Heal ya!? None of these potions will heal ya! This one will kill ya fastest, if that’s what yoo mean…

Muggob Muckstirra, Swampcalla Shaman

Today I’m looking at an Orruk Kruleboyz Swampcalla Shaman from Warhammer Age of Sigmar. This is the next miniature in my new Kruleboyz side project, and the partner piece to the Pot-Grot that I posted last week.

Modelling

This miniature used a total of four 3V Green 0603 SMD chip LED and accompanying resistors from Small Scale Lights. That’s one for the potion bottle on the staff, one each for the two potion bottles hanging from the back of the model, and one in the dish of Boggy Mist potion. The base, battery holder and switch were prepared using the method described in Step 1 – 6 of my LED Eye Lens Tutorial, and the four LEDs were connected in parallel across the battery and switch. You can see some pictures of the wiring below.

I discussed how the potion bottles were created last week in my post on the Pot-Grot, but they are essentially polyurethane resin casts made using the techniques described in my Resin Casting for Special Effects Tutorial.

The illuminated Boggy Mist potion pouring from the dish was a bit of an experiment. Or to put it another way, I made it up as I went along! I’ve laid out the steps I followed below.

1. One of the 3V Green 0603 SMD chip LEDs was inserted into the dish, facing outwards, with the connecting wires running down through the shaman’s arm and into the torso. I painted the dish before moving on to Step 2.

2. I created a water effect in the dish using Splash Effect acrylic gel. This gel goes on white but dries clear. You will get better, clearer drying from the gel if you build it up in thin layers, allowing each layer to fully dry clear before applying the next layer.

3. Next, I began to build up the pouring effect in successive layers of acrylic gel applied directly over the LED chip. This took several applications to achieve the full effect.

4. Once I was happy with how the pouring liquid looked, and after the final layer of gel had dried, I gave all of the acrylic gel a thick shade of Biel-Tan Green. This is mainly to make the gel look more interesting when the LED is switched off.

In hindsight I probably should have begun by filling the dish with a small layer of polyurethane resin – as I did with the Pot-Grot’s cauldron – to help diffuse the light better. Still, this doesn’t look too bad as it is! I did have a quick play with fibre optics and thin acrylic rod too, just to see if I could make the steam of liquid leaving the dish any longer and keep it illuminated. But I wasn’t very pleased with the results so I settled for a smaller stream.

In addition to the other effects, I also added a swampy pool to the base of the shaman using a mixture of resin and paint. I’ve described the steps involved below. I deliberately positioned the pool so the shaman’s robes would be trailing into the water, emphasising his connection to the swamp.

1. When texturing and painting the base, leave an area clear and flat to represent the swampy pool. Paint the floor of this area in Caliban Green.

2. Once the paint is dry, add a thin layer of transparent UV resin to fill the pool. UV resin can be cured quickly with a small UV torch or left to cure outside in direct sunlight.

3. Once the UV resin is dry, give it a thick coat of Athonian Camoshade.

4. Wait for the Camoshade to partially – but not fully – dry, and then apply a second layer of UV resin. This will mix with the paint and give a sense of murky, brackish depth to the pool. You may find it useful to have a thin plastic rod or stiff metal wire handy so you can stir up any big clumps of paint in the resin before you harden it with the UV torch.

At this point I’d normally discuss paint recipes, but I’m saving that for next week when I’m hoping to show more Kruleboyz and discuss the project parameters. I’ll be talking about Kruleboyz painting recipes, palette selection and LED choice for this project, so check back next week if you’re interested in that.

That’s all for today. I’ll be back again soon with more Kruleboyz, plus of course more of all the usual projects like Flesh Eaters space marines and Tyranids! Thanks very much for reading, and please remember you can also find me sharing my work on Instagram, Threads, Twitter/X, Bluesky and Mastodon.

Hubble, bubble, toil and…hey boss, do we have any, erm….rubble?

Stirit, Pot-Grot

Here’s something a bit different for today’s blog post, an Orruk Kruleboyz Pot-Grot from Warhammer Age of Sigmar. This is the first miniature in a new Kruleboyz side project.

Seriously, another side project!?

Yes, another side project! My young son recently expressed an interest in having a go at the Warhammer hobby, particularly the painting, so we had a look at the starter sets. My son is more into fantasy than sci-fi at the moment, and the Stormcast leapt out at him as something he wanted to paint. I’m a fan of greenskins (as you may recall), so I thought painting some Kruleboyz might be fun. We bought a Age of Sigmar Warrior Edition Starter Set to split. I couldn’t resist picking up a couple of other Kruleboyz bits too!

Modelling

The Pot-Grot miniature comes with a plastic cauldron, and my initial plan was simply to recast the plastic liquid surface of the cauldron in resin to allow the light through. But the component was quite thin and after several miscasts I decided to take a different approach, which I’ve detailed below in a short-form tutorial.

1. Began by preparing the base, battery holder and switch using the method described in Step 1 – 6 of my LED Eye Lens Tutorial. Next insert the LED into the bottom of the cauldron, facing up. I used a Tru Opto Green 1.8mm LED with a 10 ohm resistor. Drill two holes in the bottom of the cauldron to allow the legs of the LED to pass through. Solder the LED and resistor in series with the battery and switch. Then make sure any gaps in the sides and bottom of the cauldron are filled with modelling putty, otherwise the resin will leak out during the next stage. At this stage I also carefully removed the plastic potion bottle from the side of the backpack with a sharp craft knife. A 3V Green 0603 SMD chip LED and accompanying resistor from Small Scale Lights was inserted in its place. The wires from this LED ran down through the backpack and legs of the model to connect in parallel with the other LED.

2. Fill the cauldron almost to the top with polyurethane resin. You will find a syringe helpful for this. I also added a polyurethane resin recast of the potions bottle to the side of the backpack, drilling a small hole so the 0603 chip LED could fit inside and illuminate the bottle. Check out my Resin Casting for Special Effects Tutorial if you need more information on working with polyurethane resin for this type of casting.

3. Once the resin has set, check that the LEDs are still functioning and that you have a good visible glow through the resin. Depending on the level of resin in the cauldron, you may need to extend the grot’s ladle so that it touches the surface. This can be done with a plastic rod or spare piece of sprue.

4. The next step is to undercoat and paint the miniature. When undercoating, be careful not to spray the resin cauldron surface or potion bottle. A temporary covering of blu tack or tin foil can help protect the resin. As part of the painting process, I added a thin glaze of Biel-Tan Green to the surface of the cauldron and the potion bottle. This is mainly to make the resin surfaces look more interesting when the LED is switched off.

5. Now add a thin layer of transparent UV resin, only 1-2mm deep, over the surface of the cauldron. This helps to give surface of the cauldron a liquid feel and a sense of depth. The UV resin can be cured quickly with a small UV torch or left to cure outside in direct sunlight.

6. Finally sculpt some ripples around the ladle and a trail to imply motion using Splash Effect acrylic gel. The acrylic gel is white when applied but dries transparent over several hours. I didn’t add too many ripples as I wanted to give them impression that the contents of the cauldron were quite viscous and not easily disturbed.

You can see the finished effect in the two images above, both with the LED switched off and on. After I’d built the miniature, it occurred to me that I could have also added an additional yellow LED under the cauldron to simulate the fire. Oh well, maybe next time!

At this point I’d normally discuss paint recipes, but I’m not going to talk about painting this miniature today. I’m planning to discuss Kruleboyz painting recipes, palette selection and LED choice for the whole side project in an upcoming post.

That’s it for today. I’ll be back again soon with more about the Kruleboyz, plus of course even more Flesh Eaters space marines and definitely some Tyranids! Thanks very much for reading, and please remember you can also find me sharing my work on Instagram, Threads, Twitter/X, Bluesky and Mastodon.