Well almost a half-decent photo, this time of another variant on zombie paint jobs half guessed in the comments by Harry on the other post. This one is pure camp with his technicolor meets Frankenstein’s monster shade of green which will make him stick out from a hoard of zombies… a bit like Wheels from the Spaced series in the crowd scenes of Shaun of the Dead.
The base needs a bit of work, but once again it shows just what beauties these Studio Miniatures really are.
If you’re into zeds, or zombies as the rest of the world knows them, then you might have noticed how red is one of the most common colours which you regularly use. You probably use various types of red, including Tamiya clear red for that still-wet-and-warm blood look. Along with this you’ll have developed different methods for gore, and favoured techniques for severed limbs and the like. In short red is the new black – it’s all about the gore. Now I’m no master of the zombie arts and have barely reached 60 fully finished zombies of my own in over a year spent in part on a zombie project. One thing did become apparent with the last few I painted that that was how I was starting to find gore quite boring, so I came up with this paint job for one of the very special Studio Miniatures. I wanted something which captured one of my favourite aspects of zombie films, and that’s just how plain retarded zombies are. So this one has managed to empty a tin of blue paint over his head just moments ago.
Perhaps some survivor with a warped sense of humour placed the tin on a door left slightly ajar, maybe this poor soul got trapped in the kitchen section of B&Q, or maybe a painter and decorator actually turned up on time but only because he’s now a zombie. Whichever it’s a nice change to cover a zombie in blue paint. Of course it won’t be long before a return to all things visceral, but a change is as good as a tin of blue paint on your head.
Well not so much a thriller as a saga my order from Zombiesmith in the States finally showed up, mysteriously repackaged with about three miles of Royal Mail tape and looking as if the original package had been repeatedly passed through a lawn mower. Originally ordered before the 1:1 scale Jackson popped his clogs I did think something supernatural was taking place preventing this figure and the others ever reaching me, although I’m sure the postal strike might have played a part.
All in all they’re a lovely bunch of figures, but this one jumped the paint queue just so I might show what I think is probably the most must-have zombie figure of them all.
A trio happy in their work from Copplestone. We managed to get a pack and a few spares for this group, and decided to do the spares in a different scheme, the others are going to be white and be a medical containment squad, while these are more a contamination assault squad, and it’s important in being able to tell them apart.
We did have a bit of trouble originally with the wash on these, it was far too dark and gave more of a tiger-stripe effect than you’d ever want, even on a tiger. The solution was to remix the hazardous orange colour, water it down and apply it as a wash. Two coats later and we had a much more agreeable finish.
Now for the first set of survivors I’ve bought, these being the “Survivors” set DWW14, from Cold War Miniatures range The Dead Will Walk. A very tasty range available via that Ebay, and rather thoughtfully can be bought as a set for £7 or individually for £1.75. These are their only survivors, the other figures all being zombies.
Although a trifle skinny they’re nicely made, and suit a wide range of painting skills. Yet again the young swine Slug whinged to paint these, but ended up only doing the four above. I’m not sure how efficient the minister with a cross might be against a zombie hoarde, but it should be fun finding out.
The last one is this soon-to-be completed female survivor which is supplied as a two piece casting, which is why I think the boy Slug didn’t want to paint her. If the zombies don’t get her the weather very likely will as she’s barely wearing a thing and she looks like she would benefit from a good meal as well as a jumper.
The rest of the range is enticing, including a lot of very charactorful pieces such as a Zombie Krishna devotee, as seen in the original “Dawn of the Dead”, Zombie Elvis, Zombie British Copper, etc, which aren’t catered for by other makers. I’ll be adding more of them as soon as the pile of WiP has been completed. Meanwhile I recommend them to you.
A serenely delightful pair of figures or, if you like, the same figure in two stages of being. These are both from miniature mongers Hasslefree, for copyright right reasons they’re not Shaun from the zom-com “Shaun of the Dead”. Both very nice pieces, although I smoothly away what I thought was flash from not-Shaun’s shirt only to discover everyone else had spotted it as a piece of his tie flopped over his shoulder. Well mine is smarter looking as a result. Zombie not-Shaun has been given a face rip, on the left side of his face. There’s also a third figure, more dynamic in a hitting-it-for-six pose.
To buy from Hasslefree was indeed free from hassle, they even sent us a badge and a sweet which cherry topped the deal. Price-wise they’re at the more expensive end of the scale, but that’s due more to scale of production and absolute perfection by way of sculpting. There’s a couple more which are work-in-progress, and even another order in the post so expect to see more of them here. Lastly, but no means least, I had to surrender the painting of these over to a pleading Slug, and he’s done a good job. What do you think?
At last I’ve completed the Blue Moon zombie set which were my first purchase of zombies and what a pile of fun they’ve proved to be. To see them all together is a joy, and I’m thinking around one hundred zombies would be the best amount to collect to be able to get a good game on. I’m posting many of them in bigger photos with front and rear views, it’s the way Bryan does it over at his blog, but he’s effectively insane when it comes to zombies so I’m not so sure how long I’ll be doing it for.
The chap on the left has been given a full face rip, while the two young ladies are pretty straightforward. The interesting point about all zombie paint jobs is it’s hard to imagine a bad way to paint them. This isn’t a slight on anyone’s painting, more a call to freeform painting, nor is it to say the sculpting is poor as it’s top notch on these, the only mild observation is how many have banana hands.
Nothing special on the rear bar the mucky stringy mess on the foot of the lady in the middle, which is a mix of general purpose adhesive and that Tamiya Clear Red everyone raves about.
A pretty trio, the soldier on the left was painted by the boy slug, and rather smartly I think. The chap on the right has been lucky enough to have some guts added.
Many of these have open hands screaming out for the addition of a few guts, and I’ve tried a few ways of doing it which I’ll share in a later post. What I must mention is how the lack of uniformity to the zombie genre makes them a very good proposition for a group project, Slug’s soldier and the others he’s done fit right in with the ones I’ve done.
A couple of these have featured before, but I think these photos are probably better. I can’t put my finger on it but I find something really funny about a zombie missing a shoe.
A small amount of goop has been added to the ladies charming stump.
Three very good figures, the first another Slug job, the others by me. Plenty of exposed bones on mine plus an added trophy organ.
Missing chunks aplenty, first chaps lost the back of his skull so no more University Challenge for him, middle bloke has a hole in his arse, while the dude on the end has lost a lot of lower leg.
The final three close-ups with lots of wounds all screaming out for a good dab. Typically I’m painting zombies internals pink, brushing that with a red blood and after matt varnishing coming back and high lighting with Tamiya Clear Red, which dries both translucent and high gloss and gives the look of fresh running blood.
This trio waves goodbye as we reach the end of this post. I highly recommend this Blue Moon set of figures, which I haven’t seen mentioned as much as other ranges. Twenty well sculpted figures for around a quid a piece and suitable as addition to any Zombie hoarde or as a starter set.
Here’s another pair of figures from Blue Moon, they’re well posed and good looking zombies, and fun to paint once you get the hang of them. Expect another sixteen of these to come, the only problem I’m having is more photographic ones. There’s certainly a knack to them which I hope to develop soon. The Tamiya Clear Red works well, and at the moment I’m using it sparingly, almost as a wound highlighter. It’s not that evident where I’m using it in the photos, but as per usual the photo image and what something looks like in real life are eons apart.
Here’s the first pair of finished figures from Blue Moon Manufacturing’s second box of zombies. Due to aging eyes I’ve not painted a 6mm figure for absolutely ages, so it was interesting and fun to have a bash even if it was on massive 28mm ones. It was also my first chance to use TCR or Tamiya Clear Red, as recommended by Vampifan via his blog. It’s a translucent red which dries with a high gloss and so looks like wet blood when dried. Charming stuff and one of the oddest paints I’ve ever used. You might be able to spot where I’ve used it on the miniatures above.
The entrails being devoured by the zombie on the right are an addition, a quick mix of general purpose glue and pink paint, glued into place when dry, and then liberally highlighted with the TCR. A reasonable finished figure I think.
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