Dinofelis (“terrible cat”) is a genus of Machairodontin saber-toothed cats belonging to the tribe Metailurini that lived approximately 5-1.5 million years ago. Dinofelis is known as a “false saber-tooth” cat because, instead of true saber-teeth, it had a cross between long, flat saber-teeth and the cone-shaped teeth of the modern-day felines. A Dinofelis was about the size of a Leopard or Jaguar.
Any pictures of these beasts are of course conjectural, as all we have is fossil evidence to go on. Some images show Dinofelis with tiger stripes, others with markings similar to a leopard.
The Deezee range of pre historic animals contains a model of a Dinofelis. Since I have retired, the DeeZee range is no longer available on line. However, there are plans to change this and the range should appear back on line in early 2025, all being well. In the meantime, my plan to personally paint each one of the 39 packs available in the range continues with DZ14, Dinofelis. Painting these miniatures gives me a pleasant break from my usual military subjects and a chance to indulge my imagination. There are two identical models in the pack but I chose to paint them in a slightly different colour scheme.
Version one – leopard spots!
The first version that I painted, had a golden yellow coat with leopard spots. The main body was painted with Vallejo Gold Brown 70877, over brushed with the same colour lightened with Iraqi Sand 70819.I used Ivory 70918 for the underbelly and face, highlighting with off white 70820. The spots were painted on with German Cam. Black Brown 70822 which I thought was less harsh than using pure black. I did pick out his nose eyes and mouth with 70950 Black and finished the model with a light wash of Army painter soft tone.
Version two – changed spots!
Version two of the Dinofelis was painted in a lighter brown colour. This time I started with Cork brown 70843 overbrushed with German Cam. Beige 70821. The spots were painted with Chocolate brown 70872 and then the centre’s picked out with Beige Brown70875 to get a ‘rosette’ effect. As with version one, the underbelly was painted with Ivory, highlighted with Off white and the details picked out in black. Again, a light coat of soft tone was applied to bring everything together and give some shading.
The two Dinofelis side by side.
So another pack of DeeZee can be crossed off of my list. It only took an evening to paint these models and as I have said, it was a nice break from my usual subjects. Indeed, painting the spots was quite therapeutic!
My quest to paint every model in the DeeZee range continues, albeit at glacial pace. I have too many other distractions to focus on finishing this project! However, there are two Smilodons in the DeeZee range; DZ13 Smilodon or Sabre Tooth attacking and DZ15 Smilodon or Sabre tooth stalking, so it made sense to paint them as a pair and knock another two models off of my list!
Although these big cats from the Pleistocine epoch are more familiarly known as Sabre tooth tigers, they are not closely related to either Tigers or modern cats and were inhabitants of the North and South America’s, rather than Asia. It is thought that they hunted large herbivores such as Camels and Bison. Although no record of the coat patterns exist, it is thought that the Smilodon had either plain coats or spotted ones, resembling leopards.
You can read more about the Smilodon on the Wikipedia page here:
So when it came to choosing a colour scheme for my models, I decide to go for the leopard variant. I did consider starting with a grey base for the fur and even using Tiger markings in grey/black but settled on the leopard scheme, using browns to get the darker look that I was after.
Painting finished – basing in progress
After priming the models in Army painter leather brown, I painted the top half of the models with Vallejo Flat Earth 70983. I used cork brown 70843 for the undersides. I then blended and highlighted using Iraqi Sand 70819.
To get the rosettes, I used German Camo Black Brown 70822 and dabbed the paint on to make rough circles, and then went back and filled in the middle of the rosettes with Burnt Umber 70941. I used Off white 70820 for further highlights on the belly and to outline the eyes and ears. The open mouth was painted with Beige red 70804 and the teeth in Ivory 70918. The claws and paw pads were picked out in Black, 70951
The finished Smilodon attacking!
Everything was then given a wash of Army painter soft tone to bring it all together.
Smilodon Stalking!
The basing was completed to my usual formula using oval bases – I had considered basing them as a pair but decided that separate bases were a better idea. I finished the bases with Gamers grass tufts. A mixture of dense beige and standard beige tufts to contrast against the scatter.
So another two DeeZee models to add to my collection for posterity! I still have an idea of combining the two models with the cavemen that we sell and making a small diorama. May be that will be a project for the future but for now it’s back to painting Samurai!
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Well we’re halfway through May, so an April Round up is somewhat overdue! As with March though, there has been no real focus to what I have been doing other than to continue to work through the lead pile and also to complete anything that I have acquired. To be fair, that process is not quite as random as it sounds. I have a ‘program’ of ten hobby threads that I am following that give some continuity to my hobby and it is these that have shaped the projects passing across my workbench in April.
One of those threads is to paint all of the models in the DeeZee range. Above is DZ20, Young Bison, which I completed at the beginning of the month. There are 40 lines in the DeeZee range. I have personally painted about 30 of them, so I am gradually completing that little project.
Another thread is to paint all of the figures and Scenery that came with the magazine collection Battle Games in Middle Earth. There are 91 issues of the Magazine and by painting Haldir ( above) I have now reached issue 28!
Another long term project is to build a medieval village. I’m building it on the Sarissa bases module system so that it can grow as I complete each subject in what ever random sequence I choose. Andy Callan recently gave me a laser cut Stocks set, so I converted a ‘victim’ to go in them.
This gave me an ‘excuse’ to purchase the Footsore Welsh Minors – a set that I really liked when they were first released. I thought that they would look great tormenting the poor guy in the stocks!
The pictures above show the finished scene. At some point, it will form part of the Village green of my village!
Of course, I am still busy painting subjects for ‘Never Mind The Billhooks’ and having finished my Irish army, I’m slowly working on a Landsknecht contingent. I have 18 handgunners already painted, so next I’m working on 12 Zweihanders. The first six are complete, although I will add some grass tufts.
The last item is my Naval Collection, which of course incorporates, the forthcoming ‘Never Mind the Boathooks’ rules set. This latest addition to my Medieval fleet was kindly sent to me by George Antioch, who is based over in Canada. Although designed as a ‘Cog’, as it was fairly narrow in the beam, I thought that it would make an excellent Carrack and sister ship to my Great Ship ‘The Sun In Splendour’. So with a few modifications to George’s design, the ‘George’ is taking shape. I intend to write an article showing how I constructed and modified the ‘George’ in a future blog.
So that’s about it for April. May has been a bit quieter on the modelling front, although I have attended a fantastic event down in Bristol:
On top of that, I had a long weekend away visiting Blenheim Palace, Shakespeare’s Stratford on Avon and Kenilworth castle! So enough of a history hit to inspire me to get back to the workbench and get some more done!
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I have said that I would like to paint all of the DeeZee range for my own collection. I do have painted examples of all of the range for commercial use but some of them are showing their age and I didn’t paint them! I’m in no rush with this project but it does make a nice change from the military stuff that I am working on.
DEEZEE 33 White Rhino first coat!
The next model on my bench was the White Rhino, DZ33, a resin model. A bit of research shows that White rhino’s can be either a very pale grey or a light sand colour. I presume that the sandy ones are simply covered in dust and earth, although it does seem that the Southern Rhinos tend to be the Light Brown ones and the Northern Rhinos tend to be Light Grey. Just to add to my confusion, it turns out that White rhinos are so called because according to google:
‘Why is the white rhino not white?
The story has a few variations but it basically states that the early Dutch settlers referred to this rhino as having a “wijde lip” or wide lip. The English mistook the word “wijde” (meaning wide) for “white” and so assumed that they were being called white rhinos by the Dutch.’
If you google images of the white rhino, you will certainly get plenty of variation in colour. I decided to go for the Light Brown finish and after washing and priming the model painted it with Vallejo Light Brown. As you can see from the picture above, I need a few light coats to cover the model.
I then proceeded to add Iraqi Sand 70819 to the light brown and after a number of dry brushes , I worked up to pure Iraqi Sand. It really was that simple. I then gave the model a wash with very thinned soft tone ink and added a final coat of Iraqi Sand with white added. I then based the rhino and added plenty of Beige and dry tufts and some long yellow grass. Job done!
While I was in the mood for painting animals, I decided to paint DZ pack 16, Crocodiles. There are three crocs in a pack and I decided to do all three and base them as a group. The models are actually identical so to get a bit od variation, I carefully bent the tails of two of the crocs to make them look a bit different. So long as you are careful when you do this, there is sufficient ‘give’ in the metal to make this a straight forward process.
I painted them using similar colours to those that I used when painting the DeeZee Giant crocodile. The only slight difference was that I used Army Painter bone to prime them and used the same colour for the belly. The basing process was also similar. I used milliput and some pebbles to make the ground work and then used clingfilm to protect the models as I pushed the into place to get the indentations. I could them remove the Crocs and paint the base without them being in the way. Here is the link to my earlier blog with details of how I decided to paint the Giant Crocodile along with details of the colours used:
I painted the base as per my usual ‘recipe’ using the emulsion colour ‘Dehli Bazaar’, which is my favbourite mud colour, added a dark tone ink wash for some depth and then added a variety of Gamers grass tufts, scatter and some spare jungle plants from my scenery stash. Once the crocs were added back onto the base. I used Vallejo water effects to finish things off.
DeeZee Crocodiles waiting for their dinner!
The final shots ready to add to the listing on my shop.
So that’s another pack added to my collection. Back to painting War of the Roses figures for now!
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After a superb two week hoilday break, it’s fair to say that I have managed to press the ‘reset button’ and arrived back from my holiday fully refreshed, rested and ready to get back to my hobby! I found the time to clarify my thinking on just what I intend to do with the rest of the year and my push to reduce my lead pile continues, albeit with a bit more focus.
One of my projects is to paint at least one version of the entire DeeZee range. It’s something that I have been working on for a number of years. In fact, the first Blog post was written in 2014 when I painted the newly commissioned Bear Cubs DZ28. You can see the post here:
I do have painted examples of all of the DeeZee Range. However, the idea was that if I painted them myself, I would have a clear idea how to advise my customers as to how to do so. It also would mean that I could refer customers to the appropriate blog article for further information. Alas, good intentions and all that, DeeZee has taken a back seat to other hobby projects and to make matters worse, when I have painted the odd model, I’ve failed to document it or mixed it in with a work bench update.
So, with all that in mind, here’s a short guide to painting the DeeZee Giant Crocodile DZ22.
There are pictures on the web listing of earlier painted models. One is the original from Duncan’s collection, the other is painted by the extremely talented Kevin Dalimore. I’m by no means in Kevin’s league when it comes to painting but I thought that I could improve on the original model. The first job was to clean the model up and I then primed it with Army painter Skeleton bone primer. Trying to decide what colour to paint a crocodile is not easy! A google search returned the answer that Crocodiles are a green/brown colour but can vary based on the species.
I decide to use Vallejo US Olive drab70887 as the base colour. To get the lighter colour on the belly and tail, I mixed in some Deck tan 70896. The inside of the mouth was painted with 70804 Beige rose, the eyes with 70913 Yellow ochre and the teeth with off white, 70820.
DeeZee Giant Crocodile with base colours blocked on.
I then used German Cam. Black Green to paint some stripes towards the tail and added a few random blotches to the body. After a very light dry brush with the Olive drab/Deck tan mix, I gave the croc a good wash with soft tone ink to bring out the detail and give the model a brownish hue. When this was dry, I re-painted the eyes with deep yellow and added the iris. I then touched up any of the details that required sharpening. I left the semigloss finish as I wanted the Croc to look wet!
Giant Croc ready for basing – base under construction
To base the Crocodile, I used a large MDF Oval base and covered it in Milliput to give a ‘mud’ effect. I wrapped the bottom of the Croc with cling film and pushed him into the wet milliput. This gave me the indent where the croc would sit and the cling film stopped the milliput from sticking to the model. I used some pebbles from my garden as rocks. Once everything was dry, I painted the base with my usual emulsion basing paint – Delhi Bazzar- a nice green brown muddy colour! I added a few highlights by mixing in Iraqi Sand and some depth by using strong tone ink.
The finished model
Once the paint was dry, I added a variety of Gamers grass tufts and with the Crocodile now in place, I poured Vallejo Water Effects 26230 over the base. This self-levels and dries to a clear water effect. To get some depth, I added a second layer – it’s best not to pour more than about 3mm depth at once. The model was now finished.
The finished model
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It’s been two weeks since my last blog but I have been busy – it’s just that I haven’t actually finished anything for myself! I was somewhat diverted by a request from my Granddaughter, Emily. We were tickled pink when she phoned up ( she’s not quite seven yet!) to ask me for some help with her school project. She was learning about wolves and had to make a wolf enclosure – did I have a model of a wolf and could I help? Well, Arcane scenery has the DeeZee range of animals and we have a pack of Dire Wolves that would do nicely. As I had not painted one myself, I thought that I better do a test piece before Emily came over to paint her own version. So above is my first attempt at painting a wolf. I also prepared and primed the other 5 in the pack and then based two of them so that Emily could finish them off.
Emily’s wolves in their new enclosure.
It’s worth pointing out that DeeZee model are not toys and made of metal and not designed for children. However, even at 7, Emily is sensible enough to understand the difference between a model and a toy and will use them as such. When it came to painting the wolves I gave Emily my best brushes and we used ‘proper’ paint. My advise would be that if you would like children to take up the hobby, let them loose with the correct tools for the job and just take the time to explain how to use the tools safely. When it comes to painting, that means how to hold the brush, how to thin the paint and how to clean the brushes in between coats and so on. Mind you, I was told off for licking the brush! It’s a bad habit but the most effective way I know of keeping the point on the brush….
The completed wolf enclosure – the pink pipe cleaners are their food!
Once Emily had painted her two wolves, we made a start on the enclosure itself. It was made to Emily’s specifications using two shoe boxes. My job was to wield the hot glue gun and stick stuff together where directed- I would have let her have a go with the glue gun but Nanny said no! Emily did slap on the PVA glue where needed though! Of course, having access to my stash of scenery made the job a bit easier. We were able to line her two shoe boxes with some off cuts of scenic mats that I had and add some Arcane Scenery trees. We built a ‘den’ using some slate and the pond was just a painted piece of foam board. We used arcane scenery scatter to blend it all in. Emily helped herself to some of my Gamers grass tufts and some twigs and lichen and we had more or less finished. The project took most of Sunday but as ‘Storm Ciara’ was beginning to blow outside, it was a Sunday well spent.
Sabot bases under construction
As for my own projects, well, as I have said, I’ve been busy preparing stuff but have finished very little. I have completed some sabot bases for my War of the Roses command figures. I used the same techniques outlined in in my blog article ‘Painting War of The Roses Artillery’.
The completed command bases
Perrys Light Cavalry
I’ve also assembled and prepared 12 War of the Roses light cavalry. I assembled eight as mounted bowmen (to use as mounted Skirmishers) and the other four as ‘scurrers’ – I could combine these with four of my other heavy horse to make another unit. I’ve got as far as priming six of these light cavalry, but I’ll probably show these in a later blog.
Additional command figures
I’ve also assembled four more command figures – three of which will have standards. I don’t need any more commanders for my army; the extras will allow me to divide my force into two, to allow an extra player to play, if needs be.
Prussian Jaegers primed and ready for painting.
I have a Demo game to prepare for in March. It’s the Bingham Napoleonic days and as usual the NG13 gamers are putting on a display. I actually have enough troops for the demo but decided to add another six Jaeger to my Prussian force. I got as far as priming these before being distracted yet again.
Special project on the go!
It was my birthday last Thursday and I had asked for some additional Perry Miniatures to bulk out my War of The Roses force. I had also asked for the special ‘Richard III Commemorative figure’ that they make. Actually, I asked for two as I have an idea for converting one of them as a standard bearer for the new rules set ‘Never Mind the Billhooks’. So these models have found their way to the top of the painting list. Again, I’ll show the finished models with a bit more detail in a future blog, but as you can see, the horses are about done for now. So lots of modelling but nothing quite finished. That’s the way it seems to go in my hobby!
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In last weeks blog, I explained how we went about producing the new DeeZee cavemen packs. In this weeks blog, I’ll show how I went about painting them. Painting cavemen was something of a welcome break from the strict colours and details of painting my Napoleonic army. I also wanted to finish them quickly as I needed some pictures for my web store, so I resorted to a ‘batch paint’ job to get the 10 different figures finished in more or less one sitting – fast for me!
Cave men primed!
The first job was to clean up the castings, blutack the figures to their temporary bases and prime them. I used Army painter leather brown spray.
First coat of Dark flesh 70927
I decided to use the Vallejo flesh tones to paint the skin – Vallejo Dark flesh 70927 was applied liberally over the skin! I would be using quick shade at the end of the paining process to shade the models and bring out the detail. If you are not keen on this method, then I would start with a darker flesh tone, possibly a brown.
First dry brush with Basic skin tone
I then dry brushed the figures with Basic skin tone 70815 to get a contrast. With hindsight, another dry brush with 70955 flat flesh before jumping straight to the lighter colour would have helped.
Hair and loin cloth painted
I painted the loin cloths on the figures using orange brown 70981 to represent a basic animal skin. They have all got the same loin cloths – again for speed. I think that it would be fun to add a bit of variety and I will do this on the next batch that I paint! Their hair was painted 70822 German Camouflage black brown – again no variety!
Spears painted
I painted the spear staffs with flat brown 70384, the cuff guards with 70871 leather brown and the detail and bindings with 70914 Green Ochre. I also dry brushed the hair with flat brown ( as the colour was on the pallet!) to give it some detail. The spear heads were painted 70869 Basalt grey.
Strong tone applied
The final details were painted – I highlighted the spears by simply dry brushing with grey with white added, and finished off the very tips with off white 70820. I used off white for the eyes and then used the german black brown to paint the eyes and eye brows. Incidentally, I rarely bother to paint eyes on my wargames figures these days but I have found that using dark brown rather than black for the irises gives a more natural, less harsh appearance. The models were then brushed with Army painter Strong tone (dark brown) quick shade.
Matt varnished and based
Once the quick shade was dry (I leave for at least 24 hours to let it harden), I brushed the figures with matt varnish. As you can see, as well as bringing out the detail the quick shade has left a bit of a ‘dirty’ effect where I was a bit heavy with the paint brush! I decided to leave this, I guess cavemen were more likely to be less fastidious with bathing…
The full tribe – basing in progress
The picture above shows the basing process that I use. You can see that the Shaman is still being painted but I have put him on a 25mm round MDF base, added some Vallejo Dark earth Textured paste and then some small ballast stones from Woodlands scenic. The whole base is then painted and highlighted using my Dehli Bazaar emulsion from B&Q and highlighted by brushing with 70819 Iraqi Sand. I then add Woodland scenic Blended turf and finish off the bases with some gamers grass tufts.
The clan!
So the first batch of cavemen are ready for the gaming table! I will be painting a few more as I will be play testing a rules set that I am writing – but that is for the future!
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We have been planning to add some packs of cavemen to our DeeZee range for about four years now! Part of the problem was finding a sculptor that I could actually sit down with and explain exactly what I had in mind. I’m just not comfortable with communicating via skype and other such modern technology. It was important for me to be able to sit with the sculptor and talk through the process. That problem was solved when Paul Matthews (our social media consultant) was able to introduce me to Matt Sofar of Knuckle Bone miniatures. Matt already had a small range of fantasy miniatures and was looking to do some freelance work to extend his portfolio. Even better, he was happy to come in and talk through the commission and provide a sample sculpt before we proceeded with the full commission.
Shaman Leader DeeZee tm
The original plan was for just 8 cave men – two packs of four but as Matt produced his sculpts we decided to go for a ‘command’ pack of the chief and Shaman and then two packs of four cavemen; ten figures in total. One pack would be hunting and thrusting with their spears, the other pack, stalking or walking as though part of the hunt. We have deliberately used a generic title of ‘cavemen’ rather than specify the type. However, I hope that it is clear that we tended towards a more Neanderthal look, both in features and clothing. If all goes well, there will be other ‘tribes’ that we will add to the range. We also wanted to avoid the ‘ripped’ look of some depictions of cavemen. I’m a great fan of Frank Frezzetta and that genre but decided that we wanted our cavemen to look as though they were living on a feast or famine diet, mainly of meat and they didn’t have access to the local gym! As my brother kindly quipped, ‘did Matt use you as the model?…’
Cavemen Ready DeeZee
The models are made to fit with the existing DeeZee range and so are on the large size for 28mm figures but they all fit on a 25mm round base – ideal for a skirmish game. I suspect that they are too tall in reality – from what we know, cavemen tended to be shorter than todays human. We also made the chief slightly larger. He needs to be big to keep his place as the boss!
Cavemen Attack DeeZee
There are embryonic plans for a rules set to be used with the figures but these are a long way from being playable, never mind published but the three packs do make sense with what is written so far. It was of course essential to have a chief or leader and we thought that he needed an assistant. I had originally thought that this would be a ‘son’ type figure but Matt came up with the idea of a Shaman. We have probably stretched reality here a bit but the model does look cool, so a Shaman was added, complete with baby Mammoth or baby Brontetherium skull.
The other two packs are the Cave men attacking and Cave men hunting. As the sculpts progressed we decide to have a pack of cavemen that were clearly engaged in some sort of activity with their spears – whether hunting or fighting; and another group that were perhaps a bit more relaxed!
Cavemen attacking
I think that Matt has done a great job with these attacking poses. These men are clearly trying to get their next dinner or fight off a rival tribe. I particularly like the one crouching down in the long grass!
cavemen hunting
The cavemen hunting are meant to be walking or stalking as they make their way to find their dinner! My favourite is the guy with his spear over his shoulder, although the one looking over his shoulder would look great in a diorama with a Smilodon lurking in the background.
The clan!
Once Matt had finished the sculpts, we went to our friends at Footsore to get the master molds and then the production molds made and the cavemen were ready to launch! The painted models above are my first attempt at painting them and I have tended to go for a simple paint job just to get them ready for the web store pictures. I’ll detail how I went about painting these in next weeks blog but in the meantime if you would like to have a go at painting them for you own ‘tribe’ just click the links below.
We do have plans for more cavemen in the future, both in terms of adding a few more characters to this tribe and producing another rival tribe. As always, much depends on how well these sell through and I am more tortoise than hare when it come to business these days…..BUT watch this space or at least follow us on Facebook to get the latest news!
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You can tell that I have been distracted over the last month, as my blog has been focused as much on Battle reports and shows as it has on painting. Add to this, I have only written two blog posts since the end of July and you would be forgiven for thinking that I have had very little hobby time. My Wife would disagree! To be fair, it’s been a bit of a mixed month, with some nice weather, meaning that gardening and family barbeques have been a major part of my leisure time.
John Rattenbury takes to the seas!
However, I always find time for my hobby and the truth is that I have not been quite as focused as I usually am when it comes to churning out the next unit for one of my armies. Duncan at Trent Miniatures hasn’t helped. He keeps producing some lovely character figures for his range and often pops into the office to show me the latest release. I was very taken with the new figure of John, or Jack Rattenbury, a famous Devonshire smuggler from the turn of the 18th century. I stopped everything to finish him and add him to my collection of maritime subjects!
John Rattenbury, the lastest addition to the crew!
I’ve also been working on my WOTR army, assembling the balance of a box of Perry’s European Mercenary’s. With a bit of ducking and diving, I now have 12 crossbow men assembled and primed, 6 handgunners and 12 Pikemen ready for painting.
The next batch of my WOTR army ready for painting.
With the crossbowmen being the first on the list to complete, I painted the Pavises that go with them and used a set of LBM decals to finish them off. I think that they will need a bit more work before I add them to the figures but I was very pleased with how straight forward the LBM decals were to apply, despite making a few mistakes with positioning.
Pavises with LBM decals applied
When chatting to Duncan about my WOTR project he reminded me that the Newark Character range has a model of Sir John Savage from the Battle of Stokes Field. Well, it would be rude not to include him in my army! Once again, Everything was put aside whilst I finished Sir John!
Sir John Savage joins my retinue!
As if this all wasn’t enough, I am working on the final Highland Battalion for my Napoleonic Army, the Black Watch, or 42nd Highland Battalion. I wanted to do a ‘test shot’ of the tartan pattern that I would use and so finished off a sergeant to see how he looks next to the other battalions.
Black Watch Sergeant next to the Gordons and Camerons.
I think that I’m going to go with the dark pattern, essentially, my usual approach to painting Tartan but with more black lines! He looks a bit better in the next picture, as I have retouched the hat band and covered the grey base.
Another picture of the Sergeant of the Black Watch
As is often the case with my painting, I’ll mull over whether to change things – I’m thinking of a slightly paler green tartan stripe but I better make my mind up as the other 11 on the painting desk are moving towards completion!
42nd Battalion Highlanders!
As if all of this wasn’t enough to keep me busy, there is also the small matter of the forthcoming release of the DeeZee Cavemen. There will be 10 cavemen in three blisters and I had test shots of four of the poses to play with. As a teaser, here is a picture of my first attempt at painting them. All being well, there will be more information and details of how I painted them to follow!
DeeZee Cavemen – sculpted by Matt Sofar of knuckle bones miniatures.
So, August has passed and we are well into September and the weather here already has that Autumnal feel, with the evenings being both cooler and shorter. I doubt that I will find much more time for painting in my busy schedule but perhaps this month, I can be a bit more focused!
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It’s been nearly three weeks since my last blog but I have been busy with all sorts of projects. As far as my War of the Roses project goes, The heavy cavalry are now complete – I have 12 ready for action. I have also built 12 Crossbowmen, 6 Handgunners and 10 more pikemen as well as painting 12 Pavises for the crossbowmen. I’ll write an update on this project in a future blog along with a report on the playtesting of ‘Nevermind the Billhooks’ – the WOTR rules set that Andy C. is developing.
Likewise, my Napoleonic project continues, with the next 12 highlanders, representing the Black watch, primed and the batch paint is underway. I use any ‘spare’ time to add colour to these until I get to the tricky tartan bit, when they will get my full attention!
Batch paint on Black watch with pavises in the foreground
I have been distracted by the latest addition to the DeeZee range. Not so much a new item as a re working of an old one. The mold on the Charging Rhino DZ8 was beginning to burn out, so we took the opportunity to re do the master and put the model into resin. I dont think that it’s a secret that we have a very good working relationship with the folks at Footsore and the master Resin Caster, Vince, was happy to take this on as a project. I was delighted with the results and the detail of the model shows much better in resin than it did in metal.
DZ08 Woolly Rhino Charging – now in resin
This coincided with the production of the first ‘shots’ of the new range of DeeZee cavemen that we have commissioned. They are being sculpted for us by the very talented Matt Lupus, of Knuckle Bone miniatures. So I had a good reason to ‘park’ both the WOTR and Napoleonic projects and move further back into history to paint some cavemen and a Woolly Rhino!
Cavemen and Whooly Rhino primed in Leather brown and ready to paint!
I will write a future blog explaining what we are doing with the cavemen – for now, I’ll just say that there will be 10 cavemen in the initial release and of course if they sell well, we will add to the range. It’s a new venture for us and once the figures are available for production, I will be pleased to show them off in full! For now, I’ll focus on the Rhino and tease you with them in the pictures as I was working on them at the same time as the Rhino!
Fur now painted Chocolate Brown.
Once the Rhino had been primed with Army Painter Leather Brown, I painted the fur with Vallejo Chocolate Brown 70872.
Flat Brown Dry Brush
Using a large flat brush, I then gave the Rhino fur a heavy dry brush in Flat Brown 70984.
Fur Highlighted by dry brushing.
The picture above shows the rhino with his fur highlighted again with Flat Earth 70983, then Orange Brown 70981 and finally a light dry brush with Orange Brown lightened with Green Ochre 70914. I used the same large flat brush for all the dry brush coats. The toe nails were then picked out with Black Grey 70862 and the Horn painted with Iraqui sand 70819. I added some ink to the inner ear and around the legs to give these areas more definition. Incidentally, the horn should probably be the same or a similar dark colour to the Rhino fur as it is not really bone but I wanted the horns to stand out on the model!
Basing The Woolly Rhino
I gave the horn a brush over with Ivory 70918 and painted the eyes black 70850. The rhino was then mounted on a Sarissa MDF base and using Vallejo Dark Earth Texture paste, blended in. The large ‘rocks’ are small stones from the garden, the smaller grit is ballast from the Woodlands scenic range.
Base painted with Emulsion.
I used my tried and trusted basing routine to finish off. The base was painted with Matt Emulsion – Dehli Baazar and highlighted with dry brush coats mixed with Iraqui sand. I’ve covered how and why I use Emulsion paints for basing in a previous blog here:
It was then just a case of adding some Woodlands Scenics green scatter to the base ( I had decided on a Spring time look rather than Winter!).
Grass added to the base
I had also toned down the brightness of the horn by painting with Army Painter Soft Tone – this also brought out the detail at the base of the horn.
Gamers Grass Tufts added to base.
Finally, I added a mixture of Gamers Grass tufts to the base to finish things off. I’m quite pleased at how he looks and also how straight forward the Rhino was to paint.
Woolly Rhino completed and based.
As for the cavemen…all being well, I expect to have them in production for late September – watch this space for more details. In the meantime, they are off to catch their dinner!
Here comes dinner!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Deezee miniatures, including of course, the Woolly Rhino, are available post free from my shop here:
Despite being busy painting, nothing is really finished! I seem to have too many ideas and not enough time, although that isn’t really unusual. So this weeks blog is as much an attempt to re focus as to show what is on my work bench. I guess that I am steadily working my way through the lead pile, although I visited the ROBIN show at the weekend and managed to add to it…more on that later.
The Forlon Hope gathers strength!
My Forlorn Hope gathers strength, with another eight figures completed. The facings are yellow, as they are supposed to represent the 29th Worcestershire’s in the Peninsular. They are all individually based as my intention is that they are for a skirmish game rather than a ‘big battalion’ game.
Ensign completed
The limited edition Warlord Games Ensign is also completed but needs basing. I’m dithering as to whether to put him onto a standard 20mm square base or to use him as a ‘big man’ and base him on a 60mm round base along with the limited addition Rifleman from Warlord. It’s the second option that appeals at the moment as I think they will make a nice contrasting pair.
Riflemen and drummer boy.
As you can see, I actually have two of the Riflemen, so basing one up separately and one with the Ensign will work nicely. I’m going to try a quick paint job on the riflemen as an experiment. I have undercoated them with Army Painter Dark Angel Green and will leave this as the base colour for the uniform, just painting the rest of the detail. Out of focus is the drummer boy for the 29th – yellow is not an easy colour to paint and there are constant queries on social media as to what the best method is. In this case, I have first painted with Vallejo Yellow Ochre and then recoated with Vallejo Deep Yellow. In reality, this is perhaps a bit bright but should show nicely on the wargames table.
Highlanders!
I’ve 48 Highlanders assembled, 24 of which are undercoated and 12 of those have made it to the back of the workbench to have their hands, knees and faces painted in flesh. At the moment, I’m distracted by other projects so these are getting a sort of deferred batch paint job! When ever I have some spare time or paint, I’ll put the next colour on – black hats next!
Napoleonic Trebuchet!
I mentioned above that I had been to the excellent ROBIN show in Nottingham. Being determined only to buy if it would help me complete an existing project, I had kept my wallet firmly in my pocket until I came across the IronGateScenery stand. Well it was loaded with goodies, all produced using 3D printers and top quality too. My will to hold onto my money was broken by the Mortars and siege ladders but then, having succumbed, I bought the rather lovely Trebuchet, the village well and some Aztec scenery – don’t ask, it all just looks fantastic…
Aztec Scenery – the finished product on the Irongatescenery stand.
To be honest, I could have spent a great deal more as the range is superb. There’s a link to their web site at the bottom of the page so go see for yourself.
DeeZee White Rhino
As if I haven’t got enough to do, plans are afoot to expand the DeeZee range. I would like to produce a painting guide to each one of the 37 packs ( with more to come….). I also don’t have my own painted version of this model so I’m starting with him. It’s going to be a busy year!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
Although the figures in this weeks blog are not available from Arcane Scenery ( I think some of them may be OOP) all of the finishing and painting products are, even better, we send post free!
I thought that it might be interesting to show the processes involved in bringing a new miniature to the market. Arcane Scenery own the DeeZee range and since purchasing it we have been very slowly expanding the choice of models available. Buying the range was more of a whim than a serious business decision but I was intrigued by the models and the potential – if we could build the range and revitalise it. That is not quite as easy as it sounds, as I am no sculptor and Arcane Scenery as an online retailer, has no production facilities. We do have the advantage of being right in the middle of the Nottingham ‘Lead Belt’ and as a result, come into contact with some very talented people.
We have recently started working with the guys over at War Banner and inspired by some of the awesome figures that they have been and will be releasing, I decided it was time to add to the DeeZee range. But where to start? Like many in the hobby, I had plenty of ideas and there was no shortage of suggestions from friends and colleagues. After much consideration, I decided that a terror bird would fit into the range and was commercial enough to appeal to the historical collector as well as Pulp, Fantasy and RPG gamers, meaning that we would have a chance of recouping the investment required.
terror bird inspiration
The first job was to find a sculptor. I had in the past been in touch with a few sculptors in the UK but circumstances at the time had stopped me from progressing with the project. So after past false starts, this time, thanks to Andy Hobday at War Banner, the very talented Stavros Zouliatis was contacted. Stavros had sculpted the soon to be released Warring Clans Samurai figures. I had already been drooling over them as a hobbyist, so when Stavros said that he was not only available to sculpt but also very enthusiastic about the project, it was all systems go! Stavros is based in Greece but despite the distances involved, thanks to the wonders of technology (I am still amazed at what can be done, much to the amusement of the ‘youngsters’ that I work with) it was a relatively simple matter to formulate the model. Using my pinterest board as reference and Facebook messenger as a way of reviewing progress, work was soon under way.
DeeZe Terror Bird being sculpted
The picture below shows the Terror bird nearly completed – the sculpting process took about a week on and off.
Terror Bird Complete
Although the sculpting process was complete, we had to give some thought as to how it would be cast. We decided that the legs would be better as separate pieces to the body and also to add a base.
Terror Bird ‘Green’ comple and ready for casting
The next stage was to turn the ‘green’ ( the name of the original model or prototype – usually made from green stuff epoxy clay) into a metal model.
To do this the green is pressed into a rubber mold and then cooked to produce a master mold. Ben, of War Banner games was responsible for this process. It can be quite traumatic as there is the danger that the original will be damaged by the high pressure involved. I’m happy to say that all went well – we even managed to recover the original ‘Green’, which is often lost in this process.
The mold press machine!
Once the first mold or master mold has been made, a number of metal models are cast to produce the production mold. In this case, we have a production mold that will ‘spin’ five models at a time. Depending on the expected demand, some manufacturers will make more than one production mold. It is the production mold that will wear out over time but more production molds can be made using the Master if needed. Part of the skill in producing the master and production molds is to decide where the ‘feeds’ run the metal into the impression of the model. The mold also needs vents to let the excess metal run through to be cut into it. Once again, Ben, from War Banner games has done a great job and the production mold is casting superb models without any flash or excessive feeds.
Terror Bird Production Mold – look carefully and you can see the guys at War Banner have good sense of humour….
terror bird mold open – this is where the metal goes!
It is now just a case of ‘running’ the molds to build the stock of the model so we are ready for orders. We usually hold a stock of DeeZee models so there is no delay in dispatching orders.
Hot metal in the Hotpot!
The final stage in the process was to get a model painted. Jasmine Storey-Smith kindly offered to paint the very first Terror Bird from DeeZee. I think that she has done a super job and the model looks just as I hoped that it would.
The Painted Terror Bird
Terror bird and Neanderthal
And so the Terror Bird, DZ35 is ready to launch…Well it’s available to sell – it will never fly! It’s quite a time consuming process and has involved a number of people. As with all of these projects, the materials aren’t really the cost, it is the time and skill of those involved that have to be paid for. I must thank again, the team at War Banner, who as well as supplying their expertise and advice, have been great cheer leaders as well. If you are thinking of commissioning your own range of figures, War Banner have all the facilities, skill and enthusiasm that you will need to get your project up and running.
We certainly will add more models to the DeeZee range. Like I said in the introduction, we are not short on ideas! Who knows, we may have a rules set in the pipeline….
The Commercial Bit
If you would like to buy your very own Terror Bird, (post free at the time of writing!) you can do so here:
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