In this post, Ryan talks about the model he's chosen to paint - the Elf Dragon Kindred Lord - and walks through the prep work he did to get the model ready for painting, as well as things he's going to be keeping an eye on as he's working on it.
In a way, this was the model that spawned Brush With Death: Texas. Mantic released its November preview images, and a lot of them were not received well in some of the Facebook groups.
"It looks too much like a toy!"
"The proportions are all wrong!"
"There's no detail!"
All three of these were shown, over and over again, attached to this model. Defiant and argumentative, I rose to the challenge. I didn't think the model was a bad one, I just thought the studio paint job was a tad flat, and wasn't highlighting what the model had to offer. A few Texas Mantic Fanatics jumped on my side, and we turned it into this challenge - show off the best of what can be done with a Mantic model!
My nerve set, I ordered the Elf Dragon Kindred Lord from Tabletop, my Friendly Local Gaming Store, and sat down for the long wait until it was released.
Once I picked it up at the store, I literally could not wait to get it home. I pulled out my knife and unboxed it right there on the store table, before I took it home. The first thing I noticed, to my amusement, was a misprint on the back of the box, which claimed I had purchased an "Abyssal Dwarf Iron-Caster on Great Winged HalfBreed." Whoops! Well, at least the box contents were right.
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| The front of the box, in my grubby little mitt. | A double entry? |
The Model
The dragon portion of the model came in four parts - the main torso/legs/tail, the head and upper neck, the right wing, and the left wing and arm. In addition, it looked as though the left rear leg and right arm had been cast in separate pieces, and were glued to the model at the factory. The pieces dry-fit together beautifully, though I did pin them before I started gluing, just to increase the join strength. I discarded the plastic base, as I knew I was going to make one for him instead.
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| The assembled dragon |
The metal rider came in four pieces as well - the body, the back of his saddle, his right arm and glaive, and his cloak. He was a pretty straightforward metal model, so I won't talk more about him except to note that I did pin the arm and cloak in place.
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| The rider, pre-assembly |
Concerns Discussion
While the model is a lot more detailed than most of the critics made it out to be, I did have some concerns I would have to look at moving forward.
Gaps
First off, while the pieces fit together well, they left very visible gaps. Since the details on the model are not cut as deep as I'm used to on Mierce models, that means I would need to greenstuff those gaps to make them as shallow as the rest of the detail on the model; otherwise, every gap will be blatantly obvious. Fortunately, the texture of the model (and its color) closely matched that of greenstuff, so the sculpt marks should be unnoticeable if I did my job right.
Interestingly, the gaps on the factory-glued portions are just as harsh as the ones I had glued myself.
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| Two visible gaps - where the wing connects to the back/shoulder (my glue) and where the shoulder connects to the torso (factory glued) | Filled gaps on the neck and right wing/shoulder |
Mold Lines/Sprue Marks
Secondly, the mold lines on this model are an issue. Most should be easy to fix with a knife, but some of them seem to be embedded into the model, which means I can't do much about them. I'm going to have to keep an eye on this in painting, and make sure I incorporate freehand texture into these to mask as much as I can. Raised mold lines can't be hidden by paint jobs, no matter how hard you try, but embedded ones can be disguised, sometimes.
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| Raised mold line running vertically up the wing | Sprue removal hole on the dragon's rear jawline |
"Soft" Texture
There are a few places on the model where the texture just inexplicably isn't there, particularly on the torso. I'm not sure if the mold got squished as it was casting, or if the 3D render didn't print quite right, or if the plastic didn't cure correctly. As I'm painting, I'm going to have to make sure to be very precise with my brush work to create scale texture around these areas, or the model will look flat or disfigured.
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| Soft texture on left knee, elbow | More soft texture in the right bicep, elbow, and wrist |
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| Soft texture on the right hip, and tail as it leads down from the hip | Soft texture in the left shoulder and neck |
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| Soft texture in the wing-arm, especially going up into the alula | Soft texture in the right wing, particularly in the shoulder and forewing |
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| Soft texture around the dragon's eye |
Fuzzing
The two wings are also very different in texture. One looks as though it was primed in high humidity, while the other was primed correctly. It has a fuzzy, almost sandpaper-like texture that the other does not have. I ended up gently buffing it out with some 800 grit sandpaper to try to reduce this visibility, but I'm not sure it will work in the final product. If it doesn't, the dragon will look like its wings don't belong together.
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| "Fuzzy" texture on the left wing | Texture comparison between the two wings |
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| The head also had a bit of fuzziness, but not nearly as bad as the wing. |
3D Print texture
Most disappointingly for me, I can clearly see the vertical resolution lines from the 3D print of this model. I'm spoiled with Mierce (where you pay for the quality), but I thought models with printed scan lines were a thing of the past. The lines are very visible on the wings, and in places on the scales. I'm going to have to go even more high-contrast with my paint job on these to keep the eye from finding those lines and tracing them instead of the painted-in texture.
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| Close-up of the 3D print texture visible in the wings (horizontal lines going left-right on the screen) |
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| 3D print texture visible underbelly scales (going top-to-bottom) |
Well, that's it for first thoughts on the model! Now, it's time to get him primed and start getting paint on him!
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| I saw a green dragon, and I wanted to paint it black... |
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