D&D Monster Manual 1: Purple Worms – aka Reaper Bones 77006: Great Worm

Purple Worms, Reaper Bones 77006: Great Worm

There’s a bit of discussion about at the moment, regarding how Bones is not a great material for certain figures, and can be a bit of an unpleasant material to work with for some people. While I’d agree that it’s far from perfect, it works out really well for certain figures. I bought this pair of Pre-KS Bones over a year ago, but they got put to one side for most of that time when I had to pack up to move, then move, and unpack and so forth. Recently I finished them, and finally we had some decent light, so today they got photographed. There’s a bit of mould line that I missed on one of them. Noticed it when it was too late, and I didn’t want to butcher my paint in order to fix it. You barely notice in person, anyway.

Purple Worms, Reaper Bones 77006: Great Worm

Purple Worms, Reaper Bones 77006: Great Worm

Drippy: I used some Woodland Scenics Water Effects to create the beginning of the “drool”, some WC Realistic Water over the top to smooth it out, and some Vallejo Model Colour Clear Yellow to add a touch of colour to the discharge.

Purple Worm, Reaper Bones 77006: Great Worm

Purple Worm, Reaper Bones 77006: Great Worm

Purple Worm, Reaper Bones 77006: Great Worm

Purple Worm, Reaper Bones 77006: Great Worm

Bitey: One with mucus/drool/mouthy discharge was enough.

Purple Worm, Reaper Bones 77006: Great Worm

Purple Worm, Reaper Bones 77006: Great Worm

Purple Worm, Reaper Bones 77006: Great Worm

Finally a scale shot. A couple of fantasy figures, and a ubiquitous Space Marine for scale. These are some decent sized models!

Purple Worms, Reaper Bones 77006: Great Worm

These suckers took awhile to get going, but once I actually sat down to make myself paint them they were quite an enjoyable experience. Originally they were all-purple, then I looked up the D&D colouration, which said they had yellow bellies/undersides, which I thought would look far too cartoony, but it kept bothering me. A day or two later I came back to them and used some sand and ochre shared for the “yellow” to make them look much more like natural colouration, and it worked for me. I used some pinky-purple for the transition ridge between the ochre and the main dark bluish-purple for the main body. One of the things I enjoyed most was the fact that since these are cheap Bones models, I allowed myself to play with them a lot more. I used drybrushing, blending, a purple oil paint wash at one stage, the aforementioned realistic water products, and a few weathering powders in the end. Basically a lot of experimentation and “play”, and I think they turned out pretty successful in the end!