Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Future Wars => Topic started by: Daeothar on May 28, 2019, 12:31:08 PM
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I just wanted something easy and different to paint up, without any pressure, as I'm sort of running over at work and socially, and the little time I am able to spend on painting, I want to be able to actually finish something. This means using simple washes, glazes, drybrushing etc, but that's why I picked something 'non-critical' in my lead-pile.
So, yesterday evening, in a spare hour, I dug up some Griffin Miniatures Greys I had bought here on the LAF several years ago. They were previously based and painted, so I simply (and irreverently) oversprayed them with white, enabling me to paint them tonight.
But they got me thinking; I know these miniatures from way back in Harbringer Magazine and I liked them even then. But they never made it big outside of a small initial run I believe, because Griffin Games dropped the ball pretty hard (which then also got punctured, burned, blown up and run over with a truck).
I've got the 'Invasion Force' squad, with only the pose of the leader (bottom row, second from the left) slightly different (Mine has got some sort of a mechanical probe-fist (for lack of a better word lol ) on his left hand) from this picture:
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HCPanLbUnrc/TMy3W7qYo7I/AAAAAAAADQg/kUgtmE3VhJA/s1600/Griffin+Miniatures+Greys.jpg)
But I also have a (grand?) leader on a hover chair to go with them.
Judging from the few pictures I could find on the web, there are also at least a version with two pistols, and one with a bandolier and some sort of orb in his left hand. And I recall there are even more.
Does anyone have a definitive list of miniatures in this range?
Because if this squad is as fun and quick to paint as I expect, I might want to get me some more... :D
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I don't know of a list.
Here are pictures of mine, I've owned more than these which I sold on unpainted but those didn't contain any different poses. The robots are from Copplestone and aren't part of the range, the saucer is a Glencoe kit.
(https://www.matakishi.net/uploads/4/0/8/7/40876893/greys-painted-6_orig.jpg)
(https://www.matakishi.net/uploads/4/0/8/7/40876893/greys-painted-4_orig.jpg)
(https://www.matakishi.net/uploads/4/0/8/7/40876893/greys-painted-5_orig.jpg)
(https://www.matakishi.net/uploads/4/0/8/7/40876893/greys-painted-3_orig.jpg)
(https://www.matakishi.net/uploads/4/0/8/7/40876893/matakishi-round-3-alien-infiltrator-squad-600_orig.jpg)
(https://www.matakishi.net/uploads/4/0/8/7/40876893/grey-scientist-and-worms-600_orig.jpg)
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Well, I got pretty far, but was not able to finish them (just yet).
They're largely done, but I still need to tackle the hardware; weapons and chair. I was thinking of a Men in Black look; chrome. I have a pot of Vallejo Liquid Silver which I haven't tried out yet, so this might be the perfect opportunity. Also, some small corrections here and there might be in order; I spotted a few in the picture already... ::)
I'm hoping I will be able to squeeze in another hour or so of painting tomorrow evening, which will probably be enough to finish these guys off.
I was right though; these are a blast to paint, so I might eventually take on the difficult quest of attaining more of them...
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Mechanical probe fist?
I think you must have my squad that I converted :) .
I don't know whether you got them painted by me or not... but when I sold them, they had brown, lipped bases and were painted in a slightly tan colour. The leader in the chair wasn't fully painted.
I could probably find a picture...
(https://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d161/Inso/Aliens/Inv4.jpg) (https://s35.photobucket.com/user/Inso/media/Aliens/Inv4.jpg.html)
I only converted it because the leader had an un-formed arm :) . It's green stuff... so be careful if you ever strip it ;) .
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Funny that :)
It's definitely them; the colourscheme, the conversion, right down to the basing material. However, they were based on coins and not on lipped bases. Perhaps they were handed down even further? Or perhaps the lipped bases were removed somewhere along the line? I might even have done it myself, but if I did, I can't recall doing that.
At any rate; good to know about the conversion. I had been planning to maybe take a drill to its tip lol Luckily the paintjobs were very light, so I didn't have to bother stripping them. Might have been a nasty surprise otherwise...
As it is, before undercoating them white, I did add some of my own basing material (fine sand, course sand, very fine shale and some 'larger' pieces of shale) in small patches to the bases, to better blend them in with my regular basing technique (which I use on most of my 'outside' bases), but that's the only alteration I made.
Oh, and I pinned the flying chair with a piece of paperclip wire to a washer base. I'll get some better pictures of that once they're finished (hopefully tonight).
Interesting to see how some miniatures travel from owner to owner over the years, with each adding something to them... :)
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The silver took quite a bit longer than expected, and in the end, I'm figuring I could just as well have painted them with bog standard water based acrylics. But hey; it's another experience and skill...
The Liquid Silver has a finish like... silver, so the chrome effect I was after it is not. But the isopropanol makes the paint dry almost instantaneously, which can be useful.
I then did some pinwashing with a black oil paint and white spirit between the metal surfaces and skin areas, which worked as well as always.
A final highlight of old Citadel Mithril Silver finished it off.
The base edges need touching up, some eye-searing mistakes need cleaning up and they need a good coat of varnish, but I'm calling them finished.
I did the whole squad in about 5 hours, everything combined, including drying times, so that's definitely a new speed record for me. They were simple minis to paint though, and the end result is pretty dire up close, as the pictures will attest, but I'm still happy with them. I finally managed to finish some miniatures, and that feels good.
So here's to hoping the mojo remains... :)
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so I might eventually take on the difficult quest of attaining more of them...
I gotta see how you get on with that. I've been trying to find ONE set for years now. ::)
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Missed these before, very nicely done 8)
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I gotta see how you get on with that. I've been trying to find ONE set for years now. ::)
You and me both. And probably quite a few other folks. Griffin did a terrible job of getting these to market.
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Yeah; I consider myself pretty lucky having been able to pick this batch up. I don't have high hopes, but when I see any of these offered for sale, I'll be all over them... :D
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I got a set just before Griffin collapsed. Great shame. The moulds must be out 5here somewhere. There was also advertising for a bio-mech race, the Cravids. There were photos of the minis, but AFAIK, they were never sold.
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I remember those. In fact, I came across the adds in Harbringer again when I was researching the Greys just before I started slapping paint on them.
They instantly reminded me of the Invid from the (never completed) 3rd Robotech season (Genesis Climber Mospeada) and had they become available, I would certainly have gotten me some...
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I remember those as well. I think Griffin really dropped the ball and did a dis-service to the hobby for sure. But I digress..... you are indeed a lucky chap and I LOVE how yours turned out Daeothar!
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I remember those. In fact, I came across the adds in Harbringer again when I was researching the Greys just before I started slapping paint on them.
They instantly reminded me of the Invid from the (never completed) 3rd Robotech season (Genesis Climber Mospeada) and had they become available, I would certainly have gotten me some...
Oh yeah. Noble knight Games had the whole run of Harbinger on sale this week andit had me thinking about the Griffin Minis ads and how much I regretted not getting ahold of them. Think I've still got one or two of the subscriber handout figs from the mag, too. Kind of miss the days of physical gaming magazines, although I'll concede the internet is so much handier.
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So... I didn't realise it has already been 6 years since I painted this squad. Time flies and all that. Just call this an Alien Resurrection :D
It had always been my intention to eventually expand this one squad into a viable tabletop army, but acquiring more miniatures from this long OOP range is a bit of an adventure. Unless someone, like for instance Matakishi, decides to sell their entire army on the LAF and you're lucky enough to nab them before anyone else ;)
That's right; the minis that Matakishi showcased earlier in this thread have made their way to me in the meantime. I irreverently stripped them to the bare metal, and then stored them for several years. But always with the intention to one day integrate them into my own fledling force.
And today is that day.
After finishing off my second Armadillo shuttle (check it out in my Lightyear thread (https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=139202.msg1929892#msg1929892)), I decided I needed a large lot to paint, so I will be able to finally make my yearly target of 100 28mm (equivalent) miniatures again. And considering this lot is 47 minis tall, I'm fairly certain that this will be the big push I needed :)
Firstly I sorted them by sculpt, just to get a idea of the inventory. Then I started basing them. For now I've based all those that fit onto 25mm slottas without tampering. there are some particularly wide/heroic stances in there that will require some creative reposing, but that will be for another session. I will use putty to integrate the puddle bases, which will also strengthen the bond with the bases.
There were some miniatures with breakages, and I've mended one by pinning the leg to the broken off foot (running pose, so the one foot was the only contact point with the base). But the others will be repurposed as pilots for some, to be scratchbuilt, flying vehicles.
Oh; I opted for slottabases because I've got tons of them and also because the forces I will be putting them up against are also all on slottabases (or on bases with the same height profile). This does pose an additional challenge, as my existing squad was based on coins. So I might have to rebase that lot as well...
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Lovely figures! Never got them unfortunately.
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Last night I was able to glue the remaining wide poses onto their bases. It was a matter of cutting the puddle bases out from between the feet and carefully bending and reposing the legs and feet to fit onto the limited real estate of the 25mm bases.
Luckily, the sculpts are all quite spindly, so with the use of a pair of round pliers (originally intended for jewelry making) this was pretty easy.
Then I also used those pliers to do some limited reposing to create subtle differences between copies of the same sculpts. This mostly meant twisting the head in a slightly different direction, bending arms up or down etc.
I did a few hand-swaps too, but pinning those was extremely fiddly due to the slight build of the Greys. Still; they turned out well enough, so I'm satisfied.
The only ones still to be done are the two extra floating chairs. But those can only be done once I putty the bases, as they'll be floating on top of metal wire, and that needs a good base to be stable.
There's also a few minis left (top left), but those will become crew on some, to be created, flying saucers. So they're the donor minis for some weapons, hands etc. in the aforementioned swaps and I reckon resculpting those missing limbs will be better done on partially obscured models ;)
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That all looks rather splendid :) . I'm looking forward to seeing that horde painted up... and woe betide any adversaries getting in their way too!
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Jealous! I didn't get one of the chair type as I think they came after the first release. Yours must be the largest Griffin Grey's army out there! I've ended up using mine in a Stargrave crew. Copplestone Grey's as the higher caste and the Griffin figures as the warrior caste.
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Grey crew for Stargrave:
https://brigademodels.co.uk/mws/blog/?s=A+new+hope (https://brigademodels.co.uk/mws/blog/?s=A+new+hope)
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Nice work on them.
I remember the greys from Harbinger, and was looking forward to the Cravid.
They instantly reminded me of the Invid from the (never completed) 3rd Robotech season (Genesis Climber Mospeada) and had they become available, I would certainly have gotten me some...
Yes, that was one of the reasons (though as some heavies for some chaps who hang around the former planet Pluto).
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Thanks guys :)
...Yours must be the largest Griffin Grey's army out there!...
I think I'm close, but I did see some pictures online of a Griffin Grey army consisting of upwards of 60 miniatures, which makes theirs a tad larger than mine (58). But who knows what will happen in the future, eh? ;)
I've been able to putty all the bases and glue the ground cover down, but especially the first bit turned out to be quite the slog. I did this in two legs, as I was thoroughly done with the process about halfway through. This was also the point where I had to mix up a fresh batch of putty, so I left the second half for the next day.
And yes; I have used up a substantial part of my precious last stash of ProCreate on the mundane task of base filling as opposed to intricate sculpting, but it was all I had on hand, and keeping it in the freezer for years will not prevent it from eventually going off anyway. So best use it when it's still soft enough, right? Still a shame the product has been discontinued; it's always been my favourite putty...
Putting on the sand/shale/pebble mix on the other hand was a breeze and over quite quickly.
Now I need to base the two floating chairs, but because of their floating nature, this will be a separate step. That will be next though, so I can then primer them as one huge batch. And only then can the actual painting begin. And I promise some more closer shots once the paint starts flying... ;)
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Wow, I remember these from when you first posted them up! o_o
And yes; I have used up a substantial part of my precious last stash of ProCreate on the mundane task of base filling as opposed to intricate sculpting, but it was all I had on hand, and keeping it in the freezer for years will not prevent it from eventually going off anyway. So best use it when it's still soft enough, right? Still a shame the product has been discontinued; it's always been my favourite putty...
I'm still sad and frustrated this brilliant putty has been discontinued. I never got on with GS, and so ProCreate was just perfect for me. Hopefully in the future someone else picks up the baton and puts it into production again.
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Fingers crossed indeed... :?
Last night I tackled the two floating chairs. I used my tried and true method of basing flying/floating models using metal wire, since I really do not like traditional flying bases. The clear (but still well visible) plastic pillar onto which the model balances is really off putting to me. Not to mention the huge potential for breakage. Also; because it is straight, and usually positioned underneath the lowest portion of the model, it simply looks to be sitting on top instead of actually being airborne.
So I use a curved piece of paperclip wire, which is attached to the model by pinning, but always somewhere on the back, so the area beneath the model is empty. Which I feel enhances the idea that the model is actually aloft.
The chairs have a hole in them (coincidentally in the exact place I'd want the wire to go), made to fit the top nub of a transparent flying base, so that requires a bit more drilling, to give the wire some good purchase.
Fun fact: when drilling the hole at the angle the wire should be at, you'll end up right in the crotch of the seated figure before you know it. Putting the wire in resulted in something pointing skywards and rather obscene lol
So that had to be repaired, but I had the ProCreate out anyway, so that was an easy fix. I then redrilled the hole, straight up instead of at an angle, and that yielded a solid result.
The wire was then put through a hole in the plastic base and glued to the underside of the base. I then added weight to the base by glueing in pieces of metal off-cuts, which were in their place extra secured by some putty, which I smoothed out with the bottom of the base by pressing the base onto a slightly oiled up area on my desk.
For extra weight, I then added a small washer to the top of the base, and camouflaged that with more putty.
This makes the base heavy enough to make sure the miniature doe not topple over on the table, even when bumped.
I then superglued the wire into the hole in the chair and puttied the remaining hole closed. Finally, I added the ground cover with some watered down PVA (not photographed; sorry) and they were done.
Next stop: priming!
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Do you not have any photos of the 'aroused' version of the grey commander?
I think you should have left it as it was, it would have provided interesting plot motivation for the alien invaders ;)
(And I totally agree with you about flying bases.)
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'We have come to multiply!' lol
Sadly there's no photographic evidence, but I'm sure you can fill in the blanks yourself ;)
Anyway; I repaired the hole with ProCreate, so that should keep him satisfied...
Yesterday I primed (grey) and undercoated (white) the entire force. I had to split them into two parts, as I did not have enough blutack and wooden strips to spray them all in one go!
So now they're truly ready for painting. Here's to hoping my bottle of Vallejo blue/grey shade is still up to the task. Because it's more than half empty already and these lads require at least two coats...
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They'll look brilliant as a complete force :) .
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Last night the first (blue/)grey wash went on. They'll need two, but they're now officially Greys (again) :D
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They look good already. Quite astonishing that a range like this can just disappear. Quite sad really, but it is great to see your force.
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Cheers :)
And yes; those moulds have not evaporated (probably). Would they still be lying in the back of somebody's shed perhaps?
I remember collecting Cell Entertainment's 1999 ranges and setting up a fan site for the game. Cell Entertainment went under years before already and for years it was unclear where everything had gone.
The moulds are still missing, but I was contacted many years ago through my fan-site by some bloke who actually had the entire studio collection of miniatures, including prototypes, unreleased miniatures, greens, etc. His asking price was reasonable considering the amount and rarity of it all, but out of my league at the time. I offered to buy a part of it, but then communication from his side stopped.
He presumably found another buyer and it has all gone dark and missing again (and I'm still kicking myself for not finding a way to buy the lot).
Point being; it's well possible that at some time, the range will change hands again, and perhaps the buyer will do the smart thing, and release them again. I mean; there certainly is a market for them...
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True layering begins now, after several sessiosn of washes and glazes to get the skintones to where I wanted them. As you might be able to tell, I went a lot heavier on the pink and purple on this large batch than I did on the initial squad, but I like it; it immediately draws the viewer towards the face and it adds some much needed colour to an otherwise quite monochrome scheme.
The miniatures of the older squad will be mixed in with the new ones, so they will not stand out as much.
Like I said; the actual layering can now commence. First will be a black basecoat for the eyes and the guns, bandoliers, orbs and chairs. And this requires actual precision, so the going will be slower, but also be much more fun :)
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I can only hope so.
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Lovely work on these cool l'il critters so far, Mr Daeothar. I smiled to myself when I read that you decided a bulk painting project was what you need after your shuttle- sure mate JUST 47 models lol lol Having said that I am hoping to clear off 60 Guardsmen soonish myself... o_o
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Cheers guys :)
Hey; what could go wrong, right? lol
I used to be that painter who put the maximum effort in each and every single miniature. Obviously my collection grew at a snail's pace. But for some reason, I've found myself drawn to batch painting big groups, and my armies reflect that; Night Goblins, Tyranids, Imperial Guard, these Greys.
There simply is something very satisfying in painting loads of similar miniatures I've found...
But yes; the old adage here seems very appropriate:
We do this not because it is easy, but because we thought it would be easy
lol
Good luck on the guardsmen!
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lol lol lol
Yes, my good pal Scarper on these hallowed pages teases me constantly about my fondness for collecting horde armies- swarms of Nids and Humans!! Oh yes and I have an armoured company of vehicles (12+) staring at me awaiting their turn...
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There is more progress, but unfortunately, I did not take a picture of it when leaving the house this morning. I've decided to split the large lot into 4 smaller batches, to prevent burnout.
So the firsts batch of 11 miniatures has received its black basecoat on the weapons and eyes and then the first layer of silver on the technological parts.
I used Vallejo Game Colour Chainmail Silver, as opposed to the Vallejo Liquid Silver I used on the Original squad, because I didn't feel like going through the assle of digging up the isopropyl alcohol. But the colour is ever so slightly off and not as smooth as the Liquid stuff. So I'll probably redo this step with the correct paint.
But in the meantime, I did take possession of the following: 2 boxes of Pegasus Hobbies Aplha Centauri Ufo's. They hold 2 each and are just right for this project. I'll probably build 2 Flying, 1 landed and 1 crashed. The latter will function as an objective or as a bit of flavoured terrain.
I did ample research into the size and suitability of these saucers, and was eventually convinced that they would do. But I hadn't imagined that they would be so perfect! They come with pilots, also of a grey alien design, but these are the more tropish variants, with large heads, so they look like small children.
However: the bodies and hands are almost a perfect match with those of the Griffin Greys! So instead of resculpting and reposing the three I had put aside for this purpose, I will now probably just headswap them. Because even the hands are of the same design!
For now, I will most likely paint up two of the four squads and then do one or more of the UFOs for variey and then proceed on the greys :)
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I'm looking forward to seeing those saucers built and painted! :D
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I had some of those greys years ago! Brings back memories! Can’t remember what I did with them though! They look great!!
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I think those saucers will fit in really well... This is really taking shape into a cool army :) .
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Busy weekend, but I did manage to finish the first of the four squads :)
And I've got some free evenings lined up this week as well, so with a bit of luck I'll be finishing the second one by the next weekend (fingers crossed)...
I ended up going with the 'normal' metallic paints after all, and after highlighting with pure silver, the new ones actually have come out brighter and more chrome-like than the old ones :) Also, the heavier pigmentation of this large new batch is not as noticeable (when compared to the original squad) as I had initially feared, so we're good on that front too.
Regrettably, I'll have to totally rebase the original squad. They're on (UK) coins right now and I had hoped to be able to slice off the putty/paste base witht he puddle bases in one piece and simply glue them to slotta bases, but the material is too brittle and breaks off instead. So rebasing it is...
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Good looking aliens
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A week of no LAF regretfully did not mean a week of no work and other commitments, but I absolutely managed to register some more progress! For starters, I finished the second batch of 11 minis; 22 more to go 8)
So, as I promised myself some posts ago, I started on the Flying Saucers after reaching the halfway point. And since they're really simple models, and there are only 4, I decided to do them all in one go.
I began with assembling the cockpits into he bottom half of the saucers; a really straighforward job of placing 4 quarters of the cilinder in their slots and glueing them in place. Cleanop on these parts was very minimal too, so they went together like a breeze.
I then put on a coat of grey primer, followed by a coat of sprayed on silver. I did this on the top and bottom halves of the saucers, plus the insides of the cockpits. I kept he two halves separate for now, as there are some clear plastic parts that will fill up the circle of holes around the bottom edge and around the cockpit and I wanted to keep them clear. I could have masked them all off, but there's loads on each saucer, and I have four to do, so this will be faster in the end.
The clear lenses also need a colour, and I am as of yet undecided on which one. I tried painting a bright blue on the inside, but it looked way off, so I took that off again. I am now leaning towards a luminous red/orange, but this might be subject to change...
Following the above, I then came to the conclusion that the chairs were not chairs at all, but some sort of backrest, as the provided aliens were standing in place. So I made some seats with some styrene rods and profiles, matching the backrests, because I want my pilots to sit in comfort while abducting people.
And sitting lowers their profile considerably (that, plus the headswap ::) ), meaning I could actually cut down the domes of the saucers to lower their profile to something a bit less Jetsons in appearance. Because they looked way too cartoony before.
For this, I drew a line at the appropriate height and then used my Dremel with a cutting disk to cut them down. This went remarkably smooth and without mishaps. I had sort of calculated for the loss of a dome, since one of the saucers will be a crashed one, and I want that dome broken anyway, but I guess I'll have to do this in a controlled manner now lol
I then painted up the cockpits. Since I wanted a Men In Black kind of aesthetic for all the techy bits, everything needed to be silver/chrome, so I only picked out a few highlights on the cockpit interior with silver paint after giving them a thin black wash. Following that, I painted up a few of the controls like red gems and painted the large display in black and red as well. I tried for displays showing the craft in the actions I planned for them. So one if flying straight, one is banking, one has landed and has some schematics of a planetary system up on his screen and the fourth has a cracked screen, since it has crashed.
Then it was on to the pilots. I actually did this just last night, but I'm going to keep subjects together for readability (the cyberdisks will follow later on).
I cut up the plastic alien bodies that came with he kit by removing the feet and heads. I then also cut a wedge in their pudgy little bellies, so I could then heat them in hot water and bend the hips into a sitting position. I also bent the arms forward, so they could manipulate the controls on the dashboards.
After this, I put pins into the legstumps and necks. I cut off the heads from three Griffin Greys that had suffered breakages before, and pinned them onto the bodies. Using putty, I then fixed the belly cuts and crotches, and (crudely) lengthened the legs to appear whole and as long as those of their footslogging colleagues. They did not need feet, as those would be invisible under the cockpit dash anyway.
Oh, and I also shaved down the fingers of each hand to be a bit thinner, matching the Griffin sculpts.
So; that's where we are right now. I will write a separate post detailing the upcoming cyberdisks, even though I worked on those inbetween jobs on the saucers.
Next thing to do now is to paint the pilots, decide on a colour for the lenses and come up with a way to mount them on their (Flying) bases :)
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Cockpits.
I just noticed that most of them still require some blacklining around the gems... ::)
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Since my main inspiration for this army is the old X-COM PC-game from 1994, it was only natural that I would look at the game for units to complement this rather large force of Sectoids/Greys. And in the game, Sectoids are accompanied by Cyberdisks when on terror missions. So that's what I was going to add.
Cyberdisks are large, well, disks, resembling miniature flying saucers. They're very well armoured, emotionless and faceless, so perfect as a heavier support unit.
I early on recognised that Lego radar dishes were the perfect size and shape, so I ventured out to a Lego parts reselling store here in town to acquire some.
And you thought us wargamers were nerds... lol
I initially went for 8 stud wide disks, but they were unexpectedly low in supply. However; in the same bin, the Lego guy also had 10 stud disks. And I immediately noticed that those did not have a flat area in the middle where the four studs sit; the curvature continued on, which suited my purposes just fine. (I had been wondering how to deal with that flat portion and concluded that using putty and sanding would be the best way of realising a smooth dome shape. But now I wouldn't have to dread bodging that job ;) ).
Therefore I bought 10 of those larger than originally planned disks instead. And at €7,- for the lot, I considered it a nice deal; I will be able to make 5 Cyberdisks out of that stack. Of course curiosity overcame lego-guy and he wanted to know what I was building with them.
So I told him.
I have never witnessed such a mix of consternation, horror, fascination and indignation overcome a grown man in one fell swoop, but there he was. Still recovering from the realisation that I was actually going to cut up those precious parts when I marched out the door. I must go there more often lol
Once home, first thing I indeed cut off the studs, which, besides the already present center hole, left four smaller holes as well. These holes I filled up with styrene rods of the right diameter and once the glue dried, I cut them off flush with the surface. But due to the shrinking/melting of the plastic this did leave a still uneven surface.
So I used Vallejo plastic putty to fill the holes and leave some material proud of the surface, to be sanded down smooth. Then, a coat of grey primer was applied, but obviously the surface was not smooth just yet. In fact, the putty, even though I had it let dry for 48 hours, in the last microns above the plastic decided to roll off with the sanding paper.
Meaning I had to do this again. But this time I used the tried and tested method of superglue and baking soda. This dried much harder and adhered much better, so I was able to sand it down perfectly flush with the surface of the domes.
I did two like this for the first cyberdisk, but I glued in a magnet into the center hole of the bottom half, so I will be able to easily base it.
Following this, I used some flexible metal guides to carefully scribe some lines into the surface of the disks. I aimed for them to resemble the panel lines of the saucers, without being identical. So the saucers have 7 lines radiating out of the center, while the Cyberdisks have just three.
Then I took a length of styrene strip and glued it to the inside of the lip of one of the disks. Once marginally dry, I glued the top disk on top of that, perfectly recreating the shape of X-COM's Cyberdisks.
The recesses strip between the two halves of the disk will be painted a luminous red/orange as per X-COM's depiction of them (and which will most likely also be the colour of the gems on the saucers) and the rest will be a plain silver with some black panel lining…
(I just realised I do not have a picture of the completed (but unpainted) Cyberdisk, but I'll add that as soon as possible)
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They look great! I used tau drones for mine without the guns
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I'm glad you went with the greys and cyberdisks, if it had been Snakemen the flashbacks of chrysalids would have been heavy.