Firefries are back!! Rebel Minis has Good news for 15mm and Starship Troopers!

[JRacel]

Well, I've been painting bugs again. This time I was doing a little work for Mike of Rebel Minis. As some of you may remember, Mike purchased some of the old molds from Mongoose for some of the miniatures from the out of production Starship Trooper's line where the intellectual property rights were owned by Mongoose and not the movie studio. This is another of the bugs from the line formerly know as a Firefly. The miniature is really nice with only four parts (two leg halves, main body and head) that are a snap to assemble with some epoxy glue.

I was not sure how I wanted to paint this little guy and looking around the net found few images of this model and almost all of them were a standard green with little more than some dry-brushing. After thinking a long time about the main color, I still leaned toward green and brown, but wanted some color to make the mini pop, so I chose a medium blue for some decorations. I spray painted the model Sand (Krylon Camouflage Line) and then painted on the blue designs. After the blue I mixed some bright green paint with a little water and Future Floor wax for a wash that I applied to the entire model. After the first wash was dry I applied a second one with a more military green color to tone the model down a little. At this point I added some details with a thinned brown, such as stripes on the legs and tail and some makings next to the blue on the head and carapace. After this I added some dry-brushed highlights to the blue to bring it out a little and added some details for the fangs and horns etc. The Eyes were done in three shades of red to add depth. The entire miniature was then brushed with Army Painter Strong Quick Shade and left to dry for 24 hours. When dry, I added some Testor's Dullcote to kill the shine and added some gloss varnish to the eyes.

Overall, I am happy with the piece. The blue blended in nicely with the green and brown since I applied the washes over the blue to tone it down and shade it more like the rest of the body. By toning down the blue with the washes it looks more natural than if it was painted on top after the green was done. I notice a few mold lines I missed in the pictures, but heck, my eyeballs are inferior to a 16x lens and I missed them. The miniatures in the pictures are all from Rebel Minis and I think this guy should be for sale soon.

www.rebelminis.com

More Pictures: https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=c81057216b240d0c#cid=C81057216B240D0C&id=C81057216B240D0C!2619




- Pictures include Rebel Minis 15mm Dropship Troopers

Jeff

[zizi666]

That is one mean beautiful bug.

[Astromini5]

Looks like a good soldier bug for 28mm too, although the stinger tail has an odd shape (xmas tree bulb? smudge stik?). Nice to see insect "feet" and not just crustacean spikes...
Any idea on possible price?

[JRacel]

Rebel Mike just put them up for sale earlier today.  He was trying to find a way to keep the price low, but the increasing cost of metal is making that difficult these days.  Unfortunately these were not designed in a manner that makes it possible to cast them in resin since the legs and body need a little bending and repositioning.  The Price is $5.99 each at www.Rebelminis.com

Glad you liked the painting zizi666.  It was an interesting experiment.

Oh, while I'm at it, I was told this called a Firefrie in the Starship Troopers game.  Got the name mixed up since I did not play SST.

Jeff

[aggro84]

Very nice paint job. I like the markings. 

[rwwin]

It's nice to see some of the SST bugs returning.  I wish he could do the rippler bugs (the only mongoose bugs I'm missing) but if I recall they were plastic.