Zealot Miniatures Magic Portal (Blue)

This is another resin terrain piece using a translucent plastic insert to represent an inter-dimensional passageway. In this case, the popular circular shape was chosen for the generating mechanism. I purchased this piece at the same time as the Demon Gate late last year. The plastic insert is available in blue or red.

Remember: It's a portal, not a gate. Very important.

Preparation
The resin required nothing more than a scrubbing with warm soap and water. I had to remove and sand down a tab on the clear plastic insert. The insert has a significant flaw, but it doesn't stand out (much) at tabletop distances.

Planning
The Magic Portal comes in four parts - the two halves of the circular portal, the platform, and the insert. I decided to prime and paint everything before assembly. Painting the assembled piece would require trying to keep paint off the insert. That seemed to be a great deal of trouble for no real benefit.

Rosie considers another piece of hardware she's been asked to fix.

Plastic Insert
The insert was a little underwhelming out of the package. The swirling details weren't really visible in the clear plastic. There was also the flaw in the material. I decided to apply a wash to bring out the details, hide the flaw, and protect the plastic from the fogging effects of the glue I would be using later on. The initial layers of Secret Weapon W015 Blue didn't coat to my satisfaction. The follow up layers of Secret Weapon W016 Green covered this material better.

Primer Coat
Tamiya Surface Primer (L) in Gray sprayed over all resin parts.

First Paint Coat
As with the Demon Gate, I applied a layer of FolkArt 479 Pure Black diluted with water to darken up the Tamiya Gray and fill the recessed details on the resin parts.

Second Paint Coat
FolkArt 480 Titanium White brushed on the upper areas as a highlight and outward from the inside of the portal.

Magic Portal and Demon Gate comparison.

Source Lighting
A mix of FolkArt 720 Cobalt Blue and Sargent Art Cadmium Green lightened with FolkArt 480 Titanium White as needed. The circular generator would block some of the light from the magical portal, so the glow effect didn't need to be as extensive as on the Demon Gate. I started by brushing on the Cobalt Blue/Cadmium Green mix over all areas that would be touched by light from the portal. Each following layer covered a slightly smaller area closer to the portal. I mixed in a little more Titanium White with each layer until I was using almost pure white right next to the portal.

Touch Up
I ended up overdoing the glow effect in some areas. I brushed on some FolkArt 2561 Steel Gray to bring back an approximation of the base color.

Assembly
This was a straightforward matter of gluing the two halves of the circular gateway around the plastic insert. I had to clamp the halves together to give the Gorilla Super Glue time to work. Then I glued the assembled portal to the platform and clamped that together until everything was solid.

Does this remind anyone of anything?

There is a visible line around the circular resin piece. This is one of the resin halves overlapping the other. I considered sanding it down and repainting the edge, but decided against it. This would remove some the details on the edge and the line isn't as noticeable at tabletop distances.

Close up of the seam between the two halves of the circular portal generator.

It's ironic that this was the piece that I was most looking forward to while the Demon Gate was an afterthought. The Magic Portal works with 28mm scale miniatures, but a 32mm figure might have to duck down a bit to fit through. It would fit in fine if used for 15mm scale games. Together, the Magic Portal and Demon Gate give me options whenever I need an extradimensional passage to and from another space and time. Overall, though, I like the Demon Gate a little more than its rounder counterpart.

Zealot Miniatures Demon Gate (Red)

This is a resin piece with a translucent plastic insert representing a portal generated by pointy bits instead of a ring thingy. I purchased mine from Zealot Miniatures when I was going hog wild over various Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sales late last year. The plastic insert is available in red or blue. I opted for red given the aggressively spiky appearance of the resin model. The glow effect took some time and effort, but I think it turned out well.

Not ominous. At all.

Preparation
There were some bits that needed to be fixed. The plastic insert had a rough edge that needed to be sanded down. I also had to remove a tab on the resin part. The biggest issue was that the resin piece tended to wobble, so I had to sand down the bottom to get it to sit level. Following that was the usual scrubbing in warm soap and water. I set the clear plastic inset aside - no priming or paint was applied to it.

"I think we're guarding the wrong thing." "Yes. Yes, you are."

Primer Coat
Tamiya Surface Primer (L) in Gray sprayed evenly over the resin piece.

First Paint Coat
I brushed on a layer of FolkArt 479 Pure Black diluted with water to darken the gray primer and fill in the recessed details.

Second Paint Coat
Next came a light dry brush of FolkArt 480 Titanium White as a highlight on the uppermost areas.

"How about you go through and see what's on the other side?" "How about no."

Glow Effect
I used layers of FolkArt 437 Lipstick Red, 932 Calico Red, and 480 Titanium White to color the crystals sculpted on the model and build up the glow effect radiating out from the crystals and portal. My initial attempt turned out more pink than red. The solution was to darken it down with washes and dry brush more of the glow colors with more of an emphasis on the darkest red color. The washes were FolkArt 479 Pure Black and 231 Real Brown diluted with water. Excess wash was wiped away to prevent pooling. The second layer of red glow colors worked much better.

Assembly
I glued on the red plastic insert with a drop of Tacky Glue. This was to avoid any potential issues with using superglue on clear plastic. No primer or paint was used on the plastic insert.

What happens if somebody goes through the back of one of these things?

This was a quick and fun rainy day project. The completed piece has a distinctive look and works well with 15mm and 28mm scale miniatures. I'm really pleased with how the red glow came out. I'm not sure if I can convince any players to risk their characters on a trip through it, but I can always have something step out of it for a visit.

Black Friday/Cyber Monday Haul 2021 - Part 2

Here's the last couple of tabletop gaming related items that a combination of crass commercialism and lack of self-discipline put into my possession. Since I've done a fair job of getting things done lately, I don't feel too guilty about adding to the project pile. We will see how long they sit around until I get to them.

From left to right - Magic Portal, Demon Gate, 

Zealot Miniatures

This is a company in the United Kingdom that offers a variety of resin miniatures, terrain pieces, and conversion bits for fantasy and sci-fi settings. My order was processed quickly and arrived as soon as could be expected given the state of international shipping. This order is my first purchase from them.

Magic Portal (Blue)
I've had my eye on this one for awhile due to its resemblance to the means of interstellar transport of a popular sci-fi franchise. It also wouldn't look out of place in a fantasy setting. The acrylic insert is also available in red.

Demon Gate (Red)
A more ominous looking alternative to the above terrain. The appearance is more fantastic than the Magic Portal, but it could work in a sci-fi game as an alien construct. A blue insert is also available.

As the names suggest, these pieces represent generators for space-time distortions that can be wandered through to end up at a far away destination. Both are part of Zealot Miniatures' Dungeon Scenery line. Each is made of resin with a clear acrylic insert representing the distortion. The resin body comes in multiple parts, requiring assembly and painting.

Zealot Miniatures also included some Christmas freebies with my order. These are tiny resin pieces resembling a stocking and Christmas decorations. I'll put these aside until I get around to a Christmas themed board.