Quantcast
Channel: davetaylorminiatures
Viewing all 414 articles
Browse latest View live

Vroom! Vroom! - Nux car under construction.

$
0
0

Obviously, one of the coolest Fury Road cars is the Nux car. It is generally noted as being a '32 five-window Ford coupe, but it turns out that it's actually a '33 or '34 Chevy. Anyway, tracking down something suitable in 1:64 scale is a pain in the butt.

I was incredibly lucky to stumble upon this beauty while I was away in Europe (in a cool toy shop in Florence). It's not the same (the roof has been lowered for a start) but it's the closest I've come to the original, so it's the one I'm going with : )




I've just started messing around with the thundersticks, so they are currently blu-tacked in. I'll adjust their lengths to match the top picture and glue them in once the car is painted.

The fleet continues to grow!

Cheers
Dave

Ghorgons and Giants and Bloodthirsters... oh my!

$
0
0

This month has been quite a hectic one, and has included painting up these three monsters for Turbo Tape Games, a Norwegian computer game company that is working with a Warhammer license.

I know that the Ghorgon is being used as a prize in a promotional launch competition for Turbo Tape Games' iOS game Warhammer: Arcane Magic. Here's the promotional text from the Arcane Magic site:

Turbo Tape Games is pleased to announce a contest for an exclusive Ghorgon miniature hand-painted by Dave Taylor! The Ghorgon is a many-limbed, ox-headed slaughterer, possessed of an urgent need to devour and destroy anything it can catch -- and there are more than 60 individual skulls making up this Ghorgon model that had to be painted separately. Painter Dave Taylor has been working in the wargaming industry since 1994. Through his production studio, Dave Taylor Miniatures, Dave has built, converted and painted thousands of miniatures for a variety of games. To participate in the contest, please visit arcanemagicgame.com

Head to the site, click on the widget in the right and follow the instructions. This competition is open to most folks around the globe, and it would be super cool if the winner was also a regular reader of this blog : )

I leave you with a few shots of the Gorgon you could win : )




Cheers
Dave

Vroom! Vroom! - A few more cars on deck!

$
0
0

While deciding how I'm going to sculpt the fetish skull for the lancer's perch of the Nux car, I thought I'd finish up painting the two pursuit cars I showed in this post a few weeks ago. I decided to go with a heavy rusting look for the one on the right (equipped with the .50 cal style machine gun). It'll join my Citadel team/collection as soon as I add a few thundersticks : )

The one on the left is big and bulky and reminded me just enough of a Ford Bronco that I had to go with a white paint job. This one sports a mini-gun, so it seemed only right that it should become a Bullet Farm pursuit vehicle. Note the expended shells in the rear of the truck (below).



And finally, here's a look at the next four receiving attention. These will all be a part of the Citadel crew and receive various paint jobs (typically either shiny and chrome or rusty as hell).

Cheers
Dave

Bubblegum Grunge! First up, the Star Nebula Corsairs.

$
0
0

I'm working on a couple of articles for the Ninja Division website on how I planned, built, and painted the Relic Knights table that debuted at GenCon. While I'm getting those together, I thought I'd show you some of the miniatures I painted to go with the table.

First up, the Star Nebula Corsairs.


Relic Knight Calico Kate with her cypher Skully. This cool model is actually supplied with an alternately-posed Calico Kate and alternate arms for her Relic Knight, a truly excellent idea!


Questing Knight Captain Harker with his cypher Caesar.


Star Nebula Corsairs minion squad.


Blowhards - demolition experts.


The Broadside cannon!


The Iron Chef - a must for keeping an unruly crew in line with excellent food.


And Kenobo - a Noh mystic with a checkered past. Best not to ask ; )

Next up: the Cerci Speed Circuit

Cheers
Dave

Bubblegum Grunge! And here are the girls of the Cerci Speed Circuit.

$
0
0

As someone who has painted thousands of grim dark miniatures over the years, and hundreds of WW2 models in their varying shades of desaturated green and brown, it has been a real experience switching up to the bright and vibrant colors of these Relic Knight models. There is a definite "over the top" feel to their color schemes, which only adds to the dynamic approach these characters take in the game. The Cerci Speed Circuit have certainly been a lot of fun : )


Relic Knight Princess Malya and her cypher, Mr Tomn.


Questing Knight Suicide Queen (on her jet bike) and her cypher Rollo.


Massive robot Lug and his handler, Betty.


Hell's Belles - dangerous Cerci racers!


The Pacer robot.


The Pit Crew - find yourself a good crew and stick with them!


The Royal Wrecker.


And finally, while at GenCon I had the opportunity to have my photo taken with cosplayers (from left to right) Stella Chu, Kitty von Brune, and Marie-Claude Bourbonnais, and the models I painted of the characters they are all cosplaying (Princess Malya, Suicide Queen, and Betty). The 13-foot tall Lug behind us was created by Marie-Claude for the Ninja Division crew and was not only an excellent talking point through the show, but was a great landmark for folks meeting up. : )

Cheers
Dave

Vroom! Vroom! - More pursuit vehicles complete : )

$
0
0

Before I headed off to GenCon, I managed to get these four vehicles to a pretty decent place. After returning from the show (and a week's family vacation at the beach), I was all revved up to get some paint on them!


Here's the first one, tentatively called Flaming Arrow. This is a '32 Ford Vicky. Originally I was going to use is as the basis for the Elvis car, but once I found a much better Elvis (see below) this one was relegated to a simple pursuit vehicle. Of course, should anyone have a better name for it, please feel free to suggest it below : )


I liked the rusty flames motif from my Flammencruizer, so I figured I'd follow it through on this one. The bright, rusty orange pops nicely against the flat black.


Currently I'm waiting this up with the Flammencruizer, so she has become a pursuit vehicle from Gas Town. Next up for the Gas Town fleet will be the VW Beetle, plus a couple of polecats.



I bought this car (a '32 Ford coupe) to donate the front fenders to my Nux car, but after I'd done that I realized it looked quite a bit like the Elvis car that is an outrider for the War Rig (the one that never gets to fire a shot as it flips into a pit trap set by the Buzzards in the film).


I had to extend the chassis a bit to accommodate the second engine, donated from a second '32 Ford to will now join the pile of potential War Rig add-ons.


The thundersticks are simply straightened paper clips topped with plastic rod and trimmed with some old string/


Next up will be the first of my plough cars (the ones with harpoons and ploughs) and the next "character" car I have finished - Bigfoot!

Cheers
Dave

Vroom! Vroom! - A few of the larger beasts.

$
0
0

On the right of this photo you can see a cool, somewhat oddly shaped tow truck kind of thing. I'm guessing it's not a "real" truck, but rather a custom hot rod truck. When I saw it at a store, I just knew I wanted it for my first plough car (the cars that fire harpoons into the War Rig and then drop ploughs/anchors to help slow it down).

I added the harpoon gun I sculpted for Brigade Games (parts found HERE) and scratch built a frame to drop the plough from (similar to one of the cars in the movie). After returning from GenCon/vacation, I decided to up the size of the wheels, and add some crazy exhausts (again, from the Brigade Games parts).


To give it some larger wheels, I had to take it apart and in the end had five separate pieces to keep track of: The base (including axles and wheels), the plastic insert (including the front grille, engine, and back bed), the plastic windows, the body (with harpoon and pipes), and finally the plough/anchor and frame.


It was fun to keep track of it all as I painted each piece up and then assembled them. There's always that battle against the desire to glue the body to the chassis. I had to make sure I put the windows back in the cab before I got too far ahead of myself.


I have plans for two more plough cars : )



Above is the only pre-paint photo I have of Bigfoot - the monster truck belonging to Rictus Erectus. It's a fairly simple build, the toughest part was cutting away the rear section of the 1940 delivery van.


The paint job is quite a simple one, as Bigfoot is really just a polished metal body sitting on a monster truck chassis.




Getting this one done has me thinking more and more about my Gigahorse conversion. The only thing holding me up now is the nightmare of pipes that wind their way around the dual engines. Oh, and I might have found better wheels for it.

Cheers
Dave

Something Titanic! - A new project is coming, here's a taster.

$
0
0

ForgeWorld Event Only Titan Princeps Majoris

Vroom! Vroom! - Painting the Nux car (mini-tutorial)

$
0
0


This week, as well as finishing off four other cars, I also painted up the Nux car. I was pretty excited to paint it, and was quite surprised how little time it took, even stopping between layers to take the photos.

A few people have asked how I've been painting the "shiny and chrome" cars, so here's a quick look.

VMC = Vallejo Model Color
VGC = Vallejo Game Color
VMA = Vallejo Model Air
AP = Army Painter


Step One: Heavy drybrush of VGC Tinny Tin.


Step Two: An overbrush of AP Gun Metal


Step Three: A thin wash of AP Strong Tone over the whole model. Another wash of AP Strong Tone on the areas that will not be shiny. Some specific shading on the flat panels with thinned VGC Charred Brown.


Step Four: Highlight the shiny areas with a thin layer of VMA Aluminum, and then highlight again with VMA Aluminum.


Step Five: Paint everything that won't be metal with black and then paint/highlight each individual area.


Step Six: Glue on your pre-painted thundersticks.

I hope that helps with painting your very shiny cars (or whatever).

Cheers
Dave

Battle for the Craftworld - Painting up the Librarian

$
0
0

Well, it has been a little while since I plugged the NOCF 2015 Charity Army Raffles here on my blog, but today I get to do it and give you a couple of step-by-steps along the way : )

If you want to buy tickets to win the Librarian pictured above (and the rest of the excellent Sons Of Orar Army), please head to the NOCF site HERE!

Or visit after you've taken a quick scroll through here to see the various steps I took to paint up this very cool model.

BLUE


Step One: Prime the model in black.


Step Two: Paint the blue armor with VMC Dark Prussian Blue.


Step Three: Highlight the armor with a 60/40 mix of VMC Dark Prussian Blue and VGC Ultramarine Blue


Step Four: Highlight the armor with a 20/80 mix of VMC Dark Prussian Blue and VGC Ultramarine Blue.


Step Five: Highlight the top edges with a 70/30 mix of VGC Ultramarine Blue and VMC White.

WHITE


Step One: Basecoat the white areas with VMC Pale Grey.


Step Two: highlight the areas with a 60/40 mix of VMC Pale Grey and VMC White.


Step Three: highlight the areas with a 30/70 mix of VMC Pale Grey and VMC White.


Step Four: Highlight the areas with VMC White.

FLESH


Step One: Basecoat the flesh with VGC Tan.


Step Two: Highlight the flesh with a 70/30 mix of VGC Tan and VGC Dwarf Skin.


Step Three: Highlight the flesh with a 30/70 mix of VGC Tan and VGC Dwarf Skin.


Step Four: Highlight the flesh with VGC Dwarf Skin.


Step Five: Highlight the flesh with a 70/30 mix of VGC Dwarf Skin and VMC Pale Sand.

RED


Step One: Basecoat the red areas with VMC Hull Red.


Step Two: Highlight the red areas with a 60/40 mix of VMC Hull Red and AP Dragon Red.


Step Three: Highlight the red areas with a 20/80 mix of VMC Hull Red and AP Dragon Red.

At this point I went through and started my "corrections" by painting everything that wasn't going to be blue, white, flesh, or red with black. From there I painted the silvers and golds as well as the variety of little bits and bobs around the place.

So, as I posted earlier, click HERE to get to the page to buy the raffle tickets for the Space Marines. You do not need to be present to win, and we will ship ANYWHERE in the world!

If you'd like to check out the 40K Armies in more detail, please visit the NOCF blog that I've been updating regularly over the last two months, HERE.

More to come on this as we close in on the whole NOVA Open event thingy!

Cheers
Dave

Vroom! Vroom! - A farm truck and a Rolls Royce.

$
0
0

Obviously I'm really enjoying working on these cars : )


Last Sunday, my daughter gave me this Chevy truck from her visit to Hershey's Chocolate World the day before. She thought I might like it for my growing collection of Mad Max-style cars. As it had a farm truck look, I figured it'd become a truck straight from the Bullet Farm.






Plate armor, mini-guns, and crates of freshly-picked bullets ; )


I've decided that my Bullet Farm cars don't need to fit with the limited palette I'm using for the Citadel or Gas Town (shiny silver, rust buckets, or flat black). This meant I could go for that pale blue/turquoise scheme that is so associated with rusted '50s trucks. Vallejo Model Color Blue Green, mixed with the Vallejo White Surface Primer, was the basis for this and then I shaded it with thinned washes of straight VMC Blue Green, then Army Painter Soft Tone, and a little VGC Charred Brown.




I think it turned out pretty sweet : )


At the same time I worked on my flea market find to create this "War Rig escort car", built from a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost.





This one was pretty straightforward; a bit of Dremel cutting, some bending and gluing of plastic rod, and a switch to some bulkier tires.





The paint job was done the same way as my Nux car, perhaps a little rougher, but I think it matches the escort pretty well.

There are a few more cars on deck, we'll see what I get done this week : )

Cheers
Dave

Starting to clear the decks...

$
0
0

Next month is going to be a month of planning and announcements. In preparation for this planning and these announcements I have started to clear older projects off my desk (by finishing them, finally).

The first of these is a unit of Vorax battle automata. I bought these back when Forgeworld released Book 4 of the Horus Heresy series (Book 5 has been out for a few months now). The last time these models appeared on my blog was way back in March. It is quite nice to have them finished and off the docket, as it were.






Cheers
Dave

Did you know...?

$
0
0
Did you know that the NOCF isn't just raffling off 40K and Flames Of War armies (and SEVEN Malifaux crews!), but we also have three smaller raffles for three lovely pieces of miniature art.

Each of these pieces (pictured below) have a limited number of tickets (only 200 per model), selling for $5 per ticket. That makes for an incredible chance of winning - 1 in 200 for each ticket you buy. That means that if you buy a ticket you have a better chance of winning that you do of being struck by lightning, or eaten by a shark (even if you are swimming in South Carolina waters).

As with the armies and crews, we'll ship these models to the winners, regardless of where they are in the world! The proceeds from these tickets go to benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. My mum is a three-times breast cancer survivor, so I have a personal connection to these cause.


The first mini we have is Maverick from Corvus Belli's Infinity range. This model is direct from the Corvus Belli studio, so I have to assume it was painted by the famous Angel Giraldez! Get your tickets right HERE.


The second piece is this incredibly evocative piece, Forever Young, a lovely study of the vampyr by one of this year's special guests to the NOVA Open - Roman Lappat (of Massive Voodoo fame). You can buy tickets for Forever Young HERE.


And the third piece was also provided by Roman Lappat: Zeta the Barbarian Babe. While this photo looks pretty big, she's a tiny 25mm mini with such incredible detail! You can purchase tickets to win Zeta HERE.

Just one week left until the winners' names are drawn. Don't miss out!

Cheers
Dave


The Results are in...

$
0
0

A huge thank you to all those who dipped into their pockets and purchased raffle tickets for any of the various raffles the NOCF ran this past weekend. Between the Sons of Orar Space Marines, the Alaitoc Eldar, the FOW Polish army, the seven Malifaux crews, the Corvus Belli studio model, and the two models from Roman Lappat, we were able to raise just over $16,000 that will now go to the following charities:
• Doctors Without Borders
• The Fisher House Foundation
• The Breast Cancer Research Foundation

And to show the international appeal, both of the 40K armies will be shipped to their winners in the UK. 

Congratulations!

And now on to planning for next year’s charity efforts : )

Cheers

Dave

Another Flames Of War commission

$
0
0

Just a quick one this time - five tanks, one utility vehicle, and an infantry stand, but boy… what an infantry stand.


Here we have General Patton and his faithful dog Willie, both on foot or riding around in his modified M20.



And here are the five M26 Pershings, a nice change from the various Sherman-based AFVs in the American WW2 arsenal. Two of these of are metal tanks from Skytrex, the other three are plastic tanks from Battlefront. While the plastic tanks are more crisp, the Skytrex tanks have that nice heft to them.

Cheers

Dave


Mechanicum – Three more Knights are close to walking

$
0
0


I’ve decided to take a little break from my Mad Max cars for the moment, and try to clear a few other projects from my plate. The Vorax were the last project I cleared, and now it’s on to the next three Imperial Knights.


I assembled them all at the same time, or at least put them into their various sub assemblies, so that I could go for a little batch painting on their various sections. First were the legs, with my standard drybrushing: Tinny Tin, Gun Metal, and a light drybrush of Vallejo Model Air’s Aluminium, my new go-to bright silver. This was followed by strategic shading with my super secret wash. Certain parts (typically on the pistons) were hit with some Brassy Brass for a bit of pop. The cables were then painted black and given a light drybrush of grey.



The second step was to complete the metallics on the torsos, heads, and weapons. I followed the same process as for the legs, finishing up with the various cables etc.



After the torsos I busted out my airbrush - a tool I still don’t have a lot of experience or confidence with - and started working on the armor plates. Rather than present identical panels on each Knight, I decided to mix it up a little bit. I think they will still have a nice unified look while each has their own “personality”.




Since that stage I’ve been focusing on the individual Knights, and the first two are almost complete. After I wrap up the painting on the last Knight  I’ll be able to apply the final decals.

I’m expecting a nice little envelope from Fallout Hobbies to arrive this week with my updated (and white-underprinted) House Taranis crests and emblems to arrive. I’m very excited to see how Ron’s decals compare. After seeing the detail he can get last week at the NOVA Open, I think I’ll be in great shape!

More soon…

Cheers

Dave

Mechanicum - The Myrmidon Destructors

$
0
0

It wasn't too long after they were released that I received a surprise package from a friend in Florida. Richard sent me a pack of three Myrmidon Destructors. He had received them by mistake in an order from Forgeworld and decided they would be painted if they made it to my painting table...

...well, it has taken almost a year and a half to get them to this stage (almost finished). They sat on my desk with just a Tinny Tin dry brush over the metal for close to a year, as I couldn't find the little pack of mechadendrites. I finally found the pack the other day, so I launched into finishing them off.

Of course, as soon as I did I promptly lost the mechadendrites again. Once I find them, bend them, and paint them, I'll dust the bases and post a final pic for you all : )







More posts to come this week!

Cheers
Dave

Secure the Colours!

$
0
0

I recently completed a commission for a friend of mine, painting up the three Waterloo vignettes from the Perry Miniatures Napoleonic range. Each of the vignettes represents the loss of the "colours" at some point during the Battle of Waterloo.


The first vignette shows a sergeant of the Scots Greys taking the Eagle from the 45th Line Regiment.



The second shows a Captain and Sergeant of the 1st Royal Dragoons competing to capture the Eagle of the 105th Line Regiment.



And the third shows a cuirassier of the 9th Regiment taking the King's Colours from the 5th Battalion of the King's German Legion.

Normally I would go with a slightly simpler basing scheme, mixing tufts and static grass and a few clumps of flowers, but all of these action took place on the battlefield, which was then (as it is now) a farmed field in summer. During my recent visit to Belgium, we walk past miles of fields full of barley and wheat (and sugar beets), so I decided that this needed to be represented.

I picked up some long grasses from Scenic Express and trimmed it to an appropriate length. I then gathered together small bundles and glued them down in a regular pattern, as though they had been planted in rows. I also gave a little more space in between each bundle to represent older farming methods. The tufts and flowers were sprinkled in around the base of the barley (or wheat) stalks to act as weeds and other grasses. Of course, much of the battlefield would have been trampled over, so there are a lot of stalks knocked over.


In order to send the vignettes to my friend, I asked Alex at Ironheart Artisans to cut this special shipping box for me. He took my basic idea and really ran with it! The bottom (above) consists of several layers of MDF with holes cut to accommodate the vignettes (as you can see below).


Once the vignettes were in place, I glued in the back wall of the box.


And the lowered down the "locking" layer, with circles a little bit smaller than the size of the vignette bases. This would lock in the bases and stop them from moving around.


The next step was to add the opposite wall, then glue in the ends of the box. Two angled pieces were added to the box at this stage. These will protect the vignettes from crush damage.


Finally, the lid was glued on (strapped here with rubber bands to hold it steady while the glue dried. I then wrapped it in bubblewrap and put it in a cardboard box.

This whole thing worked really well, apart from one small glitch. As the cavalry models were quite heavy metal minis, two of the horses ended up bending at the ankles. Otherwise, there was no damage.

Cheers
Dave

Tanith - Some armored support from the Narmenians!

$
0
0

Time for another addition to the ongoing Tanith commission. This time it's the Narmenian 1st Armoured Regiment, under General Grizmund, who have had some time under the brush.

The Narmenians supported the Imperial defense of Vervunhive in the novel Necropolis, the first novel where we saw the way that Dan Abnett could keep the Ghosts going, even though they'd lose hundreds of men each battle (by folding in other units who had been equally mauled).

Although they play a critical role in the defense, and Grizmund is an important plot point, there is surprisingly little in the way of descriptors for the tanks or their crews. The main description is of the color of the tanks - "mustard drab". To achieve this mustard-drab color I started with an airbrush of GW Zamesi Desert, followed by a highlight airbrush of VMA IDF Sand Grey. The tanks and sentinels were then given a couple of shading washes of AP Soft Tone, and finally all were given a light drybrush across the top edges with VMC Pale Sand.

Tracks, weapons, and other details followed...


You'll notice a big pile of weapons in front of the three tanks I painted up (two Mars-Pattern Leman Russes and a Mars-Pattern Demolisher). They are there because I magnetized and painted up each sponson weapon option for two of the tanks.


The way the "new" weapons slot into the sponsons, it was easier to mount the magnets on the side of the piece that slides into the sponson mount, and on the side of the sponson mount itself (as you can see above, the small circle in the center of the photo).


Here's the Leman Russ with sponsons - No. 28, Purity's Hammer.









And the Demolisher - No. 34, also known as Emperor's Wrath.


Here's General Grizmund in his command Leman Russ, Grace of the Throne. After my initial photos were sent off to the client, he requested I add a mustache to Grizmund and the banner flying back from the turret. Both of these things are a nod to the General Grizmund model that Forgeworld made way back in the day.


You'll notice that most of the lenses on the tanks are saturated purple, rather than my regular red or green. I did this to contrast nicely against the desaturated mustard yellow of the hulls.








On top of the gun mounts on each tank there's a mailed fist, the symbol of the Narmenian 1st Armoured Regiment. These are decals cut down from the FW Iron Hands decal sheet.


The sentinels received the same magnetized weapons treatment. I think that by the end of the project I'd used 41 magnets for just six vehicles (five if you don't count Grizmund, who has no magnets).









On the panel in front of the driver's door I put the vehicle number (1-3) and the Narmenian mailed fist icon.

I know my client is happy, and I hope you like them all too : )

Cheers
Dave

WARLORD - And so it begins... My Warlord Titan build, YouTube channel, and Patreon page.

$
0
0

I am very excited : ) I can finally start to shout about the Warlord Titan Build campaign I am now embarking on. Although this bad boy arrived at my house a couple of months ago, I wanted to wait until the rush of summer conventions, crazy workloads, and activities with rambunctious children had calmed down a bit. Now is that time : )

Over the next six months I plan to clean, assemble, and paint this massive beast and have it ready in time to unveil at AdeptiCon 2016. I think that's a pretty reasonable timeframe, as I'll be working on it at nights (and a little on the weekends, if I can squeeze it in).



I'm looking forward to messing around with all sorts of stuff I haven't done before, including filming a lot of videos of my progress along the way. You can see the first of these videos below (or on my YouTube channel). In this one I not only do an "unboxing" of the Warlord, but I also mention my Patreon campaign (something else I haven't done before).


For those of you not aware of Patreon, it's a site that helps artists and content creators to find and interact with patrons around the globe who want to help support their favorite artists in a financial way. My aim with this Patreon campaign is to raise enough that I can not only spend nights working on this, but also a full day each week so that I can increase the quantity of content as well as the quality of the videos as I go along.

Like any crowd-funding campaign, there are some reward levels that I've included that should be pretty cool - from campaign-exclusive decals from Fallout Hobbies to Google Hangouts, and even painted miniatures (sculpted by Chris Borer and painted by me).

Please head on over, check it out, and pledge if you can.


Finally, I'll also be documenting the build via Instagram, if that's more our thing. I like taking photos, and I hope that this will help keep me more active in doing so, as well as helping me refine my approach. You can follow my feed here.

Well, I'm off to start the arduous process that is cleaning and prepping all the parts for this madness.

Wish me luck ; )

Cheers
Dave
Viewing all 414 articles
Browse latest View live