Smash Bash 2023 – brendan lacy

What is Smash Bash?

Smash Bash is an annual miniature kitbashing competition. Each year there is a theme to work within and three size categories for the models submitted; single miniature, medium sized miniature (or group of small miniatures), and large miniatures (or dioramas.) The competition is free and open to all who want to enter. The organizer, Matt, does an amazing job and the competition website answers all questions. The website also hosts galleries of the past entries which are absolutely stunning.

A Brackish Birth

This year’s theme was “A Brackish Birth,” from the competition website:

For all categories, across the whole of the competition, we’re looking for your take on brackish birth. Creatures, scenes, enigmatic occurrences, messages from the void (or beyond it). Show us your most awesome brackish birth. Unleash it upon the world, and into your entries.

About This Project

Thinking on the theme I immediately thought of slimy creatures, or things from a swamp or estuary, appearing or arriving in some way. However, I was drawn to the “messages from the void” part of the prompt and thought this would be a good chance to create a sci-fi model with cosmic horror elements.

Some goals for this project were to develop a character that has been in my sketchbook for many years into a miniature, to try new painting techniques, and to advance my scenic photography skills.

+++incoming transmission+++

Inquisitor, this is Librarian XXV aboard The Emperor’s Vengeance. We are reporting on the anomaly. For centuries an ancient Servitor Prime sat motionless on Cathedral Deck 05. The promethium pyre dimly illuminating our ancestors teachings hung on the steel walls. Recently the pyre burns intensely and acolytes report the fire moves in a way that seems alive, that they see images in the searing depths. The clearest image reported in the pyre is a grinning face of cruel licking flames. The denizens of Deck 05 are agitated, growing restless. It seems the pyre was meant to receive messages from some other world, from beyond our reality, from beyond the void.

We had forgotten the true purpose of this relic.

+++transmission end+++

Process Work

Above is an early sketch of the torch bearing Servitor Prime, and the ancient tome carrying Servo-skulls. In this sketch the two characters appear on the same “side” and the the composition lacks tension. Ultimately the characters were placed in opposition for the final photoshoot. The Servitor Prime is a character concept that I had originally tried to create back in 2009 but proved too ambitious for my skills at the time and was relegated to the bitz bin.

Sculpting & Kitbashing

During the inital planning stage of this project I decided to add a third character, an Acolyte, to help balance set. From left to right:

Servitor Prime with wire leg armature covered in Greenstuff and the lower leg armour sculpted. The armature was measured out to create a model that would stand twice as tall as a 28mm scale miniature. The torso is a block of styrene with an old Chaos Warrior head from Warhammer Fantasy – this part of the model is from my original attempt at creating this character in 2009.
The Acolyte was cobbled together from spare Space Marine Scout parts, icons from a Chaos Warrior kit, and sprues to make the legs.
The Servo-skulls were set onto a wire to give them a floating appearance. The oversized book was from a Harry Potter action figure.
The model bases were made with screen door mesh, 1mm styrene sheet and 1mm styrene rod, to create an industrial looking floor.

When sculpting the legs I started with the feet and worked upwards as the leg armour overlaps. The torso was bulked out to balance the silhouette with the size of the legs. After the legs and abdominal details cured I added in the belt and some other details such as the buckle from a Space Marine Terminator kit and the chest eagle. At this stage the wires for the arms were placed and the power fists were added. Finally the arms were bulked out and roughly shaped. In between each sculpting session, when the Greenstuff had cured, I filed, sanded and carved the model to get rounder curves and sharper edges than my sculpting alone could produce.

The Acolyte model on the left received a quick sculpt of some long robes. In the middle the Servitor Prime was removed from the cork and placed on its base. The shoulders were build up in layers to give the appearance of thick armour plates. I had these quarter dome pieces with little spikes that I thought would give the character a bit of a menacing look. On the right is the Servitor Prime with all sculpting completed. The back-mounted pyre is a large straw filled with Milliput and covered in tubes and pipes mainly scavenged from Imperial Guard heavy weapon team kits. The Servitor also received a few banners and ribbons. At this stage I decided the feet needed a little extra height and this gave me the opportunity to give the model’s base a subtle metal plate detail bay laying down a 4 pieces of 1mm Styrene sheet and beveling their edges slightly.

Here is a shot of the three characters together before priming and painting. In total the build process for this project took almost two months.

Painting

I decided that the Servitor Prime should appear statuesque. To give it a suitably aged look I wanted to try some new weathering techniques and learn about the tarnishing process of metals including Verdigris. Having never painted with this particular technique before I turned to the fantastic tutorials by Gardens of Hecate for reference:

Without having any specific verdigris or teal paints I substituted as follows:

2 Parts Warpstone Glow (Citadel paint)
2 Parts Alaitoc Blue (Citadel paint)
2 Parts Screaming Skull (Citadel paint)
1 Part Yriel Yellow (Citadel paint)

Using these tutorials I was able to easily paint all the characters before the competition deadline.

Scenery

The scenic backdrop for the photos were made in two sections, a wall and a floor.

The wall was made from a piece of white Styrofoam packaging I found in the garbage. I cut it into several pieces and, using construction adhesive, glued them to flat strips of foam core. I initially gave the whole wall a coat of black paint mixed with PVA glue and baking soda but this wasn’t enough to mask the bead-like surface of the foam. I then applied even layers of drywall compound and this gave a much better concrete-like surface. Some sand and plastic skulls were glued into the corners to hide the transition. The wall was painted entirely black then heavily dry brushed with white. I focused the brush work at the top of the wall and carried it lightly down to give the appearance of a high ambient light source. The bottom third of the wall then received a few thin acrylic washes of burnt umber.

The floor was made by gluing screen door mesh to a sheet of cereal box card then gluing strips of EVA foam on top. In retrospect a thicker base material would better resist warping from the glue and paint. Textured paste made from sand, glue and baking soda was pushed into the corners of each square. The floor was primed with black then dry brushed with a dark silver. Burnt umber and black were randomly sponged on in different areas. Three acrylic washes followed: burnt umber with a dab of black, burnt sienna with a dab of bright orange (for rust effects), and very thin white (moisture damage effects).

I had initially thought this backdrop would be a fixed diorama piece, but it was useful to have separate elements that could be moved around to refine the final composition on camera.

back to miniatures