Today we have another old sci-fi model. To recycle and slightly-update some older text:  it’s one of Grenadier Miniatures’ Future Warriors models, sculpted by Mark Copplestone and sold in the 1990’s which I bought, well, rather a lot of. No, sorry, none are for sale, but if you poke around, you’ll find a hell of a lot of them still available today from Mirilton and EM-4 Miniatures, as well as very close relatives from both Wargames Foundry and of course the sculptor himself – Mark Copplestone. All at very reasonable prices.

In fact, here’s the specific pack this one comes from. These models are just part of the post-apoc looking models that are rather perfect for a variety of post-apocalyptic settings like Fallout, and have enough versatility to fit into Necromunda or 40k as general scum. THis model in fact was started in the 1990’s as part of my necromunda gang, though he didn’t get very far and all that was really done were the weapon swaps to 40k weapons from a Necormunda Weapons Pack, clothing basecoated black, skin base tone done and of course the flame-orange hair that I have eliminated all trace of.

While there was no pressing reason to finish this figure, it’s one of the ones that The Tray allowed me to force a finish onto. And of course, all that base skin gave me a reasonable canvas to practice some mroe of my small-tattoo freehanding techniques with. I’m not sure if I got enough fleshtone into the mix this time, as they are rather dark, but blending them in to give that “under the skin” look is always a tricky aspect. This model was also an attempt to create two “sleeves” that were still made of somewhat distinct tattoos, rather than just, you know, washing the arms in black ink or something…

In the end, it feels a bit more like the “Henry Rollins” type of tatto sleeve that I’ve accomplished here rather than the “Randy Orton” look, but there will be plenty more models to keep practising on in the future, assuming I manage to survive our current worldwide pandemic. It was also an exercise in different black tones, with different looks atttempted for the leather pants, straps, boots, pouches and hair. I feel like they were more distinct before hitting him with the varnish, but whaddayagonnado?

Don’t forget to Jam That Jam!

Finally, some tattoo close-ups. On the stomach we have “Thug” (in case you couldn’t guess that part) and on underside of the left arm, we have “Jam That Jam”, which is a pretty obscure wrestling in-joke about Terry Bolleas’s script tattoo.

Placeholder text for my sore knuckles!

And to conclude, my smallest (semi) legible lettering yet. Knuckle tattoos on a 28mm model. I admit the lighting glade on the varnished model doesn’t help a lot, but can anyone actually read that?

A second model from Mark Copplestone’s Grenadier Miniatures’ Future Warriors range from the 1990’s today, and as with the previous model, he fits into Necromunda as well as whatever other modern, post-apoc, whatever kind of game I end up playing. This one was started in the 1990s as well, though the only part of the model that was completed back then was the Confederate Flag Bandana, while everything else was left at basecoated level or less, so basically all of the highlighting, shading and freehand has happened over the past few days. Kind of amusing how much of a potential trigger that bandana is today compared to when it was painted, though context is everything – just as my WWII German forces feature a few Swastikas and my Soviets forces bear Red Stars (ask my friend’s mum from the former Yugoslavia what the Red Star means to her – Hi Anna!) – so this figure absolutely looks the type that would wear this particular bit of clothing, and anyone offended by it being there should probably get a fucking helmet because life’s going to treat you much more harshly than this particular toy soldier’s paintwork.

I know that pre-emptive fuck-off might seem a bit odd to the usual readers here, but the WordPress is set to auto-post stuff to the Twitters, and we all know that there are a lot of people there who’s primary hobby is being recreationally offended, so.. y’know. 😉

In terms of painting, as I said – I kept to the base colours painted on 20 years ago (aside from the new base – painted to fit into modern, post-apoc or Necro) and so the main areas of interest to me was emulating the writing on his cutte from the previous guy (painted 20 years ago) adding that diamond patch to the front, and then trying something a little new with the tattoos. I’ve been wanting to skill myself up to the point of being able to paint full sleeves that don’t simply look like blue-green arms or a completely indistinct mess, but get to the point of having visible designs, even if you cant quite make out what all of it actually is. Kinda like seeing real people’s tattooed arms from a distance. Only on a 28mm model. I’m not there yet, but I feel like this guy’s arms are my best effort yet, so it’s something I’ll definately continue to practice.

Here he is alongside his brother. I’d like to get a few more of these guys going sooner rather than later, but they’ll probably have to wait until I’ve been through the rest of the stuff from the Necromunda case before I get stuck into any more of these. Still, there’s at least one more from the Future Warriors range to be completed from my Necro case…