Reaper Bones 77504: Death Star Lillies (Neglected Model May ’18)

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Reaper Bones 77504: Death Star Lillies

Another pair of simple Bones models here – and yes, that’s really what they’re called. These ones work as both Neglected Models for this month as well as some potential Nurglesque Scenic items for 40k/AoS/Warhams. Beyond that, they also work as Deathworld plants in a more general 40k sense, or any kind of Pulp and/or D&D setting as giant carnivorous plants. One problem that …drew out their painting time was the fact that they got tacky when I painted them with normal paint, despite the layer of Liquid Greenstuff that I had applied. I’ve overpainted them this time using Reaper’s own HD paints, though there’s some Vallejo mixed into the highlights and some AP washes with Lahmian Medium for the purple shading. Sealed with Reaper’s own brush-on, so we’ll see if this shit can stop the figures from becoming tacky. edit – seems to work, but it’s very satin as most brush-on Matt varnish turns out to be.

Reaper Bones 77504: Death Star Lillies

A Plaguebearer provides a sense of scale. As you can see, these are neither tiny, nor huge.

26 thoughts on “Reaper Bones 77504: Death Star Lillies (Neglected Model May ’18)”

  1. OK! Now these color schemes really pop! Really vivid and certainly evoke an ‘ewww’! I like that these could be models for a single creature with ‘open’ and ‘closed’ states. 🙂

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  2. Great work. First time I’ve seen a Giant plant from you and it’s just as good as your work on animals. Too bad that Reaper Bones plastic is so hard to work with. You make them look so great, that I keep wanting to run out and buy some.

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  5. I think the name is actually a pun. They look sort of like they were made as “dire” versions of Stargazer Lilies. I like how you’ve added a bunch of extra vegetation around them on their bases, so it’s not just this one plant sitting there by itself in the middle of the table.

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    • Once again that’s a great spot, Alexis. I know the flowers (after looking the name up, I had an “oh, *those*” moment), but I’m not well versed in botany or …um, flower botany enough to pick things like that. I thought adding the extra vegetation was necessary, as I picture them in a rich, humid environment, with an almost stifling amount of pollen and scents mixing in the air around them. Not, as you say – just sitting there by themselves.

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  6. Very cool – they look great mate! I like the Bones stuff, but must admit that the reported painting issues really do put me off… The steps you describe are really more than I can be arsed with I’m afraid :-))

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    • Yeah, very understandable. Other people have offered their advice on working with the stuff, but I find that solutions are pretty uneven in their effectiveness. It’s such a head-shaker that a company the size of Reaper seems so obstinate in continuing the use of a material that’s so unfriendly to painters that don’t adhere tightly to their own paint ecosystem. It’s like bad GW practices turned up to 11.

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  7. The alien plants look ace. Great depth to the colours and a true alien feel to them. Excellent markers for a 40k game with fun possibilities for random events: SM being swallowed or aided by temporary sharpened senses via spores or caught in neverending nightmare while being digested (see X Files).

    So far I had no problem with Bones getting tacky using acrylic based primer or paint. If you used a spray primer this could cause tackiness depending on the solvent used. I would try Reaper Brown Liner as a basecoat. Works quite well. Other than that no idea what caused the tackiness.

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    • I haven’t used a spray primer on Bones in years now. These things had a coat of thinned LGS followed by normal acrylic paint from either GW, Army Painter or Vallejo and quickly became sticky.
      Thanks for the tip on Brown Liner. I’ve just googled it and people on the reaper forums are calling all of the coloured liners quote useful, so I guess I’ll grab a few bottles of each next time I do a Reaper order.
      You’re right on the money with the varied potential uses for these, though I probably need to get a whole lot more jungle up and running to make them fit in more effectively.

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      • Interesting, must be something in the LGS that reacts with the PVC. Never had a reaction with Greenstuff, but then the liquid form is quite different. Mine dried out in a few months after opening and I threw it in the garbage, so not a fan, but I can see its uses for texturing a surface. I used it successfully to cover up 3D printing lines.

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      • The thing is that usually the LGS gives a perfectly dry base, sticks to the stuff and also gives a nice surface for normal paints to adhere to – without any “Bones” issues. I suspect that there are quite a few different mixes of PVC in Bones through the years (3 KS campaigns, plus the pre-KS stuff, then there would be all of the restock runs, and possibly even between batches in the same “cohort” for each large KS lot. Given that the models are all made in China despite Reaper’s initial “we want to make these ourselves here in the USA” claims about the campaign, and they would have even less material control.

        Liquid greenstuff has very little in common with actual kneadatite, aside from the name and being dyed to a similar hue. It does dry out quickly and isn’t great for actual hole filling – proper greenstuff or something like Tamiya Plastic putty is far better – so I find its best use is actually thinned down as a primer for PVC models or as you do – dabbing down as texture for bases and so forth.

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      • Never thought to use that stuff as a primer, but it sounds you have a good track record. The main issue may indeed be what is in the PVC. Impossible to say as it comes out of China.

        I love Bones for conversions, but as stand alone minis right out of the box better materials exist.

        Did you ever try these new Reaper Paints formulated specifically for Bones?

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      • If you mean the Reaper HD paints, I have a bunch of them, (maybe all of them? – My last purchase brought me up to all of the ones they had available at the time.)
        They’re actually pretty good paints on their own merits in the “Foundation/Heavy Opaque/Base” style, and probably the safest stuff to use in the first layer of paints on Bones after the LGS.
        I went in pretty heavily on the first KS (Triple Vampire, from memory) and got a lot in the second campaign as well. In the third I just got select models (large ones, the scenery made from a solid PVC), and I still haven’t even looked at the PM for the 4th campaign yet, bit it’ll be very selective once again with large models that seem to work better, and scenic items.

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    • All righty, Seymour!
      I’ve actually coated most of Goremaw’s scales with the Black Primer now (over the thinned LGS “primer” coat), and not sticky so far. Still, the Bones stuff is unpredictable.
      Cheeseburger the Bear was perfectly “dry” when he was painted, but became tacky after using Vallejo brush-on matte varnish, so you can see how frustrating working with that stuff can be.

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  10. Pingback: Reaper Bones 77505: Dragon Plant (#Monstermarch3 ’19, Gender-Ambiguous March ’19) | Azazel's Bitz Box.

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