Curtgold Music to his Ears?

Well the road to hell is paved with good intentions as they say. Seems it's also paved with Dylan figures as well :-)

The fee for the Analogue Painting Challenge is one 28mm figure with the theme of Anti-Hero this year. I had a few ideas but kept thinking of the Black Scorpion Bob Dylan 1966 figure. That was the year that Dylan went on tour playing the electric guitar for the first time and created quite a storm in the folk scene, especially with his traditional fans. Given that so many loved the move as well as hated I thought he would make an ideal Anti-Hero.

My only mistake was not researching my subject as it turned out the only suit he seemed to wear all tour was a near impossible to paint slanted check black grey number. It gave me kittens painting it up as it's quite something to try and paint to the curves and I had three repaints before I was even close to happy. Looks real crappy close up but stand back a few yards (well miles LOL) and the effect looks OK.

Why hell? I forgot that Curt hates all things Dylan having received a certain cowboy in last years event. Honest it was a genuine mistake. Funny thing is that this is the second year on the trot I have supplied a Black Scorpion figure as payment. If the theme next year is Goblin Pirates I can make it three years on the bounce :-)

Scissors Cut Paper

After doing Hitler for the Villains round I know I needed to make amends so here we have Churchill doing his stuff. He is a Black Scorpion casting and has a lot of the feel of the great man though on painting him I realised he looked rather boring, too boring for the Hero Round given the standards that have been displayed in the preceding rounds so he ended up being a general entry.

Desperate for something to liven up the base and make the double base less obvious I was really pleased when Cath suggested covering the base with the Union Flag. Actually she suggested painting it to start with though I had more realistic views of my skills in that department!

This was my second attempt at Pin Stripes though the first one gave me a better canvas to work with as the figure was more animated and as such had lovely folds to take the stripes into. These being just the trousers were a little less fun to work with.

So here I stand, hoping that Churchill's scissors makes up for Hitler's Paper. Both figures are destined for pastures new as an ASL player in France want's them, hopefully they will bring him good luck in future games.

Black Scorpion Cowboys

It's been a long time since I last painted a cowboy figure. In fact it's been over thirty years but given the fee for the Painting Challenge I had reason to wave a brush at a few just because.

First up is the entry fee, this was actually from one of the Tombstone packs rather than a stand alone figure. It was kind of funny as I did not select a figure for Curt, rather I realised part way through that this one was going to be sent as I painted him. By far he is the most colourful of the lot.

I also bought the outlaw pack, though surprised there is only the one pack. I painted all of these with the same colour long coat to identify them. These will be used by my daughter in games she will be playing against her brother, that should be fun.

Some of these guys are packing serious hand cannons though the one with the shotgun is more like me. They were relatively quick to paint. Dave D recommended the Black Scorpion figures and I was pleased he did as they are a joy to paint.

My son needed something to take on his sister so here they are. A more mixed bag with the figure on the far left an extra Lawman figure I bought as a single with a separate arm. I am really hoping the kids like playing cowboys and will be using Dave D's rules for the games. If all goes well, the future will have more cowboys in it. Well it's assured really as Lee want's a go with them after playing at Blog Con. 

So thanks to the challenge and Blog-Con I am at the start of a new diversion, so it's still early January and it looks like I have two new periods to add to the one new I started last year, well bought into last year at any rate.

Reinforcements for The Painting Challenge

Got home tonight from work to find a small package awaiting for me. I have a few outstanding orders awaiting delivery and of course my Secret Santa that could land any time. I have already received my Santa Clause (thanks to who ever has sent this, it is safe in Cath's hands till the big day). Naturally I don't want to accidentally open  my Secret Santa so am trying to be very careful about what I open. Fortunately I was spared any worry as this package had a sticker with Black Scorpion on the box so I knew it should be one of my orders and indeed it was.

On the advice of Dave from One Man and His Brushes and Trouble in Serenity I went for a few packs of their cowboy figures as he could not recommend them high enough. As you can see the figures are resin so are very light and the detail is very nice. The pack above is the villains pack and I hope they will do more in the future. 

I also bought a pack of the Townsfolk, though I can't remember which pack that was. It has a nice mix and some are interchangeable with the Villain pack. One of these figures at least will be going over to Curt as price of admission to the Painting Challenge but I had the idea that my kids may want to play some form of cowboy game and we can use the rest to make up a game with simple rules with plenty of chance to miss so can blast away an hour or two. Problem is that I wanted the same number per side but came up with this answer.

He will make a great Town Sheriff and will even up the sides. Not that I think I will end with just five aside and now I have grabbed some cowboys I am fairly sure Lee will soon follow suit and maybe Matt will as well as it's that kind of subject that has a habit of growing.

I also bought other things from Black Scorpion but that's a secret for the time being so will not be showed here just yet So I have plenty more prep work I can get on with over the weekend.

Never having ordered from Black Scorpion before I can't say if the Love Hearts is a typical extra or it's a welcome for new customers but it certainly widened the smile on my face and if spreading joy was on their minds I hope they would be happy that I will be passing these on to my kids to add a smile to their faces too. I ordered another package from Black Tree on the same day and given it was during their 35% discount so I expect they have had a lot of interest so expect that one will be a few days behind. Still I have a few more packages that could spread out over the next few days or weeks. Life is indeed good.