Monday 14 December 2015

Ack, Ack, Ack!

With now just seven days until the start of this years challenge, I am keen to post the last of my entries for the previous year and so I’m thrilled to finally present them here for your approval. 'Mars Attacks, the miniatures game' was to be my first dalliance into the wonderful world of crowd funding and proved to be a rather expensive introduction. I was swept away with the excitement of it all and before I knew what I had done a large amount of plastic was winging its way towards ‘Awdry Towers’ where it has sat idly – until now!
These then are the Martian grunts and boast a wonderful array of weaponry, perfect for reducing the resistance of the human race to a smouldering pile of ashes. With regards to the miniatures themselves, they are a good match for most 28mm miniatures and certainly had enough detail to keep my brush interested whilst painting. What I didn’t enjoy, however. were the mould lines and although I did remove some they proved too numerous to remove altogether. Of course what they do have, to counter this mild irritation, are their own clear plastic helmets – what an inspired addition!
There are quite a few painting tutorials online and I managed to match many of the colours used to those in my own collection with only a couple of additions like monster brown and Hydra turquoise. One site that proved to be an invaluable source of inspiration was 'Keith's Wargaming/Painting Blog'. Keith also shared a way of dealing with the embarrassing bendy weapon syndrome that these models, made from soft plastic, occasionally suffer from; wonderful for shooting around corners, but they do rather take the sheen off your nicely painted miniature! A relatively simple procedure, but I mention it hear to alert you to a potential pitfall. The idea is that you drop wobbly, weapon, wielding, warrior into a glass of nearly boiling water, remove, reshape and plunge in a cold bath before the plastic memory has time to right itself. It really is that simple, but so transfixed was I by the shapes and colours that I left mine in for far too long and then initially forgot the cold bath - they were little Martian blancmanges!
Finally they were complete and I have to say that I'm rather pleased with them.  It was rather fun working on something so different and using colours that don't normally get a run out.  Still plenty more to do, but first I must pluck up the courage to stick the helmets down!

Ack, Ack, Ack!


71 comments:

  1. Nicely done! The clear helmets is a great touch. Now, do you plan to get a 28mm Slim Whitman to counter these alien fiends? ;)

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  2. You did a terrific job on these, Michael. The colours and the crazy eyes are perfect. Next to Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, this is my favourite silly SF movie.
    Cheers,
    Michael

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    1. Thank you Michael, I recently watched it again and was surprised just how good it was.

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  3. Terrific stuff Michael. They look wonderful. Nice and colourful and the clear plastic helmets are awesome. One of the few "Mantic Games" Kickstarters I didn't back. But it would seem that you got plenty of bang for your buck as per usual. "Ack, Ack, ACK!"

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    1. Thank you Simon, this was certainly and expensive introduction though.

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  4. Great painting, these look top-notch. All hail our new Martian overlords!

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  5. Nicely done Michael. They were wise to provide the clear plastic helmets.

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    1. Thank you Terry, the helmets really were a revelation.

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  6. Great work Michael! I've got a bunch of these little guys sitting around as well, I might get them out in the new year and have a go myself.

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    1. Thank you, once I got started they proved to be fairly straight forward. I think the colours were putting me off previously.

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  7. The paintjob on those is once more splendid. Really nothing to worry about, my friend.
    But besides I experienced the same problems with the Imperial Assault playing pieces. Seems that the producers of board games tend to use a plastic material that is more durable but doesn't fullfil our high expectations to miniatures.

    Cheers
    Stefan

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    1. That's a good point Stefan, the durability over detail. That said once painted they certainly stand out on the table.

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  8. Great work but now I can't get Slim Whitman out of my head!

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  9. Hah! These invaders are fantastic!

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  10. They look very fine Sir. I heartily approve of the additions to young Burnaby on the banner up above too.

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    1. Thank you kind Sir, as for the banner, he seems to enjoy a bit festive frivolity - well who doesn't?

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  11. Excellent job Sir Michael! The kettling can be a little tricky, burns your fingers too! Don't forget Tom Jones either.

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    1. Thank you Bob, I definitely need to take more care next time - now as for Tom...

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  12. The question remains...did the Martian blancmanges play tennis?

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  13. Martian blancmanges aren't so bad. It's the ones from the planet Skyron in the Galaxy of Andromeda that bear watching.

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    1. Now there's a reference! Mind you it explains how Andy Murray won Wimbledon!

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMCNltgrs1U

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  14. Very well done sir, and good luck with gluing down those helmets. :)

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  15. Epic. Just epic.

    I like the sound of the boiling water trick. Might try that on my Reaper Bones Dragon that is slowly wilting on my shelf.

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    1. Just remember not to leave them in there for too long!

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  16. They are just superb! Such vibrant colours!

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  17. Excellent 50's aliens. The kind of painting that could get me side tracked!

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  18. Excellent results as per. Hope I'm not stating the obvious but have you considered using PVA glue to attach the helmets? Relatively simple and leaves no marks on the plastic.

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    1. Well that so obvious it's genius! I was thinking superglue, which is why I had been avoiding it! Many thanks Matt.

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  19. Wonderfully weird and very colourful. Must be great fun to paint and a cure for anyone with painters block.

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    1. They certainly have the power to let you discover long forgotten corners of the paint rack!

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  20. Excellent work!
    I went for that KS too and I am proud to say that while I still have a ton of unpainted minis left, a good number have actually both been painted AND seen the elephant on several occasions!
    Now, about the Dungeon Saga KS...ask me again in a year...

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    1. Thank you Thomas and glad to hear that you got more of it done than me. I might have to have another look, but already the distractions are mounting up!

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  21. These look great, I was very taken by them when I first saw them but I doubt I could have done such a great paint-job on them - those helmets really finish off the effect don't they.
    (The boiling water tricks works a treat for repositioning limbs too)

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    1. Thank you Joe, there are some great pieces in the set and I really must have another look at them.

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  22. Stunning work on these, Michael! The vibrant colors really bring them to life! The clear helmets are way cool too.

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    1. Thank you Dean, they certainly made a change to the usual models that I tackle.

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  23. Good to see these little fellows done, only five days help

    Ian

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  24. Mantic have some lovely models in their catalogue, but the plastic they use is really horrible! These turned out nicely, all the same :-) .

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    1. Thank you C6 and you are not wrong, I do find it slightly unnerving when the miniature I'm painting flexes as I apply colour.

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  25. Great work on them! The movie is definitely a classic.

    Too bad about having to fix those weapons, but I guess it's unavoidable with the material.

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    1. Thank you, lovely looking miniatures, but the material is a bit of a pain.

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  26. Nice work! Great use of colours.

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  27. Hola
    Que buenas esas minis si señor
    un saludo

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  28. Fantastic work. I didn't back the Kickstarter but have bought a fair amount since then. Really need to paint them up. Also need to assemble the Martian giant robot! That's quite a figure! Hope to see more Mars Attacks on your blog!

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  29. Lovely work, Michael. I have been tempted by these figures, which are pretty good value. When I finally get around to my Forbidden Planet Retro Sci-fi project, they may very well be part of it. :)

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  30. Really great work Michael. Spot on color scheme for their heads!

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  31. Somehow the topic never really appealed to me but your go at it is fabulous as always! The colours turned out fabulous

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