Welcome To The Cheap Streets

I mentioned in a previous post that I'd managed to pick up a cheap lot on eBay containing six miniatures for Carnevale. Apart from the price, one of the things that made me bid was the fact that three of the miniatures in the lot were for my existing gangs: the Guild and the Rashaar.

Therefore, when it came it came to getting thing painted, I began with them; a Citizen for the Guild and a Hybrid and Slave for the Rashaar.

Admittedly, none of these characters are going to exactly change the balance of power between the two forces, given that these are amongst the least powerful characters from either gang. Fortunately, however, despite already having four Citizens, three Slaves and a Hybrid, these were all new sculpts for my collection.

When I bought the lot on eBay, the description mentioned parts being used for conversion, and so I was expecting to have to raid the bits box to make some of the miniatures useable. However, I was delighted to find that the miniatures were all complete, but dismayed to see that there was a fair bit of mould slippage on parts and more than a little bit of flash to remove.

I suspect that this odd assortment of miniatures were actually sculpts the seller had opted not to use due to issues with them, and I guess they'd contacted TTCombat for replacement. That's the only way I can explain them going for such a low starting bid.

Nevertheless, I bought them expecting I'd need to do a bit of work, so I got on with the job trying to make the best of their imperfect forms.

The Citizen had a fairly noticeable mould line down the sides of his coat and boots. Fortunately, one of resin's more advantageous properties is the fact that you can cut it away fairly easily. The flat sides of the coat needed shaving down a little and the boots needed a little trimming to. Even though I didn't do a perfect job, on cloth surfaces, once you've proven the straight line, mould lines tend to disappear after painting.

My theme of tying the Guild together with dark red is getting a bit awkward, as he didn't have a handy scarf or sash and I've already done one citizen in a red waistcoat. I opted to go for a full red coat, even though it leaves him looking more than a little like an English country squire. I like how the yellow waistcoat has come out.

The main issue on the Hybrid was on the arms, which were separate. There had been quite severe mould slippage on the wrists. Fortunately, the worst bits were on the bandages, so after I'd trimmed away enough so there wasn't a ledge in his arms, I used painting to put back the lost detail of the bandages. This process has left him with quite emaciated arms, but for a Hybrid beggar from the poorest part of Venice, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Of the three models, I'm most happy with this guy as the contrast paints I used all over the model have worked out really well. It's a shame he's such a low ranked character and destined to die a grisly death in most games. 

The Slave had the biggest issues to deal with of any of the six. There was a huge lump of resin still attached between her legs, going all the way down to both ankles that from a distance made her look like she was wearing a long dress. In addition, under her arms and around her neck were full of flash. My initial dismay was tempered by the fact that I already have three Slaves and they're terrible in game, therefore I could go at this model with a knife knowing that messing up wouldn't be a total tragedy.

I did mess up...I cut her foot off.

Fortunately another quality of resin is that it glues quickly and strongly so I was able to fix her ankle later; and it would be much later. About an hour of carefully carving and slicing the resin lump and flash allowed me to trim it back to pretty much exactly how she should look. Her legs were a bit nicked and under her arms doesn't bear close inspection, however, I figure that live as a Slave to the fish-men might leave a few marks.

Despite the fact that she's the worst for wear, I'm actually really proud of the salvage job I did on this model and I shall think of her fondly each time I feed her to a Lesser Ugdru or she dies whilst trying to climb over a fence.

I'm actually really pleased with how these turned out. Getting them second-hand at a bargain price probably made me more sanguine about their imperfections than the original owner, so I hope they were able to get replacements. I've certainly not seen anything as bad in any of the other Carnevale miniatures I assembled.

I've not bought anything new this week and I've continued to be active on eBay, selling a Scourge starter army for Dropzone Commander (I'm counting the bases of tiny infantry as single models) and so I'm building up a bit of a head of steam and making inroads into the Lead Mountain.

Acquired: -22
Painted: 30
Lead Mountain: 530 (I think I got my maths wrong last time...I've double checked that this is right)