Jackanory

I've done a bit of sculpting myself. I'm not amazing but I get ok results so feel free to take my comments with a grain of salt, YMMV etc! So it looks like you've used milliput, which is why you're lacking a bit of detail and you also seem to have gone straight into the shaping/detailing in one go. The best way of sculpting is to lay down the basic shapes (for which milliput is ideal), waiting for the base layer to cure, and then layering on the details with another putty that holds its shape a bit better. I've only used greenstuff so far which Dmeep has already pointed out is better for organic shapes. It's really good work for your 2nd sculpt though!

Keep some reference pictures to hand, and make sure you leave room for the number 1 headband!

Afro samurai's afro is more flowing and free than a regular tight 'fro: If I was doing it I'd lay down a quick layer of GS in the basic shape of his afro on the mini's head (sort of an elongated twisted cone), let that cure (patience), and then add a whole load of little blobs/threads of GS to the basic shape and kind of tease and prod them into shape with a pointy tool so they formed a loose mass.

Damn! That's a great point! I might just buy that box and convert McCabe I guess I could either keep the rest of them or sell them off...

The Lone Marshal is coming up with an RRP of £23.99 on the online stores. Surely this is an error isn't it? If not that's pretty expensive for one guy on a horse...

This guy from GW?

I really don't mean to sound harsh but I feel like a lot of these issues are the fault of you guys and not the kits. Pieces getting lost or pinging off when they're being clipped can all be avoided if you take care, gaps in the joins can be filled with greenstuff or some other kind of putty (all the Wyrd plastic models I've built have had a normal amount of gappage) and small, weak connections really shouldn't be an issue if you're using proper plastic poly-cement and not super glue. I recently put together the Yan Lo box and didn't have too many issues with it. The beard was a little fiddly but the fact that it's a plastic model made it pretty easy. The only problem I have with the box is that the ashigaru spears and banners and the Soul Porter's staff are all really thin so I don't have high hopes that they'll last. I should have replaced them with some kind of metal rod but I was being lazy. Just by the way, I'm in no way a Wyrd fanboy so I'm not just blindly defending the models!

Pro tip: Use plastic glue.

Just received my model from GRAEME27UK so positives for that!

Really think they screwed up the 3D rendering of the monks, especially the one who's depicted in the book (the one with an open hand held up to his chest). In his artwork he looks poised and balanced, whereas in the render he looks like he's about to topple backwards. For some reason his centre of gravity has been shifted back significantly. Also, there are way too many creases and folds in their cloaks, it makes the material look too light. The marshall looks great though, can't wait to pick him up! Glad they went for a more dynamic looking horse.

Where's the option for modellers (I.e. more into sculpting and converting)? I'd say I'm a modeller > painter > gamer!

The easiest way would be to superglue a small piece of sheet plasticard to the cork, and then use plastic glue to glue the gamin to the plasticard. The bond formed using plastic glue is really strong. You'd have to cover up the plasticard with basing material but that should be pretty easy with grass or snow or mud or whatever!

Wow, your TO sounds awful!

Thanks! Good luck with Marcus! I see that CMoN article as being more for people who already know how to paint white skin, they just need advice on what colours to go for when painting other ethnicities. So it doesn't tell you exactly how to use the suggested paints because it's assuming you already know that. I like it and it works for me, but you're right in saying that it's not a fully comprehensive tutorial!

I've also made good use of that Cool Mini Or Not article for my Infinity Japanese Sectorial Army and my Eden Clan Bamaka. For the African skin tone of my Bamaka guys I just took three of the colours on the CMoN article partly because the shop where I was buying the paints didn't have all the colours and partly because it made it cheaper. So I started with the Black Brown #822, then gradually mix in Flat Brown #984 and then Cork Brown #843. I also threw some watered down dark blue in the darkest recesses. Blue works well as a shade for brown. This was one of the pygmies painted using that recipe (the skin is more or less finished but the rest is WIP at this stage):