Converting Kite Shields

For my OOP Armored Skeletons I wanted to create special shields and make the unit really stand out. The original ones are small rounded shields with decorations that look a bit childish to me, although, I must admit, totally in the spirit of the 90s Warhammer Fantasy Battles. :)

Looking at the miniatures I thought that the kite shields would fit them perfectly and make them look striking. It then came to me that the Tomb Kings tower shields that I have laying around could be converted into cool looking kite(ish) shields.

Since I don't have the plastic ones, but only metal, I decided to make molds in silicone rubber and cast the shields in resin. This way I will save the original shields and make the converting process easier. You can use plastic ones if you have them. I decided to use three different designs.

After I made my recasts in resin it was time to start cutting and shaving unwanted parts of the original design. Parts that I cut off are marked with red color, and those that I shaved off are marked in green. To get that V shape I simply cut off the lower parts of the shield. I removed those hanging parchments on the front side of the shields. On the back I removed the handles and over-leaping canvas.

Next, it was time to carve in the wood-grain in the parts that got flat after shaving. For this I used a sharp scalpel blade.

Now the shields were ready for some modeling putty. I used Green Stuff to model the metal rim on the edges of the shields and the circle (gluing area) on the back side.

Finally, after the Green Stuff has hardened completely, I added rivets to the rims on both sides.

To save some time, I again made the mold for the converted shields and multiplied them. :)

And here you can see the shields in action:

Flagstone Bases

In this tutorial I am going to show you how I make the flagstone bases for my miniatures, easy and cheap. All you need is your bases, thin sheet of XPS foam, PVA glue, ball pen and an old brush. In this example I am going to do the 25mm square bases but I use the same method for bases of all sizes and shapes.

BUILDING THE BASES

First thing you need to do is clean all of the bases from the excess flesh formed in the casting process. Since you are going to use bases as rulers for cutting the foam, you don't want to bump into unwanted lumps of plastic.

Turn you base upside down on the thin sheet of XPS foam, press it gently and run your scalpel along the edges of the base. Make sure that you have your blade approximately at the same angle as your base profile. Be careful not to damage the base by cutting into the plastic. Face the blade slightly outwards while you cut.

Once you cut out the foam, it is a good idea to check if it fits nicely with the base. Place it on the base and trim if necessary because you don't want the foam sticking out of the base. I like to do the bases in bulk, most often 20 pieces at a time.

Next step, etch the stone designs into the foam. I use the regular black ball pen for etching. There is a small chance that the ink mixes with paint so you don't want it to be blue or red.

After you are done with etching, it is time to glue the foam pieces onto the bases. Apply the PVA glue onto the base (make sure that you apply it all the way to the edges) and gently press the foam onto it. Use your finger to wipe of the excess glue from the sides of the base. In this step it is good idea to do one by one, because the glue will start to dry if you first apply it to all of the bases and then start attaching the foam. Before moving to the next step leave the bases to dry at least for an hour!

Next, we want to seal the foam an make it plasticky. Apply watered down PVA glue (about 60% glue, 40% water) on the foam part (both the top and the sides). Again use your finger to wipe of any excess glue from the sides of the bases.

Leave the bases over night for the glue to settle and dry and your flagstone bases are ready for painting! :) Note that it is really important to seal the foam prior gluing anything to your bases using superglue because otherwise the glue will eat through it.

Here are some examples of the miniatures based using this technique:

Corpse Cart

After some struggling, I finally managed to take decent photos of my finished Corpse Cart. I'm quite happy with the result. Usually I always paint the skin of my vampires and necromancers in pale colors, but this time  I decided to paint necromancer's skin in more lively colors (he is human after all :) ) to make him stand out more from the corpses and zombies.

As much as I enjoyed painting this model, I don't want to do another one. I think it would be a drag to go through the same long process again. However I do plan to add another Corpse Cart to my army but I am going to use Chariot of the Harvester model from Gamezone Miniatures. I think it's a really cool model and will complement my army nicely.

Chariot of the Harvester

OK, so here are the photos of the finished model. Now we need to give this necromancer a name and a background story. :)

Tabletop World Monument

On Tuesday I began with a crazy task.I had to paint Tabletop World's latest release, the Monument in only 4 days so it can been presented to the public and ready for sale on weekend. I had my doubts about meeting the schedule. After many cups of coffee and few brushes destroyed I am proud to say I did manage to make it! :)While I was familiar with most of things on the model and from experience knew very well how I am going to paint it, like stone and iron, I had my concerns about oxidized bronze. I knew that I will pull it out in the end, but didn't know how long will it take because I had to experiment. I did paint some small bits of bronze in the past but never something prominent as the statue that is in the middle of this model. Since it is a center piece I decided spend some time and study the real life examples. After few hours of experimenting with various tones of green, turquoise and white on bronze basecoat, I did manage to get the effect I wanted. I think that the verdigris turned out pretty realistic.

After getting the statue done I felt more comfortable because now I was on the familiar ground. I started hitting the stone surfaces and iron fences.

Finally I had to fill the flower and sparingly add some grass tufts in the cracks, between the stones. I also used some enamel paints to create rust streaks from the fences on to the stone walls. I was little bit concerned about the flowers. I was using Green Stuff World flower tufts and the colors of those are so bright and intensive, almost fluorescent. I was worried that it will be to distractive and become the focal point instead of the model itself. To avoid this, I used predominately white flowers and some red ones. I didn't use orange, purple and yellow. 

In the end I think that the Monument turned out pretty cool. Here are some final shots:

Grom the Paunch

In October a guy named Phil AKA oldmanpaints on Instagram announced the Old Orcs Painting Competition to celebrate oRctober. I have never participated in a painting competition before, but I always wanted to, so this seamed as a great opportunity. Other then that, it's been a long time since I've painted an Orc and this was a great excuse to take out, strip the old paint and start working on one of my favorite old school greenskin models - Grom the Paunch! This legendary gobo has such a cool background story and the sculpt is so full of character. Originally he is riding a wolf chariot with his loyal night goblin standard bearer Niblet, but I decided to paint only Grom. I really had a blast painting him. Since his skin is green I decide to use red and orange for his pants and other details to achieve maximum contrast. Also it was a must to include those old school patterns on his chainmail and axe. All in all it was a nice experience. The competition was very strong and there were many awesome entries. In the end I didn't win a prize but non the less it was lots of fun. :)

Hiram Von Todtstein

Way back in the old days this ancient king was the last descendant of one of the oldest noble families that called the Empire their home. He was a mighty warrior and a wise king, accompanied by a trusted retinue of men who never faltered in the face of peril. As a ruler, he displayed awe-inspiring fearlessness and his warriors followed him unflinchingly in battle. His black, pronged crown was a gift from a mighty wizard from the eastern lands – a far region that Hiram once defended against the beastmen in one of his countless campaigns. The crown was made of a very rare, unknown material and was imbued with powerful magical incantations. This artifact gave him even greater power in battle, more control over his troops and caused great terror to his enemies. It was said that he couldn't be defeated by any means while wearing the sinister black crown. But there was a trick to it too, a dark side of the coin. Anyone looking at the king while having bad intentions towards him would became cursed by the crown and slowly but surely wither under the foul influence of the mysterious artifact. With time, or at least some sages claimed so, the crown took a life of its own. The king was possessed by it completely, his willpower eventually shriveling to nothingness. Eventually, the king went raving mad and became a soulless puppet controlled by the crown. On his last known campaign against the rising threat from the east, it is said he just rode off during a moonless night into peculiar mists that appeared out of nowhere. He was not seen again. Apparently, this mist led him to another world, one yet unknown to mortals. There, he was lost for ages – until today. He was last spotted near the Sylvanian border, leading a vast contingent of skeleton warriors, their standard bearer displaying the flag of the New Night Order. Another mystery surrounding Hiram? Another threat to the old world? Time will tell.

Although I am a huge fan of the classic, Games Workshop, metal Wight models sculpted by Gary Morley in the early 90s, I also really like the current plastic Wight King model. The sculpt is really awesome and the pose is very dynamic. The King is standing with one leg on a tombstone and his robe is flaunting on wind. I used a cotton ball to create the effect of fog spreading around him. I'm pretty pleased how it turned out.

Mausoleum

Another Tabletop World piece that I painted for the Graveyard kickstarter which should launch by the end of this month. I really love the model and I painted it in the same style as the chapel. Without further ado, here are the photos :)

Corpse Cart WIP pt. 2

Moving on with my corpse cart... I have finished painting the cart holding the bodies. I wanted to make it look worn out and weathered. Prior painting I used a scalpel to carve in the wood grain into the wooden parts to make them look more realistic. I also used Mig rust pigments on all metals and coverd all of the vials on the back with a layer of clear water effect from Vallejo to make them shine and give them glass effect. Once I finished painting the cart, placing the corpses inside was a real nightmare! I barely managed to squeeze them in, using force. In the process the paint got pealed off on some of the hanging limbs. I would definitely recommend gluing the corpse pile on the wooden bottom of the cart prior gluing the poles that are sticking out. Necromancer and zombies left to do.