A Triad of Treemen

What is better than a single treeman? The answer is really rather easy - three treemen! Now I have waxed lyrical in the past about how much I love these models and I must confess that my obsession in all things Ent (can we say that in Warhammer?) has led me to purchase two further models from eBay in recent days. Another 1985 Treebeard model, and the classic 1984 Treeman from the Second Compendium, otherwise known as 'Klinty' in McDeath collecting circles.

Its been quite a project. The model on the right has been painted three times and old Klinty was so filthy upon arrival (black grime rubbed off onto your fingers when you handled him) that he needed some serious cleaning.

If we start with the 1984 treeman, Klinty, I can tell you that he must have been popular back in the day as there are a great number of the available on-line - with the price averaging out at about £18 each. Now, as a sculpt there isn't really much going for poor old Klinty. He is a ancient solid based model back from back in the days when sculpting and casting were really quite primitive. And he looks it when you first handle him. He has a certain charm though, especially if you love treemen, and I really rather enjoyed bringing him back to life. 

I found that Dettol really helped shift thirty years of oxidisation from his surface. As I said before, he was so grimy that the black sooty stuff that seems to stick to old lead everywhere left marks on your hands. After a few hours in the brown stuff, I fished him out and was surprised (with a little help from the washing up liquid) to see how quickly that muck could be cleaned away. Undercoating was a problem, probably due to the high lead content, and my white paint just seemed to move away from the surface of the model. I found painting it on directly with a large brush stopped this.

After a few tests, I realised that the models (who are really intended to form a three tree unit) looked rather strange with individual paint schemes. So I opted to repaint the lot using a stage by stage approach and I think its fair to say that I am pretty happy with the results. Though I notice in this photograph that one of Klinty's eyes looks a bit lopsided - so I shall fix that up shortly. 

All in all, a challenging and satisfying project that has got my painting score for this holiday up to nine completed models. Hmmm, what next?

A Warhammer Bestiary: Treeman

At last, the Easter holidays have arrived. Sixteen days of uninterrupted relaxation and contemplation time. Yeah, right! Two kids and a wife will make short work of that but as much of my time as possible will be spent at the painting table working through the huge pile of models I have selected for painting in the coming weeks. I have also just dropped nearly £50 on some choice pieces to add to my orc and McDeath collection.So I am looking forwards to painting them up too. 

Now, back to normal service and time to delve into another addition of my self-imposed painting challenge - A Warhammer Bestiary. The premise is simple if you are unfamiliar with it: to collect and paint a single model for every entry in the Warhammer fantasy Battle Third Edition rulebook. Last week, it was the turn of the giant. This week, as you will have already seen, its the treeman. And yes, I know I have jumped ahead a bit, missing out a minotaur and ogre. I will catch up with them shortly. 

Regular readers will know that I struggled with this model a couple of weeks ago and couldn't produce a satisfying finish. Looking back, I realised that there was nothing wrong with the painting technique itself. It was colour choice. Friends, such as Stuart Klatcheff, suggested I went for a Autumnal scheme, making use of oranges and browns for the problematic beard. But in the end I returned to my original intention of using green. 

It was colour harmony that came to my rescue. Mixing in a little of the base colour for the wood of the treeman into the green mix helped even things out to my eye, and I now have a model that looks the way I wanted it to. The tree man is, essentially, just a two colour job. This makes for a rather challanging task in my opinion, as if you get one of the colours wrong - the whole model looks wrong and you have to star again. 

What do you guys think?

Right, onwards with the project. A minotaur next...

Work in Progress: Treeman

My WIP treeman - I am not yet happy with the result. Any tips?

In my last post I shared an image of Thrud battling the wereman and a WIP progress treeman. Well, today I though that I might quickly share my progress on the said treeman. Personally, I have grown to really love this model since I acquired it some months ago. I think its something about the determined expression on the figure's face that appeals to me and I would love to get a couple more of these models to create a small unit of treemen. The trouble is, this model is one of the most expensive I have ever bought myself at £20 and sadly they seemed to appear rather infrequently. The other treeman made famous by Citadel in the '80s, used later as Klinty in McDeath, seems to be more commonly available. 

This particular model was part of the 1985 Lord of the Rings range from when Citadel originally held the license. He was originally sculpted to represent Treebeard in that range but was later packaged as a general treeman monster. Later on, in 1988 the model was given a second lease of life in a number of conversions for Bloodbowl. 

Now I share this model as a Work-in-Progress - which isn't something I usually do. You see, my previous post on Thrud represents me painting well within my comfort-zone. Leather, flesh and steel (what does that say about me??) while the two tone combination of greenery and wood on this treeman are something I found very challenging to achieve. 

What do you guys think? I am almost certian I am going to repaint the green leaves on the front of the model as they look blobby and undefined to my eye but your suggestions would be a great help if you are willing to share them. 

Ultimately, what I would like to know is how do to you paint wood and how do you achieve that vibrant green associated with plant life in paint! Can anyone help?

What's behind that tree?