Nose to the grindstone

OK, returning to my WIP ADD thread, after the Sapo detour... 

Since I finished Sapo 2 weeks ago, I've been industriously slaving on an additional, new project for Crystal Brush.  The DragonPainting forum is hosting a Monthly Challenge, the theme of which is to paint a Rackham figure in the style of the old Rackham Confrontation studio paint-jobs.  This was a perfect opportunity for several reasons:

• I needed another project for Crystal Brush, since Sapo is probably ineligible.
• I finally feel confident enough to tackle a Rackham-style paintjob, which has been a goal of mine, ever since I reentered the hobby in 2006.
• I recently acquired a large inventory of new Rackham models from which to choose a candidate.  And the acquisition has me excited about Rackham all over again, so much so that I'm finally reading the Aarklash book that came with the Ragnarock game.
• I decided on not one, but 6x2 models!  Chevaliers Strohm:  Goblin Knight Cavalry on Giant Rats.  I picked an entire unit so that I can get extra mileage out of this project and make some headway on filling out another unit that I can add to my Warhammer Fantasy Orc & Goblin army, a project which is progressing at only glacial speed.

So this is where I was after a week.  3 out of 6 models completely prepped, assembled, and filled.  I also assembled the Cerberus from Avatars of War, whose missing body half finally arrived.  I also slapped together the SpineSpur Rattler.  These two models are destined to join Cojo, to build out my Marcus crew for Malifaux.  I also rebased some old dogs, so that I can proxy them as Guild Hounds for Malifaux, if I want to.  And finally, you can see me using the excess green stuff to make mushrooms.

Modeling and green stuff takes forever.  I always underestimate the time it takes.  But I did know I was setting myself up for a big project.  So I knew I needed to focus on it in order to make it in time for Crystal Brush.  I now have my doubts...

Another week brings us to today.  The second set of rats are from the 2nd/3rd Edition of Confrontation, whereas the first set are from 1st Edition.  The 1st Edition set required a lot of green stuff to fill in the gaps.  The 2nd/3rd Edition models have different cuts, so I was hoping for easier work.  But, what time I gained doing less green stuff work, I lost assembling more parts.  These quick photos belie the time it takes to file all these parts.  But I'm just complaining, since I'd rather be painting!

Another example.  For the 1st Edition rats, the tails are integrated with one of the body halves, but for the 2nd/3rd Edition, I need to pin separate tail pieces.

Tails are drying.  I use 2-part epoxy most of the time, because I distrust super-glue.  5-minute epoxy adds that much more time to the assembly process, though.

I still need to do the green stuff on the second set of rats, but this is where the unit should be by the end of the evening.  That's a lot of metal!  The unit is going to be a beast to move around on the table.

I had no idea that the Rackham figures are so much larger in scale than Games Workshop!  They'll definitely look out-of-scale, in comparison to the old-skool goblin wolf riders, which this Rackham unit will be proxying.  The newer Squig Riders are a little closer to the same scale, but still, Rackham figures are definitely in another class.

Here's another scale comparison, as I try to decide what to proxy for the Myranda character, for Marcus' crew in Malifaux.

The Privateer Press model in the middle is surprisingly smaller scale than I expected.  The Rackham model to the right is a Kelt Sessair Fiona.  Both of them will probably work well enough next to Marcus, but I'm not thrilled with either one of them.  The Privateer Press one looks a little too "cra'-cra'", and the Fiona looks a little too masculine (despite her gravity-defying boobs).  Which is too bad, since the Fiona has the double pig-tail thing going on, just like Myranda's model.  I do have the new Marcus starter set on order, though, so I may very well just use the proper model.  We'll see.

And finally, a little treasure arrived yesterday.  My Kickstarter bundle from Imbrian Arts.

I had no idea (or I just forgot) that the resin figures come with limited edition authenticity certificates.  The certificates are works of art in and of themselves, accented with the cool wax seal.  Very classy.  I was contemplating painting one of these figures for Crystal Brush, but I'm not sure if my creative juices are up to the task to match these figures.  I want to spend more time on them than I have.  Maybe I'll do one for the MFCA show in May.