Draconis: Spring Clean 2024 and onward

18th May 2024

So, dis day da ummies went ta sum place called Rochester.

I did me best stelffin’ ’round da place.

I axed ’round ’bout dis bloke called ‘Roman’ but da locals kept stumm on it.

But dey did let on dat da mob uv blokes called Norman were ’round ‘ere building stuff.

Dis place dey call a Kath-e-drawl ‘parently  ‘as bits built in da Goff-ic style.

I kouldn’t see nuffink dat looked like a Goff in der do….

In stikk-bomb range of da Kath-e-drawl dese blokes called Norman built dis big Fort.

Now dis looks a bit mor proper!

Wun of da blokes called Norman must’ve got da grotz in cheap ta do da inners…. dey forgot da floors da stoopid ummies.

May ‘ave a bit of a krumpin fer da owter bitz furst,  den we kan get da mekboyz ta put sum proper floors in

Uzin’ me kunnin’ I fownd owt dat der was annuver fort up north from ‘ere, dat dey sentsibly called ‘UpNor’.

Dis waz built by sum wuman called Lizzie-bet da furst.  Dunno ‘ow many Lizzie-bets dere r do….

She did-ent ‘av de Norman peeps ‘elp do, so dis place ‘az wallz ‘an dorz! But not enuff ta stop a gud mob ov boyz!

Round dis side dey even ‘av a gate just fer sumwun called ‘Sally’ ta go owt.

Words ta meself  – meybe dis Sally knose were dis Roman chap is.

An’ keep an eye owt fur any ummies called Norman.

17th May 2024

Da hummies dedn’t see my sneekin’, stoopids!

Furst place dey stopped waz sum ‘pal-ass’ at Fishbourne.

‘Parently sum bloke called Roman is da boss ere, as its called Fishbourne Roman Palace.

Didn’t see ‘im ’round here, but it looks like ‘e ‘ad sum grotz do da bildin’ work….

‘Ad ta rush ta get back in da transport,  but made it….

After ages drivin’ slow wiv loads of uvvers,  very un-orky, dey stopped again at a place called Pevensey Castle.

Seemz dis Roman bloke waz involed again, and built sum wallz ‘ere years bak,  den sum uvver blokes who all were called Norman built a big fort ‘ere.

I rekon a single mob kud take dis place wiv barely a scrap…. but da wallz ‘ere at least stand up in places.

Dat’s wot ya get fir usin’ grotz ta build!

Stoopid hummies!

Words ta meself – find owt who dis Roman bloke is.

‘Avin infiltrayted da hummies wiv my kunnin’ disguys dat ‘as fooldem all, da big boss ‘as sent me on a skowtin’ misshun.

Dis stooped hummie kupple dat tink I am ‘Tom’ av a transport vehicle dat I am gunna sneek onbored in my stelff box.

This is for the ‘Breath of Fresh Air’ element, getting some pics out in the world – hopefully at some nice locations.

11th May 2024

Continuing the spirit of ‘Spring Clean’, I have had this Panzeraffe mini (from Incursion / Secrets of the Third Reich Weird WW2) sitting around for many years primed. I think last year I put a bit of paint on one arm…..

Began the process by painting up all the fur. Started out with black contrast, followed by brown washes in places, a drybrush with grey, an overall black wash and then some lighter fur on the upper areas – plus some white/grey on the cheeks to break up the dark and try to echo some of the original art. I also gave the metal areas a black undercoat.

The shirt was painted with foundry leather, washed, drybrushed and highlighted up.

Chest was highlighted with a mix of contrast wildwood and ivory in several stages.

The trousers were contrast green, a black wash and then a lighter drybrush over the knee and ‘posterior’ regions.

Pouches picked out with castellan green, then highlighted in several stages with ever lightening mix of castellan and ivory.

Metal areas were started out with Vallejo gunmetal, washed with Agrax, then highlighted up with various shades of silver, focusing on areas such as the knuckles.

Finally, among other little bits, it was picking out the hoses with some brighter colours, face and teeth (several shades for his big teeth!), belt, and various buttons etc.

Pretty happy with him overall ? (but may add some tufts to the base possibly).

7th May 2024

And here is the MadMob all together.

A good nostalgia hit for me here, and I am glad that they got a deserved paint job. Would have been nice if I had more skill, but they are 35 year old models that now have a coherent paint job. As I mentioned before, I prefer the back plate on the first model that I painted, but the back plates on the rest are more appropriate to the models. For a couple I painted them a little different. Upside down, sideways, half black for a little further variety.

7th May 2024

I managed to work on the remaining seven without posting up more individual updates – I’m sure that’s a relief to those few that see these ?

Anyway, these were all painted up in pretty much the same way as the first two. However, I was not overly happy with the contrast red result for the clothing. So I used Mephiston red, plus three shades of old foundry paint I have, the triad of ‘Madder Red’.

After working on them all I also then decided to add in some more yellow sleeves, so a couple that were red were overpainted with Foundry Ochre. It has good coverage and a nice yellow tone. I also added yellow flame markings to some of the remaining red sleeves to break them up a bit.

I had my usual trouble of trying to decide colours for the two hats…. After dithering I just decided to go off track with them thinking to my Hawaiian marauder. So one had a pink hat and one a pale blue.

Harking back to Rogue Trader era I chose to paint the power sword and the plasma gun in red, as that is how it was back in the day ?

Lots of packs, tidying up, then faces and back plates and the last seven (unless I can get some more…) MadBoyz were done.

3rd May 2024

Well, I had intended to work on the remaining eight all together, but I just got carried away and worked on one…..

For this chap I went with a bit less red. Using that for his loincloth, back plate and for adding little red flames to his shirt sleeves. Pretty happy with how that came out overall.

For his back plate I decided to go a little more simplistic and ‘orky’. I liked the result of the back plate for the first one, but after researching images of the time I realised that I should at least try a slightly more basic look to catch the ‘old skool’ and ‘orky’ feel.

Then it was just some finishing touches, tidying up etc and number two was done. I do plan, this time, to work on the rest and then post them all up together….. probably.

3rd May 2024

I knew I wanted to do the boyz as Evil Sunz, as that is the clan I used to run back in the Rogue Trader days. But I wasn’t sure how much red I wanted – seems odd to say, I know. But back then the amount of red they were indicated their status.

Forgot to get early pics, but I went for a red on his coat, with yellow edging and leather trousers. However, I didn’t feel the yellow edging worked (possibly too tonally close to the leather), so changed it to black.

I picked out pouches, gave him a blue hat, a gentle drybrush on the gun and then started on the back plate. Blocked in some areas of shade and highlight first, then built it up and added teeth and eyes. (May go back and try to add pupils, but not sure – it is small, and my eyes are old)

And that was pretty much him done. I’m not sure that using contrast red works for the clothing, so will likely work with mephiston instead. I may also go back and add some yellow markings to the sleeve edges to break it up a little. Now to roll out the other eight….