Friday, June 11, 2010

Painted Ramshackle Figures

Hey all,

A brief update on my painting. I've not had much time to do it what with commuting a lot more now (1hr trainride each way - nice views though) and having two dogs who need a lot of attention. I try to get some done each weekend at the least as my wife (plus dogs) like to sleep in and get extra shut-eye. I take the opportunity to brew up some nice coffee and start painting or writing, depending on my mood.

In any case, the attention to detail needed for the Harbinger of Menoth, the layering needed for my SM honour guard and Marneus Calgar figures plus the sheer quantity of unpainted, large surface area vehicles I have yet to do meant that I was feeling uninspired.

Instead, I went into my massive collection of Ramshackle figures (I have all but about 4 figures that they produce) and pulled out a simple, easy one. It was a chance to work through a model from start to finish without too many worries of complex details or thinking up a fancy colour scheme. Instead I went with the muted look and had fun with it.

This led to a burst of inspiration and before you know it, I've finished off the entire Society Against Mischief (4 figures) as well as doing a mostly finished Oliver Sprockett (from the Society of Intrepid Explorers). Now I have 8 well-to-do Victoriana figures just raring to bring some good manners to those ruffians in the radioactive wastes of the future.


Here we have (L-R) Fidelia St-John Smythe the sniper, Spanny (technically not Victoriana, but she was another cool resin figure to work with), Thaddeus Borlase-Arlington, Archibald Trumpton on Buzzby his vehicle, Oliver Sprockett and his calculating machine, and Matilda Grey the medic.




Here they are swapped around so you can see the parrot Thaddeus has, the cool letterig on Sprockett's printout, and Spanny's rather high-cut hot pants ;-)



Last up is the Society with their vehicle, The Brass Coffin. Sadly the shield broke during our move here but a bit of resin fixed that up. I've also added an assault marine for scale. What's interesting is that he looks pretty bulky compared to the Ramshackle figures, giving you a good idea of what a true-scale figure would look like relative to a marine. Some of the GW human figures are really bulked up when looked at this way. You can see now why Fidelia comes with a dinky small base, since she's supposed to ride in the tank and take down enemies that way.


Also in the photo, note my 3 new Privateer Press P3 paint pots. I have Menoth White Base, Menoth White Highlight and Morrow White. I really like the trend PP have of making base coats for their major schemes (i.e. Cygnar Blue, Khador Red) and then providing a complimentary highlight colour. It really helps keep the tones even and highlighting consistent when you know the pigments are in the same shade. They are really easy to blend as well and water down excellently without getting thin or failing to cover.
The paint pots are like the old-school GW ones with the airtight lid that pops closed afterwards. They come sealed from the factory too, which is nice as I always wondered how I would know if my GW paints had been used by somebody else since they lack any kind of seal. They have about 18ml of paint in them I believe, giving them a price advantage over GW at their similar basic cost. To be honest, I can see me replacing all of my GW paints with these as I run out/dry out of the paints I already have invested in. They really do cover nicely, thin out well and are better value for money. I'm sure there will be a few colours that are challenging to match but I'm happy to work around that. The only downside is that the paints are too tall for my little set of drawers I keep the GW paints in.


I hope everyone is doing well and I will continue to update my progress on things as and when I get time.

All the best,

Pete

1 comment:

  1. I really like the look and style of the ramshackle models and you've painted them consistent with that style. Too bad the truck shield broke, still looks cool though.

    I have a love-hate relationship with GW paints. They definitely are great for shading and wet-blending but are horrible for basecoats. I generally find a mix of vallejo and GW paints produces great results.

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