Saturday 27 December 2014

From SimonM - "Heroclix" - Ultron and Jocasta (43 Points)


These 28mm models of Ultron, Jocasta and three Dreadnought robots are by “Wizkids” and come from their “Heroclix” range of plastic miniatures. All of the models were removed from their ‘clicky-bases’ and superglued to either 25mm or 40mm “Games Workshop” round bases.


Ultron is actually a ‘flying’ miniature from the Marvel Infinity Challenge expansion and is model number 134. The living automaton was first undercoated “Citadel” Abaddon Black and then treated to a layer of Boltgun Metal. I then applied a wash of Nuln Oil before dry-brushing the figure with more Boltgun Metal. Finally the super-villain’s adamantium robotic shell was dry-brushed with Mithril Silver to help bring out its detail. Ultron’s eyes and maw were simply picked out with “Vallejo” Heavy Red and washed with “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson.


The model of Jocasta is from the Marvel Armor Wars expansion and is miniature 87. I painted her using exactly the same method as I did for her creator, Ultron.

These Dreadnought robots are from the Marvel Critical Mass expansion and are model number 13. They are actually 55mm in height and were undercoated with “Vallejo” Gunmetal Blue in order to try and capture the metallic blue-coloured armour the non-sentient robotic combat instruments are comprised of. Each figure was then washed with “Citadel” Nuln Oil before being dry-brushed with more “Vallejo” Gunmetal Blue.


At this stage I did consider a further ‘highlight’ of “Citadel” Mithril Silver but found that the dry-brushing had actually turned the robots titanium steel alloy more silver than I had wanted anyway. I also considered picking out the leg and arm rivets with Boltgun Metal and Nuln Oil in order to replicate the colour-scheme used for the Dreadnought 2000 model designed by A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics). However many of the detailed rivets were in some very difficult positions to reach with a brush tip, so in the end I stuck with my original plan of simply replacing the ghastly “Wizkids” pre-paint with my “Vallejo” Gunmetal Blue one. Fortunately once the “Citadel” Gloss Varnish had dried the blue within the paint really shone through both the Nuln Oil Shade and the “Vallejo” Model Color highlights.


Finally I decided to base one of the partially destroyed robots from the “Heroclix” X-Men Danger Room Collector’s Pack as a 40mm objective marker. This model actually took the longest to paint of the lot as I wanted to give the model an appearance of being somewhat rusty. As a result once the “Citadel” Boltgun Metal and Nuln Oil wash had dried, I applied some watered-down “Vallejo” Bronze to all the cracks and crevices found on the model. 
Once dry I then washed these areas with “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade before dry-brushing the entire model with Boltgun Metal. Finally I picked out the robot’s cyclopean eye with “Vallejo” Heavy Red and washed with “Citadel” Carroburg Crimson. 
From Curt:
Very cool minis Simon! I really like the metallic blue Dreadnought robots. What rules do you use to play with these? You seem to have a very detailed game world that your are populating with these great models.
I'm scoring the Dreadnoughts as 54mm figures and giving a few extra for the great destroyed robot objective marker. Great work Simon! 

28 comments:

  1. Fantastic entry Simon! Your method for doing metallics absolutely works. The rust effects also turned out well.

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    1. Many thanks Anne. Just a bit of paint and some patience for the dry-brushing. The Dreadnoughts came out especially well though. That "Vallejo" paint is tremendous.

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    1. Cheer Tamsin. Curt will need to give me a bucketful of extra points though if I'm to catch up with a point-bomber like you though :-)

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  3. Nice repaint, Simon! They look really nice! I might get some clix as my son is really keen on them! How do you remove them from the bases?

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    1. Cheers David. Certainly the Dreadnoughts look a lot better than the blue undercoat with metal wash "Wizkids" did them in. A sharp stanley knife is the best bet to get them off their 'clicky-base' but it depends on how they;re attached. The latest models are sculpted onto a black rectangular base, which is hard plastic deep inside so can be very difficult to cut without damaging the model.

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  4. Nice stuff Simon. Metallics can be hard to get enough variation to show curves well and you achieved that in spades. Jocasta is especially good.

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    1. Thanks Michael. Simple technique but one which really produces the goods. If anything Jocasta worked too well, as you can see all the casting flaws in the plastic :-)

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  5. Good stuff. Really great techniques for all those metallic bad guys. Cheers

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  6. Splendid work. you clearly understand metallic far better then me.

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    1. Many thanks Clint. Much appreciated. It really is a very easy technique though.

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    1. Cheers Juan. I'm rather pleased with them as well :-)

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  8. Love the blue tinged robots, great idea for these

    Ian

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    1. Many thanks Ian. Great models and a great paint by "Vallejo". All I did was slap it on.

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  9. Brilliantly painted. I love the rust effect on the objective, and Jocasta's a babe!

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    1. Cheers Roy. These were great fun to paint and not terribly difficult either.

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  10. I never really liked the out-of-the-box Heroclix stuff but yours are truly worth the while, thanks for sharing!

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    1. Many thanks Sander. These are older "Heroclix" sculpts so well worth putting some effort into. Unfortunately the last few years worth of figures have been truly awful and I only buy the odd one. Scale seems to have gone out of the window as well.

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  11. They look splendid. Nice work on the metalics.

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    1. Cheers Moiterei. They should look good on the gaming table :-)

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  12. Nice work - I have to say at first I didn't think much of this entry, until I read your text and started looking more carefully at the photos, and then I realized how much work you did and how good it was. Well done.

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    1. Thanks Michael. They are simple enough models but you really should have seen the pre-paints :-)

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  13. Very cool! Who doesn't like giant robots?

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