4e Goliath Barbarian

This year, my teenage son started playing DnD with his friends.  So for his birthday last week I thought I'd get him a miniature for his character.  Subtly, I found out that although he likes my miniatures, he's not interested in trying his hand at painting.  So I decided to go ahead anyway and paint it for him.

His character is a race that can be found in the DnD 4th edition Player Handbook 2, a Goliath Barbarian.

Goliath, source unknown.

Miniatures representing that race are still quite rare, but I was lucky and found one from Reaper miniatures, Goldar the Barbarian.

To determine which colours to use, I looked at pictures like the one above and the description of the Goliaths taken from this races of Stone Excerpt:

"Goliaths have gray skin, mottled with dark and light patches that goliath shamans say hint at a particular goliath's fate. Lithoderms -- coin-sized bone-and-skin growths as hard as pebbles -- speckle their arms, shoulders, and torso. Their skulls have a jutting eyebrow ridge, wide jaw, and occasional lithoderms as well. Female goliaths have dark hair on their heads, grown to great length and always kept braided. Male goliaths generally have hair only on their limbs. Goliaths' eyes are a brilliant blue or green, and they often seem to glow a little from underneath their furrowed brows."

03461 Goldar the Barbarian

03461 Goldar the Barbarian

To paint the skin, I primed the whole mini with black and then applied a base coat of Reaper Pro Paint Granite Grey and Reaper Pro Paint Ash Grey for the dark patches.  I then applied a wash of Citadel Devlan Mud all over.  Turned out OK, but I might get better results next time if I try local applications of Devlan Mud to the shadow areas only.

14608 Gorak the Ravager, Barbarian

Another model that would have been good for a Goliath is Gorak the Ravager, again from Reaper, but it was not available yet when I ordered my mini for this project.

Kratos from the PS3 game "God of War"

That Goldar mini reminds me a lot of Kratos, from the "God of War" game series.  One day I'll order another copy of the model and try a conversion.  And maybe that day my son will feel like putting down is game controller and pick up a brush.

Latest painted minis

Here are two "commissions" of sort.

While my little sister was in Montreal in January, my young nephews got themselves some nice Reaper Miniatures and asked me to show them how to paint them.  Turns out time was too short for proper lessons so I did a quick job on the minis before the family went back to Costa Rica.

Below are pictures of the two fantasy adventurers:

03504 Karahl Farstep, Wizard

03508 Bregol Jagstone, Dwarf Ranger

Even though the poses are static, the crispness of details and the character of the minis are on par with modern Reaper Miniatures.  I really enjoyed painting them, hope you enjoy them too.

Casting experiments part 2

As a follow up on my previous post on resin casting, here's a step by step of how I created my simple Dalek mould.

First I set-up a work table in the garage.  I'm working with chemicals, so I'm being careful.  I also found some vinyl gloves at the dollar store, as I read that latex gloves could affect the curing of the mould.

So here's everything laid out:  the two bottles of OOMOO RTV silicone, plastic knives to stir the two components together, disposable plastic cups, an old brush, release agent in the small spray bottle and my "master" already in the cup.

Before pouring the silicone, I followed the instructions that came in the kit and I applied two coats of sealer on my "master".  Then I mounted it on some clay in the bottom of a plastic cup.

OOMOO is prepared by mixing equal parts of the two compounds.  For that, I used two disposable plastic cups on the outside of which I made a mark to measure my volumes.  Some other mould making rubbers require to by mixed by weight.  For hobbyists, it's easier to measure equal volumes.

To mix the two parts, I poured one in the other's cup and stirred gently (to avoid creating bubbles) with a plastic knife.  I thought of using a plastic knife instead of a coffee stir stick because I was worried that wood being porous, it would introduce air bubbles in the mix.  Turns out it was a good idea, the knife being stiff enough and a good shape to scrape the walls of the cup and stir things really well.

I poured the silicone in the cup, to cover the mini and let it cure over night.

Here's the mould once cured.  For a first mould, I kept it really simple and did not make a two part one.  A two part mould properly planned might have allowed me to cast the eye stalk, gun, and plunger in it.  Currently, I have to add all these extra bits to the models.

 

And here is the master with two resin casts.  The one on the right is the first copy I made and has many air bubbles.  I had more success on my second try, as you can see on the left.  Still, the lights on top were too thin and without air chamber or vents, the resin could not fill them.  On my completed minis, I added them with green stuff.

So that's how I created my first mould and I was ready to create my own Dalek army to conquer the universe!