Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 scubasteve29 Feb 07, 2011 22:31:39	For my Dark Sun game, I've been trying to tailor minis for the game. I'm an avid model painter, so I've been doing my best to make some encounters seem more special by crafting models for some of the fights. I don't think I've ever seen a mini project log on this forum before, but I figure'd this would be the best place for it. One of the first encounters I'm tossing my players into is the Tembo. A model exists, but I don't care for it. For starters, I purchased the Reaper P-65 Sabertooth for the base. It has a similar shape, and looks beefy without being a large model.  I went with the high lead-content model because it's softer, and I knew I was going to have to cut away quite a bit, and lead is softer and has more give. So far what I've done is trim away the "sideburns" and most of the areas that appear hairy. I trimmed, cut, and filed away portions below the shoulders and back so that it would appear less mammalian. There's a tuft of throat fur that I wasn't comfortable cutting away entirely, so I turned it into a waddle, like what you'd see under a chicken's throat. Another area that I left alone were the tufts of fur lining the legs. I didn't think I could trim them away and have it look presentable, so I'll just try to paint them as though they're reptilian frills. Next I'll drill two pins into the shoulders which will be the base for the large shoulder crests. Then I'll break out my Green Stuff to create the carapace layer. I'll try coating the upper parts of the body in a layer of green stuff, and try to create a "scale" texture with a tool I'm going to make in the next few days.  The spikes on either side of the spinal ridge will come from bits off of Warhammer 40 Chaos vehicle sprue. They're just about the right size and shape, so it shouldn't be too hard to line them uniformy before the green stuff dries. After that it'll be on to basing, priming, and painting. I have about three weeks before the encounter occurs, so that should give me enough time.  I'll try to update when I can, and maybe show off some of the other minis I've been working on for the Game. Hope you enjoy. ~Scubasteve
#2 Kye_Tyrad Feb 08, 2011 9:17:31	I love it when people are able to customize miniatures.  It is so cool that you are sharing the process you are going through and showing it to us as it develops!  Keep updating this!!!
#3 scubasteve29 Feb 08, 2011 21:02:48	For the first fight, I started my players in the Gladiator Arena in Balic.  Their first fight pitted them against ravenous desert animals. For that fight, I painted a Sail Snake (the model is the Quotl from the Reaper Warlord line) and a duo of Horned Drakes (Felldrakes from the Chainmail series) I tried to paint them as though they were desert reptiles, so the sname was modeled after a diamondback rattlesnake, and the drakes were patterned after Gila Monsters. The next mini on my painting dockett is a Gladiator I'm looking forward to unleashing on my PCs. ~Scubasteve
#4 mgbeach Feb 09, 2011 14:57:42	Steve, those look awesome! Your players are very lucky. Can't wait to see more on the Tembo as it develops. Keep up the great work
#5 fromost_the_grimm_02 Feb 09, 2011 15:43:53	Indeed, excellent stuff!  In this day of mass-produced plastic minis and cardboard tokens, it's great to see someone still rocking the old lead figures. Thanks for the post, looking forward to seeing the completely tembo in all it's insidious glory!
#6 scubasteve29 Feb 11, 2011 18:40:47	Some progress: I got the pins in, but didn't have any plasticard to build a solid base for the fins, so I carved up a bit of some sprues. wasn't perfect, but it'll do. Then I got to work on a bit of greenstuffing. I think I have the fins about as good as they'll get. The tools I crafted to make the greenstuff look like scales really didn't work out, so for now I'm going to treat them like they're leathery plates, or a shell. I'll probably end up stippling them while I'm painting to give them texture. While the green stuff dried I got to work on my Gladiator (Reaper's "Goldar the Barbarian"). He isn't done, but you get the idea. I was gonna add some tattoos, but I can never seem to bring myself to paint over skin once it's done. Maybe on the next mini I do. Glad you like the log, I'm prepping a number of minis (plus one of my players is painting the PC's models) so i should have plenty more for you to see in the coming weeks. ~Scubasteve
#7 scubasteve29 Feb 17, 2011 17:45:00	Had my second session yesterday, seemed to go well. The guys seemed to like my work on the Mul Gladiator model too. During the game I gave him a name, Dru'ul, which looks good on paper until you pronounce it "Drool" (I immediately retconned it to be Drull, but I think "Drool the Mool" has stuck). I got some more work done on the Tembo, and I'll post that shortly. ~Scubasteve
#8 scubasteve29 Feb 17, 2011 22:36:24	I coated the back with green stuff, applied a ridge, and added the spines (I managed to drop and find three spines in the process). This is the most green stuff I've ever worked with, so it's not as good as it could be, but I think I might be able to make up for it with my paint job. I'm running into some issues with the nose. I've applied the green stuff a few times now and it doesn't seem to look quite right. I'm thinking about clipping off the existing nose and working up from there. ~Scubasteve
#9 mgbeach Feb 17, 2011 22:58:35	Steve, I'm really diggin the spines. Great work!
#10 scubasteve29 Feb 18, 2011 21:56:12	mgbeach>> thanks, I hope to have some new pics up in a few days. Here're two mini's I'm working on, but don't have particular plans for yet.
#11 scubasteve29 Feb 20, 2011 20:29:50	I ended up cutting off the nose, and attempted to sculpt one closer to the picture above, I also did my best to smooth over some of the rough green stuff. I've primed the model now, and I'll begin painting tonight. ~Scubasteve
#12 scubasteve29 Feb 21, 2011 15:53:06	Okay, got into some painting last night after work, and this morning before I had to go back. Here's what I did before I got some shut-eye last night I want it to look unnatural and quasi reptilian, so I wanted a tannish-greenish look for the skin. For the skin I started with a base of Catachan Green, then gradually blended in Bleached Bone. The carapace has a Dark Flesh/Chaos Black base, up through Dark Flesh. The next step will be to start lightening up through a dusky orange color. and this is what i got before I headed in to work: I continued blending with the skin (I just do layers, I can't wet blend yet) and added a wash of Gryphonne Sepia and Devlan Mud, then cleaned it up a bit. The Frills are still Catachan Green with a bit of a Thraka Green wash. If I were to start over, I'd probably have started with a Snakebite Leather/Graveyard Earth base, worked up, then given it a green wash rather than what I did.  At the moment I'm just trying to keep it from looking too muddy. as always, Comments & Suggestions are welcome. ~Scubateve
#13 Raddu76 Feb 21, 2011 16:00:58	Looks pretty good Scuba!  The only think I'd sugget would be to give the reddish back part more texture so it doesn't look like plate armor.
#14 scubasteve29 Feb 21, 2011 19:21:10	Raddu>> I agree entirely. I'm going to try to stipple and speckle layers to give it some scaley texture. I'll probably work up through a burnt orange, then give it a nice brown wash to mellow it a bit. If it was plate, I'd worry about it looking too much like Battlecat
#15 mgbeach Feb 21, 2011 19:26:02	Great progress! I agree on texturing the back. For what it's worth, in my game the tembo the party went up against had red glowing eyes. Allowed me to taunt them for a while as it stalked them, with them gatching glimpses of the eyes at a window, down an alley, etc. Yours is looking really killer. Can't wait to see more!
#16 rollawaythestone Feb 22, 2011 13:36:29	I love that dwarf mini!
#17 Reg06 Feb 22, 2011 14:41:24	How did you achieve the bone effect on the axe?
#18 scubasteve29 Feb 22, 2011 15:38:11	mgbeach>> Thanks a lot. The carapace is pretty much done after my most recent spate of painting, I'll post a shot tomorrow or the next day once it's finished. As far as the eyes go, I went with white in order to contrast the rest of the model and stand out from the dark marks below the eyes. In game though I can imagine describing them as glowing red in the dark though. rollaway>> I'm liking it too. I'll probably finish him next after the Tembo since it's such a simple model. I'm looking into simple polynesian shoulder tattoos to see if I could paint one on. Hope you like the finished product. Reg06>> The bone is really simple. I start out with a base coat of Snakebite Leather (I use Citadel paints), then work my way up through Bleached Bone, then add some streaky highlights with a mix of Bleached Bone and Skull White. The key is to leave areas unpainted that you want to appear darker or textured. So those "fractures" are just spots that i didn't paint in the later stages. More when I get the chance. ~Muninn
#19 scubasteve29 Feb 26, 2011 0:41:57	Update: I finished the Tembo a few hours before his game debut. Here he is: I'm very pleased with how the mini came out, as well as how he performed on the table.  Admittedly my conniving players trapped him at one point, but he was able to cut his way through their fleshy bits. He died, but not before leaving unforgettable scars on the PC's hides.  The PCs griped during the fight, but one described it as one of the most satisfying encounter's he's ever had at the gaming table. Here's a shot of him taking a chunk out of our Tiefling Psion Start to finish this was probably one of my most challenging miniatures, in terms of both modeling and painting.  I'm glad it's finished, but now I'm kinda aching for my next idea. My guys are lvl 6 now, so  I'll dig through my Creature Catalog for another fun monster. ~Scubasteve
#20 mgbeach Feb 26, 2011 1:21:31	Wow, he really turned out awesome! Way to go man!
#21 scubasteve29 Mar 01, 2011 16:37:09	mgbeach>> Thanks, I'm really happy with how it turned out. I created this thread to show my work on the Tembo, so with it complete I'm pretty much done here.  If you'd like to see more, I've been keeping up a simultaneous Dark Sun project log on the Warseer forums which I plan to continue until the campaign ends. www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=... Thank you very much for your comments and support, and I'll post more once I come up with a new big project. ~Scubasteve
#22 mgbeach Mar 01, 2011 17:09:07	I was about to say you should put it up over at www.coolminiornot.com and then I did a search there and saw you already had! Really turned out great, man, and I love the tiefling and thri-kreen from the warseer page. Can you post the thri-kreen up when it's complete?
#23 Kye_Tyrad Mar 02, 2011 11:44:56	That was an awesome thread to show the progress of your Tembo creation!!  Thanks for sharing!  It turned out great!