Blue in VT:
Howdy all!
So I see that it is traditional to start A thread about your entry for GH…so I better jump on the bandwagon and give it a go as well…
First of all i wanted to say how much fun this was/is…I’ve never entered any kind of contest like this…but now I’m hooked (already working on a slayer for the Bugman’s contest)…:hat off to the crew that makes this thing work and to all who entered!
This contest really pushed me out of my comfort zone and forced me to try new things. This model was the first real conversion I’ve ever done…first use of green stuff…first time I’ve taken a knife to a classic metal dwarf…:o…second time using washes and inks to any great extent…first model that I have fully based in more than a decade…etc…And I’m pretty happy with the results.
Sadly I did my model in something of a rush so I wasn’t able to get pics in process…I’ll try to describe what I can in some detail for those interested.
As I’m sure all you veteran’s have guessed I started with this figure:
Which is one of the modified Citadel CD xbows that I recently traded for…this one had had its horns chopped off by the previous owner. So I didn’t feel too bad about further mods.
I used files to smooth down the horn nubs…and my hobby knife to whittle down his mustache and bottom lip making sure to save his huge nose!
I then laid a small “sheet” of GS across this newly flattened area and used a dental pick to connect it to the chain mail from his helmet. The end of the tool also made nice vents in the mask.
With the arm that is usually holding a xbow sticking out as what I had to work with I decided to go with an Irish drum or bodhron for the instrument…For this not familiar with it it is a shallow drum and is typically held by a cross piece that cross the rim of the drum under the head. For the rim of the drum I cut a section of the barrel of a highlighter marker off and sanded down to a reasonable thickness…I then and made the head with a sheet of GS…again the very tip of the dental pick (my only sculpting tool!) was used to make the depressions for the tacks…which could have been more evenly spaced but I kept messing them up when trying to attach the drum to the figure…:~
The only other thing to do was to disguise his quiver…I was really torn on what to do with this thing…I didn’t feel I had the time or skill to totally remove it and replace it with a bag or pouch…so I simply covered the fletchings of the quarrels with a sheet of GS and made it look like a drum stick case…or something…:sick
Oh yeah…I covered the point of the quarrel in his right hand with a small ball of green stuff to convert it to a mallet.
Other than that it was paint and base…I made good use of the blue ink again and was very happy with how it came out…even better than the blue on my Avatar photo. I’m not 100% happy with the drum head art…I was hoping for something more elaborate but time and lack of skill again limited my design…I may change this in the future when I feel more comfortable free handing.
So there it is…a simple and easy conversion that even a noob like me can complete…and now I understand why you guys like to convert so much…it gets the creative juices flowing. I already see where I would have done things differently…
I would like to hear feed back on my basing…as mentioned above I haven’t done it in a long time…this is the basing I’m thinking of using on my MM90s…what do you think?
Cheers to all!!
Blue