Bowshabti Blitz!

In this post, I race against the clock to see if I can build and paint this Ushabti within 48 hours...

 

 

I've been waiting for the Ushabti with Greatbows to come back in stock for a while, and jumped on them as soon as I saw that they were available. Before the package arrived on Wednesday, I decided to build and paint one of them straight away so that I could check the box on my wargame hobby bingo card for "painting a model within 48 hours of receiving it." Can I make it?

 
ASSEMBLY 

 
Wednesday, 2:00 PM
The miniatures arrive. I examine all the parts and select one to work on.

 

 

I have until 2:00 pm on Friday to finish the model, but thats easier said than done because my plan includes converting the models with bow strings and larger arrows. After trying out a bunch of different spears to use for the arrows, I settle on the spears from the new Deathrattle Skeletons. They have nice points that resemble arrowheads, and they are all fairly uniform.

 

 

The longer arrows, however, mean that now I have to extend the length of the quiver, which is definitely going to add some time. With everything planned out, I start cleaning all the parts of flash and filing the mold lines. 

 

 

4:00 PM
All the parts are cleaned, and I made the bow string by twisting two strands of 26 gauge wire in a power drill.

 

 

4:30 PM
I drilled and pinned the bow arm. Then, I bent the fingers of the draw arm, and cut out a section of metal and bent the elbow more to bring it in closer to the chest.

 

 

Before gluing everything in place, I bend the metal bow so it looks like it's being pulled back by the draw, and I drill out the ends of the bow where the wire will be inserted. I also trimmed the arm away from the spear shaft and cleaned it up a bit.

 

 

With everything glued in place, I putty the elbow and shoulder joins on the draw arm to fill in any gaps. I leave it all to cure while I go have dinner. 

 

 

9:35 PM
After a break, it's time to work on the arrow itself. I settle on the positioning and note where the back end of the arrow meets the fingers of the draw hand. I also play around with the positioning of the model on its base, drilling three holes (third time's the charm!) before finding the ideal angle for the model to stand.

 

 

For the arrow's fletching, I use .38mm styrene card. The feather texture is etched into each side of the card with the tip of a round hobby knife blade...

 

 

...then, it's cut up into the individual feathers.

 

 

Three pieces are glued to the arrow shaft...

 

 

...and then the edges of the fletching is distressed a bit and the end of the arrow trimmed off.

 

 

Checking the new arrow against the quiver gives me an idea of how much I'll need to extend it. (The arrow is a bit oversized, and the quiver should probably extend all the way to the ground, but it will be close enough to be convincing.)

 

 

To extend the quiver, I use 3.2mm half-round styrene rod (a round rod would be better, but I don't have any, so I glue two halves of the half-round together). I divide it into 10mm segments, and glue one segment to the end of the quiver. 

 

 

All that work took about an hour.

 

 

10:40 PM
I use some Brown Stuff modeling putty to sculpt matching detail around the bottom of the quiver. 

 

 

The arrow is glued in place, and the figure is glued onto the base, with a bit of fine ballast around the feet, and the two spare holes covered with masking tape.

 

 

11:55 PM
For the bow string, I cut a section of the twisted wire, and use smooth needle-nose pliers to bend it into shape.

 

 

The wire is threaded through the gap in the fingers, and inserted into the holes at the end of the bow. Each end is trimmed down and bent to fit into its hole.

 

 

Stringing the bow ends up taking about 20 minutes, and it's now past midnight.

 

 

Thursday, 1:00 AM
The base is covered with more ballast and some resin skulls and obelisk bits from my Skull Forge Scenics range. While finishing up, I realize that the figure doesn't have a hand weapon. To make a kopesh, I combine some unused bits from my Tomb Guard unit– The halberd blade and the hilt from one of the hand weapons with its skeletal hand removed. The kopesh is trimmed so it fits with part of it tucked behind the strap hanging down on the side where it looks like it could be attached to the ushabti's belt.

 

 

At 1:00 am, the assembly is finally complete. and it's time for bed. I'll tackle the painting tomorrow. 

 

 

PAINTING

 
Thursday, 11:30 AM
Okay– I have all day today, and until 2:00 pm Friday to finish all of the painting. The modeling putty has finished hardening overnight, and the first thing I do when I get up is prime the model– Black primer, and then a thin coat of Tamiya TS-90 Brown spray, and Tamiya TS-3 Dark Yellow spray. While getting ready and eating breakfast, I let the model sit for a while so it doesn't stink of spray paint. To paint this model, I follow the process outlined in my Tomb Kings skeleton painting tutorial (found under the Painting Tutorials page on this blog). By 11:30, I'm finally able to start working.

 

 

12:35 PM
The sand is painted, and the bones and ruins are all basecoated and washed.

 

 

1:35 PM
I finish drybrushing and highlighting the bone details and the ruins on the base. I also settle on the color for the flesh of the ushabti– whenever I see them painted black, it comes off as living obsidian stone. But the figure has a desiccated, torn torso, more like undead flesh, so I go with Army Painter Necrotic Flesh as the base, with brown ink for shading and GW Screaming Skull as a highlight color.

 

 

2:40 PM (24 hours in, now)
While painting the flesh, I overlooked the chest, so I tidy up the midsection's flesh and bone, and begin painting in the black recesses and darkening the edges of the armor where it meets the skin. I also throw a quick layer of brown around the base to make painting the base rim quicker in the final stages.

 

 

3:30 PM
All of the black fabric is painted– I use a mix of black, GW Stegadon Scale Green, and Screaming Skull for the color and highlights. I also begin laying in the red on the strips of cloth.

 

 

4:30 PM
The red is finished, highlighted a bit brighter at the edges, and I carefully paint the black triangles on the straps. I also paint the strips hanging down from his belt. (I was initially planning on painting them as yellowed "bandage" fabric, but decided to maintain the black and red color scheme, which is working really well to contrast the rotting flesh color and bone.)

 

 

4:55 PM
I paint the brown leather straps and quiver, and the bow and arrow. 

 

 

6:35 PM
I'm moving on to the final details like the fletching, the bow string, and the base edge. I also block in some gold on the collar behind the arrow. I normally save the metallic color for after the matte spray, but by adding it now in the hard to reach areas, I can just re-highlight it later instead of risking messing up the finished paint around it.

 

 

I highlight the red of the collar a little more and use a mix of black and brown ink to outline the recesses.

 

 

6:45 PM
With all of the non-metallic painting complete, I add the static grass tufts and stop for dinner. 

 

 

9:00 PM
I thought I might have to wait until morning for the matte spray and metal, but after eating, I'm able to get outside and spray the figure with Tamiya TS-80 Flat Clear. I let the sprayed model sit for a while, and get back at it, starting with the gold on the feet and quiver (taking extra care with these bits, as they are close to the grass tufts).

 

 

10:00 PM
Just as I'm having thoughts that I could finish the whole model tonight, I get to the gold piping! It's painstaking work, but I'm able to get through fairly quickly (although I am dreading this step on the other five ushabti).

 

 

11:00 PM
It only takes another hour to finish up the rest of the gold, giving particular attention to the arms and the details on the bow.

 

 

11:25 PM
The final step is to paint the silver bits– The armor plates on the back, the rivets, and the kopesh blade and arrowhead, adding plenty of rust. And that's everything! I call it done and pull the model off its painting handle around 11:30 pm– Total time from arrival to finish: 33.5 hours.

 

 

Here are some glamor shots of the finished model. The strung bow and giant arrow turned out better than I hoped, and the color scheme really came together as I was working on it. I didn't realize until afterward, but all of the bodies are identical (and that's not a mis-pack; there's only one body pose shown on the GW website, too). So, I might add a bit of variety by sculpting bandages on the arms and legs of a few of the Ushabti. I'm looking forward to finishing the other five models and raining death onto the battlefield!

 

 

'Til next time!