Minor Miniature Mods: Viking Warrior

A Modified Viking

I'm by no means a frequent or skilled miniatures modder, but occasionally I will get a miniature that is almost exactly what I'm looking for except for perhaps its weapon, or I'll get a miniature that is broken or damaged in some way.  That was the case with this one.  I liked the figure, but sadly his axe was so badly bent that my efforts to straighten it resulted in the haft snapping off.  I toyed with the idea of shortening the axe, but finally decided to just go with a sword, as I'm much more of a sword guy anyway.  The base of the figure was also rather narrow and the whole thing was prone to easily tipping, so I decided to work on that as well.  The work was fairly easy, with just some snips and a micro-drill needed to remove the old axe and prepare it for the new sword.  I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with the results.  If nothing else, the miniature will be much more stable on the table.  The original miniature is Olaf, Viking Chieftain from Reaper Miniatures, and I'm including a picture here for comparison.  So, what about everyone else?  Do you do frequent major miniatures modifications or just infrequent minor ones like me?  Does anyone have any tips they would like to share?

The original miniature

Evidence that the 1930-31 Miskatonic University Expedition my have been right after all...

Thanks to +William Beegle for pointing this out to me.  It seems that something strange has been found in Antarctica.  Let's hope that they don't find any cube shaped structures.  Perhaps we should consult the Necronomicon...Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!
For anyone who hasn't read At the Mountains of Madness, it can be found here.

A new year and some new paints

For years now, I've mostly used Citadel paints for my miniatures.  I've done this in spite of the fact that they seem to always be changing their colors, or discontinuing my favorite paints at the most inopportune times.  (I'm looking at you Citadel Foundation paints).  But this year, I decided to try something different, so I picked up a set of Vallejo Medieval Colors from Amazon.  The set was a bit pricy at $52.99, but it comes with 16 colors, which makes it cheaper than buying 16 pots of Citadel paints.  I've heard good things about them and am looking forward to trying them out.  Even if I love them though, I expect that I will keep using Citadel washes and technical paints.  What about everyone else?  What are your favorite paints and why?

Happy Birthday Professor Tolkien

Born 125 years ago today.

Miniatures Monday

Front View

 The first Miniatures Monday of 2017 brings us two views of a lantern-jawed warrior.  He sort of reminds me of a  tidier looking Boromir.  I like to think that I'm getting a bit better at painting eyes, but this fellow looks a bit surprised by something.  The miniature is from Reaper Miniatures and is 03512: Ardellen, Ranger.  You can get one of your own for only $7.99.

Rear View

Happy New Year!

Well, 2016 is behind us, and 2017 stretches before us.  Wishing all of you health and happiness in the new year!

2016 Miniatures Monday Retrospective (and some questions)

As 2016 draws to a close, I thought that I would do a short Miniatures Monday retrospective.  This year, I finished 36 miniatures, which while being far below my intended output of 52, isn't anything to sneeze about.  Of course I started far more in 2016, many of which hopefully will be completed in the coming year.  Overall I was pretty happy with most of the painting that I did this year, but there are a few more that I wish I could have finished.  This brings us to what I've started referring to as the "Eternally Incomplete Miniature".  The Santa Dwarf pictured above has been partially painted for nearly four years.  Every holiday season, I intend to finish him and post him during the holidays, but I can't seem to ever actually finish him.  I'm not sure why, as he isn't that complex, but somehow he never quite gets finished.  Perhaps 2017 will be the year.  So how about the rest of you?  How did your 2016 miniatures painting efforts go?  Did you complete a miniature in 2016 that you were particularly proud of?  Do you have any miniatures that you just can't quite seem to ever finish?

R.I.P. Princess Leia Organa

Carrie Fisher has died at the age of 60.  I've been done with 2016 for some time, but seriously?

Happy Holidays to All!

Wishing all of you a happy holiday season, free from killer trees and such!  :-)

Solstice Sunset

This was the sunset as seen from my back yard last night.  This blog has been rather quiet lately with all of the hustle and bustle of the season, but last night's sunset reminded me that this can be a quiet season too.

Miniatures Monday

For this week's Miniatures Monday we hop into the wayback machines to a lead Citadel pre-slotta orc.  I always loved this guy's skull shield.  I got this as part of an order my friends and I made from the 1985 Ral Partha Catalog.  I has sent away for the catalog from an add in a copy of Dragon Magazine, and Ral Partha handled some catalog orders for Citadel in the U.S. back in those days.  Many people these days are to young to remember ordering from a catalog by mailing an order sheet in and waiting 6-8 weeks for delivery, but wait we did, and it was worth it.  Ahh the memories!  In any case, after 31 years, I finally got around to painting him. :-)

And here is an image of that wondrous catalog.  It opened up a whole new world of miniatures that had otherwise been unavailable to those of us living in rural southwestern Pennsylvania back in those days.

Miniatures Monday

This week, we have another woodsman, but this fellow is wielding a sword rather than a spear. Perhaps he is a friend or traveling companion of last week's miniature?  Both this miniature and the one from last Monday are from Casting Room Miniatures in the U.K. and are part of their Scout Warriors set.  Casting Room has a nice variety of miniatures ranging from ancient and fantasy to Victorian adventurers, and they are reasonably priced.  On a side note, I'm quite pleases with the clump foliage on the base.  I think that it's easier to work with and seemingly more durable than Citadel grass.

Hobbits Invade the Museum!

Last night, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History held one of their After Dark events, and the theme was the Lord of the Rings.  There were cocktails, games, sword fighting demonstrations, a costume contest, and a showing of the 1977 Rankin and Bass animated Hobbit film.  It was a lot of fun, and I feel very lucky to have a museum that does this sort o thing.

Miniatures Monday

This week, we leave the night-haunted crypts behind and step out into the fresh air of the autumn forest.  Here we have a doughty woodsman with a spear tracking some unseen prey.  Is it a wild board or something more sinister?  This wasn't an overly complicated miniature to paint, but I decided to try a bit of clump foliage on the base to spice it up.  I was pretty pleased with the results, and I think that I will keep using his on future outdoor themed bases.

Happy Thanksgiving or Thursday: Whichever you celebrate :-)

While it is a specific U.S. holiday, my wish to all of my readers is the same.  May your food not fight back, and may your travel plans not be thwarted by gigantic, mutant bird-monsters.  I realize that this is just a re-colored version of last year's picture, so I apologize for not having anything original this year.