May was a slow hobby month as I spent some time recovering from the surgeon’s blade!
One of the projects that I started in April and completed in May was another RAFM game set for the Settlers of Catan game. It was a gift from my daughter and son-in-law, and I had it in the painting queue for a while. The set is made of white metal (likely britannia). I had completed most of the painting in April, and finished and varnished the project in May. Each set consists of figures that represent 15 roads, 5 settlements, 4 cities, and one robber. This one is Chinese-themed, and joins my Viking and Egyptian sets. I opened the set, cleaned up and filed some loose casting remnants, and washed everything with mild soap and a toothbrush. After a good rinse and a thorough drying, they were ready to paint. I decided to go with a red and gray theme, which are my Fitchburg High school colors!
As you can see above, the details of the figures are variable. The robber really was not well-detailed, and I attempted to rectify this with the brush. On the previous two sets, I mounted all of the figures to popsicle sticks for ease of painting. I elected not to do that this time as I did not want to have to deal with painting the undersides with affixed glue. I did mount the robber on a 1″ steel washer. This was fine.
I made a change again and used a brush primer as April was very cold and I did not want to wait until New England cooperated with 50°F – and that was a good call. I used Citadel “Imperial Primer” slightly diluted with Testors “Universal Acrylic Thinner” in two coats for priming. I then drybrushed all the figures with Americana “Santa Red”. My next step was to use Secret Weapons Washes “Red Black” ink and apply a thorough wash all over the figures. Then I painted the trees and bushes on the road sections with Armory “Chestnut Brown”.
On the roads (which resembled sections of the Great Wall), I painted the boulders with Americana “Zinc”. I then applied another wash with “Red Black” ink. To create the effect of the greenery, trees, and shrubs, I highlighted successively with Citadel “Niblet Green” and “Nurgling Green”.
On the settlements, I painted the paved spaces between the buildings and the river and the bridge with “Zinc”, followed by a coat of “Red Black” ink on the pavement. The river got a treatment of Americana “Sky Blue” followed by Reaper MSP “Blue Liner” as a wash. The river edges and buildings were highlighted and lined with Vallejo “Red”.
For the cities, I used “Zinc” on the stairways, and more “Red Black” ink as a wash. I then highlighted the walls and framework of the large temple with the Vallejo “Red”.
I did not go crazy with the robber as I really was unimpressed with the figure. He looked like a Japanese Ninja in a Chinese set! So I used the same patterns with the same reds as the other figures. I painted his bedroll with “Zinc”, his bandana and gloves with Americana “Ebony”, and his hair and boots with Americana “Onyx”. P3 “Midland Flesh” was my choice for his face, with Vallejo “White” and “Ebony” for the eyes. I highlighted his headband and his robes with Vallejo “Red”. On his dagger I used FolkArt “Gunmetal Gray” highlighted with Tamiya “Titanium Silver”. For the handle of his dagger, I gave him a splash of Citadel “Gehenna’s Gold”. On his base, I used Citadel “Martian Ironcrust” and a blow dryer to create the crackling effect. And again, I added more “Red Black”.
I also want to note here that the bottoms of all of these figures were painted with the same red combinations. Lastly, as these are game pieces, I wanted to give them a good protective coat of varnish from bottom to top. They all got three successive applications of varnish with sufficient drying time in between. Of course, I needed a warm day (above 70°F) for this. I used Krylon “Glossy”, followed by Krylon “Clear Matte”, followed by Testors “Dullcoat”.
I am satisfied with the project – and now I only need one more (the Bavarian set) to have all of them. Certainly a worthy gaming project!
Mark A. Morin 