“Trash Ain’t Always in a Can!” (Zom’tober & Apocalypse Me)

Week three of the apocalypse and the zombie hordes continue to grow! (Though at the rate of three a week I think even our current government could probably contain it! Mind you perhaps not). Anyway enough rubbish from me and on with how my latest additions met there untimely demises…

But before we get into all that, I started this lot (well after a basecoat of matt black), by mixing German field grey. Mid grey and some dead flesh together to form the rotting flesh, then added their eyes and mouths in black and white. Now back to the stories…

If there were two things Snake was good at they were fighting and pleasing the ladies, he’d never backed down from either (and always left them screaming, if you know what I mean!), So even though he’d been on his way to a date with some new lucky lady he’d bagged on the internet, when the horde of undead rounded the corner of the alley he’d been using as a shortcut, he wasn’t gonna’ turn tail and run! If he was going down he was taking these “mothers” with him. So drawing his “flick” knife in one hand and his automatic in the other he’d piled into the group of rotting flesh! He would have got away scot free too if some skinny bitch hadn’t leaped on his back distracting him as a creep in a Christmas jumper of all things had lunged for his stomach! Still he’d taken the top of that assholes head off with a well-aimed shot, and the “scrawny slut” he’d slammed in a trash can! Hopefully it would be dark in the club so his date wouldn’t notice the blood on his best leather jacket!…💀 Being predominantly clad in black meant Snakes painting was pretty easy, so once I’d touched up the black where I gone over with the “flesh” I highlighted it in dark grey, then to add some “worn” sections to his jacket I lightly added coffee around the shoulders, cuff’s and anywhere else there might have been wear. His shirt I did in a denim style (well I had the colours out, see below) so I mixed a little royal blue and light blue, painted it in this then highlighted in just light blue, and his hair was chocolate brown with chestnut highlights.

Jessica hated people better off than herself, and that was just about everyone! So when she saw some over-privileged “valley princess” complete with “faithful lapdog” flouncing around like she owned the place, all the old jealousy bubbled up to the surface, “Look at her the cow! Perfect body, probably full of tucks and silicone!! And look at that handbag, probably cost more that Jessica’s apartment, that would go perfectly with my gold mini skirt and sequined boob tube!” she thought, Without even consciously thinking about it she began following her around the shops waiting for her chance to grab the bag and run for it, though in truth she couldn’t really run more than five yards without getting a stitch!, still when the horde of undead rounded on “little miss loaded”, she saw her chance, especially once her bag carrying lackey ran away, ha ha. The rich bitch was frozen in fear, darting out Jessica grabbed the strap of the bag and pulled, the stupid tart hadn’t even noticed, but wouldn’t let go! How strong could she be! I mean “daddy” would only buy her a new one, “Let go!!” Jess yelled, she needed it more than her anyway, suddenly Jessica felt hands tugging at her, she turned to see who it was only to peer into a rancid gaping maw inches from her face…💀 Jessica’s pink “loungewear” suit was first undercoated in a mix of pink burgundy and Polish crimson, highlighted in just the Polish crimson, then I added the zip and cuffs in coffee and cream. Now while out walking the dog the other day I saw a couple of young ladies wearing something very similar, and noticed that they both had the legend “Juicy” written across the buttocks*, so on further investigation via the internet apparently this is a popular “brand” so decided to add “Juicy” to back of Jessica’s pants in a similar font (or as close as I could get it anyway), this was done in white, then her boots were added in chocolate brown and leather, and the ribbon in her hair was done in cream. That just left her hair which was done in chestnut with orange highlights.

Abby was a “fat pig”, I didn’t matter what she did, she still looked like a “fat pig!”, everyone kept telling her she should eat more, so she would, and then throw it up two minutes later! These days she hardly ate at all and still she hated her body. That was until she had been attacked by that old man in the park. Now she was suddenly hungry, really hungry, for meat, fresh meat! She’d been wandering dazedly, with a crowd for hours, the craving growing ever more intense until they came across a man alone in an alley, now he looked tasty! The pack turned and headed in his direction, he’d fought and fought and Abby, thought she was going to miss out, then a gap appeared behind him, she fell upon his back ready to sink her teeth into the flesh of his neck, but he’d grabbed her, pulled her over his shoulder and pushed her down into some sort of metal container! It was dark and she could hardly move, despair filled what was left of her mind, then suddenly she felt the container hoisted up into the air…💀 As the coffee and cream were already out that’s what I used in Abby’s shirt/jumper? I then added some stripes in royal blue, I’m embarrassed by how bad these are, especially after Dave (The Imperfect Modeler) posted how to do stripes on his blog the other day, these I hasten to add are nowhere near his standard! Anyway glossing over those, I did her jeans next using the same colours as Snakes shirt. A little chocolate brown and leather took care of her shoes and belt, then more chocolate was used on her hair, this time highlighted with chestnut, and I added a stripe of ocean blue highlighted with porcelain blue to her hair too (mainly to draw attention away from those stripes! Lastly a touch of pink burgundy was added to her lips.

When it came to adding the “gore” I began by adding Jessica’s exposed “skull” parts in coffee, then ruby red was applied as usual along with some royal purple on Snakes dangling intestinal bits, after which smaller “highlights” of bright red were again added over this as “fresher” patches of blood. After all this the figures were given the obligatory once over with the Strong tone Quickshade” before their bases were painted up in in chocolate brown, khaki, coffee and scenic green as per usual. This was of course followed by a little summer mix hairy grass, and then a spray coat of Humbrol matt varnish sealed the figures and took the shine off them.

One more week of Zom’tober and Apocalypse Me to go, then I hope along with Simon “Blaxcleric” Moore to embark on a month of “Beardy Weird’iness” as “Mo’vember” comes around again, for those of you not in the know, all this entails is that you paint some figures in November with facial hair of some description be it “Dwarves, Cavemen, Wizards, Hitler, Jesus, or Bearded Collie dogs” (all of these have indeed been submitted in the past!). or anything you have to hand with some “facial whiskers”, so if any of you lot out there would like to join in please let me or Simon know and we’ll link you in to the fun, you have till November to dig something out….well don’t just sit there, start looking!

Till next time, unpleasant dreams! Cheers Roger.

• I wish to point out here that I don’t generally spend my time dog walking staring at young women’s posteriors. 😉

“The Zombie Wears Prada” (Zom’tober & Apocalypse Me)

Week two of my “double challenge” month, and I suddenly remembered that I haven’t told you who the figures are by! Well they are all from the Studio miniatures “Z-clips”, (Zombie horde part 4). As I said last week these were based and undercoated, and ready to go, So starting with their flesh I mixed some dead flesh (aptly enough), light blue and khaki together on the figures, and once dry added their eyes and mouths in black and white, and off we went…

George, liked being a trash man, the hours suited him, he got on with his workmates, but best of all he was nosey, and liked seeing what other people were throwing out! He’d found some good stuff over the years too, and often supplemented his income at the odd “swap meet”. However tonight his luck definitely wasn’t in, as when he was carrying a can on his shoulder, pulled from an alley out to the truck some “skinny chick” had popped out of it and bitten him on the neck! What the hell was the world coming too! He’d dropped the can and the bitch had scuttled away, luckily it wasn’t bad, but he was still feeling a little woozy, probably the burrito he’d had for lunch along with the shock…💀 I wanted a “luminous green” looking “safety” shirt effect on his shirt, so I painted this first in my “luminous” light green, then for the highlights I mixed more of this with another paler light green, (I know this doesn’t make a lot of sense, but hey I don’t name these paints!). Dark grey highlighted with mid grey took care of his hooded waistcoat. For his trousers I mixed some saddle and Eurasian flesh together painted this on as the undercoat then highlighted with just the Eurasian flesh, I also added the patch on his knee in dark and mid grey. His hair was chocolate brown with saddle used for the highlights here, and that just left his shoes to do in black with dark grey highlights.

Tiffany, was a valley girl to the core, daddy was rich, she was pretty and she was doing her favourite pastime shopping with daddy’s credit card along with “Wilkin’s” the family chauffer to carry the numerous bags she accumulated as she wandered from designer shop to designer shop that was until she was confronted by a group of dishevelled people, Oh my god they were like totally filthy and covered in blood, and they like smelled awful, they were looking at her in a rather hungry fashion too. People were running and screaming everywhere! Why weren’t the police doing something these people shouldn’t be allowed to interrupt people like her having fun! She couldn’t believe it when Wilkins ran away too and left her, he should have jumped it to protect her, throwing his body into the way, I mean that’s what poor people are for isn’t it! Daddy would so fire him when he found out!…💀 Coffee and cream were used on her pantsuit then her boots, handbag and buttons were added in copper highlighted with bright gold. Her hair was then added in citrus orange with light sand highlights, all pretty simple stuff really, the nice thing about people in colour coordinated clothing is less colours for me!😉

This used to be a nice neighborhood Earl thought as he walked down the stairs of his apartment block, but that was before all the “scum” and foreigners moved into the area, kids had respect for their elders in his day but these little delinquents, all they did was play basketball and cause trouble! He knew they would be there in the park shouting insults at him as he walked past, if he didn’t need a six pack before the game started. That trollop next door to him’s kid was the worst “Cody”, the little shit!, he’d come to a bad end, probably end up in “juvvie” or dead in a gutter somewhere soon! Oh, Earl hoped he’d see that little turd dead soon! As it turned out it would be sooner that he knew…💀 I started Earl with the same colours as Tiffany, by painting in his undershirt with coffee and cream, then his “over” shirt was painted in royal blue, before I added horizontal and vertical stripes in ocean blue and light blue, to form the checks. Saddle was mixed with some ECW buff and used for the base coat, then more of the buff was used to highlight this area. Dary and mid grey took care of his somewhat sparse hair (I know what that feels like!) , and again his shoes were black with dark grey highlights.

The “gory bits” were then added in the same manner as last week so “areas” of ruby red were applied first then smaller “highlights” of bright red were added over the tops of this for fresh blood. then the figures were given their usual once over with Strong tone Quickshade” and their bases were painted up in my usual manner of chocolate brown, khaki, coffee and scenic green. This was followed by some “Javis” summer mix hairy grass, and then a final spray coat of matt varnish “removed any “shine” on the figures.

Halfway through now, so till next week I’ll wish you all unpleasant dreams.

Cheers Roger.

“A tale of two Challenges” (Zom’tober & Apocalypse Me)

Everyone likes a bargain, and this month I’m getting a “two for one” on painting challenges (yeah me!), as not only is it “Zom’tober” the time of the year when the un-dead get a little love (and paint) in the run up to Halloween, but “Dedicated Dave Stone” (perhaps that should be Dead’icated? 😁 No suit yourself!) is also running another challenge with his “Apocalypse Me” challenge, where you paint up figures connected to your apocalypse of choice (Zombie, Nuclear, Squirrel uprising, whatever floats your boat, oh yes, Ecological counts too ⛈), So, ever one to jump on a band wagon (or two), I’m entering both with my month of zombie painting, I have three a week for the next four weeks, based, photographed, primed and all ready for paint. For fun I thought I’d give each a little bit of backstory, so here we go with the first three…

I started all three with their flesh, and in my usual way I picked three colours this time Mid-grey, stone green and pale blue and mixed them on the figure (basically I blobbed all three on and swirled them about into each other till all the flesh was covered), then added there eyes and mouths in black, with white pupils in the eyes and cream teeth in the mouths. Then turning to each individually….

Zoe, had been on a lot of bad dates! There was that guy who brought his mum along, or the one who was only four foot one tall, and oh god! There was that one who played with “little soldiers!” urrgh! So when “Snake” turned up she thought she might finally have hit the jackpot, OK he was a little rough looking clad as he was in black leather, but all girls like a “bad boy” now don’t they, even when he turned out to be a flesh eating zombie who chewed her arm off, it still sadly didn’t even crack the top five of worst dates ever….💀 So after her flesh was completed I started the rest of her by painting her legs in saddle, before dry-brushing them in Eurasian flesh (strangely I never use this colour for actual “flesh”). Her skirt was painted dark red, and I was going to highlight it in bright red but then I thought (blood! Doh!), so instead I mixed a little pink burgundy with some polish crimson and painted the resultant pink on instead, as this would hopefully allow the blood I added later to be seen. Her blouse I did in coffee and cream, and her belt and shoes I left black but highlighted them with dark grey. I also did her bracelet and belt buckle in copper highlighted with a touch of bright gold.

Cody, had been shooting hoop’s with his friends when the “Zom’s” staggered into the park, “Man, we can easily outrun these undead jerks!” had been the response of the teenagers and so they had begun a game of tossing the ball to each other over and around the stumbling deceased, by the time they realized that more and more of them had poured into the park, all the exits were blocked with ravenous brain-eaters, the rest as they say is history (as were Cody and his mates)…💀 Cody’s shirt was first painted coffee and then highlighted with cream. Then his “cut-off” jeans were undercoated with a mix of ocean blue and light blue, before being highlighted in just light blue. His “sneakers” were next, an undercoat of cream was followed by white highlights here. I then added a little royal blue to the sneakers soles and laces.

“Oh Crap, I’m going to die in this god-awful sweater!”, possibly not the most profound last words ever uttered, but for Jeff they were perhaps the most heartfelt, as he’d almost escaped detection from the horde of undead that had burst into the office Christmas party by ducking under the buffet table, unfortunately he accidently knocked the button that started the “tinny” rendition of “Oh Christmas tree” and flashing lights from the “hysterical” woolen gift his mother had bought him…💀Jeff’s fatal jumper was first undercoated in Navy blue, then highlighted in royal blue, then I added the Christmas tree design in vert green, with added highlights of light green here and there, next I added some dots of orange to represent the lights. Coffee and cream were used for the collar and cuffs of the jumper next and while I was at it I added some random dots in the same as snowflakes. His trousers were next, dark and mid grey forming the base and highlights here. And chocolate brown with leather highlights saw to his shoes, his exposed brain (not shown in the photo) was painted pink burgundy and highlighted with more of the same with a little cream added to it.

All three then had their hair painted in more chocolate brown with the same lightened with some cream dry-brushed over this for the highlights here. Then it was time to “gore” them up a “tad” ruby red was applied first then smaller “highlights” of bright red were put over this as “fresher” patches of blood. After all this the figures were given the obligatory once over with the Strong tone Quickshade” before their bases were painted up in in chocolate brown, khaki, coffee and scenic green as per usual. This was of course followed by a little summer mix hairy grass, and then a final blow over with matt varnish “sealed the deal” as it were.

First three down nine more to go, please check out Simon and Dave’s respective blogs from more information about these two challenges, and to register to take part….

https://www.fantoricalwargaming.com/post/lead-mountain-musings-judge-dredd-zomtober-2021

https://wargamesculptorsblog.blogspot.com/2021/10/apocalypse-me.html

So till next time, unpleasant dreams……cheers Roger.

“Herbie Goes Apocalypse”

OK so as this is my last week before yet another challenge month ”Zomtober”, I thought I finish my month of “Quick fixes” with another one of Dave Stone’s excellent resin vehicles, this time in the form of this post-apocalyptic VW Beetle. Taking inspiration from the movie world once again I thought I’d base it around everyone’s favorites “Bug”, “Herbie”. Now once again there was a little prep work to do before I could get into the painting, so taking some of my aluminium mesh I cut out shapes to match the rear quarter windows and glued these in place. I also thought the bodywork was a bit to “pristine” for a car that had spent it’s life “fighting for survival” in the wasteland, so once again I dug out my ”dremmel” and a “ball” tipped grinder bit, and added a few dents and scrapes, I also managed to knock off the passengers head at this point, and lost it! Luckily I did find one of the heads I’d removed from one of my “He-man” conversions (Merman I think), so with a little greenstuff work I was able to replace it (only thing was the head was “bald” so I added a “crash helmet” as this seemed sensible headgear), and talking of safety, I also though the poor chap was a little exposed, so I built a “crash barrier” out of cocktail sticks, mesh and a bit more greenstuff (for the corners) and drilled a couple holes in the headlight apertures to mount it. Then it was out for a spray coat of matt black.

And so to the painting, I started by giving the whole body of the car a coat of mid grey (darker version), then mixed more mid grey (lighter version) with some cream and painted this over the top, then taking just this mid-grey stippled this again over the top in a “patchy” pattern, then it was time to add the stripes and numbers. I did consider using a “hole punch” to make a hole in some masking tape to form a “mask” template to paint the circles for the numbers, but then spotted that the top on my superglue was about the right size, so dipped this in the lid of my black paint and used it to “stamp” on the black ring edges of my circles. I then filled these rings with white and added the number “53” freehand, I also free handed the stripes along the top of the car in royal blue and bright red, they’re not perfect by a long way, but good enough for an apoc’vehicle. The engine cover I painted in shamrock green, to look like a replacement part, now the more cynical amongst you might think I only did this so I’d have less numbers and stripes to paint! And you would be right (listen to your cynical brothers the rest of you!!!), anyway this was then highlighted with more of the same lightened with a little white. The “drum” in the back was painted in deep bronze green again highlighted with more white lightened deep bronze green.

Now we get to the fun bit, weathering the hell out of it! First off I took some chainmail and slapped it into all the dents and scratches I’d made on the body, along with any other area’s that would end up rusty (and there were a few!), I also dry-brushed this over the mesh “bumper” and the “tube” weapon in the “passengers” hands (both still separate at this point). Next it was in with the chestnut and then a little orange to represent old and fresh rust respectively. Then I repainted the tyres in black (these don’t get rusty!) and I could crack on with the figure. I decided on a camo scheme for his trousers so a base of deep bronze green was put down first then “splodge’s” of stone green and olive were put over this. His helmet I painted coffee then highlighted in cream, then added stripes running down from the crown in royal blue and bright red to form a sort of “Union Jack” pattern. His jacket I left black and just highlighted it in dark grey, and his scarf was porcelain blue, with light blue highlights. His chair and cross belt were done in chocolate brown and leather brown, with a touch of chainmail on the metal shoulder pad, and his flesh was European flesh and after his eyes were added, this was highlighted in the same with a bit of pale flesh added. Next the whole thing was given a coat of “Quickshade Strong tone”, then the “rusty” bits were once again picked out in the same way as before, and lastly dry-brushes of saddle and Eurasian flesh were applied to add the road dust, I may have gone a bit “mad” with the weathering as you can’t see too much of the original colour at all now, but too late now, (oh well) a final spray over with matt varnish and “hey presto” Herbie rides again!

And that was that, just a bit of fun to end the month, now it’s straight from one type of apocalypse and into another! As Zomtober begins…..

So till next time, Cheers Roger.