Thrud the Barbarian: Step by Step - Preparation

Thrud may well be everyone's (well, maybe everyone in the U.K.'s) favorite pinheaded barbarian.

Years back Citadel Miniatures put out a limited edition set of Thrud the Barbarian miniatures.  I've recently acquired one of them and plan to use it as a walkthrough of the process for prepping, assembling, and painting my miniatures.  The first step, and also my least favorite, is the cleaning and preparation of the miniature.  I clean all of the mold lines with small files, fine grit sandpaper, and steel wool.  Without doing this, washes will pool near the mold lines ruining the end result.  This can be one of the most labor intensive parts of the process depending on the quality of the miniature's casting.  In the case of Thrud here, it wasn't too bad, despite the fact that this is an old miniature.  Once the mold lines have been cleaned, I wash the miniature in a solution of dish liquid then rinse it and let it dry thoroughly overnight.  This removes any oils left over from either the casting process or my fingers.

Thrud, cleaned and ready for basing