Justice in Miniature

I am no competition painter. I just like having cool looking minis painted on the tabletop. My primary opponent is my wife, who is a pretty good painter. I really want to get my Judge Dredd collection painted up, but always seem to be working on Shatterpoint, Moonstone, or Halo Flashpoint. When I saw the spring clean challenge, I thought that maybe that was the kick in the ass I needed to get it done. It would be too much to finish all of it by June, so I will try to work on the Warlord resin minis for the challenge. So here is what I have done to  start…

I also have almost all of the ABC warriors done, if anyone want to see them. And now for the 95 remaining figures. Most of which need assembled. I usually remove the molded base from these and replace them with 3D printed bases. I try to use some city or urban warzone style of base. The goal is to eventually build a Mega City 1 board.

So, now to decide where to start.

Today after work I wanted to start getting some bases ready so the weekend can be all painting. In the past, I have always used my Anycubic Mono M3 Premium to print some pre-made bases. Once I painted the Dredd minis and had to cut the molded bases off, they almost always broke. Rather than gluing the legs and ankles of every figure I decided to try any find another way to get that city rubble look without removing the bases they come on. I do prefer thicker GW style bases over the thin Warlord bases though. I came across a great solution on thingiverse. Warlord base adaptors.

These are by Thingiverse user DeathZap-Studio. They are recessed enough that I can use the AK Interactive black top and concrete paste like I made my Citi Def gun emplacement bases with.

Next up was the pill bases for Fats Hambo and the Robodogs. Some time in Tinkercad later I had what I needed. The ends are not quite as round as Warlords Pill base, but its good enough. I’m an Electrician, not a 3D CAD designer.

Unfortunately, that’s all the time I have for tonight. Time to load up the printer and let it go.

With the weekend almost here, I wanted to get my first batch ready to paint. My wife didn’t even care that I was cleaning and assembling minis on our anniversary! I also spent some time trying to convince her to paint some Dredd with me, but she is working on Moonstone right now.

For the first group I decided to start with Fatties at War and Justice Department Riot Squad.

I got them cleaned up, assembled, and dry fit them onto the bases I printed earlier this week. Everything looked good, so I washed them in Dawn and let them dry overnight. The next day I would be priming them.

I went with a light Rustoleum camo color. I’m not sure how I will be painting them yet. I have a few different paint schemes for judges, some with speedpaints and some using layer paints. I’m not a huge fan of slap chop by itself, so no matter what I end up doing some highlights. I can’t go much further tonight. The humidity is 80% and it will take a while for the primer to dry.  I really need a “dry faster you bastard” setup like Dave from MS Paints!

First group complete! Today was the first chance to paint since the Spring Clean Challenge started. I wrapped up the Justice Department Riot squad and started base coating the Fatties at War. These painted up like a dream using a mix of Army Painter Fanatics, Monument Hobbies, and AK 3rd Gen paints. There are a lot more Judges so I logged the colors in my Brushrage App.

I did try out the 3D printed bases that are recessed for Warlord Games puddle bases. I used urban debris from a local company called Black Rim Basing. I added some small bricks and Army Painter barbed wire. The “broken glass” on the base was candle holder fill from Michaels Craft Store. I do think I like the resin printed bases that I normally make, but it was nice not breaking legs off while removing the puddle bases. I am going to try AK texture paste on the fatties and see if I like it better.

They may not be show piece minis, but I’m pretty happy with them!

Next up was the Fatties at War box. These two painted up pretty well, Fats Hambo was a blast to finish. I really enjoyed painting his belt and bandolier full of food. For the bases this time, I used concrete texture paste from AK interactive and Oil Stains effects from the Army painter Fanatic range. I always add a little debris to the bases, they are taking part in a block war after all. One thing I like to add to the bases to make them a little different are in world posters or maps crinkled up like trash. Fats base got a map of Mega City 1 and the other base has a little bit of an Easter egg.

Next up, I think I will paint Gerhart and his SJS bike. I also want to thank Ben for the shoutout on the XLBS!

This week Mrs.pigm00 stepped in to pick up my slack. I am not quite done with Gerhart, but she knocked out all of the gangers from the I Am The Law starter set. They look awesome too. She painted them up in bright eye catching colors and based them on SLA printed urban warfare bases. They are going to make a great addition to our tabletop.

We have a long weekend coming up, so we are hoping to wrap up a few more sets of minis. We already have some in progress, but work gets in the way of progress!

The next completed unit is SJS Gerhart. I really enjoy painting vehicles and larger models, so I was looking forward to this one. I started by airbrushing a coat of Pro Acryl Blue Black, and then highlighted with Pro Acryl dark gray blue and gray blue. All of the metals are metallic paints. P3 pig iron highlighted with AK 3rd Natural Steel, and Citadel retributor armor washed with Agrax and highlighted with AK 3rd brass. The bases were some of the first ones I tried on an FDM printer. I made them on a worknight and didn’t want to clean the resin vat. They didn’t turn out too bad. I made them with a 0.4mm nozzle, I would like to try to print some with a 0.2. I know they won’t be as smooth as resin, but damn it’s convenient.

I know that the pictures are a little dark, I’m working on finding a good place to light and take better pics.

On to the next minis, Robots of Mega City.

It was a long weekend, time to watch Wrestlemania and paint! My wife and I got several figures done as seen below.

Lets start with Lone Superhero. He was a very frustrating figure to finish up. His dynamic pose means that his ankle is the only part that connects him to his base. If you ever have worked with Warlord resin, you know it can be a little brittle. So he broke…three times. I eventually built up his 3D printed base with individual bricks in an attempt to brace his ankle and have some extra glue at the weak point. I figured it would just look like he was jumping off from a pile of rubble. It did work, and doesn’t look too bad. After getting his base sorted, he was a pretty standard paint.

Next up, Utilibot. This was a really fun one. I based him in deep red AK 3rd  through an airbrush, and washed him with diluted Army Painter Slaughter Red speed paint to darken him up. Some edge highlights with the original red. A few base coats to the trash, and it was time for the fun stuff. I used some Typhus Corrosion and Nurgle’s Rot to make his “mouth” as disgusting as it should be. This figure was the first one that I attempted to make a FDM base with a 0.2mm nozzle. It turned out pretty good. Not as smooth or clean as my resin bases, but faster and easier to make. I think that I will continue to experiment with the FDM printer for basing.

Demobot was a quick tabletop standard paint. Airbrush warm yellow from Pro Acryl, wash with Citadel Casandora Yellow, and a little detail work. Another 3D printed base, and done.

Mrs. PIGM00 knocked out the Robodogs, and they look great! She went all inn with a battlefield debris base. Barbed wire and “broken glass”. I made the mistake of showing her the Mongoose Publishing metal Dark Judges, and she is starting to work on them! Not helping with the Warlord backlog, but still helping clear out the backlog!

It has been a crazy week, which cut into our progress of course. It started with some of the worst storms that have hit our area in decades. There are still parts of Pittsburgh without power six days after the system moved through. The shop that I work in had no electricity, and they ended up sending us home three days this week. At the same time I started a new position within the company, which added to the stress. Then our washer dryer combo decided to start overheating and needs serviced. One good thing is that my son was elected President of the student government for the Penn State campus he attends. I also got a little side tracked with another game. My local Half Price Books got Battletech: A game of Armored Combat in for…Half Price! I have never played this game and ended up doing a little bit of a deep dive into it. Watching videos and reading the rules. I did do a ton of 3D printing this week to support the Dredd project when I could. I started with a fresh batch of bases.

I always try to fill the bed as much as I can and run enough base to put extras in our basing box. Resin printing is great for detail, but it is a messy pain in the ass. Many of the bases I printed are from Zabavka on My Mini Factory. They have a great selection of urban ruins. These bases will be for the remainder of my Justice Dept figures.

The bike bases were a little difficult to fit the lawmasters onto, so time for a wheelie?

Next up was some organization. I have a few of the Ikea glass cabinets that I believe all miniature painters end up with, and they are getting full. They don’t have enough shelve to fit everything we paint. So I started making trays that still allow figures to be displayed, but make them easy to remove from the cabinet and allows them to be stacked. These can be printed in a wide range of sizes and can be found on Maker World by creator ChaosT. They work well enough that I made a bunch for Shatterpoint and Halo: Flashpoint too.

And last, but not least. We did get the Wallysquad and a Rad Judge completed.