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Post by ReliantLion on Sept 12, 2014 1:08:18 GMT
Does anyone know of a source to get minis of dragons reliably and cheap? I have White, Blue, Black, Red, Green, and Necro dragons already, but want to get metallic ones. Or rather, I want to get more minis and just strip then paint them. Most dragon minis I see are either too expensive or too expensive to repaint. I'm not really looking to model them myself, as I tend not to have a ton of time for these types of things.
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Post by dungeonmistress on Sept 12, 2014 1:44:38 GMT
Not sure where you live, ReliantLion, but I found some halfway decent dragons at the Dollar Tree the other day. Green, Red and a two headed blue. the paint is not great, but the sculpt is OK. I plan on repainting the ones I have and getting more and repainting those as well. Cheapest dragons I've found. At Michaels, however, they have some stunningly beautiful dragons for $20 a pop, with a 40% off coupon you can get them for about $12, not bad for the high quality of these beauties. I will try to get one dragon a month from Micheals until I have a full collection - just because I love dragons.
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Post by DarthTaco18 on Sept 12, 2014 2:41:34 GMT
From what I've seen(and like dungeonmistress advised) you could easily get some dragon toys at the dollar tree and make your own out of it. My dragon minis were a bit of an expenditure though. If there's any many I would pony up the cash for its dragons. So I just went out and bought the paizo pack for the white dragon set. Comes with three different size dragons, medium, large, and huge. Costed me about $40 for the set (plus taxes of course) but I found it at the local hastings. I've also learned that If you visit art and antique shops, or maybe the local spencers (or hot topic?) You can actually get small pewter dragon statues for reasonable then you can just make your own out of it. Let's face, without the grid, scaling the size of that epic dragon doesn't matter THAT much. As long as it's close to what you are looking for it should work.
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Post by adamantinedragon on Sept 12, 2014 5:29:41 GMT
Cheap dragons are a specialty of mine. Dollar store dragons are worth looking for, and you can get dragons at toy stores and places like WalMart or Walgreens if you are lucky. I have a lot of dragons that came from the "How to Tame Your Dragon" movies. If you can find one of the old bucket o' dragons from the first movie on eBay you might get a good deal. I got a bucket as a birthday gift and repainted and modified them to end up with over a dozen medium and large size dragons. I also bought a bag of cheap lizards at a toy store, something like $6 for a dozen lizards, and another $4 for a bag of Halloween bats. Then I made dragons by using epoxy putty to add the bat wings to the lizards and create long necks and other details with epoxy putty. I did more or less the same with some velociraptor minis and sculpted a few from scratch with Sculpey clay. Doing these things has netted me about 60 playable dragons of virtually every color.. In fact I probably have too many dragons. And that's counting the expensive Safari Limited, Schleiss and D&D dragons I've purchased for quite a bit more money. Ah, who am I kidding, you never have enough dragons. Here's a pretty good photo of the dragons I had several months ago. I've added more since.
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Post by dungeonmistress on Sept 12, 2014 5:42:55 GMT
Cheap dragons are a specialty of mine. Dollar store dragons are worth looking for, and you can get dragons at toy stores and places like WalMart or Walgreens if you are lucky. I have a lot of dragons that came from the "How to Tame Your Dragon" movies. If you can find one of the old bucket o' dragons from the first movie on eBay you might get a good deal. I got a bucket as a birthday gift and repainted and modified them to end up with over a dozen medium and large size dragons. I also bought a bag of cheap lizards at a toy store, something like $6 for a dozen lizards, and another $4 for a bag of Halloween bats. Then I made dragons by using epoxy putty to add the bat wings to the lizards and create long necks and other details with epoxy putty. I did more or less the same with some velociraptor minis and sculpted a few from scratch with Sculpey clay. Doing these things has netted me about 60 playable dragons of virtually every color.. In fact I probably have too many dragons. And that's counting the expensive Safari Limited, Schleiss and D&D dragons I've purchased for quite a bit more money. Ah, who am I kidding, you never have enough dragons. Here's a pretty good photo of the dragons I had several months ago. I've added more since. A man after my own heart! One can never have enough dragons...or cats!
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Post by DarthTaco18 on Sept 12, 2014 12:58:27 GMT
I love your collection. so much variety. so many colors. It's like the rainbow, the way god intended.
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Post by sgtslag on Sept 12, 2014 14:53:55 GMT
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Post by fayegrimm on Sept 15, 2014 5:58:38 GMT
Not sure where you live, ReliantLion, but I found some halfway decent dragons at the Dollar Tree the other day. Green, Red and a two headed blue. the paint is not great, but the sculpt is OK. I plan on repainting the ones I have and getting more and repainting those as well. Cheapest dragons I've found. At Michaels, however, they have some stunningly beautiful dragons for $20 a pop, with a 40% off coupon you can get them for about $12, not bad for the high quality of these beauties. I will try to get one dragon a month from Micheals until I have a full collection - just because I love dragons. Hey, I'm actually repainting one of that dollar tree sets right now. The wings are tiny and the mini is small, but I'm turning it into a young/fledgeling black dragon. Outside of the size of the wings and one of the feet the detailing is actually pretty nice. Probably will go back for a couple more and one of the two headed ones too. Dunno if I'll ever use that on in game, but come on! Its a two headed dragon!
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Post by dungeonmistress on Sept 15, 2014 16:23:20 GMT
I must agree, fayegrimm, having two heads is special. My favorite Canadian singer, Joni Mitchell, knows all about that... [She walks away with a strange gleam in her eyes as she sings her favorite song "Twisted" by Joni Mitchell] "My analyst told me, That I was right out head. The way he described it, He said I'd be better dead than live I didn't listen to his jive I knew all along that he was all wrong And I knew that he thought That I was crazy, but I'm not, oh no! My analyst told me That I was right out of my head He said I need treatment But I'm not that easily led He said I was the type that most inclined When out of his sight To be out of my mind And he thought I was nuts! No more if's or and's or but's. They say as a child I appeared a little bit wild With all my crazy ideas, But I knew what was happenin' I knew I was a genius! What's so strange when you know That you're a wizard at three? I knew that this was meant to be! Now I heard little children Were supposed to sleep tight, That's why I got into the vodka one night. My parents got frantic, didn't know what to do. But I saw some crazy scenes before I came to! Now, do you think I was crazy? I may have been only three, But I was swingin'! They all laughed at Angry Young Men, They all laughed at Edison and also at Einstein! So why should I feel sorry If they just couldn't understand The idiomatic logic that went on in my head? I had a brain! I was insane! Oh how they used to laugh at me When I refused to ride On one of those double-decker buses All because there was no driver on the top! (What? No driver on the top? Man the chick is twisted! Crazy! Oobie-Shoobie! Ya hear? Flip City! ) My analyst told me, I was right out of my head But I said "Dear Doctor, I think that it's you instead. Because I have got a thing That's unique and new. And to prove it I'll have The last laugh on you! Because instead of one head, I got two! And you know know two heads are better than one!" This, BTW, is my personal anthem. Twisted by Joni MitchellEnjoy!
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Post by fayegrimm on Sept 16, 2014 5:52:04 GMT
All the more reason for you to pick up the two headed dragon then. Obviously it's your spirit animal! Just finished painting up my Dollar Tree dragon today. Pretty much my first time painting a mini but I'm happy with it.
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Post by adamantinedragon on Sept 17, 2014 3:18:00 GMT
Not sure where you live, ReliantLion, but I found some halfway decent dragons at the Dollar Tree the other day. Green, Red and a two headed blue. the paint is not great, but the sculpt is OK. I plan on repainting the ones I have and getting more and repainting those as well. Cheapest dragons I've found. At Michaels, however, they have some stunningly beautiful dragons for $20 a pop, with a 40% off coupon you can get them for about $12, not bad for the high quality of these beauties. I will try to get one dragon a month from Micheals until I have a full collection - just because I love dragons. Hey, I'm actually repainting one of that dollar tree sets right now. The wings are tiny and the mini is small, but I'm turning it into a young/fledgeling black dragon. Outside of the size of the wings and one of the feet the detailing is actually pretty nice. Probably will go back for a couple more and one of the two headed ones too. Dunno if I'll ever use that on in game, but come on! Its a two headed dragon! I cut the wings off of one of those dragons and replaced them with wings I made out of epoxy putty and the result was quite passable. Certainly a major improvement over the original. Here's a link to my blog with photos.
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Post by fayegrimm on Sept 17, 2014 14:32:17 GMT
Hey, I'm actually repainting one of that dollar tree sets right now. The wings are tiny and the mini is small, but I'm turning it into a young/fledgeling black dragon. Outside of the size of the wings and one of the feet the detailing is actually pretty nice. Probably will go back for a couple more and one of the two headed ones too. Dunno if I'll ever use that on in game, but come on! Its a two headed dragon! I cut the wings off of one of those dragons and replaced them with wings I made out of epoxy putty and the result was quite passable. Certainly a major improvement over the original. Here's a link to my blog with photos. Yeah, that really did come out quite well! I was originally thinking of simply lopping off the wings and making it a rage drake or the like, but my roommate convinced me not to. Once I get some clay or putty I might try some wings on one of the other dragons.
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sotf
Advice Guru
Posts: 1,084
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Post by sotf on Sept 17, 2014 15:33:13 GMT
I cut the wings off of one of those dragons and replaced them with wings I made out of epoxy putty and the result was quite passable. Certainly a major improvement over the original. Here's a link to my blog with photos. Yeah, that really did come out quite well! I was originally thinking of simply lopping off the wings and making it a rage drake or the like, but my roommate convinced me not to. Once I get some clay or putty I might try some wings on one of the other dragons. You can use the non-greased parchment, wire (even just unfolded paperclips), and hot glue to make some pretty good wings. Just make sure that it isn't the baking style parchment, the hot glue doesn't stick to it that well, but the type sold in some paper stores works wonders and with a thinner paint job combined with using wire for the bones that are thickened by the hot glue along with veined by it, the end result looks rather good and is quite strong.
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Post by dungeonmistress on Sept 17, 2014 17:31:17 GMT
Great ideas, guys, I think I might have some of that parchment around here somewhere. I wonder if tracing paper would work as well?
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sotf
Advice Guru
Posts: 1,084
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Post by sotf on Sept 17, 2014 17:53:34 GMT
Great ideas, guys, I think I might have some of that parchment around here somewhere. I wonder if tracing paper would work as well? Tracing paper isn't really the best for wings, it crushes a bit to easily, just make sure that it isn't the parchment used for baking and it works great. I've got a few models I'd put together with it and craft sticks of some of DaVinci's flying machines that have the same basic wing design
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Post by dungeonmistress on Sept 17, 2014 18:17:22 GMT
Would you post some pics of those, sotf? I love to see them.
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sotf
Advice Guru
Posts: 1,084
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Post by sotf on Sept 17, 2014 19:18:16 GMT
Would you post some pics of those, sotf? I love to see them. At the moment, they've been lent out for a couple months to my mother for the library at the school she works at, when I get them back I'll post a few pics if I remember.
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Post by adamantinedragon on Sept 17, 2014 19:58:52 GMT
Get some super sculpey and press it flat and then drape it over the wire to make sturdy wings. Then you'll have a bunch more Sculpey clay you can use to make other things.
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Post by clanoneillguy on Sept 19, 2014 17:15:28 GMT
I was just looking at those Dollar Tree dragons and considering cutting off the small wings and using Halloween bat wings instead. A $2.00 dragon sounds good to me.
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Post by dungeonmistress on Sept 19, 2014 17:17:40 GMT
Great idea! I think I even saw some 'glow in the dark' bats for a greater rage of possibilities. Hmmm...
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