The Resurrection of Cap'n Johns Case, Updated 03/10/15

SO...a few years ago the display case where Cap'n John stored the various Fantasy Folk I painted for him over a number of years had a house of cards moment. That is the top shelf had one edge drop down to the shelf below with its load of minis sliding to the lower shelf. Not to be outdone, the second shelf tipped down to the third shelf depositing two shelves of minis there. This proceeded until the case ran out of shelves. WELL...I got the shelves straightened out, deposited the wandering minis in a random way on the offending shelves, AND vowed I would get the pieces sorted out, touched up, repaired where needed, & hit all those glossy (gloss finish was my thing way back when) minis with a nice matte coat.

Came this New Year's Eve AND I finally fulfilled my vow...the fulfilling part took two days, six cans of Testor's DullCote, & one can of Krylon Matte. I figure that this MONUMENTAL task should be recorded for posterity along with subjecting you, My Dear Forumites, to a horde of horrid photos. ERGO:

The Cap'n's Case:


AND the Perfidious Shelves:










AND a somewhat better look from the bottom to the top...shelves that is:










with two blurry ones:














That ends The Saga..."Look upon my Works, Oh Ye Mighty, AND despair!"  

Wonderful painting, Alan! They look even more impressive displayed like that.

An inspiring collection and a lovely cabinet to boot. Just hope there isn't a repeat catastrophe!

Mike wrote:

Wonderful painting, Alan! They look even more impressive displayed like that.

Thanks, Mike. The feeling of accomplishment was worth the effort...I love keeping my word. I was pleasantly surprised by how most of the minis looked.  

NoisyAssassin wrote:

An inspiring collection and a lovely cabinet to boot. Just hope there isn't a repeat catastrophe!

Thanks, N.A.! I'm glad you like the Lads, Ladies, & Whatever. Cap'n John converted the case from an unfinished gun case; I'm pretty impressed with his handiwork also. AND the shelves do seem to be more secure that before.   

WOW, that is simply breathtaking al, i bow to thé, oh mightiest of all crazy painters out there!

Its a damn pitty that this happend for cap´njhons display, the same happend for serialmom some weeks ago, a shame.

Thanks, Ben. The newest pieces in the collection were done ten years ago. I was pleased that they were pretty close &, in one or two instances, better than what I'm turning out now. I'm also relieved that so few were damaged in the collapse.  

I get a bit tired from just looking at the enormous amount of painted miniatures, well done sir well done!

The accident could have made most of us despair but you rose like a true champ. Go Alan

Thanks, Alex. I was a bit slow rising to the occasion, but then again at my age everything gets done slowly.  

And still you're quicker than most of us...

I saw your post on LAF. I wondered if we would have a similar post, but it took me awhile to find it. Its so much easier to see photos on Tom's.

Truly epic work Al.

Thanks, Jim. Normally if I post on L.A.F. I'll post her as well. Deaths Squad & Reaper are also infected with my photos.  
Now that you mention it, I think photos show up somewhat better here than on other forums. The one's I put up on Wamp look as good. Wamp uses a similar dark background; SO that might have something to do with it.  

Exquisite...

Thanks, Fat Rat...glad you like it!  

That is an impressive collection Nala! Bravo!

Thanks, Vagabond. There were less in there than I thought, but it is still quite a horde. Getting them in order was a bit of a trip down Memory Lane...the "Oh, I remember that one." kind of thing.  

One of the Fellows from Lead Adventure Forum for some reason or other asked for a BBQ Group Photo. Well...I had this one in Cap'n Johns Imploding Display Case; SO I snapped a couple of mediocre pics. Now that I'm planning on adding some close ups of my handiwork in his collection I thought I'd post them.







I was motivated to buy some Old Harlequin Dwarfs from Black Tree simply because the ones I did for The Cap'n looked SO COOL. I'll try to get some photos of them & some other motivational pieces up soon.  

great al, isnt this the crew of the goblobber?

Very atmospheric piece!

I was just uploading some closeups of a bunch of Cap'n John's pieces...along with some new Dwarfs whose purchase was inspired by the Old Harlequin Dwarfs. I'll put them up in a bit...along with the New Harlequin Dwarfs & some Black Tree Dwarfs.  

floedebolle wrote:

great al, isnt this the crew of the goblobber?

You got it. The Goblobber itself was a favorite dry assemble toy for my Boys way back when. As such it slowly lost all the pieces except for the crew, but they had MUCH more fun with it than I ever could. I'm glad you like the remains.  

Grimscull wrote:

Very atmospheric piece!

Thanks, Grim. The paint job is dated but still presentable. I'm glad you enjoyed it.  

...a little later, the Time has come the Walrus said...well actually the Walrus didn't say anything about Cap'n Johns case, but Ill post some more Photos of Dubious Quality anyway:

The purchase inspiring Harlequin Dwarfs:














AND some barbarians of both Genders beginning with a Barbarian Princess who isn't Lucy...or Desi for that matter. She's an Old Citadel Chaos Chick. Who made the Guys is another question:


...another Citadel Barbarian Babe:




...Chaos Chicks:




...Chaos Guys:








AND a COOL Old Citadel Orc with his equally COOL Old Goblin Associate of Unknowm Origins:




There you go until next time.  

this thread is full of awesomeness.

Al, what do you use for human skin tones? Yours look really real, i'm never happy with mine, and i'm going to have some naked humans to paint soon.

Thanks AND a HAPPY BIRTHDAY, qboid. I'm glad you like the stuff!

With the older pieces, I used to do a wash of Dr.Ph. Martin's Burnt Orange water color over Americana Peaches & Cream then go back & do several highlights with the Peaches & Cream; the water color would bleed through less & less with each highlight. When I used a clear gloss finish this worked out fine, but when I switched to a matte finish the water color would be drawn off by osmosis leaving a very pale color. SO I changed to doing the base coat in Georgia Clay (all the colors are Americana), then a heavy highlight of Pumpkin preferably before the Georgia Clay is completely dry, & a final highlight of Peaches & Cream. For a darker flesh I start with Heritage Brick & stop with the Pumpkin. For lighter, start with the Pumpkin & lighten the final highlight with a little sand mixed with the Peaches & Cream.

Americana is available from a couple different distributors in Great Britain:

www.decoart.com

...just select UK. I believe they have a color wheel; so you could match the shades of the paints you are using to the colors I've named.

I hope that wasn't too confusing. I could elaborate if it was.  

Ahh, great , missed the barbarians, top job on them al, really suits the oldschool boys!

cheers Al, i'll check that link out

floedebolle wrote:

Ahh, great , missed the barbarians, top job on them al, really suits the oldschool boys!

Thanks, Ben. Glad you like them. Even when I painted them some of them had become Old School.  

qboid wrote:

cheers Al, i'll check that link out  

Under the Acrylics there is a color chart. The flesh tones are listed/picture under the orange sub category.  

http://decoart.com/americana/acrylics

Here's a link to distributors. There are a few UK Folk in the right column...seems appropriate:

http://decoart.com/cgi-bin/Purchase.cgi?Online