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Cracking stuff as usual

Well it's been a few months since my last creations hit this thread.
I've been working on this one off and on for almost a year, starting and finishing others during this time but I find this way of working suits me as I can do a bit put it down and look at it with fresh eyes and correct all my mistakes.
Another reason for the length of time is the amount of detail I needed to add to my base model used. For this build I had a Batman Forever kit l had purchased ages ago initially for my "Dredd & Batman" project.
As usual I have added photos of the model after it's been primed, base coated and finished.

For those interested (atp) I'll also add a wee bit on my workings so hopefully that will help in my final grade.

So this time I give you Deadlock my 3rd warrior build and over all 5th warrior member I now possess (see last pic). Deadlock is not one of my favourites tooth characters and would probably not even make my top 20 but he is currently in my top 3 builds. My one is based on Kevin Walkers version in "Khronicles of Khaos" I hope I have picked up most of the details in his art and done his version justice.

Now to the boring stuff.

Starting with the basic kit. I start to play about with the pose I want. Usually I have to do a bit of cutting and manipulating but with this one it was fairly easy. Once I have a "vision" in my head I think about how I'm going to get there.
During this process I'm always thinking how easy is this going to be to paint. If it's tricky then I make the piece to be added. In  Deadlocks case things like his loin cloth, sword, sword welding a arm and cloak amongst other small add ons we're made separately. When making these I constantly make tweaks and place them onto the model itself to get the right look and position. For example once I had added the shoulder pads as part of his body my next issue was how to add his cape. I got round this by adding part of his cape onto the shoulder pads and making the join where his hood joins the rest of the cape. This allowed me to work on the 2 separate parts easier and at my leisure. This was to be invaluable as I'd not reckoned on how the sword sheath would lie between his back and the cape. Initially this pushed the cape too far from the body.
I got around this by merging the sword sheath with the cape by cutting the cape and pushing the sheath into the cape. This resulted in a "bump" in the cape which I like.
Other things I wanted on the cape are the tentacles flapping in the wind. I thought about creating these out of milliput but these would be quite brittle. Thankfully I don't throw away any trimmings from my kits and I found a couple of strips I had taken from the cape itself and then attached them back on. These are flexible and won't break off while assembling and painting.

On the body itself it was done in layers to give a more natural look. So all the wires, cables and tubes needed to go on first then the armour.

The base was shaped from plywood and covered with air dry clay this allows me to press the feet in for a better surface to attach the model as well as adding in pot marks from explosions and others. To further strengthen the model in place I drilled through the base and the feet. This allows me to thread wire up into the legs. I've done this with all my models on a base.

The prime coat is self explanatory and I'm a slapdash painter when adding the base coats. Finally(almost) it's the my favourite part in bringing the model to life. I give it a wash with a well watered down suitable colour depending on the base coat but black normally does most. I then dry brush (heavily) on top which is usually the same as the base coat underneath. Then repeat the processes until I'm happy with the "depth" and texture I'm happy with - I get less heavy on the dry brushing unless I'm covering up my mistakes.
Once happy I add in the highlights in Deadlocks case a brass colour on the body and silver for his gubbings.

Finally finally I get to glue the additional bits and pieces and see if all the months of moulding, carving, sanding, pondering, changing and painting pays off.

Hope you enjoy the results











P.S. Joe (assembled & painted by myself) & Blackblood(boughs as is) were bought model kits so I had to add to the gang

Rogue Trooper

ABC Warriors

Insurrection

Lawless

Low life

VCs

Halo Jones

Strontium Dog

Bad Company

Feral & Foe

Low life

Acht, unfortunately no show for the Edinburgh gig for me,  I'll be on Porty beach that aftie celebrating the life of one of the greats who passed during lockdown.

As long as you don't feed the seagulls

ABC Warriors