Something a little different - 68mm Display Piece

Last August I saw someone paint something for a friend.  I have some parents who have or buy anything they need so wanted to try and use my talent to produce something for my Dad.  A big fan of Westerns, Wildlife, Hunting, I had several avenues I could go.  However, after a short debate I decided to paint him something in the Western theme.

For Christmas I presented my Dad with the miniature painted by myself below:

This was the first time painting something that would be a display piece.  The first step was obviously picking the miniature and with the help of (I believe) Domus pointing me to Andrea Miniatures I picked one I thought would be a great fit.

The next step was getting something to display it on.  After measuring the model and determining the size I needed I went to several websites but just couldn't find what I needed.  Scuba Steve was my savior who offered to purchase, shape and polish a display for me out of wood!  Another reminder of how great this miniature gaming community truly is!

 Marble Wood I chose

 Steve's WIP shots he sent me

Steve produced to my specifications an amazing display.  We lined up an AOS game to make the transfer and a Khorne victory over Steve's Slaanesh saw me departing with a victory and an amazing display piece.  THANK YOU STEVE!

During the building process I was reminded of how nice it is to work with GW plastics compared to metals.  Although it went together well I was dumbfounded to find that the two tiny spurs of this Cowboy's boots were separate pieces.  At one point I lost one and could not find it for the life of me on the ground.  Thanks to my wife who got on hands and knees and was able to find it for me...NIGHTMARE

The painting table...YIKES

The painting process was truly a joy putting in a lot of time and working on some new blending techniques as well as painting a larger face.  After watching a couple tutorials I even added some stubble to his face.  I did paint it in a few pieces before assembly including the cowboy himself, the dirt, his hat, the wheelbarrow, and the saddlebags.  This allowed me to put better use in with the Airbrush before brushwork and get to the details of the face, wheelbarrow and more.

In choosing the colors I took some inspiration from various Louis L'Amour covers and even borrowed a couple books from my dad with some descriptions of the Sacketts.  Additionally I watched a couple clips of the TV series The Sacketts with Tom Selleck.  In the end I took the most inspiration from this book cover:

Here you can see a couple WIP shots of his cloak - Note missing spur on his boot 😡

Shot of the Mini Assemblies I painted

In the end I believe with assembly and painting the whole process took me around 27 hours.  I know some Golden Daemon painters out there spend a lot longer, but I was really happy with the result.

In fact it would appear my Dad was as well considering the display found itself in front of his Leather Bound collection of Louis L'Amour books.