Jabberslythe is a brand new Games Workshop model following the “We-need-big-monsters” trend assumed some time ago by that company. It was released as a part of their (in)famous Finecast range of resin miniatures.

FineCast or not so fine cast?

This huge beast, barely fitting the 100 x 50 mm base it comes with, is packed in the standard GW box. Its size is also well reflected in pricing. You can buy Jabberslythe for 40 GBP (66 USD, 52 €). For that price you will get 14 pieces requiring cleaning and assembly; and a plastic rectangular base. These bits are of course attached to few sprues. Frankly speaking, all the stories about quality of Finecast models caused that I was pretty nervous while checking my copy of Jabberslythe. After all, that’s a lot of money I paid for it. The first quick look was actually pretty reassuring, but then I’ve started to check every single piece.

As you can see, there are no problems with the cast. Bits are clean, details quite crisp, no air bubbles. What happened to the frame though?

It’s so heavily deformed, that in few cases resin bits connecting elements within the sprue were broken. I’m pretty sure that all this had an impact on shape of individual pieces. We’ll get back to it later. Another frame, another issue. Lots of flash requiring cutting off. Nothing really problematic, but it will add some time during preparation of the mini for painting.

More examples of deformed frames and flash:

There are not many mould lines, but some of them will be annoying to remove, especially one across teeth of the beast. I haven’t seen any air bubbles on bigger surfaces, but it is really clear that GW has problems with smaller, thinner elements.

You can see that spikes are cast poorly. Such imperfection could be found on almost every similar piece of this model. My first thought was that this is not a real problem, as it is a chaos monster. Casting mistakes like broken spikes can easily by justified or hidden (e.g. air bubble is a wound leaking with blood). What would happen though if I bought a slick eldar tank or elven mage? I guess I wouldn’t be too happy in such case. After checking quality of the cast I tried to fit few elements. There are several pieces with pegs or slots which should make assembly easy.

It should, but it doesn’t. Gaps between different parts are sometimes extremely wide. I wonder if deformations shown above contributed to this problem.

Man, you will need a lot of putty to fill these! Many companies already proved that you actually can cast a multi-part model which requires just a minimal amount of gap filling. GW, please, ask them how to do it or at least add some green stuff to every box!

The sculpt itself is nothing special. I usually like big monsters, and this one is no exception, but some of the painters may be looking for something more… sophisticated. On the other hand, it’s a model provided for gamers and it will sure look impressive on the gaming table.

Jabberslythe review: conclusion

So, do I recommend this model? Well, if you’re not a gamer, there are more interesting alternatives for your collection on the market. If you’re a gamer (with a WFB Beastmen army) you’ll probably get this one no matter what I’ve written here.

As a final word I’d like to repeat my request: GW, get to work and improve the quality!

Further Reading:

ForgeCraft Games bases – Review

Ańa’s ogre thunderlord showcased by Games Workshop

JMD Miniatures: Succube – Review

If you liked the article and would like to read more, visit us at Chest of Colors for more articles, gallery of painted miniatures and active forum for miniature painters.

The article was originally published at Chest of Colors: Games Workshop: FineCast Jabberslythe – Review.

Blame it on our sea.man a.k.a. czlowiek.morze! It was his idea to start this whole Miniature of the Month event and to make it a monthly regular attraction for our miniature painting community. But it would be unfair to pretend we don’t enjoy it…

Now we’re stepping out and inviting you to join the fun! But let me explain to you what the whole thing is all about…

How it all started

It was in August 2011 that czlowiek.morze proposed a nice pastime for our miniature painting forum members: He would collect all the new paintjobs presented on the forum by its members during the previous month, and we would vote for one of them.

Initially we played with the idea of choosing our favorite miniature of all, including the ones we found elsewhere, like on CoolMiniOrNot or other internet galleries or forums, but eventually we decided to limit it to the works created and posted by our forum members. Also it was them who was allowed to vote for their favorite. Of course comments would be encouraged, because they would explain why one chose a particular miniature.

The first edition featured miniatures posted in July, and then we kept voting for the next few months. We were very curious how different results would be achieved if voting was open to public. We knew they would be different, and so we wanted to see the difference. This is how we reached the point where we are now:

After tinkering with technical issues, we’re ready for the first public voting for the Miniature of the Month here! Why don’t you join the fun and post your vote and comment?

Miniature of the Month – rules

As you can see, the rules are very few:

You can only vote for one miniature. Choose the one which deserves to be the miniature of the month in your opinion. You can choose one of the miniatures collected by the coordinator, sea.man. He collects the miniatures posted by the members of our miniature painting community on our forum and creates a list of candidates to the title. In case there is more than one work from the same person, sea.man chooses one of them, but if the author prefers to enter a different one – it suffices to contact sea.man (czlowiek.morze) on our forum and he will make the adjustment.

Bear in mind we don’t say the voting is for “the best painted miniature of the month” because it doesn’t have to be the best painted one. It just has to be the one that in your opinion deserves the title the most of them all. Maybe because it’s the best paintjob, maybe because the overall effect is so impressive despite some technical shortcomings, maybe because the author did something revolutionary for him, or maybe because the painter made the largest progress of them all during that month.

It’s really up to you, as long as you believe your voting is fair and can explain it. That is why commenting is an important part of the whole fun. Those words of explanation are not only showing the reasons for which you chose that particular model, but often also are a great encouragement and motivation to the author of the model of your choice. So please be so kind to write those few words and explain your choice. It’s not required but always appreciated!

When the voting is over, the winner is announced and receives an award: a honorary badge (or a medal to be more precise) displayed in their profile on our forum. Even if it’s not much, it allows others to see that the person won such a poll already. And well, it’s shiny

Wanna join?

If you would like to participate to the fullest, why don’t you post your works on our miniature painting forum? The whole event is coordinated by sea.man (czlowiek.morze), who will surely notice your works and submit them to the poll for that month. And before your works can be voted for, you can take a look at the miniatures posted to our forum in December.

There were 25 painters who posted new works to the Chest of Colors forum. Here you can see the painted miniatures they posted in December 2011:

#1: ScottRadom

#2: Corvus

#3: NAVARRO

#4: Nameless

#5: Tommie Soule

#6: Awrk

#7: jason

#8: Ramshackle_Curtis

#9: Maru

#10: Demi_morgana

#11: huitzilopochtli

#12: DariusZero

#13: Tuffskull

#14: Greebo

#15: Slawol

#16: Adasko

#17: 3vilTom

#18: arctica

#19: Flameon

#20: Struna

#21: michal83

#22: JerzyK

#23: Grimbold

#24: Ctan

#25: sea.man

If you are a member of our miniature painting community and visit our forum, you may be familiar with most of these painters. You surely have your opinion which miniature deserves the title of the Miniature of the Month for December 2011 the most. And if you don’t, why don’t you spend some time on the forum, getting to know the people there and watching their works. And we hope you’re going to leave your vote in the poll below.

We will allow the poll to run a bit longer than we did before, because we are publishing it a bit later, too. We give you two weeks for voting, which means the poll will be closed on February 5th, 2012.

We hope that it’s enough time for you to submit your votes and to leave some comments for our readers and for the authors of entered works. And maybe we will see your works in the poll for January 2012? The next editions will still be coordinated by czlowiek.morze (sea.man), so if you have any questions or suggestions regarding our event – feel free to share them on the forum or in the comments below. Thank you!

So it is all for now. Enjoy the pictures and choose wisely.

Further Reading:

5th Chest of Colors Miniature Exchange announced

Forum rebuilt?

Hussar 2011 – the biggest miniature painting competition in Poland

If you liked the article and would like to read more, visit us at Chest of Colors for more articles, gallery of painted miniatures and active forum for miniature painters.

The article was originally published at Chest of Colors: Miniature of the month: December 2011.

Don’t we all love presents? Especially when we get them.

Today I will tell you about a present I got from my wife – Jean Bart from Romeo Models. The company is an interesting alternative to such known companies as Andrea or Pegaso. It doesn’t have such long history and that’s why it’s good to know what do you get for your money. So let’s move on to my Romeo Models “Jean Bart” review:

Background

Jean Bart (21 October 1651 – 27 April 1702) was a Flemish sailor who primarily served the French crown as naval commander and privateer. He captured a total of 386 ships and also sank or burned a great number more. You may find the wikipedia entry about Jean Bart interesting to see, because of a portrait from another painter.

The miniature is a 3D copy of a painting from French painter Jean-Léon Gérôme.

Original painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme

What’s in the box

The miniature measures 75 mm. It came in a big box, everything was well packed. The sponge was so thick, that the parts were tight in it. The miniature consists of 23 parts plus a mirror-like sticker:

Jean Bart – the corsair

Jean Bart is made of 11 parts from white metal. At first it is a bit tricky to put it all together, but after a bit of playing with it you find a way. The casting is very detailed. You can see how good it is on scarves, hair or ring on hand. The surface on the face is flat and doesn’t need much work. Of course there are mold lines, but nothing that needs more work and should be easily removed.

Parts fit well together. I wouldn’t call it a perfect match, because there are gaps, but nothing special that you wouldn’t fill with a bit of modeling putty.

Wait, there’s more!

The other objects are table – 4 parts and chair – 4 parts. Those are super detailed and really great sculpted. They need a bit more cleaning from mold lines and I am not sure why. Especially detailed fragments will need some extra attention.

The floor and wall are made from resin. Here is a bit of disappointment – the quality isn’t that good as metal parts. There are some bubble holes on the side and much more cleaning will be needed. I also think that there is a difference in the wood texture between floor and wall. The wall has much more details, and those aren’t casted that well at some part. Fortunately the worst part is under the table and will not be that visible.

A really nice addition is mirror sticker that you can stick as a mirror. Of course you can try to paint the mirror reflection on your own.

Conclusion

I can easily say that it is a piece of art. Full of character, great composition and a really demanding piece to paint. From artistic point of view I would rate it 10 points out of maximum 10. With my new love for big scale models I am not being very objective…

When talking about this mini, you have to mention the price. It is expensive – 75 EUR and I am not quite sure if it’s worth that much money. Other 75mm miniatures from Romeo cost 45EUR. Of course here you get more parts – table, chair, resin floor and wall, but does it make it so more expensive? That is why -1 point here.

There is a difference in quality between metal and resin parts. Maybe resin is a new technology to Romeo and they are still learning to master it? I mean new in production, not that Romeo didn’t sooner know about it. These parts aren’t perfect, but also they aren’t that much visible and will be easy to fill/clean. But still -0,5 point.

I came up with an idea of going to see the Jean-Léon Gérôme’s painting in real, but unfortunately it is in hands of a private collector. It would be nice to have a picture with this miniature painted and the real painting behind my back I you are that private collector or you know him, send me a message on Chest of Colors forum

My plans for the model? You will see it in person at Hussar 2012.

– Czlowiek.morze

Further Reading:

JMD Miniatures: Succube – Review

Maagaan from Bane Legions – Review

“Somewhere in Europe… 1944″ – Review

If you liked the article and would like to read more, visit us at Chest of Colors for more articles, gallery of painted miniatures and active forum for miniature painters.

The article was originally published at Chest of Colors: Romeo Models: Jean Bart – Review.

There’s a saying, which is often said to be a Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times”. Whether it’s a true Chinese curse or not, it doesn’t matter. But one thing is sure – we’re living in interesting times, indeed. Many new technologies made it to our lives and hobbies. Digital sculpting is one of them…

Just like with most new technologies, there are as many people fascinated with the new possibilities as others – criticizing it. Not only being critical and sceptical about it, but also refusing to treat it on par with traditional sculpting. And we’ve had an interesting discussion about digitally sculpted miniatures on our miniature painting forum, but let’s start from the very basics.

What is digital sculpting?

You surely know what traditional sculpting is: The sculptor takes a lump of putty or clay and shapes it with his hands and/or sculpting tools. You know the kind of tools used for sculpting, right? You surely do.

Traditional sculpting tools

Now with digital sculpting, the artist forgoes his “physical” sculpting and tools to use a computer and create a “virtual model” with it. You must have heard about 3d modeling – you can see digital 3d models everywhere: in movies, in computer games, on digital artwork, on posters, in advertisements… Often it’s difficult to tell if the object or person was a real one or is it only a virtual creation.

Now one can create such a 3-dimensional model and then “print” it, using one of many 3-d printing services. Or maybe create a mold and produce copies of it. It doesn’t really matter – the clue is that a virtual creation is turned into a physical, tangible object. In our case: a miniature. That’s what digital sculpting of miniatures is all about.

ZBrush - One of digital sculpting tools

I bet you see the difference: “Traditional sculpting” creates a physical object from the beginning, and “digital sculpting” creates a virtual model first, which is given a physical form in the next step(s). And what are the consequences of this difference?

Traditional vs digital sculpting

Digital sculpting can use many benefits of working on a virtual object, many that we know from inage editing software – like “undo”, “copy-paste”, easy texturing, etc. When a sculptor makes a mistake, he can press “undo” and correct his mistake easily. When he wants to create another arm, sword, head, etc. – he can use “copy/paste” and modify the newly created copy. He can also “stamp” textures onto surfaces of his models. There are many many other options in popular 3-d modeling software, but I only wanted to give you a quick insight into the choice of tools the sculptor may use in his digital sculpting.

Copy - Paste: the digital way and the traditional way

On the other hand, traditional sculptors have similar options, but they’re not as easy to use as in digital sculpting. Sure, he can “undo” his mistakes – by cutting off, sanding off, or scratching off the parts he’s not satisfied with. It takes more work than pressing a button, but can be done. Of course, he can “copy and paste” an element he sculpted: he can create a mold and cast a few copies, or maybe create a quick print in greenstuff… But it’s more difficult and time consuming than pressing Control+C Control+V. And yes, he can also stamp textures: create a small textured “stamp” and press it against surfaces before they’re cured. But it’s not as easy and convenient as doing it the digital way.

So what? Does it make a traditional sculptor a better artist (or craftsman) than a digital sculptor?

Text processor vs pen

Let’s think about a poet who writes a poem, or a novellist writing a book. Many of them moved on to using computers and text processing tools now. But doesn’t it make their art less impressive? They can use copy-paste, undo, and spellcheckers now. Their friends using pens or pencils do the same, but do it the harder way. Does it make their art better because they had to put more effort into it.

Or is it more about creativity than the choice of tools?

Wait, there’s another example, because the first one was a bit too controversial. Let’s take a painter with oil paints and canvas, another one with a photo camera and traditional darkroom plus a choice of retouching tools (traditional, not digital), and another one with photoshop and computer. They all create images, visual art. They all can create pictures of landscapes.

Was H.R. Giger a worse kind of artist because he used an airbrush?

But is the painter more of an artist than the photographer? And the digital artist less of an artist than the painter? Or do they create different kinds of art? Although they are all kinds of visual art, they’re all pictures, they’re difficult to compare at all…

Errare humanum est

Or: “To err is human”. Errors and mistakes are a part of our lives and also of our creations. Some say, that imperfections make works of art even more impressive and admirable. You must have read many comments that digital sculpting creates sculpts which are too perfect, too clean, too artificial. That they lack the human touch, the personal touch of the sculptor, which is given by traditional sculptors to their works. Do you agree with this opinion?

Digital model vs. actual casting - Ivanka Kurganova from Raging Heroes

When you take a look at traditionally sculpted miniatures, many of them bear marks of some sculpting imperfections. Sometimes surfaces are not perfectly smooth, details not perfectly symmetrical, and shapes not perfectly modeled. And that makes them special, that makes them unique and gives them the magic touch of the sculptor.

Is it the same with digital sculpting? If people complain it lacks the imperfections of traditional sculpting by the sculptor’s hands, maybe it is the case? Or maybe it’s simply the lack of mastery of digital sculptors? Maybe there are many great traditional sculptors already, because this art (or craft) has many years of tradition already, but digital sculpting is fairly new and people use it not because of the possibilities of creating great sculpts it offers but because of the benefit of saving time and thus increasing productivity? And when time is your priority, it’s difficult to pay more attention to quality.

It’s just a tool

So is digital sculpting a completely different kind of art/craft, or is it only a different tool for sculptors to use. If it wasn’t for progress and innovations we might be still sculpting our miniatures in clay or chiselling them from stone. But now we have many kinds of putties, all with different properties. We have modern casting facilities, we have precise sculpting tools. So maybe digital sculpting is the next step on the same path? Some will move on, some will stay with the techniques they’re more familiar with.

Progress is unavoidable

Just think about painters. Some are still painting their paintings with brushes, some moved on to airbrushing. I bet it was simiar when somebody invented a brush. Some traditionalists must have complained that painting with brushes is not real art, because it’s taking a shortcut, and they kept painting with their fingers or wooden sticks.

And just like with every tool – digital sculpting has its disadvantages, too. You only get to see the physical object when it’s printed. Until then you only see a virtual image of your sculpt. And you see it on a 2-dimensional screen. Now recall all the complaints that there’s no way of depicting a 3-dimensional painted miniature on a computer screen and a flat image. Translate it to sculpting and you know what I am talking about.

Then there’s the frequent complaint about lack of sharpness of digitally sculpted miniatures. Is it a matter of the sculpting or the printing process? I don’t know, but it seems many companies fail to get it done properly for any reason. So as you can see digital sculpting is not the perfect solution to every sculptor’s woes.

Next generation or degeneration?

If we think about digital sculpting along the lines of “next generation of sculpting tools”, we may start to worry if it won’t start a process of degeneration of sculpting skills of sculptors who move on to the new tool. Just like many airbrush painters wouldn’t be able to achieve smooth blending on their canvas using only traditional brushes. And just like many photographers would be unable to create a realistic portrait in the way artists of old did it – drawing or painting it. But do they have to?

Do photographers really have to prove they’re skilled painters? Do people who create great art using airbrushes really have to prove their skills with brushes? And do digital sculptors really have to prove their skills with traditional tools and putties?

Does he really have to prove his acting skills? Or better not...

I say: no, they don’t have to, but their art shouldn’t really be compared with traditional art as far as technical perfection goes. When you compare creativity – feel free to do so, but technical aspects are hardly comparable…

Clash of the titans

Now there’s a good question: If we compared a great digital sculptor with a great traditional sculptor, would they be able to create comparable works? I mean: equally impressive and appealing to us, miniature painters? I must say I am yet to see a digitally sculpted miniature which will impress me more than the best miniatures sculpted in the traditional way.

There are many great sculptors, who work in the traditional way. Many that I really admire. Kev White with his characterful models and realistic proportions, Tom Meier with his unbelievable skills at detailing his sculpts, Raul Garcia Latorre with his recognizable style, and many more…

Tom Meier - master of detailing. Just look at the decorative patterns he sculpted on a 30mm scale model! No digital sculpting here...

I have seen many great digital 3-d models (many were really awesome!), but I don’t know of any digitally sculpted miniature which would make me go “wow” as much as many traditional sculpts did. But maybe you have seen such miniatures?

Time will tell…

Now we don’t know which way it’s going to go in future. But we can be sure we’re witnessing and experiencing beginnings of a new trend in our hobby. Digital sculpting made achieving many results so much easier, that it’s going to be pursued for many years to come. But will it completely take the place of traditional sculpting in our hobby?

It is quite natural to look for more optimal tools, ones which will allow you to improve your creations and which suit your needs and style better. It’s a natural process, and it can’t be avoided. But let’s think: should it?

It's natural to look for more optimal tools

I am really curious what you think about the “digital sculpting vs traditional sculpting” subject. Why don’t you share your comments with us. I am sure they will add many new facts to the topic. Thanks in advance!

– Mahon

Further Reading:

Bragon – Interview with Jeremie Bonamant Teboul

Dark Art Miniatures bases – Review

How to sculpt crab legs and pincers

If you liked the article and would like to read more, visit us at Chest of Colors for more articles, gallery of painted miniatures and active forum for miniature painters.

The article was originally published at Chest of Colors: Digital sculpting vs. traditional sculpting.

End of the year… again. Maybe it’s the last one, if the Mayans and some prophets were right. Anyway, it’s usually this period when we think about passing time and another year coming.

Ah yes, we also think of our age around birthdays. We celebrate the day we were brought to this world, but we also try sometimes to forget how long ago it happened.

Now, miniatures are quite different when it comes to their age. They take pride in being “oldschool”, OOP, not available anymore…

WHO’S OLDER?

These two fine gentlemen were painted by our own zombie, master of rust and disease, Demi_morgana. It’s hard to beat his love to anything old and/or dead in the miniatures world, you know.

– Nameless

Further Reading:

Between the Lines – Episode 1

Between the Lines – Episode 2

Between the Lines – Grand Opening

If you liked the article and would like to read more, visit us at Chest of Colors for more articles, gallery of painted miniatures and active forum for miniature painters.

The article was originally published at Chest of Colors: Between the Lines – Episode 4.

It is time for yet another review of historical models in 1/35 scale. I’m gonna cover Master Box LTD company of Ukraine, and their “Somewhere in Europe… 1944″ set.

Introduction

I found these models by accident while searching for horses. This box includes two nags, two Germans, grandpa with granddaughter and a cart. Germans are also available separately in the “Supplies, at last!” box, and the cart in the “Farmers Cart” box, Europe, WWII Era.

4 human models, 2 horses and the cart were very cheap, so I didn’t hesitate to buy that set.

Models

These multi-part models are made of plastic and come in sprues. I know quality and precision some companies provide for models cast in plastic, so I was quite scared… horse is made of 5 elements, but there are about 23 pieces for a soldier. Frankly speaking you don’t have to use all these bits, but you need about 12 bits to make a soldier without the equipment. I was then really surprised, because elements could be removed from sprues easily, and mould lines disappeared after short sanding. I also found that the manufacturer provided additional bits, so we can personalize their models, e.g. there are 2 different headgears or water bottles in excess.

Gluing

The best glue for these models is glue for plastic elements. Standard cyanoacrylate super glues should be avoided.

Seriously, both material and parts were meant to be glued with the glue for plastic elements. Bits have excessive material which gets melted by glue. This automatically fills gap between two parts. That was another big surprise. Some of the bits looked unfriendly in sprues, even worse after removal. Nevertheless, after gluing almost all pieces fit perfectly! If there was something wrong it was usually because I’d forgotten about few pieces (like haversack or pouches).

Details

The general level of details is pretty good, especially considering the material. Of course, details are not as deep as in resin models. Also, newer models have more details sculpted. I was able to check contents of few more boxes. Those released in the past are pretty simple, while new sculpts are looking much better and have lot of details. The set I purchased is somewhere in between when it comes to details and sculpt quality. By the way, there are no nails sculpted on fingers, I think all historical models have the same issue.

Cons

• plastic, not resin – quality of details,
• be careful while cleaning the model. Material is quite soft, you can easily scrape details off.

Pros

• price!!
• general quality,
• range (see below).

Range (a.k.a. what I have seen)

Models in 1/35 scale are usually not to my liking due to very stiff poses. Soldiers stand at attention, point a finger at something, shoot from the hip or crawl – all of that like they had a long and stiff stick in their… well, you know where.

I was therefore even more surprised to see that soldier with a bin assuming a very easy stance; his mate also looks like an easy fellow. This made me check other products released by that company. It looks like there is more “easy” sculpts and several very dynamic ones. I recommend taking a closer look at:

• “Frontier fight of summer 1941, hand to hand combat (4 fig.)” – hand to hand combat with helmets and shovels??
• “Skatspieler” – soldiers playing cards.
• “Casualty Evacuation”, German Infantry, Stalingrad, Summer 1942 – rarely seen scene with wounded/killed soldiers
• “Deutsches Afrika Korps, WWII Era” – repair workshop.

There is more of that; and some civilians too.

I also suggest you find the diorama produced by Kenichiro Hebitsuka from Japan on the manufacturer’s website – it clearly shows what you can make out of these models.

Painting

I haven’t observed any bad reaction between the material and spray primer or any signs of wearing.

I painted mine for the 5th Chest of Colors Miniature Exchange and painting process was fun and quick. I’d love to use oils for few elements, but lifted that idea due to time constraints. Anyway, these models surely can be painted with oils. The only lacking thing were deeper details characteristic for resin models. Newer models are much better with regards to details though.

True historical colour scheme is shown on the box with reference to specific paints given (Vallejo, Tamiya, Lifecolor, Humbrol, Agama). Of course, you can always check available publications (e.g. Osprey books) by yourself or paint a model as you wish.

My paintjob for Chest of Colors Miniature Exchange

Verdict

I don’t think you will find a better quality/price ration within this price range. The casting quality is not as good as in case of resin models, but many of these models would look better than standard resin models, especially “top sets” like “US Check Point in Iraq /3591/”. A box with 2 – 5 models with loads of equipment will cost 15 – 45 PLN (4 – 10€, 5 – 15 $), and “MB 3560 German Motorcycle Repair Crew (1:35)” set comprising a full diorama with 4 soldiers, table and motorcycle stripped to pieces costs about 60 PLN (14 €, 18 $).

My opinion is that this is a very good offer for people who want to try a new scale or new techniques (oils, anyone?). You will not despair if something goes wrong due to low prices. Of course, advanced painters could easily make a masterpiece of these models like Kenichiro Hebitsuka did.

– Maru

Further Reading:

Romeo Models: Jean Bart – Review

Verlinden Productions: Full Metal Jacket – Review

Hell Baby from Maow Miniatures – Review

If you liked the article and would like to read more, visit us at Chest of Colors for more articles, gallery of painted miniatures and active forum for miniature painters.

The article was originally published at Chest of Colors: “Somewhere in Europe… 1944″ – Review.

Christmas period is coming! Holidays, free time, good food… and GIFTS!

Miniature painter’s Christmas tree

No, wait. Let’s imagine something better. The hobby Christmas tree. True paradise for every painter in the world. A place, where every one of us will find a gift we actually want and need. First things first though – we need to decorate our tree.

Reaper Miniatures and Scibor Monstrous Miniatures were kind enough this year to provide us with some nice decorations.

Miniatures

Right, I believe we can now pick our first presents! I’m pretty sure many of us would love to get something really big and impressive… Cang the Implacable from CMON Miniatures maybe?

Of course, a standard size mini would be cool, too! Fantasy, like Studio McVey Azumi…

 …or SF model like this Dragao from the Infinity game, it doesn’t matter at all!

However, we could use our tree to make someone leave his or hers comfort zone. A larger scale historical model, like this Pegaso Models Templar Knight might be interesting, don’t you think?

We don’t paint busts frequently, which is kind of shame, as they are often such a great sculpts. Young Miniatures have many of them in their range.

 We also can’t forget about gamers among us! Why don’t you surprise someone with minis they can use for gaming, maybe even released by a different company? Every gamer should appreciate these dwarfs from Avatars of War. Variety is the key to a nice army.

Paints

Of course, we all need additional stuff to paint all these minis under our tree. What paints do you use? Maybe it’s about time to try other brands and compare them? There are so many paints on the market, find the one that suits you best. Relatively new Foundation Paints from GW…

… Privateer Press P3 paints….

…. or maybe one of these nice sets of Andrea Miniatures paints?

Brushes

What else could we put under the Christmas tree? Good quality brushes seem like a nice choice for any painter. Famous W&N 7 series…

… or maybe less-known but at least equally good Raphaël brushes?

Miniature painting DVDs

For those wishing to learn new tricks there are many instructional DVDs out there. This one released by Darksword Miniatures showcases a great female tag-team of Jen Haley and Anne Foerster.

So many products to choose from… not an easy task, I tell you.

What about you?

What would you like to find under your hobby Christmas tree? What would you like to give to your fellow painters? Tell us, we are all eager to hear that… and maybe someone will actually follow your request.

Happy Christmas everybody!

Further Reading:

Build me a tree! – Tutorial

Hell Baby from Maow Miniatures – Review

Dark Art Miniatures bases – Review

If you liked the article and would like to read more, visit us at Chest of Colors for more articles, gallery of painted miniatures and active forum for miniature painters.

The article was originally published at Chest of Colors: Miniature painting Christmas is coming!.

Last words… Eventually, every single one of us will say these.

People say very surprising things when the time comes. Some are very serious:

“…it’s better to burn out than to fade away”

Others, not so:

“These curtains are killing me, one of us has got to go”

Some are still in a good mood:

“I’ve never felt better”

However, others may get quite upset at this stage:

“Get these fucking nuns away from me”

Yes, majority is definitely angry. This trampled Chaos Lord surely was…

Famous Last Words

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: yes, it is a model painted by Bohun, but unlike one other dreadnought, this one was used WITH Bohun’s permission.

Oh, quoted last words are true and were used without any consent. I had a hard time to contact authors.

Further Reading:

Between the Lines – Episode 4

Between the Lines – Grand Opening

Between the Lines – Episode 1

If you liked the article and would like to read more, visit us at Chest of Colors for more articles, gallery of painted miniatures and active forum for miniature painters.

The article was originally published at Chest of Colors: Between the Lines – Episode 3.

This time: Build me a… tree worthy of Lorien! That’s right we’re going to help mother nature make a treetop house ELVENSTYLE! So if you are interested in a How To Build A Tree tutorial – read on:

Components

We’re going to need :
• a piece of a branch…a piece of wood that generally resembles a tree.
• a plate of plastic or hard cardboard as a base
• a lot “wavy cardboard” (You know, most boxes are made of it)
• lots of sand
• lots of PVC glue.
• at least 1 pack of green stuff
• water effect
• something that will look like clumps of leaves. I used special modelmaker’s dyed moss.
• some plasticard for the actual platforms for the tree house and the pavement.
• Some static grass, stones, few pieces of natural branches of trees.
• Super glue
• some wire/small iron rods

Tree trunk

So starting the fun of Godlike nature construction. We have to have a tree trunk: make a general idea how the tree house is to look like. I decided on a fixed size of the base and I wanted to add a pond to my tree house. So first you make the base. Use strong cardboard and glue a plate of plasticard to it with super glue. The base MUST be strong as we are about to connect the main trunk.

You have it already? Nice! So let’s get down to the actual tree. If you found yourself a satisfactory piece of wood in the forest and planned the general way the diorama is to look like, cut the branch so that it is more or less flat on one end. Place it on the base and make a hole underneath. Than simply nail the branch through the base so that they stick together. I’ve put like 7 nails and poured some superglue around to make sure it’s not going to come apart.

Surrounding terrain

Now we have a stable base lets start building the terrain. I decided to go easy and started to glue flat pieces of the wavy cardboard. Shaping them as I went so that they would make up the general form of the terrain.

As I went higher and higher I added plates of plasticard so that I could have a cobblestone path and a sort of a by-the-pond boulevard. As mentioned I also started making the banks of the pond. I placed the “stones” on the path using superglue to keep them connected to the cardboard.

Once the general shape of the ground level is done, we start the messy part. This involves a lot of sand so make sure you have some kind of a box. To make the terrain look real we will glue the sand to the wavy cardboard with PVC glue. Pour the glue on a side of “ground” parts and simply throw some sand over the glue. It will stick to the glue and after 2-3 layers you should see a nice round hill.

Make sure that it doesn’t stick to the parts that should be sand-free like things that should be a stoned path.

Branches and roots

Notice that the photographs show some other things which we’ve been doing while the PVC was drying. For one you can see more “branches”. This is done so that the actual tree would look like an actual creation of nature’s product of boredom so we’d expect there would be roots and more branches. We connect those by drilling some holes in the main trunk and in the new branches’ bases. We simply glue the previously prepared pieces of natural shaped branches to our tree. you have to drill both the trunk and the new branch and put an iron rod inside to keep the connection strong and stable! you may use some extra green stuff while gluing them together so it will look smoother.

Remember not to glue the new branches before you finish with the staircase and platforms. Just drill and try the new branches so that the general look of the tree will be satisfactory, than go with the construction of the stairs. It will be much easier this way and after you’re done with the stairs and platforms glue the extra branches to the trunk.

Stairs and platforms

Also you may notice the new side bars added to the pond. This is plasticard that will be black and will be the borders of the pond that are not part of the diorama and are considered open waters. Also we started building the platforms and the road itself. The idea is that the paved path will go around the diorama and eventually change into a stairwell of the tree house.

Now you might notice the stairs are going up the trunk. This is done by making small pieces of plasticard. Cut a few strips of plasticard so that they will be of similar width and that you can cut the stairs-steps one at a time and that all will be roughly the same shape. Than make small, but deep cuts in the trunk and glue the steps in. Try to go up the trunk so that this will look somewhat coherent … you can see the cuts on the photo…I used a small modelmakers’ saw to do this. As we go up you might want to start thinking about the platforms themselves. you can see my first platform on the photo below.

Cut any shape you want and attach the platform in the same manner you did with the stair-steps. However, in this case there might be a fairly obvious need to use additional support like a branch and some adapters below the platform level.

Try not to glue the platforms to the trunk and keep them as separate elements. This will make it easier to build them and to construct the whole diorama. The last thing I did in this part was to glue the platforms in after all the painting and gluing of everything else.

Balustrades

This will help the platforms to be stable and will look better. Once you built the stairs and the platforms you might want to add extra edges to the stairs. This rim will add to the overall construction look and will make you believe it’s made by true craftsman and not an overanxious woodcutter who never got to work for IKEA. The photo also shows some important parts on the platforms. A banister, balustrade or a rail around the platforms will add reality to your creation and will look more natural for a high construction structure. I made this using the iron wire and some plasticard. The best way to do this is to simply shape the wire like the area you want to have a banister around. Than make the plasticard pylons and simply make a hole in each and slip them along the wire. Make a small cut in the platform and glue the whole thing together.

Assembly

Now that we’re done with the platforms the hard part is over. Take the platforms out and glue the previously prepared branches to the trunk. If you want even more branches simply drill some extra holes, put an iron rod in them and form a branch from green stuff. Don’t worry about the actual shape because we’re going to cover them with leaves later on.

Painting

Already done with the branches and platforms, are you? Ok… let’s get down to painting. I took the basic black spray available in any construction market/DIY supermarket. Be generous with the spray as the sand will need at least a few layers. Now I went to paint the platforms and stairs. First I painted them with Citadel‘s Bleached Bone , than gave it 2 layers of Citadel‘s Thraka Green wash. In the end I want for two layers of 75%/25% Skull White and Vallejo glaze medium. This last part was airbrushed.

The same treatment was given to all platforms, but the moveable ones were done separately.

Now with the wood itself:

First I gave all the tree parts a drybrush with Citadel‘s Scorched Earth, than a drybrush of Citadel‘s Graveyard Earth and a drybrush of Citadel‘s Bleached Bone. Than a watered down layer of Citadel‘s Devlan Mud wash, a similar one of Citadel‘s Thraka Green wash and again Devlan Mud wash. If you want you can give it a final wash of Thraka Green again and/or light drybrush of Bleached Bone again.

The ground itself was painted with 3 layers of drybrush (Scorched Brown, Bestial Brown, Bleached Bone). The area which was supposed to be underwater parts was given a wash of Thraka Green to give it a muddy/foresty kind of look once the water effect will be applied.

Leaves and final touches

Done? Ok… time to make our tree a proper summer/fall tree: I used special modelmaker’s moss to mimic the leaves on the branches. This can be bought in most proper model shops. I simply used strong PVC glue to glue those to the branches in large mixed clumps and than added some super glue into the insides of those clumps to make the connections stronger.

Now the only thing left is the grass on the ground and the water effect. Some PVC glues are better for watter effect than the actual Citadel‘s water effect itself. Pour this into the prepared ‘pond’ and voila!

See us in Lorien!

You can invite the Ringbearer and his friends once Ian McKellen has ‘fallen into darkness’ in Moria.

– Rzymek

Further Reading:

How to make movement trays for your units – Tutorial

Simple bases in 5 steps

How to make a biovore

If you liked the article and would like to read more, visit us at Chest of Colors for more articles, gallery of painted miniatures and active forum for miniature painters.

The article was originally published at Chest of Colors: Build me a tree! – Tutorial.

Do you know Yarry from the Enigma Miniatures? I’m sure you do, it seems to be one of the most favourite models of hobbyists all around the world

Not that I’m surprised, it’s a really cool miniature representing a standard hobbit – small body, big heart and hairy feet – and you could surely paint it as one…

…but it would be a bit boring. It is always good to make a background story for models you paint, isn’t it? You could make a pretty decent farmer or animal breeder…

Longer legs would surely be helpful to have a good look at all sheep in the flock… but something is still missing here. He’s such a handsome chap, true heartbreaker, ladies surely fight each other to get to him …

As you can see on the last pic, Yarry would be great as a comic book character. Here’s another proof, if you’re not convinced…

Comic books are really popular among Hollywood screenwriters nowadays. Yarry – an actor? Perfect candidate for the Oscar award, if you ask me!

Westerns…

Horrors…

70′s musicals…

Fantasy trilogies…

By the way, I didn’t know that Aragorn was a hobbit. Anyway, acting is good and profitable, but being a music star is much more exciting…

… a music star playing something good, please…

…much better now, thank you! Hobbits are well known sport-fans, so Yarry might want to be a sportsman, too. If only he could make up his mind and decide which of the sport disciplines suits him best!

Football…

Boxing…

Skateboarding…

Surfing…

Baseball…

Right, on that last pic Yarry looks like a bad MF, not a sportsman. It’s rude to say MF, so let’s just assume he sometimes resembles a devil and acts as one…

You know what? Frankly speaking it doesn’t matter who he is… He’ll always be the same, good ol’ Yarry…

This was my humble homage to invention, imagination and skills of modellers and painters. You guys keep me surprising every single day. Thank you for that.

PS: All images were used without any permission granted. I do hope that none of the painters and/or Raul Garcia Latorre mind using their pics.

– Nameless

Further Reading:

How to make a biovore

How to make movement trays for your units – Tutorial

Simple bases in 5 steps

If you liked the article and would like to read more, visit us at Chest of Colors for more articles, gallery of painted miniatures and active forum for miniature painters.

The article was originally published at Chest of Colors: 1001 Ways to paint Yarry (warning: 101 pics).