Ork Painboy of the Bad Moonz Clan [Completed]

Each and every W40K ork that I paint seems guaranteed to be a time sink. So it was with the Ork Painboy that I started working on three months ago. After hours and hours of trying to bring the many small details too life, I pronounce this latest addition to the Bad Moons clan finished. At least as finished as any miniature can be, considering none in my collection were given a protective anti-paint chip coat, which in turn leaves them open to paint modifications in the future. I guess that's a way to mollify myself with the thought that I can always come back to them when my skills improve.   

Games Workshop Ork Painboy [Completed]

Spin the doctor and he would move in a kaleidoscope of colours

Insane amount of details equaled many hours of painting put in

Colours are a mishmash of yellow-green, yellow, orange, red, red-violet, blue-green and neutral hues   

In a departure from the normal colour schemes expected of a Bad Moons Ork (or is it?), I went colour crazy on the Painboy. His colour scheme comprised a mishmash of yellow-green, yellow, orange, red, red-violet, blue-green and neutral hues. I was curious if such a variety of hues could work or would it just overwhelm the senses. Looking at the finished piece now I think it kinda does.  

Yellows of the Bad Moons Clan were limited to the bosspole and loin cloth

Temptation to splash blood everywhere on the Painboy's buzz-saw weapon was high ...  

... but in the end, only a dab of blood made it to a blade attached to the buzz-saw

This Ork Painboy has one of the most colourful schemes I have ever attempted

The Ork Painboy is actually part of a set with its other half being a Grot Orderly which I completed a year ago. Both complement each other colour scheme wise and are a welcome addition to my fledgling ork army. It will be a while before I return to painting orks though as I plan to move on to Chaos in my Games Workshop-related miniatures project. A break from green skin will do me good.

Games Workshop Ork Painboy and his Grot Orderly (front view)

Games Workshop Ork Painboy and his Grot Orderly (back view)

Perhaps it's fitting and ironic that my next Games Workshop miniature will likely be an ode to Nurgle seeing that this piece is dedicated to healing. More on that project in the coming weeks. Meanwhile the hazy conditions just won't go away. It's getting worse. A news report alleges that the carbon released from the Indonesian fires causing the haze have now exceeded the emissions from the entire US economy. Imagine that! In this day and age where war violence dominates global news, this environmental horror show seems to have largely escaped the attention of the rest of the world. I shudder to think the price Earth is going to pay for this tragedy that's slowly unfolding before us.

Grot Orderly of the Bad Moonz Clan [Completed]

Once when I was young, I momentarily harboured the idea of pursuing a career in medicine. Then, I asked myself if I was truly willing to dedicate my entire live towards the service of the poor and sick. Ashamedly, my answer was no. I couldn't reconcile between my selfish desires to live a normal life with lots of family time and that of a selfless health care worker. So to me, nothing is more horrifying than health care workers who kill patients with their ineptitude and indifference. This brings me to my piece for this year's Halloween, a bumbling Grot Orderly who calls himself Baldrick Greenadder. 

Meet Baldrick Greenadder, grot orderly extraordinaire and assistant to the Ork Painboy

With so much blood on him, things don't seem to be going too well for the patients

If your health care worker has this expression on his or her face ... run

Because I couldn't really make out all the items that were placed on Baldrick's surgical tray, I had to make things up as I went along. Hopefully you can spot some of the items listed below:
1. Magnet - For pulling out those hard to reach bullets;
2. Surgical knife - For slicing and dicing those damaged parts away;
3. Rusted blades - For initiating a medical procedure the orks lovingly call Gangrene-sectomy;
4. Piece of dirty cloth - For bandaging wounds as orks believe dirt helps initiate blood clotting;
5. Metal rods - For when all else fails, it doesn't hurt to poke around for a solution. 

Can you spot the surgical knife, magnet, spare blades, extra cloth and some pokey things on the tray?

Baldrick's cloths were painted in a colour that you would usually see in a human health care worker while some yellow bands of cloth were added to indicate where the Grot Orderly's loyalty lies i.e. the Bad Moonz Clan. The only other clothing on him were the bandages which had some blood effects painted on them using, for the first time in my miniature paint works, the Tamiya Clear Red X-27.  

Baldrick seems to have a lot of arterial blood on his work clothes ... not good

Grot Orderly's pants were painted in the colours of a hospital orderly's attire

One key challenge I faced when painting the Grot Orderly was trying to make the liquid in the syringe look realistic. Though I can't say if I truly managed that, it was my first try at painting a liquid inside a clear container so I certainly hope to get better at it in the future. The liquid is blue in colour because Orks use a human drug called Viagra which serves like a shot of adrenalin for them.

Is that a liquid solution of Viagra in the syringe?

Thin line of highlight was applied to simulate reflection of a cylinder glass syringe

Side view (right) of the Grot Orderly

I hope you liked meeting Baldrick Greenadder. But I hope too for your sake you never have to meet one yourself whether in-spirit or in-real-life. Happy Halloween and go give yourself a good scare.

Whole lotta prepping: superhero, heroine and anti-hero

With most of my current miniature projects nearing completion, the cycle starts again with a massive amount of prepping for a whole new set of miniatures to replace those nearing the end of the current project pipeline. Although prep work is satisfying in its own way, I can't help but wish that more miniatures would come at least 90% to 100% semi-assembled to make life easier. But I would still prefer to retain control of the priming stage (vs pre-primed minis) as I have gained enough experience to be able to lay on a nice even thin coat of primer in most times when humidity isn't a bear.  

Knight Models Hulk, Nocturna Models Enchantment and Ax Faction Zombie Hunter

It has become a norm or habit for me to concurrently work with miniatures of differing sizes so in my work table now I have the Knight Models The Hulk and Nocturna Models Enchantment which are both 1:28 (or around 70-mm) scale and the Ax Faction Zombie Hunter which is in 32-mm scale.

Knight Models The Hulk, assembled and ready for priming

Although both The Hulk (see above) and Enchantment (see below) resin miniatures are of the same scale, the former superhero is obviously larger in size next to the latter heroine so I will still be working with miniatures of differing sizes. While The Hulk is well known and needs no explanation on how I will be going about its paintjob, that really isn't the case with Enchantment. The latter figure has been tackled very well by a fellow blogger Adam and having seen his version, the official version as well as other colour schemes attempted by other painters online I have a rough idea of what I plan to do with her. More of this in future posts but my inspiration will be the lovely Daenerys Targaryen.

Nocturna Models Enchantment, semi-assembled (head straps unattached) and ready for priming

And then there is the Ax Faction Zombie Hunter which I believe is at 'true' 32-mm scale which means it's small and will be a challenge for my painting skills. Working on sizes big and small is the only way to improve on your painting in my honest opinion. Miniatures of differing scales allow you to better understand the intricacies of blending and layering acrylic paints, and practice doing them.

Ax Faction Zombie Hunter, semi-assembled, dry-fitted and yes, ready for priming

For size comparison, I also prepped and assembled two 'heroic' 28-mm scale Games Workshop resin miniatures namely the Ork Painboy and his grot orderly, both of which I also plan to work on concurrently to the three shown above. As you can see from the immediate photo below, in terms of actual size both W40K characters allow me to work with even more differently sized miniatures.  

An Ork Painboy and Grot Orderly adds to the to-do list as well as offers a size comparison

All the miniatures above have yet to be primed. Five would have been plenty seeing that I still have some projects still in early stages of painting (there is a half-painted dragon, Westeros knight and two wood elf goddesses to name a few) but noooo ... I just had to be a smart ass and add yet two more primed miniatures to the immediate to-do list in what would have induced the below reaction from Lily Aldrin (a character in the TV sitcom How I Met Your Mother) if she were a miniature painter.

So this means the Super Dungeon Explore Hexcast Sorceress and the Dark Sword Female Bard now has the dubious honour of being in my immediate (but still unpainted) to-do list. I will clarify on what I intend to do with these two as I start painting them so more on them on later blog posts.

Super Dungeon Explore Hexcast Sorceress prime with Tamiya Super Fine Light Grey

Dark Sword Female Bard that upon second viewing may need a further light coat of primer

Phew ... that's a lot of miniatures but I have even more ideas running around in my head on what to do with some Dark Angel Space Marines which I plan to paint in super duper bright colours. Why? Well I don't think I am going to ever field a Space Marine army on the wargaming table so I might as well use them as painting practice. But those ideas remain lodged firmly on the sprue because I am experiencing extreme prepping fatigue. If you ask me, someone should start "Preppers Anonymous" and all meetings must start with ... Hello I am so and so and I sniff err hate super glue. ;)