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Quick and easy paintjob! I like his expression! Thanks for looking 🙂

I finally got around to doing some basing on my take on reaper's Gauth, in bones I do not know the SKU unfortunately, but I think it is from Bones 4? Anyway, I tried to paint him up as a White dragon, but I also wanted to keep it interesting, so I highlighted from three different colours on separate parts of the hide, mostly pale purple, grey on the central spines down his back, and turquoise on the belly! Take a look, let me know what you think, c&c's more than welcome!

So we are nearing the end of the road. This is the very last of the 163 miniatures in the Bones 4 Core set! Last but not least! Or more accurately, Last and the largest by far! Who am I? I am known as Millstone Shover, Barrel Drinker, Demon Rider and Camel Puncher! But I am no one when compared to you, O Gauth the Magnificent! Gauth the Golden! Gauth the Tremendous! Gauth the Unassessably Wealthy! Gauth the Mighty! Gauth the Terrible! Gauth the Stupendous! Gauth the Tyrannical! Gauth the Impenetrable! Gauth the Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities! Gauth the Does Not Fit In Standard Shelving! Tommy Too Tall here is about 27cm / over 10 inches tall! I made him a 125mmx100mm base to keep him stable. I had some drooping woes that I have documented in my fixing Droopy The Dragon post back in November of last year. I can categorically and firmly state that the fixes have ....worked! Gauth has been standing tall and proud these last few months with no sign of any renewed droopage. I experimented with removing the knee-brace for a while, but then he sorta slumped, so I put it back. Painting: Black undercoat. Scalecolor Navy Blue all over. When dry, I drybrushed the green parts with Citadel Base Waaagh Flesh, Vallejo Game Color Jade Green 72.026, and Jade Green mixed with Scalecolor Hellbound Flesh SFG-16 in two steps. The Blue parts are done in the Navy Blue drybrushed with Army Painter Crystal Blue and Vallejo Game Color Magic Blue 72.021. This was then mixed with Hellbound Flesh, with pure Hellbound Flesh on the top. The Yellow parts are Vallejo Model Color Khaki Grey 70.880 with Citadel Layer Iyanden Yellow, with Scalecolor Hykey Yellow (a yellowy bone) on top. Plus some small details such as eyes, tongue and teeth in other colours I do not remember which paints I used. So now the task is done! Challenge complete! Achievement unlocked! But the road goes ever on and on... #7 Gauth the Dragon Bones 4 Core set, 2019 Reaper Miniatures unknown sculptor Made in Bonesium PVC 125x100mm base. should be available from reapermini.com some time in the future in Bones.

One of the least appealing qualities of the Bones PVC material is the lack of structural strength in some models. This has been most apparent in top-heavy minis, such as some of the Dragons and a few of the early monsters like the Swamp Troll king and Bone Devil. Usually they go together well and stand up ok for a while. But over time...they tend to droop. Enter Gauth. One of the last old-style metal dragons that has been converted into Bones. Gauth is a part of the Bones 4 kickstarter Core set. The core set minis are made in the classic bones material and not in the new and more rigid Bones Black. I believe that if Gauth had been a Bones Black mini, this might not have been an issue (or at least, it would have been a good test of the material). This is a screencap from the Bones 4 preview video. This shows what Gauth is supposed to look like. When I built mine, it also stood high and proud like this. However...it began to droop, eventually the muzzle touched the ground. So I fixed the tail to the base to create a counterpull. (Adding a third point of contact to the base has worked wonders with several other of my drooping dragons. This pulled the muzzle up from the ground a couple of cms. Sadly, I don't have pictures of the cowtow, as this was some time ago and did not think to take any photos at the time. But then the wings also were wonky, and got worse as time went by. Gah! Do Not Want! Sad now! So how to rescue this Dragon from the Bins of Despair? Using the hot water trick to repositon the bits will only fix it for a limited time, as gravity inevitably will pull the bits back into it's clingy embrace. The whole problems is the lack of stiffness in the material that cannot withstand gravity. So how to add strength? One way would be to give it a literal skeleton by drilling longs holes lengthwise though the legs and wings and inserting long metal rods to stiffen them. I have successfully drilled out legs in this manner and added rods on smaller models, which has worked fine to stiffen that part, and have stayed straight over time.. But this method is really not feasible on this model as drillbits in 1mm or so do not come in the kind of lengths that would be needed, and the bits would probably just snap as soon as you can look at them anyway. I have heard talk about using heated wire and shoving that in there, but have had rather limited success with that method when I earlier have tried doing that. So any stiffening would have to be external on this model. However, I don't think multiple splints would look very good. Anyhow, there are at least two issues that will need addressing here: 1) is the whole cowtow business with the droop of the body and the muzzle going down. 2) is the wings fanning out and becoming umbrellas. These will need seperate solutions. Enter Clippy the sacrificial victim to the Gods of Strength! Clippy must die so that others may live. His sacrifice will be remembered as the only good that came out of his annoying existence. (What were microsoft thinking when they introduced this irritant?) After murdering that irksome Clippy, the corpse is to be dismembered and used for something more rewarding. A simple bracing strut from the base to the right knee seems to have done the trick. You can see the tail tether in the close up. It is drilled and pinned (albeit a very short pin) and I have used some plastic putty with superglue to give the join some body and strength. Time will tell if this, together with the tail tether is enough to keep Gauth standing tall. This is just a test anyhow and the rod is not glued nor fastened in any way exept it is held quite firmly in place by the pressure of Gauth bearing down on it. And the wings very handily straightened out when held together. Again, this is a test. I will be trying different ways to get them to hold in this position if they pass the test of time. Success! So that is three things done here. the tail is fastened to the base. a strut has been put between the right knee and the base. the wings have been held together at the top claws. So far so good. Hopefully Gauth will hold in this position indefinately. We will see in a few days' time if other action is needed.

My own sculpt of an eyeball beholderkin, next to a D&D prepainted drow. I imagine him saying in a creepy voice, "Mistress ... I detect intruders." (Related to my first attempt at a eyeball beholderkin familiar ... http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/64578-20021-bathalian-mind-flayer-with-eyeball-beholderkin-familiar)

I sculpted a familiar for the Illithid, an Eyeball Beholderkin. Way back when there was no miniature for a tiny Beholder, so I made my own -- the Eyeball is the first figure I ever sculpted! It's held aloft by a black post attached to the base, which I removed from the picture.