The Phantom of the Opera

Another different thing for a change (again)! Organ music, please!

[Daaaaa Da-da-da-da-daaaaaa...]

I had thought for a long time about doing this, and I finally got the chance. As the title suggests (ehm, maybe more than 'suggest'...), I am aiming for this guy:

 

I look angry because there is no mini of me all over the market

 

I needed to use a proxy, and I finally found it in the wonderful Andrea ranges. I would use this 54mm. Dracula:

 

No, I'm not going to sing

 

The kit looks his way:

 

I won't be using the bats nor the candelabrum

I was not specifically aiming at the Gerald Butler lookings, but that Bela Lugosi face was not exactly the aspect I was expecting for the Phantom of the Opera. Fortunately the mask would help me much indeed:

 

I also repositioned the hand

Here you can see the mask

I chose to paint and model on the go, in different steps. I had to paint the inner cloak as I would not reach it later. Onece glued, I could keep on converting the mini. As you can see, I softened a little the cheek marks to make him look a little younger. He had to be middle-aged, but not old.

 

I also wanted a gentleman's cloak, not a vampire's one

Some colour!

The scenic base also needed some attention. I tried to give it a damp aspect, being the underground tunnels of the Opera:

 

I tried to be a little bit atmospherical. I was listening the musical while painting

I then realized there was one thing about the Phantom that I didn't like. I had not been able to identify it. The 'old man' issue was still there, but I didn't know what was it. It finally appeared to be the shape of the head. The hair so stuck to the skull gave the man quite an older aspect. I added some volume:

 

Phase one. You are beginning to hear the music softly in your head

Phase two. In dreams he sang to meee, in sleep he came...

 
The rest was just a matter of painting the brocade on the vest and some other details:

 

That voice which calls for meeee, and speaks my naaaameee

And do I dreeeam agaaain, for now I fiiind...

The Phaaaaaaaan-tomoftheOpera is theeere, inside my miiind

 

I have enjoyed a lot (indeed) converting and painting this one. The pics somehow burn the colours, but there are different tones of black (the suit, the inner cloak and the outer cloak).

If only I could find a 54mm. girl properly dressed, I'd just love to do a diorama of the Phantom and Christine. Boat scene maybe or something like that. If you know any suitable mini, I'm open to all ideas :).

Finally, if for any chance you are not that fond of organ music, I'll leave you with this other version ;)

Hope you like it all!

The Last of the Mohicans

Once again the title says it all ;)

The wife is a huge fan of 'The Last of the Mohicans' movie (she says it's way much better than the book as it's more romantic; well, that's another story...). She asked me if I could find a figure of Daniel Day-Lewis.

 

The guy

 

 Unfortunately I wasn't able to find anything in a suitable scale. Right, Warlord Games produces a 'Last of the Mohicans' set for their FIW range, but that's 28mm. scale and I was aming for something a little bit bigger, for a vignette.

Most probably someone now can tell me any obvious option, but I must say that, after browsing the net for a while, I wasn't able to find one. But what I did find was this gorgeous 54mm. mini by Andrea Miniatures:

 

Pic taken from their webpage. Go visit!

 

'The Volunteer (1776)'. Ahem. Definitely a Not-Mel Gibson in 'The Patriot'. The mini fitted the scale and general purpose, it was running and... it had a tomahawk! Looks like we have a winner...

(Beware! What you are about to see is a bunch of awful phone pics which, besides my legendary clumsyness taking photos, may result in eye harming to the viewer. Go on under your own responsibility)

 

Told you. You were warned

Some green stuff here and there

And then some more

 

The most challenging issue was transforming Mel Gibson's face (the sculptor of the mini is great, you could see the very Mel Gibson there) into Daniel Day-Lewis'. Mel Gibson's face is kinda wide with round compact edges and a quite characteristic nose, while Daniel Day-Lewis' face is longer, thinner and with very distinctive hairlines, cheeks and chin. Of course I lack the skills to sculpt a whole face, not even talking about portraying anybody in a mini. So I had to do what I could with the base face.

 

I deserve a 'you tried' internet meme

  

He might not exactly look like Daniel Day-Lewis, but I think that the mini on the whole should be recognizable enough.

 

Hope that the hairlines and hair help to contribute to the general concept

Sculpting flowing hair was a pain in the *ss

 

The original mini came with a tomahawk, but it was on the wrong hand. I cut out the tomahawk and used a Games Workshop knife for Nathaniel's left hand. You might have heard about the ridiculously oversized weapons used in 'heroic scale' games (never liked that absurd euphemism). Well, that's true. A knife designed for a 28mm. mini fits perfectly in this 54mm model. Makes you think about what's wrong with weapons scale in Warhammer...

 

Just as if it was designed for the mini

 

After replacing the rifle in his right hand for the tomahawk, I had an idea of how the model would look in the end.

 

That's it. Now the paint!

 

I was unsure about what to think of the results. The palette I had to use was quite limited and I was afraid of being all the same, with little varation between the face and the clothes.

 

Grrr, I'm the crazy albino berserker

 

But it didn't end that bad (at least I want to believe that):

 

I almost miss the Indian tattoo, had to do it when I was already working on the base

 

Using the original base as a starting point, I expanded it a little. The model also included a couple of trees without leaves, so I had to add some vegetation in order to make the vignette a resemblance of the movie.

I always talk you about the OST of every movie. Come on, in this case it's unavoidable!

You have it in your mind...

Running to the rescue!

So this is it, a small vignette of a movie. Some hard work (and a lot of time!) required, that's why I've been slow on my general paint production rate. I'm currently working on another totally different project involving a huge number of minis. What can that be...? I'll disclose you the secret in a few days!

Between the times when the oceans drank Atlantis...

I really should begin quoting the novel: 'Know, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities...'

But this is about the movie, so let the silence be heard; the lone drum... and Mako's deep voice:

 'Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis, and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of. And onto this, Conan, destined to wear the jeweled crown of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow. It is I, his chronicler, who alone can tell thee of his saga. Let me tell you of these days of high adventure!'

 

Basil Poledouris OST sounding now

I have to ask you to be indulgent with this model. I painted it loooong years ago (maybe about fifteen? Maybe even almost up to twenty; it should have been about the early-mid nineties, give or take). It was my first non-28mm., a 54mm. model by Andrea Miniatures.

 

Crom, grant me repaint!

And if you do not listen, then to hell with you!

This obviously needs being repainted, but I still wanted to show it to you, as I'm a huge fan of the character and the movie. I mean the only movie that has been shot. Nope, there has not been any sequel. Nor any reboot. Only one Conan movie was ever shot.

Only. One.

I have lots (tons!) of pending work on my queue, but I must find some room for this model again...

Braveheart

A little diorama today, don't wanna overload you with ships :)

This was a commission work to achieve a Braveheart scene.

 

I guess you already know the movie

 

As the client gave me absolute freedom, the option was clear for me, I used this wonderful model by Andrea Miniatures. This was going to be a full set diorama, so I also chose this other mini, to get two minis on the base. Both are 54 mm. scale and absolutely gorgeous.

 

No, it's not a Futurama head

 

I started with the basic stuff:

Dancing body

Coloured dancing body

Dismembered dancing body

  Then I went on the funny mayhem. Painting the tartan. If you study a little about the production stuff, you can see this is the pattern used in the movie:

It was later auctioned for an obscene amout of money

Okay, first time I've ever painted anything like this. Little bit scary, I must confess. I went for the horizontal stripes first:

 

The pose reminds me of Tony Manero

This mess only reminds me of Jack the Ripper

 

 And then for the vertical ones: 

No way! Too bright and clean!

Much better

The same with the other guy

The project begins to look like something. I glued some pieces then:

So the parts fit in

I had to pay attention then to the blue paint on the faces. I got some pics frome the movie.

Grrrrrrrr!!!!

Mad Stephen

The mini does not really depict Mad Stephen, I'm quite sure of that, but I think it's a funny charismatic character in the movie and the model reminded me of him, it was quite similar enough, so I decided the mini would represent him.

Once the minis were finished they had these lookings:

 

They may take our lives...!

...but they'll never take our freedom!

 

View from the scot guys perspective

This mini is quite imposing

Dynamic and forceful



The next step was the base:

Ugly phone photo

After some putty/greenstuff work this was the result:

Some battle spoils. Andrea Miniatures manufactured again

Alba gu bràth! (I googled that, I'm afraid)

I'm really disappointed with the greenstuff grass, I have to improve a lot

Though the movie does not resist, as any of this kind, any minimally serious historical review (and I will say no more), the scene of the Battle of Stirling is really evocative and no one can argue that. I hope I have caught some of the spirits of it.