17/01/2021

Revisiting kind of a classic

 I'm not sure if I can call this mini a 'classic', but it kind of meets some of the criteria. It's a special character with his own profile and background on the Codex, it's a devoted mini, not a generic one, it's from the late 90's (97 or 98, I'd say)...

 I'm talking about this one. Let's call it the classic mini of Nazdreg Ug Urdgrub:

You may say it's not the best Ork Warboss mini among the Ork Warbosses minis. Though you have to convene the concept art by John Blanche was quite difficult to turn into a mini:

This one was generously donated (alongside a huge -I mean huge- batch of other old minis) by most openhanded Iain White from Caveadsum1471, who is a true gentleman (thank you so much!), and I decided to put my hands on old Nazdreg first.

I'm not a big fan of the original sculpt, as I think the shoulders and the whole position of the arms look a little bit strange. So first thing to do was to set the arms a little bit below the original concept.

I also replaced the 5-fingered hand with a modern Ork claw (from modern Commissar Yarrick!!)

Now I had that uneasy gap between the arms and the shoulderpads, so I sculpted new secondary shoulderpads. I cheated a little: as I wasn't to drill the gun barrels, I added greenstuff and made artificial holes.

If it works, it works!

After a few more details, this is what I got:

New me!

Having so many Bad Moons sculpted all over, I of course had to paint him yellow. Bad Moons is the new skulls.



I think I could have done a much better work on the back banner. I may redo it.  Not sure if I will use him as Nazdreg himself or a generic Ork Meganob, but I'm happy with the result.

If only I had a proper vehicle or something for such a character...

22 comments:

  1. If only... XD

    Awesome work, I love the colour of the armour, maybe you can use the same pattern (black, yellow, blue flames, green fangs) for certain Great Gargant you have...


    ;)

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    1. Thank you! But... what are you implying? That I am doing colour tests to see what works and what doesn't? That would be so... un-Orky!!

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  2. Awesome work! Looks much better :)

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    1. Thank you! Glad you like it, it was a little bit risky, but I think it turned out reasonably well :)

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  3. Love the way it turned out, very orky! 😎
    Also know some of ork characters from the past, would love to put my brushonsome of them one day 😉

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    1. Thanks! Well, I think you would do some impressive work on Orks and so, I love the way you master the skin tones on your minis, you certainly must give it a try!!

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  4. Fantastic conversion work! The newer edition Power Claw fits the old style figure remarkably well too!

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    1. Thank you! It was a nice surprise; I tend to favour oldschool aesthetics when it comes to Orks, with round shapes and so, but the claw looked better than I expected, so I decided to use it. Glad you like it!

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  5. I like what you did with those arms, the whole thing turned out great! I painted mine up not too long ago and, although I agree with you that he's not the best ork warboss miniature by a long shot, he was still a joy to paint up.

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    1. Thank you! Yup, I'm keeping an eye on your greenskins, I like what you are doing. Besides, having more Orksies around is always encouraging :D

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  6. Splendid conversion work on the ork warboss,I bought him new so his been in a box for 20 years, you've done a lovely job on him!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thank you very much! I wasn't sure where to start, but it was a pure joy. I have to set a plan for the rest of the Orks... )

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  7. I've never seen this model before. He seems like a mixture of Rogue Trader and modern ork styles. You've done a really good job on the converting and the painting, especially given the rather wild concept art (personally, I think Blanche is better at people than aliens). I quite like the back banner, especially the moon symbol at the top. Good work!

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    1. Thank you! Yes, it was a transition time, I guess. But that not so defined style made it perfect for my purposes, as the new claw for example worked fine on the old model. It's always fun to make this kind of reinterpretations :D

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  8. I'm in love. You cannot go wrong with Bad Moon Yellow!

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    1. Oi, hummie, yur right! :D
      I dreaded it was 'too yellow', but it looked good enough in the end, haha! I may use more colour combos in the future, but I don't have a clear plan for the palette (that's not a decent Ork's way!)

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  9. Era necesario darle una vuelta a esa mini, que era horrible. Tampoco has podido hacer maravillas, pero teniendo en cuenta el punto de partida, el resultado es notable.
    En cuanto al pintado, en la línea tan buena a la que nos tienes acostumbrado

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    1. La cabeza y hombros forman un mazacote imposible de separar, así que lo único que podía hacer era bajar los hombros y disimular el resto. Creo que funciona como mini, así que me vale :D

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  10. A huge improvement on the original! I never liked the bizarre arms-waving pose. Your conversion has added much needed gravitas, bulk and menace! Brilliant conversion and fantastic paintwork!

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    1. Thank you! I believe there was something inherently wrong with the center of gravity of the mini. The guy was uneasily slender, when he was supposed to look exactly the opposite. The conversion is pretty simple, but I think it gives another totally different reinterpretation of the character, or at least I hope so!

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  11. Another great ork ... conversions do make them better, for sure!

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    1. Thanks! It was part of the challenge, to revisit the character and repurpose him. Glad you like it!

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