Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Painted lizards!

Man, did these guys ever take a long time to finish. These Warhammer figures have way more fiddly details than the 1/72 minis I'm used to, even though they're both about the same size in this case. Still, despite a few reservations, I'm pretty proud of how my 1/72 lizardmen turned out. Partly for that reason, and partly because I finally figured out how to activate micro-mode on our camera, you're getting a lot of photos today.

The whole saurian regiment.

The lizardman champion is part of the Stegadon Crew I got at a bitz store.

GOOD MORNING!!!

The bruisers are old Saurus warriors with newer weapon swaps.

The shaman guy is another Stegadon crewman with a kitbashed totem, the top part of which snapped off during the dipping process and is currently held together with superglue and prayers. The sorcerer to the right is actually a D&D kobold miniature from the Castle Ravenloft boardgame, but I think he makes a fine 1/72 lizardmen along with the Warhammer minis.

I got these older-model archers in the same eBay lot as the Sauruses (Sauri?).

The melee warriors are either Stegadon Crew or Skink bits I got for cheap on eBay.  The spears are 1/72 scale replacements, so they didn't look ridiculous.
The comparison shot with Sven the 1/72 comparison viking. They are a bit cartoony, but the Skinks and their friends hold up very well as 1/72 scale cold-blooded antagonists.
Things that went well: I'm quite pleased with the basic color scheme. Orange-and-purple was perhaps not the obvious choice, but it works and is quite distinctive. I'm also generally proud of my detail work, especially the faces. I haven't had minis that stare back at me quite like these do.

Things that worked less well: I'm developing a love-hate relationship with The Dip. I thinned it with some Naptha thinner, and it more or less behaved the way I wanted. But it was probably a bad idea to dunk these figures in the dip directly, with all their splayed limbs and crevasses. The sorcerer and archers are single-piece figures with more compact poses, so it was easier for me to wipe off the excess dip; it's not surprising that The Dip had the best effect on them. If I had applied The Dip with a brush on the others, they might have looked less splotchy. The Dip I use is also toxic, messy, difficult to clean, and apparently takes longer to dry than I thought (by the way, thanks to the TMP guys for your tips!). In the future I may try something else, like water-based floor polish mixed with paint or ink.

The lizardmen were a huge effort to assemble and paint, but I really do like the overall results. I'm still very glad my next project will be dudes in simple, monochromatic robes.

2 comments:

  1. They look great. You must have quite a large collection of 1/72nd minis

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    1. Thanks! And yes, I've acquired a pretty good collection, though I'm sure you have way more.

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