Old School Metal...

Always a fan of old Rogue Trader era sculpts. Here are 3 white metal oldies that I think still stand as great sculpts amidst the new range of Games Workshop releases.
The first is a marine in Crusade Armour from 1991. The next is a Plague Marine from 1993 and the far right is a Space Adventurer from 1988.

Death Korps of Krieg...

In action...

Death Korps of Krieg Heavy Mortar...

The mortar is almost complete. The icing on the cake will be some Forge World decals when they arrive. This has been weathered with acrylic washes- then sealed, then AK Interactive enamels with pigments/ground chalk pastels and fixative.

Hydra...

Disappointed by the new open top Astra Militarum Hydra kit I jumped onto the Forge World site to pick up the old closed top kit only to find it out of stock and after an email discontinued. I've always been a fan of this kit obviously taking its design qeues from the German Gepard.
After a couple of months I was able to find some parts on Ebay but with a major problem with the guns. They were damaged, bent and would require heavy remodeling. Next step was to source the parts from the new plastic kit. Here is the Hydra made from a Chimera, old Forge World parts and new plastic GW guns all magentised. I plan to modify the guns to look more like the original Kit and add some exhausts and extra details...

Death Korps of Krieg Heavy Mortar...

I have been working on this piece for a little while but shelved it to work out how I was going to make a base. I came across Secret Weapon's hollowed bevel bases- perfect for a support for what I had wanted to do. 

Bits and pieces like Tamiya barrels and sandbags were added with some Eduard razor wire for the details. The mud is a mixture of Gyprock topcoat with sand, flock, white glue, paint and water. This mix is coarsely applied and then sculpted with damp brushes and tools.

The ground plates were created with plasticard and once a master was cleaned up and primed, cast in resin (for another terrain project I have on the backburner).

Finally after priming I noticed a large amount of cracking from the plaster mix. I wanted a more muddy finish so mixed up some white glue, a very small amount of Hydrocal, paint and water to fill in the areas and unify the mud. Next stage- painting and weathering along with the final weathering of the mortar.

Destroyer Tank Hunter...

Tanks... I've always been a fan. From WWI iron behemoths to WWII's powerhouses they have always amazed me.
I have built a few scale panzers but for a Krieg mobilized army what could not be more interesting.
This is a work in progress of a Destroyer from Forgeworld. It's Stug 'look' is a favorite. As the story goes... it is supposed to be some sort of archaic weapon and I chose to weather the paint appropriately. For a Krieg army I am very keen to get hold of a filter for the rear engine cover but unfortunately these are not available separately from Forge World so I may have to rebuild one from a Super Heavy Tank filter kit. Back in the day- 20+ years ago- I seem to remember GW offering a service where each white metal part was itemised and could be purchased individually, if only Forge World could adopt this.
Next stage washes and dust...

More Vikings...

More Gripping Beast Saga Vikings joining the warband. The warlord was a lot of fun with a raised base and terrain with a scratchbuilt arrow and axe along with a section of ruin. As most of the weapon hands are just sleaved sections I have been resculpting thumbs to hold the spears and axes in place. Also a sculpted grip for the shield- a minor detail but I think it is essential for the warlord. Nine down, around eleven to go.

Updates...

More Guardsmen finished and a slight update to the dragon's teeth tank traps- broken rebar. I am pretty happy with this piece and was thinking of re-sculpting the aquilas for a more generic/non GW look.
The old metal Cadian was great to paint- nice solid details and great gesture. More to come...

Updates...

More Vikings for the SAGA warband and sculpting updates from the bench...
I love these Gripping beast pieces but the detailing is quite soft and the poses very simple- I'm keen to sculpt some more detailed vikings with a view to cast in white metal or resin.

Hirdmen...

Slow painting progress but here is a quick update with a couple of Viking Hirdmen.

Gunnar Hamundarson

While waiting for my Saga viking warband to arrive in the post I thought I'd get started on a leader...
Still undecided whether to add snow to the base. These Gripping Beast metal miniatures are a lot of fun to paint.

Update...

Slowly updating the fimo sculpt and something a little different... Gunnar Hamundarson from the dark age skirmish- Saga. I've decided to use the 40mm GW style base and added a raven and tree stump.

28mm sculpting...

My first foray into sculpting at this scale...
Initially I started with videos and web sites then found the great tutorials by Miniature Mentor- for someone new to this scale and techniques I can't recommend them enough.

Next was to trial all the material options. First up was green stuff/Kneadatite. I hated it, nothing like Sculpey and nothing like Apoxie Sculpt which I liked to use with kits. I couldn't understand how to detail with the tackiness and the short setting times. Next was Procreate- I had read great things about it and I do like it much better than Green stuff for its workability. Then after purchasing a couple of the tutorials featuring the Rackham artists I tried Fimo. I had recently purchased some Rackham pieces on Ebay and was blown away by their sculpts and gesture- a shame they are no longer around.
Fimo is brilliant- its cheap, holds the detail, can be smoothed with solvent and is just much much easier to work with than the putties. I am yet to bake a piece but so far- so good.

I’m learning a lot...

Dragon's Teeth...

The first pull from the Pinkysil mould painted up with a Space Wolf for scale reference...

On the bench...

A couple of new pieces of terrain- one an old Forge World piece I picked up and a barricade from Basicks. Having fun with AK Interactive's weathering enamels and engine oil.

And a line up of some Space wolves finished with some Secret Weapon snow and scenerey...