Giant Spider

This is the second Mierce monster I got in their special deal last year (there are another two awaiting their paint job...well, buy two, get two free, who can resist THAT ?).

This was a challenge to put together, since like a complete *!?# I chopped the eight legs off the sprues without noting which was which.  I then had to try and put it together using the pictures on the Mierce website, but given the photo angles, they didn't help much.  I ended up figuring something out and got the rearing up pose that had made me choose this over its hairy brethren in the first place, so all is well that ends well. 

Then I realised that if it is rearing up, that means I'm gonna have to paint the underside.  Sigh.  Lucky I had two weeks holiday in December... 

Not the best of photos, I can't seem to take the shine off....

After perusing various types of spider for inspiration, I modelled the abdomen on the "Common Garden Spider", who is a colourful little fellow.  Then it was all about trying to create texture.  The abdomen is basically glazing, but over a zillion tiny pink dots.  After taking a look at how others do it, the legs were painted with lighter stripes, then glazed over multiple times to give a chitinous type texture, and believe me it wasn't always easy, bearing in mind the creature is rearing up and there are eight legs to avoid getting tangled up in (or leaning on).  To this I decided to add patches of different colour glazes (green, orange, a little red and even some purple), aiming for a reflective look.

The back plates and the head were done by basically mashing together glazes of different colours, and the Games Workshop shades do a fantastic job.  Contrast paints (diluted) are extremely useful for aiming at a chitinous sort of transition on long thin parts, such as the mandibules.

Spiders are of course hairy, but I must admit I hadn't really taken that in until I saw some giant spider paint jobs on the Internet.  So I bought myself some 9mm fake eyelashes (well, no, I chickened out and sent my wife in for those) and added some hairy !

A perfect snack !

 

I intend to do some cobwebs over the base, using hot glue, but I don't want to mess things up and will test it on some other stuff beforehand.  I'll come back to it later.

This was a really enjoyable paint job !  The Giant Spider will soon figure in an upcoming Conan scenario, providing a (hopefully) deadly foe for my daughters.