Best of Enemies

Due to being somewhat busy, as well as posting chapters of my novel “The Last Knight” is instalments over on Corvuscope, I’ve not had a great deal of time to butcher the miniatures I showed in the last post for my new version of the 13th Doctor.

However, I did manage to set aside some time to clear all the flash from ALL my unbased Doctors and companions, then attacked the two figures I had decided to use as my 23th Doctor and possible incarnation of the Master.

When we last saw my proto-13th Doctor, he looked like this:

The base was filed down, so it would sit flat, then glued to a 2 pence piece. I then removed his hat, by carefully cutting away the extraneous metal, then filed down the top of his head, with the idea of building this back up with either Milliput or Green Stuff. I usually use Milliput, as I find it easier to work with, but it is coarser than Green Stuff, so may have another go with that, although I do find it a little awkward to work with. Probably either the mix I’m using or lack of experience.

Next, the end of the portfire was snipped off, leaving a bare shaft – the basis for his sonic screwdriver.

I then sat for a while, going through my box of bits to see if there was anything that could be added to this shaft to give it a bit more character – ideally a tiny bead or a small ring of plastic. Unfortunately, everything I had was little bit too big.

Then I had an idea…

If I used a pair of needle-nosed pliers applied from the tip down, I could create regular ridges around the entire shaft, rather than trying to file down individual slots in it, which had the added advantage of being of a regular width. I then file the tip of the shaft to a square-based pyramid, to suggest that the end was an emitter crystal of some such.

This is the result:

It kind of reminds me of the 12th Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, which I recall thinking was pretty cool.

Obviously, there are differences and it will need a decent paintjob to bring out the detail, but it’s a good start.

Next I moved on to the Master. He originally looked like this:

So, based was filed, glued to a 2 pence piece and the lower part of the trail spike removed. I then carefully bent his arm to lower and twist it, so that he was now brandishing whatever device I decided it was – possibly a revised laser screwdriver or another variant of the tissue compression eliminator. I thought the hand wasn’t exactly in the right place, so made the mistake of trying to twist the hand position, which resulted in it snapping off and much swearing as I tried to locate it when it dropped onto the floor.

After more swearing at the glue that proved to less than super (although it was branded as such), this was reattached and held in position until it was stuck solidly.

The result is below:

I think I may need some additional detailing on the device, which given the delicacy of the wrist joint now, might have to be completed via painting, but the haughty expression on his face does scream “Master” to me, so I think this was good choice.

But all progress is good, so whilst it might be going slowly, at least it’s going…