Tag: Reaper Bones

Lessons Learned

My recent experiences with Reaper Bones figures is still fresh in my mind. So when I decided to add a couple of new ‘Bones’ figures to my Nurgle force, I knew that I would have to paint the base colour by hand.

These two are Reapers Faceless Horrors.  All teeth and eyes.  Great as chaos spawn, or to add as fillers to the reaper bones worms unit that I have in my Dragon Rampant army

Hugely detailed, and surprisingly well cast, with minimal mould lines for such an uneven surface.

Each one originally comes in 2 parts which fit together using small plugs, well placed alongside or under detailing, that serves to hide the joins very well.  If only other manufacturers would take note…

Being so detailed, the painting of the base colour takes much longer than you would expect.  Thinned paint would normally help to get into that detailing. However, as the bones material tends not to take thinned paint as well as it might, this was not an option.

An old brush is a must as it takes a fair bit of punishment to get the job done.  I am not as patient as I used to be, especially when it comes to jobs like undercoating. I suspect I am more heavy handed than I think too…

Great figures, but now I have painted the base coat I can see that it will take hours of work to get all those details painted.  There has to be at least 20 eyes and 200 teeth on each these two…

Dragon Rampant- Painting Challenge Week Three

So, the week started badly, but as I am British I decided to carry on regardless.  The plan was to just paint over the soft basecoat.  Not what everyone would choose to do I suspect, but my decision was based on the outcome of the Reaper Bones Worms that I had done the week before.

They were base coated in the same way, but I had not noticed the uncured paint as they were smaller.  Painting over that softer basecoat was ok and appears to still give a stable paint job.  I am unsure what varnishing will do, so may leave that off these models.  So, painting started this week and has been completed in time for the start of week three.

I followed the normal process for thispiece, as I had for the other units in the army.  A simple paint job, basecoats and washes.  Colours picked out and teeth whitened.

The model is a burrowing worm so lots of rocks and loose earth are to be found on its back.  I kept things simple as I was unsure of the stability of the undercoat.  The more layers I applied the less sticky it got.  I do think it will suffer if handled too much in the future though…

A heavy application of paint used to cover the weak undercoat and it looks ok.  I didn’t spend as much time on it as it deserved, as every time I picked it up it complained, and I was worried that paint was rubbing off or shifting.  After drying it appears to be ok so I guess in time I will find out if it was the right decision.

It matches the army theme, so it will do for now.  Sadly I had hopes that this would be a good centre piece for the army.  That hasn’t happened quite as planned but a basic paint job will suffice for now.

Only some small Reaper Bones Worms (Chthon) and some Scibor Evil Snails are left but I doubt, with all the trouble I have had lately, that I will get them done before I go away.  I shall try though.  So much for getting the army finished by the end of the month…

Dragon Rampant – Painting Challenge Week Two – Day Two

So, making a start on the big lady herself.  Under coated on day one and day two starts with me picking her up to find she is very sticky…

You can see from these photos that she remains VERY shiny.  When I hold her the primer feels soft and I am leaving fingerprints on her.  It would seem that my base coat of Army painter spray has not cured and dried.

I’ve never had this happen before.  The other bones miniatures that I have undercoated this way are all slightly sticky too.  However, as they are smaller and not coated so widely this is not an obvious issue.  This larger model however is causing me to feel nervous.

Off I trot to the Reaper website to see if this is a known issue.  It would seem I should have visited here first.  The bones material is a softer polymer and gives off a chemical that can cause some paints (sprays especially) to fail to cure.  Although, the website states that the Army painter range does NOT have this problem…

Oh Yes It Does!

I don’t think leaving this lady longer to dry is going to change anything, so I have to find a way of correcting this. Stripping her back and starting again is not an option I look forward to trying.

Dragon Rampant – Painting Challenge Week Two – Day One

So the end of week one shows I didn’t get much done.  Three large Scibor snails are now done and based.  Simple paint jobs but in line with the other units in the army.  All my snails and worms are base coated with a desert yellow then coloured by an Army Painter rotting flesh paint with a number of washes to warm the tone from green to brown.  GW’s Reikland Fleshshade finishes the job then teeth and details are picked out.

Bases are in GW’s Martian Ironearth with cork pieces and some yellow static grass.  Like I say, simple paint jobs, so they shouldn’t be taking me this long.

The Reaper Bones great worms were almost finished earlier in the week and only needed bases doing to complete them.  Again no real excuse other than ‘real life got in the way’ for these taking to the end of the week to finish off.

I need to get this army finished, if I can, as I am off on holiday soon and would like to see it done before then.  Not likely to happen if this slow pace keeps up.

Dragon Rampant Painting Challenge – Week One

For a bit of a rest from painting Naval Units, and because Coronasan has been showing off his finished Rackham Dwarves for Dragon Rampant over on the Loft Full Of Lead, I have made the effort to finish off my own Dragon Rampant army.  I have also joined the Dragon Rampant Facebook Group Painting Challenge in hopes that this forces me to get them done.

After so long painting a mainly White and Grey army it is nice to get back to a more earthy scheme.  Started back in 2016 a number of these guys have been played in a few games but the remainder were never fully finished.  One reason was the need to complete some purchases (I cant ever find Reaper Bones Chthon Worms on ebay at sensible prices).  I have thrown caution, and my wallet, to the wind and stumped up for the remaining figures from a nice seller on ebay. So no excuse to finishing them now.

The other reason for the delay is not knowing how to paint the Mother Of All Worms…

She’s a huge Reaper Bones Monster called Mashaaf.

And I have no idea what to paint her like.

I guess I will just have to wing it though…

Her base alone is larger than most unit footprints in the army.  I have had to mount it on a couple of old CDs for strength and stability as the original bones base material is so soft it bends under the weight of the figure itself.

Slow progress in week one due to a few games being planned and a bit of work distraction.  Base colours on the large worms with wash to create shadows.  Then painting 300 spots or boils (or whatever they are) in a number of brighter colours.  Makes me think they have rolled in a tube of Smarties (or M and Ms if you are outside the UK).

Just base coats and quick wash done for the larger Scibor Snails though.

Next week should see these finished, I hope…