What’s wrong with the Ratwyrm?

So, like I said the other day, I’m pretty unhappy with it. There’s just a lot of missteps.

In a way, I’m okay with that. I did 95% of the conversion work on it two years ago. I’ve gotten a lot better since then (though I’d definitely got a long way to go).

I’m also relatively pleased with the painting. Painting large things is definitely a weakness for me; painting large fleshy things even more so. The wings came out pretty well, all things considered.

Anyway, let the parade of failures begin!

Using the old bell was a terrible idea. It weighs nearly as much as the rest of the model; It requires a freaking paperclip to support it. I give myself a pass on this, as I did the conversion quite some time before the new kit had come out… but I still should have considered removing the metal bell and replacing it with the more impressive and easily workable plastic bell.

More importantly: what the hell was I thinking when I rotated the bell that way? I absolutely should have had the symbol facing forward. Having it face the sides was a boneheaded move.

The tail is a more recent addition: I slapped it on there a few weeks ago, just before painting. It’s rough. I clearly need to work on my greenstuff skills a lot more. I started at the base of the tail and worked my way towards the end in batches… as I went, it got progressively better, which is heartening, but the overall result is one I’m dissatisfied with.

I ended up using Rat Ogre hands ’cause I’d misplaced the Dragon’s claws. I like the result a lot, but getting it to work was pretty difficult and, in the process, resulted in a pretty severely mutilated right front paw. I covered for it by painting the incredibly bad greenstuff as boils. I think it worked out okay, but it’s going to keep bothering me.