It has been another disjointed week of hobbying for me. I honestly wasn’t sure that I would have enough to do a post this week but I just managed to get enough done this morning to feel comfortable doing so. I’ve spent a lot of the week waiting to resume working on the diorama which I will talk about more later. I was waiting on Amazon for some sculpting tools and things got complicated from there.
While waiting for the sculpting tools, I needed something that would be easy to finish. So a good candidate was Rasputin for Hellboy. He is the boss in a couple cases and so getting him done would open up more gaming options for me. Unfortunately, the sculpt has a few issues. One is that the light hits the bottom of his cloak but he has a weird magical thing going on at the top which is perfect for OSL. So you almost end up with competing highlights which is not ideal. I tried to balance them as well as I could and not let the highlights at the bottom overpower the rest of the mini. The mini also had bad mold lines and some poorly sculpted parts like the individual fingers and some kind of trinkets around his wrists that were indecipherable. So it wasn’t the most joyful mini to work on but it didn’t take too long to complete either. At least his face came out pretty well.
Rasputin isn’t enough to carry a weekly update though so I also got another clue marker done. This is probably the most visually interesting marker in the set. I think it is supposed to be a dead Nazi but I’m not entirely sure on that. This one also had rough mold lines that ended up ruining some details but I did the best I could and tried to get it done quickly. I haven’t varnished it yet so that is why it is on a base and blu-tak.
Getting back to the diorama headaches. I ordered some sculpting tools off Amazon early in the week so I could sculpt something for the base. Amazon sent me a tracking info and acted like the order shipped but it didn’t. After a couple days of no updates and it clearly being late, I tried to cancel it and ordered a different set of sculpting tools. Amazon refused to honor the cancellation and so now I have two sets of the same sculpting tools. One arrived late last night and the next one is coming today. Thanks, Jeff Bezos! This might not be so annoying if I wasn’t in a battle with a furniture company over a single piece of furniture for six months. I won’t go into all the gory details but a buffet has taken six months and at least three rounds of replacement parts and the thing still isn’t done and we don’t know exactly when it will arrive. It is driving my wife and I insane as we have to constantly call the furniture company and installer to get any progress made. We tried to get a refund since it has been so long and the furniture company doesn’t want to do it which I get since the thing is allegedly nearly done but that doesn’t make it any less infuriating! So in that sense, poor customer service has been the trend of this week. Hopefully I can get back to working on the diorama today and make some progress again this upcoming week. I’m eager to get back to it after the Amazon-imposed break!
Kuribo's Painting 
Great work as always mate, you really brought those pieces to life. Sorry to hear you had such headaches otherwise.
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Thank you, mate. You win some and lose some. This week was more in the latter category but next week should be better all around, thankfully.
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I like the poses of the two characters you finished, and the paint jobs.
Amazon is always a hit or miss with their tracking/cancellations so feel your pain there.
Good luck with your furniture piece, it should all work out in the end and will give you a story to tell as you enjoy it.
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Thank you! I’m glad to hear you like them. I haven’t had many issues with Amazon overall but this has been an annoying situation, to be sure. I’m sure I’ll get the furniture eventually. Its hard to say at this point how much toil and tears will be involved until that finally happens 🙂
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Great painting on both Jeff especially with the poor detail and mould lines damaging detail, I think you’ve done a great job not overstating one set of highlights over the other, and gained a nice natural balance between the two. With the subject material I would say that’s a good call on a dead German soldier.
Sorry to hear about your troubles with deliveries, can really dampen the mood on getting things done, and feel that Amazon should be sorting out the problem with the first set, especially with the false information supplied.
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Thanks, Dave! Sometimes managing mold lines is just as important as painting. I probably should have escalated things with Amazon but after battling with the furniture company, I just didn’t have it in me. That and the sculpting tools aren’t terribly expensive. I got to do my first bit of green stuff sculpting last night and I’ll be curious to hear what you think when you see the results in the near future!
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Nothing dampens the enthusiasm for painting a mini like poor molding and flash lines all over the place, but this pair looks great, Jeff! I especially like the glow effect you managed on Rasputin’s cloak!
As for Amazon, when stuff you need to get on with a project doesn’t turn up it’s a pain. Last year I checked my orders on June 25 to be told that it was arriving (not arrived, arriving) on June 18. It finally showed up in July. Happily that’s the only time I’ve had an order do that.
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That is the truth, mate and thank you for the kind words. I order from Amazon usually because of their shipping speed and I want whatever I bought quickly so to have a situation like I ran into and like what you described is aggravating. I guess that shows you how spoiled we’ve become too 🙂
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Nicely done on those minis! Rasputin has a great cultist look to him, would fit nicely in a Cthulhu game!
Sorry to hear about your ordering issues, hopefully that gets sorted soon.
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Thanks, Nic! Rasputin definitely would fit in to any Cthulhu game. He reminds me a bit of the cultist minis in Mansions of Madness, for example. Things are thankfully sorted hobby-wise so at least I can keep busy with that anyway.
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Despite the problems I’d sat that’s very nice work on the minis. 🙂
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Cheers, mate! I’m back to working on the diorama now as well so that’s one less problem to deal with too 🙂
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He looks good and I think you have worked well with the model to bring out that expression on his face!
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Thanks, Dave! The expression is at least bordering on goofy so I’m glad to hear you like the final results. I take that as a real compliment!
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Oooh, nice minis, Jeff! 🙂 Rasputin on his own would have been good enough for a post I think! I’ve found Amazon mostly OK, although not without the occasional hiccup!
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Cheers, John! Rasputin is definitely an important character in Hellboy, as you know. I rarely have issues with Amazon and generally they deliver within 1-2 days so I guess I can’t complain too much overall. Its good to hear they’re treating their UK customers well too 🙂
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Nice job on the miniatures. I especially like the dead guy. Bones look just right.
Good luck getting your furniture. 😀
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Cheers, Stew! It could be 2023 before I get the furniture at this point. All I can say is that at least it isn’t something we need and are doing fine without. I had to look it up this week to remind myself what it even looks like anymore 😀
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Really nice job on both mate. Some sculpts are just trickier but I think you’ve nailed it.
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That is very true, mate and thank you for the kind words as always! 🙂
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Rasputin and the token look great. I like the light effects on the pentagram. What sculpting tools did you end up picking up/liking? I just so happen to be needing some new
clay shapers myself.
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Thank you, Faust! Rasputin was a great opportunity to do some easy OSL. Funnily enough, I got the Army Painter tools which is mostly what I used. I also got this set which is what took so long to arrive: https://www.amazon.com/SE-DD312-12-Piece-Stainless-Carvers/dp/B000SVRSRY/ref=sr_1_7?crid=1GRYTQ21J29OT&keywords=sculpting+tools+for+miniatures&qid=1664767020&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIzLjAxIiwicXNhIjoiMi45NCIsInFzcCI6IjIuNTgifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=sculpting+tools+for+m%2Caps%2C95&sr=8-7. It seems like it would have just about anything you could need for some basic sculpting.
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Oh yea, I don’t know if it’s the same brand but it looks pretty much identical to the stainless steel set I got. I only use a few of the tools, but they work pretty nicely!
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Excellent work as always. I have to admit that I prefer the clue marker to the character here; I think that there is something about Grigori’s upper teeth that just looks weird with this pose.
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Yeah, his face is just a bit off for me too, unfortunately. Rasputin deserves better! I spent less time on the marker so I’ll take it as a compliment that you like it best 🙂
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I have to laugh. Opening your post, I only had the top-half of Rasputin on screen and thought, ‘What’s Jeff doing painting an Italian footballer after he’s just scored a goal!’ Well, it made me laugh anyway!
I see what you mean about the competing highlights, but you’ve done a really good job with the OSL.
I think the Marker is great, it’s got a very thematic feel about it.
I feel your pain with customer services. Nice as pie until they’ve got your money, then the never want to know you… GRRRRR!
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Haha, Grigori is an odd name for somebody in Serie A, to be fair! 🙂 Rasputin does have all the expressiveness of an Italian player though. Thanks for the kind words on the painting as well.
That’s the truth on customer service. Once they’ve got your money, there’s not a whole lot you can do any longer sadly.
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GOOOAAAALL!!!! Yep, since The Solo Meeple said it I can’t unsee it!
Super job on both Rasputin and the dead guy. I have to wonder, has there ever been another real life figure who has captured the imagination of miniature’s sculptors as much as Rasputin, he seems to pop up everywhere!
Good luck getting your furniture, it’s not easy these days is it? I’ve been fighting to get parts for a sliding door for my parents’ house for two years now. Apparently the part we need isn’t made in the UK and has to be imported from Italy, but no-one at the UK end speaks Italian and no-one at the Italian end speaks English (a highly dubious claim for an import/export business to be making – surely they need to speak to each other from time to time and don’t just put random items in the post and hope for the best). Also Brexit has happened and caught them entirely by surprise, despite the fact that it was on the news 24/7 for what felt like about 80 years so how it managed to sneak up on them beggars belief. Also there’s covid going around or something… They haven’t quite got to the point of pointing in a random direction, shouting “Look over the there!”, climbing out the office window and running off down the street but it’ll come to that I’m sure.
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Haha, thanks, mate! There’s no reason that Rasputin couldn’t be a Celtic or Rangers fan, I suppose 😉
Your situation sounds really similar to mine. The installers are Latino and they speak English as a second language so you’re dealing with that every step of the way. Communication between them and the furniture seller (who have the parts they need) seems to be really bad as well. When you couple that with the fact that I haven’t seen the furniture since they initially tried to install it over the spring, I really have no idea what’s going on and all I get are excuses and a steady stream of headaches. I really hope that we’re able to get this resolved sometime soon. It really does drive you mad and I’m a laid-back and level-headed person pretty much everyday, I feel.
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Sorry to hear your delivery issues, they are rather frustrating!
The coat on the objective marker looks great!
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They certainly will drive you crazy! Cheers for the kind words as always, mate!
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Great work on these two pieces – PVC boardgame models are typically not the best pieces, but now that this one is painted you really can’t tell it’s a simple boardgame model – same deal with the marker.
Hope the furniture issue has resolved by now, though I’d guess to doubt it by the timeline you gave – with Amazon issues I usually call them and the phone support is able to be more useful.
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Thanks, mate! That is kind of you to say and definitely what I aim for when I’m painting things like this.
I did get the furniture built and delivered after what seemed like forever. We tried everything including calling and emailing and it just took forever to get anyone to really care and be helpful. It was a real mess and we don’t plan on buying from that place again, as you can imagine.
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