Hail Hydra

In “How it Started” I reflected on the slow evolution of my miniature painting over the last ten years. After looking at my early work on the Sandra Garrity hydra, I decided to scrap the old paint job and restart from scratch.

This model was included as an add-on to the very first Reaper Bones Kickstarter from 2012. Like many of the early Bones, the hydra was based on an earlier sculpt that had been cast in metal. The original Bones material was a soft white plastic similar to PVC material: fairly inexpensive, soft, and extremely hydrophobic.

I soaked the model for about a week in full strength Simple Green to break down the heavy layers of paint and lacquer, though I’m not convinced how much good this soaking did—removing most of the original paint required several rounds of vigorous scrubbing with a stiff bristled brush, alternated with dips in a sonic cleaner.

Although the model had shipped disassembled, I must have done too good a job with the glue because I could not separate the model into its constituent parts, which would have made both cleaning and repainting quite a bit easier. Rather than hunt down a solvent to dissolve superglue without melting Bones, I pushed on.

I opted not to prime this model, although I continue to doubt the conventional wisdom that rattlecan primer cannot be used with the original Bones material. I do find that an airbrush—as opposed to my brush work—can provide a sufficiently strong initial layer. So I used that tool to put down a zenithal undercoat with white and black, followed by a base coat of Reaper MSP Peacock Green. (I kept the same basic color scheme scheme in order to provide an apples-to-apples comparison with my earlier work.)

Once again, I found that the airbrush made painting a larger model much easier. The first time out with a brush I was constantly vexed by uneven coats, missed spots, and painting flicking off where I was inadvertently touching pieces with my bare hands. This time I was careful to use gloves and simply needed to handle the model much less because the airbrush provided such thorough coverage.

To the base coat I added a wash of Army Painter Blue Tone and then dry brushed highlights on the scales. I used a brush to base coat the spinal plates, horns, teeth, and talons with Reaper Yellowed Bone, which were then washed with a variety of Army Painter tones. I base coated the hydra maws with Reaper Imperial Purple, then dry-brushed Deep Red followed by Fair Skin.

I did have one late stage mishap with this miniature. To seal the figure, I tried using Tamiya TS-13 Clear Spray Lacquer, which seems to be a popular product within the model building community. I wanted to give the hydra scales an iridescent finish, but the lacquer dried a bit too shiny, giving the model a plastic-y look. I corrected this with my old standby, Testor Dullcote, but feel like the multiple layers of varnish took some of the luster from the Peacock Green scales.

I used a 75 mm round Reaper BaseBoss to base the model, suitable for a Huge figure. I had been unable to successfully base the model my first time out because the figure’s feet don’t have much contact with the surface, which I think is due to a slight warping in the casting. For round two I used a couple of small Irwin One-Handed Mini Bar Clamps to hold down the feet long enough for the Loctite Super Glue gel Control to completely set. The resulting bond seems to be nice and secure.

The redux paint job was a huge improvement over my first attempt: it’s nice to confirm that I have picked up some skills over the years. While I certainly wouldn’t be embarrassed to put this model on the tabletop, I also don’t think this was a fantastic paint job. I’m just not satisfied with either the eyes or the little teeth, which still look a little sloppy to me. I’m not quite sure what I would do differently a third time, but maybe I’ll watch a few more YouTube videos in case this old dog can learn some new tricks. Ars longa, vita brevis.