Entomophobics beware! This episode is about the six-legged crawly one! Below are six 28mm metal minis from Otherworld Miniatures.
I’m not sure if I bought these on a sale or to round out shipping, but I quite liked the sculpts (Otherworld makes some fantastic classical D&D minis!). There are some beetles in the module we’re working on, so that could be part of it as well.
I haven’t varnished them yet, because the weather has been super cold and I don’t trust it. When I do, I’ll probably aim for a bit more of a glossy finish than I usually do.
I originally planned on painting them up as just black beetles, but I was inspired by the images from Otherworld’s site. They painted them as Fire Beetles. So I decided to go half and half. The other half might be Fire Beetles that are not ‘fired up’ or just plain beetles. Either way, I have some insects to throw down as needed. I noticed my camera has shifted the yellow a little stronger than I see in person, once again.
Paint wise they were pretty easy once I got going. Assembly of the antennae was an outright pain though. I primed the beetles in black and it was really hard to figure out where their eyes were and where to glue the antennae. Then to compile issues, the metal didn’t want to glue. I resorted to super glue + baking soda, but that mangled things a bit more. So the ‘fire beetles’ ended up being the ones with the better eyes.
And there’s an example of a really mangled one, where the antennae got totally mangled and I gave up. Dead, wounded, mutant beetle…take your pick! I imagine most of them will lose their antennae over time anyways if we’re not super careful.
Lastly a size comparison shot with a 28mm Ghost Archipelago/Frostgrave mini.
Next Up: B&D
Double Down Dice 
Excellent work Brian, I think a gloss varnish on these will really bring the carapace look out, like the markings you’ve gone for subtle, but danger warning colours. As for the missing antennae it could be a stout adventurer pulled them off ! LOL
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Lol, darn those adventurers!! Thanks Dave and yea, I’ll be happy to see what they like once varnished.
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They’ve come out really well! 🙂 I’m not sure what order you did things in, but I’d always glue unpainted to unpainted surfaces, since I’m assuming that is a stronger bond than gluing painted surfaces together (with superglue anyway). But I could equally be wrong about that!
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Thanks John! Oh yea, you’re right…I think I got my order mixed up. I must have glued then primed. It was probably still hard to see the eyes on the silvery bare metal though.
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Works for me, nice bugs!
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Cheers Mark!
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I think they look great, Brian! The slight yellow/gold markings work well and the reddish eyes really bring them to life. It’s a shame about the fiddly antennae: gluing on bits like that is tough enough when they’re light plastic, let alone metal. You should always try to not glue painted areas to paint but we’ve all done it LOL!
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Thanks Matt! Yea, John reminded me that I think I got that backwards. I usually glue then prime. I guess I had a hard time seeing the eyes on the bare metal and confused that with the black prime. If I do prime first, I file away the paint before applying the glue, otherwise you don’t get a good bond.
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Great work on these Faust. Love the both the beetles and the cobblestones.
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These came out great and I wouldn’t spray varnish just yet either. I’ve “lost” a few minis that way (or maybe I should say that I lost hours of work that way since the minis themselves survived). I tend to brush varnish now as a result though I’m hoping spray weather returns soon. I’ve got minis to prime!
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Thanks Jeff! I owe most of it to Otherworlds site, as I basically ape’d their paint job! Airbrush varnish has been pretty reliable so far. But when the weather was dipping below freezing and the garage was quite cold, I noticed priming didn’t turn out as nicely in the past. Could be my primer has gotten a bit old, but I guess I won’t find out till I test in warmer weather. Since varnish can be more finicky than primer, I thought I’d hold off as well.
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I wrongly assumed you were talking about a rattlecan! I used to airbrush varnish but I went through 3-4 airbrushes and gave up with it. I never had frosting with an airbrush (though I used mine inside so I’m sure that helped). Since you’re working in the garage, I’d say you’re wise to give it a bit more time! Hopefully spring will arrive soon!
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Yea, I gave up on rattlecans for priming and varnishing. Weather can be too temperamental here.
I bought a cheap airbrush just for varnishing, and I think I’ve been using it over a year now. Been nice and if it does go south I can always get another.
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They’re great mate. I’m glad you added the colour
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Cheers Luke! Hey, I listened to some of your music too. Good stuff! I should pick up the album off iTunes soon.
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Ah thanks man. Glad you’re enjoying it. We hope to put up some new songs over the next six months
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Awesome, let us know when they are out! 😃
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They look great! I could totally see some of those colour shift paints being useful if you ever did another batch of them that you wanted to define as a third group. I think a medium gloss finish will really make them pop in a realistic way as well.
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Thanks man! I forgot about the color shift paints. I don’t have any, but have heard you mention them before. A metallic blue highlight might have been a nice experiment too.
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