28 November 2021

Angels of Sorrow

The angel statues outside the abandoned crypt seem to be in slightly different positions and poses every time you see them, but that's just your imagination, right? Right?

Reaper already does a Tardis telephone box, so it's not too surprising that they added a few more Doctor Who-inspired figures. These statues are based on the Weeping Angels from the episode "Blink". I've never seen it as I'm not a huge fan of the new Who; give me Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker and Peter Davison any day of the week. Anyway, I picked these up off Amazon ages ago and banged them out in about 30 minutes yesterday.

After the Undead Chariot, bearded wizard and a ton of zombies, they were refreshingly easy to paint. After giving them a scrub with warm soapy water (they're the old, tacky white Reaper Bones plastic) and gluing them to 25mm bases, I just used Black Grey as primer and basecoat and then gave them a coat of matte varnish to prevent the grey being scraped off when I started the inevitable drybrushing.  

With the varnish dry, I hit them with successive overbrushes of Dark Grey and Mechanicus Standard Grey, then drybrushes of Ash and Ghost greys. Then they were brushed with Nuln Oil to hide the chalky look drybrushing leaves before being given another coat of matte varnish.

The bases were painted with PVA glue and flocked, and then the flock was daubed with thinned Mod Podge to seal it. They're simple but effective figures, and my only issue is with my painting; I really should have not used such dark shades. Starting with neutral grey and going lighter from there would have been more realistic. Oh well, they still look good.

Oh, and remember this photo of the fall leaves by our house?

Well this is what it looks like today:


It's a winter wonderland, and I for one am happy we stocked up on coffee and pizza before it snowed.

16 comments:

  1. Great work on the angels Matt, they look very effective, and good to get a quick win on the painting.
    Nice winter scene, and good job on getting the coffee and pizza in (essentials first ! LOL)

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    1. Cheers, Dave! It was a nice change to get a couple of minis done so quickly for once :-) The winter scene is still here and shows no sign of going away soon; if anything we're going to get more snow as we go into winter. I almost miss California LOL!

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  2. Corking work, Matt. I too am not a particular fan of "Nu Who", but would highly recommend "Blink" as one to watch - for a starter it's essentially a Doctorless episode, with the focus on the story rather than the Time Lord.

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    1. Thanks, Simon! I have heard good things about "Blink" so I might have to track it down. I do like Christopher Ecclestone as the Ninth Doctor, but the other new ones leave me a bit cold. I'm not sure why.

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  3. David Tennent was superb imo! Mat Smith was…. Okay. Bit too silly at times, but Karen Gillan as Amelia Pond (his companion) was excellent and rather easy on the eye. :)

    Either way, don’t blink mate, those things move and are deadly! Good stuff!

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    1. Thanks, Dai! I do want to give New Who a chance so I'll have to sit down one day and watch some. But I know I'll just be continually contrasting it to the old stuff :-)

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    2. Hard not to fall back on such easy classic WHO choices like Baker and Pertwee. :)
      But I promise the new stuff just gets better as the episodes go by. Billy Piper also surprised as a very good companion too

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    3. I did like Ecclestone but didn't go any further after he left. I'll have to give it a shot.

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  4. It's always a bonus when you can just storm through a couple of figures quickly, though these show no signs of a rush job. They'd look equally well in a graveyard or cemetry as well as being the evil statues they are in Dr. Who.

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    1. Thank you, Joe! Being able to blast through a couple of minis quickly does make a nice change :-) I think they look good guarding the entrance to that old crypt.

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  5. Nu Who is sh*te!! There now that's a well rounded and objective review for you, anything post Sylvester McCoy is just woke b*ll*cks in my opinion, I am a massive Pertwee/Baker fanboy, in fact love all the old stuff have all the books annuals (did have the videos 😁) but Nu Who has killed it for me, cant watch it.

    Anyway lovely work on the Statues/Angels (I do think these are an interesting new villain by the way), they look great in front of your gothic doorway (that is still really nicely painted 😉).

    That last pic looks like a Christmas Card (you know one of those not very nice ones your neighbours send you 😁)

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Blimey, Roger, tell us how you feel and don't be scared to hold back LOL! Pertwee and Baker are *the* Doctors as far as I'm concerned, and Davison is up there too.

      The snow is still here and there's no sign of it going anywhere, and it looks like I'll have to brave the cold tomorrow to stock up on food. It's at times like these I wish we had a double garage.

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    2. I'd love a T-shirt with "Tom Baker is Doctor Who, the others are just actors playing the part!" 😁

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  6. I may be an anglophile but Doctor Who has never caught my interest. I guess I'm more American than I give myself credit for :D

    I love these statues! They look great and really threatening at the same time. They are a nice capper after your chariot since they retain a bit of that gothic flavor too.

    Strangely, in Chicago, we haven't gotten any real snow yet despite the weather being somewhat cold. I'm sure we'll look like Vermont (just without any trees and a lot more concrete) soon enough! :)

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    1. Cheers! I totally suggest checking out some of the Tom Baker eps from the 70s, if you can get past the cheap sets and effects they're well worth it.

      We have more snow forecast, but even better we finally have our hot tub up and running!

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