Diorama: The Game Is Afoot!
Morning all, and welcome to a very busy day at Colonel Scipio's Headquarters. Just put that vox-caster on the floor, and move those maps, soldier! That's it, sit there. With the Olympics hitting my home city, life is busy modelling time is a precious rarity nowadays. Nonetheless, I've managed to finish an exciting project that's been in the works for some time. This is one of those random ideas that comes into your head when you see a specific model, and think, "ooh, that'd make a nice model."
Well, this time I've done it! I saw these models of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson at Ironclad Miniatures for just £3 each, and then I came across this lovely scenic base from Secret Weapon Miniatures. Just the thing to make a perfect diorama!
That's all the sop stuff over with, anyway. Just so you know I'm not a complete slacker:
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| "Watson! The Game Is Afoot!" |
Well, this time I've done it! I saw these models of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson at Ironclad Miniatures for just £3 each, and then I came across this lovely scenic base from Secret Weapon Miniatures. Just the thing to make a perfect diorama!
I've never made one before, and I'm acutely aware I'm stepping from the realm of the casual gamer into a world of super-talented dioramists. But I thought something different would make a change from my other projects.
Painting was remarkably simple. Holmes, black clothes and ordinary flesh. Watson, Adeptus Battlegrey coat, followed by a wash and a re-highlight. That was it. I think the simplicity of this was what made it achievable and why it worked so well. I won't go on about this too much, save to say that it was a nice change, done more for the challenge and the pace rather than the finished product. Blisteringly simple to do, as well.
When (especially Guard players) get bogged down painting row after row of Guardsmen, it's sometimes easy to forget the reason we pick up the brush at all. It's to create something really beautiful you can be proud of - and sometimes we need to stop and remind ourselves of that.
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| When those websites say 'do not refresh the page before completing your purchase' ... they really do mean it. |
- Progress on the 2nd Battalion Guardsmen continues slowly but inexorably. I've added some assault weapons to each squad and got the last of the heavy bolters.
- The Iron Hearts are built, but still not painted - they take ages but I'll hopefully get at least an interim update in the next couple of weeks.
- War In South America continues as I paint the line infantry.
- I'm getting back into World War 2 stuff - as well as adding some armoured cars to my Latvian Legion, I'm starting a small force of the Handschar Division as well as some alternate history British Resistance! Expect August to be a WW2 heavy month...
Thanks again for reading, and until next time, happy gaming.
The Colonel
In a word: absolutelybloodybrilliant.
ReplyDeleteAs a Sherlockian (not Holmesian), I think this is superb. And I really like the comment about the reasons for picking up a paintbrush, similarly I go on about fluff so much because that's my motivator for picking up a brush (once in a blue moon...) to bring the fluff to life as it were.
I like the horse droppings, very Victorian. It's all superbly simple and uncluttered - perhaps the addition of an unlit gaslamp would be too cliched...?
Always love me a bit of Sherlock. I think Heaodlogist is right about the addition (if you can) of something like a post with gaslamp, but otherwise I like this very much. One for your personal collection then or a gift?
ReplyDeleteCheers fellas.
Delete@Headologist: Thanks, fluff is also a big thing that makes me paint - but I've done a lot recently on that so for a bit of change, a diorama attempt.
@Dai: Thanks a lot - I admit I never saw the addition of the lamp, but then again that's what blogging is for! Definitely agree that it would break it up a bit. Now, where do I get a lamp from? It's actually going to be a gift for my Dad - counting on his internet prowess or lack thereof to not see either the post or this comment.
It looks ruddy superb, I just thought the lamp would give it a little depth, make it a little more 3D and just finish it off nicely, I'm sure there's plenty out there :) If my wireless doesn't keep cutting out every 30 seconds I'll see if I can find one
ReplyDeleteGreat work (and as a first time commenter, great work on everything else), I like the idea of nice simple diorama. I can imagine that the best way to get a lamp would to be look at model rail supplies (link below is what I found with a quick Google), I feel I'm always hearing that O scale is right for the hobby, not sure how large your Homles & Watson are.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.langleymodels.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_O_Scale_Illuminated_Accessories_79.html
Thanks Drake - simplicity was certainly what I was going for here. I hadn't even thought of model rail stuff, but that's a brilliant link. Some of them are 1:60, and these are from the Ironclad Miniatures 28mm range, so 1:60 should be perfect! Thanks for the link!
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