Citadel C34 Earth Elemental, Orlygg Delves into Dettol and a spot of wizardspotting

I am pleased with this figure. Painting it made me feel a little like my old self. And afterwards, when I took the snap you can see above I thought 'that mini could have held its own alongside my old stuff'. If I ever had a style, I guess I can see it in this Earth Elemental. 

So I must be making progress.

Working on such a large figure had its advantages. Anyone struggling with their eyes is going to find larger objects easier to work with. Sticking with just one colour also was a boon. I know that this model is labelled an Earth elemental but I gave it a strong rock scheme. This was largely for convenience's sake, as I've only got 9 colours to work with and keeping the same brown tone consistent would have been a challenge. Grey is probably the easiest colour to mix.

I was able to work on my layering and highlighting and have found that my brush is moving quicker and with greater accuracy than those plastic skeletons from last month. 

So it feels like I am improving. Hopefully, you agree...

       

I am sure you all know the C34 range of elementals and other creatures. There were three other models in this set and a good few years back GW made them available to buy once again on their website, along with the Famous Familiars. Part of me wishes I'd taken the plunge back then and this model was great fun to paint, and I have a feeling the others would be too.

Not that taking the plunge back then would aid me now. As all those figures are lost to me unfortunately.  However, starting again has its own sense of clarity and freedom but its nice to have a crack at a well known model. 

I hope you like him....

                

I also took some snaps of those ghastly preslottas that stunk out the kitchen. After I prized them out of the cup they had resided in for many years I found that the base of them had formed into strange crystals as can be seen in the first picture. Could this be 'lead rot' in crystalised form? 

You can also see the preserved remains of what was once a wasp!! I had hoped it was a snotling or something... but not such luck this time. 

   

Cutting away the worst of the residue I left the models over night to soak and as you can see in the final photo they have cleaned up pretty well. They've been returned to their bath for another night to see if I can shift any stubborn left over paint. I'll be giving them another good clean tomorrow. With a horde of skeletons slowly forming it would do well to have a liche to lead them. 

Stuart Klatcheff's encyclopedic knowledge of early '80s figures served me well once again as he recognised the liche immediately to be from the C17 series. The wizard he was not so sure of... though Ral Partha sprang to mind. 

Can any of you keen eyed '80s enthusiasts place the figure? 

Both of these will be my next painting project. I have some battered bases here that can no longer be used to fit slotta models and with a little superglue and blu-tak should hold together quite nicely. 

Next time we speak these two should be ready to battle it out. 

Orlygg