The good news is that Anubis is nearing completion. All the brush work on the main model is done, which means I get to go back over it with an airbrush and do some weathering soon. Well, as soon as I get my ancient airbrush cleaned and up to par. The bad news is, while I was priming his wings, the wind picked up the box and, well....
Snap! went the sensitive spar on two of them. This brings us to the title of today's blog. Anubis was crafted from a clear resin that is the most infuriating shit I've ever had to work with. It has a measure of elasticity, yet it shatters. It's rock-hard and doesn't sand well at all. About the only thing it takes to is drilling, but you have to do it by hand, because a Dremel running at the slowest speed will, in fact, melt the resin, giving you a drill bit coated in black, translucent crap. The only thing it didn't do in the mold, apparently, was air-bubble, but there are enough crevices and weird imperfection on the thing that I had fits sanding it down. Oh, and did I mention that the clear resin is EXTREMELY PAINT RETARDENT. Thank heavens I had some Tamiya Mr. Surfacer on hand, because other primers just slid right off. The Anubis kit was a great deal at the price, but in retrospect, I should've passed on it completely. Once the model is finished, I may even sell it and console myself with the Revoltech (despite the heinous paint job) or Kotobukiya versions being released eventually.
Then there's this:
A General Grievous Tyracron commissioned by a client. Overall, the project went well and I'm very satisfied with it, but I wish I'd been able to use a metal Hive Tyrant instead of a Finecast one. Finecast, while being light and fluffy, is also crumbly and incredibly brittle. It has a small measure of elasticity and there were no glaring problems the sculpt, however, it's not much harder than, say, very brittle chalk, and I was nervous every time I had to cut or drill into the thing. Unlike my half-metal version, this thing is not at all top-heavy (a plus) and can stand without the larger base (the client wanted to be able to use it as a Nemesis DK) but man, is the FInecast resin ever flimsy. I can't imagine trying to work with some of the smaller models.
Now, it drilled well, took to CYA glue and paint like a champ, and generally held the detail from its casting pretty well too. Thankfully, some of the horror stories I've been reading here and there didn't apply to this kit, but nonetheless, there was some chipping of the parts right out of the box. If I'd been assembling it as a stock Tyrant, the whips and swords would have eventually just snapped right off from continued use. Luckily, those sexy serpentine lightsabers are themselves quite sturdy. I have a hunch he'll be primarily a shelf piece, but the client has a working Star Wars army, so who knows? Transport him carefully!
Some hot Grievous vs Grievous action for you.
Every Jedi's worst nightmare. For that matter, Space Marines wouldn't like two Swarmlords coming at them, either.
More commission stuff on the way, plus some Necron action (ooooh I can't wait, can you?) Yes, I did order some Ghost Arks. I may magnetize them to work as Doomsday Arks, but if the size factor is equivalent enough, then my Tyrannofexes will simply step (or hover?) into a new gunship role in my Necron army. I'm not entranced with the Annihilation Barge design, so that role may go to my Harpies. Again, it'll depend on the form factor. It looks like one or two of the things I ruminated about waaaaaay back during the Codex: Royal Necrons post are coming true, too.
Happy Monday, people.
