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Fast work! Liking the variations on black while still defintely showing highlights on Jei. Doubt my remaining Usagi models get done soon, too many other things jumping, but liking yours!

Wonderful stuff Midlam miniatures is one of my favourite ranges so always good to see them about.

Vejut wrote:Fast work! Liking the variations on black while still defintely showing highlights on Jei. Doubt my remaining Usagi models get done soon, too many other things jumping, but liking yours!

It helps that the models are so simple-- essentially 3D versions of B&W illustrations-- so there isn't a lot of detail to pick out.

Llamahead wrote:Wonderful stuff Midlam miniatures is one of my favourite ranges so always good to see them about.

I have backed a number of their KS projects, and I like their chunky, hand-sculpted aesthetic a lot.

I've started on the last two UY minis: Kitsune and the Frightened Villager:


But first, I took a little break and painted up some Bad Squiddo Amazons:





I started this project a couple of years ago (you can see them in this gallery, but as with so many things I start, I got bored and moved on to other things. My theme for this year is Getting Things Finished, so expect to see a lot of stuff that has been sitting around for a long time finally see the light of day.

Group photo:

Love all the work on the armor.

Nice to see another fan of knucklebones stuff. I think that I have got about half of his stls printed on my table ready to paint. Yours look great.

youwashock wrote:Love all the work on the armor.

Thanks. I still struggle with NMM, but I do see some improvement. These models were a sort of exercise in economy, in that a) I've not been using whatever paint is left over on my wet palette, rather than adding to it and b) I'm spending less time blending and relying on the small scale and distance from the eye to (hopefully) get an impressionist effect.

JamesY wrote:Nice to see another fan of knucklebones stuff. I think that I have got about half of his stls printed on my table ready to paint. Yours look great.

I love the aesthetic of Knucklebones models. It takes me back to my earliest days as a hobbyist.

Those are really beautifully painted minis. Nice looking metal and warm color choices.

amazons look great, I haven't seen these models before. Nice work on the armor.

Tommygun1918 wrote:Those are really beautifully painted minis. Nice looking metal and warm color choices.

Thanks! In real life and up close, they are pretty rough, but I think they pass the arm's length test pretty well. The warmth comes from my trademark Paint Everything Brown technique.

Flapjack wrote:amazons look great, I haven't seen these models before. Nice work on the armor.

Thanks! The minis are from Bad Squiddo. They make a lot of nifty models that fill quite a few niches.

Over the last week, I finished off that last of the Usagi Yojimbo models. First, Kitsune:



She is a recurring character in the series, a sort of street performer/pickpocket/rogue. It took me three tries to get the maple leaves on her kimono as good as they are, which is not very good, really. Once again, we can see the wildly varying proportions in these models. Her head is about the size of a real fox's, on a petite human body. I had a heck of a time getting the parasol to stick, and even then it's at a weird angle.

Next, we have a Scared Peasant:



Not a character per se, but someone we would see in the background, fleeing from bandits or monsters or whatever. The model is almost 2.5D, like you'd see in a cheaper sort of Green Army Man. I painted him in roughly the same colors as Usagi, as indigo was a ubiquitous color for poor people's clothing in pre-modern Japan.

Here are both models together:


And here is the whole set, with the uneven proportions on full display:


Next up, the last two Amazon models. After that, I have to find something Space Mariney for the March challenge.

Looking good as a set, and liking the freehand leaves. Looking forward to seeing the Amazons. Kinda feeling unsure about feeling space mariney stuff for March as well, but pretty sure you'll find something.

Nice work, Josh! Love the scared villager, and the NMM on the Amazons is great

That scared villager is great, reminds me of the cowering Empire dude from WHFB. Perfect scale piece Even if the rest of the line's scale is a bit whacky

The scared peasant is so goofy, I like it too. Nice job on all of them as usual. Usagi Yojimbo reminds me of my childhood, and I really like the color choices, detail, and smooth paint job on Kitsune.

Very cool seeing them all together. The scaredy guy does really stand out as a great mini. Nice job!

Vejut wrote:Looking good as a set, and liking the freehand leaves. Looking forward to seeing the Amazons. Kinda feeling unsure about feeling space mariney stuff for March as well, but pretty sure you'll find something.

Thanks! The leaves were a lot of work, but they turned out pretty well. I have decided on my Mariney project-- see below!

Slinky wrote:Nice work, Josh! Love the scared villager, and the NMM on the Amazons is great

The villager is a fun little model. I wish he scaled better with the rest of the set, though

Boss Salvage wrote:That scared villager is great, reminds me of the cowering Empire dude from WHFB. Perfect scale piece Even if the rest of the line's scale is a bit whacky

Thanks! He was fun to paint.

Syro_ wrote:The scared peasant is so goofy, I like it too. Nice job on all of them as usual. Usagi Yojimbo reminds me of my childhood, and I really like the color choices, detail, and smooth paint job on Kitsune.

The colors for these models were pretty simple-- UY was (is?) a B&W comic, so I didn't have to worry about any kind of patterns, for the most part.

youwashock wrote:Very cool seeing them all together. The scaredy guy does really stand out as a great mini. Nice job!

Thanks!

The Dakka Challenge this month is Space Marines. I don't play 40K anymore, and likely never will again, so I don't have much reason to paint stock SM models. I have decided to revisit a project from 20+ years ago:



I painted an army of these Samurai Space Marines for the WH40K Grand Tournaments 2002 and 2003-- there are 30-40 more in various stages of disrepair sitting in their Chessex case. They are just stock marines with additional bits scultped from kneadatite along with some plastruct siding (HO scale, I think). They are pretty rough, and I'm pretty sure I can do better this time around. I'm not sure how many I'll get to before the deadline, but I'm aiming for five.

Man, I loved those space samurai back when you first did them!

Can’t wait to see how you handle the with your now far more advanced skills!

Valete,

JohnS

 cygnnus wrote:
Man, I loved those space samurai back when you first did them!

Can’t wait to see how you handle the with your now far more advanced skills!

Valete,

JohnS

I hope I can pull it off-- I've spent the last few hobby sessions adding kneadatite details to stock SM bitz. I hope to have WIP photos up soon.

Also: Do you remember sending me the Usagi Yojimbo models? Getting around to working on them really took me back to when I first came over here...

I've been working on a prototype Samurai Marine, mostly just to see if my ideas will work. I started with the kabuto. First, I added the hachi, or cabasset, as it is sometimes translated:



Then, the shikoro, the armored skirt which protects the neck:



This takes a long time, as each "layer" has to harden before I can add the next. There may be a faster way, but I have four helmets done at this point, so that experiment is pushed back for now. Next, the maedate and fukigaeshi:



The maedate is purely decorative, and not all helmets had them. The fukigaeshion early kabuto were much, much larger, but by the Warring States period, which I'm using as the basis for this project, they had shrunk down to the size you see here.

I apparently didn't take any photos of the chest pieces. I pulled out the rotary tool and grounded off the eagles and skulls and whatnot. Two of them I left smooth, and on two others I sculpted on some decorative lacing. After gluing the torso to the legs, I added the kusazuri, or armored skirt:



In previous interations, I just glued the plastic directly to the model, but this time I added some lacing to show how the kusazuri are suspended trom the do, as well as add some movement by changing the angle at which they hang.

After taking these photos, I did some work on the arms, and added a scabbard and obi (belt). I hope I can have those parts ready to share tonight. This first guy is taking a long time, but the next few should go faster now that I have a sense of what I need to do.

Regular Bolter Marines as Gun Ashigaru?

 Tommygun1918 wrote:
Regular Bolter Marines as Gun Ashigaru?

I would probably use Scouts for Ashigaru, since they would be less heavily armored. In fact, I tried that once in the past, but I couldn't get their jingasa right.

Well, this is certainly very exciting. I'll wager there's some good stls out there for Samurines...

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Well, this is certainly very exciting. I'll wager there's some good stls out there for Samurines...

When I was in the planning stage for this project, I was considering using some push-fit Primaris that I had laying around. Since the auto-reactive shoulder pads are molded on to the arms, I did a little googling for replacement parts, and found these guys. They have some nice stuff, but since I'm on a self-imposed hobby spending moratorium (already broken, sadly), I opted to sculpt by myself.

This is a fascinating project, and looking very good!

I'm familiar with the terms for the components for European and Middle Eastern armor- right down to the fiddly bits that no one ever uses. I'm happy to learn a lot about the same for Japanese armor- your knowledge of the subject is impressive.

I wish you great luck in completing them!

Meer_Cat wrote:This is a fascinating project, and looking very good!

I'm familiar with the terms for the components for European and Middle Eastern armor- right down to the fiddly bits that no one ever uses. I'm happy to learn a lot about the same for Japanese armor- your knowledge of the subject is impressive.

I wish you great luck in completing them!

You flatter me-- I was looking through one of my reference books when I wrote all that.

Great work on the sculpting! They look proper samurai.

Excellent sculpting work, Josh!

I didn't know you could sculpt as well! nice wip shots, looking forward to seeing them finished. What's their special rule?

That is some very nice modding!

muette wrote:Great work on the sculpting! They look proper samurai.

Slinky wrote:Excellent sculpting work, Josh!

PaddyMick wrote:I didn't know you could sculpt as well! nice wip shots, looking forward to seeing them finished. What's their special rule?

aku-chan wrote:That is some very nice modding!

Thanks kindly, everyone. I'm very much a beginner at sculpting-- every detail you see on these models was scraped off and reapplied at least twice, often many more times.

I finished the last two Amazons, which means that I can call this project finished:


And the first two Samurai Marines are ready for paint:


I have to figure out how to photograph these guys so everything is in focus...

A finished project is cause for celebration. And a good reason for a group shot. The Marines look super cool. Looking forward to the paint.