Historical Miniatures

A friend of mine from Connecticut sent me these fantastic photos of some miniatures that his brother painted.  Keith Gates does amazing work on historical miniatures.  I've seen some of his work first hand and it looks like the figures are alive.  His attention to detail is beyond belief.  I am envious of his talent to say the least.  I am sharing the pics so that you too can appreciate his very exceptional work.  These miniatures are all Civil War related.

 

Gimme Shelter

This building is from Amera Plastic Moldings.  It is a vacuform building.  I trimmed out the pieces (windows) and gave the floors some reinforcing.  I sprayed it down with gray paint, gave it a wash, and some highlights and ...presto...a pretty decent piece of terrain. I added some additional rubble, granny grid, a poster, and a barrel,,,done.  The building will fit in well with the other terrain pieces I have put together over the past couple of years.  I still have one more building from Amera Plastic as well as a few more from other companies.  I hope to finish the rest up by mid summer and get my wargaming table finally finished.  The best laid plans of mice and men!

Orctoberfest

Here is an Orc warband that I have been working on for some time.  The larger ones at the back of the photo are from Reaper Bones.  The two smaller male orcs are by D&D Nolzur Miniatures.  The two females are half-orcs from Pathfinder Deep Cuts Miniatures.  I love the look of the D&D and Pathfinder Minis, but I kind of thought that they were a bit of pain to paint.  If you've followed my blog at all, you know I'm a Reaper Minis Fanboy so I don't have to "rah-rah" them.  Take a look.  As always, I appreciate that you do.

Femme Fatale

Firefly is one of my favorite Sci Fi TV series.  Saffron (played by actress Christina Hendricks) is a character that appears in two episodes:  Our Mrs. Reynolds and Trash.  Saffron is a thief who will do just about anything to get what she wants.  She's definitely a fan favorite.

A while back, I bought the Firefly (Browncoats and Brigands) boardgame along with the expansion sets.  (I'm sure I'll get around to painting all of those figures sooner or later.)  What I still wanted after seeing what was included was a Saffron figure, a Jubal Early figure, a couple of "Blue Hands", and some Reavers.  With that in mind, I set out to make my own.  Saffron is the first of this group.

While sifting through my "Bitz Box", I came across a couple of pieces that I had left over from some previous mods.  I decided to use them to make a Saffron figure with my own spin on the character.  See the picture for what I came up with.  (Future Firefly mods to follow at a later date!)

Dredgeful Day

Quite some time ago I ordered a bunch of miniatures from MERCS Miniatures.  While I was on their website I noticed an offer for a set of fantasy minis for dirt cheap.  For the price, I couldn't resist.

When they arrived, I was glad that I hadn't passed on them.  The figures are great (quality, detail, sculpt, variety).  I was especially impressed by the figures that I came to find out are called the Dredge.  All the figures were made for their Banner Saga game.  The Dredge, are the "so-called" bad guys.

They were easy and fun to paint.  It was a project that only took a couple of days which is fine because the weather here lately has been crappy for the most part.  It kept me from being bored and I stayed out of trouble.  In the end, I have some really cool looking miniatures.  There are still a ton more in the box to paint.  (I'll get around to them!}

Check out the pic.  I'm pretty happy with this "Dredgeful" bunch.

Time Marches On (Slowly)

At home due to the COVID-19 situation like many of you around the world.  I've been putting some energy into getting some of my miniature wargaming stuff done.  Here's a little beauty I completed over the past couple of days.  It's a Frost Wyrm from Reaper Bones Miniatures.  I wanted to have a sort of snow/ice feel to it.  I'm not 100% thrilled with it, but overall it looks pretty cool I think.  Take a look.  Stay safe out there!

Sign O' The Times

Sign O' The Times was an amazing album by Prince released back in 1987.  When I was putting together this new piece of terrain, I was inspired by the current events that are taking place around us. 

The model is an apartment building manufactured by Plasticville U.S.A.  Keeping with the times and influenced by pics from the internet, I decided to go with this grim-dark version.  The building has been quarantined.  Based on the look of the place, is it to keep people in or something else out (zombies maybe???)  I've included a front and back view of the place.  (The lighting's a bit off in the second pic...sorry!)

Anyway, it's done and looks fairly good.  I put a couple of HeroClix figs on top for show.  I still have about a half dozen pieces of terrain to complete.  I'll get to them sooner or later.  Stay safe, stay well, and stay in!

A Quick Down and Dirty

I got these bad boys along with a Minotaur from Miniatures Market on sale for $2.00 some time ago.  For that cheap, I couldn't pass them up.  I purchased other Arcane Legions figures in the past, while I was somewhat disappointed in them, these guys looked fairly decent.

A little quick down and dirty paint job was all that it took.  Each figure got a wash to get some paint down in the crevices.  I did some dry-brushing to bring up the raised areas and presto....some pretty darn nice looking miniatures.  The Orc "Great One" needed his skin areas painted.  Originally, only the head was painted green.

Since I already had a Minotaur, I left the one that came with this set alone for now.  I'm not really sure what I'll end up doing with it.  I've included a group shot.  Check 'em out!

Mixing It Up

More miniature mods (left to right):


Old School -  random HeroClix figure that I did a head swap and repaint.  He's a new Joe!

Snake Eyes - HeroClix Black Tarantula with Sculpey eye goggles and repaint.

Destro - HeroClix Grifter with head swap and repaint.

I still want to do a Storm Shadow.  I'm sure that I'll get to it sooner or later.  Until then...Yo Joe!

A Real American Hero???

Psych!!! This is my version of Cobra Commander.  The head is from Reptilian Overlords.  The body is a HeroClix figure that I did a repaint on.  I'm pretty happy with it.  See for yourself.

Space Force???

I finally got around to assembling and painting these minis.  They are from Soda Pop Miniatures Relic Knights Line.  They are part of the Black Diamond faction.

On the left is the Leopold Magnus figure with Static.  Sophia Drake (pink hair) leads a team of Diamond Corps soldiers.  The M8 Blitz tank on the right rounds out the group.

I base coated the figures in dark gray.  I coated all the armor in a metallic black.  The guns were painted silver-gray.  Magnus got a metallic purple cape. Static was painted a metallic red.  The tank treads were painted gray.  Everything got a black wash and then was dry-brushed with a light metallic purple.  All the metal was clear-coated with high gloss and then given a light dusting with glitter (the diamond effect!).

I still have the Suspect 7 set to do to complete the group.  When that happens, who's to say.

Until next time.