#03200 Benedikt & Base

[cookjimjr]

This is my 3rd project mini this year and will be my 4th Reaper miniature, so I thought I would give this work in progress stuff a try.

 

I am working on Benedikt, Evil Warrior, #03200 and the base I plan to put him on.

 

The idea I had for this was partially inspired by a Forgotten Realms Novel, by R.A. Salvatore, "The Crystal Shard" and from a piece seen in the show it forum and now in the inspiration gallery, from Anne Cooper.

 

As you can see from the 2 photos below, I have kind of decided to do this WIP after I have started, but hopefully not too far along to give everyone an idea of what I have done.

 

Here are the steps leading up to the photos:

 

1)I cleaned & Prepped Benedikt.

2)Prepped, Pinned, and glued his blade arm.

3)Gave him a Bath to remove any uglies and oils.

4)I then gave him a good coat of Reaper, Brush-On Primer.

5)While that was drying, I started on the base. I am using a GW 40mm Round Plastic Base. I started the basing out with Cutting, Sculpting (a little), and sanding balsa wood to form the crystals you see in the photos. I then traced where Benedikt's base would be positioned on to the GW base.

6)I then super glued them in the positions you see them in.

7)Once they were set, I primed the base and crystals.

8)To fill the gaps between crystals and to get them ready for the scene I have in mind, I used Elmer's Glue. You can see it nearly dry.

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow I will go over the next step for the base; adding snow (my economical and maybe weird snow). I will also be giving Benedikt's armor the base coat for his standard armor NMM.

 

My plans are to have glowing violet crystals coming out of the snow, which will be seen reflected in the armor and slightly seen in the other clothing of Benedikt. The glow will also be seen in the surrounding snow.

 

Any comments, suggestions, or warnings not to do something, are welcome as we go.

 

Since I have never done this, I am not sure how I keep adding on to this post, or do I start a new topic each day? I will see what happens tomorrow.

 

You all have a great evening.

 

 

Jim Cook

[Mini Killer]

Can't wait to follow this one.

[Jabberwocky]

Looking forward to seeing this one progress! I think typically, you just post in this thread; some folks will update the title of the thread with something like "Updated */*/10" if you want, but that's optional. I like the concept, but I have a quick question. What are you planning on doing with Benedikt's broccoli base? Will you remove it or just glue in place? Either way is fine, but I usually will greenstuff around it to get it flush with the rest of the base. That may pose a bit of a problem with the crystals already in place. The snow may work if applied thickly enough to cover both as long as you don't mind have a portion of your crystals covered.

[cookjimjr]

Looking forward to seeing this one progress! I think typically, you just post in this thread; some folks will update the title of the thread with something like "Updated */*/10" if you want, but that's optional. I like the concept, but I have a quick question. What are you planning on doing with Benedikt's broccoli base? Will you remove it or just glue in place? Either way is fine, but I usually will greenstuff around it to get it flush with the rest of the base. That may pose a bit of a problem with the crystals already in place. The snow may work if applied thickly enough to cover both as long as you don't mind have a portion of your crystals covered.

 

 

Yes, I thought about removing the base, but since it is attached to more than his feet, I felt it better if I didn't. I plan building the snow up to his base and adding a little onto the base. In this evenings post I will explain how that should not affect the crystals as placed. I am going to try to blend Benedikt's base's rough look with how the snow looks. When you see how I make my snow this evening you will get a better feeling for it.

[Mercius]

I am following this one closely...it is an awesome sculpt and the base is already shaping up to be really cool. I should be doing some painting tonight so hopefully I will have a new WIP up here soon too.

[awong]

Very cool. Looking forward to this project's progression.

Quick question...because you used balsa for the gems, will you be sealing and smoothing the surfaces more? I'm reading either grain or pitting on the surfaces and I'm wondering if that might spoil the gem-like quality of your future applications of paint. Perhaps using plastic sprue or plastic rod might give you a smoother surface to work on?

Regardless, looks like a good start to a cool idea.

-AW

[cookjimjr]

Very cool. Looking forward to this project's progression.

Quick question...because you used balsa for the gems, will you be sealing and smoothing the surfaces more? I'm reading either grain or pitting on the surfaces and I'm wondering if that might spoil the gem-like quality of your future applications of paint. Perhaps using plastic sprue or plastic rod might give you a smoother surface to work on?

Regardless, looks like a good start to a cool idea.

-AW

 

 

I noticed the both the grain and porous surfaces as I primed them. I was thinking about going over it a few times with a little watered down Elmer's to seal the imperfections and then re-priming them. It is funny how you see things you did not before once primer is put on. Anyway, I had not thought about plastic spruce. I've got tons of it and i could have used the Dremel to shape it also. The Balsa was close at hand when the idea popped in my head. I will have to try the plastic spruce on another project. thanks for the advice. We will see either tonight or tomorrow whether my Elmer's idea works.

 

Jim

[cookjimjr]

Sorry everyone, I wanted to post this last night, but it was snowing here and I needed to get to bed early, because I help my wife with her paper route and needed to get up at 1 AM.

 

OK, After evening #2 (2/19/2010), I am starting to get the feeling I should have either used the plastic spruce, AWONG suggested or sculpted the Crystals out of Green-Stuff. I am going to see what happens. If it does not turn out, I may have to go that route.

 

Anyway, last night I gave the base coat of GW Codex Grey to Benedikt's Armor and Shield to get it ready for the NMM. I have not decided what color to paint his cloak or armor accents yet. I was thinking on waiting on that until I got the base how I want it. I also mixed up my snow mixture and applied it to the base and Benedikt's base. The mixture is purposely pasty so I can shape it some as I go. I added some pieces of cork for some jagged rocks poking out of the snow. I also, went over the crystals with a couple of coats of thinned Elmer's, let it dry and re-primed them. Still looks rather rough. I may just sand them down again and apply brush on gloss coat as a sealer.

 

In the photos you can see where I'm at after last night. I also added a photo of the materials used to make my economical snow. Here is the mixture. I use 1 part Elmer's Glue to 1 part of the cheapy FOLKART, Wicker White, Acrylic paint. I mix that together with a couple of medium brush fulls of water. I then start adding Arm & Hammer Baking Soda a pinch at time until I get an almost paste consistency. You have to dab it on fairly thick in the areas you want it and then move it around and shape it with anything you think would work. I use a tooth pick and the back end of the brush I am using to dab it on. If anyone is going to try this out, USE YOUR WORST BRUSHES! The mixture will clean out, but it can mess up the bristles when applying it. I hope you can tell in the photos the snow looks grainy, and I think makes it look pretty realistic. I will later add a wash of Reaper MS Snow Shadow in the areas I feel would have shadows.

 

Wow, I feels like I typed a book!

 

 

In the third photo I set Benedikt on the 40mm base to get a feel for where I needed to adjust my snow placement and where the gaps would be that I would need to fill with the snow mixture when I permanently mount him.

 

Jim

[Mercius]

Being evil I would go for red, maybe GW Mechrite red, with highlights of blood red and extreme highlights of blazing orange perhaps? Thats the colors I used on the beard of my dwarf from my first post and I think it would match well with the mood...ust my two coppers. I am doing the antithesis of this guy right now, can't remember the name, but the same feel just a good paladin, with lots of armor....I am going to attempt NMM on his armor to see if I can pull it off, I have had a run of bad luck attempting that style, but worse come to worse I can always paint over it....Our two minis might have to battle each other one day, good pally vs evil pally I like the crystals, so I am hoping you can pull the wood off and make it smooth, they looks really great on the base!

[cookjimjr]

Thanks Mercius, I may have to try the reds. I was searching the Net today and looking at crystals and noticed that all of the natural crystal formations have flaws, pits and some even looked like they had cracks inside the crystal. I think I will be ok with the rough look in areas. Now if I can make the paint job look like crystals.

 

Jim

[cookjimjr]

Well, here is a pic after last nights 3 hours of work (Evening #3)

 

 

As you can see, Benedikt is starting to come around now that I have started on the purple glow to the armor and have gone with the Red for the cape as suggested also with the purple glow started. I have a lot of clean up and some more glazing (Now that I know what that is) to do on the front side of the armor and I need to start bringing up the highlights. I tried lining with black last night, but I am not sure black was the best choice on the front. It will probably work on the back, but maybe I should use a dark blue on the front? I had never lined before coming to this forum, so I still need to see what works best.

 

I worked on the crystals and the glow in the snow on the base and I painted, shaded, Highlighted and added some purple glow to the rocks around the crystals.

 

I started out the evening by sanding the crystals some more and it seemed to help smooth it some. As I stated earlier, I was looking at photos of crystals and noticed that none that I looked at were that smooth all over. Most had chips, pits, and cracks, so I am not really too worried about the imperfections by using the balsa. With the paint applied now, I think they look better.

 

 

I have never painted a crystal before so it has been an adventure. I still need to do some work to clean them up and to try to make them seem a little transparent. Not sure I will pull that off, but we will see.

 

Today, I plan on base coating the tunic (or what ever that is)and the armor accents. I will also work on the chain mail hanging down in front. From there we will see how it goes and what else I get to.

 

Have a great Sunday,

Jim

[Mercius]

The crystals look amazing, fantastic job! I love the red on the cape too, but maybe I am biased since I suggested it lol. Not sure about the lining, but I think a dark blue might work, I tend to use washes to do my lines and I usually use a color similar to the base color to keep it from looking to stark, although the stark look has it's benefits too and looks great when done right...it all boils down to what you think looks best. The NMM is coming along great too, want to teach me some tricks lol. Keep trucking, look forward to more!

[Ferox]

Lookin' good! I like the NMM on the armour, although the highlight on Benedikt's right pauldron is a bit too big for my tastes -- well, maybe it's frosted over. Similarly, the big red highlights on the cloak make it look a bit plastic-y; at first I thought it was the size of the bright highlight but now I think it's the quick variation between bright red and deep purple.

 

Great work on the crystals and the OSL on the snow. You pulled that off beautifully.

[cookjimjr]

Lookin' good! I like the NMM on the armour, although the highlight on Benedikt's right pauldron is a bit too big for my tastes -- well, maybe it's frosted over. Similarly, the big red highlights on the cloak make it look a bit plastic-y; at first I thought it was the size of the bright highlight but now I think it's the quick variation between bright red and deep purple.

 

Great work on the crystals and the OSL on the snow. You pulled that off beautifully.

 

Thanks for the comments / recommendations. The transition on the cape looks starker in the photos than in person, but I am planning on doing some glazing to ease the look a little. Pauldron? is that the shoulder plate on his sword arm? As much I as enjoy painting minis, I have not really studied the historical names for weapons and armor. Actually I have not highlighted anything on Benedikt yet, maybe it's how the light is hitting it? I have done a few glazes, which could account for that look.

 

Jim

[cookjimjr]

The crystals look amazing, fantastic job! I love the red on the cape too, but maybe I am biased since I suggested it lol. Not sure about the lining, but I think a dark blue might work, I tend to use washes to do my lines and I usually use a color similar to the base color to keep it from looking to stark, although the stark look has it's benefits too and looks great when done right...it all boils down to what you think looks best. The NMM is coming along great too, want to teach me some tricks lol. Keep trucking, look forward to more!

 

Mercius, I wish I felt comfortable enough with my NMM skills to give tips. The only thing I have done is Keep looking at other peoples NMM and I also look at paintings from Boris and other fantasy artists that seem to be able to capture the look of real metals on canvas. The other thing I am doing is just telling my self that I am going to keep at it until I get it right every time. I still use Metallics on a few.

 

I was going to tell you that I am almost done with a '85 Grenadier Dwarf that I am sure you might like. I was not really trying to do anything special with him, but it looks OK. I will pop him into the Show Off forum when he's done.

 

Jim