Painting miniatures

[Nick3069]

Recently I've gotten into miniatures and I pulled out my old TLW board game from storage:



The game comes with 1 T. Rex figure and 4 raptor figures. Fun fact: the same molds were used for the previous Jurassic Park Game and the following Jurassic Park III: Island Survival Game. Here is a picture of the raptors:



As you can see, they are this glossy olive green color, which is a far cry from the tiger colored raptors from the movie so I repainted the miniatures to be more accurate and painted the base black, and glued on some dirt and ferns. I think they turned out pretty good:



For those of you wondering, I haven't touched the T. Rex from the board game. Instead I'm working on a T. Rex I got at the dollar store which is more in scale with the raptors.

[Draconisaurus]

Fun trivia there, and hey that's pretty neat. I myself have ventured off into the practical-effects department with stop-motion animation of Jurassic toys, very nice to be actively engaged and not sitting at a screen the whole time.

[Nick3069]

Thanks Draco.

Did you paint some of the toys or otherwise modify them?

I agree, as much as I like computers and video games, it's nice to be able to create something with your hands and physically touch something. I'm guessing the feeling is why board games and 3D printers have been on the rise for the past decade, but I digress.

[TheIdiot]

I love this, it's something I've always wanted to do but I simply don't trust myself to paint those things, especially since it's difficult to get your hands on the original 3 main JP games. I kind of like the simplicity of the flat-coloured miniatures anyway, to me it makes it feel more uniform and somehow easier to distinguish. Might one day have a crack at painting the some dinos from JP3 Island Survival as I have two copies of it...I'd probably paint the Raptors and Rex in their JP1 patterns, though.

That reminds me: a few days ago an idea brought me awake etc etc (you know the rest), and I jotted down a summary of an idea I had for a Jurassic Park-themed cooperative survival board game similar in mechanics to Dead of Winter...more on that later.

[Rebel]

Pretty cool, Nick. Both you and Drac must have a steady hand a lot of patience. I suffer from periodic hand tremors, so I could never, ever do anything like that. Good thing I'm not a woman; if I tried to put on makeup I'd look like a clown!

[Nick3069]

@TheIdiot
Thanks!
You shouldn't really worry about that, if you do screw up the paint and/or you want to revert them back to their original solid color, the paint should come off by bathing the figures in some industrial strength cleaner like Purple Power or Simple Green and brushing them with a small brush.
Man, tell me about it, I was looking into getting the first game and it's nearly impossible to find and it's super expensive. I was also looking at the new Jurassic Park: Danger! game, but it uses blocky wooden dinosaurs. It still looks fun though.
Dead of Winter? The zombie game? Sounds interesting.

@Rebel
Thanks! Yeah, especially at this scale, you need steady hands.
Man, that must suck, at least you have a good sense of humor about it. lol

[Draconisaurus]

Ah Nick, so I have done a limited amount of customization work, including the painting of a raptor toy as Tribe B:

(Click on thumbnail for full size)

I do also suffer from a severe movement disorder and sometimes these things aren't practicable.. however with my recent forays into stop-motion photography I have noticed that my symptoms at least temporarily improve, that and with the regular jogging. I'm makin' this shit while I still can and it's awesome.

[Nick3069]

That's pretty good! The beige section looks a little too bright though, you could give it a black wash and it would look even better.

I've finished repainting the dollar store T. Rex, here is what it looked like before:


(I forgot to take a picture of it before priming it, so you'll have to settle for a picture of it in the bag, with its friends. )

...and after:


I think it makes a convincing TLW bull T. Rex. It has issues standing up, so I'll have to make a base for it, but not bad for a dollar store toy.

Here is the maquette I used as a reference:

[Draconisaurus]

Very noice! That is the basis of the original Tres green-rex, which seems to still be what they started with for the male in retail.
On the beige paint, I mixed colors on and off a considerable amount before deciding I'd better go with what I had. Was an early experience for me as far as painting goes and I'm still not too experienced. I should post more of my work later on.
And, mini off-brand dino toys rock

[Draconisaurus]

'Ello Nick! I just rediscovered this old thread in a related search, and I had forgotten you were in to this sort of thing! I am slowly, off-and-on dabbling in toy and miniature painting and now wonder if we should get around to trading more notes, one day. Hope all is well.

[Nick3069]

Hey Draco! I just saw your last post. I just became a father last month and it has been keeping me busy.

I'm no expert miniature painter and I've only relatively recently gotten into the hobby, but I'd be glad to share what I know.

I haven't painted any Jurassic Park related miniatures since my last post, but I have recently bought Unmatched: Jurassic Park – InGen vs Raptors which comes with 3 nice raptor minis, which I plan to paint in Tribe C raptor colors, and a not so great Muldoon mini.

(Click on thumbnail for full size)

(Click on thumbnail for full size)

The Muldoon mini looks fine as a generic shotgun-wielding guy, but he doesn't look much like Bob Peck, lacks the iconic hat and his shotgun isn't even a SPAS-12. I'm hoping the next 2 planned Unmatched: Jurassic Park sets have better looking human characters.

I have painted a few fantasy minis since then though, here is a dwarven female fighter, half-orc druid, and a Lizardman/Seraphon Saurus Warrior:

(Click on thumbnail for full size)

(Click on thumbnail for full size)

(Click on thumbnail for full size)

Oh and Rebel, I found a nice video on YouTube about painting miniatures for people with tremors. If this guy with Parkinson's disease can paint tiny Warhammer 40,000 figures then there is hope for you yet.

[Draconisaurus]

Whoa Nick, hello again! Still working with Greenpeace? Ha ha.

Father, congrats. I have a dozen or two kids, myself. If anything at all can, Trespasser mods do happen.
Unmatched... I've heard of this. What is it for? Do the miniatures serve a particular game? I am fascinated to imagine people out in the wild, playing Jurassic Park with mini figure combat... From my vantage, the Muldoon looks less than perfect, but still well fulfilling the character's legacy ongoing, considering Spaz 12 licensing may have been unavailable to his miniature figure descendant. And, he was quite hatless in the event being depicted.

The fantasy minis look great! I myself have been playing D&D a few months now, but on Roll20.com during Coronavirus. I'm curious what such games you partake in - and thanks for keeping up with us despite doing new things these and days.

Since we are on the topic, this seems a well time to show some of my own recent work. Off-brand Dinosaur toys may seem less pretty some times but, the customization avenue may have different reviews to give. Currently using acrylic and gesso primer.

ToyArt01sml.jpg (244.42 KiB) Viewed 6684 times

[Nick3069]

Unmatched is a series of board games and Ingen vs. Raptors is the first in the Jurassic Park sub-series, with Dr. Grant, and Dr. Sattler vs T. Rex "coming soon". It seems this sub-series of Unmatched board games is a rebranding of sorts of the unreleased Jurassic Park: The Chaos Gene board game announced back in 2018.

There is also a Jurassic World miniature game in the works by a different company.

The fantasy minis are for D&D, the dwarf and the druid are my wife's and my characters respectively. We haven't been able to play since the pandemic started. The Saurian Warrior is a Warhammer Age of Sigmar miniature which is part of an army of Lizardmen I bought second hand with the intention to use them for D&D, but I might start playing Warhammer if my friends show an interest.

I usually prime my minis with Rust-oleum spray primer, but you're not the first to say they use gesso, I might have to try that out.

[Draconisaurus]

Ah, I only vaguely recalled seeing those boardgames, thanks for reminding. I wasn't understanding that The Chaos Gene went under already; that is sad. I myself do own the Jurassic Park Boardgame that was released for the 25th anniversary, had good fun with it with my friends. TheIdiot has yet to try it for himself. I quite liked the way each character is given a unique set of cards to draw from, representing their style and approach. Sort of similar to having a custom deck in Magic the Gathering.

Hmm, I am still unclear what the game looks like to play. Looking on Google Image, I only spot a couple of different actual boards. Do they have "primary" releases and then add-ons without associated boards? I am guessing the characters can be swapped amongst the different themes. Sounds fun.

Nice. Yes I sadly just got back into D&D, shortly after Coronavirius started. I did attempt a webcam chat session put up by a local gamestore, but was not a fan. For now I am having fun with online text-only, which in an odd way allows the imagination a bit more leeway to see the ingame characters as fantasy folk. Hmm gesso iiiiis my selected primer, due to my avoidance of airbrushing in general. I do not wish to deal with toxic fumes, unseemly modern hardware, etc. My paint brushes work nice as they are.

[Nick3069]

Do you mean the Jurassic Park: Danger! board game? Yeah, I need to get that one too. I'm a little disappointed it comes with little wooden meeples instead of miniatures though.

Unmatched has 2 main 2-4 player sets, a few 2 player smaller sets, and a few stand alone characters. Yes, from what I understand, all the characters can be swapped between the difference sets so you could have raptors vs bigfoot or Medusa vs Muldoon, etc.