Barrow Rats: Bones II Figures

     Happy 2017, everybody!  Over the holiday week, in between Christmas and New Year's activities, I painted up the Barrow Rats figures from the Bones II Core Set.
     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.  I then glued the figures to black-primed 1" fender washers with Aleene's Tacky glue, and then glued the washer-mounted figures to a tongue depressor with a couple drops of the Elmer's glue under each washer.
     I began by giving the figures a wash with heavily thinned Reaper "Grey Liner" using a wet brush.

      I hadn't really paid attentions to these figures as I was prepping them, and while I knew they were covered in pustules, I didn't realize that they were mostly hairless.  So, I started off painting them all Black, assuming I was just going to drybrush the fur.  Then, as I was brushing on the Black, it quickly became evident that there was no hair texture sculpted all over them.  Ooops!  So I reset, and started again by repainting what I thought was the skin with Folk Art "Almond Parfait".

 After I repainted both rats with the "Almond Parfait",  and let them dry awhile;  I gave them both a wash with Citadel "Nuln Oil" wash using a wet brush.

 Next, I repainted some of the splotchy hair areas with Black, and then highlighted the Black with a drybrush of Americana "Neutral Grey".   Next, I painted the pustules with Americana "Burgundy Wine", and then went back and added a little highlight dot to most of the bigger pustules with Crafter's Acrylic "Tutti Frutti".

    I then took some Iron Wind Metals "Red" Ink, and applied light washes with the ink, using a wet brush, anywhere where there was a concentration of the pustules.   After that, when the ink was dry, I highlighted the skin with Folk Art "Milkshake".  Next, I painted the teeth with Accent "Golden Harvest", and the claws with Folk Art "Gray Green".  I painted the eyes with Black, and then went over them again with a bit of thinned Crafter's Acrylic "Storm Cloud Grey".   Lastly, I painted the bases with the "Neutral Grey".

     Even though I'm really happy with how this pair turned out,  I have to say that they're probably two of the most disgusting figures I've ever painted. :)

Rat Swarms: Figures 94 & 95 of 265

    I finished the two Rat Swarms from the Vermin set this week.  Since I was already well supplied with 28mm big rats from the dozen single giant rats that came with the Kickstarter, I decided to re-purpose these for use with my 10mm "Bear Yourselves Valiantly" armies, just like I had done with the Giant Scorpions. And, like the Giant Scorpions, I had to order an additional pair from Reaper to help fill out a unit base.
     I began in the usual way; soaking them 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.  I then glued them to a 3" x 1.5" black-primed steel base with Aleene's Tacky glue.

To start, I painted them all black with regular craft paint.  I then gave them all a drybrushing with Folk Art "Medium Gray", and then followed this with a light drybrush with GW "Fortress Grey"

Next, I picked out two or three on each base and painted them Americana "Asphaltum".  I then carefully gave these brown ones a drybrushing as best I could with Americana "Mississippi Mud"

Lastly, I went back and painted all the little tails, feet, and noses I could discern with Folk Art "Milkshake".  After the rats dried overnight, I painted them with Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish".  When this was dry, I flocked them (very difficult with all those little tails sticking out everywhere!), and the next day I sprayed the whole stand with Testor's "Dullcote".

I like how these turned out.  I think they make great 10mm Giant Rats.  And, best of all,  they mark the completion of the Vermin Set for me.

Figures 94 & 95: Complete

Awww, Rats! Figures: 13-24 of 265

  This past week I finished up the dozen Giant Rats included in the "Dungeon Attack" set. A nice quick and simple way to boost my numbers. :-)  I began by gluing the rats to fender washers with Aileene's Tacky glue , and then primered them with with Krylon Camouflage Flat Black with Fusion.  I didn't want to do all plain monotone black rats, so I decided to do half as brown rats, half as black, and one odd one as a white rat to act as a kind of group leader if I should ever need to designate one.

I glued them a half dozen each to a tongue depressor for painting, and for the brown ones I began by giving them a heavy drybrushing of Americana "Charcoal Grey", followed by a lighter drybrushing of GW "Graveyard Earth'.  I then painted the tails, feet, and noses with Americana "Milkshake"; the teeth with Americana "Buttermilk", and the eyes with black.  The bases' stonework I drybrushed with GW "Codex Grey", and then painted odd stones here and there with either GW "Fortress Grey' or Folk Art "Poppyseed". I then painted the remaining surface of the fender washer with the "Codex Grey"

    I did the black rats in a similar manner, except I began by dryrushing the bodies with just the Codex grey. I then finished the tails, feet, noses, teeth, and eyes exactly like I did for the brown rats.  For the white rat I first drybrushed with the "Fortress Grey", and then I drybrushed with pure white.  When I did the tail, feet and nose, I added a little bit of Apple Barrel "Apple Lt. Pink" to the "Milkshake" paint to give it a more pinkish hue. I painted the teeth with the same "Buttermilk" as before, but  the eyes I did with GW "Blood Red" and then added a tiny white dot to them.







   After everything had dried, I panted on a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Lacquer", and then the next morning sprayed with Testor's "Dull Cote".

All in all I'm pleased with these.  It was very quick to finish them, and they came out looking good with minimal effort.

 

Figures 13-24: Complete