an extreme melancholia and sensitivity. I read a good deal of Celtic literature, and Tolkien captured my vision of the Sidhe so well and yet made it his own; fitting perfectly with his professed desire to create "a mythology for England".

Legolas, along with his comrade Gimli serve the Fellowship (in particular Aragorn) as a sort of solid base. No matter what befalls the rest of the company, the Elf and Dwarf are there to aid. This makes perfect sense in Tolkien's greater cosmology as well- Hobbits, Men and even Wizards are the center of the Third Age, and it is theirs to sort out. The Elves and Dwarves have already made their peace with Middle-Earth, and have begun already to forsake it.

Now on to the figure! Yet again, it's from Games Workshop's Defender's of Helm's Deep pack. As with Aragorn, I've sought to portray a transitioning Legolas. He's got his traveling gear and clothes on, but has supplemented it with armor and a short sword from Theoden's armory.

The quiver is directly based on an Alan Lee painting, and I'm very happy with both that and the hair. The cloak is actually the same highlight color as the stone, simply with more blue tones underneath it. The similarity evokes the camouflaging cloaks of Lorien well.

The face has no washes on it, except for a light coat around the eyes. I'm trying to balance definition as opposed to the Elf''s fair skin, and I',m not quite sure I've succeeded. I'll go back and tinker with it later once I've given myself some time to approach it with more critical eyes.