Tyranid Lictor – Golden Demon UK 40K Monster Gold, 1999

 

In my mind I have a vision of a piece of GW artwork from the late 90s – a Catachan Jungle Fighter in a body of water, with a Lictor rising above him.

Whether this piece of art actually exists, or it’s what I envisaged when I started this project, I don’t know… but that was the plan: a diorama involving a Lictor, a Guardsman and some water.  I never got further than hollowing out a wooden plinth and completing the Lictor.

I know I tried to recreate the Lictor from a piece of art; it’s either the one in my mind, or this one by Mark Gibbons:

Still, it’s not far off.  The original Lictor model looked like this:

 

 For me the original model doesn’t quite click, I think due to the head and the position of the claw arms at the back.  It does still form the base for the conversion with some bending of limbs, addition of lots of spikes and other claws and some quite extensive sculpting with Milliput, especially the head.  A lot of pin points went into this (as well as into my hand!) and plenty of ‘niddy gribbly bitz from GW Mail Order.  Back in the day GW would provide individual model components through Mail Order and it was superb, sorely missed.  Now they like you to buy the whole set just for a specific head or weapon (but there are plenty of good bitz sellers online).

 

 This was a pain to paint, literally!  It’s metal, was fully built before painting so is fairly heavy and has lots of pointy bits.  I think most of my best models have had some blood in the process for similar reasons (or slipping with the scalpel), but I don’t suggest you try; Khorne has no influence over your brushwork.

A very simple, limited, earthly set of colours with a natural pink spot colour.  I wanted this beast to appear as if he had been camouflaged, so he was painted with similar colours to the ones I used on the base.  The claws and spikes were painted up to a natural ivory white to stand out and make it look even more dangerous.

The base harked back to the original idea, with the Guardsman who had just been dispatched by the Lictor, slightly hidden among the reeds with just the odd limb and his rifle poking out.  Little details like the helmet strap make a difference, while things like the positioning of the wounds tell the story.

It’s just as well I never went for the whole diorama, at the time I created water by layering gloss paint… a lengthy, painstaking process, but it allowed me to give it some shape as well, like the poisonous drool from the mouth tentacles.

  

 

 The wooden tree root in the water was made from a piece of wire with superglue soaked tissue paper wrapped round it and shaped.  It sets really hard but can be shaped as it dries, you could use an accelerator to set it harder, quicker.  There is a Lizard in there too… he had no idea the Lictor was there, otherwise he’d have scarpered. This base also used the toothbrush bristle grass mentioned previously.

 

 And to my surprise a lucky gold!! This year was the one I remember properly meeting my chum and long time friendly rival Mark Lifton – he picked up a bronze in the same category with a great Ork Warboss.

Check out the other winners here:  http://demonwinner.free.fr/uk/1999/golden_demon_winner.php?categorie=2#1st

 

Thanks for reading... thoughts, tips, questions and comments are welcomed :)

Marauder Goblin Officer

 

 

 

Every miniature is a character, and you have to admit this little fella certainly has plenty of that! He is a Marauder Miniatures MM30/6 Goblin Officer… or as I prefer to refer to him: a ‘cool little tinpot Grot’.

It’s not often I can pick up a model and go straight to the undercoat without changing something, but this wee fella is as natural as the day he was cast.  He’s got the pose, the attitude and is a perfect sculpt from Ali Morrison.

 I don’t think I took a shortcut and painted inks over bare metal, he was likely a black undercoat.  Although I’d usually always ‘start on the inside and work out’ – skin, then clothing / armour, this chap was armour first; GW metals then ink washes to dull it down a bit and paint some rust.  You can spot some of the greatest ink ever, Chestnut. 

GW greens for the skin, highlighted by adding white.  Whereas I’d use yellows to highlight an Orc, Gobbos I think are a little pastier, hence the white.  The blood looks dramatic, but this fella probably didn’t kill much himself, he just butchered a goat or something to make himself look mean – red paint with a layer of Tamiya clear red to make it nice and shiny.

Every heroic Grot has to stand atop a rock to make himself look taller.  The ‘tree’ at the back is real wood, but instead of using the top part of a plant pull up some roots, clean them off and let them dry.  They make for far more interesting and organic shapes and look a bit more realistic at such a small scale.  Various static grasses and modelling leaves complete the base.

 

This fella never went to any competitions.  He was just for me, and now I have figured out how to take better photos I can share him with you...

 

 

See the MM30 range here: http://www.solegends.com/marauder/mm30goblins.htm

 

Thanks for reading... thoughts, tips, questions and comments are welcomed :)

Sheikh Khaleg – Golden Demon UK Single Miniature Bronze, 1998

 

Of all the models that I have ever painted, the one that gets mentioned to me the most is the Sheikh on flying carpet from 1998.  I have no idea why!

I don’t recall which came first, the desire to paint a model on a flying carpet, or the desire to paint a tiny version of the rug in my parent’s living room.   Nonetheless the outcome is a version of the Dogs of War Money Lender on a tiny version of my folks’ rug!

 
The build was not too complex – the carpet was tin foil sandwiched between 2 pieces of paper.  The foil gave strength, shape and the little tassly bits at each end, while the paper provided a better surface to paint on.

The wizard is named Sheikh Khaleg, the Sheikh Yadosh model with a couple of little changes.  The giant ruby provides some focus for the belly which is otherwise quite plain and there is a little brooch on the chest from Milliput.  A subtle but important change was the hand – It was rotated so that instead of opening a treasure chest he is now controlling the carpet.  It is the little differences like that which make a model seem more natural.

Subtle details are so important to the model.  When planning, building and painting a model you are giving it character, bringing it to life.  A miniature is a snapshot in time of a bigger story, so think of the story as you work – give it a name, imagine what is happening around the character.  You don’t have to tell anyone else, but the details will show in your finished project and turn it into something far greater.  

 

 

The familiar is a CH5 Chaos Familiar, with a bikini to keep her PG and a gem in her belly button for when she dances.  The lamp is from a small piece of 40K Ork or Gretchin sprue which happened to be the perfect shape, with 2 little plastic disks and a paper handle.  If you coat small pieces of paper with some superglue they hold their shape really well.  The skull is a hollowed out Skelly head, with 2 bottles made from Milliput.

Sadly the carpet is not really floating, it’s metal rod hidden among the long grass that goes up through the carpet into the Sheik’s leg.  He can’t shake that leg!! <sigh>

 

The paint job was relatively simple, except for replicating a rug which took longer than the wizard!  This was painted before Newton had figured out the colour spectrum; I had no idea of colour wheels and contrast and the colours are a fluke.  I liked painting purple, the rug was copied, the coat matched the rug (ooh matron!) and rubies are red.  The make up on the Daemonette was easy as I was a bit of a Goth at the time.

The colours are a bit flat – this was before I had ‘the chat that changed everything’ and I had yet to figure out diluting my colours and blending.  My method of highlighting was to add layers upon layers, each slightly lighter than the last.  If you looked through a microscope you could probably see them all in tiny lines that the naked eye could not make out, but overall led to a highlight.  It took ages to do it that way… so thin your paints kids!

 

 

The base was a simple texture, add rock, paint, add flock.  It lets the model down I think, but I had yet to learn that lesson too (even after the ‘Orion’s flat base’ episode, that’s for another day).  It could be a bit more interesting and natural and the green sides don’t frame the model at all well.  At the time all my models were intended for an army, hence the green.  On the plus side I managed to get the long grass to hide the support, and they all bend in the correct direction under the carpet!

Tip for the grass – get an old toothbrush and paint the bristles in browns and greens and bone colours to look like grass, and snip some off whenever you need it.  I still have this one somewhere.  Use a different one to brush your teeth though.

 

To my surprise in the end this one got me a Bronze Demon.  Jacob Nielsen took Gold with a lovely Dark Elf and Ned Gladis Silver with a very crisp, neat Bretonnian Knight – both well deserved, and I can’t grumble at all.

 

You can see their entries here:

http://demonwinner.free.fr/uk/1998/golden_demon_winner.php?categorie=8




Thanks for reading... thoughts, tips, questions and comments are welcomed :)

Alo...

So here we are!

I’ve never thought about Blogging about my miniatures before, or even about putting them on Instagram.  I guess I’ve never been of the opinion that many people would be particularly interested… I wasn’t one of the best-known painters, or the most inventive and I’m certainly not one to go for these fancy techniques such as NMM or directional lighting.  I just painted stuff I liked, entered the odd competition, won the odd award and as time went on my models became a memory of the ‘Warhammer that was’, eclipsed by the excessive light and shoutiness of a new Age of Sigmar.

And so that was it.  Time goes on, children appear and work hours become longer.  GW nerfed Warhammer and along with it my desire to play the games (except for Blood Bowl!).  The amount of time I got to spend on my hobby dwindled and we are now at the point that I’ve not finished a miniature for over a year and not entered a competition for even longer… started many projects, but finished none.  My best mate Joe has been harassing me to 'get more hobby done', that I 'need to paint more', and I’ve always agreed.  I even undercoated a few.

As if from nowhere there was a shift in the Warp recently.  I started to get the odd message from people on Facebook about my miniatures, then a post appeared on the Oldhammer Facebook group (cheers Darren) and got loads of responses.  It seemed that people just might be a little curious; not interested, but a little curious.  I was also approached by people wanting to add some of my models to their own collections – I couldn’t part with my creations, but maybe I could take photos from different angles, just to satisfy the curiosity.  Maybe add a little blurb about their creation (goodness knows I like to blurb).

So here we are.  A blog and an Instagram page of my models of yesteryear.  Who knows, maybe it will give me a rocket in the fundament and encourage me to create some more models of tomorrow?

Here is the plan: To pull out my sadly underused flashy camera and take some photos of my better known creations and present them in ways people may have not seen them before.  Also to present models that people won’t have seen at all.  Maybe answer questions, provide tips.  If it provides a bit of distraction from the gift of Nurgle we are all facing at the moment, or encourages someone else to try something new, then it’s worth it.

 

Fancy joining the Facebook Oldhammer Community?  Check it out here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/400319303383363/about

Someone mentioned this new-fangled thing called Instagram… apparently the kids like it…:
https://www.instagram.com/grumpypaintinggit/