Hey, all! My name is Danny Samuels, and I’m the Hobby and Terrain Specialist here at Privateer Press.

I am excited for the opportunity to work with such a great team and make cool stuff every day, and I thought I’d walk you through my process for converting one of my favorite models Privateer Press has ever produced. With no further ado, I give you…the Zombie Dracodile!

I began the process by carefully removing chunks of resin flesh from the Dracodile with my rotary tool and a carbide burr. If you decide to do this, be extremely careful; these burrs can be dangerous. It’s important to remove this material before sculpting so that the muscles and guts don’t look as if they’re bulging out of the body.

I then began sculpting the muscles and details inside of the recently removed flesh with our P3 Brown/aluminum putty. I took care at this stage to add a nice level of detail and texture—I want these to pop when I paint them later. I had fun adding some intestinal guts and different bones as well as musculature.

After that came the fun stage of sculpting scales up over the edge of the musculature. I tried to make it look like it was peeling back off of the muscles.

Next, I did a quick assembly using hot glue to see how this model would look when put together. (The nice thing about hot glue is that it can be removed by squirting it with isopropyl alcohol.) I also ground out the tongue and sculpted a new one. I wanted the jaw to look broken and hanging with the tongue flopping off the side, so I glued the jaw at a weird angle and filled the gap with putty at a later stage.

When I was happy with the look of the model, I glued, assembled, and filled all the gaps. I then added more bits and pieces that I thought would help create more visual interest. For example, I had a lot of fun using the bit from the Sacral Vault as a necklace. This was my time to really play around…

As you can see, I also got a bit carried away and decided to sculpt a giant voodoo doll with sewn-shut eyes. My thinking here is, go big or go home, right?!

Finally, I decided to make a custom base for this model as well. I removed a section of the base and added styrene below it to create an area for swampy water effects. I then used pine bark nuggets to create a large stone outcropping before adding other details to give the base texture. After a quick zenithal prime, this bad boy is ready for paint!

Hope you enjoyed this quick review of this customized model project. I can’t wait to paint it and get this monster on the table. Want to add a Zombie Dracodile to your own army? Get it right here, right now!

I’m also happy I had the chance to introduce myself to you. Till next time!