Wednesday 1 June 2011

Blue Moon Zombies 05

About six months ago I reviewed the first two boxed sets of Blue Moon Manufacturing's (BMM) 28mm scale zombies from their Things That Go Bump In The Night range. I finally got round to paint the 20 figures from BMM111C "I Just Can't Seem to Get a Good Night Sleep" zombies set 3. Now there is a good reason why I delayed painting these figures - I got lazy! These got put on the back burner because I had so many other figures that were easier to complete. That shouldn't be an excuse but you see, these figures are very different to a lot of 28mm scale zombies, including those from box sets 1 and 2. Each of the 20 figures in box set 3 is a two-piece casting with a ball and socket joint at the waist. I'm not sure if this is true of all sets, but I got twenty different upper bodies (10 male and 10 female) and 13 different lower bodies (7 were duplicates and the other 6 were unique). Just think of the number of combinations of figures you could come up with before you started duplicating them! Well, a couple of months ago I gave in to my conscience and I made them (which was a lot more fun than I anticipated) and I painted them. In the first part of my two-part review I'll look at the females.
The white-haired zombie at the far left of the two photos above is crouching down as if preparing to lunge at someone. What I particularly like about this figure is the expression on her face. Most zombies have expressionless faces with a blank stare. This old biddy has a look that is pure evil! She has multiple bite wounds on her legs, one on her left arm and a chunk taken out of the right side of her face.
The next zombie in line is one of a few from this set who are naked from the waist up. She has incredibly long hair, which reaches all the way down to her backside She has suffered a long cut just above her right breast, her upper right arm has had a lot of flesh chewed away and she has cuts and bite wounds to both legs.
In the centre of the group is another topless zombie. The sculpting of her arms is a bit odd. Her left upper arm seems to be far too short and her lower right arm looks like it has been fractured at the elbow, which may well be intentional, but it's hard to explain why her left arm seems so deformed. From her head down to her ankles she is a mass of bite wounds, bullet holes and cuts.
The fourth zombie in line appears to have had a "wardrobe malfunction" with her yellow top as you can see an exposed nipple on her right breast. To be honest, her clothes are little more than rags and she is surely long past caring about her appearance. She has deep gashes to all four limbs. I have smeared her hands, mouth and chin with blood.
The zombie at the far right of this group is the third topless zombie of this group. Do these women have no shame? All she wears are the remains of a long white dress. Her body is covered in a mass of bite wounds from head (part of her scalp has been ripped off) to toe. The way her left foot is twisted suggests a broken ankle.
The zombie at the far left of the two photos above is wearing a black evening dress... or what remains of it! I gave her red hair to better contrast with her dress. She has been shot a few times in numerous locations but not the head. She also has bite wounds, including one to the right side of her face. The way the upper body attaches to the lower body gives you a fair bit of leeway in how to pose it. A lot of my zombies from this set are leaning forward but for this one she is almost ramrod straight. 
At first glance, I thought that the second zombie in line was wearing a sports bra, but on closer inspection of her chest you can see that is not the case - she is wearing a crop-top. Her pale blue miniskirt has been ripped to shreds and is covered in bloodstains. This zombie has been shot all over the body but her attacker(s) failed to hit her in the head.
The way the legs of the zombie in the centre of the group were sculpted meant that her upper body had to be leaning forward. Both halves of her work well together. You'll often find that certain body combinations work better than others. Although she is naked from the waist up, her breasts are hidden from view by her long hair, which may be a disappointment to some of you! She was the last figure that I painted out of this set because when I thought I'd finished painting them I noticed that every female was wearing a one-colour dress. So I added a floral pattern to her dress to break the monotony. The legs of all of these figures have far more wounds that the upper bodies do. Go figure!
It's hard to see the eyes of the fourth zombie in this group due to her fringe of hair covering them. They were a real swine to paint and it took me four attempts to get right! It would have been easier not to show her eyes at all! She, too, has wounds to all four limbs. Part of her face at the right side has been torn off.
The figure at the far left of this group had red hair and wore a black dress. For the figure at the far right I reversed that, so she has black hair and wears a red dress. The most unusual aspect of this figure is that her left arm has been renoved at the shoulder and by the amount of bone showing through, not very cleanly. That indicates it was probably torn or pulled off by a very strong opponent, or maybe a group of zombies bit it off. Her mouth is open very wide, which is not a good sign, as she's probably moaning loudly to attract more zombies to her position. Fresh blood can't be far away from her. Any other wounds on her (and there are a few) pale into insignificance compared to the loss of her left arm.
If you can remember my reviews of the first two boxed sets of BMM zombies you'll know that I'm a big fan of them. Sets 1 and 2 were very good but this set is the best of the three. I'm ashamed that it took me so long to make them. The hardest part of making them was in deciding which legs to go with which bodies. Apart from the versatility of the figures, the skill in the way that they have been sculpted is a big plus. I mentioned in my earlier reviews that these zombies were not freshly created. The zombies in set 3 are no different. These zeds look like they have been undead for a long time. That is another reason why I like them so much. 
This boxed set of twenty 28mm scale figures costs $30.00 from the BMM website. In my next post, I'll review the male zombies from this set. See you soon!

14 comments:

  1. These look like a great set of zombies Bryan. Love what you've done with some of the patterns on the dresses and you've done some really nice eyes too. Great stuff.

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  2. Spooky... Can I ask you how you obtain this tone of skin?

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  3. Those are really well done my friend, great little works of art.

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  4. Mmmmmmmm zombies...... And with a pretty dress too!!

    Who can ask for more?

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  5. @Zerloon. This question often crops up on my blog and I keep promising to do a tutorial guide but so far, I've never got round to it. Anyway here we go again. Using GW paints and ink washes
    1. Paint the flesh areas Dheneb Stone.
    2. Give these a liberal Badab Black ink wash.
    3. Dry brush with Dheneb Stone.
    4. Add more and more Skull White to the Dheneb Stone to progressively lighten it. I do a 2 part Stone to 1 part white mix, then a 1/1 mix between the two and finally a 2 part white to 1 part stone.
    5. Paint eyesockets, mouth and lines between fingers and toes with Chaos Black.
    6. Add a dot of Skull White for the eyes.
    7. Teeth are either Skull White or Bleached Bone.
    Finally if necessary add the gore effects, for which you MUST use Tamiya Clear Red, either alone or mixed with Blood Red, Red Gore, Scab Red. Add a very small amount of Chaos Black or Scorched Brown for dried blood effects.

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  6. @Adam. Thanks, mate. I should have given more of them patterned dresses but I'm very happy with the one that I did do.

    @Fran and Ray. Thanks, guys. Yes, these are extremely gory zombies, which is all part of their charm for me.

    @Johnny. You need therapy my friend if you can seriously ask who could want more than female zombies in pretty dresses! LOL! Still, I'm going to take that remark as a compliment and ignore your sick fantasies!

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  7. I am the one who recently painted 3 zombie strippers remember? Hehe....

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  8. Thanks for the Recipe, I'll try ASAP :D

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  9. These are great Bryan. ON my list :)

    Are all your links working?
    2 of the images wont open for me. It might just be me, I have a lot of trouble with blogspot. I thought I would mention it anyway.

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  10. @Roger. Thanks for the heads up about the links. I've fixed them and all are working now. I think it's just Blogger playing up again.

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  11. Quoting Vampifan:"Do these women have no shame?"
    Umm... NO! I'm pretty sure that I have shagged a woman that looked this bad! and No they had no shame.... lesson learned? dont pick chicks up if you have had too much alcohol !

    lol these look great Vampifan.

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  12. Ha, ha, you're so right! I can't argue with your logic at all!

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