Harry Paints a Great Spined Dragon

Harry

Moderator
This beauty deserves a thread all of its own. It doesn't get much more oldhammer than this!
This is a NB1 Great spined dragon. Scuplted by Nick Bibby before the dawn of time.
I am going to paint it.

Second only in size to the chicken dragon and a b@gger to put together.
This made more difficult by the fact that to collect a whole one I have had to buy two half ones and combine the best bits to make one good one ... and some of the best bits were not in great shape. The wings do not stand up well to the ravages of time and where they have broken at the joints they are very thin making pinning a real treat.

However she is held together now with a fair few pins and some harsh language. :grin:

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I am leaning towards this rock currently as a starting point for my basing ...
but I cant decide if I want to elevate her a little more and tilt her forward a bit ...
so she is looking down on her prey ... she has that look about her.

What do you think?

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Harry

Moderator
OK so this was how I started on the membranes .....
My plan was to go with paper thin green stuff rather than paper membranes.
When I said paper thin .... In reality it is a good deal thinner.
It is squeezed so thin that the light shines through and the tears are natural.

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What's going on in my head is that this impossibly old dragon is also impossibly old in the Warhammer world too. Over the years she has taken a bit of a battering. My thinking is there is no way a dragon this size could have been knocking around without someone hunting it, wounding it ... the only reason it has not been killed is because it has been asleep under a mountain for the last 100 years or so. Awakened from her slumber by the storm of magic or just driven out by hunger ... she is looking a bit thin ... she drags her battered old body out and once more hunts for man flesh.

Without a doubt the toughest and most creative thing I have ever tried with green stuff ... feeling pretty good about how it turned out.

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... from underneath:

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And some close ups:

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Harry

Moderator
Undercoated .... now you can see the wonderful detail:

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Some close ups of the my wings:

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Harry

Moderator
Here is the dragon with a bit of paint on.
Very early stages ... Loads of highlights to go ... but you can see where I am heading with the wings.
She won't be pink all over I just like to give things a base colour.

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Orlygg

Member
She may be a bitch to collect and paint but she must be the most beautiful dragon ever sculpted.

This model looks just like i' d imagine a dragon should look like.

Old School goodness.
 

Harry

Moderator
Thanks fellas.

Actually it was all fairly robust once it was dry. .... it is only tentative because I don't want to bollox it up. :grin:
 

Padre

Member
That looks beautiful at every stage in the process. And I agree with Orlygg, that has to be the best dragon ever sculpted.
 

Pil

Member
I saw this one on Frothers and I must say I love it so far! The wings look great (if somewhat sad) but one burning question remains: will you continue painting it? I can't wait to see it finished! :grin:
 

Naagruz

Member
Easily the best dragon ever!

Great what you did with the wings. It really adds age & character to the dragon.
Frankly, I'd be scared to touch that model, so kudos for tackling it!
 

zedmeister

Member
Oh wow, a proper nice model. Definitely agree the wings you made suit the look of the model. Looking forward to the finished article
 

Blue in VT

Moderator
This is wonderful work all around! This site has attracted some truely talented painters and modelers....I am humbled by the talent on display and this is one of the best things yet!

Can't wait to see it finished.

Btw it hunk the rock looks very nice. If you put that o a plinth it would give the impression of some high precipice where this grizzled vent is surveying his/her domain...looking for their next meal.

Cheers,

Blue
 

Harry

Moderator
First, thank you all for posting. (and for saying such nice things. :grin:)
The positive feedback is greatly appreciated.

Pil":11d6426q said:
I saw this one on Frothers and I must say I love it so far! The wings look great (if somewhat sad) but one burning question remains: will you continue painting it? I can't wait to see it finished! :grin:
Thats the plan. It was the notion of painting the Citadel Giant that made me think I need to crack on and get this done.
I was posting it here in the hope of getting the motivation to get it done.

Blue in VT":11d6426q said:
This is wonderful work all around! This site has attracted some truely talented painters and modelers....I am humbled by the talent on display and this is one of the best things yet!

Can't wait to see it finished.

Btw it hunk the rock looks very nice. If you put that o a plinth it would give the impression of some high precipice where this grizzled vent is surveying his/her domain...looking for their next meal.

Cheers,

Blue
Simonwkb":11d6426q said:
Amazing, thanks for sharing this with us.
You are too kind. I feel the same way about everyone elses painting. :grin: Yours included!

The plan for the hunk of rock was/is to build it into a more scenic base. To make it look more 'high precipice' like. It might even have some unsuspecting victims below that she is looking down on. :grin:

About plinths ...
This mini may actually get a plinth but it will be on a gaming base first that sits on a plinth. This will get to see action. I don't go with collecting stuff just to own it and keeping it mint and unpainted and I don't go with display pieces that only ever sit in glass cabinets. These were designed as toys to be painted and played with. It is their reason for being. In my view no mini, no paint job is too precious not to get it onto the table and play with it. It's like owning a Ferrari and never taking it out of the garage. if it gets chipped I'll touch it up. If it gets broke I will lovingly repair it again.

My advice to everyone is crack on and get your minis painted. I have spent years not wanting to paint anything because I didn't think my painting was good enough and I wasn't going to do the mini justice. I still feel that about rare and special stuff. BUT life is too short! It's gone in a wink. If we keep waiting for our skills to improve we will never paint our wonderful collections. Get 'em painted. Get 'em on the table and enjoy 'em. Get 'em on the internet so everyone else can enjoy these wonderful old minis.
The internet has been an absolute winner for me. Seeing lots of other folks getting their stuff painted and lots of other folks enjoying my efforts has really motivated me to get my stuff painted. (It's why I pimp my stuff in different places) ... and guess what ... the more stuff I get painted ... the more my painting has improved.

Thanks again for all the support .... it has given me the motivation to crack on with this mini ... which I have not touched for over a year. So thanks.
 

Ti Pouchon

Member
Never been one for dragons, but I do love this one - great mini, great paint job!
Also, some good advice there, Harry. I'll try and heed it.
 

Harry

Moderator
We had snow today.
I got a day off work.
I painted my Dragon. :grin:

Photos tommorrow.

Thanks to everyone who posted ... it gave me the nudge to get back to this mini.
 

Harry

Moderator
Here you go:

Some bits I am not happy with yet ... but getting there.
Base needs some static grass, etc to finish it off.

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... and for scale:

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He's behind you:

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