Terminator Genisys and some terrain

So spent the first bit of the week tidying up the 3 eyed alien bust.  Nothing major, just some so touch ups and fiddling.  I seem to do this every time.

Terminator Genisys figure

Next was a couple of Terminator Genisys figures.  Tried going for the black/grey tactical look on these two.  I've decided painting grey is pretty dull.  Six human figures done, ten to go.  Really need to get through these so I can say they are done (bit of OCD there) and move onto all of the LoTR figures I have waiting...

Terminator Genisys figure

While in the shed painting up the new cosplay shield for the wife (putty and undercoat done, started the main colours) I went through my box of resin terrain and pulled out a piece to do.  This one was from Fernvale Scenics.  I just like to do terrain pieces every now and then.  Not really playing miniature games any more (other than Dungeon Saga with the kids) but I still like doing these.  I'm thinking a few more years and the kids will be ready :)

Paint work done

For the rocks on this piece I started with JS Raw Sienna and shaded up with Cadmium Mid Yellow and then Warm White.  I did this in as a mixture of layering and then some dry brushing to ease the transition between layers.  The shading was done by adding in some VMA Armour Brown.  A great brown/purple colour.

Sorry kids, no lunch boxes for you...

I then glued on various scatter to the base with PVA.  The key is to make it random which can be harder than it seems.  You mind naturally wants to do things in an ordered way.  I went for a darker scatter near the base of the rocks and a lighter scatter further out.  I label all my boxes of basing materials with the name from the packet.  This way I know exactly what I purchased, hence names like "Field Balk".

Scatter applied

Once the scatter was done I let it dry and then applied a very watered down layer of PVA over the top.  This bonds with the previous layer and makes the scatter rock solid.  No more scatter dandruff after the game.  Next will be adding some vertical variation with static grass and grass tufts/flock bundles.

This week will probably be shield work so hopefully will get that well underway.

3 eyed alien bust and a bridge

Got sick over the long weekend so didn't get up to much.  I spent most of my time making a costume shield for the wife.  Maybe more on that later when it's done.

54mm horse with a whole lot of putty

The first block of time was on the 54mm horse I'm thinking about using for the knight.  This horse needed a lot of work.  Putty and filing on the joins (the 2 halves and a head).  Also there were mould failures on the head and leg (ie areas where there was a large step) which needed to be filled.  Finally there was no tail provided so that had to be done from scratch.  Very much an old school figure.

For the tail first I glued in a paperclip and made up the rough bulk with milliput.  Then I used used a milliput/green stuff mix for the tail but after an hour the end result was terrible so I just scraped it all off.  The second attempt with just green stuff worked a lot better.

Bridge from Corsec Engineering

I found a $7 28mm bridge at my LGS from Corsec Engineering.  It's a mdf flat pack with two acrylic rods for the rails of the bridge.  Due to the curvature of the bridge I used my heat gun to soften the plastic rods and form it into the curve of the bridge.  Then I glued it together and used some wood filer on the gaps.  The bridge planks are made out of a single piece of thin plastic card which is quiet a good solution.

Finally I did some painting on the 3 eyed alien I purchased from eBay recently.  Seem to be suffering from painters block currently.  Want to do some pieces, but just can't get the brain into order.  Luckily things came together over the weekend and I got this piece going.

Paints used

As per the picture I had a pretty limited palette due to the limited number of features on the figure (skin, scars, eyes and some odd strap thing).  I really wanted to try yellow in a large piece.  After about an hour I was pretty close to dipping the figure in paint stripper.  The Cadmium Mid Yellow is very intense and was making it very hard to redo areas as they would end up too yellow compared to other areas already painted.  Everything was getting very patchy.  However I just kept painting and hoped to come out the other side.

Original colour scheme

Once I did the eyes the figure suddenly came together.  I found compared to my original paint trial I used a lot more purple in the shading.  Also I used some of the blue in the shading (to take things into a more green shade) later on to add some other colours.  I tried again to do more contrast with the light source from the top left.  The scars I did in a very dark brown/purple.

3 eyed alien

I'm not sure what the strap is.  It looks like a strap but just ends at the collar bone.  I used Armour Brown as the base for this.  The sculpt has the strap very cracked so I went with that.

I want to have another go on the right eye socket area as it doesn't quite match the left.  Also the back probably needs some more work.  Throughout I kept fighting the yellow as it was so intense.  I usually added some warm white and hexed lichen to tone it down and then in some cases used some yellow ink in a glaze to get the yellow back.  Yellow isn't something I paint with as a base usually :)  However I am happy with the result so far.