Back to modelling!
Another figure in my current series of Reaper miniatures. Fortunately I had done a lot of this figure before I went on holiday so despite everything that’s going on I managed to finish it off this week.
Some intricate painting on this one sets it a little apart from one or two others recently. I enjoyed the challenge it provided and also the colour scheme as it was nice to do something in a rather nice blue.
Painting figures is one thing, deciding how to base them is something else entirely. I decided the blue of the figure some how lent itself to a warmer climate which in turn threw up the idea of a Roman or Greek style pillar. Not only have I never made a pillar before but I’ve never tried to produce a marble paint effect either. Had I managed to do this one earlier it might have been a candidate for the August Technical challenge.
The pillar was made using various bits and pieces. The main element was a simple piece of wooden dowel. To create the bottom of the pillar I stuck three different sized rubber washers to the dowel which in turn was stuck to a spare square base which I had in my bits box. The top of the pillar was given a rough cast finish using a little ground cat litter and the corrugated shape of the pillar was created using some cardboard which I ran through my Green Stuff World corrugator tool and then simply stuck it to the dowel.
As for painting the pillar I primed it in white first and then gave it a wash of light brown coloured acrylic. While it was wet I applied various streaks of black, brown and white to create the veins using a dry brush to blend a little. I didn’t have to do too much blending because the paint was naturally absorbed by the cardboard. I repeated the process a couple of times until I was happy (which is to say I reached the stage where it was as good as it was going to get!) before applying a coat of gloss varnish. The corrugated cardboard created a vertical seam which after painting pretty much disappeared but I decided not to leave it to chance so added some plant life to disguise it completely.
Photos of the completed figure appear below. Ì didn’t get chance to do a backdrop for the photos, as suggested by IRO, this time around but aim to address that in the next post, or the next one or the one after that!
TIM
The Imperfect Modeller 
Nice work, and the display base looks great!
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Looking good. I like the blue.
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Thanks mate.
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Fantastic mate. Good to see you back with your models. Well done on the pillar.
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Cheers mate.
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Nice project, looks great! Glad you’re back in the modeling saddle.
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Cheers Mark, it’s good to be back!
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Very nice! Really like the blue. And, since you’ve spent so much time describing the pillar and would obviously like us to comment on that, it’s a very nice pillar and very well done! But that goes without saying, so can I just say I like BOTH the pillar AND the figure! Most of all though, nice to see you back and painting!
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Cheers John. I went to town on the pillar narrative in case I ever do another one. At my age remembering what I did yesterday is tough enough! Still it’s good to pick up a brush again.
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Haha, excellent! I won’t ask you what you did yesterday just to save you the embarrassment of not my being able to remember! I know how this works!
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Great paint job and that scratchbuilt pillar is very nice too.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Thanks Pete.
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Another masterpiece! That dowel looks like real piece of marble
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Thanks mate.
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Welcome back mate ,has been a bit quite but IRO has filled in for you with his ongoing project ,really interesting stuff . Good use of the cardboard for the column ,handy stuff that corrugated variety ,as for the back drop that IRO suggested ,I wouldn’t worry about it at the moment because he is busy chasing some young youth out of his neighbourhood .12days and I’m not even counting eh what !
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Cheers Pat. Not long now, I’m sure you will have a grsat time and I will look forward to hearing all about in due course!
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Beautiful blues & pinks mate, and that column is the bees knees! Nicely done sir 🙂
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Thanks Alex, much appreciated.
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Nice work. Still weird to see you doing Fantasy pieces, but you’re really good at it, so I’m not complaining! Yea, if I hadn’t read your post, I’d have probably asked you where you bought that pillar. I almost used a pillar for the Beholder’s stand, but it didn’t fit quite right. If I had thought about making my own, I probably could have made one the right size! These are the things I learn from you all.
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Got a few more fantasy ones to do then I will be moving on as I’ve a few other things I must do. That said I will return to do some more because I’m really enjoying it. As for the pillar, first time of making one. Probably other ways of making them but I didn’t think this one turned out too badly. As for learning and sharing, that’s what this little community is all about which makes it great!
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Lovely work – and I would never have thought of making a pillar from scratch! I’d just have (asked my wife to) go to one of those places where they sell plastic wedding cake decorations. Very creative stuff! The work you’ve done on the paladin herself looks very cool. Makes me want to see if I have that figure and dig her out myself! (must stay disciplined and finish stuff…)
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Cheers mate. It would never have occurred to me to buy a wedding cake decoration, if it had then I probably would never have made one!
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