Saturday, December 24, 2011

Teen Wolf aka Tommy the Wolf Man

Took a break from holiday stuff to take a picture of my most recent mini: Tommy the Wolf Man from Reaper's Chronoscope line, or as I like to call him, Teen Wolf!  Not sure I'll ever use him for gaming (Gamma World perhaps?) but he's just a fun miniature.



I'll be getting right back to vintage miniatures with my next post...

Monday, December 5, 2011

Asgard Wererat FM4

I really like the oddness of this miniature.  A wererat that is more rat than man.  He's like a big rat with a human face instead of a humanoid rat walking on two legs like we are more used to seeing.


He had some unfortunate mold lines that I did my best to deal with and he was tough to photograph for some reason.  I feel like all miniatures look better in person than they do in a picture but this one more so than usual.  I hope you enjoy seeing him.  More fun stuff to come...

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Here is the 50mm base for the next mini I'll be posting.  I used Instant Mold and green stuff to make a copy of a Dark Age base insert.  The main reason I did this, rather than just use the insert as purchased, was to take a little of the vertical height off of the insert.  (With the added bonus of being able to use it again if needed.)  I have found that Instant Mold works really well for this this type of thing.   It is very easy to copy the relief surface of something that is flat on the bottom and use it on a base.  Stay tuned...

Friday, November 25, 2011

Asgard Minotaur FM15

Finished up this Asgard Minotaur figure.  It's hard to see in my previous post but his limbs have a very mottled texture.   Rather than fight with it I tried to give him a sort of shaggy fur texture.  I'm not sure I'm entirely satisfied with it but I think he looks ok.




This wasn't the first time I had painted male genitalia, I did go to art school after all, but it is the first time I painted them on a miniature.  I think anatomically correct monsters are both more comical and more frightening at the same time.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Archive Goblin King

Finished painting that cranky little Goblin King:


Wasn't sure if I should use metallic paint on his crown but I think it turned out ok.  I do love this little bugger.  The Asgard minotaur is still in progress...

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Work in Progress

As mentioned in my last post, up next on my painting table are Archive Miniatures Goblin King and Asgard Miniatures FM15 Minotaur.

This very naked Minotaur was painted when I got him, so I stripped him in Simple Green.  As you can see he was also missing his weapon, which from what I can see on the Lost Minis Wiki was a type of hammer.  I've added a Reaper Miniatures two-handed warhammer.  It's more finally detailed than he is so I hope it isn't too much of a mismatch.  It fit into his hand too perfectly not to use it.  He's based on a 40mm base.



I just love Archive's Goblin King miniature. This sculpt just has so much personality, that it's like I can hear his cackling little voice when I look at him.  I've been anxious to paint him for awhile and I hope I can do him justice.
 
 Stay Tuned!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Welcome to my new blog.  Sure, there are lots of miniatures blogs on the web but I enjoy looking at them, and hope that you'll enjoy seeing mine.  I'm particularly interested in vintage miniatures and the initial focus of this blog will be on my current obsession: collecting Archive and Asgard miniatures.  I'm sure there will be other old-school goodness like Grenadier and Ral Partha minis, as well as some more recent miniatures that catch my somewhat eclectic fancy as well.  I've not found a lot of miniatures painting blogs on the web focusing on vintage minis so I figured maybe I'd add my own to the mix.  Feel free to leave a comment suggesting any of which I might be unaware.

So what started my current obsession with Archive and Asgard?  Looking at some old Dragon magazine ads like this one:
I love the little illustrations of the miniatures and that fact that they even used illustrations rather than pictures of their actual products.  (See where I got the inspiration for the drawing in my header?)  Both of these lines were just a little before my time, so while my interest feels like nostalgia, technically it isn't.  Gaming as a kid, it was all about Grenadier and Ral Partha, and I was totally unaware of other manufacturers at the time.  Dave King recently mentioned a similar sort of "pseudonostalgia" on his blog.  Anyway, I find the oddness and clunkiness of a lot of these old miniatures very charismatic.

While I've got a small collection of them, I've only painted one of my Archive miniatures, RV86 aka Hardy Toot Toot:
Expect more and hopefully better painted minis to come, such as Archive's Goblin King, and an Asgard Minotaur.  In the meantime, feel free to check out other miniatures I've painted on my coolminiornot gallery. Thanks for stopping by. -Red Menace