The 3rd Witch?

 My Offering for All Hallows Eve

So, to go alongside the third witch from the Bad Squiddo set, I made a little camp site for her. After a root about the bits box, I came up with a number of items for the witch's campsite. The caudrons were made from green stuff by pushing a ball of green stuff onto the end of a pen and shaped into the cauldron shape. Once hard, the feet were added. The pen was given a light coat of Vaseline, to aid the removal the green stuff.  The first one had a wonky lip, so ended up as the damaged cauldron in the background. I also am quite pleased how the green lighting effect came out. 

Hubble, bubble, boil & trouble. 

She's always watching you....

Standard lighting

Low level green light

A Third Witch but Not the Third Witch

Now there are three witches in the set from Bad Squiddo but the Granny & Nanny need a junior witch to give helpful instructions to (boss about), so I still need to find a junior witch to complete Granny's Lancre coven.  Anyway, the third witch looks much better a lone witch for the moment. 

Ok, sometime later

Yes, they are that battered because I have had them, a long time. Now, I have worked my way through the complete Witches saga (See Mr P's Witches). 

Three witches NOT the three witches!
Clear, GOOD.

And Finally...

Rob 

The Likely Orks Come Good?

 First Squad of Orks Finished (in 25 years*)

Charge!

The familiar 'Dakka Dakka' of the bolt guns could be 'eard followed by whine of stub guns as the 'umans returned fire. Both Bullet and Chopper were pinned by a dug in 'eavy stubber  and Spud was busy fighting the 'umans round the back of the village. So, Buzz and Moonie decided the only proper ork tactic was to charge 'eadlong into the village and show these 'umans who is the boss. 

The Likely Orks

This finishes my Orks in Orktober mini project. I still have another five to do and fancy scratch building a classic inspired ork dreadnought. But that will have to wait. The Zenithal  technique quite suits these figures and certainly speeds up the painting process. 

Moonie & Buzz

*The last squad of orks finished was in the nineties and was the original Rogue Trader boxed set. 

The Witching Hour Approaches

As Halloween approaches, I need to do at least one themed figure. And it is an excellent opportunity to finish off the 3rd witch from the Bad Squiddo pack. 

The evil eye

Tartan keeps a witch warm. 

Rob 

12 Props in 12 Hours

 The Challenge

Every now and again, I like to undertake a few different projects. So, a little while I undertook a challenge to make twelve props from TV and film in twelve hours.  So, they had to be relatively small, or the time would just run out. The twelve hours only included the build time, any time spent researching props etc. was additional to this time.  

So, part of the challenge was to find visually appealing props that could be built / made in the time. And the only way to know how long something would take was to make it. Was a prop was started, I decided couldn't drop it from the twelve. But I could change the any props I was planning before I started. 

Prop 1 - Behind You Sign (Watchmen) 

A nice easy prop to start with and an opportunity bank a bit extra time for more challenging builds later in the challenge. So, this was the note left by Rorschach in the fridge for Moloch to find. Shortly before bundling him into said fridge. 

Rorschach's note

Prop 1- 22 minutes

Prop 2 - Slug Eating Flesh Repellent (Harry Potter & Chamber of Secrets) 

Now I don't think this prop is ever actually shown on screen but is mentioned several times during the film. Anyway, I wanted to have a go at a potion bottle. Since I had picked up a vintage bottle at a car boot a few years earlier. I then had a root around the bits box and came up with a Flame elemental?  from a D&D boardgame? which I thought would make a good stopper. 

Hagrid on the way to collect the potion. 

Prop 2 - 83 minutes

Prop 3 - Copper Bones (The Goonies)

This is probably my favourite prop from the challenge. Not because of the film but because of the way the final model turned out.  I was really pleased with the final result. With props two and three taking way over the 60 minutes, I had to rein in the next couple of props to get be back under my time limit. 

Prop 3 - 89 minutes

Prop 4 - Batrang (The Dark Knight) 

Now on the face of this design, this should have been a quick prop to build but I had to have two goes at cutting out this prop. So, it still used up 48 minutes.  

Prop 4 - 48 minutes

Prop 5 - Psi Corp Badge (Babylon 5) 

I had to make at least one prop from one of my favourite TV shows and the Psi-corp badge is one of those distinctive designs. Probably went a bit mad with the distressing and the gluing but something to tidy up later, time permitting. 

Alfred Bester - Psi Corp 

Prop 5 - 52 minutes

Prop 6 - Harry's Entry Slip (Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire) 

So, as I approached the halfway mark, another quick prop was needed. As the last couple of props had used a bit more time that I was planning to use on some bigger props towards the end.  Plus, the kids loved the books and the films, so this is an easy choice and the film series has so many great little props. 

Prop 6 - 28 minutes

Summary 

So halfway through the challenge and five hours and 22 minutes used out of a potential of six hours. But with a couple of longer projects planned for the second half. So, all that spare time would be needed.  

Rob 

More Orks

 Spud Joins the Fight

Spud 'the Sneaky Git Bomber' at large

From his 'igh vantage point Spud watched as Bullet and Chopper dropped down into the 'uman camp. He could see that they couldn't see the ragged group of 'umans 'iding on the far side of the village. Funny they didn't look much like the skinny 'umans that they had been fighting for the past week. The skinny 'umans looked a bit like dreaded 'uman bosses in their shiny armour but they didn't know 'ow fight proper once you got into chopping range. Anyway, while these ragged 'umans were fighting Bullet and Chopper he could sneak round the back...

The Likely Lads - The Ork warband grows. 

With browns and tans of these space orks, these remind me of the original look of the Rogue Trader era. Just two more to finish to complete the squad in Oktober. With three orks painted in Oktober, this equals last year's modest record. 

The Terminator

Over on the Leadplague blog (Original-Space-Hulk-Plastic-Terminator) he painted up an original Space Hulk terminator and my comments sort of made me dig out my last plastic terminator. I had to pop him a jar of IPA and he has now finally come out. Finally, he is ready to get a couple of layers of thin paint (unlike the last paint job - which wasn't mine!). Despite having a couple of months to think about I am still not sure what chapter to go for, I am veering towards Blood Angels or Howling Griffons. But waiting for that moment of decision (inspiration) to strike. 

I last painted this design back in 2020, just I was getting back into painting. So, I would like to use this as a chance to stretch my skills and see how I have developed in that time.  And definitely don't want to go back down the all blue route this time. 

Rob

The Sackville-Baggins

The Umbrella Is Mightier Than the Sword

Ordered these couple of resin figures off Etsy, as I thought they would make suitable stand ins for the Sackville-Baggins. This allows me to get on with the next couple of scenarios in the Scouring of the Shire campaign. They are very nicely detailed (and priced), but I can't help feeling they are just a bit too small.  

The hobbits fending off a couple of Ruffians

Lotho & Lobelia Sackville-Baggins

Strange Lights in the Sky

I recently found this little green LED whilst working in the garage. And thought this would give an interesting light effect. I am quite pleased with the result. With the position of the light making quite a difference. 

Up lighted

Down lighted

Overall, I think the down lighted version looks better as the contrast is less severe. 

I do remember having a blue and red version of this LED light, but of course I can't find them at the moment!

Rob

Orks in Orkober

Chopper on Patrol

Chopper & Bullet

Chopper ducked as he heard the distinctive whine of the heavy weapon as it whizzed overhead. These skinny ‘umans had some tasty weapons to be sure but not enough explosions or chopping for Chopper’s liking. He and Bullet skirted around the rocky outcrop and down towards the deserted ‘uman settlement. It looked deserted but you can’t trust these ‘umans …

You Have to Paint Orks (Orcs) in Orktober - It’s the Law

The backdrop ended up looking more
like a snow field rather than a starfield!

Since it is Orkober, obvious got to paint some orks? And you can’t get getter than some classic Rogue Trader orks. My Zenithal painting journey continues with these orks who were first undercoated in black and then Zenithal highlighted with grey and white sprays. I then painted them with contrast paints and plenty of highlighting. I was trying to let the colour gradient from the Zenithal base coat show through on the top colours. A quick and effective scheme. 

The grey stage

For me the miniatures look very unappealing after the contrast paint stage because the grey/white base coat shows right through. And it's not until the first coloured highlights go on do they come to life.  

Didn’t have any alien plants so painted a few grass tufts with blue contrast paint and a quick highlight with a light blue. 

After spending quite a bit of time painting up my Golden Gobbo entry it was quite nice to quickly finish a few orks. When I got them ready for photographing, I decided they needed an appropriately coloured baseboard to match the rusty planet surface on their bases. So, a quick coat of contrast paint and then drybrushed highlights on a small sheet of rough sandpaper did the trick. Although will have to find a better starfield. 

A Day at the Seaside

Not really in a mood for serious painting so also knocked up a quick photo base for Riolta as she continues her world tour. This time visit to Captain Gideon of the Sea Guard. 

Rob