Sunday 12 May 2013

Reaper Bones #1 - The Painting Marathon Begins

My Reaper Miniatures Bones Kickstarter Vampire Level miniatures arrived in the post on Friday and I am flabbergasted by the sheer weight of minis.  

I admit that I was incredibly foolish in not backing it originally when I had the chance and so I've had to resort to ebay to acquire mine.   Which undoubtedly means I've paid over the odds, but even at the £120 I paid, it's still less than 50p a miniature, ie: cheaper than chips.

A big Box of Reaper Bones Miniatures
A big box of Reaper Bones
Reaper Bones unbagged
The first bag unbagged
The conclusion to my Monster Mini Box Level One post highlighted just how expensive it is going to be to put together each Random Encounter level in lead and was frankly quite disheartening.  Therefore, my next project series is going to document painting all my newly acquired Bones minis, starting with those which appear in the Level 1 list.

Rats

Every dungeon needs rats, and mine are no different, so these puppies are first up for the "fun painty time treatment".  I've not painted this particular type of plastic, so erring on the side of caution out came the soapy water and an old tooth brush to wash off any mould release agent before they got primed.

Reaper Bones Rats based but not primed
A dozen Giant Rats based up and ready for black undercoat
The minis are mounted to my base medium of choice (2p coins) and then household filler on top to create the flagstone floor.  This takes an hour or so to set dry giving me ample time to score it with a knife to create the flagstone pattern.

I'm a black undercoat type of guy and just use a can of matt black primer from any car spares shop, and was glad it didn't react with the plastic.

Reaper Bones Rats primed and pink bits painted
Primed and pink bits base coated
Gone are the days when I had the accuity to paint very fine detail so I'm aiming for a stand-off gaming miniature level of detail.  These ain't gonna win any Golden Demons but they'll look a hell of a lot better than Pathfinder or D&D sweatshop paintjobs.

Rats x6 (Sandra Garrity SKU: 77016)

Reaper Bones Rats completed
A dozen rats done.
So what do I think of Bones so far.

The plastic is okay, the density varies from sculpt to sculpt.  Some you expect to have weak points (ie: if the mini is on one leg) and don't and yet others you expect to be stiff and bend at the slightest touch).  This could be a quality control issue with the plastic recipe used in that particular injection mould on that particular day.  It's not a big difference, just noticeable. 

Sculpts are clean and flash free and they are far less flexible than the aforementioned Pathfinder and D&D Miniatures and the size and levels of detail are obviously comparable to their lead counterparts.  All this (and not to mention the cost) makes them a far more satisfying gaming proposition than expensive resin minis.

My only reservation is do I seal them or not?

Score so Far:

Total Bones: 245, Bones Painted: 12

4 comments:

  1. Start with level one - the same process I am planning, though I did get distracted with a Gorgon.

    http://drbargle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/hurry-up-harryhausen.html
    This was written before the Great Modeller died - I thought the skeletons were suitably Harryhausen-esque.

    http://drbargle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/harryhausen-tribute.html
    A Gorgon, though not quite as effectively ugly as the one that he built.

    One question: what sort of household filler do you use for the bases?

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  2. Nice paintjobs on those Bones, Andy

    The filler is anything cheap, at the moment I'm using Tesco Value All Purpose Filler. The trick is to wipe it on with a knife, leave it to firm up (about half an hour should do it) and then start indenting your floor tiles. The filler should be just pliable enough to work, but not so hard that you have to carve your lines.

    I've been using this basing technique for absolutely years and it really stands the test of time, morethan can be said for any of my earlier attempts at pva with sand or flocking.

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  3. Cheers.

    Now to work out how to deal with the mould lines.

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  4. Great start. I'm still waiting for my Vampire box to arrive. I think your paint work looks really solid.

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