144artist Populates the Damocles Sector or Creating a System Agnostic Science Fiction Miniatures Collection

I finished some more Northstar and Old School GW minis recently.  The GW minis have been in my collection since they were new in blister packs.  I love the alien/animal heads Northstar includes.  It makes me want to pick up a box of their Gnolls to make more dog soldiers.

Just so flattered and pleased that folks enjoy my work.  I paint to make me happy but always enjoy a little praise.  Thanks so much.

Truth be told, the Inquisitor started life as an Old School Necromunda Bounty Hunter.  I thought he would make an excellent Inquisitor, scouring the frontier worlds for heretics and cultists.

The other two fellows are ancient 40K mercenaries that will join the other Banders in my imaginary twin star system of Damocles system.

Like many OTTers, I find it hard to resist buying new miniatures whether I need them or not.  The three boxed sets of plastic minis from Northstar are a good example.  I have plenty of unpainted science fiction miniature but just had to have these kits as they look fun to build and paint.  As much as I love all the cool looking helmets, it’s the alien heads that really stoke my imagination.  The primate mechanic is named Ben Obo because ChimChim just seems demeaning.

Much like @avernos, my miniatures collection goes way back in time.  Some of my science fiction minis are even pre-40K.  One of my friends has been painting up his old school Eldar which has inspired me to do the same.  The Space Ork had a broken Choppa’ that I replaced with a Dark Elf blade.

I love when Kev White pays homage.  In this case it’s his “not-Ghost-in-the-Shell” sculpts that I am going to go ahead and just call Major Kusanagi and Batu.

One of the benefits of a minis collection going back to ancient times is the treasures that appear from time to time.  This fellow has been waiting for paint for decades.  Not that he is done I can see I need a couple more…

I acquired two more Kev White sculpts that will fit in perfectly with my First Contact team.  While the bareheaded commander figure is technically finished, I really think she needs some tattoos and/or stubble on her head. I’m envisioning something like Belters have in The Expanse.

I was really liking the circular aesthetic of the two spools I had already assembled but I still hadn’t uncovered where I stored away the third one I own.  I decided to use some of these big, thick cylinders (from industrial toilet paper rolls), foam circles, and wood discs to make some more.  I started by wrapping the cardboard cylinder in thick paper using white glue.  This was to cover the spiral of the cardboard.  I used the foam circles to add a little height as well as break up the surface a little.  I like that they are the same height so may try and make a few more to match though I went too complex with the top of one of them.  Keep the tops far simpler in future.

The galleries show the pieces just before primer is sprayed on them.

As much as I love the bright colors of the varied pieces, a solid coat of primer really makes these things look like real buildings.  In addition I like to add a second dusting of something lighter as a base tone and it helps me see the details a lot easier.

Now that the plastic spools were almost terrain it was time to try something more rectangular and so went “digging through the cack”, to quote Magrathea.  I had four wonderful resin generators from Secret Weapon and some study plywood rectangles to start things off.  I knew I wanted to be multi-level with ample places to use the bridges I made (am making, to be honest) as well as offer a lot of movement and cover for minis.

Next I will be priming this creation as well as building a couple of “spools” from scratch.

The tall spool is painted and weathered.  The big spool is premiered and base coats have begun.  Of course I decide I need to build a few more things so the table isn’t getting cleared right away.  Here are a few close ups of the finished piece.  Now I have a generator to build.

The Tall Spool is pretty much just waiting for primer while the Big Spool has really come along.  When the offcuts pile gets too high I dig through it for parts to make catwalks out of.  Can’t have too many ramps/bridges.  I’ve been building most of the week and have to admit I miss painting minis right now.  This is especially acute as my Burrows and Badgers Kickstart rewards arrived the other day.

Back to the glue gun…

Now that I’ve got some MDF kits done and finally finished painting the Habitat Unit I could spend some time playing with some of my Bits Boxes as well as some of the bigger pieces I see as starting points.  I’ve had these big plastic spools literally rolling around the garage for years (as well as a couple more I can’t seem to locate yet) and am continually collecting bits.  Old plastic building toys and cheap toy plumbing are wonderful resources.  I didn’t get a scale shot of the tall spool before I started gluing things down but the Old School Space Marine in a couple Work In Progress shots is helpful.  As with the Habitat Unit, my collection of Trash Bash Bits doors and windows is proving to be a priceless resource.

How convenient that I have six cars and six color shifting paints.  Made decisions quicker and as these were the last pieces I had picked up in the Antenocitis Workshop sale I didn’t want them sitting around in decision purgatory.  I just can’t justify buying new things that become “future projects” when I already have tons of those and would much rather store finished terrain than packages of possibilities.  So with that in mind I worked through assembling what I now think of as Anten Base and spent three days cutting, gluing, and pealing TONS of tape. Finally I could get back to the painting table and these six cars were the first things I tackled.

I finally finished painting and weathering the scratch built Habitat Unit that had been sitting on my table for a long time, a very long time.  Fairly simple but I think it looks good.  The grit and grime really helps it look good. As I mentioned in a long ago blog post, I designed it to fit in with the piles of Deadzone and Makitainers waiting to become terrain (soon, my plastic friends, soon).  I think it will fit in well.  I know it looks good with the Antenocitis Workshop Tiny Traders I picked up so will need to make some more.  Next I want to play around with something more industrial looking.

I’ve gotta admit, I love pre-painted terrain.  Sure the pieces will look even better with some weathering on them but they are table ready and look great.  Once you build a couple they really start to go quickly too.  I really will have to pick up more pieces in the future.  Now I have resin cars to paint.

As the title states, Antenocitis Workshop (https://www.antenocitisworkshop.com) has a big sale going and I have long drooled over their pre-painted terrain and resin cars.  Because I don’t have enough projects and really needed an excuse to delay painting the foam core building (not really, it is being painted in small bursts) I placed an order.  I didn’t really think about how much was in it until the big box full of smaller boxes arrived.  I knew I couldn’t, in good conscience,  just put these in a plastic bin for “later” and began assembly immediately with the Tiny Traders and the Nexus piece.  Most sets come with printed instructions that look a bit out of order but work.  The big Nexus building has instructions online and I heartily recommend following them as it is a slightly complex kit.

I find painting random sci/fi figures is an excellent way to avoid painting terrain.  I’m not avoiding painting the tab unit, just making decisions.  I’ll get back to it but for now I find myself inspired by all this Stargrave talk.  The first figure is a Hasslefree that I need Hunter. The title (Captain, Rogue Trader, Inquisitor, etc) depends on the game but she is clearly capable and in charge. The rest are old school Games Workshop minis from deep in the Vault of the Unpainted.  Maybe crew, maybe opponents I don’t know.  What I do know is that nothing says retro GW quite like checkerboard and that Finished is my favorite color now days.

I’ve got two snipers finished.  The ratling sniper is an old Citadel mini while I’m not sure about the other one. It might be for Infinity.  Whoever produced it, I think she will look great with my First Contact Squad so I painted her to match them.

Gotta say, I’m getting rather excited about Star Grave coming out as I have probably got enough minis finished to get started.