Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Role-call Lt. Strong

This Is Not A Test Peacekeepers

Peacekeepers
When the Road Marshal starts role-call, his go to second in command is Lt. Stong. He is the Road Marshal's Quartermaster and there to keep the troopers in line and on point. After many years on the force he knows the units, knows the procedures, and knows the gear. Ready to tear a weapon down and reassemble at a moment's notice, Lt. Strong is the most dependable of this veteran force.

Armed with an AR-15 capable of fully automated fire, the good lieutenant is ready for action. As with every good Quartermaster, he is not concerned with the performance of the weapon because he treats it better than his lady. 

Lt. Strong (Front)
The Quartermaster is decked out in the standard Stetson straw hat and Maryland State Police (MSP) winter coat. The hat was painted with a base of Vallejo Khaki Grey with a highlight of Vallejo Khaki. This Khaki was carried down to his shirt as well. The heavy coat follows with the MSP Olive Drab. Highlights were applied with a Reaper HD Stained Olive and Golden Olive. All of the buttons were done in Citadel Beaten Copper to match the theme and style of the Road Marshal. As with Road Marshal, the Quartermaster has pants of painted with Army Painter Leather Brown. His gloves and the scabbard for his knife are painted using Citadel Snakebite Leather. 

Unlike the Road Marshal, standard colored chaps were not available, so he got some Harley Davidson stock chaps and modified them for duty. These are matched by his Harley Davidson riding boots, nicely accented with silver spurs. The chaps and boots were base coated with Vallejo Black Grey. The chaps were washed with Vallejo charcoal grey extra opaque and deepened with Secret Weapon Miniatures soft body black. 

Lt. Strong (Side)
The AR-15 was painted with the black grey, they washed in small spaces with the Vallejo Dark Grey Wash. Some wear marks were added using Citadel boltgun metal. The ammo pouches on his belt were done with the black grey with beaten copper buttons. The beaten copper was carried tot he ammunition belt across his chest. All of the armor and pads were painted using the black grey with a cover of Reaper Military Grey to provide some contrast.

The model was based on a Dragon Forge Designs 30 mm Round Lip Concrete Finish base. This is a few layers of paint and washes. The base color is Reaper Ash Grey. The areas between the slabs were washed with Vallejo Dark Grey Wash and then brought back up with Reaper Ash Grey.

If you want to see this one and take it home, be sure to check it out at NOVA Open and bid on the warband in the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation Silent Auction

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Hell hath no fury...

Like a Woman Scorned

Agatha Fox (front)
As part of the Reaper Bone Kickstarters, I picked up hundreds of miniatures and many of those are still sitting around collecting dust. With my involvement with This Is Not A Test, I have found a new use for many of the miniatures. Originally I picked them up for all of the fantasy figures for use with on-going D&D campaigns. Well a couple of years later, some parts from the Bombshell Couterblast Kickstarter and inspiration strikes.

I started with the Agatha Fox Bones miniature ($2.49) and made a little modification. The original figure is a peaceable enough looking woman, but with a secret, she is a spy after all. Tucked up behind her purse is what appears to be a Walther PPK (think Bond, Jane Bond).

Now while this is a fine enough figure and has been painted by many rather good painters, I decided it needed more. I liked the pose overall, but there wasn't enough oomph in the gun and I didn't see a spy in this figure so much as I saw a woman scorned. Perhaps beaten and broken, she was seeking revenge in one final confrontation.

Agatha Fox (rear)
I selected a handgun from the Neiran Weapon sprue ($2.99) since it had a much more American six shooter look to it. I had to do a little surgery on Agatha, but since it is the Bones material that is a really simple task. The material is a sinch to cut and move around. For this, I had to slice where her right hand falls behind her purse and separate her purse from her body. I cut off what was the Walther and opened the hand so that I could add the Neiran gun into a position that keeps the profile and the gun can't be seen from the front. This is similar to the work I did for the Reaper Bones Strumpet (The road from lovely scrumpet to deadly vixen).

Once the conversion was completed, I selected one of the newer Dragon Forge Designs bases, a round lipped base from the Cobblestone Rubble 30 mm sets $10.00).

Painting

Agatha Fox (Front)
I tried to keep a rather domestic look to the figure to keep with the basic idea that she is meeting up with a lover/husband and exact her revenge. She has a very fair complexion, Reaper MSP Maiden Flesh. The hair is a base of Vallejo Mahogany Brown with highlights of of Reaper MSP Griffon Tan. A wash of Vallejo Flash Wash was used to mark the line from the hair to the skin. 

The coat is based with Vallejo Khaki Grey with the Flesh Wash to add depth. The lapels were painted with straight Khai Grey. To finish off the coat, the belt was painted Mahogany Brown with a Citadel Shining Gold buckle. 

The gold carries to the purse which also has gold buckles on a Vallejo Flat Blue base. This was mottled with a Vallejo Grey Blue after a Vallejo Blue wash to give it a color similar to a Coach purse my wife has. When originally done though, the blue was too predominant and drew attention away from the face of the model. I increased the layer of blue grey and that toned it down significantly. For some additional consistency, she was given Mahogany Brown boots to complete her outfit. My thanks to some friends in the Facebook #HobbyHangout group for helping with feedback and color choices for the belt and boots. 

Agatha Fox (Rear)
The base was coated with Reaper MSP Ash Grey then some color was added to a few of the cobblestones using the Grey Blue. The highlight color was Reaper Concrete Grey. The sewer grate was painted with a base of Citadel Boltgun Metal which was then covered/washed with Vallejo Black Grey. 

After finishing it up, there was still something missing that I felt was needed to give it a bit more life. Since her colors were fall in palette, I went to the Secret Weapon Miniatures Masterclass Scenics and added some Fallen Leaves to the base. These were added in a bit of a clumpy fashion but coming off of the base to give it some action, something like the leaves being blown in the wind. Something to add to the chill nature of the act about to occur.