Nutsplanet Viking Shieldmaiden

[Bigmick]

I bought the Nutsplanet Viking Berserk a couple of months ago and didn't intend on buying anything until he was finished, but after having a good look at this kit I couldn't resist.
I think this is the lesser of the evils as it's only got 8 parts to the kit, but the sculpt is incredible, I hope my paint job does it justice.


As always, anyhoo, opening the box you first come across the shield,


It's big,




Then under the foam are the main torso,and arms


Under the next layer of foam are the hands, one holding the axe and the other holding the shield handle, sword hilt, shield strap.


The torso it'self is lovely, the detail is amazing






And almost a dead ringer for Katheryn Winnick who plays Lagertha Lothbrok in the tv series Vikings, draw your own comparisons.


The seams are minimal but some are quite awkward to get to, especially between the folds of the leather sleeves,



I had to use a mix of scraping with a number 10 scalpel blade, sanding sticks, sanding needles and my old faithful of a half round needle file.
The results of this afternoons labours are the torso cleaned up, removing the casting blocks are no real hardship, the resin is quite soft, only a few strokes of the razor saw removed them, cleaning up for me involves a coarse sanding stick, then a finer one (thank you Ultimate Products, they're excellent), scraping with a No.10 then 1200 wet and dry, I then drilled out the locating blocks and fitted brass pins to reinforce, the fit is such that the arms and hands can be painted separately then assembled, the joints are incredible.


I hope to achieve a little more this week.

Mick.

[GUITARWORX]

Thanks for posting.
I have been watching the kits coming out from Nutsplanet and they do look incredible

[Biskup]

I love their products and this one is really cool.
At the moment I'm painitng one of their SD figures.

[Bigmick]

Bit more achieved, everything cut from casting blocks, cleaned up and sanded, primered with Mr Surfacer 1200.
Shield strap stretched a little with the aid of boiling water.


Everything dry fitted with brass pins to work out the size of pedestal base needed.
Found a few blips in the hair, might be chips from the last cast or bubble in the mould, which I doubt considering the quality of cast and them more than like pressure cast. Anyways nothing a sharp scalpel, sanding stick and sand paper can't cure, might use a little Mr S 1000.
After.
Face given a flash over with Mr S 1200 so as not to lose any detail, found a couple more bits, hair in mouth and chip in paint from me, sculpt Mark on left eyelid not, but again will address it.
Taking it slow as I want to do as good a job as possible, I'm really champing at the bit to start painting but I know if I rush in I'll probably make a hash of it.
Anyhoo, more to follow.
Regards.
Mick.

[kevtk135]

Looks like a pretty cool kit. Looking fwd to seeing when you have some paint on it.

[Bigmick]

Made a start on the shield, summing up bravery to start the face tomorrow.
I'm using the Vallejo leather and wood paint set, there's a "how to" guide inside so I'm using that.
Initial paint is the base colours, I used some Vallejo paint extender and Windsor and Newton flow enhancer to level the paint and lose brush strokes, don't know why as lines resembling brush strokes when doing wood are the effect you're looking for.
Well this is my table, when people aren't sat round it eating.

Initial coats of paint, Vallejo Japanese Uniform and Flat Earth.

The boards were then given a wash, water and paint at a 50/50 mix, flat earth 983 for the lighter smoke 939 and woodgrain 828 for the darker, when this had dried I gave it another coat.

I'll do a bit more later, adding woodgrain and an overall wash to consolidate everything, then use the leather colours to do the shield rim and work out what metallic paints to do the shield boss.

[Mark M]

This is a great looking kit and I'm really glad you are taking the time to post all these photos along with your in-progress narrative... Very helpful all the
way around as I am considering picking this one up myself.

Looking good so far on the shield... I'm curious to see what your thoughts are on that Vallejo Leather & Wood set. Been thinking about picking up a couple
of the various paint sets as well, just not sure if they are a better way of getting the look or effect desired or if I should just stick with trial and error on my part as I already have a bunch of individual vallejo model color bottles

At any rate, I'm enjoying following along with your work here...

*** edited, because I can't type or spell to save my life ***

[Bigmick]

Hi Mark, I'm in the process of buying Vallejo paints to replace my Tamiya and Humbrol acrylics as they run out.
Being a bit OCD I went through the paint sets working out of there are any doubles, I worked out the face painting set, wood and leather and WW2 allies only have black as a common colour, then bought the rest as singles, making sure I had primary colours first then worked my way through the "oooh that's a nice colour" list, I saw a WIP for the Nuts planet Berserk which included the paints used, so they were added to the list and duly purchased. There's some fantasy sets I'm after as well, elven colours, steam punk, orc and goblin, doesn't hurt to have lots of ammo in the can

[Mark M]

Hi Mark, I'm in the process of buying Vallejo paints to replace my Tamiya and Humbrol acrylics as they run out.
Being a bit OCD I went through the paint sets working out of there are any doubles, I worked out the face painting set, wood and leather and WW2 allies only have black as a common colour, then bought the rest as singles, making sure I had primary colours first then worked my way through the "oooh that's a nice colour" list, I saw a WIP for the Nuts planet Berserk which included the paints used, so they were added to the list and duly purchased. There's some fantasy sets I'm after as well, elven colours, steam punk, orc and goblin, doesn't hurt to have lots of ammo in the can

Now that's the smart way to do it...

Me, I just keep buying paint that I have multiples of the same colors and will probably never use half of it... But I've never been accused of being very smart
either.

A couple of weeks ago I ordered the Nut's Planet "Mother of Dragons" bust, then I just broke down and ordered the "Shield Maiden" kit a few minutes ago... My wife is going to have me drawn and quartered! LOL...

[tay666]

This is going to be a very fun thread to follow.
The kit itself looks amazing, I just didn't have time to comment when you started.
Now that you are showing WIP photos I had to say something. Just to make sure I encourage you to keep doing so.
Looking great so far.

[Bigmick]

Hi Mark, if you have a smart phone there's an app called Hobby Colour Converter, has various manufacturers such as Vallejo, Tamiya, Humbrol etc shows alternated shades of paint by different maker, also has a tick list for what you have and a wish list for when you go shopping.

Just spent 20 mins adding pics to post to be told they're all too big, ho hum resize and start again, be back later.

[Bigmick]

A few more step by steps, the boards had the wood grain added with a fine brush, then a wash of smoke, then a final wash of black heavily thinned with water, the boss and metal fittings were done with gunmetal grey.



The shield rim I decided to do in a shade close to rawhide, I'm happy with it.



Finally the metal parts had a wash with thinned black then once that was dry a wash with Humbrol rust enamel.



I also made a start on the face, eyes first as normal, whites painted with white and grey (no ones whites are white), then made a charcoal grey to shape and locate the iris, this then has lines and dots of two shades of grey/blue, then some random dots of brown around the pupil, (althought the actress Katheryn Winnick has the most gorgeous eyes I prefer the colours of singer Hannah Spearritt, she of S Club 7 fame) then the pupil which again wasn't pure black but a very dark grey, akin to NATO black, then dots of white for highlights and a wash of heavily thinned red.
I was happy until I added a drop of Tamiya X22 clear, which seemed to dissolve the paint and fog it, which is what I said, or something close.


And finally eye's with clear and first flesh tone.


That's all for now.

Regards.
Mick.

[dgelon]

Wow! This is excellent, I love seeing modeler's technique and progress. Not only is this really interesting and giving me a lot of great new techniques to try but the model is looking beautiful so far, I can't wait to see yo post more.

[Mark M]

Hi Mark, if you have a smart phone there's an app called Hobby Colour Converter, has various manufacturers such as Vallejo, Tamiya, Humbrol etc shows alternated shades of paint by different maker, also has a tick list for what you have and a wish list for when you go shopping.

Just spent 20 mins adding pics to post to be told they're all too big, ho hum resize and start again, be back later.

Thanks for that tip on the phone app Mick... Very useful

Also the shield looks amazing as does the work on the eyes... Very nicely done

[Bigmick]

It seems Mr Surfacer does not like the resin, or the combination of Vallejo acrylics, Windsor and Newton flow enhancer and Vallejo paint extender, I tried to remove a flesh tone wash and the paint stripped back to the resin, a quick scrub with a toothbrush removed the lot, so, another wash in warm soapy water, dried overnight, re primered with Tamiya grey.
Oh well, start again

[Bigmick]

So, on the button.
Here we go again, firstly the shield, I gave it a coat of Humbrol satin enamel varnish, as soon as that didn't smell any more I gave it a quick spray with hairspray.
I used 3 shades of blue, used paint extender so I could work them longer and applied in random blobs over the shield, then using a broad wet brush started to blend them, I was looking for a worn Woad paint finish, reasonably happy with the result, I'm drawing a Celtic knot circle and have artists water colour pencils to draw it on the shield.

So that's that bit done, back to the face.
After stripping all the paint and primer off I used Tamiya grey primer and left it all day before touching it.
Firstly, again, it was a roughed out circle of grey.

Then the various shades of blue/grey.

Then a few flecks of brown, I really do wish I had a brush that small that would convey paint to the tip when and where I want, just a long process of touching the 5/0 brush against the surface and hoping some paint adheres before drying under the heat of the magnifying lamp (an old non "green" PC light bulb version, although I have made the concession and bought an energy saver)

So there she is, eves done, hair roughed out as well to add some contrast to the face.
Will leave the eyes until tonight before adding drops of clear.

I think they're about the same, it's weird as the Tamiya primer is a darker grey it makes the face look completely different, she had a Charize Theron vibe before, now she's more Tricia Helfer.

Regards.
Mick.

[Bigmick]

Well I won't be doing that again, or if I do it'll be stencils, transfers or someone else doing it, not going to try freehand again, I did a rough sketch, and when I say rough I mean dog rough, I don't know what I migraine is but I think I've got one, under over under over, I'll be dreaming that tonight.
Anyhoo, calmed down, shield finished, might give it a wash to tone down the white, but that's it.


Regards.

Mick.

[Mark M]

Well it may have been painful to do, but that shield is "AMAZING" looking. Beautifully done Mick,take a bow...

[Bigmick]

Thanks Mark, I'll take a bow after I've taken a Dihydrocodeine, I'm not supposed to sit for too long because of my back so had to do it in two 30 min stints, MRI tomorrow then hopefully get it sorted so I can do some proper modelling, now that I've just ordered another two Nuts Planet busts as well they deserve time and attention, SWMBO must never know I now have 6 in the "to do" pile, also redone the skin base coat, I'll give it a day to dry then have another look, might break out the air brush and do it old school

[Mark M]

Thanks Mark, I'll take a bow after I've taken a Dihydrocodeine, I'm not supposed to sit for too long because of my back so had to do it in two 30 min stints, MRI tomorrow then hopefully get it sorted so I can do some proper modelling, now that I've just ordered another two Nuts Planet busts as well they deserve time and attention, SWMBO must never know I now have 6 in the "to do" pile, also redone the skin base coat, I'll give it a day to dry then have another look, might break out the air brush and do it old school

Hope you can get your Back taken care of, back problems are definitely not fun to deal with... I've got issues with mine also

Understood... my darlin' wife would seriously consider ending my life if she knew I just ordered a couple more myself!

The NP Shield Maiden is on the way, and I've just placed an order for their "Anne Bonny" bust as well and then there's the small matter of a Civil War bust from "Stormtroopers" coming in the mail that I ordered too...