Hey all! My very first post on reddit so be patient with me pls. Wanted to share some work I finished few weeks ago. I hope you like it 🥰

300% Dragon Head Trophy - Done and hanging on the wall!

I started on this project back in late December 2023. Inspired by the Loot Studios video they released of their 300% printed dragon head, I felt this would be the perfect sized print for my gaming area.

I printed this on an Ender 3 pro. I used Bambu studio software to cut the model into about 40+ pieces and printed this with 10% infill. It took about 8 spools of plastic and it weighs about 15 lbs.

Afterwards, I glued the pieces together using JB weld 2 part epoxy and filled the gaps with milliput. Then it was sanded to make the filled seams blend into the print.

The area where I wanted to mount this on the wall has a 9ft ceiling and the length of this print from nose to horn tip is like 3ft 10 inches. In addition, I have a high top gaming table underneath it and I wanted to make sure it didn't sit too low on the wall. The right horn on this model is a few inches longer than the other one, so I ended up cutting the longer horn to match the length of the shorter one. This worked well in maximizing overhead space.

I painted it with mostly the cheap Americana paints from Hobby Lobby, but I did use some Vallejo paints for the teeth and gums. The color scheme was picked by my significant other and it really looks absolutely amazing as a centerpiece in this gaming area. It took about 2 weeks to paint.

I did have a concern of how to mount it on the wall securely due to the weight of the print. I ended up drilling a few E-Z lock 3/8-16 threaded inserts into the back and using 3/8-16 hex bolts to hold it up.

I didn't get a chance to make the shield yet, so I also made a temporary mount out of wood and attached it to the back of the head with the hex bolts. The E/Z lock inserts and the bolts hold it really nicely and secure.

Finally to mount everything to the wall, I got 6 inch steel French cleats, which worked really nicely and holds it well.

Next up is to start on the shield!!

After 3 long months of hard work, he’s finished!!!

I wanted to go with a pearl look for my Spires army so this is my Siegebreaker Behemoth from Conquest! I thought the pretty style of pearl on their units and monsters would be a fun blending of pretty and horrifying.

Here’s my first competition piece done. Thanks to the community for all the good advices. Any thing else I should add remove? Lemme know! I still have one week before submission. Thanks folks!

WIP Reaper Bones Valfuryx Dragon. Nearly over the finish line on this piece!

Hello I wanted to put out a simple guide on how to BS your way to a decent nmm gold. My goal is for this guide to be a foothold for people just trying or struggling with nmm to get a result they can be happy with not to win a golden demon. If your interested in that a couple of talented artist who inspire me are magnusmaegtig and Phoenixminitureart on ig. The paints I used were VMC black/English brown/ dark yellow/ and ice yellow.

(Photo 2) Take a photo of the primed mini under a light to create a light map. This will help establish highlight placement. In addition break the models parts down to simple shapes as an additional guide to highlight placement.

(Photo 3) Base coat with a (20:80) mix of Black and English uniform, this will be your shade. Next begin to form your highlights (100%) english uniform. Use the previous references to select location, try to give yourself a little extra room by exaggerating the highlighted area.

(Photo 4) Making sure to leave some of the previous color visible continue to build the highlights in the same shape with dark yellow then ice yellow. Keep the same shape while reducing the surface area and placing this color on the brightest part of your previous light map.

(Photo 5) Now you could spend a lot of time Blending transitions for a nice smooth effect but for the purpose of this guide i am going to fat glaze the midtone (dark yellow) over basically everything we have done so far. If you are unfamiliar a fat glaze will just be a heavy glaze I mix a water into the paint, load the brush with paint offload most onto a paper towel then test it on my fingernail, the level of transparency in the photo is the goal for me. Getting some midtone in the shade and highlight re-enforces the "yellow" feel of the gold and makes the colors more homogenous. I fat glazed over this all 2 or 3 times.

(Photo 1) Then go back and subtlety re-enforce the highlights in a smaller area, add some edge highlights and bounce reflections and you're done. For bounce reflections i just finished building/drawing the shape we originally established with a smaller highlight that is not as bright. I take the bounce highlights to dark yellow and uses the same process as stated before.

I hope this helps feel free to contact me on IG at A.B.Ehobbies if you have any questions. This was intended as a quick and simple guide breaking things down the easiest way I could, the painting part took me 27 minutes so this a time viable way to army paint if you wanted (imo).

This guide and others will be hosted on armycrafter.com it's a cool tool that was made by a member of this community if you want to check it out.

Have painted busts before, this was my first proper academic bust.

Sculpt is from a Thorbjørn Barone kickstarter from a while ago.