obsidian3d's Terminator stuff

[obsidian3d]

As usual reposted from my blog where there are more pictures: http://obsidian3d.blogspot.ca/2013/03/run-from-me-if-you-want-to-live.html

Run From Me If You Want To Live

As I mentioned in my last post, I finished a whopping seventeen models last week. That's a personal best, and is likely one I won't be topping any time soon. However, I didn't show all of the models I painted in that article, simply because it didn't make thematic sense to do so.

A few weeks ago I was looking around at Sentry Box, and happened upon a nice little box of figures from Copplestone Castings. I'd heard positive things of the company but never seen any of their models in person. These were really nice, if a bit highly priced at 18-X (don't get me started on Sentry Boxes ridiculous pricing scheme...), which on that day was about $19.25. I didn't really know what I was going to do with them at the time, but I couldn't pass on them even at nearly $4 per figure.

Fast forward a few days and I had glued them to some bases; these ones are magnetic 25mm that bought a while ago and simply wanted to try them out. I had a window of pleasant weather and a sizeable batch of figures needing primed so they landed in that pile and ended up with a black primer coat on...then joined dozens of other primed figures on top of my fridge for what I thought would be a long wait.

While painting up the EotD lycaons and bobbies I was sitting around waiting for washes on both batches to dry. I was sort of in the zone (if one can be when painting miniatures) and went looking on the primer board to see what I could hammer through really quickly. Well, here's the result!



Not only were these figures almost zero effort to paint, I think they turned our really top notch. The sculpting isn't spot-on with the T-101 model endoskeleton from the Terminator franchise, but I can live with that. For tabletop purposes they are way more than close enough! The poses are nice, the detailing is great and they painted up in minutes. I also had some fun adding a few little touches on the bases.

This paint scheme is dead easy for anyone who wants to achieve a similar result:

1. Prime the based figures black.
2. Dry brush with GW Boltgun Metal.
3. Pick out the eyes with your favorite bright red.
4. Paint the cables on the thighs and right shoulder with P3 Coal Black.
5. Optionally add a tiny touch of color on their chest using P3 Blighted Gold.
6. Finish off with a lighter dry brush of GW Mithril Silver.

Of course use whatever paint line you've got. You should be able to crank out a batch of these guys (including their bases) in something around an hour, probably less. Not only that, but these figures have already garnered me several compliments from people who've seen them. Being figures immediately recognizable to non-gamers really helps draw attention to them!

I think they'll work very well in a short campaign using Ganesha Games post-apocalypse Mutants and Deathray Guns rules. I already have several beast-men figures so if I paint up some zombies and survivor figures I'm pretty sure I could arrange a game in short order. As for movie figures, I already have a batch of re-based Aliens from the Horrorclix range finished. Come to think of it, might never have posted on here, I'll have to dig them out. Additionally, my set of Horrorclix Predator figures are awaiting bases and some paint touch-ups. I'll see if I can slot them into my schedule sometime soon!

Thanks for stopping by. Please drop some comments below and let me know what you think.

[joekano]

They look good - I really like the bases too!

[obsidian3d]

Thanks a lot! The magnetic bases are neat, if completely unnecessary. They have a nice weight to them over the plastic ones...AND they stick to my fridge. I couldn't resist attaching these guys to the freezer door when they were finished, even just for a few minutes.

[joekano]

The magnetic bases are neat, if completely unnecessary.

I use them myself and really like them.  The only down side I find is I'm never able to get the sides completely smooth - there always seems to be little tags hanging off regardless of how I try to file or trim them down.

Chris

[Major_Gilbear]

The only down side I find is I'm never able to get the sides completely smooth - there always seems to be little tags hanging off regardless of how I try to file or trim them down.

Have you tried using a punch? Lots of hobby-crafty and scrapbooking places carry them, and you can get them in different sizes. I'll bet you can get the circles chopped out of the magnetic sheet quickly and neatly with one of those (at least, it has to be better than trimming them with a knife or filing them).

[joekano]

Have you tried using a punch?

I've been buying the precut bases from GF9 rather than producing my own, so I've been at the mercy of how well they do.  However, that is a good idea.

[obsidian3d]

I was a little concerned with the seam around the middle of the base too. They are visibly two-layers with the top part being the resin/plastic and the bottom part being the magnet. However once I put a nice coat of matte black paint on it they're not noticeable enough for me to be concerned over. People should be looking at the figures and the top of the base...if I've done a decent job most people will never notice the edge.

[joekano]

However once I put a nice coat of matte black paint on it they're not noticeable enough for me to be concerned over.

Yes, I agree black edges hide it much better.  I'm using earth brown for most of mine, so a bit more obvious, but still not bad enough to stop me from using them.

[obsidian3d]

I'm committing a great act of thread-o-mancy here...but this post totally belongs here...Reposted from http://obsidian3d.blogspot.ca/2015/01/go-with-ah-nuld-if-you-want-to-live.html

"The Terminator' and "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" are some of my favourite movies of all time. I remember staying up late at a friend's house as a kid watching the original on BETA video, with the volume almost completely off, sitting a foot or two away from the small television screen. We weren't supposed to watch it, so we had to keep it really quiet so we wouldn't get in trouble. The eyeball extraction scene stuck in my mind for years, and still gives me chills every time I see it!

Fast forward nearly three decades and there have been more movies, toys and even a new movie on the horizon. There will be a coinciding miniatures game for the new movie, with 28mm figures. Consider me excited for that.

Long ago I painted some Copplestone Castings endoskeleton figures (see above) to use as some flesh-less terminator machines. Shortly thereafter I received my Reaper Bones box containing my Vampire pledge of stuff. Inside that box was a figure that you'd have a hard time convincing me wasn't based on Arnold in some fashion.

I chopped him off the integral base and super-glued him down to one of my magnetic 25mm rounds so he'd match my other terminators. This one would be an easy paint job too.





The Bones figures aren't supposed to need priming, but I prime them anyway. This time I used the Vallejo grey acrylic airbrush primer, painted on (I did the same with my Red Hulk). His skin was base coated with GW Elf Flesh and the t-shirt with GW Fortress Grey. The clothes and gloves all got two coats of black. The hair, boot heels, belt and holster were covered with GW Scorched Brown and the bottom of the gun hit with GW Gorthor Brown. Finally the belt buckle, zippers and gun barrel got some GW Boltgun Metal.

The skin and the gun got a wash of GW Sepia for some depth, then it was on to all that leather.

Black isn't a very eye catching colour to look at on a miniature. Ah-nuld is dressed almost 100% in black, so I needed to come up with a way to make him more interesting. I dry brushed him once with P3 Cygnar Blue Base and then again with P3 Coal Black. Following that I hit him with GW Badab Black. The effect is really subtle, but I'm very happy with it.

I toyed with the idea of painting one of his eyes red, but discarded it once I got to this point. The figure looks good, it's recognizable as Arnie, and I'm very happy with it.