Clutch of Fear

[Kangaroorex]

I am not good at telling stories on paper.  my mind races far ahead of where the story wants to go and I never get it right so I will let the diorama tell itself.  this is an original copy of the Clutch of Fear produced by Ral Partha in the early 1990s.  The piece is high lead content.  so soft infact that without some strategic pinning the joints fail (or so I have been told). 

 

The basic story is that 2 egg thieves come to relieve a mother dragon of one of her eggs and she comes back early catching them just as they are leaving.  The setting on the box seems to be some type of sulfur spring or volcanic hot spring and I get the impression of stillness of morning broken only by the shriek of an enraged mother.

 

I went pretty classic on this one, going with the red dragon and robin blue eggs like the box art but decided that the spines and chest plates should be more contrast than the slightly darker red of the box.  I took the original base pieces included in the box and expanded them to a small diorama of a hotspring using Magic water, a transparent epoxy to create the water around the spring.  The resin developed a little bit of a lip at the edge but I wasn't willing to cut it down and risk the clarity of the water by trying to sand and polish the resin. (its more rubbery that solid and difficult to polish -- I tried on two sample pieces and it didn't work out well.)

 

anyway the WIP is here if your interested:  https://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/94482-a-new-year-a-new-old-dragon/

 

and here are the images of the final project.  Hope everyone has as much fun looking as I did creating this.  Feel free to comment and question away as always.  The project was a lot of fun and the they got the expression of the egg thief who is looking back to see an enraged mother dragon bearing down on him just about right!

 

One shot from the human's perspective to give an idea of the trouble they are in....

And one from a mothers perspective as she hones in on the ones who are trying to steal her precious eggs!

 

 

[Kuroneko]

You really outdid yourself this time, it's a fantastic job on a gorgeous mini

[billeecats]

Love it! I love how every part of the scene tells some part of the story. And I absolutely love the paint job! And I'm so glad you left the little dragon in the picture. He really adds to the unfolding scene. So very well done! 

[Glitterwolf]

[Kangaroorex]

14 hours ago, Kuroneko said:

You really outdid yourself this time, it's a fantastic job on a gorgeous mini

 

thanks @Kuroneko!  I really loved how this came out. everything seems to have come out well, right down to the blue chunk of Lapis.  In my mind Mama had found the stone and loved it so she used It as a marker to use for her nest.  my only disappointment was that the clear resin wicked up a lot more than I really wanted to.  its hard to see if you aren't right on top of it but the inverted meniscus on the resin edges is much higher than I liked.  I also had to go back and repaint a lot of the rocks because the resin migrated up the rocks giving them a wet look I wasn't happy with. 

 

But that was a minor gripe, the piece is stunning and it just feels real to me!

 

13 hours ago, billeecats said:

Love it! I love how every part of the scene tells some part of the story. And I absolutely love the paint job! And I'm so glad you left the little dragon in the picture. He really adds to the unfolding scene. So very well done! 

 

It really does tell a great story.  even the little pseudo-dragon adds to the scene and, even though he was a last minute addition, I think him and his little cave make a great addition to the scene.  In my mind, he was basically Mama dragon's baby cam, someone to watch the nest while she went out hunting.  the scene was that she had gotten up early to hunt and prepare for the imminent hatching of her children.  While she was hunting, she heard the shrill scream of the little guy warning her that her eggs were in jeopardy! She raced back to the nest to discover that the little guy had been chased back to his cave and the thieves were removing the first egg and now she is deciding how to deal with the horrible kidnappers! 

 

[Iridil]

Wonderful diorama - all those different blues and the gorgeous water. Really like the way you made different depths to the water and how the dragon's wings tie the piece together. Fantastic!

[Metalchaos]

Beautiful diorama. The red and blue are very bright, it's amazing. I also like the water effect on the stones.

I read the WIP but I haven't found, which resin brand did you use for the water?

[72moonglum]

Wow, this turned out spectacularly!

[Samedi]

Good to see him done! This is truly a piece to be proud of!

[Kangaroorex]

5 hours ago, Metalchaos said:

Beautiful diorama. The red and blue are very bright, it's amazing. I also like the water effect on the stones.

I read the WIP but I haven't found, which resin brand did you use for the water?

 

Thank you!  I definitely love how vibrant everything is too!

 

It's called 'Magic Water'   Its a two part epoxy with a 24 hour cure time. It takes dye really well and it can be de-bubbled with CO2.  Apparently it weakens the surface tension causing the bubbles to rise and pop by blowing across the surface once or twice for the first hour or so

 

I haven't used it yet this way but it's got a long mid stage which is supposed to allow you to set thing in the resin so they look like they are floating