Flash Gordon - Giant Rats

Every Flash Gordon story that I have ever read has a 'giant something' - giant lobsters, giant lizard, giant dogs etc. These two additions are Tomb or Crypt Rats from Reaper Miniatures. They are mounted on to 40mm round bases and painted with acrylic paints. I would expect to add to these with large rats or a rat swarm at some stage.

Tony

Flintloque - Miniatures Wanted

I am looking for the old blister pack Ork Grenadier Guards 54020.

In particular the two figures with Grenadier Guard caps/shakos, not the bare headed miniature.

I can either buy or swap.

Can anyone help?

Tony
PS. Any Flintloque collector looking for a specific miniature can still contact me as I have a huge box of un-painted Flintloque blister (some limited editions).

Flash Gordon - Blue Crystalman

I am afraid I have no idea what this creature was or what game system it came from. I bought it some years ago on a visit to Dublin, Ireland for one Euro. It is a plastic miniature from HeroClix or a similar game and was connected to a plastic clix base. I removed the figure when I bought it and did not keep a record of who manufactured it or what it is called - sorry.

I do know that the figure has been elevated by up to 10mm and the base was then re-sculpted with 'Milliput' and 'green stuff'. The miniature was re-painted as if evolving from the earth and painted blue as I had just finished reading Witch Queen of Mongo by Alex Raymond, in which Blue Crystalmen appear.

The growths from the figures back and head could be twigs - as if a 'Dryad', but I painted them as crystals using acrylic dark blue over a black undercoat, highlighted with blue and later light blue.

The miniature is mounted on a 40mm round base and is 60mm tall.

Tony

Flash Gordon - Gorillapoid

The Gorillapoid (I think that's right - the Buster Crabbe, cinema 'cliff hanger' series has an Orangapoid) is based on a toy gorilla with a resin horn and some 'green stuff re-modelling to the face (to make it look a little more fierce). The model is re-painted, but this is more of a touch-up rather than a complete re-paint.

The model stands over 80mm tall (base of knuckles to top of horn). This second photo shows the Gorillapoid next to a 40mm Ming Guard figure for scale.


Tony
PS. If anyone can come up with a better name - please feel free to post your suggestions.

Flames of Herakleitos by Bob Lock

I am pleased to support this author, who is also from my home city, (or town as I will always think of it) Swansea - Bob Lock.

This is his first published book although he has had other work printed in anthologies. I read the book last year on a long flight to Thailand and thought it a riveting good read, part Fantasy, part Sci-Fi.

More information at;

http://bob-lock.blogspot.com/2007/01/flames-of-herakleitos-website.html

Archibald

Just a bit of fun! I picked up this miniature at the Games Expo, Birmingham in 2007 and mounted and painted it as an adventurer for my daughter.


Mounted on a 60mm round wooden wheel with the ground work built up from sand, cork and a 'bargain bin find' of a treasure chest.

The figure is painted with acrylic paints over a black undercoat and varnished with matte acrylic artists varnish. The base is painted as a Caribbean beach with ground foam vegetation. While the name plaque is a piece of card cut to size with two plastic rivets, the script is from a Games Workshop transfer sheet.

The figure is called Archibald and stands 46mm tall. Great fun!

Tony

Flintloque - Black Brunswickers

This is my latest Flintloque regiment to be finished. It has quite a history! The eight figures are a 'miss-match' of Flintloque blisters and box set extras that have accumulated in my spares box over the last few years. Each miniature has been converted with added cuffs, enlarged shakos or coat detail and were original re-modelled/sculpted with brass plates and large plumes on their helmets. I had even started to paint them, with dark blue coats and red trim!




The Brunswick 'Deaths Head' motif was sculpted with 'green stuff', the plume cut off the tops of the helmets and a small button of 'green stuff' added. The figures were undercoated black and painted with acrylic paints. The black coats being highlighted with dark grey and the cuffs and detail painted sky blue.

The first photo shows the whole group of eight figures - two Ogres, one Dog Soldier and five Dwarves. While the second photo shows the non-dwarves and the third just the dwarves.

They are quite dark in colour, which I think contrasts well with some of my 'brighter colour schemes'. The whole group has taken a great deal of time from conception to finished regiment (maybe three years!) But I am pleased with the end result, although the Dog Soldier does look a little too dark in each of these photos.

Tony
PS. I have a number of Flintloque regiment that include miniatures of mixed race - Dwarves with Ogres, Dwarves with Dog Soldiers etc. I think they work very well with the difference in figure size adding to the overall effect.

Flash Gordon - Sharkman

The latest addition to this Blog is a Reaper Miniatures - Wereshark (number 02890) sculpted by J. Wiebe and painted as a Flash Gordon Sharkman.


This is a very fine miniature from Reaper Miniatures, a miniature that fits in perfectly with my Flash Gordon collection and a miniature that was an absolute joy to paint.

The model comes as a multi-part casting; main body, left arm and tail. The left hand is a bit 'static' and could have been better animated. It was constructed with superglue and mounted on to a 40mm round base before being painted over a black undercoat. I have also seen the same miniature painted as a Great White Shark with a white and light grey scheme, that I hope to copy one day!

My colour scheme of dark blue with royal blue highlights and gloss varnished was inspired by an Internet search. I am very pleased with the finished model, but still think a Great White will be added to the collection one day.

The miniature is 60mm tall from foot to top of fin.

Tony

Flintloque - Large Farm House part four

This latest batch of photos continue to record the progress so far. The walls have been 'plastered' with White DAS modelling clay, which is added in small bits - about the size of a piece of chewing gum, over a brush coat of PVA glue, then when the section is completely covered I use a modelling tool to smooth out the clay and then start the texturing. The modelling tool produces a realistic hand-plastered finish while a large stiff brush dipped in water produces a smoother look.

I think the photos show the technique better than words! As you can see I like to have a very textured surface. I also leave a couple of bits of the original black foam board to show through, more about this when I begin painting.

The steps at the front of the building were built up with foam board, glued and pinned before being covered with DAS.

For the wall 'plastering' I use DAS that I have added a little water to, it helps with the smoothing out and texturing.

This final photo shows the annex and in particular the thatch. I thought it would be easier to add the thatch to this smaller roof section first and allow me to demonstrate the technique in greater detail. The DAS modelling clay is spread (quite thinly) over a base coat of PVA glue and shaped with a modelling tool to form the thatch shape, the overhang of thatch is modelled on with a sausage of DAS rather than the thatch being that thick! Once I am satisfied with the shape I comb the DAS with the blade end of the modelling tool. The end of the thatch is textured with a blunt cocktail stick - poking the point in to the clay to produce the effect. (At some stage I will take a picture of the tools that I use to help other who wish to copy this technique).

The photo also shows the level of texturing I like to aim for and the black foam board showing through. For sections near the balsa strip I have used the original tool and a much smaller sculpting tool which fits between the beams.

Progress to date has taken about a week of evenings, working about one hour - two hours each evening. Please Note; you have to leave a great deal of time for the PVA glue to set and the DAS to harden.

I try to coat all surfaces that are to accept DAS with slightly watered down PVA glue - I have not had any nasty experiences with the DAS flaking-off, but once read that DAS can shrink if not treated in this way.

Tony

Flintloque - Large Farm House part three

These latest photos show the main structures complete, joins reinforced with paper strips, the wooden beams added and the first chimney modelled from blue foam.






In greater detail; black foam board has been used to build the main structure shapes and internal strengtheners, thin card has been used for all the roof sections and the torn paper strips have been used to strengthen all joins - torn paper and PVA glue. Roughed-up strips of balsa wood have been used for the wooden beams. The blue foam off-cut has been shaped with a large knife, sanded to shape and then individual stones cut in to the chimney with a scalpel and further textured with a broken stone, pressed in to the foam. The chimney has been glued to the roof and wall with PVA glue and dressmaker pins have been added to strengthen the joint.

You may also be able to see where I have started to 'plaster' the first wall with DAS modelling clay - more detail to follow in later posts.

These latest photos also show the rear of the house and you can now see the annex and two additional window - all construction as previous posts.

The farm building is 180mm long and 140mm tall (to the top of the chimney).

Tony

Flintloque - Large Farm House part two

These three photos show the latest batch of work - not much to add to what has already been written , the joins are covered with torn paper, the roof sections are thin card and the wooden beams are balsa. More to follow soon.

Once the roof base had been finished (as you see here) I used expanding foam to fill the attic space - no real reason why, other than I had a part filled can of foam. The structure is now very strong. It has also changed shape! With the foam ballooning out the roof shape rather than remaining concave. It is my intention to model the thatched roof with DAS modelling clay as I have used this technique in the past.

Tony

Flintloque - Large Farm House

A recent thread on The Miniatures Page (TMP) asked readers to identify some 15mm resin terrain - a house, a windmill, a Russian church and a large farm house etc. I realised that I had already produced a model of the Russian church and liked the other terrain pieces so much that I produced a couple of sketches in the hope that I could at some time use them as inspiration for some Flintloque terrain.

The sketches are reproduced here and readers can see that I do not produce huge amounts of detail - just enough to use as the basis of a model. The second sketch is a little more detailed as I wanted to condense the frontage of the main house as I felt it would be too large if produced as the original model.

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The Work-in-Progress shots show the main structures cut from black foam board and the edges and joins reinforced with paper strips glued on with PVA glue. I use torn strips of paper as the joins will show up less. In addition some of the joins are further strengthened with dressmakers pins which I leave in and do not remove once the glue has set as recommended in some publications!

At this stage of construction the whole model is quite strong and does not flex, once the roof is added the structure will become even stronger.

The detail to the rear is still to be thought-through and although I know there will be an annex, the exact shape and positioning of the windows is yet to be decided upon. I would hope to add more WiP shots very soon, but as I have stated before some of my modelling projects are started and finished very quickly, while some go on for years. A good example of this is a regiment of Flintloque Dwarves that I have just finished they were first started well over a year ago and have been converted, based, painted, re-painted, converted and re-painted, before I settled down last week and forced myself to complete them. (photo to follow very soon).

For scale reference the door is 40mm tall by 20mm wide.

Tony

PS. The black foam board was given to me free of charge, by a student studying at the same university as my son - thank you Dean. This should prove to readers that modelling in this way can be very cheap!

Flash Gordon - Sea Monster

Another addition to the Flash Gordon collection - this time a Sea Monster or Sea Lizardman! The base figure is The Abomination from the HeroClix Marvel (or DC) range of collectable miniatures and reminds me of the sea monsters or Titans from the TV series Stingray.

I purchased two from Waylands Forge about a year ago for £1.00 each and re-positioned the legs of this model to give it a different stance. In addition the loincloth was added with 'green stuff' before coating with PVA glue, undercoating with black paint and painting with acrylic paints. The base is a section of cork on to which the miniature was glued and later 'pinned'.

It is my intention to further modify the second miniature, however the scaly skin of the original is very difficult to reproduce! The miniature is just under 50mm tall and is mounted on to a 40mm round base.

Tony

Flash Gordon - Hooded Minion

The latest painted miniature is another re-based and re-painted Monster-in-my-Pocket plastic figure - the Mad Gasser (number 30). 'A creature that haunts the night and released strong, nauseating and paralyzing gas in to the homes of the innocent!'

I re-based the figure on to a small slab of slate - not my usual cork, but felt that the whole dynamics was wrong and re-based it on to a small section of cork - with the base built up with DAS modelling clay and sand.

The miniature was then coated with PVA glue and under coated with black acrylic paint. The painting itself was very easy - grey over black with the skin tones built up from Games Workshop Spearshaft Brown. The original miniature was painted dark blue and dark purple.

The rock was painted grey and drybrushed with light grey and white before being varnished with water based acrylic varnish and finally some static grass was added.

The Monster-in-my-Pocket miniature require very little clean up and suit my choice of 40mm miniatures very well. The Mad Gasser is mounted on a 40mm round base and stands 47mm tall.

Tony

My son has a First

My son has just been informed that he has successfully achieved his degree, a FIRST - BA (hons) Multimedia Design and Digital Animation at the University of Cumbria.

Well done and we are so proud of you.

Mum and Dad

Flash Gordon - Monkeyman

Another Monster-in-my-Pocket plastic figure. The Monkey Man (number 36). This was one of the very first Monster-in-my-Pocket figure I ever bought and I would say my favourite! I love the sculpting of the in-turned monkey feet, grass skirt and bobble hat!

The miniature was mounted on to a block of cork, which was in turn glued to a 40mm round base, The rest of the base was built up with DAS modelling clay and covered with fine sand and small stones before being undercoated with PVA glue. I painted the miniature with acrylic paints over a black undercoat and followed the original colour scheme.

The very dynamic pose has meant that any conversion work would be very apparent. I have at least one more similar figure, but I do not envisage converting it.

The model stands just over 46mm from head-to-toe or 60mm from the top of the arms to the base of the foot.

This particular miniature came with two other figures in a card backed blister pack from In-Store and cost £1.00 to £1.50. And according to the stats card, the Monkey Man regularly eats monkey brains!

Tony

Flash Gordon - Robot

Earlier today I read that the miniature manufacturer Wargames Supply Dump W.S.D. was to close for some months due to health issues with members of the family. I felt that as a small tribute I would up-load this photo of one of the companies classic robot sculpts.

The miniature comes as a multiple casting (5 pieces - head, body, two arms and a legs/track section) and was put together with super glue. The miniature was painted with acrylic paints over a black undercoat and gloss varnished. I was trying for a retro 'Lost in Space' look!

The figure is 46mm tall and mounted on a 40mm round base. The skirmish wargame Fantastic Worlds from Rattrap Productions uses a number of different robot Profiles in its rules, this particular robot is a Bodyguard Robot (Grade 2).

Tony

Flash Gordon - Swamp Monster

Another Monster-in-my-Pocket, plastic toy miniature, this time a Swamp Beast (number 43) which was re-based, coated in PVA glue and re-painted with acrylic paints.

The model is painted as the original miniature, just a little more care and time, while the leaves are individual Birch tree seeds, collected from the bottom of the garden and dried. They were glued on with super glue one-by-one with the aid of a set of tweezers and a steady hand and later varnished with water based acrylic varnish.

(Note; the same seeds are available as autumnal scatter material or leaf matter from Miniature Modelling sites, however with a little bit of research and searching you can pick them up for free).

The only issue I had with this particular miniature was the stance, it was very 'lop-sided' and so I mounted it on a large off-cut of cork cut at an angle to try and level it off. Later I re-sculpted the feet (roots) as if clinging or climbing on to the rock base.

The model is mounted on a 50mm round base and stands 50mm tall.

Tony
PS. Moster-in-my-pocket miniatures were being cleared-out of stores called InStore and Poundland (UK) late last year. I picked up packs of either three miniatures to a card or 'specials' with one to a card for between 50p and £1.50 a pack.

Alternative Armies - The Compendium No 1

This week I received my copy of the Alternative Armies - The Compendium No 1 which includes a number of Slaughterloo and Flintloque articles, some of which are already available from the Yahoo Group;

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/notablemembers/

I will start my review by stating that I am biased and believe the Flintloque game, figures and background to be one of the very best Non-Historical skirmish wargames available. I will also add that I have yet to finish reading the whole compendium.

For more information about Flintloque go to;

http://www.alternative-armies.com/index.html

The 64 page booklet is printed on good quality white paper and full of black and white images with a colour binding. The imagery is 'standard' Alternative Armies - that is a mixture of product photos, in-game shots and cartoon like drawings or illustrations. I would add that I personally find the latest batch of drawings to be less characterful than the initial or early Flintloque/Slaughterloo/Deadloque illustrations, but I am also aware that thing do change and move on.

The contents include a very good section on Mission Templates - short scenarios for easy game set up and play, which I found very interesting and I can see me using them as the basis of solo games. The next section contains rules for solo play, which are in the main available for download from the Notables Yahoo Group, but are still well written and again very simple. Other sections of note are the Scenarios (or Mega Scenarios for Slaughterloo) - The Battle of Bonibix, The Monich Bier Wars and the section on Balloons of the Ferach Empire.

The remainder details new releases, character classes, some expansion rules and adverts. Overall I would say that the publication is well worth the £6.00 cover price and for the Flintloque player a great source of additional information.

I do however have a couple of criticisms, the main one being spelling or grammar mistakes - I know that I also make the odd mistake, but in professional publications and with computer spell checks I do not believe that these mistakes should get through the proof reading stages. I have already commented on the quality of the newer cartoons, and hope that in the future these will improve, as will the quality of the painted miniature examples. I was also disappointed to see that a number of articles are actually available from the Notables Yahoo Group.

In summary, I was pleased with the total package and would recommend it to any Flintloque/Slaughterloo/Deadloque games or figure collector.

Tony

D&D Miniatures

In the past I have used a number of D&D miniatures for supplementing my Flash Gordon 40mm collection. I have also read that there are modellers who 'look down' on these models as toys! In their defence I have always found the quality of these sculpts to be good/fantastic. The painting is usually OK/good, but a quick re-paint (and in my case re-basing) soon sorts that out and I wanted to recommend them as a great source of models for either 40mm or 28mm modelling and the great big plus is the cost - they are so cheap.

Do not buy them in their retail box sets, but search e-bay for the particular miniature you want, first checking the image on;

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mix/gallery

I have picked up a number of models (and don't forget Star Wars and HeroClix/HorrorClix) for between 25p and £2.00 each. 'Maybe I should keep this information to myself!' I always coat the cleaned models with PVA glue before painting and have yet to have any issues with paint coming off. I varnish them with water-based acrylic varnish (or Klear) rather than polyurethane varnish which I use for metal miniatures.

Tony

Flash Gordon - Water Elemental

This Water Elemental is from the plastic D&D Collectable Miniature Game or CMG. I purchased this miniature for £1.00 at a show in the Birmingham area about two years ago and re-based it on a 50mm round base to fit in with my Flash Gordon collection. The biggest issue was removing the sculpt from its black plastic base and then having to trim it to fit the new base.

The miniature is cast in soft clear plastic with a blue tint that was very difficult to match up on my sculpted base. In the end I used lots of watered down washes with Klear (Future in the US) and blue ink to tint the base rather than paint it. I also varnished the whole sculpt with Klear as I wanted to keep the illusion of a wet creature.

The face was further picked out with pure white acrylic paint, as were the foaming 'white horses' of the crest!

I have yet to find a storyline where this creature is used, but it is still a good addition to the collection.

Tony

Flash Gordon - Green Crystalman

A metal miniature from Reaper Dark Havens - a Crystal Golem, bought some time ago and painted as a Green Crystalman.

There is very little to add, the figure was painted over a black undercoat with various acrylic green paints used to highlight the crystal structure and going from dark green near the base to lighter and well highlighted green around the head. I used diluted green ink to wash the whole figure. The miniature was gloss varnished and is just over 45mm tall and mounted on a 40mm round base.

Tony

Flash Gordon - Beastman

Another Reaper Dark Havens metal miniature - this time a Sasquatch. I had initially purchased this figure to convert to a Lionman, however these figures are just so beautifully sculpted that the miniature was mounted on to a 40mm round base and with the exception of a small amount of 'green stuff' around the mould joint line, the model is stock.

The figure was first undercoated with GW black spray paint, touched up with black acrylic paint and then drybrushed with very dark brown, dark brown, medium brown and then GW Spearshaft Brown to pick out the flesh colour. When dry I washed the whole figure with diluted brown ink before painting the base with dark brown and picking out the stones with grey and then white.

This really was a very simple figure to paint and another great addition to my Flash Gordon collection. The figure stands just over 40mm head-to-toe.

Tony

PS. Reaper Dark Haven miniatures are a huge inspiration and source of miniatures to supplement my Cliffhanger 40mm Flash Gordon collection from Graven Images. I enjoy browsing the miniature blisters at Waylands Forge, Birmingham and Spirit Games, Burton on Trent for further source material!

Flash Gordon - Lobsterman

This figure is a re-painted plastic toy miniature from the Disney playset, Pirates of the Caribbean. The 'Lobsterman'. The set contains another three miniatures.

I re-based the figure on a 40mm round base and built up the groundwork in my usual way, before coating the whole miniature (base as well) with PVA glue. Once dry the miniature was undercoated with acrylic black paint before being re-painted, pretty much as the original. Maybe just a little more detail, for example the claw and barnacles.

The miniature stands just over 40mm tall. Quite an unusual addition to my Flash Gordon figure collection. The miniature has nothing to link it to any particular period and could therefore work in a number of settings.

Tony