Random Thoughts

I was working on creating a new set of bases for my Gremlins. The process involves a lot of sand and rocks, that once glued down, I drybrush 4-5 different colors of paint to give it a nice, realistic look.

Then it hit me. I am painting over real rocks with several layers of paint, so that it will look realistic. It's a process that takes a fair chuck of time, to make it look real when it was real to begin with.

We do the same with metal bits such as suits of armor or iron tubing. I will prime an armored knight white/black and slowly work my way up to the silver the model started out as.

I know, it wouldn't really work out if we just left it, as is, and it's a lot easier to age or modify the color if it's primed to begin with.  It just struck me as funny that some days it seems like I take a lot of steps forward just to go backwards.

Kingdom Death 2

Finally finished putting together all three models. They weren't as bad as I had assumed they would be. I decided to give them a quick black wash to shade all the details, but unfortunately it didn't turn out nearly as well as I had hoped.
Thank God I'm just going to prime them white and start painting them for real in a little bit.

I'll start with the pinup White Speaker as she was the easiest. She started off as three basic pieces and one of them was the cloak that I decided to ditch.
I'm not a big fan of fur cloaks and it almost looked silly on her.
She was the easiest to clean up as she only had a minor mold line along the outside of her legs and one arm.

I managed to pin her arm holding the knife in place and was thrilled at how easy it was.  I love working with resin models, especially after working with a lot of tough, heavy duty metal models, resin is almost effortless to drill.
The resin used in all the models is very...springy. It's strong but it has a lot of give to it. The only thing I can describe it with is a piece of wood that's still very fresh and green. It will bend pretty far without breaking till it hits a snapping point.

The pinup Forsaker was the 2nd one to get cleaned up. She was a tougher job. There were a few mold lines very close to the chains she has everywhere, so it was a bit hard to tell what was a mold line and what was actual detail.
Sorry about the splotchy wash. The wash didn't want to stick to parts of the model. I think it's from an improper cleaning on my part and I hope it doesn't cause my primer to flake off like a bad sunburn.

Remember what I said about snapping point? Her sword hilt used to have a manacle hanging down. I was in the process of turning her over and it got caught on my nail and suddenly it was gone.
Better broken now than after it is painted.
This model had a bubble in the ankle joint where the foot attaches. It's not too bad, but it's enough that you can see the pin I placed in it. Some green stuff should take care of it though.

Last is the pinup Preacher and her miniscule fingers.
First, her fingers hardly gave me any trouble, the worst part was figuring out a way to hold it steady enough to glue to her wrist.
Why didn't they just model it onto her hand?
Second, this model had more bubbles in her cast than the other two combined. They were very small, about .05mm, but enough to be noticed. One bubble killed the spike on her hammer.

Third, the hammer handle is VERY flexible. I accidentally bent it while trying to avoid the grasping hands of my curious daughter and it didn't snap or even feel weak afterwards.
Even with the bubbles, her quality is great. Against my better judgement, I may have to use her in games, just to see her in action.





I'm not sure when I will attempt to paint them since I'd like to finish up my Gremlin crew and attempt to work on some bases to go with them. Perhaps my next post will be my failures and successes at Swamp basing?

Kingdom Death

Apologies all around for not messing with my blog these past few months, I've been equal parts busy and lazy.

I'm a big fan of alternate models for any game system I dabble in. Doesn't matter how amazing the real models are, there is just something about having models that are different from everyone else's that I enjoy. Enter Kingdom Death, maker of highly detailed, wild, creepy and sexy miniatures.
Look through their site and marvel at their line of mini's, especially The Wet Nurse, Grand Mother, and The Gorm.

After drooling for months I gave in and got the three models that kept grabbing my eye. The Pinup Preacher, Pinup White Speaker, and Pinup Forsaker.  It was going to be for my Slaanesh army I swear!
 It would have been four, but sadly I missed the re-release of the Wet Nurse by minutes.

First thing I noticed when I opened the box with trembling, excited hands were these awesome concept art prints. They aren't very big, maybe a bit bigger than a postcard, but they are printed on thick cardstock and the color printing is great.

Next were the boxes themselves. You can tell that the Forsaker Pinup is an older miniature because the box is missing the nice little print of what goes inside. The quality of the boxes are very nice though the printed picture isn't all that great. The ink bled together a bit and the details aren't that sharp, but its good enough to tell what you are looking at.
The dime in the picture is there for size comparisons. Most of my family don't realize how small a miniature can be, so this should help them.

Up first is the Forsaker.  She was my favorite for a long time, ever since I started looking for a Khorne Herald to be used in my Daemon's army.

This box was packed with stuffing to protect the model. It comes with a little thank you card and invites me to show off my work, which is nice.
Everything is separated into small plastic bags and it comes with a non-descript resin base.

The quality is amazing. I haven't seen any bubbles, almost non-existant mold lines, and virtually no flash. Clean up on this model is going to be easy as cake. Even the head , with all it's tiny details is 90% perfect as is.

The bad part is everything is that pinning this model is pretty much impossible for me. I'm not sure I have a pin small enough to pin together her miniscule wrists.

Also resin models being what they are, I'm not sure I can use this model to play games with. I can see those horns snapping at a careless grab.

Repairing that would be a lost cause.

Next up is the Pin Up White Speaker. Apparently this was a re-release to celebrate their new equipment and software. With the new gear, Kingdom Death is now able to release models with even finer detail and less mistakes.
I'm not sure if this is their latest model, but it seems that way.

The White Speaker is pretty much one piece. Not fuss over pinning several joints, but also almost no chance of modifying the pose or weapon. I personally will be keeping it as is, but just a heads up to everyone else, the pose is going to be static.

Again there are no bubbles, almost no flash, and I'm not sure I could find mold lines on this model.  The fur cloak looks great and her details are very sharp. I expected something to be wrong with her jewelry or straps but they all seem to be fine.

I'm thinking about using her as a Zoraida proxy for Malifaux. She seems to have a slight voodoo feel right? :)

Finally comes my new favorite model from Kingdom Death. I say this now, before I even attempt to put her together.
She comes with an alternate head so I can choose to have her look like a librarian or not.

She also comes with two right hands. I can only assume it's because they know you are going to destroy the first one in your attempt to put her together. Look at how tiny they are.
The letters on the dime, the smallest coin the United States has, is larger than the biggest finger of that hand.
Scared doesn't even begin to cover what I feel just thinking about using her in a game.

The Preacher has been chopped to pieces. This will help with getting her to be posed differently, but it is going to make putting her together a pain in the ass. Pinning is out of the question, so I can only hope my superglue is up to the job.
Her hammer's handle is also pretty flimsy. I may have to try and replace it with a brass rod, though I'm not sure how my chances of that are.

Again the model, clean up wise, is virtually perfect. Almost no flash, no imperfections, and no mold lines that I can see.
Painting her is going to be a real treat, though I'll be practicing flesh tones on other models before I tackle her. I want this to be a showcase model rather than above average table top quality.





Overall, I love these mini's. The quality is top-notch and the details are astounding.
I want to stress that these are not suited for gaming unless you are extremely careful, which is disappointing. These seem to be made as showcase models, though how that fits in with Kingdom Death's own game-in-the-works eludes me.
Gluing them together looks to be a hassle, but at least cleanup will be a breeze. I will be posting new pictures once I get around to setting them up.
The boxes and concept art are great. I wish most models were packaged this way.