The return of GAUTH

[MrNoNameSoldier1977]

So, as I've said in a few other posts I am finally returning to Minis after 20 years. This little guy here has been with me since the early days, as evidenced by the fact that you can't even buy him from the manufacturer anymore(Reaper) Gauth has a long storied history with me. I bought him on sale for like $80.00 back in the early 2000's. He was assembled and painted and sat on a shelf for a couple years until a bad room mate caused me to get evicted and got some 200+ painted minis stolen, except they didn't take Gauth. He moved with me to my condo I bought after the bad room mate(No more room mates!) He sat on the shelf there for some years, until he unfortunately met with a short drop and sudden stop due to a young nephew at the time. He didn't come out of the fall well. Wing broken, tail and legs knocked off, he lived in a drawer in pieces for many years. I moved, joined the Army, moved a lot more, got married, had kids, and then one day, found all the pieces of poor mangled Gauth in a drawer again. I decided to reassemble him, his left wing had broken off close to it's base. Some JB weld and patience, and his wing was back together. BTW it works pretty well for gaps, although the work time is VERY short so make sure of what your doing before you do it, green stuff is probably better. I sanded, filled, and touched up the paint where I could. however he just wasn't where I needed, so I decided to base him. I purchased a round wooden plaque(pine) sanded, stained and polyurethaned it so it'd be pretty. Set in a couple screws to depth and decided to use some air dry clay for the base sculpt. Some experimenting with the clay and some home made tools and I am fairly happy with the sculpt. Paint, flock, fake plants, grass, stone, more paint, more sculpt, more paint, clear poly, loctite glue, and voila, I present Gauth. However I am not sure I'm done. Thats why I'm posting here and not going to get some ratings. I feel like I might still be missing something? A wash maybe? Something. So I'm looking for some advice. Tell me what you think, and what you think I might be able to do for some improvements. Either way Thanks for having a look, and thanks for any advice in advance.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Someone say Dragon?
As you might guess I’m a bit of a Dracophile.

So some suggestions, there’s a lot of texture in the body which could benefit for judicious application of washes/glazes to increase the definition,but before you think about that consider adding some shadow definition around the lower curves of muscle groups.
There are a few paint colours which might help Vallejo Model Colour (VMC) Burnt Cadmium Red is one I’d suggest looking at for that. Then you could glaze with either Oils diluted with Sans Odour thinner (Possibly Mars Red) or Army Painter Strong Tone wash.

After that you can think of picking highlights up.

 

[MrNoNameSoldier1977]

That is an understatement! I think they took the time to sculpt every single scale. I know I need to invest some time in washes, I've always used ink(habbit from back in the day) but I want to up my wash game and make some of my own. I've got to get better at highlights as well. It's funny in 2 dimensions I can do shadowing and highlights no issue, bring in that 3rd dimension and it gets a little more difficult. I'm glad I'm not the only Dracophile here. I got his color scheme from the old dnd draconomicon. Great reference book for dragons.

 

[ten ball]

Woah! Old school dragon , love it :good:

 

[KruleBear]

I like this color scheme. I guess I need to get back to mine. I kind of got frustrated with how thick the trailing edge of the wings were in put mine back on the shelf. Yours looks good.

 

[MrNoNameSoldier1977]

That's in part why I chose the theme I did, I actually considered grinding the edge down with good ole mister dremmel. I couldn't guarantee a transition I'd be happy with so I left it as is and picked the darker edge. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[KruleBear]

That's in part why I chose the theme I did, I actually considered grinding the edge down with good ole mister dremmel. I couldn't guarantee a transition I'd be happy with so I left it as is and picked the darker edge. Thanks for the feedback!

I feel better that I wasn’t the only one with the crazy dremel thoughts. Lol

 

[MrNoNameSoldier1977]

Couple other Dragons

Here are a couple more dragons I'm working on. They are both old ones that are getting redone. I haven't done too much with either one yet, however I am working on the fin of the silver, if the gray JB weld wasn't enough of a hint. They both need washes, and the Green needs some serious blending work. Anyway thoughts and ideas are always good. I still have to figure out bases for both. I think I might pick up a nice rock for the silver, but I have no ideas for the green yet.

 

[KruleBear]

You have some work ahead of you. Can’t wait to see the progress.

 

[MrNoNameSoldier1977]

Long time since update

Ok so I've done a little work on Gauth in the past year and change, but work has kept me from doing too much. I did quite a bit of work on this guy lately. Basing is going well, and I threw an initial coat of paint on the head comb. I thought you would appreciate seeing this as you have a particular penchant for the Drakes of the world. I've got some more coming soon. I'll post my forest Dragon here for you as well.

View attachment 82368View attachment 82369

 

[MrNoNameSoldier1977]

Another project I need some advice on

I'm currently messing with some small scale dioramas/basing for some vehicles. I need some advice on how to pull this one off. I'm trying to set the Hemtt climbing onto the bridge, but I need to cut off the front two wheels. The problem is removing them with minimal damage. Tried a little with an exacto and I don't think it'll make it(maybe with a lot of patience) and I'm afraid a dremmel is going to cut too much off. Any suggestions?

 

[gorb]

That's a cool little diorama.
Question: it is hard to see from the photo, but are the wheels pinned to the body with metal axels? You may have to somehow cut off the outer hubs so you can slide the wheels off. If you damage the wheels in the process, green stuff will be your friend...
If the body of the truck is plastic (especially where the axels attach) you could try cutting those off, and CA-gluing them back on when you need to.

 

[MrNoNameSoldier1977]

The truck is in 1/285th metal. I wish they were pinned! That would have made it so much easier. Right now I'm thinking about using a soldering iron to heat up an exacto knife and try to cut them off that way. The possibility of doing a "recast" or just straight modeling new wheels is definitely a possibility. I have some miliput, and jb weld, I need to order some green stuff. I think one of my biggest fears is the size, because everything is so small it is easy for me to out too much force on it and deform the pewter.

 

[gorb]

Ah, so they are molded onto the body? Yes, then making a small press mold from one of the wheels with some Blue stuff / reusable silicon putty and making green stuff or milliput casts, prior to cutting the wheels off completely, would be the go I think.
Good luck!