The Great Cyclops of Polyphemus

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It seems I've developed something of a reputation for being able to find gold.  Charity and pound-store gold to be precise.

Because I'm a fantasy gaming fan, and because I love a bargain, I will always take the few minutes when available to poke my head in an Oxfam, Mind, or Heart Foundation store, or any bargains shop with a toy aisle, to see if there is something of use.  If you are a fantasy gamer and you aren't using Schliech and Papo models, you are missing out on some of the best value fantasy models out there.

A while before lockdown I was following the lovely lady around a few charity shops , when I chanced upon this wee chappie:

Helloooooo!

Now, he looked a bit goofy, and hardly threatening, but he was a hefty lad, and had the added bonus of costing a mere £2.  Well worth taking a chance on.  Fast forward one pandemic later and, my how he's blossomed!

Finished: front

The painting for this guy was greatly aided by the new Airbrush, and initial undercoating and fleshtones were done swiftly.  All the rest was painted by hand.  The whole of the flesh got a layer of homebrew glaze, followed by some retouching.

Left arm, rusty bracelet and Turtle Pauldron 

A lot of the model was inevitable going to be leathery skintones and browns, so the Turtle shell shoulder pieces and the loincloth provided good options for some contrast.  I went to nature for the Turtle shell, and the sea for the underwear!  Sailcloth is likely the only readily available material large enough to cover such a derriere!  And this is often preserved with a red pitch to help protect it.  So red pants it was, ideal for the army he'll be joining.

Rear 

On the back of the model, most of the work had to be done, with a lever action for one of the arms, a carrying strap and a bunch of screw holes needing modification and filling, resulting in a modicum of re-sculpting.  Nothing too challenging as I'm not really a sculptor, but plenty of it.

Right side, Join the Club. 

In the same manner as previous models, nature makes the best stone tools.  The huge mace he swings is a carved twig, a piece of slate and some string, all basically sourced from the garden.

A hefty lad lefts his mark 

The base is made to match the fantasy elements to augment my Ancient Greeks, giving them a Dragon Rampant option.  On such a large base there was room to express his scale in a new way.  I added a footprint by raising an edge in the filler base, and painting inside it darker and semi-gloss, as if the compression of the foot squeezed moisture to the surface.  The grass in the footprint was deliberately pressed down into the glue to give the impression it had been flattened by tonnes of weight.

Grrr! 

For a toy, you can't fault some of the detail here.  This was once an Early Learning Centre toy (weirdly violent for them), and they could obviously afford to get a decent sculpt done.  Look at that expressive face; far less goofy looking now!

And as for scale, here is a family shot:

His 40mm cousin to the left, his 32mm scale boss on the right

He stands 7.5 inches (about 19cm) tall, foot to eye.  With the Club adding another inch or two.  I think I've put about 10 hours in to fixing and painting this chap, and I reckon every minute was now worthwhile.

Also, there this:

Until the batteries die, that's an added bonus I doubt anyone's £80 GW giant is likely to offer.

Onto the next project....

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A Miserable Business

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Who enjoys re-basing miniatures?  You do?!  Get out, ya' weirdo!

Seriously, it must rank universally lowly on hobbyists ladder of preferred activities.  I've always found re-basing miniatures to be an awful job.  And the project to reanimate two tired old ancients armies I'd hung on to is absolutely a case in point.

If it wasn't for the lock-down I doubt I would have got round to this job, and it is still a long way from finished, but the absolute worst part of the task is past now:

    

Five file boxes in total, 59 bases if I remember correctly.  Some four hours of jabbing a paintbrush covered in PVA into every orifice, attempting to cover as much of the old flock as possible.  On the face of it it didn't take that long, but it isn't the sort of job one enjoys, although there is plenty of satisfaction to finishing it.

Of course there's a fair bit of work to go yet.

Tatty lads

It should be obvious in the image above that some of these chaps need some TLC.  Whilst the Revell, HaT and Italieri sculpts in the armies are in reasonable condition, the Airfix models look pretty sad.  They are thin and glossy plastic of a very old formulation, and hold paint very badly.  All these figures are painted in Enamel (with no undercoat either - it was when I was very new to painting!), and it simply hasn't survived the flexing.  Something acrylic paint should be better at, so long as it adheres!

Whilst I am not going to do a full repaint, I will fix up the weapons, helmets and limbs that seem to have suffered the worst.  The big unit bases will make it impossible to get to everything, but they should also hide some of the sins, especially after the subsequent stages I intend, and offer more protection in handling.

That's all for now.

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Iwata Neo - Quality and Value!

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Fortunately, whilst slower than normal, mail order is still a thing, and although I have limited what I pick up given the circumstances, one item of note has arrived.

After eight or nine months of trial and error, I feel I'd got to grips with the basics of airbrushes, and the tell tale sign of that for me was recognising the limitations of the kit I was using.  My no name airbrush that basically came for free with a compressor, performs well enough at high pressure but that isn't what most model painting beyond undercoating requires.  Having however proven concept to me it made me willing to invest more money in a proper devices.  Enter the Neo.

Iwata is one of the most respected makers of Air brushes, the Neo isn't exactly made by them, but I guess it is designed by and approved by them, and manufactured by a reputable subsidiary.  Essentially this rather confusing set up makes it Iwata's entry-level brush.  Entry level here still means handing over £85; but that's about half the price of the mid-upper range models.

But every penny is worth it, with you getting a product of far finer build quality, with superior tolerances and design throughout, having had some time to try it out I've found it to work at lower pressure, with both high and low quality paints, it runs without feed jams, and cleans very easily.  It also comes with interchangeable cups so you can use small amounts of paint.  It can generate good splatter-free coverage at pressures around 8-12 PSI, and can be used up close for lines down to a couple of millimeters.

It is not for large jobs, one of the no-name models will work perfectly well for those tasks (such as undercoating dozens of models at once or basecoating scenery), but for everything else it is far superior.

If you happen to be looking to get into, or improve your airbush kit, I can't recommend this highly enough.


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Time rolls On....

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Easter came and went, lets just say it was, quiet.

I bet yours was too.

The last two weeks were very weird from a work standpoint, as well as a living position.  But the lack of a commute and the extra free time as a result did mean I got a lot of hobby time done.

So in no particular order:

Stan for Scale

Well over a Kilo

 So first up is a Grand Manner Church; another generous donation from James S.  Well worth the effort this hefty model needed.  This model is as far as I can tell, no longer in production, but the painted replacement currently sells for £180!!

Next are some additions to the Imagi-Nations 15mm project:

Hussar!

 Another unit of Hussars, and a light Horse Limber; all from Warrior Miniatures of course.  The limber is from their Gallia 19th century range but it will suffice at a pass, at the less than a pound that it cost.

Next some fantasy:

Reaper miniatures

 These are newer Kobolds from the Bones range, to add variety to my Dragon Rampant army, enough for a single unit themselves, I think they will be best blended in.  The details are finer but the models softer too.  I think I like the older models more, but these are still great additions.

Back to terrain:

  

I've picked up some OO/HO railway pieces for use in WW2 games mainly.  The most important bit to get done was the track.  Here are just over 6 feet of track.  I toyed with using ballast as railway modellers would, but in the end, I opted for painted texture instead.  I think this actually looks really good.

Not bad for super quick.... 

So I cut strips of 5mm foamcore and then shaped them to a gentle embankment.  Each piece was then painted with a thin (creamy consistency) layer of filler.  When this dried, a thicker layer was applied to the banks and textured.  The rail lines - which are standard fixed sections (from Peco I think) with the connectors removed - were then glued to the foamcore with PVA and weighted down overnight.

Once that was done I sprayed the whole black, and then drybrushed the ballast up with brownish greys, forcing an old, big, brush between the sleepers.  After that the surface of the sleepers got a drybrushing of browns.  Finally the tracks themselves got a pretty sloppy coat of gunmetal, and a surface highlight of steely-silver.  Real rails tend to have shiny surfaces, but are pretty grubby where the wheels don't touch, so it doesn't require too much care.

I have to say I'm really happy with the result. 

Finally for today, a random giveaway miniature from the Conan game bemused me for a while, until I realised there was a perfect use for it....

 

Atop  couple of painted garden rocks, he makes an excellent Spartan General, probably most suited to being the leader in the fantasy variant of my army, but he can do duty as a historical character if required.

Not bad for a couple of weeks.

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