Ral Partha Shadowrun Feathered Serpent 10-861 (all metal)

[buglips*the*goblin]

So back in October 2017, the night before my first trip to Reapercon, I happened to be on eBay.ca and randomly stumbled across a Ral Partha Shadowrun Feathered Serpent listed by a seller located in Canada.  Being the more unusual all-metal variant, the vast majority of them being resin and Ralidium, it caught my interest.  Especially being in Canada, because eBay's global shipping program really ramps up shipping costs so it killed my ability to buy from US sellers except at dire need.  However, as I needed all of my hoarded money for ReaperCon and travel expenses, I couldn't buy it right then, so I added it to my watch list.  Then I went to ReaperCon and forgot all about it.

 

Shortly after I came back home, very exhausted, I fell asleep on my couch with the 1st Edition AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide on my face and woke up around 8 pm.  For some reason I felt compelled to check my email, and there was an "item ending soon" notice.  So, with 5 minutes to spare, I bought it. 

 

Now... my life is weird.  Not really super weird, it's just that for some reason my reality operates on the premise of "why do something normal when you can add a weird subplot?"   And so it is here, because I discovered that this all-metal beastie was made of lead.  I had heard of all-metal Feathered Serpents, but always assumed they were later lead-free production on account of Partha's resin experiment going drastically awry and being unpopular with customers.  I had never heard of a lead version, and if asked before getting one I would have guessed such a thing didn't exist.  So I had a mystery!

 

To solve this mystery, I needed information.  So I started at the first logical place - Lost Minis Wiki, hoping maybe there was a clue to be had.  Well, imagine my surprise when the Feathered Serpent there not only resembled mine... it actually WAS mine!  The very casting I had in my hands! 

 

http://www.miniatures-workshop.com/lostminiswiki/index.php?title=Shadowrun_(Ral_Partha)#10-861

 

So!  Since this creature is presently recorded for posterity as the exemplar on what is currently one of the top resources for old miniatures, and as I am never one to turn away from a weird and convoluted tale, I decided that its long-overdue transition from box to beautiful should also be recorded for posterity.  So here we are, and here we go!

 

 

 

 

[72moonglum]

So I'm hoping this means you're going to start painting it as well?

[buglips*the*goblin]

 

 

So the first thing I had to solve was a potentially serious issue with assembly.  This kit wasn't really designed to be lead, so that part on the right of the picture is a very heavy solid piece and it attaches to the lower body but overhangs by quite a lot.  In addition to that, it must also take the weight of both wings (also lead) and the forward neck and head (also lead).  So that is a pretty extreme amount of weight for that joint to support, and I had grave concerns about its ability to support itself in the long term.  Gravity never takes a day off. 

 

The obvious solution is to pin the joint, but with what?  It had to be narrow in diameter but extremely strong.  So I decided to use a 2mm diameter steel brad nail, which I would insert half an inch into each part.  

 

 

So I temporarily assembled the pieces and used a ruler to find my angle and the depth, which I marked on the model using a blue sharpie.  It shifted on the brace I used to hold it up for the picture, so it lined up better than it looks there.

 

 

Next I had to remove the attachment nub on the lower serpentine body, as I wouldn't be needing it since the brad nail would be doing all the joining work and it would just complicate the fit.  Having a razor saw would have made this task easier, but as I didn't have one then I made do.  You can cut through metal using an x-acto blade, but the safest way to do so is to apply moderate pressure and lever the blade back and forth.  Let it do the work, and you won't risk a serious injury.  It takes a while, but it'll get there.  And you'll still have all your fingers.

 

 

 

Drilling out the holes was quite a bit of work and I got so involved I forgot to take pics.  But it worked, I hacksawed the nail to size, glued it all together and once sufficiently dry I did a brief mock-up so I could see how it all went together and plan my painting strategy.

 

All that going to plan, it was time to cast Protection From Lead Rot.  Lead Rot is a fairly rare condition where a foreign substance begins to work on it and carbonate it, eventually consuming an entire miniature and turning it into toxic dust.  Rare or not, a few simple precautions can prevent it from getting a foothold.  The easiest prevention is to undercoat the bottom of the base.

 

So I primed it with reaper brush-on primer:

 

 

Then I went over it with reaper brown liner, and when that dried I finished it off with reaper brush-on sealer:

 

 

I will also attach the model to one of the new Reaper Base Boss oval bases when I get them, and so this model should endure for years to come!

 

Then I primed the upper part of the base and gave it a black wash to help pick out all the detail bits so I could figure out what's what:

 

 

And then I painted some old pro paint shield brown darkened with brown liner as a dirt basecoat (completely obliterating my black wash, but it served its purpose helping me plan my work)

 

 

And that's where it is for the moment.

Edited November 19, 2017 by buglips*the*goblin

[buglips*the*goblin]

1 hour ago, 72moonglum said:

So I'm hoping this means you're going to start painting it as well?

 

Yes, I bought this one hoping to do it in time so it could make into my "end of year" painting group shot as a nice addition.  Originally my intent was to do it in secret and reveal it as a surprise in that shot, but when my investigation into the lead question revealed it was the model featured on Lost Minis Wiki, I decided it needed to be documented.

 

If anyone is curious how I determined it was that exact model, I should note I peeled off the front sticker while trying to figure out why it was lead and before I went to LMW.  Once there I noticed that the blotted out "12" in "ages 12 years and up" on the front and back of the box looked awfully familiar, so I got mine and compared them.  It was done by hand with marker, and precisely matches.  In addition, the wear pattern on the box precisely matches up.  The LMW front of the box seems to show a streak mine doesn't (at least not in the picture in this thread), but that may have been an impermanent anomaly that later came off.  Given that a lead version is pretty rare to begin with, the odds of a lead version on LMW precisely matching the markings and wear detail on mine are so slim that I'm confident we can call it a match.  I may see if I can contact the uploader to ask questions, just to see if I can make it an unequivocal 100%. (and maybe also let them know what became of it)

Edited November 19, 2017 by buglips*the*goblin

[Glitterwolf]

Feathered Serpent!

 

That's awesome!

[buglips*the*goblin]

I contacted the seller and the pics on lostminiswiki are indeed his uploads so, yep, 100% confirmed it's the same one.

 

That's neat, because I'm always curious about the history of these oop minis when they finally get to me to be brought to life.  

[haldir]

Always did like seeing this one in the RP catalogs back in the day. Nice to see it being worked on. Carry on!!

[buglips*the*goblin]

So the next step was to drybrush some pro paint shield brown to help bring it back up a bit, and then over this I did a light drybrush of coat d'arms festering brown:

 

 

After looking it over to make sure it looked sufficiently random and gradiated, I then started using some Flames of War Colours of War shades as washes randomly placed all over.  Monty shade, bradley shade, rommel shade if you were curious - which translates to green, olive drab, yellow brown.  Because these are military colours that tend to the bland side, they make good stains for natural terrain.  This helps break up the monotony of drybrushing ground texture.  I don't generally use terrain materials on bases because my collection is part gaming and part museum - so I try to preserve the sculpted bases as they came and just paint them.

 

 

So I needed to drybrush again over this once it dried, and picked out one of my Reaper sample paints that was a light yellow-tan:

 

 

That's pretty decent looking vacant lot dirt.  So now to paint the assorted details.  I founf some bricks, which I painted with a mix of pro paint aged red brick and shield brown.  I found a machinegun vaguely resembling an MG 42 so I painted the metal parts with coat d'arms gun metal darkened with reaper brown liner, and painted the grip and stock with coat d'arms rat brown darkened with brown liner.  The concrete was reaper pro paint ash gray mixed with pro paint stone gray.  The broken asphalt was pro paint armor gray that will get a black wash later.  There was a motorbike wheel that I painted pro paint truesilver darkened with brown liner for the rim and straight bornw liner for the rubber bit.  There was a lumpy thing around the peg hole nearest the wheel that I didn't know what it was so I painted it troll flesh green. 

 

 

I then lightly drybrush the concrete bits with pro paint stone gray, and then a light drybrush of pro paint dragon white.  This was so I could add some simple, fun graffiti to the more prominent center bit of concrete.  I don't know how much will be hidden by the dragon, but I expect most of it will be so it's mostly for colour.

 

 

 

 

[knarthex]

14 minutes ago, buglips*the*goblin said:

So the next step was to drybrush some pro paint shield brown to help bring it back up a bit, and then over this I did a light drybrush of coat d'arms festering brown:

 

 

After looking it over to make sure it looked sufficiently random and gradiated, I then started using some Flames of War Colours of War shades as washes randomly placed all over.  Monty shade, bradley shade, rommel shade if you were curious - which translates to green, olive drab, yellow brown.  Because these are military colours that tend to the bland side, they make good stains for natural terrain.  This helps break up the monotony of drybrushing ground texture.  I don't generally use terrain materials on bases because my collection is part gaming and part museum - so I try to preserve the sculpted bases as they came and just paint them.

 

 

So I needed to drybrush again over this once it dried, and picked out one of my Reaper sample paints that was a light yellow-tan:

 

 

That's pretty decent looking vacant lot dirt.  So now to paint the assorted details.  I founf some bricks, which I painted with a mix of pro paint aged red brick and shield brown.  I found a machinegun vaguely resembling an MG 42 so I painted the metal parts with coat d'arms gun metal darkened with reaper brown liner, and painted the grip and stock with coat d'arms rat brown darkened with brown liner.  The concrete was reaper pro paint ash gray mixed with pro paint stone gray.  The broken asphalt was pro paint armor gray that will get a black wash later.  There was a motorbike wheel that I painted pro paint truesilver darkened with brown liner for the rim and straight bornw liner for the rubber bit.  There was a lumpy thing around the peg hole nearest the wheel that I didn't know what it was so I painted it troll flesh green. 

 

 

I then lightly drybrush the concrete bits with pro paint stone gray, and then a light drybrush of pro paint dragon white.  This was so I could add some simple, fun graffiti to the more prominent center bit of concrete.  I don't know how much will be hidden by the dragon, but I expect most of it will be so it's mostly for colour.

 

 

 

 

TAK????

 

Does she know about this????

[Clearman]

Given that this is Shadowrun, there could be a significant conspiracy behind who TAK really is.  Are they a slicer trying to gain notoriety? Some rigger experimenting with a graffiti equipped drone.  Just some poor ganger with too much time on their hands.

 

Doesn't really matter until someones paying us to find out.

[buglips*the*goblin]

8 minutes ago, knarthex said:

TAK????

 

Does she know about this????

 

The newcomer is a pretty big metal beastie, so maybe another big metal beastie wants to make sure the newbie knows whose turf this is.

 

3 minutes ago, Clearman said:

Given that this is Shadowrun, there could be a significant conspiracy behind who TAK really is.  Are they a slicer trying to gain notoriety? Some rigger experimenting with a graffiti equipped drone.  Just some poor ganger with too much time on their hands.

 

Doesn't really matter until someones paying us to find out.

 

Judging from the base debris, somebody paid one of the Ork Boyz to go over an tag the Feathered Serpent's lot.  And from the looks of it, it didn't end well for the Ork.  That's a pretty bold move, and it might be worth something to a Corporate Dragon to find out who's making plays to control territory.

[knarthex]

"Magical superiority through faster firepower...."

Sam Glade, P.I.

[aku-chan]

I'm utterly confused by a dragon having such modern debris on his base, but I do love that graffiti.

[Sylverthorne]

5 hours ago, aku-chan said:

I'm utterly confused by a dragon having such modern debris on his base, but I do love that graffiti.

Shadowrun had a pretty good handful of dragons, despite being .. er.. okay, so Shadowrun is magical cyberpunk with a side order of mayhem. There are dragons, cyborgs - magic cyborgs - and more guns than a Texas gunshow. It's glorious. You should totally try it.

 

This, I'm looking forward to seeing the end point on; I hadn't even known there /was/ a Shadowrun dragon made, and now I am fascinated. So, PAINT ON! And we'll watch from the sidelines and provide interesting commentary.

[Clearman]

1 hour ago, Sylverthorne said:

Texas gunshow

 

I. E. Saturday 

 

1 hour ago, Sylverthorne said:

I hadn't even known there /was/ a Shadowrun dragon made,

 

Ral Partha made two boxed set dragons, the feathered serpent here, and another called The Corporate Dragon. 

Edited November 22, 2017 by Clearman