Train Tuesday Part 123: Bears & Bikes

Greetings, fellow whistle blowers! Grab your bags and hop on board! Let’s see what lies ahead in another weekly edition of Train Tuesday! Just remember…don’t feed the animals.

We’re zooming in on a few aggressive creatures that have places to be, travelers to ransack, and passengers to devour. It’s a tale as old as time. Still, we need the right DnD miniatures for this sorta encounter. Let’s see what our 3D printers cooked up this time!

This first TTRPG print is actually an extension of an earlier Hovertrain post, where we painted up a couple of single Shark Range Riders. Now, we’ve gleefully added a sharky sidecar version to the mix from that very same set. We already nailed down our initial paint scheme in the earlier 3D-print spotlight, so we had the confidence to run this Aether Studios’ STL through our resin 3D printer. Besides, it’s a sidecar, guys…a frickin’ shark riding in a sidecar. Xanadoo unlocked!

DM Ben didn’t mind coloring this one to match his two solo-cycle buddies. This 3D print just takes a longer series of steps is all. All those brush strokes are bulleted out here, so we won’t go into that paint pot rehash. He just added our latest favorite Fanatic metallic by Army Painter, Gun Metal, to the passenger’s helmet. Also, FAN True Brass is a trusty color that we typically use to give a particular metal a little extra attention, including our sidecar ski.

Next up is this slick sculpt by mz4250. This is an Undead Clockwork Bear and is a free download. We ran this DnD miniature through our AnyCubic resin 3D printer, and it’s been hibernating in our Pile of Shame for some time now. DM Ben has been eyeing this hulking, armored creature for a while, but who doesn’t already have a bag of bears in their pre-painted minis collection? Chomping at the bit to test out a big ol’ bruin color palette, DM Ben lumbered ahead.

So, consulting Google, DM Ben felt pretty good about the paint steps. Slapchop really rang true here and was so good; we were honestly taken aback a bit by how great a base it formed on the mini.

• Prime Flat Black | Slapchop Base.
• Base P1: ASP Hardened Leather.
• Base P2: FAN Tree Ancient Drybrush.
• Armor P1: FAN Gun Metal + FAN Strong Tone Wash.
• Armor P2: FAN Shining Silver Drybrush.
• Tongue: ASP Pastel Salmon.
• Claws: ASP Grim Black.
• Eyes: WAR Elven Armour.

We’ll probably circle back and add some woodland flock to this one for all those feel-good nature vibes, but a simple layer of DecoArt Burnt Umber with ASP Forest Sprite drybrushed over the top always looks pretty darn good.

In terms of immersing both of these TTRPG miniatures into our Forgotten Rails setting, we have some intriguing hooks.

Our newest Shark Riders insertion is pretty straightforward: these two will chompers will join our solo cycles to rob Hovertrains for quick passenger hauls (before any Construct security units can stop them). We just need to prepare some solo, upright maneater miniatures for when they dismount their vehicles.

And then, for our Undead Clockwork Bear, we were originally going to add it to the growing list of mechanical animals for Omin Dran’s scenic beautification project, but that’s not a smooth fit because this one is partially alive (part bear, part machine). So, instead, we’ll pivot to this being one of our Collector villain’s prized possessions.

Until next time!