Monday, January 23, 2017

Squog Warrior 1: Bones 2 Figure

     This past week I started working on a unit of 10 Squogs to add to my old Poison Dart Frog Army, which is made up mostly of Eureka Miniatures' Frog Warriors.  I thought the Squogs would fit right in with the rest of the troops, as some sort of more tribal cousins.
     I started with the ones that came from the Bones 2 Kickstarter in the Swamp Things set, and ordered a couple more packs from Reaper.
      I prepped these figures in the usual way; soaking it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then giving them a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying them.
My plan was to do some conversions on two of the basic models to turn one into a standard bearer and another into a unit leader.  I began with the trident-armed ones; and took one and removed it's weapon arm, and cut off the top of the trident.   I then drilled a hole n the cut end, and glued in a section of paperclip wire to make a pole for a standard to fly from.  I then re-glued the arm to the body so the standard pole sat vertically. (See center frog in the picture below)
    I then glued the 5 trident-armed style figures (including the converted standard bear one,  to black-primed 1" fender washers with Aleene's Tacky glue, and then glued the washer-mounted figures to a 2 tongue depressors with a couple drops of the Elmer's glue under each washer.
     My plan was to try and make them look like this kind of Strawberry Poison Dart frog:
     I forgot to take a picture before I started applying paint, so we'll get right into it.  I began by giving all the figures a wash with heavily thinned Reaper "Brown Liner" using a wet brush.  When that was dry, I painted the bodies with Ceramcoat "Opaque Red". I then painted the shell armor with Americana "Bleached Sand". After that, I went back and painted their hands and feet with Americana "Dove Grey".
     Next, I painted the grass skirts with Duncan "Olive Green", and then painted the little diaper-like bottoms they're wearing with Crafter's Acrylic "Bright Yellow".  I then painted the turtle shell shields with Accent "Mustard Seed", and the spears and standard pole with Americana "Sable Brown".  After that, I painted the teeth with Crafter's Acrylic "Light Antique White".
     I then painted all the straps and ties with Americana "Terra Cotta", and then painted the pouch on his left hip with Americana Mississippi Mud".  After that, I painted the heads of the tridents, the armbands, and the dagger fittings with Accent "Golden Harvest, and wen dry, I went back and repainted these areas with Ceramcoat "Bronze".  After everything had a while to dry, I then applied a wash using Citadel "Agrax Earthshade" wash using a wet brush.
     When the wash was dry, I painted the eyes with Accent "Real Umber", and then gave them Black pupils.  I then highlighted the skin with the base "Opaque Red", and the hands and feet with Crafter's Acrylic "Light Antique White".  I then painted the spots on their skin with Black.  Next, I highlighted their teeth with White, and then highlighted the shell armor with the base "Bleached Sand".  After that, I highlighted their loin cloth with Crafter's Acrylic "Daffodil Yellow", and the grass skirt with Americana "Reindeer Moss Green". I then drybrushed the shields with Apple Barrel "Apple Maple Syrup", and then painted highlights on all the straps wit Reaper MSP "Pumpkin Orange".   I moved to their trident next, highlighting the shaft with Americana "Khaki Tan", and the trident head with the base "Bronze".    Lastly, I highlighted their pouches with Americana "Barn Wood", and then painted their integral bases with Ceramcoat "Walnut".
      I let the figures dry overnight and the next day I gave them a coat of Folk Art "Satin Varnish". When dry, I flocked the bases. Another overnight dry, and I sprayed them with Testor's Dullcote". When the Dullcote was dry, I went back and painted their eyes with Americana "DuraClear Gloss" varnish.

     For their banner, I bought a stem of artificial flowers at the Dollar Tree and cut off one of the petals, and then poked two holes in it.  I then glued it onto the pole.
     I'm happy with how these fellows turned out.  Now I'm going to work on the next five of the second figure.

3 comments:

  1. This color scheme works great, and the sheen seals the deal. Do you have any recommendations on a durable top coat, by chance? I typically carry mine minis tumbled together with others in a bag, and that's started to wear paint of the high points on some. Wish I know what they used on the Wizards ones, since those are darn near impermeable.

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    1. Thanks for the comments, Horn of the Mark! I like to use a double layer of varnish to protect my minis; the first a brush on craft-store variety (I'm currently using Folk Art "Satin Varnish"), followed by a spray coat of Testor's "Dullcote" matte varnish. My biggest recommendation to you however is to stop carrying your minis in a bag! :) There are many mini carrying solutions that help protect the paint jobs; everything from reused egg cartons to expensive cut foam hard-shell carrying cases.
      I believe the Wizards ones use a baked on finish to the paint, which effectively melts it onto the figure.

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