Random D&D beasty repaint

My friend, Jeff, let me have a few D&D monsters from the Wizards of the Coast minis game. This is one of them repainted. I think I'll use them as alternate models for my Doom boardgame (perhaps along with the Ghostbuster figures.)
I like the looks of some of the monsters I have- very Lovecraftian.

Racing snails

Sometimes, you just have to turn down the intensity of the hobby a notch or two and do something that's easy and fun.
These snails are a result of what was essentially "doodling" with Sculpey. I like'em; they're cute; kids will love'em.
I think I'll search out a ruleset or at least a racing mechanic to use with these snails. I'll paint their shells with sleek racing colors, though their bodies will still be snail-colored with plenty of slimey gloss varnish.

Ghostbusters need ghosts

The large blue one is from Reaper's Warlord line. The one on the right is an Artizan Miniatures Christmas figure, and the middle one (Slimer!) was made by me using greenstuff (though it has been repainted here.)

Nice blog you should all check out

This is an excellent blog- it's a collection of hobby blogs in French and English. I urge everybody here to go take a look. There are LOTS of blogs covered at this site. And before I forget, here's that link: http://figoblogotheque.blogspot.com/

Don't let the French language scare ya; the hobby is all the same no matter the language. Except blue is bleu.

Enjoy!!

Ghostbusters completed

It took a couple weeks, but they're done!

Another quick update

I stayed up way past my bedtime, but they're done. Photos to come tomorrow after work.
Really, they're not all that. But they're still fun :)

Quick update

Painting of the Ghostbusters figures is definitely under way. I don't really have time to post step-by-step instructions for the painting, but I'll try to get them all done by the end of the weekend!

Hmmm, now to figure out an Ecto-1. Hmmmm, I wonder how good I am with Super Sculpey....

First Ghostbuster is done, finished, complete!

Here's the first of four. The ecto goggles turned out nice. The other figures will be nice, especially those toting around extra equipment (traps, cable etc.) I also need to paint the traps and a few ghost before I can play a session of the game I wrote up for the figures.

Note the patch on the left arm. Also, I painted the name tag over the left breast pocket area (instead of the right as in the movie); the figure has a triangle sculpted on the right side which would have been difficult to file into a rectangle. But a rectangular shape was sculpted on the left side, so I made the simple adjustment.
The straps for the proton pack (over the shoulders) were simply painted on- nothing was modeled or sculpted.

Ghostbusters: Painting note

The figures are primed, but I won't chronicle a step-by-step this time. The major portion of this entire project was the conversion into Ghostbusters with the construction of the proton packs, and I've covered that thoroughly enough, I think.
Painting is going to be pretty straightforward; I don't plan any innovative techniques or special methods. I'm just going to use the Foundry 3-color system. I'll probably discuss colors used, but that's about it.
Oh, and I will post pictures of the final painted figures, too.

Ghostbusters conversion completed

They're converted! Now they need some primer and some paint. I had some uncured greenstuff leftover when I realized I needed a Slimer. So I sculpted him up (a couple days ago, actually) and searched the bits box for a pair of suitable arms. The traps were nice and easy: wood and cured rods of greenstuff. The leftover greenstuff I had made for the cables, I coiled up with traps and stowed on a couple of the figures. Everything turned out nice, I think! I hope I don't foul it all up with crappy painting :)

Just a minor note: I made all those traps because I will be using these figures in a game I wrote up (using Tusk as a basis.) Sorry, since the rules are close to Tusk which is still on the market, I can't share.

Proton packs: Construction is done!

I had the energy enough to finish building these proton packs this evening, meaning I can mount them to the figures and begin priming tomorrow morning! It's difficult to see, but the wires on these packs are made from hot foam cutter wire. Very thin and VERY sharp as my finger found out. Ever been impaled by a staple? Worse than that- YOW!
The guns didn't turn out as good as I had hoped, but they are adequate, and I'm certainly not dissappointed. I'm glad I made it this far. I think the paint will bring it all together nicely.

Proton packs: Wires and cables began

I've started with wire bundles and added a cable (you can see it in the photo on the pack furthest right). Oh, and the packs are put together. Still have to build guns/wands/colliders -- whatever they're called -- the business end of the whole deal.
Then I have yet to mount the packs on minis, and prime and paint.
As you can see in the pics, the packs are not perfect copies of one another. I've decided that's ok; at least they have the "feel" of a proton pack.

Proton packs in pieces

Greenstuff is proving to be a useful ally in this miniature endeavor. I rolled a small rod of greenstuff up with the intention of cutting disks from it to form the particle accelerators. I also figured out I can roll it to about 1/32 of an inch, and at that size, it is flexible and sturdy enough to model as cable/wire. I'll try to roll some and flatten it a bit to represent the belt of wires going from the accelerator to the generator (or was that the gun? I have to go look again.)
After I cut the disks from the rod of greenstuff, I had plenty left over. With an exacto knife, I cut small blocks and cylinders (from smaller rods) of greenstuff to represent the other features of the proton packs.
The packs, at least at the accelerator, may be a bit thick, but I think the minor bug in proportion will be ok at this scale; these packs are SMALL!
So most of the parts are gathered. I think I'll start putting it all together Friday evening. Now to find some micro-tweezers :)

Beginning the proton packs

Hooray! My Heresy sci fi customs inspectors arrived, so I can begin conversions. I may be a little in over my head, but I'll forge ahead. First thing's first, I drew up some rudimentary plans for a basic proton pack at 28mm scale. It will be difficult to add much detail to the packs; they have a 1/4 inch by 1/2 inch footprint. I still haven't decided how I'll do the wires, though the larger cables, I may simply use small brass rod. The frame and accelerator pads will be made out of styrene (see the photos.) I've rolled some greenstuff to the diameter (roughly) of the nuclear accelerators. Once the greenstuff has cured, I'll simply cut disks from it with an exacto knife. I've also rolled smaller rods of greenstuff to use in some of the smaller details of the packs.
I'm glad I recently bought some new exacto blades, there's gonna be plenty of tiny cuts.

Who ya gonna call?

So I've stolen another person's idea. Over at The Miniatures Page, someone was asking about Ghostbusters miniatures. One of the responses pointed toward the minis illustrated here; These nice figs are made by Heresy, a small operation that produces some excellent minis. You can find the company here: http://www.heresyminiatures.com/ (I'm sure Andy will appreciate your business! :)

These minis aren't matches for the movie characters, but they are close enough, so I ordered a set. Plus there is a woman who can stand in as a Janine figure. Really, the only thing they'll need are proton packs. The packs should be a fun exercise in scratchbuilding on a small scale. Once the figures arrive, I'll start mapping out the packs and finding some bits to begin the build. I'll also build a few ghost traps, convert one of the figure's datapads into a PKE meter and add ecto-goggles to a figure. This is the plan, anyway. In the meantime, I'll probably be rigging some 1/1200 scale napoleonic ships. We'll see how this goes with the two projects going at once.

In the meantime, I've written up some rules to play the figures in a game. The rules are a simple rewrite of Tusk (so I can't share them with you unfortunately.) But I'm sure, if any of you decide to go the same Ghostbusters route I'm taking, you'll find your own favorite ruleset to adapt.

He everybody- If you want to see some awesome polymer clay creations, just look in the comments section of my last update post. Gregory Privat has offered a few links to some of his stuff. Fantastic stuff! My personal favorite is the devil's stomach :)

Just a note: Gregory said he used FIMO. FIMO and Sculpey both are polymer clays that work very much the same- so whenever someone says FIMO or Sculpey, you can use the same techniques for either brand. FIMO is readily more available in Europe. Fimo and Sculpey are both available in the US at Hobby Lobby and Michael's. Hobby Lobby has Sculpey Firm, I haven't seen the Firm at any Michae'ls yet.