Mu 41 - Tales of War, Slot Gunner (Bust)

Hello to another one of MV's Miniatures Unpacked.

This Miniatures Unpacked is the start of a little series  of articles about this funny bust. Series? Yeah, sponsored by CoolMiniorNot we bring you this Unpacking, followed by a complete step by step of the paintwork on this bust.

So which bust I am talking about?
I once painted up a very cool pirate bust by the company Tales of War, named "Barracuda" and this one was real fun to do. A very characterful sculpt, more the like of a comic figure and due that fact something unusual. My version of Barracuda looked like this:

Don't forget:
You can win one "Barracuda" for your painting joy in the actual MV Quest "Can you stamp it?"

So, Barracuda is definatly not alone on his pirate ship. There are other pirates too and the one I want to do this review of is called "Slot Gunner". You already might know this figure as he is truly one of a kind. Full of emotions and somehow he really looks like something bad is happening very close. A plus on this fact. The busts character is really unique and you can hear him roar!

The figure arrives in a plastic blister. I know that this Unpacking might not be super exciting as the bust arrives in just one piece. Like Barracuda, the Slot Gunner is a one piece bust in white metal, which makes this small bust pretty heavy for such a small size. It is not bad at all but you really can feel its weight while painting it.

The size of the bust is pretty cool as it is not too big and makes it a perfect bust to paint for some happy painting joy in between.

The bust is provided with a piece of white metal beneath it. You can use it to drill a hole for a pin or - like I did - cut it off and pin directly in the busts material.

While I unpacked the bust I recognized several things I did not like. First of all I can tell I am not sure if such a heavy bust should only be packed in a plastic blister. Usual there is no damage to white metal but somehow my version here got a flat nose from travelling issues. A box would have prevented the bust from having a boxer's nose.

Second thought was: Oh hell, there are some serious mould lines. Usually they are not a big problem ro remove - it works perfect if the figure is plastic or resin - but in this case I really had to struggle to remove mould lines with a blade and sandpaper.

Well, there was still more to handle. The surface of the white metal looked like the landscape of good old moon. Very rough and with strange holes in there. I am not sure if they are wanted but I can only say I do not want to paint on this surface. I will not find joy there.

The article I once wrote about how to prepare a white metal figure will help you out with such issues. I also had to take some blade cuts, sandpaper and even steel wool to get this fella prepared properly.

Preparing a white metal miniature

Article showing you, how to prepare a miniature before painting.

 

I decided to be lazy about the nose and did not resculpt it. Instead I used some fine sandpaper and made the edges more round. Not a big thing, but now he really got his own character.

 

All in all I got say it was some though work here. My suggestion why this bust is full with mould lines and strange surface is that they are not in production anymore as far as I know and it looks like this one is one of the latest casts that were made with the mould. Moulds are getting worse by the amount of numbers they are used. This explains it for me in that case. 

 

 

What I can say is that I love the sculpt of its ingenius character. It is really great and brings a lot of fun to your eyes and heart. If you are up for some cool pirate sculpts I can recommand to you the ones of "Tales of War". They don't only have busts but also 28 mm figures. You can find a the last number of stocks at CMON-store.

As I told you there will be a little step by step on how I painted this cool fella. 

Stay tuned and enjoy the photobomb ...

 

Keep on happy painting!
Best Wishes

Roman