Michka's Star Wars project (Second vendor stall started 7/8/2017)

[Michka]

Thank You jimbibbly. I'll check it out in a bit.

SotF, I have a few Reaper figures halfway done that are meant for this project. The Nova Corps troops will make excellent fodder for blaster fire, if I ever get them done.

kidterminal, I was pretty happy with how these guys turned out. Now I have to decided if I make the next three match this coloring, or go for something different. A uniform look is nice, but doesn't work so well for the Scum and Villainy type.

[Michka]

Update time. I'll start with the last character miniature I had to paint, Gideon Argus: Valiant Commander.

 

This figure annoyed me to no end. I'm happy with the painting. I just hated the way this guy holds his blaster, so I repositioned the arm and hand. Unfortunately the final results aren't much better. He still looks awkward holding the gun, but at least he doesn't look like he's afraid of the thing. And this figure had some really bad mold lines. I kept finding more as I painted. I cut off a few lines off but there are some that just weren't worth going after. Actually, the character figures have far worse mold lines then the Imperial troops and such. Oh well. At least all the characters are finished.

Then we have three of the four Trandoshan Hunters.



These turned out much better then I was expecting. I still don't think I need four of the same sculpt of Boskk. Speaking of said bounty hunter, he was left for last. I wanted to take my time getting that one right. Since the Trandoshans are just variations on a theme I figured I could experiment on the also-rans to get the skin textures and eyes right. I just hope the contrasting colors don't take on that Bag of Skittles look.   

After finishing these figures I only have two miniatures from the Imperial Assault box left, Boskk and Luke Skywalker. Then I can start in on Han, Chewy, IG-88, and the other first wave expansions. Let me know what you think.

[OSHIROmodels]

Very good 

cheers

James

[FramFramson]

That lizard skin looks aces!

[randycarter]

Don't be top upset by the commander, he looks good. Maybe I had used a different colour or tone for trousers, bit that's just my taste.

Great work on the bounty hunters! 

[Mason]

I think the Trandoshans look great.
You have really nailed the 'lizard effect'.
 

Not a lot that can be done with the 'valient' commander, I am afraid.
He will always look a little on the 'fraidy cat' side, I reckon.
The paint job looks just fine, but you cannot avoid the effect the look of the figure.

Nice work.
Looking forward to the rest of the bunch.
 

[kidterminal]

The trandoshan's look great I really like their skin colors.

[von Lucky]

I agree, they came out great.

[Michka]

Thank you everyone.

The most annoying thing about the Commander is he's a cool character. The card art looks nice, even regal. But it probably wasn't dynamic enough for the sculptor, or more likely the art director. I have the same issue with the Smuggler. She's an interesting character with some good card art, but for some reason the sculptor has her squatting down ready to pick up something on the ground. What the hell???

As for the Trandoshan skin, I people keep referring to Boskk's skin as green. Whenever I looked at pictures it's mostly brown. I used a Reaper Uniform Brown for a base. Then washed it with Citadel Agrax Earthshade. Then picked out some scales with Valejo Khaki. The scales came out a bit too polka-dotted, so I went over it with another Agrax Earthshade wash. 

[Michka]

It's update time once again. I'll start with four more member of the Mars Attacks Tiger Corps. This time in green armor.



I went with a more beaten up look for the armor this time around. There's loads of paint chips on the armor, though my poor photography skills may not be show it. Each mercenary has different iconography, as opposed to the matching patterns I used last time.

I also painted up Luke Skywalker.



I really didn't like the sculpting on this figure. It looks good at a distance, but the details are soft. Then again I may have too much paint on the miniature right now. I went back and forth for some time trying to find the right way to paint our hero. I might re-paint this one at some point, but first I have to see what happens when you try to stripe the paint off this plastic.

That's it for now. I should have Bossk finished later this week, which is the last figure from the Imperial Assault box. If you can't tell, I'm really happy to have these done. Let me know what you think.
 

[JoeRugby]

Everything looks excellent michka.

Especially the Trandoshans And the Mars Attacks mercs.

[warburton]

Great stuff - I like the simple bases too

[Marine0846]

I love your thread.
Great looking figures.
I went out and purchased Imperial Assault.
I do like the figures. (For the most part.)
I did go back and reread the thread and have a question or request.
Could you give a run down on how you prepped the Imperial Assault figures for painting?
Thanks.

[OSHIROmodels]

Those MA figures really fit the bill 

cheers

James

[Michka]

Thank you everyone. I'm still having fun painting Star Wars stuff, but those Mars Attacks minis had me looking through the box, and I might have to paint up some Martians soon. There's no reason Martians can't show up in Star Wars, right?

Warburton, these bases are the ones I use for all my Modern and Science Fiction figures. This way I can mix and match miniatures from any game without the bases being a dead giveaway. Means I have to keep them generic, but they fit any environment this way. They look surprisingly good on green grass too. Much better then the black bases I used before. Not so good on sand, but even snow doesn't look completely out of place. It's the cool colors.

Marine0846, Here's the basic long, drawn-out method of how I prep the Imperial Assault and Mars Attacks minis. I start by trimming all the damn mold lines off the figures. With as sharp an X-acto blade as I find, I slice the lines off, rather then scrape them. I read somewhere that slicing them works, where as scraping the plastic will leave a furry edge. I've seen this often enough to know it's true. The Imperial Assault minis can be scraped a little bit. The Mars Attacks ones shouldn't be scraped, ever. Once the minis are cleaned I cut the bases off, and drill holes in the feet for pins. As I said before, I like all my science fiction figures to have the same bases. I also hate the looks of the integral bases, since half the time these have nasty looking mold lines running though them, and many of the bases are curled. If I remember I clean the minis with soapy water, but most of the time I forget to do this. Then I just spray them with Testors spray paint as a primer. The Imperial Assault and Mantic plastic doesn't react to the spray paint the way the Reaper Bones stuff does. At least I haven't had a problem with it, and I don't even remember to clean the minis most of the time. After they're primed I temporarily pin the minis into old bases so I have something to hold while I'm painting.     

Hope that helps.