Figmentia

It's a brand new year, and after a couple months of stagnation, I decided to try and clean up my work area so I wouldn't be so distracted by all the clutter and lack of space every time I went in there.


I ended up finding a batch of old 25mm fantasy miniatures, which opened up a Pandora's box for me.


Taking a look at some of the older miniatures, I noticed that except for the size of their heads, they were actually pretty close to 1/72 in proportions. These figures would be a good starting point for conversion to 1/72 fantasy figures. I stripped the paint from these figures with Simple Green to save myself some embarassment. Starting from the right of George: Elf Princess (Ral Partha 01-021, first version), and Shield Maiden (Ral Partha 01-023, second version), both sculpted by Tom Meier; Fox Spirit, from the Oriental Werecreatures set (Ral Partha 01-119); Medusa, from the Female Creatures set (Ral Partha 01-087); Medusa, from the Fantasy Lords Monsters of Mythology boxed set (Grenadier 6004); and Harpy, also from the Female Creatures set (Ral Partha 01-087).


In order to do the conversions, I needed to find some properly sized heads. Here is a line-up of various newly purchased figures, starting from the left: 28mm Female Demon (Reaper 03084) sculpted by Werner Klocke; 28mm old style Satyxis (Privateer Press 29296); 25mm Elf Princess; George; 20mm Damsel in Distress (Elhiem M08, two other poses can be seen at the Elheim website) sculpted by Tidyfigure Maker; 18mm Elf Sorceress (Eureka 300HEL07); 15mm Amazon (from the Armies of Arcana line, formerly of Thane's Games and now available from Napthyme's Role-Playing Den/Lone Gunman Games) sculpted by Sandra Garrity. The 18mm and some 15mm heads would be perfect for 1/72.


In trying to find a source for heads, I also found that the bodies of some 28mm gnomes and halflings could work for 1/72. To the right of George: D&D CMG Halfling Slinger (War Drums #18); Halfling Thief (Reaper 02676), Gnome Bard (Reaper 03196), Gnome Sorceress (Reaper 2721), and Female Gnome (Reaper 2772), all sculpted by Sandra Garrity; Gnome Wizard (Reaper 03340) sculpted by Werner Klocke; Elf Princess. The CMG miniature is probably supposed to be 28mm scale, but is fully a head smaller than the metal halfling.


In the case of creatures, like these unicorns, they are suitable for 1/72 as is. The rearing unicorn (Superior WL-019) would be a good representation of the modern concept of the unicorn (more horse-like). The smaller unicorn is from the Reaper foals pack (Reaper 02207), and would probably go well with 15mm miniatures, but will be converted into the type of unicorn described in The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle.



And speaking of 15mm fantasy, I never realized this before, but there is actually quite a large selection of fantasy figures in 15mm. Many of them could be easily used for 1/72. Here is a Reaper bear, and some Bear-folk from Splintered Light Miniatures. Most of the Splintered Light line seems to be sculpted by Bob Olley.



Some Bugbears, also from Splintered Light Miniatures. Other than the OOP Ral Partha 15mm Bugbears, I don't think there are any other Bugbears in this scale.



Some Hobgoblins from the Ral Partha AD&D Battlesystem line. The only 15mm Hobgoblins as far as I can tell.



Some Kobolds from Splintered Light Miniatures (larger kobolds) and Ral Partha AD&D Battlesystem (smaller kobolds). Again, other than SLM and OOP Ral Partha, there are no other Kobolds in this scale (as far as I know).

Needless to say, my workspace has not been cleaned.

Destroid Spartan

I received this package on Friday, and had been looking forward to getting it. These Imai Destroid kits in 1/72 have been offered at close to US$100 on eBay so I have been trying to hold out for a Bandai re-release for quite a while. I saw one for sale at a price that I considered reasonable, so went ahead an bought it.


Upon opening the kit, I was filled with a sense of nostalgia. I purchased my first Imai Macross kits back in high school. I think they were only US$8 or US$9 then, but it seemed like quite a bit of money. I wonder if the glue still works?


After stroking the plastic a little, and scanning the sprues, I started to build some of the parts. First were the hands.


Then the shoulders. Unfortunately, the doors to the missle pods are molded shut.


The locator pins for parts 49-50 and 51-52 will have to be cut off for this to be aligned correctly.


The crossbars at the rear of the shoulders should be glued only after dry-fitting the inserts. If you cut off the pins to glue these parts, they will be a little off, and the inserts will not sit properly in their positions. Some filing and will be necessary as well.

This kit has moved to the front of the queue for me, and everything else will have to wait for a while.

Sdh. 234 Progress

I decided to cast the forward hull of the Sdh. 234 that I was working on since I would be using it for modifying a number of different models. I poured a one piece mold, and mixed up some resin to cast the part. It was my first time casting resin, so imagine my surprise when I came back after pouring and saw that the mold looked like a pot that had boiled over! I pulled out the part, and saw that it was filled with bubbles, but I decided to use it anyway.


The hull will need some more putty work, but I don't think that it is too horrible for a first attempt despite the interior being rather like swiss cheese. In any event, I realized that my original plan to add a second piece to the mold for casting a plenum chamber into the hull would be more problematic than I had first anticipated, so this piece will become a new master hull for subsequent models.


Using the hull pattern, I cut two pieces of thick plastic card, and one thin piece of plastic card into the proper shape. I cut away the middle of the first piece, and glued it to the bottom of the second piece. I then cut away the middle of the second piece, and glued it to the bottom of the thin piece.


A Matchbox SdKfz. 234 will undergo the transformation into the Sdh. 234, but first it had to go through a little reconstructive surgery. I'll probably still have to lengthen the upper hull to make it the right size.