ThriKeen Priest
New member
Ok, so first off, I was around here a lot years ago, but have been gone so long, I'm marked 'Newbie' again. Well, I'm back at my hobby bench & totally enjoying it! Here's something I started working on this morning, a classic Ral Partha AD&D Catoblepas that I found on Ebay:
First off, let me say that David Trampier has always been one of my favorite artists, (along with Brian Froud & Amadeo Modigliani, & many others.) For me, his ink drawings breathe life into the old school AD&D books. (His 'Wormy' series was lots of fun too.)
When I got the mini in the mail & popped it open, to be honest, I was kinda disappointed. It looked more like a cow than a hybrid warthog/brontosaurus like from the book. One of the best parts about the original artwork is all the knobby little felly-boppers around the ears & eyes. Also, the tusks are pathetically tiny on this model! (Yes, I understand the limits of molding, & I think it's still a nice model, just not true to the original vision.) I'll get to those in a post tomorrow, but for now, I'll just drill a bunch of holes in the head.
Next, I decide the neck & tail are both way too short, nowhere near where they should be. And while it's a reasonable body size, it's just not in scale with today's models, not quite "six feet at the shoulder", so the feet get lopped off & drilled too.
Okay, drilling more holes & mixing epoxy. Heavy wire for the neck & tail; will bend them once it's cured. Finish nails for the feet.
There it is so far. Some of you are probably wondering, "If you're converting it so much, why not scratch-build it?" Well, I usually do better with a 'jumping off point', I guess. Others may consider it a shame to hack apart such a rare miniature, and yeah, I'm a collector, but I want it the way I want it, what else can I say.
As an aside, the text in the description just cracks me up:
"This nightmare creature is loathesome beyond description & has no redeeming features."
"Redeeming features"?!? It's a monster! What did you expect? 'This creature is just horrible, but a good speller! Plus, he makes a mean omelet! (Respect to the General)
So, there it is. Originally I was thinking of writing an article on conversions, but after seeing the level of articles here, (Shaun's OSL article is deep!) I decided a simple WIP would suffice. More tomorrow-
-TKP
First off, let me say that David Trampier has always been one of my favorite artists, (along with Brian Froud & Amadeo Modigliani, & many others.) For me, his ink drawings breathe life into the old school AD&D books. (His 'Wormy' series was lots of fun too.)
When I got the mini in the mail & popped it open, to be honest, I was kinda disappointed. It looked more like a cow than a hybrid warthog/brontosaurus like from the book. One of the best parts about the original artwork is all the knobby little felly-boppers around the ears & eyes. Also, the tusks are pathetically tiny on this model! (Yes, I understand the limits of molding, & I think it's still a nice model, just not true to the original vision.) I'll get to those in a post tomorrow, but for now, I'll just drill a bunch of holes in the head.
Next, I decide the neck & tail are both way too short, nowhere near where they should be. And while it's a reasonable body size, it's just not in scale with today's models, not quite "six feet at the shoulder", so the feet get lopped off & drilled too.
Okay, drilling more holes & mixing epoxy. Heavy wire for the neck & tail; will bend them once it's cured. Finish nails for the feet.
There it is so far. Some of you are probably wondering, "If you're converting it so much, why not scratch-build it?" Well, I usually do better with a 'jumping off point', I guess. Others may consider it a shame to hack apart such a rare miniature, and yeah, I'm a collector, but I want it the way I want it, what else can I say.
As an aside, the text in the description just cracks me up:
"This nightmare creature is loathesome beyond description & has no redeeming features."
"Redeeming features"?!? It's a monster! What did you expect? 'This creature is just horrible, but a good speller! Plus, he makes a mean omelet! (Respect to the General)
So, there it is. Originally I was thinking of writing an article on conversions, but after seeing the level of articles here, (Shaun's OSL article is deep!) I decided a simple WIP would suffice. More tomorrow-
-TKP
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