“M.O.D.O.K. Never Compromises!”

As Fatboy Slim has stated “we’ve come a long, long way together”, but we are finally at the end of Forgotten Heroes 2021!

And just like M.O.D.O.K., the Crow does NOT compromise either, so paints were duly retrieved and Monday night saw the initial base coats added to my version of M.O.D.O.K.

At the end of that evening, this was the result;

I had a few issues with my ancient pot of GW Shining Gold, which meant that the majority of his Doomsday Chair received a base coat of GW Orc Brown to get at least a reasonable base for the Docrafts Gold I was intending on using, as unlike GW paints, Docrafts metallics are a little thinner and don’t cover as well.

Observant readers will note that a further figure also received some paint whilst I was waiting for M.O.D.O.K. to dry between coats.

And here he is, giving M.O.D.O.K. a fat lip.

This is a Wargames Supply Dump figure, sculpted by Roger Webb of Rantings from Under the Wargames Table fame.

Readers of a certain age will recognise this figure as a version of the Action Man/G.I. Joe Bulletman figure from 1979.

On Tuesday, he received a little more attention, but as M.O.D.O.K. required finishing, this is as far as I got;

M.O.D.O.K., however, is finished.

And is… AWESOME!!

Don’t believe me? Judge for yourself;

Pretty cool, no?

I was not alone in my endeavours this year.

Dave from Wargamessculptors Blog sculpted almost the entire cast of the Star Wars prequel Solo, showing off his awesome sculpting skills.

Simon from Fantorical went small, painting up some 15mm Alternative Armies Ion Age figures as Warhammer 40K Horus Heresy era Blood Angels.

Roger from Rantings from Under the Wargaming Table, not only sculpted Dick Spanner from scratch, but also provided us with some much-needed eye candy with Mary Death and her ride from the movie Bounty Killer.

Keith from Dead Dick’s Tavern & Temporary Lodging, provided us with Jon Sable, Grips and the Crimson Hound.

Harry from War Across the Ages, has completed that able sidekick to Indiana Jones, Sallah.

Matt from PM Painting, a newcomer, has continued with his penchant for painting ‘orrible monsters, by creating a mini-diorama from John Carpenter’s The Thing.

And Tom from The Good Ground, gave us his interpretation of DC’s Unknown Soldier.

I thank everyone who took part and hope those who took part (and those who watched our progress) enjoyed themselves.

Remember, 11 months may seem like a long time, but the seventh annual Forgotten Heroes event will be here before you know it, so get planning now!

“His Brain is His Weapon!”

Whilst everyone else has been beavering away on their Forgotten Heroes entries, regular visitors may have noticed that I have been somewhat quiet.

A change of job, a weekend away and some more home-brewing resulted in less time to crack on with entry.

But, it did result in this..

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A 4.8% treacle stout that a confirmed Guinness drinker stated that they actually preferred to the black stuff…

Anyway, when we last saw my version MODOK he looked like this;

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Now, as MODOK’s doomsday chair hovers, I needed a suitable base, as at the moment he looks like he’s in a child’s car seat.

Quite a lot of the models of MODOK have him rising on a pillar of flame, but this is not really accurate and the only flying bases I had were black.

However, I discovered that the hole in the transparent plastic washer I’d used for his hover-jet was the same diameter as a some old metal shelf supports I’d saved. This meant I had a solid shaft to support him, I just needed a base.

Realising that if I removed the bottom ‘cup’ that holds the peg on the flying base, I could then make the hole in the top big enough to take the new metal shaft. As this was cast with a small ring midway down the shaft, this would prevent the shaft just going straight through, giving MODOK the apoearance of hovering, like so;

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I’ll probably just paint the shaft black, but may try some kind of funky ‘heat haze’ effect, If I can work out how to do that.

Examing the model, I realised there were a couple of cavities at the rear of the armrests, which didn’t look right.

A quick rummage and a length of cable tie was cut down, the ends trimmed and then glued into place as further detailing. (NB: If you scatch-building any kind of tracked vehicle, cable ties are your friends. Uniform, textured, flexible and come in a variety of sizes. Ideal replacements if your model tank has lost its tread).

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The final stage before painting was to get out the Milliput and give MODOK his distinctive hair. A suitable blob of grey Milliput was mixed up and slapped on top of his head, then smoothed down into a dome, ensuring that the ‘hair’ did not overhang the main structureof his chair.

Using an old dental probe, lines were then scribed in a radial pattern on this dome, to represent MODOK’s frankly awful hairstyle.

Further putty was used to fill in some gaps around his face and repair some damage done by some over-zealous filing, like so;

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Now, I need to wait for the putty to set and I can paint him up – hopefully before next Wednesday.

I mean, I can’t fail my own challenge now, can I?

Getting Big-Headed

I have, on occasion, been known to blow my own trumpet. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, I do usually feel it is justified.

This may be one of those times.

As mentioned in my previous post, for this year’s Forgotten Heroes, I will be creating my own version of MODOK…

Yes, I know that there are a couple of Heroclix versions AND the Crisis Protocol one, but my version cost me nothing, rather than the £35 that FFG want.

Anyway, first order of the day was to prepare the donor head. My initial thought was to file down the hair on the sides and back, just leaving the top intact.

However, I discovered that the hair was actually a separate piece. The head itself is hard plastic, whereas the hair is more of a rubbery plastic.

So, I scalped him.

This was after I’d already cut off the Hulk’s ears and filed down his forehead.

Now that I’d got a better idea of the diameter of the Hulk’s skull, I could test the various tubes I’d been collecting for this project.

None of which were the right size… naturally. So out came by bits box (GW aficionados, note the spelling – not a Z in sight) and a rummage produced a fluorescent tube motor actuator, from which the guts were removed.

I then cut (carefully, as it’s quite brittle plastic) a panel out of one side to insert the head.

After a fair bit of trimming shaving and filing, the base of the “Doomsday Chair” was filled with hot glue and the head stuck in place.

The following day, out came the bits box again, supplemented by some spare sprues from the Distant Stars project.

Not a great deal of WIP shots, so I’ll just list what I used.

The actuator was glued onto a 2 pence piece, as I needed a solid disc greater than the diameter of the actuator and this was the simplest option. A small transparent plastic washer was glued below this as the hover jet that allows the chair to fly. The armrests are Void 1.1 Junker backpacks, which also provided the legs. The arms are from a Void 1.1 Viridian space marine. The tech gizmo beneath his chin is a Mantic Forge Fathers backpack and the head gem (mounted on a strip of cardboard) is the head of a hammer from the same sprue.

The cavity around the top of his head was filled with hot glue, to act as a base for the hair I will be sculpting on as the final stage before painting.

“And your little dog too…”

Sometime, just sometimes, I am touched by genius.

Today is one of those days.

If This Be Forgotten Heroes 2021…

Many moons ago, I collected Marvel action figures from the Marvel Legends range, which was initially released in 2002. One of the first releases was the Hulk.

Over the intervening years, these figures were stored away and a couple of years back, whilst having a clear out, I discovered this box of figures. Some I sold, some I kept, but the Hulk figure had suffered some damage – his head had fallen off.

Not being one to toss away useful ‘bits’, I decided to keep the head, with some vague idea of using it at some point for something else.

That day has come…

So, which character has a massively over-sized head in relation to the rest of his body? Could it be the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing?

That’s right, boys and girls, I will be attempting to craft my very own version of MODOK, utilising my Hulk head, spare arms and legs from some plastic multi-part figures and various other bits.

How successful I’ll be will only be judged by the end of the annual madness we call…

Forgotten Heroes!

Joining me this year are;

Dave from Wargamessculptors Blog, Simon from Fantorical, Roger from Rantings from Under the Wargaming Table, Keith from Dead Dick’s Tavern & Temporary Lodging, Alan from Golden Age Heroes, Harry from War Across the Ages, Matt from PM Painting and Tom from The Good Ground.

To quote Pinhead, “We have such sights to show you!”