My Latest Project: Hordes Minions Blindwater Congregation Gatormen Blackhide Wrastler

When I'm not job searching or working remotely, what am I doing?  Building and painting miniatures of course!  My latest project is the Blackhide Wrastler/Blindwalker from Privateer Press' Hordes game.  Who doesn't think giant muscled gatormen wearing gimp masks are cool?

I've been assembling and painting for over 30 years.  I remember how it all started.  Dad got me one of those cheap party-favor WWII soldier sets from Toys R Us.   I was instantly hooked on the mini olive green Japanese soldiers, dark grey Germans, burnt red Russians, forest green Americans and beige British dudes contained therein.  Plastic crack...  Visiting that Gamer's Paradise during junior high at the now-gone Town & Country Mall on Rand and Palatine Roads in Palatine sent the addiction through the roof.  It was there where I was introduced to multi-part Games Workshop Warhammer Space Marines.  These guys were larger than the WWII soldiers, customizable and much more expensive.  Thank you Mom and Dad for all the Warhammer stuff over all these years.

That said, let's get down to business.  The process starts with assembling the Gatormen Wrastler. He came like this:

 After a quick wash in warm water to remove the chemicals that allowed him to easily pop out of his mold (and adversely affect paint adhering to the model) and subsequent drying, I glued him together using super glue.  Unfortunately, I had to use some gap filler (the green stuff) where the model's parts didn't fit snuggly together.  The green stuff is really called Green Stuff and solidifies in a few hours. I also removed the flash (excess plastic on mold lines, etc.) using an Exacto knife.

Let's wrastle!!!

After drying, I sprayed him with Tamiya grey primer and once dry, Tamiya flat desert yellow.

Next, I added a wash of Army Painter Green Ink on all of his gator flesh.  There are two types of paint I used, regular paint and something called ink.  Inks are heavily diluted paints that nicely flow into cracks and crevices. 

And then two washes of Army Painter Dark Ink (black) on his back scales, followed by another wash of green ink on his gator flesh.

I did about four layers of Games Workshop Agrax Brown Ink on his ropes and two layers of the brown ink on the gimp mask.  I let each layer dry and then applied the next layer of ink.  I then painted his mouth using a mix of Games Workshop White Scars White and a few drops of Games Workshop Crimson Ink followed by a wash of the crimson ink and a dry brush of the white paint/crimson ink mix.

Dry brushing is a process where one dips a little bit of paint on a brush, removes most of the paint with a paper towel/tissue/napkin and then rubs the very light layer of paint on the surface of a model.

I next applied a 4 parts water to 1 part brown ink mix on his belly and underside.

 

Finally, I painted his eyes Games Workshop Sunburst Yellow, his nails and teeth Games Workshop Bleached Bone (followed by a brown ink wash and then bleached bone dry brush) and his shoulder pad Games Workshop Sigmarite Gold (followed by a brown ink and gold paint dry brush). 

Voila! Gatorman Wrastler in about five hours!!!  That was my quota of geekiness for the day. Thank you for reading. Now go out there and paint some minis! Waaaarrrgghhhhh!!!