So, here goes on a little step by step guide on how I built my new Exalted Vermin Lord from Warhammer Forge. If you're an experienced modeller then you can read this just to see what I've done and how I've used one of my own scenic bases to ground the model in a bit more of a living breathing vignette instead of just using the supplied blank plastic base with some sand glued to it. If you've rarely/never worked with a resin model before this guide goes into a bit more depth to show you some of the things I've learned over the years.
Here is the kit as received from Warhammer Forge: Main body and terrain piece, Doom Glaive, tail, arms, horns, and back spines. It also comes with a 60mm x 100mm base.
You can see here that I've replaced the supplied base with a Fantascape
Wyrdstone Mines Warmachine base. Included in this picture is everything you should need to build this model. You'll notice a few broken pieces of a column from a Gothic Ruins Flyer base and a little pile of plastic rats (spares from clanrat sprues). Tools include a set of clippers, a scalpel, needle files (I mainly use a triangular one, plus a round one and a gently curved one), a sheet of coars-ish sandpaper and a sheet of P600 wet 'n' dry paper (the black one), some green stuff and a pot of liquid green stuff, an old large brush, super glue, Vallejo White Pumice paste and an old spatula style sculpting tool, and a big soft-bristled brush.
Please excuse my thumb in the frame! At this point I've trimmed all of the pieces of any flash and breather pipes etc. The little tubes/pipes are there to aid the flow of air out of the resin during the casting process. Without them the extremities and undercuts of the model would be filled with air bubbles. Carefully work your way around each piece identifying which bits should and shouldn't be there. Some bits need clippers to remove them, but for others the clippers would be very heavy handed so switch to the scalpel and very carefully trim the pieces away. If you're using a scalpel please remember that it is much sharper than the average craft/hobby knife and is designed specifically to cut through human flesh! Once all of the larger pieces are trimmed away, use the files and P600 paper to get rid of any mould lines. You can also use the scalpel like a scraping tool for this. Notice I've left the back spines on their tab for now so that I don't lose them, and I've also left a tab on the base of the right hand horn so that I know which side of the head each horn is for.
Taking a firm grip of the model near its base and using a circular motion on the rough sand paper, grind down the very base of the model until it is flat. This also makes sure that the surface is roughed up so that it will get a good bond with the resin base when you apply the super glue.
Now, dry fit the model to the base so that you can see how its going to look. You need to think of the overall composition of the piece and look at how it balances not only physically but visually. I've decided that I don't want the arch parallel with the sides of the base. Placing the arch at a slight angle leads the eye through the piece and lends more movement to the model, also enhancing the impression that this is a snapshot of a much larger scene that continues beyond the confines of the base.
I've chosen to mount the model with the base area of the arch attached to the flagstone area on the base. It would have fit on the other end of the base too but that end is far more interesting to look at. The stone area however, has some broken and raised bits on it so I need to trim and sand those flat to make sure of a good bond when the glue is applied. Just use the clippers to take off the excess raised sections then use the sand paper to flatten the surface as shown in the next pic.
As you can see in these next pictures the Doom Glaive is quite warped. This is not a fault on the model but more a by-products of the casting process and nothing to worry about unduly. Long things pieces like this can very easily break if allowed to fully cure and harden while still in the mould, so as has happened here, its a good idea to de-mould them before they're fully hardened. This allows them to be pulled from the mould while they still have a little softness to them, but it can mean that as they continue to cure you can get bends and twists. These are easily fixed by immersing them in hot water til they soften again, then straightening them and cooling them down. I'll do this during the next stage, which is to wash all the bits.
Put enough warm water to cover the biggest piece of the model into a sink or bowl and add a little squirt of washing up liquid. Now us a big soft-bristled brush to wash all the resin pieces. The soft bristles will get into all of the nooks and crannies without damaging any of the details. This step is very important as the moulding process sometimes involves a wax based release agent being sprayed into the mould before the resin is poured. This wax then adheres to the surface of the casting and if not washed off can and will prevent any paint (even undercoat) from sticking to the model. Rinse the washed pieces in clean water and allow to dry thoroughly.
Here is the model now super-glued to the base. Its starting to take shape, but before I add anything else (limbs and weapons will get in the way at this stage and will be easy to accidentally break, so its best to leave them off for now) I need to blend the two together. At the moment the model appears to be sitting unrealistically on the base. Using an old spatula sculpting tool I can add some Vallejo white pumice paste around the join, giving the appearance that the arch is sunk into the floor and surrounded by a small pile of dirt. The paste doesn't take long to dry when used in small amounts like this but will take a couple of hours to harden fully.
The model and base work great together and you could easily leave them like this and still have a great looking model, however, taking a bit of extra time to add some more details will really make a fantastic looking model. First thing to look at is the fact that the Vermin Lord is standing on a ruined and crumbling arch. There really should be some extra bits of rubble lying on the floor below it. Don't go overboard, just a few pieces will be enough to give a good impression of fallen masonry without cluttering the base. This is where I used the sections of broken column from the Gothic Ruins flyer base. I was able to clip off a few bits of sculpted crumbling stonework and scatter them here and there on the base. The bigger pieces have gone under the overhang of the arch, and a couple of smaller pieces are pushed and glued in to white pumice paste to break up the join between model and base. The next thing to notice about the model is that the archway is swarming with rats. Now it would look a bit odd to have rats on the archway but nowhere else. Using the pile of spare plastic mice I've decided to add rats to the base, with more towards the back and only a few at the front. By doing this it gives the impression that the Vermin Lord is at the vanguard of a gigantic swarming mass of rats, which in the imagined extended scene playing out behind the model.
All of the limbs, weapons, horns etc can now be attached carefully. Bear in mind that resin is porous to a certain degree and so super glue bonds incredibly well with it. This invariably means that you usually only get one chance to glue the pieces together, so be careful and be sure you know exactly how the bits fit together before continuing.
Smaller gaps/cracks between pieces can be filled with liquid green stuff, and bigger ones will need a tiny bit of actual green stuff gently smoothed into them. To be honest though the only gaps on this model were around the arms and one of the horns and were very minor.
And so, here is the finished model, undercoated with grey primer which pulls everything together in a uniform colour. Its now ready for painting and I can't wait to get stuck in to it.
