Sunday 30 March 2014

Nick Bibby's Great Spined Dragon

As regular readers will recall, my favourite miniature of all time is this beast: the Great Spined Dragon by the incredibly talented Nick Bibby. Considering that the model is approaching 30 years of age makes it even more remarkable. No other sculptor has produced a better model, and as you will no doubt be aware, there are some truly incredible dragon models out there.

Now, I have written at length about the creation of the Spined Dragon before and that article can be found here for those of you who are interested in hearing more. Today, I want to talk about the painting of my dragon. a task that has taken up the majority of my painting time over the last few weeks.


Here is a shot I took of my original model after I purchased it last summer. I paid about £70 for him, though I had allowed for a top bid of £120. If you are interested in acquiring one of these models after reading this post, this really is a fair price range to work from. Mine was in poor condition. The front leg was snapped off, the back leg (which is a detachable piece) was badly twisted and many of the wing bones were seriously damaged. It was clear that the model would need serious repair work and restoration to ensure that it remained whole into the future.

The broken leg was an easy fix. Using a 1mm drill I added a steel pin to the stump and glued the piece back on. It was quite straight forwards really, especially when I stuck the main part of the body onto an oval base for additional support. The tail and head for attached in a similar way, though I used two part epoxy resin for extra strength here. My problems lay with the wings. After working on the model for a few hours the left wing became increasingly more fragile and in the end I decided to snap the piece into two pieces and do a full repair. Again, steel rod was inserted for about two centimetres into the stump and used to rebuild the wing and add strength. However, this still wasn't enough to produce sturdy wings.

I solved the problem by using very thin plasticard to build the membrane of the wings. I laid the damaged wings on the top of this and stuck the lead down using superglue. I then used green stuff to build up a strengthening layer over the top of the plasticard and around the edges of the wings. Serendipity came into play at this point, as my fingerprints helped add texture to the wings where previously it would have looked very flat and smooth.

With the model built, my young son (aged only three at the time) helped me undercoat the model in white in the back garden. He thoroughly enjoyed it and still talks about it now, but I began to feel a sense of trepidation at painting such an enormous model. My feelings were re-enforced when I tried to undercoat the thing (I originally chose red) and I found myself giving up shortly after! I packed the model away in my draw and worked on my Khorne Army.

And so the model sat there until recently. Having overcome my painting lethargy with some Slanneshi chaos warriors I felt ready to do something completely different. So I pulled out the Spined Dragon and got to work, this time with a green colour scheme. After about five weeks work, on and off, the dragon is pretty much complete and I worked on the finishing touches today.

What do you lot think of my efforts?



Frontal View: I limited the colours I used for the body and was largely inspired by the 'look' of various crocodile species. I found that using plenty of natural world images I could bring out the realism in the sculpt.

Top View: The wings were painted with a mix of drybrushing, ink washes, fine point work and speckling. I was trying to capture an aged look to the wings.

Back View: The back of the dragon saw the closest application of the crocodile colour scheme. This is most noticeable in the black stripes that run across the back of the model.

Back View Two: I used colour harmony between the yellow underbelly and the green skin/scales. I found that this helped bring the two colours together in a more satisfying way.

Top View Two: I felt that a base of this size would look a little plain without something breaking it up so I included a casualty from the Fighters range. I liked the way the fallen knight adds a little narrative to the model, after all is the dragon protecting the wounded knight or is it preparing to eat him?

Side View: Taking a decent shot of the underneath of the model was a challenge but this is the best I could achieve. I used red inks to make the buboes a little more angry and add contrast. The spot colour also helped link the dragon with the fallen knight.

Well, with such a huge beast finished I am now looking around for another 'big 'un' to work on. This is most likely to be my Marauder Giant, which I also started work on last summer but gave up on. I feel a lot more confident about handling bigger miniatures now and feel like I can do the classic model justice.


As always, please feel free to comment on my restoration and paintjob.

Orlygg.

22 comments:

  1. Heh thats fecking amazing, best one I've seen painted. It's both modern and classic at the same time.

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  2. A thing of beauty! Dragon wings are a pig to paint, but you've done an excellent job here. With the Easter holidays approaching I expect to see a battle report featuring this begger.

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  3. Absolutely beautiful! The stripes add a lovely subtle pattern, but it's the creamy yellow underbelly with the red sores that make it ping for me. A fabulous centerpiece to the collection.

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  4. That is utterly marvellous! Congratulations on taking on the challenge of such a grand beastie... and triumphing.

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  5. Beautiful. I like the squashed adventurer. Are you intending to busy up the base more?

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  6. Amazing work, you've done justice to the piece!

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  7. What a brute! The best part about that sculpt is that it looks as though it could actually fly! More than can be said about a lot of modern dragon sculpts out there. The only problem with dragons in third edition is that they're like a gazillion points..

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  8. A freshly painted great spined dragon! A serious pleasure for the eye - nice work Orlygg.
    /Hans

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  9. Stunning. Damn, now I want one even more! Love the black and green stripyness, very reptilian, and the bone really sets him off with the incredible detail around the face. :)

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  10. Excellent, I acquired one month ago for 85€, what do you think, too much expensive?!? Je was painted thats all... No damage...
    Well your colour sheme is very good indeed ;)

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  11. damn! that is beautifully done! loving the black stripes.

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  12. Wow - cracking work!

    Great job on the wings and as has been said the black stripes and naturalistic look work really well.

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  13. Chico is right, the work has one foot in each era, modern and classic. Superb!

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  14. As we say where I come from - TIDY!

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  15. Excellent work all around...you have certainly brought out the best in an already impressive sculpt!

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  16. An impressive piece... Now I'm not sure if I can carry on living without one... :(

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  17. Impressive work. You did the model justice

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  18. Great work. Looks wonderful. I would have chosen a bigger base to protect the tail and head.
    The idea with the dead model at the base is great, with the smile in the dragons face telling "Who's next?"

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  19. Very nice, I love the way you have painted the tail and the underbelly too. I like what you have done with the base, especially the tones of the grass and the dead knight. All in all a great Dragon well painted .

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  20. Very crocodilian. Always an impressive piece. I was looking through Heroes For Wargames earlier, and there's a version Bibby added to and converted, and painted multi-coloured. It's not a huge image but it looks absolutely class.

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  21. BLOODY HELL!

    You've done an amazing job on that old mini, I never realised that some of those old dragons were THAT detailed.

    Outstanding.

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  22. Splendid dragon. Great work there.
    I could not afford one of these first time round. My wages back in 1985/6 was only around £26 before tax and insurance. After paying rent etc. I was only left with about £5 for myself to play with. What with a forced heavy drinking schedule every weekend with my mates I could only ever look and dream about owning Nick Bibby's beautifully designed Great Spined Dragon. It was still my number one want at the time I found my missus. Last year after a nostalgic look on E-Bay for Dungeons and dragons and Warhammer I saw several at very high prices. I decided to try to get one just to try to quell that bit of me that for some reason had been awakened with the urge of still wanting one some 30 years later. I eventually won one at auction for £60.But it had been dropped on his nose resulting with a broken neck in two places, a detached foot and a broken wing across the elbow. He quickly got the name of Norbert by my two nieces who are Harry Potter fans. So far he has been cleaned in a Dettol bath and I have started to repair him. His neck is now straight and been pinned solid. His foot is back on and I have been able to double pin the wing at the elbow. A very tricky job. It needed building up a bit with the green stuff just to add strength. But I have been looking for a way of giving a bit extra support just in case the join does not hold too well. Your plasticard method might be just what I am looking for to give my Norbert some support at the fragile wing joint.
    The black and green stripes remind me of my old iguana I lost several years ago. She was around 20 years old when we lost her. It's a very natural and attractive pattern and it suits the Great Spined Dragon like a glove. Stunning work, and a piece to be proud of.

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