Late, But Not Forgotten (Jez Winstanley)

Usually around the beginning of July, once all entries for Forgotten Heroes have been submitted and the dust has settled, I provide an epilogue of sorts, giving an overview of how I thought that particular year’s event went…

This is that post.

I apologise for the tardiness of it, but as it was announced that the current contract I was engaged in had been cut short by six months and I would be out of work as of the 1st August, understandably my ‘free’ time has been spent trying to secure alternative (and more permanent) employment. This also explains why I’ve not commented on those blogs I regularly follow, so additional apologies for that too. I have been keeping abreast of what you’ve all been doing, just not really had the mindset to provide worthwhile comments.

So, as the third of what has now become an annual event, we’ve had an interesting project utilising some kind of alchemy in order to shrink resin models of Transformers, specifically the Insecticons (which as Tom Hanks will attest “the robot turns into a bug? That’s a great idea…”), an almost full collection of sculpted from scratch A.B.C. Warriors, a small-screen pulp flying ace and his dog, and the usual selection of four-colour heroes and villains who have been…Forgotten.

In some cases, they probably should have been, but we do love our lame and cheesy superheroes – the characters who are so bad they’re good, which is why this event is so much fun.

Now, as I hinted at previously, next year’s Forgotten Heroes will see a few changes to the rules, which I’ll explain now, but will reiterate prior to next year’s challenge.

Firstly, I’m changing the definition of a “Forgotten Hero” – this will now encompass ANY character, historical OR fictional, that has yet to have a decent figure made of them. Want to create the definitive Lord Soth from Dragonlance? Now you can. Want to do a diorama of Washington crossing the Delaware? No problem. Want to finally create either the Hypno-Hustler or Hellcow from Marvel Comics (the latter of which was referenced in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 2)? Go for it.

The second thing that will be changing is that you won’t be restricted to a specific scale. The figure (or figures) can be of any scale. If you fancy doing Dick Dastardly, Muttley and the Mean Machine in 20mm, so you can use with the rest of your Matchbox or Hot Wheels cars, now you can.

The other major change relates to registration. Whilst Roger administers the Forgotten Heroes site, this event was my idea and remains my baby. Roger is the Alfred to my Batman, if you like. So rather than Roger sending out emails to previous participants, in order to take part in next year’s event, you will need to register by commenting on MY blog – Carrion Crow’s Buffet – or emailing me directly. For those who have previously corresponded via Roger, he can provide this for you.

Not a particularly strenuous requirement and there will be a benefit to this, as the intention is provide ALL future participants in the Forgotten Heroes event with a badge (or button as I believe our American cousins call it) with the NEW Forgotten Heroes logo on it! Be the envy of all your friends!

Once I’ve finished designing it, that is…and no, it won’t be made from the “purest green”.

And, finances willing, there may even be some prizes too.

So, I wish to thank all of those who took part in this year in the spirit of the event and hope that you’re already planning what you’re going to do next year. If I can work out how to do it, you might even seethe Big Wheel next year…

Until next time…

https://carrioncrowsbuffet.wordpress.com/2018/07/11/late-but-not-forgotten/

“There’ll Be A Cold Time In The Old Town Tonight!” (Simon Moore)

             “This man’s jaw feels like it’s made of solid ice!”
These two 37mm tall “Wizkids” models of Solomon Grundy are both miniature number 018 from the Arkham Asylum DC Comics “Heroclix” range and have been converted into members of Mister Freeze’s “Cold Pack” for this year’s annual “Forgotten Heroes” challenge. Based upon the poor unfortunate millionaires who foolishly underwent one of Victor Fries’ cryogenic treatments in an attempt to have their lifespans greatly increased, the living zombies first appeared in the February 1979 edition of “Batman” and were created by Len Wein and penciler John Calnan.
 
As the plastic pre-painted models originally carried a formidable-looking tree branch, they both had to momentarily suffer under the blade of a sharp modelling knife so as to appear as empty-handed as they do in the “DC Comics” publication. I then primed one with two layers of “Vallejo” USA Olive Drab and the other with Charred Brown.
The “failed experiments commanded by Freeze” subsequently had their shoes painted in “Vallejo” Black and their frozen flesh layered with Dead White. Their icy skin was later shaded using a little watered-down “Citadel” Drakenhof Nightshade and patiently dry-brushed with some (more) “Vallejo” Dead White.
I was briefly perplexed over the choice of colour for my Cold Pack members’ shirts. They were always going to be predominantly “Vallejo” Dead White, but I was somewhat worried this ‘whiteness’ might easily merge in with their pallid undead flesh if I simply washed the areas with some Pale Grey. In the end I therefore applied some Strong Tone Quickshade by “The Army Painter” over their ragged shirts, as well as more heavily across their jacket and trousers.
That’s two of my planned three ice zombies finished before the “Forgotten Heroes” deadline.
 (Ed note, update added 3/7/18)
I have finished the third and final “Wizkids” model of Solomon Grundy I previously converted for this year’s annual “Forgotten Heroes” challenge. Apart from using “Vallejo” Heavy Violet and “Citadel” Leviathan Purple for his clothing, this member of Mister Freeze’s “Cold Pack” has been painted in exactly the same manner as his two peers, and should provide Victor Fries with some cryogenically-enhanced ‘muscle’.

Insecticons Complete (Mike Boynton)

I have completed all three G1 transformers Insecticons characters Shrapnel, Bombshell and Kickback. I painted them with a basecoat of black and then dry brushed the areas that needed to be purple and yellow with white.
I did this to make them bright as purple and yellow are transparent and the light passes through them and bounces off the opaque white and back to your eye making them look nice and bright.
I used many different metallic acrylic paints to give them a mechanical look. I dry brushed the black base-coat with the metallics and got a good robotic looking result.
For bases I crushed up N scale model railroad cars and painted them white and did a red and brown wash on them to contrast the Insecticons colors. I then added N Scale people to the base. I was running out of time so I did not repaint the people and just left the miniature people painted in their off the shelf colors.
I usually do a lot of washes on my minis. A wash is when you mix acrylic paint to the consistency of 2% milk and spreading it over the model to create false shadows.
Unfortunately, I did not do any on these miniatures yet. The unpainted N scale people looked bad so I decided to paint them all with a coat of Citadel Typhus Corrosion and it looked good. In fact, I don’t usually use Citadel products but it looked good on the metallic Transforms and it dulled out the off the shelf paints on the N scale people making them look corroded and dirty. Over all I was very happy with my fast paint job.
Epilogue: I can’t say I was very impressed with the amount of shrinkage I got from this process for the cost. I have connections that allowed me to procure materials at a lower amount than the general public so this processes may be cost too much for the regular hobbyist. I do plan on shrinking Sound Wave’s tapes a second time and maybe a third time to make them smaller. Another thing I can tell perspective shrinkers is that mixing mineral spirits with construction calking silicon does not work. Over all I am happy with my three new transformers.
To see my Insecticon photo album see:
To see my latest Transformers minis from this year see:
 
 
To see my other older Transformers miniatures and my other cool projects check out:
Cheers Mike

Redo From Start – Rom v2.0 (Jez Winstanley)

Because it was annoying me so much, I decided to take a bit of time and repaint Rom until I was happy…or at least happier.

This is Rom v1.0;

I masked the emitter and resprayed him with Plastikote Chrome Effect spray, also spraying some Warlord Cybermen at the same time. These were going to be my ‘test subjects’.

I then mixed some purple ink with a touch of black ink, watered it down and liberally applied to one of my guinea pigs. And the result was what I was hoping for.

I then carefully applied it to resprayed Rom, concentrating where possible on the joints and crevices.

I then painted the position of the chest lights with Mithril Silver and, when dry, painted over them with Cherry Red.

Having looked at Rom’s visor in the iluustrations, I painted the slot Burnt Umber, added two dots of Mithril Silver for the eyes and then washed the whole slot in Cherry Red.

I then repainted the base with Dark Grey, followed by a wash of Burnt Umber mixed with Black, as you couldn’t see the texture with my original version.

And now I’m satisfied and here he is;

And the lesson I’ve learned here is – don’t cut corners to save time, as you’ll end up redoing all your work.

And still within the deadline! Go me!

https://carrioncrowsbuffet.wordpress.com/2018/06/30/redo-from-start-rom-v2-0/

FORGOTTEN HEROES 2018 ROUNDUP (Dave Stone)

As Forgotten Heroes draws to a close for 2018, here is my last submission to the event.
Morrigunn
Almost forgot to show the painting of this lady robot, included a freehand fanged horse head on her thigh that the Night Maras gifted her while she trained with them.

Blackblood
We all have a colour that we dislike painting, and mine is green, which is the predominant colour of Blackblood, pleased with the overall look I managed to achieve.

Mek Quake
In Clint’s artwork he has Mek Quake as dirty and rusty, so once I’d got the silver shaded and highlighted, I stippled on Reikland fleshshade, and Agrax Earthshade to get the desired effect.

Nemesis
Although this model was started before the event I thought I’d show him as he’s now finished.

Group Shot
Here’s all the models together that I’ve finished so far

What The Future Holds
For anyone who knows the A.B.C. Warriors you will notice there are seven models left to build, here is a group shot of all the frames made to finish the project, some are a little further along than others.This has been a fun event to take part in, and have seen some fantastic entries, of some characters I’ve never heard of, and some I knew. Look forward to next years event and see what everyone comes up with.
Until next time have fun !
Cheers Dave

http://thegamerscupbard.blogspot.com/2018/06/forgotten-heroes-2018-roundup.html

The Hero of Galador (Jez Winstanley)

As everyone else has been beavering away and producing figure after figure, and the Forgotten Heroes deadline was approaching, I finally managed to set aside some time to finish off my figure for this year. But things did not go quite according to plan…

When we last saw Rom, he had been fully assembled, based and given a generous coat of Plastikote Chrome Effect spray and I was quite pleased with how he’d turned out. As all I needed to do was add the emitter to his Neutraliser, add some shading and his visor and chest lights, I assumed that this would be a simple task and therefore did not worry about cracking on with it.

This was a mistake.

As I’d already set aside the transparent red axe that I’d removed from the Heroclix Drax miniature who became Trapjaw, the first order of the day was to cut a suitably shaped piece and attach it to the front of the Neutraliser. This worked out better than I had hoped, as whilst the surface of  axe blade was red, it’s not actually made from red plastic. This meant that exterior of the emitter was red, but the business end (where the blast comes out) wasn’t, so it did resemble the comic book version, where the end of the emitter is slightly recessed. This meant that no additional faffing about was needed.

Then came the wash and this is where things started to go awry. Having canvassed opinion in my last post, I decided to go for a dark purple wash, to highlight the crevices on the model. Unfortunately, I got the consistency wrong and the figure ended up looking like it had dipped in oil. I then decided to dry-brush the model in Mithril Silver, to try and recover the shininess I’d managed to get with the spray.

Whilst this did restore Rom’s overall silver colour scheme, it wasn’t as good as the Chrome spray effect. He was silvery, but no longer as shiny as before.

Checking online pictures, I noted where the two chest lights were located which also happened to be where two recesses on the figure were located. However, rather than repainting these silver, I decided to just paint them red, assuming that the red paint would be bright enough to cover the grey shadow already there. I did the same with his visor.

Annoyingly, this didn’t come out quite the way I’d planned, as the red paint wasn’t thick enough or bright enough to look like lights.

So, whilst he IS finished, he’s annoying me, as I know I could have done better. I am pleased with the pose and the accuracy of the Neutraliser, but I’m not entirely happy with the overall painting, so I’m pretty certain he will be repainted shortly.

However, as the deadline has been reached, you get to see Rom v1.0 as a ‘completed’ figure, but over the next month I’ll hopefully get time to correct my mistakes, so Rom v2.0 will be shown later.

And here he is.

As you can see, he is silver-ish, but not as shiny as before and the red of the chest lights and visor are muted, with no sign of Rom’s ‘eyes’.

This picture shows how I repositioned his arm to get a more dynamic pose, and it’s now difficult to see that this wasn’t the way the figure was originally molded.

And finally a scale shot with a Heroclix Harley Quinn.

As you can see, the base figure is quite substantial, so he does tower of ‘normal’ sized characters, which as it should be. And looking at this picture again, he kind of looks a little bit like Robocop…

So, kind of finished, but I’m not entirely happy with him and my OCD will refuse to let me leave him like this, so expect an update in the near future where I’ll either be crowing with joy at getting him right or cursing that I ever thought that this would be an ‘easy’ figure to do.

Until next time.

https://carrioncrowsbuffet.wordpress.com/2018/06/30/the-hero-of-galador/

“It’s not easy being green, or grey for that matter!” (Roger Webb)

Last week (last day!) of Forgotten Heroes”, and it’s been a rush to get these done in the time, but I’ve never missed a deadline yet, and I didn’t intend starting now! I knew it was going to be a busy week, blog wise as all the other entrants posted up there finished figures ready for me to re-post them to the “Forgotten Heroes” site (please be aware that I am working on Saturday of this week so if I have missed any of your posts, I will find them and re-post on Saturday evening). Anyway on to my entries…

Now I’m aware of the fact that you might not all be the diehard He-man fanatic’s that I’ve become (though it is only a matter of time!), so I shall re-post the pictures of the characters along with the finished articles, so you can see what I was shooting for (and by how far I missed!). As usual I began by basing up the figures (after Cringer was cracked off of his plastic base and glued to a tuppence that is), this was done with some “Tetrion” all-purpose filler, though I wonder sometimes if they realise this is one of the purposes it is put too! I also added the odd cat-litter stone here and there before they all went out for a spray coat of matt black. Then the real work could begin, and I’ll cover that individually.

Mer’man, where to start with Mer-man, well first off the action figure and the cartoon versions vary greatly, both in appearance and skin colour, now as I stated earlier in this month’s build, my figures finished face is something of an amalgam of the two, but when it came to painting, I sided very much with the animated version. So after a base layer of German field grey was applied I mixed aquamarine with turquoise and a small amount of shamrock, till I was happy with the colour and used this to highlight all the flesh on show. Then turning to his armour and trident, both toy and cartoon versions have these in yellow, but I decided that this was only because they couldn’t do it in gold (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!). So a base of bronze was painted on, and this was then highlighted with shinning gold. The area around his eyes was then painted orange, and I ran a little dry-brush of the same down his “snout” too. His pants I undercoated with some dark sand, and dry-brushed with some light sand (see I kept these yellow at least!) and his belt I painted chocolate brown with leather highlights.

Stratos’, as his costume (I’m guessing it’s a costume as the bit of his face that’s on show is flesh coloured) is predominantly grey, that’s where I began, by giving him a coat of Dark grey mixed with a little mid grey, I then highlighted this with a mix of mid grey and a touch of white, I added a little more white again for the hairs on his legs. Then turning to his helmet and feathers, I undercoated in dark red and then added bright red highlights, I also did the rockets on his back this way, the original figure was apparently produced with either, blue harness, and red feathers, or red harness and blue feathers, so I decided on a bit of a “mix’n’match” of these colours on mine. This meant that I then painted the harness (and cuff straps) in porcelain blue with a touch of royal blue added and highlighted in just porcelain blue, his face mask was added in these colours too at the same time. The tiny bit of his face that is visible was then painted European flesh, and his beard was coffee, with cream highlights. To add a bit of interest to his belt I painted the buckle in chainmail, and added a dot of metallic red to the centre. Now his “undies” are supposed to be blue, but I decided to go “off canon” as far as these are concerned, originally I was going to do them in the same “blue-grey” I used for Beast-mans, but decided that it was too similar to the rest of his costume, so instead, sticking with the “blue/red” theme I undercoated them in chocolate brown before dry-brushing them in chestnut. I think it works. A dot of dark grey as a highlight for his eyes and that was number two done.

Cringer, though by far the easiest conversion (basically nothing but a re-paint), was on the other hand the figure with the most “free-hand awkward bits”, but before I got to those I began by getting his base colours on, so I began by giving him an all over coat of deep bronze green, then followed this with a heavy (really rather heavy in fact), dry-brushing with a mixture of more deep bronze green, olive and shamrock, these were mixed together in varying amounts till it looked about right. Next I began adding his stripes, in black (I also added his nose at this point). And once these were dry I added the yellow inner lines on his stripes with citrus orange (this was a right pain I’ll tell you!), I added his eyes in lemon yellow next along with his mouth in dark red with pink burgundy mixed with Polish crimson for his tongue. I painted his teeth in white as I wanted then to stand out against his grey muzzle, and that came next, this was a mix of light grey and white gently dry-brushed on, then to finish him off I dotted his eyes in black, along with his claws and the inner parts of his ears, lastly I added a highlight to his nose in dark grey.

All three were then given a coat of “Quickshade” strong tone and once dry had their bases painted and flocked in my usual fashion. As always, a final spray coat of matt varnish finished them off. Well that’s it, the end of another “Forgotten heroes” month, as usual it’s been great fun, though even more hectic that usual, I really thought I wasn’t going to get finished in time this year!! The best bit of these months is of course seeing all the wonderful figures the rest of the entrants produce, and this year has been no exception with some outstanding work on show, if you haven’t already been to the “Forgotten Heroes” site, please go and see the results of their labours, it well worth a visit!

https://forgottenheroessite.wordpress.com/

Many thanks for joining me on this latest excursion to Eternia, now if you could all file back to the bus we’ll get you back to the home! Till next time…

Excelsior Roger.

https://rantingsfromunderthewargamestable.wordpress.com/2018/06/29/its-not-easy-being-green-or-grey-for-that-matter/

Forgotten Heroes 2018 Bonus: Vigilante! (The Angry Piper)

Perhaps it’s a bit self-aggrandizing (sorry, couldn’t help it), but I managed to complete yet another submission for Forgotten Heroes this month. It just came together on its own, as I had no plans to do another conversion.

Vigilante is a DC character who has undergone several incarnations, and is not to be confused with the Justice League cowboy version. This Vigilante is from the mid-80’s, when America’s fascination with action films was arguably at its peak, and Stallone and Schwarzenegger were in their heyday. Seems like every big movie of the time was about some badass taking the law into his own hands or getting revenge by killing lots of people, usually by shooting them a lot.

Enter Vigilante, a product of the 1980’s if ever there was one. Judge Adrian Chase got fed up with having to release career criminals on technicalities or mistrials, so he donned a black ski suit and strapped on a hand cannon. Then he went after them and shot them. That’s pretty much the plot of the Vigilante series, which ran for 50 issues and wasn’t great. Basically, it’s 50 issues chronicling Adrian Chase’s spiral into madness before he ultimately eats his own gun. For a while, he stops being Vigilante and some other guy whose name I don’t care enough about to look up takes over.

It wasn’t ALL bad, though. My personal favorite issue is this one, Vigilante #19, which is basically just one long fight scene as Vigilante tries to bring in a gang member who is a kung-fu expert. It’s penciled by one of my favorite comic artists of all time, Denys Cowan. In my opinion, no one draws fight scenes like Cowan, a talent he would prove time and time again when he took over penciling The Question. I used to dream of the day when Denys Cowan would draw Shang-Chi or Iron Fist, but to my knowledge, that never happened.

Anyway, why did I convert Vigilante at the 11th hour? Because I could. Remember that Intergang Medic I used when I made my Plant Man conversion? Well, it was just sitting there staring at me from the side of my workspace. Perhaps staring is the wrong word, considering it’s difficult to stare without eyes or a head to stare with. I thought his pose, while nothing exciting, certainly had potential.

First, he needed a head, since I used his for Plant Man. I glued a head from a Crossover Miniature (they thoughtfully provide you with head options on most of their miniatures) and sculpted the visor from green stuff. I removed the Intergang backpack and filled the resulting gap with more green stuff. Then I glued him to a Micro Arts Studio urban base.

The gun was a small issue. The one that the medic was holding looked like some kind of laser blaster (I’m not familiar with Intergang, so I don’t know what they use for guns). That simply wouldn’t do, as Vigilante uses a .357 Magnum. So I clipped one from a Heroclix Henchman and made the swap. (I know he’s holding an automatic in the picture above, but just trust me. It was usually a .357 revolver.)

Vigilante also uses a pair of nunchaku for when he gets up close and personal with scumbags who need to be put down hard. I just used some brass rod, cut to size.Technically, Adrian Chase was a lefty, so his holster should be on the other side, but I can live with this relatively minor inaccuracy without hurling the miniature across the room.

And that officially brings me to the end of Forgotten Heroes this year. I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone else does!

http://angrypiper.com/?p=2417

Jake Cutter & Jack finished (Borderguy 190)

June ended up being a bit busier than I expected. And my hunt for a suitable model to represent a Jack Russel Terrier took a bit longer than I hoped. So, despite jumping the gun before June arrived, I just finished modeling and painting my two models on Thursday, the 28th.

From the beginning my plan was to model and paint Jake Cutter and his best pal Jack from the TV show Tales of the Gold Monkey. Jake the pilot was oft depicted in a Flying Tigers leather jacket. And wouldn’t you know, I found a model in a Flying Tigers jacket. Or a least a jacket with a modeled area on the back to paint the blood chit.

The before:

This model is wearing trousers and shoes. And his hat is bit spiffy and new. Plus, there is no dog in sight. Alas, I failed to take a picture of the pre-Jack the dog model. Here is the pic from Sally 4th’s site, where i ordered him form:

Funny thing… I ordered these from Sally 4th. I’m pretty sure Pulp Alley is in the U.S. Unnecessary international postage anyone?

Anyways, the little guy sitting down seemed like a suitable Jack.

Here is the after pics:

And the two pals together:

I shaved and sanded Jake’s trousers into boots. Then I shaped his cap by shaving and sanding it to flatten the cap some, and added the floppy sides of a well-used pilot’s cap. It doesn’t show well in my crummy photos, but it looks floppy up close.

Jack just need his ears sanded a bit pointier and his famous eye patch added.

Once the sculpting, the little I could manage, was done, they were painted in my usual way. Primed grey. Painted using Vallejo Model and Game colors. Army Painter Soft Tone wash was applied. A few highlights were brought back up after the wash on Jake. Jack looked fine to me.

And complete!  My first Forgotten Heroes Challenge. I appreciate the invitation from Jez and Roger. This was a fun way to stretch and add a couple minis I might never have built and painted. I think Jake and Jack might have escaped the Japanese advance in the Pacific in time to fly for the OSS in Europe. Now to find a 1:56 scale Grumman Goose…

BG out!

https://warthroughtheages.wordpress.com/2018/06/29/forgotten-heroes-finished/

Weapon H (Raymond S.T.)

This has been a blast!!! Not to mention that it’s really gotten me back into miniatures & motivated me to work on/complete some other projects that have been on the back burners for years.

I wasn’t really sure what my final submission was going to be as I wanted to add to my avengers & x-men/ xforce. While pondering this dilemma my son gave my an idea so I decided to go with it. This really isn’t a forgotten hero but a new one. So for the last few days I worked on my final submission for Forgotten Heroes. I give you Weapon H

For this I used two minis/clix, the Incredible Hulk & a giant scarecrow.

Once again I made the mistake of thinking this was going to be easy. First I used green stuff for his backpack & adamantium protrusions. What a pain that was, the green stuff kept sticking to my fingers when I tried to add it onto the Hulk. That of course resulted in the protrusions being slightly different sizes. Not to mention I crushed them a few times while applying other ones.

I then cut the claws from the scarecrow to use as his adamantium claws. For his pouches I used bits from WH40k space marines.

All that was left to do was paint him up. Not the best but my son thought it was the coolest thing since Infinity Wars so I’m happy enough with it.

Thanks for all the encouraging comments along the way. This has been a great experience & I can’t wait until next years event! I’ve already got two in mind. A special thanks to Roger for all his help!! I truly appreciated it! Can’t wait to see everyone’s finished projects.

Ray

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started