Author Topic: WK's Masters of the Universe - She-Ra added (update 01/08) (Read 37617 times)

White Knight · « **on:** March 13, 2018, 07:55:55 PM »

This is not quite (or at all really) Empire, but I did want to share my latest project. Like we tend to do, I started a new project before completing any of the ongoing ones. This one is spurred on by the recent release of some Masters of the Universe themed figures by Quest Miniatures and others. More info about that on my preoject-related blog for those who are interested: https://motu-wargames.blogspot.be

Of course, the first miniature to get some paint had to be He-Man, or should I say He-Men, as I painted two at once. The base model is sculpted in 30mm by Boris Woloszyn for Quest Miniatures. It comes with sword and shield, an empty sword scabbard for the back and a loose axe, like the toy, but is based on He-Man's appearance in the Filmation cartoon.

I converted both of my models. They were glued to their plastic bases and then I sculpted some tile texture over it with putty. The first was a minor conversion to be armed just with the powersword, like in the Filmation cartoon, without the shield or the empty scabbard. In the cartoon, the scabbard tended to appear when it was needed and disappear when it wasn't.

The second conversion was slightly more extensive. The powersword was cut off, and the hand was drilled, so the axe could be pinned into it. A new pommel was added under the hand with putty. In order to keep the powersword, I cut a plastic sword grip and crossbar from a sheathed sword from a Fireforge medieval men-at-arms set and glued it to the top of the empty scabbard, so my He-Man was complete.

Starting these was a bit daunting as it's been over a year since I painted anything in this scale and even then I wasn't too happy with it. But they came out well enough, I can look at them and have that feeling of familiarity and recognising the toys of my youth, so that's something. I think those two will be the only regular He-Man variants I will do (unless Quest Miniatures brings out another pose), but there is a wealth of "evil" clones to bring to life in miniature, such as Anti-Eternia He-Man, Negative He-Man, Slimemonster He-Man,...

White Knight · « **Reply #1 on:** March 13, 2018, 07:56:28 PM »

A few years ago, Icon Heroes brought out a polystone statue of Castle Grayskull that seemed to be in a scale that's close enough to work with 28mm figures. It cannot quite be considered a scale model as scalewise it's all over the place, with doorways going from very big to very small, so it's very much a stylised represantion, but it works well nonetheless. The original castle was released as a single piece model. Not long after, Icon Heroes expanded the set with an accessory set that increased the footprint of the castle by adding the ramp and putting it on a bony/rocky platform. The accessory set also includes Point Dread, the Flying Talon Fighter, a Heroic flag and the laser weapon. The top of Point Dread can be removed from it's base to sit on one of the castle towers, just like the old toy and the minicomics.

While I initially intended to use this with the 25/28mmGrenadier range of figures, it will work well enough with the newer, slightly larger 30mm ones as well. Short of converting your own incorporating bits of the toy castle, this is your best option.

A scale shot with the Quest Miniatures He-Man, showing the separate Point Dread and the configuration where it's mounted on the castle. As can be seen, the towers are the weakest point regarding figure placement as the tops are quite shallow. The Talon Fighter is in itself a useful addition as it works well enough with the scale of the figures.

He-Man doing some more posing on the rooftop. There is enough room there to place some figures:

The other sides of the model:

He-Man waving you off (or kicking you out...):

White Knight · « **Reply #2 on:** March 13, 2018, 07:56:56 PM »

A close contender for the first figure to get paint was Skeletor. The most evil looking badass villain in the history of Saturday morning cartoons and 80s boys' toys, superbly rendered in 30mm by the talented hands of Boris Woloszyn for Quest Miniatures. To say I'm in love is an understatement. Painting this figure (or figures) was the single most enjoyable painting experience I had to date and possibly the best paintjob I have delivered so far and I thought I was passed my prime.

Like with He-Man I had to do two versions, one built out of the box and one converted to have his sword as per the toy version. Both figures were glued to their plastic bases and then I sculpted some tile texture over it with putty. As he is based on the Filmation cartoon version, I went with a bright colour scheme to match that, which was not a natural thing for me to do as I have a tendancy to go for muted colours even when I'm not trying to do so. I'm very happy with the end result, but I'll let you make up your own mind.

Both Skeletors, side by side.

The first is the original sculpt built as is. I do like the pose with the staff, it's quite dynamic I feel. As I said, I went with a bright Filmation colour scheme and I'm particularly pleased with Skeletor's yellowish face and his blue skin. For the base, I went with a more understated purple so it wouldn't look too much like his clothes are made of the same material as the flagstone tiles. I will keep this theme for the other Evil Warriors.

The second version is a bit of a mix of Filmation and toy references. In the cartoon, when Skeletor had a sword, it was a regular one, where in the toy version, he had his half of the powersword that looked like a purple version of He-Man's and that's what I went for here. The sword was left over after my conversion of the spare He-Man figure to hold his axe, so that was just drilled and pinned into place. The swordhand is another plastic bit from the aforementioned Fireforge men-at-arms set. I cut away the left hand from the staff, filed it down and glued it into his open right hand. Easy.

Here we have Skeletor and He-Man crossing swords:

And taking their battle to the rooftop of Castle Grayskull:

"It's over, He-Man. I have the high ground!"

Zak · « **Reply #3 on:** March 13, 2018, 09:54:48 PM »

SHUT-UP!! that's awesome

Rogers Kul · « **Reply #4 on:** March 14, 2018, 12:28:21 PM »

Uoooh! so many old memories.
This is Frank Langella vs Dolph Lundgren!

Rowsdower · « **Reply #5 on:** March 14, 2018, 01:48:30 PM »

What can I say but Great job

I still have my old castle Grayskull and several figures. All of which are in pretty rough shape.
Oh and on the subject of the 1987 movie. Little known fact; it was the straw that broke Cannon films back. In addition, if you like MOTU or have fond memories of it, check out the Toys that made us episode.

Xathrodox86 · « **Reply #6 on:** March 14, 2018, 02:25:52 PM »

BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8h8snfYidg

Zak · « **Reply #7 on:** March 14, 2018, 05:14:42 PM »

Quote from: Rowsdower on March 14, 2018, 01:48:30 PM

What can I say but Great job
I still have my old castle Grayskull and several figures. All of which are in pretty rough shape.
Oh and on the subject of the 1987 movie. Little known fact; it was the straw that broke Cannon films back. In addition, if you like MOTU or have fond memories of it, check out the Toys that made us episode.

love that documentary ...there is a huge MOTU following you can try to sale this product to

White Knight · « **Reply #8 on:** March 14, 2018, 06:30:29 PM »

Thanks for the appreciation, I'm having fun with this nostalgia-heavy project.

Shortly after their Castle Grayskull, Icon Heroes went one better and released the whole of Snake Mountain as a polystone statue. Like the castle, this massive piece of scenery works well enough with 28-30mm figures and sports a glorious paintjob to boot.

30mm Skeletor in the center for scale:

The sides and back (tiny 30mm Skeletor for scale):

Some detail shots:

And a size comparison of the full Castle Grayskull set with Snake Mountain and the tiny He-Man and Skeletor figures:

Zak · « **Reply #9 on:** March 14, 2018, 07:47:21 PM »

wow

Xathrodox86 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 15, 2018, 10:32:25 AM »

Quote from: zak on March 14, 2018, 07:47:21 PM

wow

Yeah!

Rowsdower · « **Reply #11 on:** March 15, 2018, 12:59:19 PM »

Aww I was hoping that the snake mountain would come with a microphone that made distorted noises

White Knight · « **Reply #12 on:** March 15, 2018, 07:32:09 PM »

No sound effects that I'm aware of. AFAIK it's completely solid too.

One of the essential minons of Skeletor's Evil Warriors, and yet somehow one of the few main characters I never had as a toy. Like with Skeletor, I went with a bright colour scheme, based on the Filmation look, while trying to embody the toy nature with an almost plastic look and feel. The miniature is another wonderful Boris Woloszyn sculpt released by Quest Miniatures. It's actually even more orange in the flesh, but for some reason all the pictures kept toning it down. The first picture is the closest to the actual skin tone.

Trying to ambush He-Man alongside his master:

Emerging from Snake Mountain:

Zak · « **Reply #13 on:** March 15, 2018, 08:16:42 PM »

hahaha love it

Rowsdower · « **Reply #14 on:** March 16, 2018, 02:58:54 AM »

Any plans for future releases? Will the whole cast be available Any chance of getting a Gwildor and Courtney Cox?

White Knight · « **Reply #15 on:** March 16, 2018, 06:12:15 AM »

These are available from Quest Miniatures:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/Qminis?ref=l2-shopheader-name

They released 6 figures so far and are working on the next wave of 6.

White Knight · « **Reply #16 on:** March 17, 2018, 04:36:46 PM »

Today's entry is not the most exciting one so far, but it is quite iconic in it's own right. The weapons rack came with Castle Grayskull and was rather faithfully reproduced in the 80's 25mm MOTU miniatures sets produced by Grenadier/Pinnacle Products. The sculpting on most of the miniatures is a bit dated, but the weapons rack works well enough and as the old figures were big for the time, the rack is suitably large to go with the more modern sculpts. I picked this to paint next because I hadn't much time and thought I could finish it quickly. It wasn't that quick.

He-Man posing next to the rack

Front and back

Quick my beastly minion, take all their weapons!

Weapons rack in situ at Castle Grayskull

Kirgan · « **Reply #17 on:** March 20, 2018, 11:53:56 AM »

I love it

Rowsdower · « **Reply #18 on:** March 20, 2018, 01:25:01 PM »

The weapons rack is great. Does the castle also come with the cardboard knight/astronaut guy?

Xathrodox86 · « **Reply #19 on:** March 20, 2018, 01:49:21 PM »

I'm going to read every, single one of these posts with the classic Skeletor voice. Nyeaaah!

White Knight · « **Reply #20 on:** March 20, 2018, 04:06:03 PM »

Quote from: Rowsdower on March 20, 2018, 01:25:01 PM

The weapons rack is great. Does the castle also come with the cardboard knight/astronaut guy?

No, it doesn't.

The weapons rack didn't come with the castle model either, it was something I picked up earlier from the rare 1980s MOTU miniatures sets released by Grenadier/Pinnacle Products.

Warlord · « **Reply #21 on:** March 25, 2018, 01:27:02 PM »

I had a dream last night I bought Castle Greyskull.

White Knight · « **Reply #22 on:** March 25, 2018, 01:31:50 PM »

Did you try to hold it in your hands when you felt you were waking up and felt it evaporating into thin air?

Warlord · « **Reply #23 on:** March 26, 2018, 01:59:48 AM »

I was sad when I woke up yes. Hopefully this demomstrates how deeply your efforts have affected me.

White Knight · « **Reply #24 on:** March 26, 2018, 07:34:15 PM »

It's a great compliment indeed.

I have more to come, just haven't had much time to paint.

News:

Author Topic: WK's Masters of the Universe - She-Ra added (update 01/08) (Read 37617 times)