285 replies to this topic

[Sanael]

I will watch this with bated breath.

My wife's Takky is from somewhat later in the run and has all the same fit issues, and then some. As the modder/baser/assembler between us, I'll be doing all the gap-work when she decides it's time to paint the old bird.

I also have an RP diorama, "the Conflict," which has just as many (exponentially more, actually) parts but not the same kind of fit issues. No single piece is as large as any of Takky, but I don't get the wild variance in quality.

I don't recall the exact price, but I know my wife got Takky for less than $100. She's already partially painted, though, and in pretty sad shape. Simplegreen will fix most of it, but she does NOT look pretty as it stands.

[buglips*the*goblin]

With this Takhisis, it's almost like the dragon heads are too small in relation to where they join the lower neck parts sculpted on the body. Tha'ts probably the best way to describe it. It's like Takky's body is 30mm scale but the heads that attach are 25mm. It's really off by a whole lot.

I only assume that at one time in the process they actually did all fit together because the neck stumps are sculpted (and even cast) so that they fit snugly against each other like puzzle pieces.

They just don't fit into the body that way.

In that sense, it's a good thing she had significant Ralidium Tarnish to identify her as an authentic RP (also the other telltale signs that it's all the same mix of metal and all definitely Ralidium) - if there was anything else even slightly unusual about this kit I'd be convinced I got a knock-off home recast done with RTV molds.

But she's definitely an official RP from the timeframe all right. *shrug*

[buglips*the*goblin]

So I figured out what I'm gonna do about my fit problems. Whether I use GS or not, the gap fill is pretty much going to be smooth anyway. So for the remaining gaps I'll use gap-fill superglue and then camouflage with painted detail.

This leaves the GS between the heads. Now this seems to take to filing pretty good, so I'm going to file them smooth. Now, as I was looking at the heads I notice most of them have round scales - more like spots than overlapping bits.

So here's where I'm going to get clever. Each head's colour is supposed to blend together and extend all the way down to her tail, right? But they also have to blend where they meet. So I'll paint half the greenstuffed gap between them in one colour, half the other, and then a 50/50 mix of the shade colours in a strip in between. Then repeat for the round scales, which are pretty much just dots.

And that should look ok and like it belongs, and is a heckuva lot easier than me trying to carve scales with my stupid monkey hands. (no offense to stupid monkeys)

[MonkeySloth]

The bridge of sorrow I had was from the early 90's and there was no resin. Sad that I didn't keep it as I know I had it still 5 years ago but I could never fined my the few miniatures I kept for so long when I started up 2 years ago. I figured I must have dumped them after my last move.

[recruittons]

I think she is coming along nicely and I'm excited to see where she goes from here!

Also, Buglips, I hate to do this to you, but I found a Takhisis on eBay for $100 + shipping, and it's number is only 688 of 5000. Do with this information what you will...

http://www.ebay.com/...=item1e72d8ae46

[buglips*the*goblin]

I think she is coming along nicely and I'm excited to see where she goes from here!

Also, Buglips, I hate to do this to you, but I found a Takhisis on eBay for $100 + shipping, and it's number is only 688 of 5000. Do with this information what you will...

http://www.ebay.com/...=item1e72d8ae46

I already got one. She's a handful, but she's mine. I know lots of peeps are still trying to get theirs, so I'll let them fight it out.

The bridge of sorrow I had was from the early 90's and there was no resin. Sad that I didn't keep it as I know I had it still 5 years ago but I could never fined my the few miniatures I kept for so long when I started up 2 years ago. I figured I must have dumped them after my last move.

If it was pre-1993 production, I could see that. The resin only came in, I think, around the same time it was being used elsewhere in the company - part of the Great Resin Experiment that spwaned from the lead scare and ended badly. All my catalogs in-hand are 1993-up, and even though there's older online ones available I've never looked up Bridge of Sorrows in them. But I could see it.

[DSModels]

I think she is coming along nicely and I'm excited to see where she goes from here!

Also, Buglips, I hate to do this to you, but I found a Takhisis on eBay for $100 + shipping, and it's number is only 688 of 5000. Do with this information what you will...

http://www.ebay.com/...=item1e72d8ae46

oooOOO!! Thanks for that link! I have it on watch . She may just be mine, Muhahahah!

[buglips*the*goblin]

So because Adrift called me out on the order of head colour (which totally sounds like a secret society for hairdressers) I decided that he was right and the correct way to do it, if I'm doing a tiamat, is white/green/blue/black.

So I gave her a quick splash of shade colors to see how it looked:




And now she's starting to look right.

The Ravenloft screaming damsel I just put there to go-go dance in celebration of proper color.

[MonkeySloth]

found an image of basically what I had before.

[buglips*the*goblin]

Me want.

So I checked in my catalogs, and it does say "plastic and Ralidium" so at some point the kit was partially plasticized. The Basic Monsters box set was also originally metal and got fully plasticized (i.e. totally ruined).

Shadowrun had a rather neat Feathered Dragon, and that one - so far as I am aware - is the only one to never have a full metal version.

But I'm going to have to check on that, because even the resin version was pretty awesome (I did that one for the store) so if a full metal version exists it must be mine.

[buglips*the*goblin]

Okay, so I slapped some belly and neck paint on. I had used Reaper pro paint Griffon Tan for this originally, but I switched it out for pro paint Ruddy Flesh. That'll give it a warmer tone that'll go well with the red.

This completes the roughing out of colors, and it all seems to work okay. So what I'll be doing now is tackling her one section at a time.

Also, I think I am going to use the belly color on the underside of the wings. It's a lot of red if I don't, and it'll break up the visual better and make it less boring.

[dwarvenranger]

My copy of Takhisis is 1959. I just put it together and the gaps don't look as bad as yours. My Bridge of Sorrows is all metal, I do still have all the figures although the dragon (wyvern?) is missing it's wingblades. Like Sanael, I do have The Conflict which has resin wings and perhaps the worse gaps in between pieces that I've seen. Lot's of bending and greenstuff was required on that one.

[buglips*the*goblin]

So I just looked up the description for Tiamat in the old monster manual, and there her heads are listed as white/black/green/blue/red with greenish legs and underbelly, and the head colours fade together not down her back but down her front.

This is a rather weird-sounding paint scheme.

So I guess the lesson here is, if you want to paint a Tiamat you can pretty much do whatever you want and call it authentic.

[buglips*the*goblin]

My copy of Takhisis is 1959. I just put it together and the gaps don't look as bad as yours.

Good to know for those with earlier numbers.

[Tranquil Ape]

man, i need to find work