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HellGate – Part 21- The God of Taint Preview #2.

I did some more work on The God of Taint which I’d like to show you.

The other day I mentioned the statue I had put together and filled with putty. I attached the statue to the back of the Monster with glue and bicarb (It’s just seems to hold things more firmly than just super glue). I also lashed on a chain (a real one).

The chain was already rusted which is cool so I probably wont paint it and will just give it a dirty ink wash.

My fingers in the shot above give you some idea how big this bad boy is. My hand is only clasped around one of his legs and please note that I don’t have tiny Elven hands haha. I have big awkward hands haha. As you can see in the picture above I have holes to fill and I’m actually a long way away from finishing the build.

The Lord of Taint is actually the newer version of Fabius Bile. I always wanted the older one but never got around to getting him the new one is just as good, if not better in my humble opinion. As I love the model so much I didn’t do much in the way of converting him apart from giving him a mechanical left art. I might add a shoulder pad to the mechanical arm too as it looks a bit skinny compared the right arm/shoulder. Really cool model but the backpack and long spindly tool arms were a little tricky to put together.

I think Fabius really suits being on this podium and riding this monster.

Tonight I hope to tinker more and will be adding some bits and pieces from the Warcry Terrain kits from Games Workshop.

Imperial Rebel Ork Podcast

Episode 31 of my humble podcast is up and running on all of the usual podcast platforms.

I’d asked the question… Whats better, Metal or Plastic miniatures?

I was quite overwhelmed by the response on here (The Blog) and on Instagram and a good chunk of the show is relaying everyone opinion which was fun.

One BIG question that came out of the episode, for me, was why is metal EASIER to paint? Is there some kind of scientific evidence of this? I really like painting Metal minis more than I do plastic now and I can’t explain why. A lot of people said a similar thing. So what is it? What is the reason metal is nicer to paint?

Thanks for listening and thanks for reading. Enjoy your weekend.

Cheers

IRO

39 thoughts on “HellGate – Part 21- The God of Taint Preview #2.”

  1. The God of Taint continues to grow in its awesomeness! Looking to see its future progress 😊. Listened to the podcast last night. Another good one. The one thing that really struck me was that all the people in support of plastic are wrong! Haha. As someone who just doesn’t do plastic (have I told you I hate it? No? Well I hate it) I cannot really answer your above question. I will say this though to prolong the argument. The quality of metal figures varies. There are some very poor manufactures out there but the top quality manufacturers (e.g. Hasslefree) which I now only use and took a while to find make incredible figures. In most case the detail only pops when primed. I have no problem painting them, any fault lies with me not the figure or the metal. One final point. As a painter and collector rather than a gamer and a player I would only ever buy and paint metal figures for display. There is something about the quality which plastic just cannot replicate. Just a view but I am right damn it! 🤣🤣🤣

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      1. Actually you did me a favour with the plastic ones you sent. I did paint one, or tried to and it reminded me that I hate them! It was the thought that counts mate and it was a great gesture and I really did appreciate the kindness. I guess I owe you another mini at some point. Obviously a metal one to take pride and place in your cabinet. 😊

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      5. Well tell me what figure you want me to paint and if I can get it in the UK then I will paint it and when it’s done I will post it to you. If you have an idea on colour scheme you can let me know or if you want to give me free reign I’ll do my own thing. Alternatively I can chose a figure I think you will like and then it can be a surprise. We could consider it an exchange of Christmas presents which will provide us with a deadline allowing for posting. As for me I would like an example of an IRO conversion. Don’t mind what. Doesn’t have to be big or anything just unique. Oh and painted of course. How does that sound?😊

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      6. Yep option 2 I reckon. I’ll do an IRO original and you choose something I’d like. Suggestions would be a zombie, a refined officer from the Napoleonic era or a Rambo type character hehe. Sounds good mate I’ll put my thinking cap on. One other thing, let’s do a post on what we receive not what we send each other. Agreed? Handshake 🤝

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      7. Agreed 🤝. I’ll put my thinking cap on too and keep you posted. I have a couple of ideas including those you have given me. Will let you know when mine is done and then you can send me your new address. Exciting! 🤗

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  2. You just have to love An opinionated pom telling it as it is !! We need more TIM’s over here in Auss ,right way or wrong way he’s not f…g scared like the way at of our fellow country men are at this moment! I do love Dave but its got to be plastic on my scale for the sheer number of figures I need and to be able to heat them up and change there stances. I don’t think I could boil up a metal figure for two minutes and twist it into a different posture, but I will stand for correction on that one!

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  3. Good to see the progress on your “Taint” (figure that is not what Mr Moran said it could be!, I REALLY don’t want to see that!). Haven’t had chance to listen to your podcast yet, but will, I think a lot of the quality issues with metal figures comes down to the caster, when I had my little company we originally got our figures done by one company (wont say the name), but had a couple of issues with them and the casting quality wasn’t great some of the time (a lot of flash etc), then Bob Olley told me he’d swapped to Griffin Moulds for similar reasons and they were/are superb the casts are beautifully flash free and they seem to be able to cast things that shouldn’t be able to go in a one piece mould. Cant recommended them enough! I believe they do Hasslefree’s stuff along with a lot of the top manufacturers. A lot of GW’s older metal fig’s could be a bit ropy to back in the day!

    Haven’t you heard the old expression, I you want to know the truth asked an Englishman, no well perhaps that’s because it’s a lie (or is it? figure that one out!).

    Cheers Roger.

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  4. The answer to why metal paints better, I think it’s mainly depending on your style… But if you rely on drybrush, it offers more resistance, and… it paints better. It also eats through brushes tips a lot faster. So a pro and a con, but not the same! Resin paints as plastic. Nobody likes resin… In case it wasn’t clear, because it often has bubbles, flask, mold lines are hard to clean, if it breaks it’s a grainy and dirty union to fix, it’s toxic A.F., demolding agent chips, low quality sticky resins, un-hefthy but expensive… But that is not the lowest denominator. There is something so low nobody even mentioned… It’s called Finecast. (run!)

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  5. That is looking rather nice.

    One piece metals don’t have the undercuts that a multipart plastic figure would, I think that is part of it too. Also the different sculpting techniques used to make them in the first place.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

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      1. To explain an undercut probably the easiest way is to go right back to basics, so imagine you are a master figure sculpted to go into a mould, if you stand perfectly straight arms held out to the sides, great!! you will easily go into a two piece mould, the join line (usually where the line or flash would be on a finished figure, would run from the sides of your head along the top and bottom of your arms down your sides to you feet (and if your legs were apart up and down your inside leg (along the seams of your jeans). Now bring your arms together in front of you about a foot from your chest as though you were praying. This inner gap between your arms and chest would be un-castable, so your arms would have to be cast as separate pieces (at least from the elbows). These things have to be taken into consideration when sculpting figures that will go into a mould, you have to work in “two dimentions” e.g. there has to be a line right around the figure that is the widest point, with no overhangs or undercuts. This line doesn’t have to be straight (and often isn’t) it can “wiggle” back and forth, but must be one continuous line. You can have inner lines as well, like the ones between the legs of a figure and its base or “slotta” tag, but again this needs to be on the same “plane” as the outer one and be a continuous line.

        This problem is compounded on plastic figures as metal figures are made in vulcanised rubber moulds that are circular and spun to force the molten metal outward into the details of the figures, but being rubber there is a small amount of “give” in them allowing small overhangs and “undercuts” to be popped out. However plastic figures are generally moulded in metal “dies”, these are basically two shaped metal plates that when put together have a small gap between them the shape of the figure, liquid plastic is then injected under pressure into this gap to form the finished figure or sprue. The fact that the plates ore metal means that there is no “give” in them so this two dimensional plane line is even more important as any overhangs or undercuts would effectively lock the figure into the plate.

        The use an example imagine again that you are our master figure again, now imaging you are wearing an open jacket, on a metal figure you could have the slight undercuts on the inside of the jacket where it meets your shirt as these could be “popped” out of the mould, whereas on a plastic figure these would need to be filled till the open entrance formed a 90 degree opening to the mould line so as not to lock the figure into the plate.

        Hope that makes sense, and helps. Cheers Roger

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      2. That makes perfect sense, thanks man. Quite involved and a lot to think about then. Makes me appreciate Marks efforts in casting even more now. It kind of appeals to cast an IRO original one day hehe.

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  7. Great figure IRO, though painting it will be a monumental task. Looking forward to how you get that done – though it will likely be epic.

    Enjoyed greatly Roger’s description of the issues of molding and casting. That’s why your Mark 1 Sphere tank (which I’d love to see you paint for very self interested reasons my friend) is molded and cast in three pieces. Though this year I have not cast anything, I might be doing some when the weather gets colder, which in Massachusetts could be in 5 minutes…

    I think metal might be easier to paint because of the effects of priming. I do agree with Tubal about the dry brushing being easier. Also the issue of quality casting that Roger discussed is pertinent. If temperatures or alloys are not correct with metal, the detail and quality will suffer.

    And as TIM said, its easier because we are older and wiser and know that metal is better!!!

    (insert agist joke here…)

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    1. Thanks Marky. I’m really keen to get some paint on him so hopefully it’ll be sooner rather than later. As I said to Roger understanding what’s involved with casting metal has made appreciate, even more, what you do. I admire the patience involved.

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  8. Really interesting to listen to the range of views on your big question. The more I hear the less I’m sure of my own opinions!

    I like how you’re going it large on the figures and builds of late. Very impressive.

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      1. I haven’t been previously because initially I was getting problems accessing it but now it’s all embedded on your blog, I’m starting to catch up on a few. 🙂

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  10. I think I always imagined the old Fabulous Bill as looking like the new model, which obviously it didn’t, it was just my imagination making improvements. The new one is cracking though, everything younger me wanted and imagined the old one to be. Love what you’ve done with Junith Eruita’s pulpit (the Pulpit of Saint Holline’s Basilica doncha know!). I’ve got a scheme in mind for converting her myself, just need to get around to it.

    I’m really enjoying the range of thoughts on the big metal vs plastic question. I suspect that the reason metal is nicer to paint than plastic is that the person doing the painting likes metal more, therefore has a more pleasant experience and puts in more effort (because they’re enjoying themselves). I think it’s a rule that always holds true that if you’re painting something you enjoy and you’re excited about you’ll find it easier and you’ll do a better job than if you’re painting something that you find to be a trial. If you love orcs and hate elves you’ll probably do a better job painting an orc than you will painting an elf, and the same goes with metal or plastic miniatures. I don’t think there’s an objective reason that makes one material nicer to paint than another, it’s purely in the eye of the beholder.

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    1. Haha very good point on the metal. I think you’ve nailed it there son. Fabius is incredible and, as I say, so good that I didn’t want to make any adjustments but I did feel a robotic arm would suit him haha. FYI I bought two of the pulpit things. The other I handed to my 12 year old daughter today to build and paint. It’ll be her first build and her first model to paint. Yep, you guessed it I’m the kinda Dad that throws my kid into the deep end of the pool and watches them teach themselves how to swim haha. However, I’m always right there if they start to struggle 😉

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      1. I think it’s a good way to be. I’m not a parent myself but that’s how I used to train my assistants; gave them things to do that I knew they could cope with but which looked a bit scary before they started, that way when they succeeded it showed them what they were capable of without someone holding their hand. And of course I was always there if they really needed it.

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  11. I think one reason metal *can be* easier to paint is because the majoirity of metal models are single-piece casts, and sometimes might have a single bit to glue on. Sure, there are involved-multi-part metal models out there, and I have a bunch of them, but people tend to condider many of those to be a fucking nightmare to assemble.

    Most, though – single piece casts. This means that they tend to be pretty 2-dimensional in their poses in a lot of ways. Older plastics are often like this as well, but obviously metal trounces those old plastics in terms of detail. Modern plastics look kick-arse, but they’re usually multi-part, which means they’re much more 3-D with their poses, which in turn means they’re slightly more complex to paint since there are arms and legs and swords poking out at every angle. So yeah, I think the predominance of the models being on 2 planes (and a good model will fool you unless you’re looking for it) is the biggest thing.

    As for teaching:
    1) explain & demonstrate the task.
    2) your turn, and I’ll answer questions or talk you through or just watch or not watch depending on your confidence level/needs. Do this without being a dick or making the learner feel stupid.
    3) repeat 1) & 2) to scaffold confidence and ability as needed.

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