Saturday, March 23, 2013

67. Stylish Survivors

If you must survive the Zombie Apocalypse, you might as well do so with style and flair.

I've  just finished painting up some Survivors, or at least some hot chicks with guns.  Whether they're surviving or forcing others to survive is still open for debate.

I also painted up a token dude and a dog.  Dogs are great for getting hot chicks to notice you.  So's the bright red hair, but they may not notice you the way you want them to!

Click the pics for a larger view.  These are all 28mm scale figures.  The manufacturer is listed under each picture.  Links to the manufacturer's webpages are at the end of this blog.
Smile for the camera.  The post-apocalyptic camera!
Why, yes, those are nice paper buildings.  Thank you!
These are Copplestone's "Corporate Babes 2," Pack FW46.
I like the rear view.  Perhaps a little too much to be healthy....
This is my favorite figure of the group.  I'm really not that into the whole "schoolgirl uniform" thing, I just like the pose.  She exudes a confidence well beyond her (assumed) schoolgirl years.
Plus I really like the plaid paint job.  I'm a touch proud of that.  It's the first plaid I've ever painted.  Could it be better?  Sure, but I still like it.
I thought about adding blood to the sword, but in general I stay away from overt evidence of the fighting the figures do.  I simply like the clean look better.
This lady is somewhat mature, dressed more for a night on the town, I think, than a business meeting (the fur-trimmed jacket tells me that).  I added the "Morticia" white stripes as an afterthought; just felt she needed a little "extra" something.
I'm not sure where she is going to put that gun when she's finished with it.  The dress doesn't leave much room for a concealed-carry holster....
This is a New Age kind o' gal.  Bright colors, hot pink hair, not afraid to show her midriff.  Anyone who's brave enough to wear, not just a mini-skirt but, a micro-mini-skirt deserves hot pink hair and bright yellow boots!
At least she's got somewhere to put her pistol when she gets tired of carrying it.  She's also the only lefty in the group.
Here's another gal dressed for a night on the town.  She's slightly more elegant in terms of what she's wearing:  but then again, you're always dressed appropriately for the occasion when you bring a machine gun with you.
All in all, she's relatively unadorned.  No gaudy necklace.  No superfluous handbag.  Just a gun and white pumps.
She does have a cute little white bow on her left hip, which is pretty well hidden by the pose.  Oh, and her dress is slit waaaay up.  That probably counts for something.
Here's the last of the Corporate Babes.  She looks all business to me, for sure.  Grey suit, prim hairstyle, no-nonsense facial expression.
She does have makeup on, but that would seem to be the last concession to her femininity she'll make.  "Glass ceiling, my @ss!"
She's high-class.  Notice that those are actual silk stockings, as evidenced by the seam line....
 
Here are the last of the lovely ladies:  two seriously hardcore damsels.  The one on the left is "Dionne (b)" (HFA021) from Hasslefree Miniatures.  The one on the right is "Girl Werewolf Hunter" (WH1) from Copplestone Castings.  They both have two handguns.  They both look totally prepared to kick @ss:  yours, mine, and anyone else who gets in the way!
I've only ever seen either of them painted all in black.  And while black is totally appropriate, I didn't want them BOTH in black.  So I opted for a little photo-negativity, so to speak.  Not only in the clothing but in the hair too.
In other words, I painted one with black hair and white clothes, and the other with white hair and black clothes.  Personally, while the Copplestone girl is a more dynamic pose, I always think she's about to fall over backwards.  Is she running forwards, or diving backwards out of the way, firing as she falls?  Dunno.  I DO know that the Hasslefree girl is much more menacing and composed:  she's coming for you and you ain't a-gonna be able to stop her.
This view isn't nearly as interesting as the view of the other girls, but I include it for completeness' sake.
At last we come to the token male.  I know you've all been awaiting his arrival breathlessly.  This is "Ray" (HFA007) from Hasslefree Miniatures.  Yes, he's wielding a double-barreled sawed-off shotgun, and a cricket bat.  Yeah, that's what I though too.
Ray has had rather a bad day, I think.  He's a bit stressed out.  While on the one hand he's dressed pretty conservatively in khakis and a nice Oxford dress shirt, on the other hand he's wearing a piano tie (circa 1985) and has dyed his hair bright flaming red!  "I've taken about as much of this as I can stand!"  It's obvious he's a little unhinged.  I mean, who wears a piano tie anymore?  ;-)
Here's a rear-view shot, just to prove that I'm fair to the ladies as well.  Enjoy, ladies!
Well, that's all, folks.  I'm afraid I forgot to take a separate picture of the dog.  For all you dog-lovers out there:  my apologies.  However, it is just a dog.  Plus, I have absolutely no idea of where I got it, so I can't link to it.  (It is very odd for me to not know where I acquired a miniature.  I can usually tell you exactly where I was, what time of day it was, and how long it's been in my closet.  Alas that I can't say the same thing about my kids' birthdays!  [I kid, I kid, I almost never forget their birthdays.])

Two more thoughts about the miniatures:  first, I suppose technically these are not purely Survivors; they're really just girls with guns, exactly as the advertising suggests:  "Corporate Babes" with guns.  Second, I painted the bases grass-green to match almost the entirety of my collection, as opposed to the pavement-grey I painted on my zombies' bases.  I really didn't even stop to think about it, as it's practically muscle memory to paint the bases green.  I do think, now, that grey might have worked out better on the whole, but as green is a natural color I think it is acceptable.  Plus, the sand I use to texture the bases doesn't really lend itself well to looking like concrete.

Lastly, I would like to point out that while I generally don't like to add blood (as I mentioned under the girl with the katana), I did add it to Ray's cricket bat.  This was a color palette choice:  I wanted a darker red to help both offset and draw the eye to his hair.  You'll notice that the bat's handle is dark red too, for that same reason.


The Corporate Babes 2 are from Copplestone Casting's "Future Wars/Civilians" line, as is the Girl Werewolf Hunter.






Ray and Dionne are from Hasslefree Miniatures' "Modern Adventurers" line.



Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to look at my little corner of the web!

13 comments:

  1. Unusual and fantastic looking figures! Great work!
    Phil.

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  2. Nice looking bunch. I think the matrix style ladies are my favorite. Off to have a closer look at your paper terrain.

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    1. Thanks, Sean. Most of the paper terrain pages have links to where I found them, but if you need something let me know!

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  3. Wow! Excellent paint jobs all around! I love the different hair colors, natural and dyed, the detail on the faces, the shading and color choices, the black and white duo is inspired, the plaid looks great (something I continuously struggle with getting to look even just barely passable). Great work!

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    1. FB, I really appreciate your kind words. Seriously, thanks for taking the time to look around and to comment. And the plaid is actually pretty easy. I found a link in a thread on TMP that led me to a How-to article, and bang it was done. Let me know if you want that link.

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    2. Ooh, yes, please! I've read various tips on painting plaids and keep looking at different examples I like on miniatures. Always looking for more tips.
      Thanks!

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  4. Sorry for the delay. Here's the TMP link:
    http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=47452

    which led me to this link:
    http://www.angelfire.com/tx/ToySoldier/tartan.htm

    which I printed out to have next to my table.

    Good luck!

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  5. Thanks for the links! Now, if I can only learn to paint thin straight lines over "pleated" miniature kilts and the folds of great plaids! ha ha

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  6. Hi Kelly!!! I've finally taken the Google plunge and created my blogspot account. It's at http://thepouncingtiger.blogspot.com. Not to much to see there yet, but hopefully that will change soon.

    I'm still following your posts. Really enjoying the pics of your figures.

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  7. P.S. I think Copplestone girl is moving forward but in the process of decelerating — hence the backward-leaning pose. =)

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