Category: Steampunk

This week sees the last of the seven figures I bought from Twisted Miniatures – “Dodger”.  He comes from the Dickensian range and follows their take on the Charles Dickens classic “Oliver”.  An interesting little Steampunk version of the Artful Dodger himself.

I have enjoyed painting all of these figures.  They are highly detailed and with no uniform painting guide to follow they offer complete free range to paint as you see fit.  I do have my eye on more and in due course I am sure I will buy some.  The batch I bought came directly from Australia but I think now there maybe a UK distributor  which means they could work out a little cheaper.  When I bought these I got a 20% discount thanks to an offer and that was then spent almost to the penny paying customs duty!

Nothing I can really say about the figure itself but as he is sitting on a mono cycle for legs I thought a rough road for the base was the order of the day.

TIM

This week we have my penultimate 28mm Twisted Miniatures steampunk figure from Demented Games and this one goes by the name of Inspector Abberline.  As with the other five I have done the figure has a very nice lot of detail to pick out and paint.  Hopefully in the coming weeks I will get the seventh and final figure done.  That said I have just  looked at the site to check I had gotten the name of this figure right and couldn’t help but notice a few that I would like to buy!  For now I will resist the temptation, I simply have so much other stuff to do.  I do love this hobby but my list of things I want to do multiplies faster than Covid-19!

What can I tell you about this figure?  Very little really.  The base was made using bricks I made from a silicone mold I bought a while back but until now had never used.  Although the mold only measures about 2 inches by 3 inches it makes 200 bricks!  The street lamp added a nice touch and was spare from a set of ten I bought some time ago.  If you look closely at the writing on the type writer paper it reads “why are you trying to read this they are just straight black lines”!

TIM

Today we have a Twisted Miniatures figure from Demented Games based in Australia.  The figure goes by the name of “Dorothy” and is very nicely cast and highly detailed.  I bought a few figures from the range, seven to be exact, and have been slowly working my way through them.   Despite being distracted by other figures I have bought I now only have two more to paint.  I will get around to completing both of them, just not sure when!

Dorothy had plenty of detail to pick out which made her nice to paint but once again I can’t say I am very pleased with the base.  I seem to have lost my way a little just lately and this is some thing I need to focus on.  Despite that a deserved shout out to Kerry my neighbour who turned a few more wooden bases for me of which this is one.

TIM

This figure was part of a two figure set from Lead Adventure which was sold under the package name of “Bonnie and Clyde”.  When the figures arrived I really did not like the look of Bonnie at all.  Overall I think the sculpt was fine but something must have gone a miss with the casting because the face on the figure was a little out of sink and there really wasn’t anything I could do about it.  Consequently I decided to go just with Clyde which was by far the better of the two figures any way.

The website images show Clyde painted in white as befitting the real life charachter but as mine would have no Bonnie I chose to do my own thing completely.  I also went with an entirely knew base idea (for me at least) and set the figure on clear acrylic which I sunk a few watch parts into.  Overall I was pretty pleased with how the figure and the base turned out.

TIM

This weeks figure is a Reaper model which goes by the name of “Rudd Starslider” a professional Space Smuggler.  A nice little figure and one I have had hanging around for quite a while.  Like a few of us it seems, I am trying to clear some of my ever growing backlog of figures which I bought but since neglected.

Although I have done a couple of little dioramas of late I am still missing the drive and inspiration for something which really takes my fancy.  In some ways it is a good thing.  As I have not lost the desire to paint I have decided to use the time to get some single figures done.  So far so good but in truth I have barely made a dent.

TIM

These last few weeks, probably longer I suspect, I have been flitting between genres with no real purpose than to try and make a dent in my to do pile.  In fairness I have enjoyed this random approach, simply doing what I want as the mood grabs me has been fun.  I expect it will continue for some time to come until a larger diorama idea enters me head and gets me excited again.

Steampunk took my fancy this week, specifically “Belle” a nice little 28mm Reaper figure with a reasonable amout of detail to pick out.  I wanted to add some freehand but the best my imagination could come up with was stripes on her trousers.  I’m happy with the figure but I feel I let her down with the base.  Cobbles and cogs don’t quite do it.

TIM

 

 

Whilst I continue to search in vain for my lost diorama mojo I remain very happy simply painting figures.  I’m even making a small dent in my to do lead pile which at least feels like a step in the right direction.

Having put knights to one side just for the moment I decided to divert my attention to this Reaper Steampunk figure which goes by the name or “Smedley Cloverdash” and whose profession is listed as “Time Traveller”.  A modified key and a watch spring were added to the base to provide a little interest and suport the Steampunk feel.

Images below.

TIM

 

 

 

 

 

Every now and then I happen across a figure which is a little bit different and inspires a basing idea for me to get my teeth into.  Such was the case here with this figure by Crooked Dice.  To be fare the figure isn’t that special but it took my fancy and the base is a simple affair too.

The figure conjured up a Jules Verne image in my head which in turn made me think of “Journey To The Centre Of The Earth” which led to a base a long the lines volcanic lava and hot coals.  I decided not to get to carried away and kept it simple using just a few granite chippings from the garden.  Milliput was used to secure the chippings and create the base which once dried was painted with yellow, orange and red blobs and allowed to dry.  Citadel textured paint was then applied reasonably thickly on top and allowed to dry and crack revealing the colour below.

Images of the end result below.

TIM

 

This week saw me finally put the effort in to complete Steampunk Alice.  All in all I am reasonably pleased with the way she turned out and how the various bits and bobs came together but there was room for improvement.  I have also had a few other ideas so one day I might do this figure again.

What we have here is Alice herself along with a mechanical White Rabbit, both part of the same Twisted Miniatures kit.  The mirror was a cheap Ebay dolls house purchase but a significant piece in the storyline.  I used watch pieces for the name on the base and a few more as decoration.  The playing card was just a colour print reduced in size.  With hindsight I should have printed the Queen of Hearts so that’s a mistake down to me.  I also wanted to get hold of a very small chess piece but couldn’t fine one and attempts at trying to make one were pitiful.  I think both of these would have improved on the theme.  The street lamp added some height and besides I had a spare one to use up!  The clock was a last minute (sorry about the pun!) addition which I personally really like.  It came in a packet She Who Must Be Obeyed bought at the local market a while back.  The stall sells stuff that people who make their own cards buy.

To provide some perspective the surface area of the base is 4cm x 4cm.  Surprising just how much can be fitted on an area of that size.

TIM

 

 

 

 

I have begun working on another of my 28mm Twisted Miniatures, this one goes by the name of Alice and is a Steampunk version of Alice In Wonderland.  I cannot claim to be a fan of either the book or film(s) but as with my recent Disney Steampunk model “Chim Chimney” this one gave me some ideas.

Inspired by some of the images on the Twisted site I thought I would try and create a little model featuring some of the things I knew about the character and the story.  I knew a mirror needed to feature along with some playing cards and a chess board so I began to set about the build.

Using some old watch pieces I created the name of Alice for the front of the base.

Some tiles found in my scenic storage boxes would be used to create the chess board.  Holes were drilled to take certain pieces later on.  The broken tiles will be covered when the model is complete.

Painting the tiles and sticking them down soon got underway.  Such is the state of my memory that I need to have a yellow postit to hand to highlight that the tiles needed to be layed down in a black and white sequence!  In fairness I had to make sure I got the pre-drilled tiles in the right place.

A few more little features being worked on but whether I will use them all remains to be seen.

Alice underway.

Pending how things go and how distracted I get by something else I have now started will determine if this one gets finished next week.

TIM