Doctor Who and the Planet of Giant Ticks

So I just finished painting two miniatures: Doctor Who (the first doctor as portrayed by William Hartnell) and Asgard's Giant Tick (FM62).

This Doctor Who miniature was made by FASA in the 80's to go along with their Doctor Who RPG.  The minis were licensed to RAFM in the U.S. and Citadel in the U.K.  They made miniatures of the first five doctors, and they are all primed and ready to go on my desk, so expect to see the rest of them in the near future.  I got these as a kid and was always afraid to paint them, for fear of not doing them justice.

I'm not sure why they gave him so many rings.  I only remember him wearing the blue one.  Unfortunately in this picture the two on his left hand kind of look like warts or something. They look better in real life but maybe I should use an actual metallic paint on them.  I used grey mainly because I didn't want them to stand out too much.

The Asgard Giant Tick has some great texture on it but it really is kind of a lump of lead.  Like a deer tick, it has no eyes.  That being said, I think a giant tick would be one of the scariest monsters to run into, what with it's hideous appearance and blood-sucking abilities.  As far as I know the only other Giant Ticks available are the ones from Otherworld which do look pretty great.
 

 

 In other related news, I got a copy of the Journal of the OSFMapa that I mentioned in my last post.  It was a really fun read and I learned some things about old school miniatures that I was previously unaware of.  Again I encourage you to join us so you can get a copy of the next issue!  Email Scott at oldschoolfantasy (at) gmail (dot) com for more info.  

Update: OSFMapa now has a blog and a website where you can learn more about it.

General Update

So January was a busy month for me and I don't have any newly painted minis to show yet, but I will soon!

One of the things I did this past month was contribute to a new amateur press journal: The Old School Fantasy Miniatures APA or OSFMapa.  I wasn't really familiar with the APA concept before I saw this post on Mike's Blog: Swords and Dorkery, but essentially it's a printed zine that one needs to contribute to in order to get a copy to read.  Only a few extras are printed.  I'm not sure yet what I think of that format because it has such a limited readership, but I'm really excited to see what the other members have contributed when the first printing comes out sometime this month.  The reason I am bringing this to your attention, dear reader, is to encourage you to join the group as well.  If you are interested in vintage miniatures consider joining the group and contributing an article to the next issue.   We could use a few more miniatures junkies like you.

Archive Wink Dog

So here is Archive's "Wink Dog" painted in some slightly wacky colors.

For reasons I can't explain, the first time I saw this mini I wanted to paint it purple and pink.  There's a lovable goofiness about this piece that just made me want to go with that color scheme.  

I painted it with these colors despite the fact that I'm assuming this was supposed to represent a Blink Dog from Dungeons and Dragons.  In fact, I didn't realize it at first but the pose is very similar to Tom Wham's illustration of the Blink Dog from the first edition Monster Manual.

I love that they added a horn and a row of spines on his back, turning this into another creature entirely.  I'm  more likely to use this in a game of Gamma World than D&D.  Even if I had gone for a naturalistic color scheme I probably would have shot for something reptilian rather than anything like a dog.  

Thanks for visiting.

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...

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...

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...

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.

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...

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!

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