Bombshell Miniatures Bug Spray

This is "Bug Spray" from Bombshell Miniatures, based on artwork by Matt Dixon. This 32mm scale miniature was introduced as part of Bombshell's "Babes" Kickstarter back in 2012. It is no longer available for purchase from Bombshell Miniatures.

"Bug Spray" going to work.

"Bug Spray" seems to draw from a variety of genre sources. Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley - particularly her depiction in Aliens - may have been the inspiration. The clothes would not be out of place on Tomb Raider's Lara Croft. And the purple hair (as seen on the original artwork) reminds me of Leela from Futurama.

Painting this figure is part of an ongoing effort to complete the out of production products in my collection. I also wanted a straightforward miniature painting project - no hydrophobic plastic to deal with or parts to assemble. This was also a chance to try out a couple of the Secret Weapon washes I picked up awhile back.

Skin
Reaper 09044 Tanned Skin. A clean, even layer was important to provide a foundation for the later wash layer.

Hair
My initial approach was a base layer of Reaper 09025 Burgundy Wine with Reaper 09024 Amethyst Purple applied as highlight. The results were disappointing. There was too much contrast between the two layers. I applied some watered down 09025 Burgundy Wine to better blend the two colors and darken the overall appearance of the hair. Next time I decide to try for purple hair, I might try reversing the initial process - using 09024 Amethyst Purple with some thinned down 09025 Burgundy Wine as a wash.

I'm not sure if the weapon is supposed to be a flame thrower, a plasma projector, or just a BFG.

Shorts
I went with a clean layer of Reaper 09158 Olive Drab and relying on the wash for shading and details.

Top
Reaper 09074 Palomino Gold with 09009 Lemon Yellow for highlighting. There was a strong contrast between the layers, but I knew that the wash I planned on applying later would bring it down.

Leather Accessories
The boots, gloves, and belt all got a clean coat of Reaper 09284 Lonestar Leather. It is a good color for relatively new leather. I would normally apply another color for a more weathered appearance, but I wanted to see what the wash layer would do.

Band Aid
Preserving this detail from the original artwork was a nice touch on Bombshell Miniature's part. Reaper 09233 Bright Skin is too pink to be useful as a skin tone, but works fine for a plastic adhesive bandage.

Weapon
I dipped into my last bottles of old Citadel Colour metallics for this part. Boltgun for the body. Tin Bitz for some of the details with Shining Gold as a highlight. Again, I was relying on the wash layer to bring things together.

Note the adhesive bandage on the right knee. A nice touch on the sculpt!

Weapon - Wash Layer
Secret Weapon W003 Armor Wash. The black-brown brings out the details and gives the weapon a used look.

Almost Everything Else - Wash Layer
Everything except the weapon, the hair, and the adhesive bandage got a layer of Secret Weapon W005 Flesh Wash. Secret Weapon calls it a "medium orange/brown tint" on their website. The tint turned out darker than I expected, but the dirty look fits the figure. The wash works well with the Reaper 09044 Tanned Skin to produce a sun-kissed tone. There is a shine that I initially found a little annoying, but I realized that it helps sell the idea of sweaty and exhausted woman who is having a bad day.

Reaper Bones 77310 Water Weird

This is a Reaper Bones Water Weird glued to a LED tea light. I wanted a straightforward project after the grind late last month of getting Kaladrax Reborn done by Halloween. I didn't quite achieve that goal, but close enough.

The yellow LED works better at simulating fire, but the effect isn't bad on the table.

This figure was introduced as part of the Reaper Miniatures Bones II: The Return of Mr Bones Kickstarter. I deliberately didn't get the core set for Reaper Miniatures Bones II. The amount of miniatures that showed up with the first one left me with little need for more. Instead, I picked out a few that looked interesting. That was the last Reaper Bones Kickstarter that I participated in. These days, I figure I'll pick up whatever Bones miniatures I want after they become available on the Reaper Miniatures website.

This isn't the first time I've used a LED tea light to modify a transparent plastic miniature. I basically copied the process I used for the Large Fire Elemental. As with that previous project, I'm treating the LED tea light as a thick base for the miniature. I considered modifying the electronics to create a shorter base. Unfortunately, that would take the "straightforward" right out of this project. I also like the ease of replacing the battery by unscrewing the bottom.

Water Weird miniature on a conspicuously tall base.

LED Tea Light Base Cover

I removed the plastic flame and the cover from the LED tea light. The plastic flame went to its new home in my bits box. I spray painted the cover black to serve as the base for the miniature. Once the paint was dry, I glued on the Water Weird figure.

Water Weird Well
The well portion of the Water Weird figure got a black undercoat. This was the toughest part due to the LED. I fitted the LED back on after every layer of black paint to make sure that no light would show through the well. It ended up taking four layers of black paint. Only after that did I apply a layer of gray to simulate stone. The Water Weird itself went unpainted.

Basing
The top of the base was textured with a sand/glue/brown paint mix. Once it dried, I lightly brushed on a little sandy colored craft store paint. I brushed on a little of the same paint to highlight the well.

Testing
The final touch was screwing into the electronics and see how everything worked. No light was showing though the well portion of the miniature and the light could clearly be seen. The yellow flickering light produced by the LED works better a flame, but the effect still works.