COMPLETE: (!!!) Super Dungeon Explore Treasure Chests

Finished off 2 more SDE treasure chests - including a 4-eyed Mimic - and varnished some I had finished in the past. Got another 2 on the workbench.

I've also completed two more of Karl's Spider Riders so only seven more to go! Woo woo!

Bushido Terrain - Progress

After dry brushing and allowing the bronze to dry, I used the Nihilakh Oxide and a detail brush to flow the paint into the crevices of the sculpture. I started around the face and neck, then moved outwards, letting the paint flow into the crevices. I mostly used it straight from the container, but did water it down here and there. I also wiped the paint off in some of the raised areas, whenever I felt it needed it. You can paint it over the entire model, essentially glazing it with the paint, but I still wanted some shining bronze showing through so I carefully applied it only to the recesses. Not sure if I will go back and dry brush some bronze on the areas where the Nihilakh Oxide obscures some of the raised area yet or not... I am probably overthinking it. LMK what you think:

The statue after dry brushing with Citadel's Nihilakh Oxide painted into the crevices.

The Nihilakh Oxide creates a pleasing and very believable patina or verdigris. 

For the stone statues I do next, I suspect they will not need any sort of base to finish off the statue and could sit on the battle board directly. However, this bronze statue really needed something to sit on. I purchased a couple of wooden plaques/bases to paint in a stone finish. I gave it a light sanding to begin with, then etched some freehand lines into the wood to simulate cut stone, using a ballpoint pen to do so, followed by another light sanding. The stones are not exactly even and some are even cracked where I corrected some errors, but it looks good all the same. To this, I will add some loose gravel and some small pieces of flock and lichen to tie the two pieces together (right now it looks like its just sitting there... which it is – but could look better). 

The bronze statue on the wooden base. Here you can see the etched lines of the stone work,
created with a ball point pen.

Thanksgiving Break 2015

A few days off for Thanksgiving allowed for some hobby time.

I managed to get some primer on a commission I am working on – a unit of 10 Goblin Spider Riders, ready to put paint to them.

Ten primed Goblin Spider Riders for a commission.

In an effort to (finally) finish my Han Chinese DBA army, I put some time in on the three bases of Spearmen, replacing the "spaghetti" lead spears with brass wire ones that I shaped using the wife's jewelry anvil.

Telephone-pole-thick, spaghetti-flimsy original lead spears.

Spear removed.

Two units of the Spear with brass wire replacement weapons. Nice and sturdy.

Bushido Terrain

I also started work on a Bushido terrain piece, testing out a new method, a GW ink called Nihilakh Oxide, to simulate bronze oxidation – a patina or veridigris – on a bronze statue. So far, its working out nice on my test piece. The steps I take to the finished piece are detailed below.

I searched eBay for some appropriate Bushido type statuary, searching for both Japanese and Chinese dragons, and happened to come across this neat little set of six in a red resin finish. They looked nice on their own but I intended to repaint them both as bronze statuary using the GW ink, and some stone statuary (think "Great Stone Dragon" from Mulan!). But to actually own the set became an ordeal...

Six red resin dragons in their flimsy, vacu-formed packaging.

I won the auction and only paid less than $12 including shipping. However, the crappy plastic vacu-formed holder and flimsy cardboard box was placed in a bubble-pack envelope and mailed. Needless to say, the package arrived and all but one piece had been broken.

All but one dragon busted and broken!

Heads and Tails!

Not an issue for what I was gonna use them for, the repair would be covered up by my repaint, but I felt the shoddy packaging deserved a discount so I contacted the seller about it. She gave me a full refund so ended up getting them at no charge! Woot! Next I repaired the pieces with super glue and left off the fiddly little bits, accepting that these stones dragons could have been chipped and broken in a war torn Bushido setting.

Fixed.

Fixed, but showing small broken scales for "Mushu" effect.

For my test piece of the bronze finish, I chose the sculpt that had a duplicate in the set (just in case I "messed it up"), and primed it black. It's a neat little turtle dragon with a little turtle on its back.

The duplicate piece primed black with automobile primer.

Next, came a dry brush with a bronze craft paint to pick out all the details. The color I used was DecoArt Dazzling Metallics Rich Espresso Craft Paint.

Dry brushed.

I'll post more details later...