Extended deadline What What!
I guess this gives me a chance to maybe hold on to a couple of those teef that I offered up to anyone who finishes more than me... hmm, maybe not with the unexpected schedule change (theater life is great, but offers up schedules as if time was a Mekboyz half finished SAG). We'll just have to see what happens with that.
Ok, so this got me thinking, and in part inspired by OD here, I decided to try something a bit more ambitious. It's still a kitbash (in fact it became part of the exercise to use nothing but GW plastic and a tiny bit of greenstuff), but the bits are so different that it's closer to a scratchbuild than anything I have done.
Yes young skywalker...err Baron, come to the dark side, I hear we have cookies, yet I haven't seen them about. As always I dig the work, but for this being the closest to a scratchbuild I say bravo. You're on your way on the konverzion path. Its a good thing, and I can tell you that it can get addictive, but its so satisfying to really work on something completely new and never before done. You can do a lot with Kitbashing, but inevitably it will lead to that day where you need just this one bit that you need and have to scratchbuild, from there you can avalanche full on.
Scratchbuilding isn't for everyone, and I'm not going to lie, it isn't hard, but it isn't easy. If you come at a scratchbuild with an idea in mind, but also a willingness to not follow that plan to the letter and roll with how things are going, then you're on the right track, at least from my perspective. I've been scratchbuilding for years, but even so I think my track record is something like for every great mini I have two or three really bad ones. Scratchbuilding is one of those skills that just develop the more you do and the further you want to push yourself to new challenges. Its kind of a masochistic creativity.
Of your Megaboss, I think the detail that really pops out to me most is the feet. Maybe that's because I've never really been satisfied with my own Mega scratchbuilds feet, or maybe because creative basing is something I always find refreshing and rare, but for whatever reason those clodhoppers really work for me. And the Boss glyph on the Iron Gob came out so nice I first thought it was freehand. I do happen to have a question though, since this is built out of the gray, where is that kog gubbinz bit on the base from. Its another small detail, but one that at least in my eyes really pops and adds that extra hint of realism that is so often missing from bases.
As for myself, I'm chalking this on the walls...
Projekt Complete 50+??? hours
Loosing track of time in the paint is fairly often for me, which is fine I guess since the timelog is really just for me. Some time tomorrow (well later today its after midnight) I'll get one of my roomies to take some photos, I just couldn't seem to get most of them to come out well, this puppy just looks a hundred times better in person.
Detail Shots
Had I realized earlier on that I was going to do a 2nd Edition style Blood Axe paint, I'd have added some glyph work to that effect. In truth I didn't originally know how I was going to paint this sucker, all I knew was I didn't want Yellow or Red. It's got this great military drab to the Russ bitz, with a bit of color variety due to multilayering similar shades, its unfortunately one of those things that you can really notice a lot better in person than over these less than optimal pictures.
One of those strange things did happen during the last of the build and paint with this model. I started really wanting to play with it, unlike any other scratchbuild I've done before. Yes there's always that excitement of having a new toy (or two) on the verge of being tabletop ready, but this was more. This was a model I wasn't going to actually play, and all of a sudden I can think of nothing else.
The eyelids are heavy, and sleep cometh, good thing this insomnia streak is just about over, so is this particular project.
Peace
~OD