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I keep forgetting how efficient You are with that hot glue stuff... I like silicone moulds too, but with a lot of available resin mixes they either do not last long enough or require a lot of care and lubricant. Doors look very solid!

And these brutes/dread thingies - I really like that weirdness! But I do wonder if sprue, pulled and twisted over the candle light, would make a better "veiny" kind of detail than a greenstuff on a wire. May try that on some future beastie.

Loving the Tzeentch dread, he’s a real freak of the warp so far. The clawed foot is a particularly nice touch.

Viktor von Domm wrote:

(which feels weird how often I'm doing that when I'm only in my early 30s),

erm...coming from a man working as a kindergarden ward/nursery nurse... you might consider to think about burn out a bit? just to be on the safe side...it is a thing for people working with people that happens eventually...(it´s almost impossible not to occur in my opinion...been there done that, fell down the stairs and tried to get up...)
the doors looks very good...i´ve seen sets of these for sale on ebay...from pathfinder, MTG and so on... you´re very close to perfection here...and in my opinion what you´re still not done in perfection gives character...which then sums up to the 100% count!!!

also...the dreads are developing really cool...as for the weapon arm...plasma?...plenty of room this way for scratch building...

Unfortunately, I think you're 100% right on that. I don't really know what I can do about it though, I'm just trying to hold on for the last few weeks of school. I'm still spending every summer in intense training, but I'm at least expecting an easier less stressful class next school year. Also thanks for the kind words on the doors and the dreads. I hope to get around to finishing the paint jobs on the doors soon, and get them posted. I like your idea of the plasma weapon for the Tzeentch dread, I'll go with that, thanks.

The Tzeentch dread/hot glue and balls dread looks great , very creative.

@Theophony: Thanks Theo! It's mostly done, so I've moved it to my painting station to finish. Unfortunately moving to the painting station is usually the death of regular progress on my projects

@Wirecat: Thanks Wirecat, I do think messing with hot glue is what I'm best at over other crafting forms . I didn't realize resin tends to beat up the silicone molds. And I'll have to keep the melting sprue in mind for the future. Thanks for all the advice.

@gobert: Thanks gobert, and welcome to my blog. I'm glad you like the clawed foot, being Tzeentch I wanted to make one of the legs look bird-like.

I've finally started building the last leg of my one chaos dread. The leg still needs to bulking up. But I noticed in the pic I took, that it really looks like the leg is growing out of his armpit , it's really not, I promise.


I can't post most of the D&D stuff I've been making to not spoil it for my players, but once the school year ends, I'll have a big post of the stuff I've been holding back. For now, here's some really simple stuff that's not in the starter campaign, so I can show it.
Beginning of a simple throne/chair out of craft sticks


It's probably not even worth showing the super simple ladder made out of skewers.

I've also finally started the sculpt of a Mind Flayer for the LoER terrain contest. The first time I'm doing a diorama. The Contest is titled "Food for thought", and I couldn't resist going with a pun. So my contest entry is a monster that eats brains, running a little food stand selling brains to eat. (Sorry you have to hear this twice Vik).


Thanks for stopping by

D&D club was yesterday, and my group discovered one of the things I prepared, so now I can post it. The groups ranger is both very clever and very stubborn. He thought of some very smart things to ask me which allowed him to find and follow goblin tracks toward a goblin hideout, and so far seem to be skipping at least one part of the module, maybe more. They were ambushed by 4 goblins in scrub land, and battled them for quite a while. They handled the combat well, taking little damage, but it took a long time as the goblins continually fired one them, fell back, and used their bonus action to hide. After two goblins were killed, they rest disappeared into the scrub with extremely high stealth scores, ending combat. Following these new tracks, the party came upon the "Impregnable Fortress of Dib" from "Prepared" a D&D one shot suppliment.



Here is them finding it and my build.








And finished






Thanks for stopping by

Oh, that is highly recognizable!

Also....makes me very envious to read about your successful d&d meeting. I wish i could find some players for me too...games with the family have a very sober nature...i miss my younger times, during university. That was an active gaming time, where hearty games happened. Unfortunately we all lost contact to one another and lives moved on...

Ahahah gorgeous fortress, well done !

@Viktor von Domm: Thanks Vik. I'm sorry to hear about your difficulty getting a D&D group together. I miss my youth where friends were close by and had more free time too, it's a lot harder hanging out as adults. Maybe try getting your kids' friends to join to make the group bigger, and try to get some of the other parents to come along and hopefully end up joining also? Either way, good luck.
@KernelTerror: Thanks

I've been slowly making progress

Here is the Iron golem's paint job so far. I still need to add white to the middle of the cylon eye. I'm also thinking I should weather this piece all over with a reddish orange powder. Thoughts? Also I've never done weathering before, so advice would be welcome and appreciated.


I've been painting the Tzeentch dread, but still WIP. I feel like the Navy blue and purple washes over the regular blue paint job isn't showing that clearly. I'm thinking of highlighting with a lighter blue or purple, and then finally painting all the eyes. I still need to make the plasma cannon arm too.

syro...good ideas on how to start/recruit group members... i think i will go down that route!

the iron golem turned out very good indeed, all that it promised and then some. i am with you on the weathering issue, i´d start with a light brownish/ orangeish drybrush or sponging it on on certain areas...

the tzeentch dread looks highly promising too... the bubbled area is really good looking. i would add some more purple and pink here and there...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
also...the mind flayer looks really cute!!!

Vik, I hope you are able to get a group. Thanks for the advice on weathering. As for the dread, do you really think pink would be a good addition? I feel like pink is reserved for Slaanesh, blue for Tzeentch, and they both seem to share purple. What do you think?

The rest of the figures were garbage in the Halloween 5 pack from Dollar Tree, but I like the gargoyle that came in it. I've cut off some pieces and cleaned up a lot of mess and flash. sculpted back on an ear that I broke off while cleaning it. Made it a tail, and now am making it much better wings than it had. I'm planning in immortalizing this gargoyle as a mold for D&D gargoyles.


I've gotten a little further on the mind flayer for the LoER terrain contest. Gap filled, sculpted details on the head, and started on the hands.


I haven't gotten back to painting the iron golem, but I have gotten started on crafting two more golems. Not far enough to take pics yet. One is a gravestone golem, like Reaper miniatures makes. The other is original and unusual.

I had my reservations when I saw the WIP photos, but I'll be darned if that golem doesn't look infinitely better with a coat of paint on it.

Syro, please do not take this wrong, you have always inspired me with your ingenuity and brilliant models, but you really have stepped up a notch or two bud, these figures and terrain pieces are amazing, really great stuff.

@JoshInJapan: That's good to hear, I'm not super happy with the paint job in the iron golem and kind of miss the crazy plastic colors from when I started. I'm glad it looks good to you.
@Camkierhi: No offense taken at all, and thank you, Cam. I haven't really felt like I'm getting better, so I'm glad to hear that you think I am. thanks Cam

It was really nice having Memorial Day off, and I spent a decent chunk of it crafting, and writing. I might need to add more water, but I added bodies of water to the planet I've been creating. I'll be adding the equator and major lines of latitude next.





I'm also excited to say that my 7 year old nephew has recently become very interested in Dungeons & Dragons. So I've started giving him a mini or two each time I see him, to start his collection. I whipped out my molds and cast everything I've given to my D&D group to also give to him. I'm also going to be giving him a few pre-painted minis from my collection that I have spares of (but not enough for my whole D&D group). Here's what I have prepared to give him.


The colors are hard to see in the photo, but I've finished a quick paint job on all the rat swarms that I'll be giving my D&D group. Sadly this Thursday is the last session of the school year. I'll try to have the gargoyles ready to give them by then, also.

 Syro_ wrote:


Thanks for stopping by

This fortress reminds me of a blindaged gunboats of American Civil War. Which is not even near being a bad thing! Very cool, very stylish, if such thing (stylish wooden pillbox) exists... Drat! Now I am thinking of a cross between a humidor and a doctors necessary..

Wow, you have been busy. Have missed a handful of updates since I've not had the time to browse dakka properly.
I' now caught up and you never seem to disappoint with your crafting.

Especially loved the Tzeentch dread. Really good work with the hot glue. It looks like a proper creation of the warp.
It kind of reminded me of one of the monsters in the video game SOMA.

Awesome job on the Golem and rat swarms.

Loving the wooden fort too, you really make a lot of custom stuff for your players!

@Wirecat: Thanks Wirecat, I like that comparison. I also like the idea and term "stylish wooden pillboxes"
@Ezki: Thanks Ezki, it's good to see you back online. Your comments give me a lot of confidence and enthusiasm to push to get more stuff done. I've never heard of SOMA, but I definitely see the similarity between my dread and the pic.
@Da Boss: Thanks Da Boss. It's nice how well the press mold turned out for the rat swarms. I don't know how sustainable it is, but I've been trying to craft everything they come across to have visual representations.

Just a small update. I've been making some more minis as going away gifts for my school D&D group (which I'll post later). I went with the plans to do some sculpting with apoxie putties for my mind flayer, but ended up making the plasma cannon arm for my Tzeentch dread instead. I hope to get it painted to match the rest soon. And finish the dread in general.




Thanks for stopping by.

that needs a lick of paint ....currently its a bit lacking in contrast...

the wings are really promising...
and you´re imo the master of press moulding...holy moly!!!

also...would be interested how you start gaming d&d with kids of that young age...how they envision the path that "might" lay before them...do you help your nephew with the phase space of choices available?...

That dread is really promising, I may have missed is, but did you take a scale shot of it ?
The glue+balls mix is definitely something I might steal....

@Viktor von Domm: Thanks Vik, yeah the new arm does clash a bit with the color scheme . Thank you also about your kind words about making molds. I really love make molds and go overboard with it. I just happened to have a plasma cannon terminator arm mold from years ago, so I put together the dreads arm super fast. Are you talking about the gargoyle's wing? I've make a bunch of them (with a new mold ), and i think they turned out well, but I forgot to photograph them, I should try to before I give them away. it would be best if I gave them a simple paint job so people can actually see them.

As for starting D&D, it can be hard. I made plans with my nephew's family to play D&D with the whole family, but they're even busier than me, so 6 months later and we still haven't done anything. My nephew has watched a few minutes of the D&D games at school, which got him interested in the first place. His mom hoped he'd want to ready about stuff from D&D, but he declined when I offered to lend him my Monster Manual (all kids' favorite of the D&D books to look at). So mostly, I'm just giving him little toys to get him excited even though he probably won't get to play a real game with them any time soon, but hopefully it will help keep the interest alive.
Starting D&D with kids can be a challenge, but also very rewarding if it happens. One of my student's dad has been playing D&D pretty much from the very beginning, he and his dad talk about it a lot at home. He's really interested in it, so I decided to start the school D&D group for him. We found a day that works for his closest friends, his brother, and Dad to all meet at the end of the school day, and it's been a lot of fun ever since. This made a lot of the other students jealous, and there were plans to start 3-4 more D&D groups, pretty much the entire class wanted to join. My only requirements were that they get an adult volunteer meaning a parent to join us and find a day of the week that works for enough of them to forma group. They were all stoked, but never got their act together enough for more than the one group to form. They would still ask me about starting a D&D group about once a month, but didn't manage to form any more groups.
Playing D&D with kids, is pretty straight forward. I started pretty easy since many had never played before, I have no intention of killing any characters if I can help it. The father with a lot of experience played a character to act as a mentor to the other characters, he gives them advice every game, and I've been watching them mature as they explore and get advice. Kids can get side tracked easily, but are also super creative. My group last year spent 30 minutes debating how to remove the chains of some guard wolves making more and more mild plans until the quite player suggested to just take their collars off. This year one of my players skipped a large section of the campaign, jumping far ahead with some really insightful planning and some good rolls. So a mixed bag like any group.

@KernelTerror: I'm glad you like the glue and balls mix. It would be an honor if my technique ended up in your amazing chaos army. I don't think I ever took a proper scale shot of the Tzeentch dread, only scaled against other homemade stuff, so here's a scale shot with the Dark vengeance helbrute and a space marine:


Also combining to cast pieces from my cape mold, I've started on the body/robe of the mind flayer for the LoER contest. I'll be sculpting on some more refined details where I've just done gap filling so far, before moving up the body and adding the arms.

Thanks for the scale shot ! that will be properly tzeentchian indeed !

That mindflayer is coming along brilliantly. I love the glue and balls technique for the Tzeentch Hellbrute as well, looks awesome and very fitting.

How excactly did i miss this tzeentchian dred?

Well done.

Thanks guys I hope to get more done soon.

Hi All,

I was really in the mood to get something done quickly today, I don't always have the patience to work slowly step by step with apoxie putties. That was when I noticed that the bag of Halloween skulls that I got from Dollar Tree are very similar in size to the beholder I made. You know what that means, time to make a Death Tyrant. I wasn't able to finish the painting with constantly waiting for stuff to dry, but the build itself is very easy and took less than an hour if anyone else wants to try it.


I started by sawing the skull into anterior and posterior halves to be able to insert clear plastic for the floating glowing eyes.


Next, using an Xacto, I cut out an area for the main eye socket


I glued in a sturdy wire for it to "float" with, and glued cheap expanded polystyrene over the eye socket.


Using the hot tip of the glue gun I hollowed out a cavity in the EPS for a socket shape.


I glue the two halves of the skull to a clear piece of plastic (this is from an egg carton) and glue the wire to a base.


I painted with a mixture of cheap craft paint (combo of tan, yellow, and white) and then made 10 dots of white glue that I sprinkled red glitter on. That's where I had to leave it to dry for the night.


I've also added the main lines of latitude to my fantasy planet that I've building from the ground up. Equator, 30, and 60 degrees.


Thanks for stopping by

I've stippled on some rust to my iron golem, first brown then orange. It's helped. It may need more, but I'm tired of working on it and calling it done. I'm still overall happy with it. Thanks to Vik for the suggestion about stippling on the rust, time to post this on his thread collecting "how to scratch build D&D minis.
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/773264.page





Along with working on the Death Tyrant, I've also gotten back to making tombstone and grave markers for a tombstone golem

 Syro_ wrote:
I've stippled on some rust to my iron golem, first brown then orange. It's helped. It may need more, but I'm tired of working on it and calling it done. I'm still overall happy with it. Thanks to Vik for the suggestion about stippling on the rust, time to post this on his thread collecting "how to scratch build D&D minis.
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/773264.page

Excuse me while I recompose myself and roll a good morale - amazing Rusty General! Looked good from the start, but the paint brought it to a real completion. Congratulations!

Golem looks friggen sweet!

The eye tyrant is genius as well. Loving the world, though that is a proper bottom up approach to world creation!

Just noticed your posts about tiredness and burnout. Fellow teacher here, and definitely feel ya. We are down a bunch of staff in my school and the load is redistributed to the rest of us and really wears us down. Take care of yourself!

@Wirecat: Thanks so much, I'm glad you like it
@Da Boss: As a fellow teacher, you definately do know where I'm coming from, thanks. I'm glad you like the golem and undead beholder. If you're planning to make any of these monsters for your own games, I'd be happy to talk with you about them and see them on your blog when you're done.

Speaking of the Death tyrant, I've finished it (After redoing the paint job):



I've also gotten started on another golem that can be called a tombstone, gravestone, or graveyard golem. I decided to model it with similar proportions to a 40k dread in my mind. It's honestly too big for its 2 inch base.
Some starting stuff, I ended up making twice the starting amount of foamcore graves in the end.





Here he is finished, but very hard to see without paint




Thanks for stopping by