Queens of the Battlefield....

I never understood that phrase but here are some recently completed Heavy Gear infantry.  These were done using the studio scheme with some slight modifications at the client's request.  The basing on these are not done yet as I am waiting to get the rest of his miniatures in his commission done.  I tend to do all my basing at once as basing is messy.  These are the newer Nucoal infantry and the much older Northern infantry.  I never noticed before but the Northern infantry are carrying quite the variety of weaponry.  Squad machineguns, RPGs, and regular rifles are all present.  The Nucoal infantry are all equipped with assault rifles but Dream Pod 9 makes optional heavy weapons to pull off the various options available in the army list.  Enjoy these pictures and stay tuned for more pictures from this commission. 

Nucoal infantry close-up

Nucoal infantry



Northern infantry

Northern infantry close-up

Primed and ready for paint...

Weather can sometimes be your friend or enemy when it comes to commissions...  I had knocked out the assembly and magnet work on the miniatures the day before so the plan was to get them primed and basecoated.  The weather did not cooperate as the temperature this morning was too low for priming.  I prefer to prime outdoors so this presented a problem.  I decided to work on another commission during the downtime as I always prefer to stay busy.  The temperature did rise to a level where I was comfortable priming outside without fear of a bad primer coat. 

Now a word on primer.  I prefer using a grey primer for most work I do.  I find grey to work out very well as it does not tint the basecoat like white and black can do.  I still do use white for schemes that either use white or red as a main color.  Black I find darkens colors too much and the blacklining effect can be done with an inkpen or careful painting.  When it comes to brands that is always up to you but I personally use Krylon Grey Primer as it is readily available, covers without killing detail, and is cheap to boot.  I have used brush-on primers and they are great in certain situations.  Brush-on versus spray is a personal choice and both are great so it comes down to you.  If you were wondering I use Reaper Master Series. 

Here is a picture of the primecoat and the beginnings of the basecoating.

Back to work after a crazy convention...

First I want to apologize to my readers as I have been incredibly busy with a studio commission I was not allowed to show as well as preparing for Reapercon.  Now that Reapercon is over and by the way it was amazing I am back to work on commissions I can show off.  The one is for one of the owners of Fighting Piranha Graphics and features miniatures from the Heavy Gear line.  This is going to be a Northern army using a very cool, in my opinion, scheme of tan and black.  The contrast between those colors should present a striking image on the tabletop.  Here are some pictures of the fun that was Reapercon as well as some WIP of the Northern miniatures.

One of the few pictures I remembered to snap

The artist/sculptor big top

Northern WIP

German firepower!

It has been a while since I last updated the blog as the commissions have been keeping me busy.  Here is one of the many miniatures I have been working on.  The bases took a bit more time to finish than usual but the result is pretty neat.  These are weapons teams for the game Bolt Action and are Warlord Games miniatures.  These use custom bases provided by the client to match his existing army.  I am quite happy with how they turned out.  Enjoy these pictures of the completed miniatures.

German 8cm mortar team

Another view of the 8cm mortar team

German MG42 team from behind

front view of MG42 team

Nuts!

So back to work on other commissions I decided to knock out some US Airborne.  These were painted using the later Airborne uniform colors and based for Bastogne.  Rather than go too crazy with the snow I decided to leave a little dirt showing for contrast.  I am currently waiting on 101st decals to arrive so I can finish them up properly.  One thing I would like to note is the eyes on these models are not the best sculpted so my normally well painted eyes look...off.  Not much I could do about it but since the issues only affected three models it should not be a problem.  So enjoy some pictures and....NUTS!

Gordon and Hague Commission....DONE

After a lot of hard work these miniatures for Gordon and Hague wargames have been finished.  The client requested a very simple scheme using quickshade so that these miniatures can be replicated easily by their factory painters.  These are going to be the master models for their prepaint line and I must say I am quite excited to have my work as their inspiration.  Due to the request of the client I was not able to provide WIP pictures but now that they are complete I can provide the pictures of the finished products to my readers.  The client asked that I not add the static grass as he would like to add that himself.

Now that they are all done I can get to work on some other fun commissions including some Heavy Gear, Infinity, and Bolt Action.  Stay tuned for more pictures and even some neat tips.

So much blue...

Today I began the task of putting paint to miniature on this commission for Gordon and Hague.  I managed to get all the uniforms basecoated and ready for detailing tomorrow.  These are progresssing at a quick pace and I am finding the painting to be quite enjoyable.  Now the fun part begins tomorrow as I paint the bedrolls, leathers, skin, and musket.  If all goes as planned I should have them all ready for Quickshade as the client requested.  I will say however that as in war no plan survives contact with the enemy or in this case paint.