Second Helping of Zombie Vixens.

A few more female zombies for Zombie Plague. Thanks to everyone who pointed out that the disc on the Zombie Vixens sprue is a serving tray. Knowing this has inspired me to do a couple of waitress figures, one with an appetizer and one with the main course. 

I can't tell who looks worse.

That's not ketchup.

I also finished the Baywatch lifeguard. I'm not sure about the pose for this one. She looks a bit like she's diving into water but on the lawn of the Zombie Plague house this action looks kind of silly.

Her nose is gone from faceplanting every time she tries to dive.

The horde is slowly growing.

I'm having fun building and painting these but I think I'm going to switch to some of the male zombies. And I'm looking forward to eventually getting some of the Studio Miniatures plastic zombies. I haven't really been knocked out by any of the plastic zombies on the market but I still prefer plastics over metal due to cost and the sheer variety of poses and heads.

Thanks for looking!

Wargames Factory Zombie Vixens.

Gen Con this year was pretty amazing. Not only did we finally get to release the print version of my boardgame Zombie Plague but I had a small budget to buy some new minis with. Having some extra cash and the level of variety at Gen Con makes me feel like a kid in a candy store.

One of the releases I knew I wanted to pick up was the Zombie Vixens set from Wargames Factory. I need a good amount of horde zombies for Zombie Plague and although I'm working on having miniatures sculpted of the four main characters, the zombies are not a huge priority as there are already several companies making good horde zombies. I already have a box of the WF Zombies so I thought I'd give the female versions a try.

I will gladly redesign this box for free miniatures.

The first thing I noticed about this set is that the box art seems very out of date and not in a fun retro way. It just seems like the first thing they could come up with. On the back is a nice, clear picture of some well painted versions of the miniatures. This would have made a much better cover for the box than the oddly colored renders of the 3D models. And I won't even get started on the flavor text. "Bodacious, mangeled curves" indeed.

Uggh...really?

Die, Die My Darling!

The models themselves are for the most part very good. There are some odd bits of clothing, the evening dress looks like it is sculpted of bubble gum, but the overall quality is strong. Some of the poses are more successful than others but there is a good variety of arms and heads so that several different "occupations" of zombies can be made. Waitress, business woman, policeman, cheerleader, etc. There's even a body wearing a bikini and an arm carrying a rescue float for those Baywatch fans out there. Overall the mix is good and will add to the visual interest of the zombie horde.

The bases on the sprues idea is cool. I'm still trying to figure out what the accessory is supposed to be towards the center of the frame. 
A frisbee? An LP record?

Sad that even zombie women can't escape the "gotta pee!" pose.

The joints for arms and heads are just flat areas. This system tends to leave gaps on the neck and shoulders that can be very obvious on the final figures. With the next batch I assemble I'll be using styrene model cement to partially melt the pieces together and hopefully fill in any gaps. Although I would have preferred a ball & socket system for the joints I understand it's probably an issue with styrene casting and it's not a dealbreaker in any case.

They were fun to paint with good horror-movie details and although I was only giving them 45 minute paint jobs they look fine on the tabletop. I tried to hold back on the blood and gore somewhat but the minis had wounds that really called for being bloodied up. I used a technique of paint and red ink washes to show how blood dries and soaks into cloth. And sometimes it's fun to just paint something really bloody.

"Lumpy" and Mrs. Rottengutz head home from the banquet. 

Sometimes all you want is a good "hand-burger".

With a Hasslefree sculpting dolly.

Size seems a bit on the tall side especially when compared to the previous set of male zombies from Wargames Factory. These little fellows seem pudgy and dwarfish compared to the much trimmer and taller women. But the ZV set also shows that WF is getting better at sculpting this type of model. There is no fair comparison between the original set and the Vixens. The new set is more posable, more finely sculpted and realistically proportioned. And a variety of final models seems to be much easier to attain with the new set.

The Good: The sculpting is for the most part good and the sprues offer a large variety of final miniatures. The price is also nice with 30 miniatures per box at $20.00 USD. I picked mine up at Gen Con and WF was throwing in an extra sprue with each purchase. Two extra sprues later and I've got 50 zombie women plus several "crawlers".

The Bad: Some of the cloth sculpting is spotty. The joining system can leave very obvious gaps.

The Ugly: The box art and flavor text is crude, badly realized and chauvinistic. This is a good set of useful miniatures and it doesn't need "spiced up" by bad innuendo and out of date sexual stereotypes.

Should I buy these? Yes. Overall I'd say buy these miniatures if you need to fill in or build a large horde of modern zombies. Wargames Factory is making better miniatures than they did a few years ago and I hope that this trend continues. And it would be nice to see a new set of male zombies that look closer to the Zombie Vixens.

They call her...KICKSTAND!

Making Crackle Texture Bases

Just a quick how-to for making crackle texture bases that can be painted to represent dried earth, shale, ice, or other surfaces. I'll be using Instant Mold, check out my earlier blog on the stuff here, as well as green epoxy putty , and egg shells. Using egg shells gives these bases an organic and random texture that is hard to replicate otherwise. 

First attain the shells. I usually steam mine for twelve minutes in a steamer. This makes them delicious. Then as I'm peeling the egg I try to keep the shell in one big, flat piece as this makes the crackle texture more believable.

Trust me, this is green stuff and not Pure Evil.

I really need some new Instant Mold. This batch is starting to look like novelty dog vomit.

Flatten a thin layer of green stuff onto a paper plate or the like. This will hold the shell flat so that you can then use the Instant Mold to make a texture mold. Use fresh green stuff to cover the top of the base you'd like to use and then press the texture mold over it. Wait until the putty is cured and then trim the edge to clean up the base.

Extra effects like static grass or snow can really add realism to a base.

Easy! The two examples here are a snow and ice motif and a cracked mud texture. I used static grass and a small bit of jute twine to make dried plants. If you decide to try this technique for yourself please share your results via the comments.

Thanks!

And Just Because I'm Goofy!

Here's what it looks like when you use toast:

Making a Simple Hexagon Tile Base.

Recently while in the housewares section of our local department store I ran across a silicone pot holder and trivet that made me stop in my tracks. Not that I am normally drawn in any bizarre way to pot holders but this particular design was honeycombed with small little hexagon shapes, oddly enough like a real honeycomb. It was very flexible and heat resistant to 450 degrees so I'd be able to cast plaster in it and dry it in a low oven. And besides, who doesn't need an extra trivet every now and again?

The silicone this was made of reminded me of the great Hirst Arts molds so I just used it the same way. First I mixed up a slightly thick paste of Durham's Water Putty plaster and filled the hex shapes. I tapped the cardboard that the trivet was on to remove air bubbles, this took a while, and then smoothed it a bit. I wanted each hex shape to cast separately so once the putty had thickened a bit more I scraped it perfectly flat with a plastic scraper.

Once the plaster has set I put it in a 200 degree oven until it was perfectly cured and dry. At first I thought I'd demold them into and then lay out the hex pattern but I had a better idea. I left them in the mold and then put thick super glue onto the top of each hex. This way all I had to do was press a base down on top, let the glue dry, and then demold the pieces. This would leave me with perfectly spaced tiles without getting too fiddly. I was a bit too eager so some of the hexes popped off in the mold or fell off the base. I glued some of them back on but mostly left them as they were. My intention was to make a base that represented a temple or building that had been destroyed by time and weather so if they were broken or misplaced it would just add to this effect.

Once the super glue set I mixed up some plaster to act as grout for the tiles. After glopping a good amount over the tiles I used a wet finger to smooth the grout and remove any excess. I also used the plaster to build up some ground around the tiles. I wanted the bases to look like the building that had these tiles had been overrun by nature and now only the dirty tiles remained.

Once all of the plaster was dry I added some sand glued in place with wood glue. Painting used drybrushing and Citadel washes to really dirty them up. Static grass adds some life to the feeling of encroaching nature. Although you can get a similar tile effect using textured plasticard I think this gives a bit more realism by having individual tiles to crack or chip, or to remove altogether. And the bases come together pretty quickly and very cheaply. The trivet to use as a mold was $4.95 and the plaster cost pennies for the amount that I used.

I think this effect could really work well for a jungle themed army like lizardmen, elves or space elves, or maybe a middle eastern theme. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Making Windows for Marx Future Cars

Marx Cars of The Future are toys that seem as cool today as they did when they were first made in the space-age crazy 1950s. With styling that expanded on the big and burly cars of that era they seem plausible and completely ridiculous at the same time.

Originally cast with wheels on the bottom that don't seem designed to actually roll these cars make great stand ins for hover cars. Just snap the wheels out and they already seem to float on a cushion of air. Artist Ryan Howe used them for inspiration in our comic Yva Starling: Troubleshooter. I'm also planning to use them in my games of the Judge Dredd Miniature Game as Mega-City One transports.

There are reproductions of these that seem to be pretty cheap and available. Many war game hobbyists use them for games set in an alternate history sci-fi setting were design style never really changed much from the 1950s. They look great in this setting but would certainly be improved by the addition of windshields and side windows.

So I broke out another relic from the past, my trusty Mattel Vac-U-Form machine. This little tank has been around longer than I have and still works consistently and well. And for smaller vacuformed parts it can't be beat. It uses pre-drilled plastic sheets which are luckily still pretty easy to find. And in addition to the heat plate that softens the plastic I also use a heat gun to warm the plastic sheet more thoroughly. The sheet is clamped between two holding racks while it heats. This keeps the sheet taut and even. Then the soft plastic sheet is dropped over the form and the air vacuumed out. This draws the soft plastic over the form and cools it to set the shape.

I've made windows for the two closed cabin cars and I'm pretty happy with how they've turned out. Installing them into the cars can be a bit of a pain but just takes a few tricks. After trimming the windows out of the plastic sheet use either hot glue or green stuff putty to attach it to the roof. These are designed to fit very snugly to the roof of the car to pull the windows tightly into place. I used hot glue for mine and found that letting the glue set for  about 20 seconds before placing the windows helps the plastic keep its shape and fit more snugly. The part needs to be held in place until the glue cools.

Please contact me at hellbox45@hotmail.com if you're interested in picking some of these up.

Elder Thing Disruptor Weapon.

"The Old Ones had used curious weapons of molecular and atomic disturbances against the rebel entities, and in the end had achieved a complete victory." ~H.P.L.

Just a few quick pictures of the Elder Thing with disruptor weapon. I wanted the design of their weapons to be very Baroque and semi-organic without being bio-mechanical. These weapons can be fired in various ways. A lower setting produces uncomfortable heat and blistering, this is the setting most often used to control wayward shoggoths. By increasing the power of the weapon the Elder Things can cause biological material to boil or burn. And at its highest setting it will rip apart molecular bonds with highly explosive results. 

The only disadvantage to using these weapons is that the range and power must be set before firing and so fast moving targets often avoid the worst effects. It is noted in At The Mountains of Madness that the Spawn of Cthulhu and the Mi-Go seem to be able to avoid some of the disruptor's effect by nature of their odd physical reality, although this might only be revisionist history on the part of the Elder Things to explain defeats in battle by these foes.

The Elder Things will also be getting a large scale cannon weapon and close combat troops. The Elder Things miniatures are available here:

http://roebeast.blogspot.com/2012/05/elder-thing-miniatures-assembly.html

Great Race of Yith Preview Miniature.

"They seemed to be enormous, iridescent cones, about ten feet high and ten feet wide at the base, and made up of some ridgy, scaly, semi-elastic matter. From their apexes projected four flexible, cylindrical members, each a foot thick, and of a ridgy substance like that of the cones themselves. 

These members were sometimes contracted almost to nothing, and sometimes extended to any distance up to about ten feet. Terminating two of them were enormous claws or nippers. At the end of a third were four red, trumpet-like appendages. The fourth terminated in an irregular yellowish globe some two feet in diameter and having three great dark eyes ranged along its central circumference.

Surmounting this head were four slender grey stalks bearing flowerlike appendages, whilst from its nether side dangled eight greenish antennae or tentacles. The great base of the central cone was fringed with a rubbery, grey substance which moved the whole entity through expansion and contraction."~ H.P. Lovecraft, The Shadow Out of Time.

The next miniatures that will be released for Eldritch Empires are The Great Race of Yith. These cone shaped creatures use complex hypnosis to force their own minds into other creatures during various epochs in order to gain knowledge and to extend the lifespan of their race. During the time of Eldritch Empires they are inhabiting the bodies of a species native to earth but one that is destined to be destroyed by the mysterious and terrifying polypous beings that haunt them.  

The two clawed tentacles are cast separately allowing for a variety of poses.

The Great Race of Yith are one of my favorite of Lovecraft's Elder Races. Their desire for knowledge and almost magical levels of science make them incredibly interesting. Lovecraft drops tantalizing hints throughout TSOOT about the world that they inhabit in these cone shaped forms even describing various types of transport vehicles and discussing their ways of war. 

"Warfare, largely civil for the last few millennia though sometimes waged against reptilian or octopodic invaders, or against the winged, star-headed Old Ones who centered in the antarctic, was infrequent though infinitely devastating."~ H.P.L.

Although they are extremely tough-bodied even the Makers fear the rending claws of the Great Race.

He mentions their favored weapon as being "camera-like weapons which produced tremendous electrical effects" and although he suggests that these are primarily to deal with the polyps it is not too far of a stretch to imagine them using against their other foes as well.

Lovecraft's biological design of the Yithians is as bizarre as the Elder Things in its seemingly odd combination of parts. Yet when looking at creatures found during the Cambrian Explosion, especially those discovered in the Burgess Shale, it is easy to see how someone with a scientific imagination like Lovecraft could let his mind run riot. Take a look at this brilliant program by David Attenborough to see what I mean:

These will be available soon from Nameless Design Miniatures. Price and shipping still to be determined.