DRAGON

 For my last entry for Monster May(hem) I decided to paint a Dragon I've had for almost 20 years now, it is made from a form of wood pulp that has been set in shape, on top of a real log, my oldest children got it for me as a Christmas present, and the dragon came prepainted, but was a very basic black with a wet brush dark grey over the top, and attracted a lot of dust, so a repaint was long overdue.

I now like the colour scheme a lot more, I used purple as the base, and orange in the highlight colour, to give some strong contrast. This also counts for Keith's other challenge Year of the Dragon, as some will ask it stands 13 inches tall, and the dragon itself is 10 inches long.

Next time I feel an itch to do some more Star Wars, so until next time stay safe, and have fun !

Cheers Dave

A LITTLE BIT OF THIS, AND A LITTLE BIT OF THAT

 Been a pretty busy weekend getting the rest of my customers commission finished, and was a very eclectic mix. First up is a set of six Vikings these are metal models.

Gone for colours that I could find that would be fitting for period Vikings. Next is a fantasy Paladin, this is a resin model.

Next is a Fantasy Thug, this is also a resin model.

Next is a Reaper Bones Wraith, this is my first bones model I've ever painted, and can see why so many people moan about the material ! LOL

Last today is a metal crocodile, my client asked if I could add a base to it, so I've made it as if it's moving so it could then be placed on other water features and be moved.

That's all for today, next time I hope to have my final submission for Monster May(hem), if I can get it finished in time, so until then stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave

BRINGING OUT THE ANIMAL

 No I'm not starting another project, these models are part of a commission for one of my regular customers, wait you didn't know I did mode3l painting on commission, that's probably because I don't advertise the fact ! LOL My client has sent through quite an eclectic bunch of models, which will keep things interesting for me. The first four models all have an animal theme to them, the first being a Fox from Burrows and Badgers, really enjoyed painting this one.

Next we have a Ferret from Burrows and Badgers, went for one of the more interesting colour schemes on the Ferret.

Next is a Red Panda Martial Artist, not sure where this one comes from, but was fun to paint.

Last is a Basti from Wargods, as it had an Egyptian feel to the model, I went for the colours often shown for Bastet.

Here is a group shot of all four to show the size comparison between all four.

there will be more models from this commission to come, as I have another 10 to complete, so until next time stay safe, and have fun !

Cheers Dave 

FEED ME SEYMOUR !

 Occasionally my children's requests line up with current challenges, and this being one of them. My daughter wanted a vanity table that had a little shop of horrors theme to it, she started the process by creating what you see below, she made it out of air drying clay, and this was where the problems started, and dad was asked to sort it out ! LOL

When it arrived to me, the wall sections had cracked off, the vines were no longer attached, and it needed a head solution as well, plus painting. First I put all the bits back together, I also added some sand in the top of the flower pot, to look like soil, then painted it all to look like what you've already seen. Next was the head of the plant, I started with dense foam, and built the basic shapes for a top and lower jaw, this was all then protected by a layer of filler, which was then smoothed. Before fitting the two halves together I made teeth out of greenstuff, and then painted all the mouth, as it was a lot easier to get to at this stage. Once it was all dry, I put the two halves together, and filled the gap with more filler, then painted it. Last was the leaves, these were made from card, and stuck on, then before painting, a lyer of PVA glue was painted over them to give them some added strength, once dry they were painted, and now the table looks like this.

Hopefully the Grand daughter likes it as that is who it is for, that's all for this post, so until next time, stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave

BY YOUR COMMAND

 Sorry no Cylons here, just another finished command group for my Night Hawks chapter, this is for the 1st company the Wing Knights. The entire company is assault marines with jump packs, so the command group needed to represent this, and I also wanted something to show the name knights, I had thought about getting some Grey Knights, to use the heads, and I may well do in the future, but on these I just changed the helmets with a bit of greenstuff. First up is the medic, this was my original medic, which I later replaced, as I made the other command groups, so it was spare, I changed some of the conversion, and gave it a repaint.

Next is the standard bearer, I've given him a combat standard, so less likely to get in the way, the model itself is a kitbash.

the last one I needed was a standard trooper, which was another kitbash.

Here they are with the two I had previously completed for the squad.

I wanted their jump packs to stand out from standard ones, so added the company motto on to them " Death Before Dishonour" 

While I was in the mood for kitbashing, I made a Tech Marine, using mostly parts from the vehicle crew you normally get with most vehicles, and then used a metal tech arm, and a custom made Storm Hammer.

This means I only need to do one more command group for the second company, which are all on jetbikes, can't decide on using the jetbike I made, or getting some of the Imperial Custodes ones, but that's a decission for another day, so until next time, stay safe, and have fun !

Cheers Dave

ROAD TO INSANITY

 I've realised there are more Uruk Hai than a sane person would attempt, but I've never been accused of being sane, so I've finished a few more, and have another 20 more on the painting desk with many more to go ! LOL First on show today is a standard bearer, took a while to find a decent reference picture from the movie, rather than other sources, but glad I pushed on with the initial thought.

Next is a captain, which you saw a few in the movies.

Last today is a Shaman, which obviously didn't appear in the movies, but is from the Tolkien foundation licence, you can see GW's standard approach creeping in again (skulls anyone) ! LOL

Need a break from all things Tolkien, so may well do something totally different this week, while still working on some more monsters, so until next time, stay safe, and have fun !

Cheers Dave

I WANT MY MUMAKIL ?

 I've actually finished this quicker than expected, but will probably mean no Monster May(hem) post next week, but we'll have to see how that goes. So here is the one from the movie that I've based the model on

Then this is quite different from the basic GW model which looks like the below picture.

So after a fair bit of greenstuff work I ended up with this.

As you can see from above I added the driver as well, not just the details to the tusks and front legs, I also add to blend out a lot of the seam lines as the detail didn't line up well, and if I was doing all this work I needed a good base to work from, happy with the end result though. So that's all for today, so until next time stay safe, and have fun !

Cheers Dave

YOU SHALL NOT PASS

 

So who could forget the classic scene shown above when Gandalf faces the Balrog, I've spent a lot of time recently rewatching this scene, in preparation to paint these two characters, and one thing I noticed was that the Balrog isn't glowing all over, but in sections, almost as if as if the skin is breaking open at points where the skin is tight due to movement. The other thing I noticed was his wings weren't solid and actually made of smoke (that's going to be fun to try and replicate ! LOL). With all of this in mind I pulled out my special edition Balrog ( you didn't know there was a special edition, it was released with all metal wings instead of plastic, and you can really feel the weight ), and looking at the basic model compared to the reference, it needed some work, first was his mohawk of flames, needed to spread across the shoulders and not just be a solid line, it also needed some small outbursts near it's elbows, these were all done  with greenstuff, I also greenstuffed the base to look like flagstones,  fitting the Mines of Moria.

When it came to the painting I started with all the flames and areas that would be cracking. I basecoated them GW Yriel Yellow, then put GW Iyanden Yellow contrast all over, for the tips I used GW Fuegan Orange Wash. For the hotter parts I started with GW Yriel Yellow, then Flash Gitz Yellow, and finished with GW Phalanx Yellow, making each layer smaller than the last. Once this was all done and fully dry I basecoated all the black including the wings, I highlighted the black with GW Covus Black, and some areas had some orange worked in as well, which I noticed in the reference picture (easier to see in hand than my terrible photo's ! LOL) For the smoky effect on the wings I used GW Apothecary white contrast, which I applied in a random fashion to give the illusion of smoke, this was a liitle too brigt on it's own so I layered GW nuln oil wash over the top to darken it back down.

Gandalf was a lot simpler and just tried to replicate the colours from reference pictures, pretty happy with how he turned out, and here is a shot of them facing off against each other, although I didn't build a casam for them ! LOL

So that covers my first submission for Monster May(hem) plus additional figure, hopefully I should have another to show next week, and I've got a couple more that I hope to do by the end of the month, so until next time stay safe, and have fun ! 

Cheers Dave