I hadn’t intended it to happen but the gap in updates has been longer than I hoped. Truthfully, things have been very hectic lately. Pretty much everything that could be challenging has been and I think its probably affected my painting output a bit. I don’t know if that will get better or stay the same over the coming weeks so if I’m a little slow to update, that’s likely why.
I essentially only have one thing finished to show off and that is the last Raider in the Core Box that’s covered in straps. These minis take a long time to put through their paces and they have a lot of little details as well. The sword added an extra challenge as well. I could not find a reference from Fallout 4 and so I painted like it was stolen from a museum or something like that. Here’s a look at the raider before rust is applied.
There is one Raider to go and its a special one that will take a bit more time. I will likely hold off on applying rust to this raider until that’s done. That way I can get them all done and ready for a group shot. It will also mean that they’re playable in Fallout Wasteland Warfare which will be cool too.
Outside of this miniature, I’m having some bad luck with a variety of things. I worked a little bit more on the Fallout terrain and got the outer walls mostly done. Unfortunately, I realized when I dry fit everything that I’m missing an MDF sheet in my kit! I contacted Black Site Studio and hopefully they’ll get me what I need in the nearish future. I bought this kit a year ago essentially but hopefully that won’t matter because I can’t finish it without some assistance from them. It will probably take a couple of weeks at minimum it sounds like so progress will remain slow on this terrain, unfortunately. This picture is not great but at least you can start to see what the terrain will look like.
If you thought my bad luck stopped there, unfortunately not. I bought a new copy of Rashida from Big Child Creatives and was shocked to see the worst issue I’ve had with a miniature before.
In the box, I got a torso piece from Idril, who I already own (she’s assembled and primed, no less!) and one of Rashida’s hands was missing too. Additionally, Big Child has decided to stop including the stand which connects the miniature to the display base which is a shame because I really liked that inclusion. Their stand keeps you from having to fiddle with brass rod and drilling the bottom of the miniature. I’m not sure why they made this change but I suspect it has to do with them no longer casting their resin busts. They are now 3D printed. Unfortunately, I can see a difference in the sculpt quality and the details are not as sharp. In a display miniature like this, that is a big deal and really disappointing. The only upside to the sculpt changes is that this new version does not require using green stuff to hide some of the joins which I pretty much botched on my first attempt painting this miniature. I do appreciate that Big Child already sent me the missing hand and an extra torso piece because a small piece broke off of it. If I’m honest, I doubt I’ll buy anything from them again. Not because of the packing mistake, but because of the reduced sculpt quality. They have a number of competitors who are now creating higher quality sculpts which is a shame.
If that wasn’t enough “drama”, I goofed up and I need Kislev Flesh from Citadel to work on my next display project. I somehow mixed up my flesh paints and bought Cadian Fleshtone instead. So while I was looking forward to jumping into the next display project this weekend, I’m now delayed at least a couple more days while I wait for the paint I actually need to show up.
To end on a more positive note, I spotted some busts that are recently released or are just new to me which are pretty exciting. Black Crow Miniatures is expanding on their trio of Dwarf minis with three Elves. Just like the dwarves, they’re very Warhammer Fantasy inspired. They are right up my alley and something I’d gladly paint in the future, if I have the time.
They haven’t released the studio commissioned paint jobs for them yet but I’m anticipating they will look great. Not to be outdone, I stumbled across two older busts that will look familiar to some of you regular visitors. Who might these characters be based on!?
Needless to say, I’ll be spoiled for choice in the near term for display projects! That’s it for me this week and I should have something a little different for next time. It might be Hellboy or it might be the display project. We’ll find out together in the near future!
Kuribo's Painting 
Great work on the raider Jeff, and agree straps take ages, and you had more than enough on this model ! LOL
Sorry to hear you have had so many problems, in real life and with the model side of things, hopefully things will improve quickly for you, so you can return to normal with your painting.
Did your Dad like his Pangolin for his birthday ?
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Thanks, Dave! The devil is in the details as the saying goes.
Thank you for your kind words as well. I’m not sure that the non-hobby problems will be getting any better in the near future sadly so I’ll have to do the best I can until they do.
My Dad seemed to like it and was certainly surprised by the gift. He is not the most fun person to give gifts to because he often has very muted reactions to what he gets. Its often hard to guess how he feels about something. He had already been looking online for a case for the pangolin the next day so I do take that as a sign that he did indeed like it!
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I would say that the case search to protect his gift, is a good sign he liked it.
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I think so too. We certainly did all we could on our respective ends with this gift.
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Nice work on the raider, it but almost looks like a machete vs a sword to me. Did you miss a strap on the back of the left knee?
What a pain with the various projects/manufacturers and their quality control. I recently went looking for another distributor for 3d printing of my alien figures as I was unhappy with my first one.
I think your father was happy with your gift as he went looking for a display case to show it off and to keep dust and greasy hands off of it!
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It very well could be a machete! It looks like one to me now that you mentioned it though the in-game model doesn’t match this one so the mystery lives on. And you’re right, I did miss a strap which is not that hard to do on these minis. I’ll have to fix that and thank you for mentioning it!
Quality control can definitely be uneven. The situation I ran into with the bust was pretty shocking. It almost seems like nobody double-checked the contents.
I think he was happy and surprised by it. I’ll be curious if it is in a case when I visit for Christmas or not…
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Oh man, straps – the bane of every painter’s life. And for some mad reason sculptors seem to love them which I don’t get. I’m willing to bet that 99.9% of people who sculpt miniatures start out painting them, and presumably hate doing all those fiddly little straps. Then the very moment they get their first sculpting gig they’re covering everything in straps themselves. Maybe I’m feeling sore about this because I’m painting a model with no shirt and 120 belts currently myself…
Anyway, sorry to hear life’s not been the best. Super job on that raider (and all his straps…).
Very much agree with you re 3d printing as well, it’s fine for “normally sized” models but the print lines are still too obvious on big models, especially when they’re intended for display painting.
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I guess straps lend a certain air to miniatures but you’re right that they’re the bane of our existence as painters! I hope you manage to get that mini done unscathed and I’ll be looking forward to seeing how it looks in the end!
Thanks for your kind words, mate. Its a bit of a mid-life crisis in some ways so I doubt it is going to blow over in the near future. Its not something I want to broadcast to the world as things like that have a way of being found so I won’t say too much more. I’ll keep trying and hoping things improve in the meantime.
I’m glad to hear it isn’t just me who feels that way. I see people who print miniatures and they’re always trying to flog them but I’m skeptical when GW and other people make higher quality minis that are not 3D printed. Either that or I’m turning into a grumpy dwarf that is too set in his ways 🙂
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Nice work on the raider, Jeff, and the building (so far)! 🙂 Sorry to hear about other things not going so well. As far as quality control goes I’ve found that bits do get missed out from time to time but most sellers are good at getting replacement parts out.
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Thanks, John! I found out that the terrain actually is correct and that the instructions online didn’t get updated so at least one thing wasn’t a problem after all! This is my first run in with a parts issue and I can confirm that Big Child sent me replacement pieces lightning quick from Spain which was very kind of them.
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Sorry for the bad run of things mate. The Raider is looking fantastic
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Cheers, mate. Hopefully things get better with time.
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late to the party.
sorry to hear of the prevails and frustrations. Hope that now days later things might of improved slightly. I always get annoyed when I waste money on miniatures that I can use.
raider looks great. I Always wear as many straps as possible because it looks sexy. 😀
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A comment from Stew is never late, it arrives precisely when it means to! 🙂 Things are touch and go still but hopefully in the coming days and weeks, things get better. Time will tell.
Thank you for the kind words on the Raider and I’m sure your wife appreciates you getting into all those straps too 😀
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Oh my, I love that Raider! The amount of effort you put even into the no-name baddies for your games always astonishes me, and the results are always so good. I take my hat off to you for your patience at dealing with that many straps / belts / accoutrements. The skin tone is just perfect too.
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Cheers, mate! To be fair, there aren’t a ton of big name characters in Fallout but I know what you mean 🙂 I’m glad to hear you like the skin tones because I was fiddling around with some different colors that I’d never used before. I’ll have to remember to use them again in the future!
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I could have sworn I commented on this when I read it but I must have never hit submit!
Love the raider, very cool paint job and I’m a big fan of the idea of someone looting ancient weapons from a museum during the post apocalypse.
I’m liking the building a lot and hope you get your replacement piece soon so we can see it finished.
Finally, sorry to hear about your woes with the busts, I find it interesting that they’ve gone the 3D print route, the drop in quality you mentioned seems a bit counter productive for what are after all display pieces.
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No worries, Nic! A comment from you is always welcome no matter when it arrives.
Thank you for the kind words on the raider. In Fallout 4, there’s definitely stuff stolen from museums so my backstory is pretty plausible in that sense. I need to get a move on the house as its keeping me from playing more Fallout. I found out that they changed the MDF kit and so I do have the parts I need after all, I just need to get back to working on it now which isn’t easy because something else is distracting me.
I know exactly what you mean on the bust. I think what is most disappointing is that Big Child Creatives advertised this new 3D printing method as being an improvement on what they were doing previously. There are some positives from the change (like less need for green stuffing gaps) but I don’t think the overall sculpt quality went up like they advertised. It will be interesting to see what happens to them as a company in the coming years. After releasing tons of miniatures, they seem to have stopped and be in a lull. It makes me wonder if they’re going to stop making new minis and just sell as many of their current designs for as long as they can or something like that. Time will tell!
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Might be a tough market for these smaller scale manufacturers, I think I remember reading that the manufacturer for the Ignis models is going out of business so they’re having to shut down as well. Might be that domestic 3D printers are putting them out of business (I have no idea, just guessing!)
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I think you’re right on the market being tough. It seems to me like manufacturers come in and release a fair amount of things over the span of 2-5 years and then lose steam and often end up going out of business a few years later. Companies that only make busts or 75mm-90mm miniatures are selling to a niche within the hobby too. As you know, TONS of people play miniature games and board games but a much smaller amount of people paint in larger scales where it is basically display painting only. A small number of companies seem able to turn that into a successful business but many struggle. Either way, its an interesting thing to discuss and I appreciate your perspective, Nic!
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I think you’ve hit the nail on the head here. Tough business, especially when you can just sell STLs these days and not have to worry about all the logistics.
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