Michka's Aliens project (10/23/12, AAR from Rock Con 2012)

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[Michka]

This is the oldest miniatures project I have. I've been buying and painting Leading Edge minis for longer then anything else. Earlier this year I finally painted the last Leading Edge Aliens miniature that I owned. When you get to the end of a project you're faced with a dilemma. What now. Rational people just enjoy what they have, and play some games. I am not a rational person. My other options were to strip the minis and start from scratch, start buying more minis at exorbitant prices, or modify and improve the minis. I chose to improve my minis.

This fall I ran a Colonial Marines game that was lots of fun. After the game I noticed, not for the first time mind you, that the washers on the bottoms of the figures were getting dinged up. This seems to happen pretty regularly, and I wanted to do something about it. Here is an example of the old basing system.





I decided to cut out slotta-bases and form them around the integral bases mounted to the figures.





This system worked, but it was tedious. I had to cut the shape of the integral base out of a slotta-base, mount it to a washer hidden inside the slotta, and putty around the integral base so it matched the surface. The results looked OK on the Aliens, but not so good on the Colonial Marines. That's when I decided to bite the bullet and start cutting the integral bases off the Marines. I went through at least four different base paint schemes before landing on the one I'm using now. It's the same base painting I do for my Judge Dredd figures, but without the pavement markings. Here's what I've finished so far...







This is just the tip of the iceberg. So far I have twelve Colonial Marines based the way I want them. I have to figure out what I'll be doing with the Aliens, because cutting them off the bases isn't going to happen. Most of them have tails that are directly sculpted to the base. They also have spindly little feet that would break way too often. I'll probably continue using the slotta-base method I'm using right now, but I need to come up with a good paint scheme for the bases. Any ideas would be appreciated.  

  

[Commander Vyper]

Did the same for my WEG stuff, tedious but worth it. Fenris games do do recessed 'standard 25mm rounds, would mean then that you only have to file/dremmel the bases a little at the bottom, then use a filler or scenic scatter to go over the gaps.

A diamond jewellers saw is your friend too, as are very sharp clippers on old high lead content minis....knife and butter spring to mind.

Good luck with it

The Commander

[supervike]

Fantastic paint on those minis!!  Great character.

[hubbabubba]

I think the minis themselves show their age pretty badly, I'm not a fan, however your PJs help them shine a tad more.
I don't like what you're doing with the bases, I prefer them either properly based (i.e texture them or something like the deck bases seen elsewhere,) or all black as in the second set.
However, what matters is that you're happy with them, and if that is the case then just keep on truckin'

[Michka]

Did the same for my WEG stuff, tedious but worth it. Fenris games do do recessed 'standard 25mm rounds, would mean then that you only have to file/dremmel the bases a little at the bottom, then use a filler or scenic scatter to go over the gaps.
The Commander

Oh I know about your WEG bases Commander. That's where I got the idea from. I saw a Stormtrooper with a slotta-base cut out around his integral base and I thought "That just might solve my Aliens basing problem".

Fantastic paint on those minis!!  Great character.

Thank you so much. I love these figures, even if they are from an era long gone by.

I think the minis themselves show their age pretty badly, I'm not a fan, however your PJs help them shine a tad more.
I don't like what you're doing with the bases, I prefer them either properly based (i.e texture them or something like the deck bases seen elsewhere,) or all black as in the second set.
However, what matters is that you're happy with them, and if that is the case then just keep on truckin'

 

I don't know what to say. Like I said, I like the miniatures. They aren't perfect, but they have style. Your comment about not using proper bases had me a little steamed. Not that you didn't like them. I can live with that. It's the idea that there's a right way to do bases and a wrong way to do bases. 

[Inso]

I think they look great but the base-edges look tatty/unfinished. You either need to paint the edges in a single colour or carry the top paint all the way down the sides to the table-top, rather than stopping.

I am not a fan of the miniatures but your painting is good

[hubbabubba]

I don't know what to say. Like I said, I like the miniatures. They aren't perfect, but they have style. Your comment about not using proper bases had me a little steamed. Not that you didn't like them. I can live with that. It's the idea that there's a right way to do bases and a wrong way to do bases. 

You're right, my apologies Michka, I expressed myself badly.
Inso expressed it better, but like I said, the important thing is that you're happy with them.
I just think that after the spiffy PJs, the bases deserve a little more attention.

[Michka]

Sorry for being so whiny. Now that it's been brought to my attention I can see what you mean. I've been using this painting style for my Judge Dredd project, and the sides aren't a problem with the hex shaped bases. The round bases don't work the same , yet my eye wasn't seeing the problem till it was pointed out. I hope the darker rim around the sides takes care of the problem. It also might help that I'm not so close with these photos.

 

If anyone is curious, the backdrop is terrain from my Space:1999 project.

[Inso]

The bases look much better now .

There isn't a right or wrong way of doing bases... they just have to look right.

I always do mine with sand on top, painted light brown and with a black rim. Everyone tells me they are boring and some people tell me to paint the rim brown to match the base.

I ignore them because that is how I do my bases .

As long as they look finished, I am happy.

[Michka]

I got some more stuff to show off. First off I have some more marines. The middle three are Hasslefrees. The one on the right side is Vasquez, painted up as Martha Washington from Frank Miller's comic series Give Me Liberty.



And then I have some pictures of the Power Loader. It's a Leading Edge miniature, so there are bound to be some problems. My biggest issue is the roll cage. It's way too thick. You can't tell, but I did paint Ripley in there. Eventually I might have to replace the cage with some bent wire.

[manic _miner]

 Nice update.Good to see them all together too.Like the look of the scenery.

[Michka]

Pictures of my first piece of terrain for my colony. I plan to make many more. The idea is to make wall sections that will link together to form a colony, but can also stand alone as individual terrain elements should I not finish the project. That happens sometimes. The first photo is of the corridor side and the second photo is the interior side.

[hubbabubba]

That looks great. What a fanatstic idea
Have you thought about casting the separate sides before you put them together?

[Commander Vyper]

Nice,

Even built up you could make facade silicon moulds and cast up, don't miss the opportunity to make life easier for yourself and potentially others.

Lovely.


The Commander

[Michka]

I got the first piece of terrain painted. I'm not happy with the support struts, so I might be ripping those off and replacing them. The back side needs some iconography as well.