{"id":4550,"date":"2021-05-31T10:33:48","date_gmt":"2021-05-31T14:33:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/angrypiper.com\/?p=4550"},"modified":"2021-06-03T11:30:41","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T15:30:41","slug":"monster-mayhem-2021-blacksting-wyvern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/angrypiper.com\/?p=4550","title":{"rendered":"Monster May(hem) 2021: Blacksting, Wyvern"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This is one of Owen’s miniatures:<\/a> Blacksting, the Wyvern; from Reaper. It’s all metal and retails for $34.99 nowadays, but Owen bought it years ago when metal was much cheaper. It’s a very early Reaper miniature sculpted by Kevin Contos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t even like it, and I would never have purchased it myself. Not to shit all over Kevin Contos’s sculpting. It’s fine. It’s just a weird pose, and I hate miniatures with bases like this. They look stupid in my opinion, which means I have to change them, which means more work for me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, I’m not painting Blacksting for me. Not really. I’m painting it for Monster May(hem), and I’m painting it in my continued effort to entreat Owen into taking his pile of lead back and returning to the hobby. I’ve tried this before and met with failure; but since Owen had already assembled this beastie years ago, and it IS Monster May(hem), I decided to go ahead with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fingers crossed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The first thing was to do something about this stupid base, so I decided to go scenic and made it even bigger. I decided this wyvern was hanging out in a swamp, so I used most of what was left of the Model Magic and sculpted some pools, then I stuck some rocks into the Model Magic and let it dry. After that I primed the whole shebang with some Vallejo black surface primer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had some plastic foliage I use for big terrain pieces. I figured I could add some to the base after I primed it black and highlighted it with sickly green. Seems to have worked out ok (see below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here’s the finished product. I went with a fairly simple blue-black color scheme. The wings were a pain. They’re pretty flat and not very well textured, so highlighting them was not easy and I think it shows. (This is an early Reaper miniature, for better or worse.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I wrapped the rock he’s squatting on in Army Painter Poison Ivy, and used the plastic foliage as swamp weeds. I used some Vallejo water effects mixed with craft paint for the pools of swamp water. This stuff is awesome! Roger introduced me to it, and I used it last year in Dave’s Summer of Scenery challenge when I did my Sludge Pool<\/a>. I still had some left over so I used it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I put a dab of model glue on his stinger, to make it look like it’s dripping venom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The one thing I’m not wild about is the eyes. I wanted some colors to contrast sharply with the black-blue of Blacksting himself, but I’m not sure I got the effect I wanted. He has yellow orbs with orange irises and a black slit for a pupil. I considered painting them green. Maybe I’ll revisit the eyes at some point, but TBH I’m glad he’s done and I never really wanted to paint him anyway…so maybe not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Monster Mayhem was amazing this year, with more participants and more submissions than ever before. Thanks so much to everyone who took part and who helped encourage other hobbyists in our community. You guys are an inspiration and I continue to be in awe of the talent and support you all exhibit. What started as a personal challenge several years ago has grown into something I hope to continue every year! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once more, here is the blogroll:<\/p>\n\n\n\n