Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Zombtober 2015, sort of... part four

 So, having been happy with the last batch of figures, it was on to the next batch.

First I had to assemble some bases. I use normal 25mm bases capped with a circle of Slater's embossed 7mm scale paving. I use a circular cutter to create the tops, they then need to be smoothed and then fixed with liquid poly.
One thing to bear in mind is that different brands of "25mm" bases have different sized top surfaces. It is worth checking that the cap fits before running off a batch.

So, I completed 11 bases (okay ten plus one already assembled).

I then grabbed three sprues of Studio Miniatures Zombies. They are very useful miniatures, but do have the disadvantage that they have bases, which I then have to remove with a razor saw.

I also grabbed a handful of previously assembled zombies: a mixed bag including Wargames Factory male and female zombies, Mantic zombies, Studio Miniatures plastics and Michelle's zombie shields again sculpted by Studio Miniatures.

Before undercoating.
 Undercoated.
And here are the finished figures.


Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Zomb-tober 2015, sort of… part three

Okay, so here are the 'finished' figures.

So, nine very quickly painted zombies.

That is 45 points for 7ombieTV, another eleven to o for 100 points.

But first I have to assemble them.

Zomb-tober 2015 sort of… part two

Okay, so I have dug through the figure storage boxes and found eight plastic zombies plus assembled a Wargames Factory female zombie.

First off I used Humbrol 237 Desert Tan spray paint.
Once the spray paint had dried, I used the Citadel Agrax Earth Shade to cover the figures.
 Once that had dried I re-painted the dead flesh with Humbrol 90 - it is my normal dead flesh colour.


So that was yesterday.

Zomb-tober sort of… part one

As I was watching the first episode of The Walking Dead series six (time flies while your your world is being consumed by the shambling horrors),  I was wondering how long it would take to paint a large batch of zombies.

At my current production rate I estimate that I would have 100 points of zombies for 7ombieTV by about 2020.

And then I noticed something. All the zombies in the scene were the same over all colour (dusty mud) with occasional splashes of colour, mainly dried ick.

This makes sense as zombies are not known for their personal hygiene and as the apocalypse has been going on for a while they are going to get grubby.

Now the colour is going to vary, if it rained, say like in the UK, there would tend to be a graduation of mud over the Zombie as rain washed(diluted) the muck down the figure.

There is also the question of basing: rural bases could be the same colour as the figure, unfortunately I made my Zombie bases urban which does make it a bit more complicated.

So my plan is to dig out some assembled zombies, and try spray painting them an overall colour then detail painting bits of skin and clothing. Finally add washes of mud and blood.

I did assemble a batch of twenty Studio Miniatures German zombies (and some conversions), spray paint their uniforms and detail paint hands faces and other bits fairly quickly. They matched up nicely with the individually painted examples on my painting thread.

Zombtober is an annual Zombie painting thing, I do not paint things quickly enough.

Monday, October 19, 2015

Panzer 38(t)

A very long time ago I started on a Warlord games Panzer 38(t), the most successful non indigenous tank used by German forces during World War 2.

It was shown in the background of my post about BEF troops.

So it now possesses identification numbers and the national identifier.


I did cheat a bit and use the Rubicon numbers as they are all in one piece.

It now needs to be weathered a bit more.

Police Special Response Unit.

Crossover Miniatures do Cops (and a Cop leader) with US style helmets, and the Riverhorse Games Terminator Genisys game has an option for SWAT characters, so I thought I would combine the two.

The Cops and Cops Leader from Crossover Miniatures with the new William Killan for scale. They are based on Warlord Games lipped 25mm bases (Killan uses a standard flat base) but the Crossover Miniatures figures have moulded on bases. The Cop Leader has had an MP5 (Hasslefree) and strap added.
The figures have Vallejo US Dark Green coveralls, body armour and helmet is Vallejo Black Grey. Shirt cuffs are Vallejo Field Blue. The coveralls have received a Citadel Camoshade wash, the faces and hands shaded with Citadel Reikland Fleshshade.

Here they are facing off against a relentless enemy.

In praise of William Killan

William Killan, the long suffering husband of 7TV's Department X character May Killan is one of my favourite Crooked Dice figures.
I use it for scale with other figures and vehicles, mainly because it has such a neutral pose.





One problem with this figure is that when it it is compared with figures on flat bases, it is more difficult to make the comparison.

So, here is a new version of the figure.

The figure is just pinned to a standard Renedra 25mm diameter base.

For use in Terminator Games, he has been armed with a Hasslefree G36c assault rifle, and has a magazine tucked in the pocket of his body warmer (plastic strip for the magazine, the pocket being Greenstuff.