Rekhardt Sharke - The Alternative Sculpt
Written by Tony Harwood Tuesday, 24 July 2012 06:00
"Rekhardt Sharke - The Alternative Sculpt"
Miniature Workshop
Miniatures Converted, Painted and Photographed by Tony Harwood
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Flintloque is Alternative Armies Unique 28mm Napoleonique black powder skirmish game.
To see the full range of Flintloque content hosted on Barking Irons click here.
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I was lucky enough a year or so ago to come into possesion of one of the very limited edition castings of an alternative Sharke. The miniature, sometimes known as “The Alternative", "The Different" or even "The Effeminate Sharke” is in fact a special casting that was given away by Alternative Armies when customers took out a subscription to Orcs in the Hills, the original Flintloque magazine. The miniature was supplied with a printed label that read:
Exclusive Sharke Miniature
Free to Orcs Subscribers
“Thank you for your patients”
Louise Scott
Even though you might not have this exact sculpt the following miniature workshop could easily be applied to the new Sharke or indeed any of his rifles.
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The bare casting, which needed a small amount of cleaning up, which I did with the blade of a Swann Morton scalpel and a needle file.
The Sharke miniature mounted on to a two pence coin, with the base built-up with Milliput.
When the Milliput was fully set, I painted some dilute uPVA glue on to the base and sprinkled on some sieved sand and fine grit.
The miniature was then spray painted with Games Workshop Chaos Black and when dry, any areas that had been missed were touched-up with watered-down GW Chaos Black acrylic paint.
The first area to be painted was the face and hands. I used GW Snakebite Leather as the base colour, highlighting with Snakebite Leather and Skull White, with the final highlights (on the forehead, nose and chin) being almost pure Skull White.
When dry, I washed the areas with the old (blue topped) Flesh Wash from Games Workshop and again, when dry, highlighted with some more Snakebite Leather/Skull White mix.
As with all of these illustrations, I have tidied up the Black areas before taking the photographs.
The first area of uniform to be painted was the ‘bottle green’ trousers and jacket. I used an old pot of Warzone Jungle Green, mixed with some Black and then highlighted with pure Jungle Green. Finally, I washed the Green uniform areas with a mix of Badab Black and Thraka Green from the Citadel Washes Range from Games Workshop. I have decided not to highlight these green areas any further – preferring a dark or bottle green colour.
You should also be able to see that I have continued to play with the Flesh areas of this figure, a process that will no doubt continue throughout the painting process!
Once the Green uniform was completed, I then painted and highlighted the Black areas of the figure – The jacket piping, the cuffs and the straps. In addition the leather areas of the ‘overalls’ or trousers were also painted Black. The Black highlighting was done with a very dark Grey, mixed from Chaos Black and Skull White.
At the same stage, I have painted the shirt cuffs and collar piping light Grey, pin highlighted with pure Skull White.
The next area to be painted was the Crimson sash, a base of GW Scab Red/GW Blood Red was highlighted with pure Blood Red, later I added a further highlight with Rouge Fusion from Rackham Colour, which is a Red-Orange colour.
The next step is a little out of step – I decided that the mainly Black area of the jacket front needed to be ‘lifted’ and therefore I painted the belt buckles, whistle chain and buttons silver, starting with a base of GW Boltgun Metal and highlighting with GW Mithril Silver.
The next areas to be painted were the sword scabbard and bed roll, both items that are to the rear of the miniature. I used a Snakebite Leather Brown for the scabbard and GW Space Wolves Grey mixed with Skull White for the bed roll. All areas were then given a diluted wash of Badab Black from the Citadel Washes range.
The base was painted with even more Snakebite Leather, one of my most used and favourite paints.
The base is finished – the stone areas being a mix of Chaos Black and Skull White and the Brown areas highlighted with Snakebite Leather/Skull White drybrushing.
Once finished the base area was given a wash of Badab Black and Gryphonne Sepia from Citadel. I feel that this helps to define the base of the figure by producing a shadow around the feet.
The fully painted miniature with a single coat of Ronseal Hard Glaze Gloss varnish.
Sharke has now been given three light coats of Galleria Matt Varnish, I find that the matt varnish goes on better in light coats rather than one heavy or thick coat.
I have used a mix of standard static grass and a grass tuft to decorate the base. Now that Sharke is based and finished I feel I should comment on how much I enjoyed this painting tutorial and on how good this particular sculpt is. I think the painted Sharke has a menacing stance and facial features and to be called Effeminate is just not fair!
Coming Soon
"A Quartet of Goblins" - Tony paints up some Goblins for the upcoming scenario pack re-release, Bridge Over The River Que.
Ordering Details
The alternative Sharke sculpt is quite rare and is no longer available but you can read all about the character and his Rifleorcs here on Barking Irons and you can get hold of the new Rekhardt Sharke miniature below.
5109 Sharke's Chosen Boxed Set - Click here to buy
Four page booklet
Ten white metal 28mm scale miniatures on foot
Four white metal 28mm scale miniatures on horses
All needed Plastic Bases
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