Upsizing my painting projects with Nocturna Models

Having painted miniatures for more than two years now, I have come to better appreciate the many well crafted miniatures that have been brought from concept to production by individuals who are passionate about the hobby. For someone who tends to gravitate towards painting and collecting miniatures, I am constantly seeking out highly detailed and dynamic miniatures to test my skills on. That inevitably drew me to Madrid-based Nocturna Models whose miniatures range from 30 mm to 80 mm. Seeing such stunning work has also spurred me on to start a small venture dedicated to bringing in quality miniatures to painters and collectors in Malaysia (but more on this later).

Nocturna Models' 54, 70 and 80 mm range, painted by Jesus Martin and sculpted by Alfonzo Gozalo

While still very much in love with 28 mm to 32 mm scale miniatures, I had felt the urge to expand my horizons. This lead me to upsize part of my painting projects by attempting to paint 54 mm to 80 mm scale models. With so much to choose from, I finally settled on Nocturna Models minis as they "spoke" to me most and were stuff that I wanted to work on as a painter. While I have seen hobbyists work on larger scale models using an air brush, I will attempt to paint the Nocturna miniatures I got for my personal projects - Freya, Crusader XIII C and Le Petit Chaperon - using standard brushes.      

Freya (54 mm) comes in a rigid blister plastic packaging

Crusader XIII C (70 mm) comes in a tin box with the resin kit sandwiched between two sponges

Le Petit Chaperon (80 mm) comes in similar packaging to the Crusader XIII C model

Both the 70 mm and 80 mm miniatures came with a numbered mini certificate

Being resin model kits, the Nocturna miniatures were very highly detailed as I had expected. I was also very very happy that mould lines, broken parts (due to the relatively higher brittleness of resin compared to metal and plastic), warping, trapped bubbles and other characteristics associated with resin model kits were either non-existent or kept to the absolute minimum. This meant less time spent on preparing the miniatures and getting them ready for priming. We hobbyists are a very forgiving bunch but it's still a great feeling when less prep work is needed. 

Unboxed, Freya comprised six separate parts

Crusader XIII C comes with a huge fairly high base with not much assembly needed save for the hands and weapons

Le Petit Chaperon comprised 12 separate parts and looks to be the most complicated of the lot

Thus far, I have only had time to assemble Freya (partly glued and partly dry fitted) to try and show some size comparison versus the smaller scale miniatures. I have a lot of hobby hours ahead of me if I am to complete work on all three Nocturna Models miniatures but I am looking forward to it.

Freya placed next to a Chaos Space Marine

Coming back to my earlier mention of a small venture I am starting - over the coming months I will be bringing in miniatures from a select number of companies for sale to painters and collectors in Malaysia. What the companies will have in common are beautifully crafted miniatures. If you are interested, please do check out my other blog at shireworks.blogspot.com in which you can see some of the miniatures on offer. Until my next post, stay well and happy!