January 29, 2023
I remain focused on the CMON The World of SMOG/The Rise of Molach figures. I began the week with two of my favorites… Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. They are beautiful figures. I did two of each with different basing. I also did the boxed alien that comes on the same base with Holmes. I scratch built one lid for one of the boxes. It came out pretty nice so I may do another. Next came Colonel Moran. This figure came in the same boxed set (The Baker Street Set) as Holmes and Watson so once again I did two with different bases. With those done I turned my attention to two of the strangest figures, Madame Edwarda and Sweet Baby Charlie. Madame Edwarda proved to be fairly easy to paint, but Charlie was difficult because it was hard to get my brush into the interior of the pram, but I finally got the job done and I’m happy with the result. Lord Crowley appears to be a very evil doer, but not a difficult figure to paint. The Thumb is a very strange figure, and I am not sure how it will ever be incorporated into one of my layouts, but after I got it painted, I like the figure, and I’ll do my best to make use of it. With The Thumb completed I returned to the last of the Baker Street Set figures, Irene Adler. Once again I had a pair of these figures and did both giving them different bases.
January 22, 2023
This week my interest continued to be focused on CMON The World of SMOG/The Rise of Moloch. With regard to many of these figures, I have them in multiples because the best price could often be had in purchasing them in lots. Multiples is not a negative for me because it allowed me to provide them with different basing ranging from turf, to cobblestone, to wood plank.
I began this week’s work with the short gun version of Emma Swanson. I followed Emma with Nanny Tin. I did a modification of Nanny Tin by way of altering her weapon arm (a 12 gauge shot gun) and providing her with a tray of drinks (by Scotia Grendel). I’ll be using this version as a member of the Gordon Institute staff. The other Nanny Tins I painted without modification other than a new base. Next I did Cyclomatron, and I followed that interesting pair of figures with two Lady Widows. Late in the week I did Damon Smith, Peter Swanson, Baron Victor Mantes, Omnivorous, Mister Needle, Darwin and last but not least the gravediggers Emerson Caine and Tobias Pursey, one each on cobblestone and turf.
January 15, 2023
I began the workbench week painting a second Hobby Train locomotive and tender for my Mexico collection. I gave this a very simple paint job… spray painted the flat black and highlighted with a mix of Vallejo Black Grey and London Grey. Since two trains will not be on the table at the same time, I just needed to define the two different trains in some fashion and the locomotive and tender color seemed the easiest since I had two of each.
I next completed the large step pyramid that will be a central feature of my Gordon Institute Mexican adventure. It is a resin foam structure by Stonehouse Miniatures. It stands about 6 1/2" tall and is 12" across the base. A nice feature in terms of storing it is that it is in three pieces. In addition to painting it, I added Milliput shrubs.
A couple years ago I became interested in the Cool Minis Or Not (CMON) The Rise of Moloch figures, and the first of those figures to catch my attention was Major Dreadful. Since that time, I have accumulated a rather large collection of the CMON figures from The Rise of Moloch, The World of SMOG and The Others/7 Sins figure lines. But it wasn’t until this week that I actually painted one, and naturally I began with Major Dreadful.
Because it is often cheaper to buy the CMON figures in lots on eBay, I have duplicates of some of them. So I decided to do Major Dreadful with a different basing… JTT plastics random stone. I did the same with Miss Liddel. (Forgive the bluish tint. I took the picture at night with no natural light and my light gave off that blue effect. Miss Liddel and the stone are in black, greys, and white… no blues.) Over the course of the week, I did a second Miss Liddel in very dark green and purple (her wrap). I also did Ambassador Nail from The Rise of Moloch… one of the strangest figures in that line.
With the above CMON figures done, I returned to Mexico and my last two buildings for my Mexican town. These are by far the most dramatic structures in the town perhaps harkening back to the period of Spanish rule. Both of these buildings are by Kobblestone Miniatures which unfortunately is no longer in business. Kobblestone made some of the most dramatic and beautiful buildings I own, and I feel very fortunate to have found the company when it was still active.
With the Kobblestone buildings done, I now have 20 buildings for my Mexican town and that will be enough, probably more than enough.
I ended the week painting three more CMON figures… Miss Liddel on a wood floor and a turf base and Ambassador Nail on a turf base.
January 8, 2023
Returning to my Gordon Institute Mexico project, I painted up some cactus plants. The shorter thinner ones are by Woodland Scenics. The bigger thicker ones are from broken toys I found at the swap meet. Most are based in Milliput covering metal washers to make them stable on the table.
Because trains were a central feature in the Mexican Revolution, I knew my Gordon Institute adventure in Mexico during that period had to include a train. Fortunately, years ago I found one I really liked at the swap meet as a cast-off toy. Over time I found all the pieces I thought I needed (an engine, coal tender, four boxcars, and a caboose; not sure I'll use the caboose) by a company called Hobby Trains (HT). They are plastic and cost me about $3 each. I decided it was time to start painting, and I began with the engine (Vallejo Model Color: Flat Green-Black Green Mix with trim of Saddle Brown-Flat Brown Mix). The swap meet was also able to provide me with about 8 feet of straight track and several feet of curved track... also plastic; not yet painted. At the time I was planning this project the only railroad crewman I could find was an O scale figure by Arttista Accessories. Generally, Arttista work well with 28mm, but some can be a little small and some too tall (long legs). This one was too tall, so I cut away a small section of his lower legs and glued his feet back on. If I was looking for a railroad crewman today, I would probably buy the pack by Pulp Figures (picture attached), but it's a recent release, and I already had this one. After painting the engine, I moved on to the coal tender (Vallejo Model Color: Flat Green-Black Green Mix with trim of Saddle Brown-Flat Brown Mix), the four boxcars (two are painted Vallejo Model Color Flat Brown, one is US Olive Drab, and one is Earth Brown) and a caboose (Vallejo Model Color: Khaki).
Closed the week painting the track (Vallejo Model Color: Earth Brown, London Grey and Light Grey)… 8 and a half feet of straight track and three curved sections.
January 1, 2023
Happy New Year!
I began the workbench week with a detour from painting my stucco buildings. Instead I painted some detail pieces: market-stall products by Kobblestone Miniatures, tables and chairs that I think are by some element of WizKids, some Deep Cuts cantina kegs on Evergreen stands, and two Reaper vultures on small Millput rock and large slightly modified plastic rock (probably Playmobil).
Before returning to the last of the buildings for my Mexican town, I decided to paint a space age/Star Wars-style building that I have had for years. I used the same color scheme as the buildings in my Mexican town because that is the color scheme I used with my other spaceport buildings (picture attached). This particular building, unlike the others, is a 3D print in plastic, and so it has the ridges characteristic of that process. The building is an interesting structural look but one I think will be compatible with the rest of my space buildings given the variety shapes and textures of the other structures.
As the week and the year came to an end, I came back to working on the Akator Temple Race Game towers. The holes were filled, I cut the smooth element of the bases off and I added Milliput shrubs.
