Pack Rat Complete!

Before the holidays I completed the Pack Rat model. At first I didn't like how it was going, but once he was done and I got some good photos of him I ended up loving it.

I feel like I'm improving my brush on NMM but still have areas to improve on. I also need to figure out a better way to mark the arc lines on the base. They look fine from the pictures but I can see they aren't exactly right from a bird's (or player's) eye view.

Overall I love this model. The pose is great, I love a good square stance for a model that's firing. There's surprisingly not as much of this pose going on in miniatures, probably due to sculpting or something. This pose gives such a sense of realism to a firefight. I also like the weapon being grounded in modern military, as I don't get many - if any - chances to paint modern military. This model only has a slight hint of sci-fi but fits in well with the MERCS universe. And credit is due to the sculptor, as the majority of the model is swapped with another standing miniature (the body and legs are one piece) yet the few items that are unique completely change the model, which is the weapon, head and backpack. The pack features tools and a fire extinguisher which help define the Pack Rat as a fixer. Another good touch was the armor placement, as being a right handed shooter he'll need protection on his left side mostly, and minimizes armor usage elsewhere to stay mobile. There's even items stashed on his helmet showing his hording nature. When I showcase the Chem Engineer you'll see that although they share the exact same bodies they will be completely unique and distinguishable.

And as always there's the red sash on his weapon to signify his membership with the House 9.

Let me know what you think!

MERCS Pack Rat WIP

Here's my latest effort:

Pew Pew!

I've worked on and off on this dude for the last few weeks. He's one of my favorite sculpts for the House 9 faction. He looks like he was plucked straight from the Terminator resistance fighters. I'd say he's about 90% done, I've just got to paint all the brown straps and pick out a few other details like the eyes or the shell casings.

I didn't realize this until it was too late, but this model isn't exactly consistent with my previous model for the faction. The House Member I painted earlier was one of the first that I did this NMM technique on, and I was very sparse with the pure white highlights. Up until last night I always kept the House Member close by for reference to keep the Pack Rat consistent. The most important step, the NMM, to keep consistent between the two is when I decide to not keep the HM close by. Ugh. Well the Pack Rat's armor is a whole lot shinier now, so maybe if I'm not too lazy I'll go back on the House Member and brighten it up a bit. Probably not. Ha!

Also in keeping with the basing theme I tried out some rusted barbed wire. It's pretty awesome stuff to add on the base. Eventually I'll add the lines on the side for the arcs and add some greenery to break up the color.