Warg Rider

DeepGroover-(T)
April 29, 2015

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Warg Rider
Next up is a piece I finished just a night ago. It took several weeks, and I really enjoyed it. This is my latest work on a product by Scibor Miniatures of Poland, and is supposed to be an orc riding a wolf. The scale is 54mm, but this piece is big! The wolf alone is about 5.5 inches long by 3 inches tall. Fit was tricky on some things, mainly between the wolf and the scenic base. I had to do some creative sanding on the wolf's paws, but the end result is satisfactory. Putty filled in the few seams on everything just fine.

I treated this like two sub-projects, the wolf and the rider. The rider's lower torso is sculpted to the wolf, but that posed no problems. I tackled the scenic base first, then the wolf. Early on I attached the wolf to the base, and used the base to hold it for detail painting. I knew I really wanted to push some limits with this one, and found a few ways to do it.

Thanks to the observation of a friend I successfully added whiskers to it. I cut hairs off a paint brush, held them with tweezers as I dipped the very tip in superglue, then attached it to the wolf. Really made a difference.

Next I created dripping drool with a product called Micro Crystal Clear. It looks like Elmers glue when wet, but dries clear. I formed some drip shapes on wax paper, then let it dry overnight. Next evening I attached them with acrylic gloss, and voila!........drool.

I used a lot of acrylic gloss on the wolf mouth, as well as his eyes, and the orc's mouth and eyes.

Last, I used sewing thread to make a bow string.

The upper torso of the orc was fun too. I decided to go with a light green for his skin, and not content to stop there I tried a "mottling'' effect. This is done by "dotting" the skin with a faint darker color (in this case, slightly darker green and flesh/green). I didn't want it too obvious so I diluted it down.

The orc also has a nasty battle scar across his face, and I wanted it to look healed rather than fresh. I also whited that eye to show permanent damage.

For the shield and sword, I chose to go with a rock-like color instead of metal. It seemed reasonable to me he might have fashioned his blade from stone, much like arrow heads. The texture of these items also didn't appear to look metal.

This was a tremendously fun project, and I have 3 more Scibor pieces in my collection to paint. Maybe some day I'll create a display of just their products

Finished. What a fun project! I enjoyed adding the whiskers, drool, and bowstring. I even painted my personal symbol on his shield. This fellow is definitely going to Eagle Quest.
I was happy to share his progress with you all. 
See progress images below, as shown on Facebook:

Base left
Base right
Wolf assembled  but not yet painted
Wolf head painting started
Wolf left side (plus orc legs)
Wolf right side
Wolf drool. Orc legs on the wolf painted
Orc torso work or orc on a stick.
Same work closer, different angle to show the eye.
Orc torso with more painting details added, including sword.
Another angle
Another other angle.
Orc gear with custom bowstring added. Done separately.
Finished with the orc riding the wolf, whiskers, drool, and bowstring. White backing.
Another angle.
And another angle.

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