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Black Crow Miniatures – Grunthal Complete!

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I was able to wrap up Grunthal finally and am happy to show him off to you. Concluding the project didn’t go completely smoothly but I’ll talk about that after we look at some pictures.

As you can see, I decided to give him a grizzly bear fur coat. To me, the fur patterns that are sculpted on the miniature look pretty similar to grizzly bear fur and the brown shades work well with what I’ve already painted too. While this miniature is fairly new, there is something curious about it. Nobody shows off what the back of the bust looks like. Sure, its basically just fur and hair but I have a theory as to why that is. Along the edges of the miniature, there are pieces of fur that stick out to give it an irregular surface as it should have. Unfortunately, they’re in the back and on the sides of the miniature where they’re very easy to break off. I did it accidentally in some places and my suspicion is that a lot of other people have the same issue and so they don’t bother showing that off. I certainly try to own up to my mistakes so I have no reservations about giving you a peek. Of course, its always entirely possible that people just find the back of this bust to be a little dry and unexciting which is a fair point as well.

While its easy to cover up in the photos, I also made a rookie mistake on this bust. I used some painters tape which you can see in older pictures to ensure that the display base didn’t get any stray paint on it. That worked exactly as it should and there were no issues there. Unfortunately, the tape was strong though that, to my surprise, it managed to yank off the varnish around the brass rod which I took it off. Under good lights, its very noticeable that finish is uneven and the varnish is mismatched too. You can kind of see it in the picture below this one though it is somewhat muted there so you kind of have to take my word for it. Unfortunately, there isn’t really any fix for it. Obviously, its a disappointing mistake to make and I certainly learned a valuable lesson. I have no idea how much that would be held against me in a painting competition but its hard to imagine that it wouldn’t be noticed either.

In the end, my goal was to get a bust painted that I feel good about, especially after messing up a couple of display projects in 2024. While Grunthal has some mistakes and probably isn’t the best thing I’ve ever painted (though it might make it into the top 3 so its certainly no slouch), I would say that I exceeded my expectations and learned quite a bit from this project. I really enjoyed working on this bust and I think the sculpt was more pleasant to deal with than the Kimera 75mm ones I have also tried recently. I will definitely buy more busts in the future as I really like how life-like they turn out. They are big enough that they draw you in and make you want to get a closer look which I feel that Warhammer miniatures do not do quite as effectively in the display painting sense.

How big is this bust exactly, I hear some of you ask! Well I took a couple of pictures to hopefully give you an idea. First up is a 28mm display piece using an MESBG miniature.

The size difference is quite stark and you can see why adding lots of extra detail is possible with a bust like this. This isn’t a great photo but here is a comparison to Minerva, which is a 75mm miniature.

I’d say that a bust is a little smaller than 75mm in total surface area which is nice because Minerva took me quite a long time to complete. I feel like Grunthal held my attention but didn’t overstay its welcome which makes sense because I think Minerva took something like 3 months and Grunthal took around 2. This is another reason why I think I’ll be painting more busts in the future. There is a learning curve to them and you definitely do things differently than 28/32mm miniatures but I enjoyed the process and learning new things and I’d like to keep doing that with future projects. Now that I have one under my belt, there’s no reason to think that I won’t get better with more practice.

As is usually my habit, I’m going to work on some non-display painting for a while until I get tired or bored of it. One of my goals in 2025 is to really get some Fallout stuff done as I feel like my collection has gotten slightly stale which is keeping more from playing it more often. A certain rapscallion, Jaunty John @ Justneedsvarnish.com, gave me the idea of conducting a Fallout February. I will certainly see if I can’t get some Fallout stuff done this month and probably a few months beyond that. Of course, if anybody else wants to participate, I’d be happy to highlight your work/website here too at the end of the month. Just let me know in the comments below.

Lastly, thank you for your support along the way with this project. I know it isn’t always the most exciting to see small parts of a bust getting finished week-by-week but your comments, feedback, and enthusiasm keep me motivated and help me complete what can otherwise feel like a daunting project.

31 thoughts on “Black Crow Miniatures – Grunthal Complete!”

    1. Thank you, John! There aren’t a lot of great adjectives that start with the letter J so it was pretty slim pickings. You must hide your grumpiness online because you actually sound like a very kind and upbeat person to me anyway! 🙂

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  2. Excellent finish to the bust Jeff, and the biggest thing was you enjoyed doing it, so probably just about the right amount of time for you to spend on one project.

    Look forward to seeing your Fallout February submissions, unfortunately I don’t have any Fallout mini’s so wont be able to join in.

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    1. I agree, Dave. You need to paint in a way that is fun and for me, I think there is somewhat of a time limit as far as how long I can sustain interest in a single project. We all struggle with that except for maybe the maniacs that win GD and spend a thousand hours on a single mini/project.

      I suspect my submissions will be slim in number for Fallout Feb. but hopefully high in quality. I suspect we’ll have very limited participation as I only know of one or two other bloggers who paint Fallout but hopefully everyone who does participate has a good time with it.

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  3. That’s superb mate, very well done indeed! Looking forward to seeing what Fallout February brings. 🙂 I don’t have any Fallout models, despite temptation, so I’ll just be vicariously enjoying whatever you come out with.

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      1. Quiet Satan – I’ve got plenty of those already! 😅 Plus I’m trying to save my pennies to spend on the Emperor’s Children (and my own children for that matter…).

        But in all seriousness I have been tempted, there’s some very cool models in the range and post-apocalyptic skirmish games are very much in my wheelhouse. So many other projects at the moment though, need to concentrate…

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      2. Haha, well saving up for Emperor’s Children minis is a noble goal 🙂

        I know you have and that is why I’ll keep tempting you 😉 Just wait till I can get my hands on the new plastic kits that are coming out this year at some point. That ought to really tempt you, I would think 🙂

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  4. Smashing work! It looks really life-like and resulted in a pro standard finish. I’d be interested in seeing more miniature painting works by you on this scale, although you’ve done great works on different scales in the past.

    You could try painting the Artist proof Warhammer 40k toys, which could be interesting challange for you to try out. 🙂

    Fallout February sounds awesome. I’ve probably got one or two miniatures I could tag you for submissions, but it depends on how many submit their works as well. You could try asking others on Insta or Facebook for a wider pool of submissions? 🙂

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    1. Thank you, mate! I definitely will paint more busts as I really enjoyed this one and am happy with the final results. I have seen people do cool stuff with those 40k toys. I’ll look and see what’s out there. Maybe one of them will tickle my fancy!

      Please do tag me in any submissions and I’ll be happy to highlight your work. You are one of two people I follow who paint Fallout minis in the blogging community so I have very low expectations around participation. Maybe it can grow into something bigger with time. I know Modiphius has tried to promote Fallout Fridays but I don’t see any reason why Fallout February can’t be a thing either!

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      1. I’ll get some photography on my submission (possibly for next week or the week after). 🙂

        Fallout February could be a new calander event for your blog and socials, gaining traction from other social sites to see your work on those sites and your blog. Your blog will get quite a few readers and possibly new followers from it. 🙂

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      2. Sounds good to me! I look forward to seeing what you have up your sleeve.

        I only have an Instagram account now and it needs all the help and traction it can get. The algorithm has started to hate me and I have no idea why. All that is to say, I’d love for you to be right 🙂

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    1. Thank you, mate! I would love to do that if ever invited. There was one here in the suburbs (I live in the city so it was a fair bit away from me) and I didn’t know any of the people who participated and nobody contacted me unsurprisingly but hopefully at some point in the future I would be considered for that kind of thing.

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    1. No need to worry, mate. Unfortunately, Instagram seems to hate me more and more as time goes on. It seems like nothing I paint is “shown” to anybody now so I get fewer and fewer likes with each passing update. Its pretty deflating in some ways but I have no idea how to change the situation at the same time.

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      1. Honestly mate, I wouldn’t worry. Instagram is a strange and fickle place I find. It’s good for inspiration and the occasional rabbit hole of weird and wonderful things but other than that I’m not too invested. Every man and his dog are trying to crack the code but I reckon it’s better to just to keep things fairly simple on there.

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      2. I can’t seem to figure it out either and have basically all but given up. There are things I could do, like paint Warhammer exclusively, that would help but ultimately, I don’t have the time or energy to endlessly self-promote on there and I suspect that doing so increases your odds of getting a lot of followers (among other things). Truthfully, my experiences on Instagram make me thankful for the community we have here too.

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      3. Ditto Re the community here. I mostly use insta for inspiration. I think you should always just paint and do what you wanna do man. There are definitely some people on there that want to be the equivalent to an influencer but in the hobby world, good on them, but that’s not for me.

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      4. I’m with you on what its good and bad for. I don’t think I’ll ever achieve any fame (or notoriety) on there and I think its always best to be true to yourself. The wannabe influencers don’t come across as genuine or humble to me and that is their loss, in my opinion.

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  7. Nicely done on this Jeff, looks great. Thanks for the comparison shots always hard to tell how big these larger scale models are.

    Good luck for Fallout Feb! I don’t own any Fallout models so I won’t join in but look forward to seeing what you produce!

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    1. Thanks, Nic! I knew some people would want to see comparison shots so I made sure to take some. On one hand, the difference doesn’t seem like that much but on the other, it really does affect what you can’t and can’t do painting wise.

      Not many people paint or play Fallout in our community so I suspected going into it that few will participate. Its very kind of everyone, including yourself, to respond to the invitation all the same though. I’ll certainly see what I can do for the rest of the month. Its likely to be a small amount of things but everything will be high quality hopefully!

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    1. I’m running out of room to display these type of miniatures so I need to figure something out when I have some money to throw at the problem. If I took a picture of where they are now, I think people would likely be pretty surprised and dismayed. Its about as far from acceptable as possible…

      Your guess on Fallout February is a pretty good one is all I can say!

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  10. He looks so good! Well done on yet another excellent bit of painting, and especially this time as you also seem pleased with the outcome. I like that you took the trouble to take a photo of Grunthal’s back. Probably some future hobbyist will come by your blog to see how you dealt with that part of him.

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    1. Thank you, mate! I appreciate your kind words throughout the project and I’m really glad you like it. I totally agree that showing off the work I did on the back (while its nothing crazy or impressive) feels like a bit of a service to the hobby, if you can say that without sounding conceited. If you painted it, you might as well share it, I’d say!

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