'Flight' from KeithS: A Flight of Dragons

Nothing says "monsters" and "flight" like Dragons!  Originally, I thought I would do a batch of flying demons for this fortnight's theme, but as I was getting organized I noticed a long-neglected box with a Grenadier dragon sitting forlornly in a drawer.  In fact, I had four of them from Grenadier that I bought in the 80s and never got around to painting.  On top of that, my dad had purchased two from a recent Ral Partha Kickstarter, which he passed off to me.  Six dragons?  Seemed like the way to go!

Up first is a Black Dragon from Grenadier.  For this guy, I went with the classic colors from the dragon in Disney's Sleeping Beauty (and, probably not coincidentally, from the Grenadier box).  This guy is quite big and very heavy!  In fact, I think it's safe to say its the largest miniature I've ever painted.  It's also top-heavy - shortly after gluing it together and before basing, it toppled over and blew to pieces, more pieces than it originally started with, unfortunately.  So, not easily visible are some cracks and a few things bent in ways not intended, but I think I hid them well with some wood filler (my go-to gap filler and sculpting material).

The webbing in the wings have a purplish tinge that's not easily visible in this photo, unfortunately.  Otherwise, the coloring was pretty straightforward.  I was rather pleased with the results.

Next up is a White Dragon, also from Grenadier.  For this one, I primed in white, then washed with a pale blue, then followed with a heavy over brushing of white again.  I wanted to do the horns and claws with a  cool horn-colored blend, but my blending skills are inadequate, so black it is.

For this base, I made some snow with glue, paint and baking soda.  He needs a proper wintry terrain (and since its snowing here in Virginia as I type this, it seemed appropriate).

A third angle.

This guy is a Ral Partha Gold Dragon.  However, it strongly reminded me of J.R.R. Tolkien's style of drawing dragons, so I went with a red color in honor of Smaug.  It's long...really long!  But, I really like it's personality. 

It got an all-over dark red base, with multiple shades of lighter red over the top.  The wings were done with cheap "dark pewter" paint with a little red to bring out the veins and other features.

I'm really pleased with this guy.  He might go on a shelf in my office.

I did a second Red Dragon, this one from Grenadier.  It has a similar paint job as the last one, with the main difference being a golden brown underbelly.  I used some slightly different reds, as well, just for variety sake.

Like a proper D&D red dragon, this guy looks pretty evil...not someone adventurers want to tangle with!

Up next is a Blue Dragon by Grenadier.  This guy is pretty straightforward.  I did darker blues with a blue ink wash for the main color.  Highlights and underbelly are darker yellow.  I think he looks like he is ready to try out for the US Navy's Blue Angels.

Reverse angle.  Not bad, but the least exciting one to me of the lot.

This chap is "Dragon Sitting Atop Treasure" by Grenadier.  Seeing as it had no assigned color, I asked some friends for color ideas and two said blue, so blue it is.  To make it differ from the last one, I did lighter blues and dry brushed silver before washing it.  This gives it a bit of a more metallic coloration.



The treasure pile was easier to do than I thought it would be, fortunately.

That's it!  Six dragons of varying hues.  I have to admit, I sort of dreaded doing these, hence the 30 year delay for some of them.  However, they turned out to be a lot of fun and I might run out and get some more one of these days.  Of course, I have no idea where to put them!

Pointwise, these are odd ones, so I am not going to guess and just list sizes.  The Black is 85mm tall; the White is 95mm long; the longer Red is 155mm from snout to the upward curve of the tail; the shorter Red is 140mm tail to snout; big Blue is 90mm long; and Blue on Treasure is 80mm long.