Small Scenics: Secret Weapon Miniatures’ Scrap Yard(?) Corner Piece.

Back in December 2013 I picked up a couple of the “Bag O Crap” sets occasionally offered by Justin at Secret Weapon Miniatures. These are generally models who have failed his stringent QC process, and are sold off in these bags every so often. What you’ll get is a mystery! So I got a bunch of bases that I’ve stil not used – some with obvious bubbles and miscast issues, and others that I can see absolutely no issies with. I also got a few nicer large pieces of terrain. A destroyed tank turret, a flipped truck, a Star Wars-ish generator, and this (no link, it doesn’t appear to be listed on SWM’s site anymore!) The turret and truck are painted, the Generator is in a box somewhere. I thought I’d posted the painted turret and truck sometime, but apparently not? I’ll find them and post a pic sometime in the future.

Despite being a nice piece in a lot of ways, it’s got some seriously severe print lines, obviously from the master model’s original print before it went to resin casting. This gave it a really grainy texture which made it a pain to paint – along with all of the detail present. The result was that it got worked on here and there, now and then, over the course of the 5 1/2 years I’ve had it until a week or so ago when I had one of those “fuck it – get this thing out of here” moments and knuckled down and completed it over a couple of sessions.

Let’s see what happens next…

As with quite a few other pieces, I did not enjoy the painting process of this one at all, but I’m happy with the finished product. It’s got a lot of versatility in how it can be used, it’s large, and it looks good. And most importantly, it’s bloody done!

Small Scenics – Dragon Statues, Moria Well, Mantic Terrain Crate Rubble.

Dragon Statue Terrain, Lord of the Rings SBG Moria Well, Mantic Terrain Crate Rubble

Today it’s a combined post of a few different small scenic items I’ve finished this month.

Dragon Statue Terrain

First up are a pair of dragon statues. These are actually from one of those Vietnamese “Variety Stores” (aka Junk shops) that are common in my area. They sell a wide variety of things, from cutlery to tat to tools and other random stuff, usually very cheaply, and pretty much all imported from China. I imagine that many places around the world have something similar in heavily multicultural areas. My mum actually got these for me a few years ago, since to a woman her age, this stuff all looks pretty much the same, whether it’s a GW model or an expensive Sideshow statue, or something that cost two bucks from a Vietnamese shop.

Dragon Statue Terrain

At the time I gritted my teeth and thanked her, and then stuffed them into a plastic tub to maybe turn into scenery one day down the line. I found them a few weeks ago while looking for Ork artillery, and remembered them, and so got them out and painted them in her memory. Nothing too special, just a bit of highlighting, shading and weathering. I left them just a little dirtied up, and more importantly unbased so they’d maintain a generic enough look to work inside a dungeon, in a temple, or outdoors and exposed to the environment. I’m glad I got them painted, and the table will have a little bit of her on it whenever they’re in use. 🙂

Lord of the Rings SBG Moria Well

Next is a bit of the Mines of Moria boxed set put out by Games Workshop back in 2005. This was the third update of the SBG rules after the Return of the King set had run its course. I’ve gotten all of the other bits painted over the years, but this one still had a tiny bit left to do in it, so it was basically overlooked rather than ignored. I did rebase it onto a 60mm round, and added some flagstones made from thin card in order to make the piece a little better looking and more useful on the table. 

Mantic Terrain Crate Rubble

Finally, we have a few more bits of my Mantic Terrain Crate Kickstarter pledge. Basically six little rubble piles. These had been sitting around for months and bloody months, primed black and slightly tacky. I found them next to my light box the other day and brought them inside to knock out. I think I’d planned to strip them back and start again, but I only remembered that after I’d completed them. Just simple drybrush jobs here, though the broken wood was done with Contrast Wyldwood over painted-on Wraithbone. All finished – as with everything elsein this post – with a little bit of weathering powder. I’ve varnished them with Reaper’s paint-on sealer and let that dry and cure for a day before going over it with AK Interactive’s Matt Brush-On, and they’re not tacky again yet. Let’s hope that stay that way!