88358 Skeletal Orc

I’ve been sitting on these guys for a while and I finally dug in and painted them. This is the first batch using a spray primer. I went with Rustoleum Painters Touch. The other one I’d heard recommended–Dupli-Color Sandable Primer–was hard to find. It apparently has a grit mixed in that is intended to fill in gaps, but which can obscure detail in a model. I feel like my first application was too thick; some detail was lost here too. The surface is easy to paint, though, so I’ll be experimenting with how to apply a thinner coat.

The figure itself is maybe the most frustrating one from the Chainmail line that I’ve yet painted. The pose is great and the skull looks amazing. But the torso is only thinly connected to the hips and any lateral pressure makes the whole piece bend precariously. I had to reinforce one with glue before priming. The other absolute pain with this piece is the arm and axe element. It’s too small to pin, has two points of contact on two separate axes, and is positioned perfectly so that if the piece falls or is dropped, the initial point of contact is the axe, which causes the whole part to pop off. If it’s glued securely, then the axe will break at the left hand. I must have glued each of these at least five times before finishing. I had four originally, but one broke on falling and can’t easily be reassembled.

The big experiment here was using raw pigments to create a rust effect on the axe blade, the spear lodged in the orc’s ribcage, and the metal element on the left wrist. I used isopropyl alcohol to prepare the surface, and applied varying mixtures of burnt umber, indian red, and mars orange pigment. The first was almost exclusively red.

The second and third were mixtures of all three, build up from an umber base layer to a dusting of orange on edges.

By the time I got to the third, I’d worked out a method: initial applications of pigment were too heavy and blotchy to seem realistic. So I loosely mixed red and orange pigment into a combination of Vallejo silver and glaze medium. This gives a corroded metal look that could be reapplied at the edges to look like rust flaking off. I haven’t nailed it yet, but even at this stage, the weathering effect is really cool.

Next up are the skeletal war dogs. They’re small and simple. I hope to finish them over the weekend.