While I did a lot of prepping and priming this week since the weather has cooled off, I did manage to knock out a few miniatures as well. First off, let’s take a look at a pack of feral beasts.
I finally managed to get the five wolf minis done. It was not a fun process working on these and I never really got them looking as nice as I wanted or hoped. Ultimately, I favored speed over accuracy because after I painted and repainted the first wolf, I knew that there just wasn’t going to be a lot of joy with these and I had to power through them. With these and the werewolves done, I have ten of the twenty miniatures that I need to complete to open up some new gaming possibilities in Hellboy so that’s some good progress.
I also got an unexpected adversary done for Hellboy which will add some spice to future games. Its random if this enemy will pop up in a given game and this character is pretty cowardly if it does but it will occasionally lash out at you and its quite dangerous when it does. The character, who is creatively named, Iron Shoes, is the equivalent of an alien that appears in the Cantina or Jabba’s Palace in Star Wars. He’s barely in Hellboy, though he is pretty memorable since its a little gremlin or goblin with fancy/powerful shoes on. Unfortunately, there is really only an image or two of the character in the Hellboy comics that isn’t completely covered in shadows so I had to make up the color scheme myself. I tried to use some unusual colors I don’t paint with very often. I think it looks fairly decent, if somewhat unconventional.
I also purchased a new display mini which arrived on Thursday. I won’t spoil what it is yet but I’m back in 75mm for this one and its from Kimera Models, the same people who made Minerva. Unfortunately, I’m a bit disappointed in the casting of this one. There are some rough spots on the miniature which I’m still trying and hoping to fix before I prime it. Fingers crossed that I’ll be successful in that endeavor because I wasn’t able to manage it with Minerva. Even worse than the miniature is the base. Check out the issues it has…
That is really rough and practically impossible to fix at a display standard. Its hard to tell but the base is supposed to have a gap in the middle which is stylish but makes issues like the ones above, impossible to fix. You probably can’t tell but I’ve already started working on sanding it to try and fix the problem by “redoing” the base. I’ve spent probably 45 minutes on that so far and I expect there is more to go before I’m done. All in all, its making me think that it will be a couple more weeks before I can get going on that project which is disappointing because I was very excited to start before it arrived. I love the designs of Kimera Models, much more than any other 75mm manufacturer but their actual figure to figure quality is pretty uneven. Look at some of these minis. They’re all projects I’d take up in the future, if time and resources allow.
And there are many more, I could have included, to be honest. Minerva had less issues than this newest purchase, but still significant ones that I didn’t overcome. Anubis (which you may recall that I messed up for unrelated reasons), is the only one that only had simple issues like mold lines to take care of. All this is to say, that maybe I need to branch out and try other manufacturers in the near future. I want to love Kimera Models and I definitely love their designs but if the end quality isn’t there, it isn’t going to work in the long run. Especially when you consider that these are basically made to be display pieces. People don’t paint in 75mm for gaming purposes. All of this makes me appreciate Games Workshop’s plastic kits. They require minimal clean-up and have a very consistent quality to them as many of you know. For all their faults, GW nails that part of their product.
Finally, I’ve started working on a Pulp/Prehistoric mini for next week so I hope that some of you will be excited and intrigued for that. I’ve also started reading The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I’ll talk more about that next week, mostly likely too so I hope you’ll look forward to that as well.
Kuribo's Painting 
I like the wolves and Iron Shoes – he’s a bit different! 🙂 As far as that base is concerned I think I’d mount it on an MDF disc, fill the gap with milliput/greenstuff and then file it down flush, but I appreciate that might not be possible! I’ll look forward to seeing and hearing about your pulp stuff as well!
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I would agree on Iron Shoes! That is a pretty good idea and I would have never thought of it, myself. I took a different approach which I can detail next week. I should have a pretty good idea of how it turned out by then.
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Thsoe wolves.. they look great for gaming, but not paintyed with more effort than plain tabletop gaming models deserve. *sniff* I’m so proud!
Foot-man looks like an interesting one. With no other painted or even illustrated references it would be funny (and actually possible) for your mini to become “the reference” image for this character!
With the Kimera model’s base, I’d be contacting them for a replacement. That’s not a cheap wargaming trooper model, it’s (supposed) to be a display kit, and while a certain amount of modelling is expected with something like that, so to is a certain amount of quality control.
That level would never fly from Secret Weapon, Anvil, Vic Minis and I’m sure a hell of a lot of others who do actually make wargaming troopers – but with actual high level quality control.
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Haha, I’m glad to hear it, mate. It is a rare chance to paint something and pick your own color scheme because there isn’t any reference to use. Of course, I’d be humbled if anyone used my paint job as a reference too.
It costs $70 with shipping so you’re not wrong on that! I didn’t think about contacting them but I have come up with a solution. I do think this will be the last miniature I buy from them as my frustration with this kit is pretty high at this point. There’s no excuse for the lack of quality control as you say.
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Well, that’s fine, but definitely also contact them for a replacement base. The worst that can happen is that they don’t do it, while the best that can happen is that you’ll actually get what you paid for!
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Will do, mate!
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Excellent work on the wolves and Iron Shoes Jeff, must be good to get the wolves finished if you weren’t enjoying them. As for the base, I would definitely contact the seller about a replacement, as making the gap would be a recipe for disaster, unfortunately when companies get bigger you never know who’s casting, it could be the master caster, or even the trainee ! LOL
Look forward to seeing your prehistoric model, and thoughts on the book.
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Cheers, Dave and yes, I am very relieved to get the wolves done. I already spent an hour or two sanding the base down and I’m getting pretty close to seeing how well I fixed it. I’ll give an update next week on how it turned out. I didn’t think about contacting them about a replacement but in hindsight, you and Azazel are right on that.
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Your game pieces are coming along nicely, the plastic pile is slowly going down!
It’s a shame that you have to do any repair work, I don’t mind removing flash or filling in joints but that was ridiculous.
I have a whole shelf of Edgar Rice Burroughs books, will have to go back and reread the Land That Time Forgot and see if I still can get into his style of writing.
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Not nearly fast enough. There’s still a long way to go and I’ll likely be adding more if I get serious about pulp gaming…
I’m glad to hear that the consensus was that the base isn’t acceptable. I don’t like to complain but I was disappointed in the quality to be sure.
Burroughs books are not easy to find print copies of currently! I found it easier to read digitally than in print which is not my preference. I’m nearing the end of the Land That Time Forgot and I would say his style of writing is good and mostly holds up. I don’t think anybody can say that it is slow!
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good progress on all the hellboy stuff. Crank those out do you can bet to gaming.
sorry about the base being damaged. I’d contact the manufacturer bc if it’s supposed to be a display piece then it should be intact. Tell them you’re a famous blogger. 😀😀
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I will certainly try! I probably should have taken pictures of it originally and contacted them. I was too impatient and wanted to get this mini ready to paint which was my undoing. And if only the famous blogger line ever got me anywhere haha!
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I’m getting “undead Heat Miser” vibes from that Iron Shoes dude.
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Oh man, I was going to say something along these lines in this article and I totally forgot. We are in total agreement that Heat Miser sure seems like the inspiration for Iron Shoes! 🙂
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I like the fur variations on the wolves. Makes for a nice pack all together! The other one reminds me of something from Where the Wild Things Are! 😀
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Cheers, Brian! Where the Wild Things Are is another good suggestion. I hadn’t thought of that one but the monsters look very similar there as well.
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Iron Shoes is a pretty funky little chap indeed. I like the way you’ve done the fur though, it’s really evocative while remaining somewhat cartoonish in style.
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Cheers, mate! I didn’t think of it but you’re right, the mini and character have a bit of a cartoonish look going on.
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