It's been some time

Well its been something like 6 months since I posted anything at all, so there's something ironic about my first post resurrecting the blog being of some zombies. I can't even say I painted these recently as I painted them six months ago and just lost all interest in modelling/painting etc shortly afterwards so they never made it on to the blog.

The figures are the studio miniatures plastics, with some modifications by me. The first one I have punked up by adding a bit of hair and a hood to the jacket nothing fancy but it works for me.

This guy goes with another studio miniatures plastic zombie I turned into a cop awhile a go. I wanted my zombie cop to have a partner so sculpted some shirt onto this one along with a belt, holster and some equipment pouches. I like it, again nothing fancy but it works.

This guy has had nothing really done to him except that I stuck a rifle in his hand as though he is a hunter, or national guardsman that's been turned and is still dragging his weapon along with him.

I might have got my modelling and painting mojo back, I'm really not sure. I'm going to have a go at some painting this week and see how I feel.

Cheers

Sculpting: A Modern Chap

I thought I would post up a picture of this part finished sculpt I have been working on since Christmas. I have wanted a figure suitable for modern/post apoc gaming for sometime that is armed with an L85.

 I know Empress has modern British infantry but my issue (which seems petty) is the version of the L85 which the figures have. I was in the RAF for 4 years and I want a figure armed with the L85 that I remember from my service days.
So I picked up Hasslefree's L85's and decided to sculpt my figure around it.

Its been hard work, and I know its not really all that good, but I'm really pleased with how it looks. I still need to do another hand, the head and details on the shirt. I'm probably going to give the shirt a collar and then possibly pop a flack jacket over the top, but I'll see how it goes.

Not entirely human

For a while now, off and on, I have been sculpting up little things to add to models, and or dioramas. Like adding cloak or converting a GW guardsman to look more like a scientist. I thought I would have a go at sculpting something from the ground up and this is my first figure. starting out life as nothing but a ball of grey stuff and a wire frame I have sculpted up this little figure. The only thing on the model I didn't sculpt was the blade. Try as I might I just couldn't get it to work at all so I snipped the sword off a civil war figure. everything else is me though.

As it was my first full sculpt I went for something otherworldly rather than human, hence the bone weapons growing from the Cultists/Daemons hands. I like it to be honest and will probably make it onto the table in pulp or similar games.

He's a bit little for 28mm and a bit badly proportioned but for my first go at sculpting a full figure (albeit without hands or a face) I am quite pleased. I shall keep plugging away at this new diversion off and on I think.

The first Sculpt is the deepest

Little change this evening. I had painted up a modern miniature from Empress but to be honest I was really not happy with the results (my fault not the casting, which is top notch).

So whilst poking around in my pictures folder on the computer I found these pictures which I did not know I had of a gamesworkshop mini I sort of sculpted for use with a Diorama I was building at the time. The Diorama is of a genestealer breaking out of a holding tank and about to eat a couple of unfortunates. The Diorama itself is up on the public gallery on Dakka Dakka if anyone is interested just search within the gallery for Containment Breach, or Smillie and it should pop up.

Any way I thought I would post my feeble sculpting efforts and add quick "what I did". So from 1 to 8 above.

1. I took a Gamesworkshop Cadian Imperial Guardsman and cut of the pockets on the trousers (I thought they looked to combaty) and hacked the body armour off the front and back of the model as well. This took about 45 mins as I had to be careful and as the plastic was quite thick in places.

2. Next I added some greenstuff to the front of the chest to bulk it back out for molding into a sort of technicians top.

3. Added the front seam of the top and a pocket on the bottom left side of the models top.

4. More work on the front seam and rounding of the shoulders and back.

Sorry guys I've just noticed pictures 5 and 6 are the wrong way round .

6. I didn't sculpt the arms they were scavenged from an Empire pistol model as where the hands, I think. But the hands came from a different set so I had to cut them from the arms and glue them on the new arms.  I also had to severely cut down and scrape flat the shoulders to make the arms fit.

5. More green suff worked around the shoulders to make quarter sleeves for the top.

7. I did not really fancy having a crack at a head so I used the Srg's head from the Imperial Guard set. Although I cut the mic thing from his face so he just has the head phones.

8. Painted up.

Things to remember about the finished product. Firstly this was painted quite a while a go when I was still getting to grips with shading, highlighting etc when painting. So the paint job is a bit simple, that said I still like how the model turned out.

With hindsight I should have used greenstuff to make the arms flow into the hands, but at the time I thought it would be covered up by painting and I don't really want to fiddle with it now and I don't think it's hugely distracting.

Anyway hope you like my efforts, which are very much in the beginners league, picture of the whole Diorama below, which despite the basicish paint jobs still has pride of place on my miniatures shelf.