“Forging Ahead”

Just a quick post this time, as I had a few days left between finishing my “Forgotten Heroes” entries for this year and the start of “Dave Stones Season of Scenery”, so I thought I’d fill the time by adding a few more “Forge Fathers” to my little force for Mantic’s “Dead Zone”. Now I did mention a while back that I had “inherited” my eldest sons starter box as well as a load of “Plague” figures too, so after having a root about in the now bulging box of unpainted stuff I came across four “Fathers” that were assembled but not painted, that’ll save some time I thought so out they came and after a quick photo, that I now appear to have either lost or didn’t save (doh!), and their bases getting a quick dusting with some of my basing sand and the odd “cat litter” rock, it was out for a spray over with the matt black, and we were ready to rumble (as Ant and Dec used to say)…

I began the same as with the last four by dry-brushing the guns, hammer and the backpack on the heavy weapon (this is a Hailstorm Auto Cannon I think) with chainmail, then all of their armour was painted in German field grey, and highlighted with dark turquoise. The bits of under clothing that can be seen were then undercoated with dark grey, and mid grey was used to highlight these areas. The gloves, belts and the odd other area were then painted in chocolate brown before being highlighted with leather. I then added the eyes on their helmets, these were done in light green before I added a dot or pupil with some “Fluorescent” light green. I also added lights with these colours to their weapons. Lastly I added some accoutrements to their armour with a little copper with bronze highlights. Basically exactly the same as last time, the only addition being that the pipes on the Auto Cannon were added in pink burgundy which I then went over with some bright red,

As usual they were then given a brush coat of “Quickshade” (strong tone) and once dry had their bases painted to match the last lot of Dead Zone figures, so that was chocolate brown, dry-brushed with khaki, and again with coffee, once again I’ve forgone the static grass on these chaps, but they did of course still get the matt varnish spray coat (No shiny figures here!!). I do like the “Forge Father” figures which is good as I have plenty of them to get through, but not now as I must first return to the realm of MDF, as next time we’ll be in “the Season of Scenery!”.

So till then, stay safe and cheers Roger.

“Kremmen of the Star Corps” (Forgotten Heroes)

Hi kids Kremmen here, well that was a narrow escape, fortunately we were able to escape that evil idiot and over throw his evil plan to replace us with copies of ourselves. We left him a gibbering heap (well actually he always was a gibbering heap, but that’s another story), before returning to Earth so I could be awarded yet another medal from her Majesty the Queen. As Carla and I recuperated in the relax-a-tron. I couldn’t help but be struck by her radiant beauty, of all my bosom buddies Carla was by far the bosomiest! “Oh Captain” she purred, “Well that’s the end of another adventure”. “Yes” I replied, “But, I’m always sad when an adventure comes to an end”. “But why?” my little space nymph asked. “Well it means, I’ve got to think of a whole new one for next week!” 

I know what he means, as now that the painting is complete (oh yes the painting is complete by the way!), I’ve now got to think of someone (or someone’s), to do next year, oh well I guess I’ve got eleven months to ponder that. Anywho’ when you left me last time the intrepid (or should that be insipid?) crew of the “”Troll 1”” looked like this 👉, so I guess you’ll be wanting to see the finished figures now, really it’s all want, want, want with you lot! Oh, OK then here we go…

Kremmen, we’ll start with the most complicated paintjob (well it had the most colours!), and as I knew two out of the three would have a lot of white on them I decided that a white undercoat would probably be the best idea, so after they were all based up on two pence pieces (I added a spacer of card under Kremmen, to make him a smidge taller than Carla) they went out to the garden, for a spraying with some white car primer. I then painted his trousers, collar, gloves and the “K” on his chest in cream before highlighting these areas with white. His shirt and knee pads were next Royal blue with bright blue highlights being used in this case, it was a similar story with his sleeves boots and the “wing” on his chest insignia, ruby and bright red taking care of them. I turned my attention to his “K” next so taking some citrus orange, I carefully added the letter just inside the white outline. His belt is sometimes white and sometimes silver, so to add a little interest I went with the latter, undercoating the belt in black before adding chainmail over this, and while I was in the area, I gave his belt buckle an undercoat of copper before going over this in bright gold. His flesh was next on the agenda, so after a base of European flesh was applied I dotted in his eyes with a little black (no whites, as that’s how he draw most of the time), the highlights here were more of the same with a little pale flesh added. Lastly his hair, this was first given a coat of chocolate brown then highlights were added using a mix of saddle and chestnut, and I also added his eyebrows with this too.

In comparison Carl was much simpler to paint, once again I started with cream and white highlights on her boots, gloves and hair. Then her dress was painted in a mix of matt lime and vert green, then after I’d added her zipper in black dry-brushed with chainmail, I highlighted her dress in just matt lime. Now her flesh was a bit of a headache as it varies quite dramatically in shade form Black to pale Caucasian, in the end I went for the most common version which is a mid-coffee tone. So starting with a base of Eurasian flesh (hey, what do you know this is the first time I’ve ever painted flesh with this colour!) I then added her eyes, and then highlighted with more Eurasian flesh mixed with a little European flesh, the result looks about right to me. Talking of her flesh I then added her lips and earrings in pink burgundy highlighted with Polish crimson, and tiny dot of white was added for her teeth.

Gitfinger was even easier, I started by painting his lab coat in mid grey, then highlighted this in mid-grey (on this isn’t a typo’ I have two mid-greys by different manufacturers (Miniatures Paints & Colour Party) that are slightly different shades, I know confusing isn’t it!), then his collar and boots were painted black, and his flesh was done in a mix of European flesh and pale flesh, that was then highlighted in the same again with more of the paler variant added.  The lenses on his glasses were painted white before a dot of black was added to centres. Then it was just a case of painting his hair glasses and moustache in black before these and all the other black bits were highlighted with some dark grey.

All three were the given a coat of Quickshade of the “light tone” variety, after which they were based in my usual fashion and given a spraying with some matt varnish, and done! Now I might be able to think about something other than Kremmen and his cronies when I get a spare minute 🤔.

Great!! Didn’t it! Anyway that’s it for my entries for “Forgotten Heroes 2022”, we now find ourselves hurtling toward July and yet another couple of months of Challenge, this time in the form of “Dave Stones, Season of Scenery”, but I still have a few days before I have to journey back into the “dire world of MDF” so I think I’ll try and get a few figures painted first.

Till next time, stay safe, have fun, let the cat out and cheers Roger.

“Prime Photon Bullets & Engage Throm Banks!” (Forgotten Heroes)

“Hi kids, Kremmen here. Remember last episode Carla, Dr Gitfinger and myself were in the clutches of a complete idiot, who was trying to replicate us using his alien “greenstuff”. The doctor and myself had been attached to bottle caps, and we watched in horror as Carla my little space nymph had been carried away to have terrible things done to her naughty bits!!

Will we (or they for that matter!) ever be the same again! Read on to find out…

OK week two of my “Forgotten Heroes” build, but have I finished the sculpting? As the good Captain said read on.

And we start with another “not very interesting” day, I felt as bit “grotty” today (No it’s not Covid, thank god!) so all I could manage was to add was the “under pinning’s” for both Carla and Gitfingers heads, Carla’s was just a small blob, plonked atop her neck, tapered at the chin, and a couple of tiny balls of putty added for her eyes (I’ll build up and around these hopefully), then to secure it in place I added a sausage of putty down the back of this and down her neck, her hair will cover this once I get round to adding it. Gitfinger’s head being long and tapered needed a suitable support, so I added a “carrot” shaped piece of putty across the top of his neck, now as he doesn’t have long hair (obviously) to support this I had to drop a little superglue onto the join.

I thought I’d have a go at Kremmen’s face today. So I started by covering the whole front of the head with a thin layer of putty (so I could stick and blend in the features easier), then set to work adding is prominent chin, this has to have his beard added over it so I had to bear this in mind and not go too overlarge, next his mouth was added a small ball of putty smoothed to shape took care of that, then a sausage was added for his long nose, and blended in at the sides, next his forehead was added with another ball of putty, and two dots were added to form his tiny eyes, all this was pushed, poked and smoothed till it looked about right, then I added two small balls of putty to the sides of his head, and poked indentations into the middle of them to form his ears (there’s a little bit more to it than that, but that’s the basic principle). He looks a little “Gnomish” at the moment, but I hope once his hair goes on he’ll look alright. I also added Gitfingers arms (I couldn’t face another face!), a ball of putty with the fingers cut in with a knife, then a small flap of putty wrapped up from the bottom of the first hand, and more fingers cut into this, formed his clasped hands, and two tapered sausages (or carrot shapes) put onto the side of his body then the elbows were gently pushed and teased into the middles of these and then they were joined at the shoulders and wrists.

Well as “Dave Stone” said in the comments last time it was time to stop procrastinating and get on with the faces of the other two. Now I’ve said before “Women are dificult!” and so it was with a fair measure of trepidation that I approached Carla’s face, but here went nothing! So I started with the area around her mouth and chin, smoothing on an upside-down triangle here, then I added her nose, then two balls were added under her eyes to form her prominent cheeks, and finally another blob was added to her forehead, all these were smoothed around her eyes, and after a lot (I do mean a lot!), of messing about I’d got this about as good as I was going to be able to. I also added a couple of blobs to the side of her head as ears, these will be mostly covered by her hair. Now I was lying in the bath last night, thinking about Carla, when I had an epiphany (Is that what you call it, now!), stop that you dirty lot! I’d been worried about the lips on her face, as they were going to have to be so small, then I thought if I poke a hole in her face and pop a ball of putty in they, it’ll secure it and make it easier to shape her lips! (This may not sound much but I was VERY impressed with this idea, and you know what it worked too. Next I turned my attention to Gitfinger, now he was a completely different prospect much more caricature’ish in nature, so with him I began by adding his chin, then laid his mouth overlapping this, and his nose atop this, his nostrils were added next and his tiny cheeks. I then build up the top of his head and added his large ears. This all seemed to go pretty smoothly, so I went on and added his hair around the back of his head, and a tiny bit over his ears, and another tiny bit of putty was stuck under his nose as his moustache, the hair texture was then tapped in these areas with a small knife blade. Lastly today (my, I was busy today, perhaps I need Dave to kick me up the arse more often!) I added the hair to Kremmen, starting with his beard that was just a sausage of putty run across his chin and smoothed away up the sides of his face, I then added the two small “spikes” he has coming up from this either side of his chin by pushing up tiny amounts at the sides. His actual hair I started by adding the “kiss curl” at the front, another tiny “carrot” shaped piece of putty applied and curled at the end took care of this. The rest of his hair was then added as small balls of putty, stuck on around his head, the blended together by tapping them with the point of a cocktail stick. Happily he looks more like Kremmen now, and less like a gnome (well to me anyway).

On the downhill straight now, but two of my figures were still “arm less” so time to address that, so out came the hobby drill and holes were drilled into Kremmen and Carla’s shoulders. Carla then had two bent pieces of florists wire pushed and glued into her holes (ooer!), the other ends resting on her hips in her trademark pose. Now Kremmen is often drawn in a similar pose, but I didn’t really want two figures posed the same, he is also seen with his arms folded, but again, this was a bit…hmmm. But how to pose him, I the end I decided on his right arms bent up and his left out to the side, I could add a gun to his right (but he hardly ever holds a gun) of just have him making a fist No picture of this as it’s not very interesting now is it!).

So today it was time to add the hands to the ends of the bits of wire all four were done the same way basically so I’ll cover them together, a small blob of putty (slightly smaller for Carla) placed onto the ends of the wire, then smoothed and shaped into a basic “mitten” shape, the fingers were then cut in by placing three indentations (between the fingers), the thumbs were tiny sausages placed and blended in at the top of the hands. I also added Gitfingers glasses lenses, first I ran a tiny sausage of putty across the top of his nose to form the joint (bridge?), then taking two small balls of putty on either side of this I shaped these into squares and cut away as much excess as I could from the back.

Well rather than a “Farewell to arms” it was “hello!”. as I started adding a little “flesh” to my figures wire appendages, I started with Kremmen, adding a ball of putty to the upper halves of his arms then smoothing it round and adding a little muscle there, Carla was done in much the same way, but I did her whole arms, made them thinner, added some ripples in the material and after adding two tiny sausages around the wrists blended these back into the sleeves to form the cuffs. I also took two small “carrots” of putty and added the arms to Gitfingers glasses, and lastly I ran a tiny sausage of putty across the top of Gitfingers head, once secured around the edges, I cut and smoothed out the middle of this forming a pair of eyebrows.

With Gitfinger virtually finished (just the soles of his shoes to do), I just worked on Carla and Kremmen. Kremmen needed his epaulettes, and these were just a couple of tapered sausages (Imagine a straightened out croissant), which were stuck on his shoulders and smoothed around at the top of his arms. Carla’s hair came next, now I was just adding the rear section here (hence her receding hairline in the photo), as I’ll add the front and sides separately.so a sausage of putty was stuck on the back of her head, smoothed down to her waist, and then I cut in the central parting at the top, and a few “curls” at the bottom. Now normally I would use a knife blade to “cut-in” the hair, but as she is a cartoon character, and is just drawn with an expanse of white, for her hair, I decided to just add some waves with my colour shaper instead.

“And now the end is near, and so I face the final sculpting…” That just left the “Gauntlet” bit of Kremmen’s gloves to add, which were simply small sausages of putty run around just below his elbows and then dragged down towards his hands, a bit of smoothing and they were done. Carla’s frontal hair was next, so a small sausage if putty was stuck to her forehead smoothed back around the sides blended in to the rear section and the prating cut-in with my small knife blade again, and they were done. All that was left now was to wait till the next day then pull the excess wire out of the caps, cut it off as close to the feet as I could and add the soles of their shoes, on Kremmen and Gitfinger this just meant sticking a blob of putty to the base of their feet and spreading it out to the edges, with a ridge gut into Gitfingers to from the heel of his boots. Carla’s were similar but a much thicker sole was added to hers, and the rear section of this was formed into her high heels. One day more and I was able to stick them onto flattened blobs of putty to form bases.

That’s it for part three folks, and wasn’t it a great part, so much better than part two! Tune in next time to see if I can get some colour on them before Lord Winstanley pulls the plug on June, and we may never see it again!!            

So till next time! Stay safe and Cheers Roger.

 

“Weird Hands, is it a Werewolf Thing?” (Advent Challenge)

OK so here we are in the throes of “Forgotten Heroes” but I do have another challenge on the go as well, in the form of my “Advent Challenge” so along with work on my “heroic?” crew, I’ve also spent a little time on these two figures as well…

No.6 Small Stone Elemental

No.22 Middle Eastern Style Werewolf

The stone elemental came as a multipart kit, so after attaching his arms and face I “filled” the gaps by adding a few more small “rocks” made out of Greenstuff. I then attacked the bases on both figures with my snips before sanding them down a little and attaching them to new bases, more in keeping with my collection, the Elemental going on a two pence piece, and the Werewolf having to go on a 40mm round MDF base as his feet were too far apart to fit on a coin. Once the bases were “filled” they went out for a coat of matt black and we were away!

The elemental, was pretty straight forward to paint as you can imagine, I started with a dry-brushing of dark grey, that was followed by another one of mid grey, and finally yet another of cream…done!! Well not quite, I thought I’d better add a little more to him than that, so I picked out the odd stone here and there in Eurasian flesh, then dry-brushed these in ECW buff, and then again in my lighter sand colour. That just left his eyes to do in white with black pupils, and this time he really was done.

Now turning to the Werewolf, this was a really nice one piece figure, I point this out as there was one rather odd thing about him… His thumbs were on the wrong side of his hands. Now if his hands had been separate I would take full responsibility for putting them on the wrong wrist, but they weren’t so I can only assume this is deliberate, so can anyone shed a little light onto why they would be like this? I’ve never noticed this on a Werewolf figure before. Anyway once he was prepared as the above, I started his painting by covering all his bare flesh (it doesn’t look like fur) in chocolate brown, and then I highlighted this in more of the same mixed with some saddle, and finally highlighted again in just saddle. I popped a little dark red into his mouth, and then added his teeth and eyes in white, with black pupils of course. His baggy pants were next so after a coat of royal purple, I highlighted them in plum. And again in fuchsia. He has rather a lot of gold accoutrements about his person, so these were all undercoated in copper before being highlighted in bright gold. His claws along with the teeth on his necklace were then done in coffee and cream, and the stones set into his “bling” were added in pale blue, now this was going to be an undercoat, with steel blue put over the top, but I actually liked them as they were so decided to forego the highlights here. That just left his beard/hair, to repainted black with dark grey highlights, more chocolate brown to be used on his belt, tabard and knife, with leather highlights here, and the outer edges of the tabard to be done in a plum and lilac mix with just lilac highlights. I really like this figure, shame about the weird hands.

Both figures were then treated to coat of “Quickshade” Strong tone, and once this was dry their bases were first painted chocolate brown before successive dry-brushes of khaki and coffee were applied. Then areas were picked out scenic green and then these areas were flocked using “Javis” Summer Mix static hairy grass. A final spray coat of matt varnish sealed the deal. So that’s another two figures from my Advent Calendar finished, I’m half way now as still on schedule (amazingly 😮). Anyway back to “Forgotten Heroes”, those figures aren’t going to finish themselves!

Till next time, stay safe and cheers Roger,