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Trampled under foot would’ve worked for Tommy, but I’m all out of Zeppelin ideas for these guys’ names. They look cool anyways, maybe a Gangs of New York or Rocky theme for the boxing badger? Clubber perhaps or Drago?

Thanks tzurk, thanks gobert. Not sure we're there with the Sep name yet. I have a simple one but I'm still hoping for better.

Not a huge amount of progress today, or maybe just not very exciting progress. Important none the less. Badger's legs got fur and froggy got hands, a shield from my bits box and a little bag. (On the other side! Silly me)

A few steps closer at least.


So next I thought I might try something a bit different.

I wanted to make a running rabbit (because Watership Down is the greatest rabbit book ever and it teaches that to a rabbit running is life.)
So I drew this idea and have sketched out the expected wire frame in red. I'm going to attempt to document the wire frame building process in more detail this time if I can. Expect more pics for a step by step and hopefully we'll end up with a similar and not too big running rabbit mini.

Sculpting Update

Froggy is done. I had thought maybe Ribbit Plant. I don't super love it, happy if anyone can think of better. Happy with the sculpt at any rate.
And badger (can anyone think of a boxer name badger pun?) got hairier.

Frog looks good, and Ribbit Plant is indeed an amusing name, though possibly better for a spy frog. Only thing I can think of for the badger is Tyson Furry, but that's not really a badger pun.

Tyson Furry! That is it! Thanks Vejut.

I'll not bore yous with another picture of a slightly more furry badger. His arms are done with wrapped fists, so at this point it's just his head left to do.

Instead, as promised. Here's the step by step wire frame rabbit.
I started off with a paper clip opened out and gave the lower foot a good couple of cm to go into the cork. The bend traces the shape of the leg up into a loop around the top of the thigh and back into the pelvis.

It goes into a tight loop at the centre of the pelvis and comes out of the loop going up the spine and finishes with a wider double loop to form the shoulders.

That's paperclip 1.

So next I took another paperclip and looped it around the pelvis loop with a little poking up to be the bunny tail. The long end comes out from the centre to wide the pelvis before bending forward into the leg shape. I gave enough for a good long rabbit foot and snipped the rest off.

I added some superglue to hold the joint in place and that's paperclip 2.

Next I took a piece of wire to form the arms. Starting from one end I made a bend for the elbow of the right arm held forward an another bend going perpendicular into the shoulder. The length of wire goes across to the other shoulder and bends back down and then has a shallower angle for the elbow of the rearward held left arm.

[url=https://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/1091787-.html]
As you can see it's much more simple than that description suggests. That wire slides into the shoulder loop of paperclip 1 and is glued into place. That's wire 3.

Then I eyeballed the figure against the last "rabbit" I made (which turned out to be the size of a hare) and discovered that this one was heading toward too big territory again. So I pressed the right leg into the cork more. Snipped a bit off the other limbs and repositioned them a bit. Then I put a link in the spine and shortened it.

Now he's about the right size.

Then for the head. Another paperclip bent double and twisted together. The loop is bent into a rough bunny head shape and the ears have a little bit of waviness.


Finally, a little loop around the twist and a spike to hold it on.

The ears might be a bit long but I can snip them down if I need to. Better that than have to build on extra support later.
So that's it then, we're ready for milliput.

Tyson Furry is a very fitting name, both sculpts are coming along great!
And really cool to see the "tutorial" on the rabbit, really fascinating to see the method behind the sculpting.

Thanks Viterbi. I know it's a bit unconventional and steel wire isn't the most forgiving to work with. It can sometimes get overworked and will just snap which can be frustrating. But I tried Tim wire and couldn't handle how much softer and less rigid it was.

So on with progress for tonight.

So here's the bunny runner with the milliput on.
I used to think of this stage as just filling space to save greenstuff but more and more I'm finding its the time when I really set the shape of the mini. It's this stage that I can see the full form come together over the wire skeleton. Bulking out some areas and leaving wire exposed if I feel like the frame is actually setting the limit for as big as I want to go. I can also see where the wire needs adjusting, bending or cutting if necessary.
I've also found the more wire I can cover with milliput the better as greenstuff doesn't really like to sit on bare wire and will move around a lot while you're trying to sculpt something like a proper dog-leg shape.
Anyway. You'll see the ears are absolutely huge. I expect I'll file them down a bit to get a cleaner rounder shape if I can but I do like the great big ears.

Also...

Tyson Furry has a head and a face and looks fit for a fist fight. I had a notion I might give him a hood, like some kind of Undertaker entrance costume. I'll see how he looks painted up though. I suspect his nice stripy badger face will not be improved by hiding it under a WWE gimmick.

The bunny runner is looking cool so far! I like the action filled pose and the big ears. I like your thought process about not needing to cover every bit of the wire, I'll have to try to think that way.

Tyson Furry looks great too, and I agree that it's probably better to see his striped head without a hood.

Thanks Syro. It's funny the things people find useful, like the thing about the exposed wire. Glad you got something out of it. Lookig at his head I'm thinking I'll maybe take some snips to his snout too, it's a bit long for a rabbit I think.
Milliput is great. It's strong enough to hold shape but easy to break or drill or sand if you need to. Honestly the whole shape is there on the rabbit at this stage and the greenstuff is almost just a skin on top that I can texture and add detailed features to. I find the thicker the layer of greenstuff the more it moves and bulges out of shape.

Anyway, Update for tonight.

These three have got proper bases and are all ready for the spray primer.

And always doubling up on the sculpting jobs.

Bunny's got some green and a new mystery mini has appeared! I tend to have two on the go at once so that if I finish doing part of one and want to stop working on it (so I don't accidentally smoosh the bit I've just sculpted) but I have a bit of mixed greenstuff left over, I can move onto the other one and do a little bit there. Or if I'm just bored of one I'll maybe have more interest in the other. Anyway, I'll let you have a guess at what it is as usual.

And then lastly I've finally gotten this fella painted at last.

He's a sparrowhawk so the name has to be Ged.


From the back he looks like a different bird.


But honestly it's the same mini.


That's me for now. Sadly no side by side comparison this time as I've not got anyone new painted up. Maybe next time. If I recall I've missed painting a weasel sculpt that I can show side by side with an Oathsworn weasel too. And I have a couple or Skaven in base colours already so they're close to showing too. So lots more still to come for this project in 2021.

Very nice Crowe.

Cheers,

CB

Thanks Cap.

Work on this guy is progressing well

I decided this might be a perfect opportunity to have someone with a sling.


In his other hand he's holding a rather large stone. To sling.
Still the head to do. As ever the last part. You can see I've snipped his nose down into a more lapine shape.

No guesses as to what the other sculpt is going to be?
I'd show another progress pic but it'll give it away.

oooh, slings!

On the other guy, I dunno, maybe an ant? Its a very buggy kinda shape, I think. That or a ferret on all fours. Interesting to find out.

I am going to guess... a snail!

Great progress as ever. My guess in that he’s very hungry

Nope, sorry everyone, it's not anyone in this picture.

And I'm not making a shell for Slimon.

I suppose it's a bit of an oddity as its one of the strangest but cutest things in Burrows & Badgers. But if you'd never seen it amongst the range you'd never guess.

Here's the progress shot.

It's a Shrew Knight Errant riding a stag beetle! Not an easy one to guess that.

Hm... yeah, i probably would not have guessed that, ha. I love it though.

Thanks AT. I could buy one... But then I could make one too.

It's coming together now. Few more details on the beetle's head and lots more work on the shrew still to go. And the lance will be fun. I started this one a bit differently. The first thing was the blob of milliput that then had all the wire legs etc added to it and covered in greenstuff. (After me saying I don't like to do that. Apparently sometimes I do)

So here he is.

The fastest rabbit in Watership Down (honestly a fantastic book, so highly recommended. No animated adaptation has ever really got it right. Well worth the read.) is called Dandylion. So that's the name I'm going with.
You can't really see his big ears in this pic but I wanted to show the little rabbit icon on his tabard.

Very nice. Looks to be in a suitable hurry!

You really captured the motion in that rabbit, amazing job!
And love the sparrow, it looks like it came alive from a 80's animated movie, really cool contrast between the front and the back!

Love the running bunny and the beetle with rider looks very promising already. Oh, and the berserker frog is also superb.

Thanks everyone. He dies look like he's in a hurry but I'll try and avoid painting him white as I'm not goin for the Alice in Wonderland look.

Progress for tonight.

Armour is building piece by piece slowly into a full suit. The head is already too large and misshapen so I'll have to apply some judicious snippage before I try and make an armoured shrew face, however that goes. And the lance looks like needs filed down more too. I'm finding this one very tricky but trying hard not to let him get oversized.

 theCrowe wrote:
Thanks everyone. He does look like he's in a hurry but I'll try and avoid painting him white as I'm not goin for the Alice in Wonderland look.

Funny you should say that, A few posts back I was tempted to suggest you replace the stone for his sling with a pocket watch, but I decided not to.
To echo other people, the movement in your hare really looks great. I'm loving how the knight errant shrew on the stag is turning out too.

You’ve been going some this week! You’re 100% right, I would never have guessed a Shrew riding a Beetle. Great progress on them so far. The dynamism that you’ve achieved with Dandylion is fantastic, continuous win on this thread!

I really like Tyson Furry!

Thanks for the comments and encouragement guys. Yeah, I'm pleased with the energy in Dandylion's pose, though compared to my Oathsworn rabbit he's actually pretty bulky, almost as big as Elmer really. But he's staying on a 30mm base for a rabbit. (For now) I think maybe my wire armitures are too detailed in their curves etc and it's making them overly large. I'm still struggling with the smaller size of the shrew and think maybe he's a little short for a knight but he's coming along.

In the meantime, some painted minis.

Nothing fancy, just these two. Man these are horrible minis to paint. I can't imagine the misery of painting a whole Skaven army! Sheesh, massive props to anyone who ever achieved that particular feat of endurance. i had another couple of Heroquest Skaven incoming from eBay but they got lost in the post. Not even sad about that. I'd still be happy if they showed up one day but honestly I think I'm done adding Skaven to my Burrows & Badgers collection.

It's been awhile since I've check on this thread, amazing work. You sculpt so much life into these little critters, they're a joy to look at.

You paintjobs certainly help bring them to life, keep up the great work!

The regal Skaven painted up pretty well, even if they were a PITA!

Nice job on the skaven - no better way to say "get stuffed" to a bunch of unpleasant minis than to finish them off so you don't need to work on them anymore!

Little stag rider is coming along great - short for a stormtrooper maybe, but just right for a knight!

Yeah, they may have been a pain but they came out great! The spear skaven has a nice little cap