UMS "Agram" : Kitbashing 101 < Articles < Hobby

Kitbashing 101

Domagoj Krpan, 22nd June 2021

Most people I know don’t use miniatures to play large tabletop strategy games, in fact, skirmish and RPGs with a smaller amount of miniatures are their choice. Since I plan to start playing one such game soon, I realized that I don’t have a suitable miniature and that I will have to resort to the ancient art of kitbashaning to make a model, and I will also enter it in the Agram’s MPC Spring Painting Competition.

In this article, I will show you the steps I took to go from an idea to a complex, currently unpainted miniature.

The miniature I decided to work on is not the typical rank and file soldier we have the opportunity to see in all major table strategy games. The character is conceived as a thief and burglar who will get out of trouble and problems with his skills, tricks and outwitting enemies and problems. For starters, I looked for inspiration in traditional art, and looked for images of some fantastic burglars that could serve as inspiration for the character, poses, and general aesthetics. I found two main motives for posing and character dynamics in the paintings of one of my favorite artists, Brom:

If you like these works, follow him on social media as well.

Accordingly, I have found the parts of the miniatures that I will put together that best fit the original concept. I knew the final miniature would be significantly different from the references, so I didn’t worry about the pieces fitting perfectly. Since I don’t know how to levitate a miniature, I knew I had to have contact surfaces where I could attach or glue a miniature. As I was sure I wanted my feet in the air on the miniature, I knew I would have to have some other contact surface, and I chose a hand with which to be able to achieve this.

To test the assembly of the parts and what the finished figure would look like, I used patafix. It will hold the parts together without gluing them together, making it the perfect tool for “sketching” kitbash and conversions. A miniature composed of patafix can give us the opportunity to change some things before we combine two plastic elements in a miniature marriage.

The moment I was happy with the parts and the pose, I was ready to glue them with superglue and merge them into a new miniature. But when you connect several parts of unrelated miniatures, you will usually have holes and gaps, because different miniatures are connected in different ways. For me, the most visible gaps were between the torso and legs, as well as between the torso and arms.

To fill in the gaps, I used greenstuff, a two-component putty that I shaped and smoothed with silicone brushes.

Since I kneaded far more greenstuff than I needed, I decided to use a portion for the base, as well as an ice cream stick that I used to make a fence at the base.

Now, after painting, all I have to do is adjust the miniature to visually jump over the fence.

Latest articles

We visited: MOSONSHOW 2025

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Last year, after participating in the Black Queen H&MPC 2024, our friends from Hungary, Gabor and Erika, asked me if I would be willing to judge at the Mosonshow 2025. I must admit that the question caught me off guard, I did not expect such an honor. I accepted in principle, considering that the competition itself was quite far away at that time.

As you can see in the photo, I accepted and headed to Hungary on the last weekend in April. This is my first time participating in this big competition and I have to admit that I wasn't really attracted to it before – precisely because of its size. Long waiting lines, endless lines at registration and the like are really something that didn't make me happy. After a little bit of asking around, I came up with a plan to come on Friday (I even took a day off for this) as soon as the doors opened and to do the registration and set up of the models (in categories that I don't judge, right :D ) so that on Saturday I could deal with the competition in peace.

Saturday started, as I expected, with work. Being a judge, although "prestigious", is not a fun activity at all. Count on a good part of your Saturday being taken up by duties. First there is a judges' meeting where the organizer introduces us to the criteria and method of judging they want. After more or less questions, the meeting ends and (fortunately) there is a meal prepared for the judges. And the organizer realizes that it is better for the judges to be satisfied, or at least full. After the reception, we head to the judging. On the spot, you meet the members of the jury whom you will be judging with. There are two category ranks. Hobby and Master. I judged three Hobby categories (Fantasy/SF figures, Fantasy/SF busts and Fantasy/SF dioramas and vignettes). Alongside me in the jury for these categories, there were Eszter Elek from Hungary and Keigo Murakami from Japan. The judging lasted until about 4 pm. That meant I missed the workshops I wanted to visit - but that is the price of judging.

During the judging, I also decided to award the Best of Show by UMS Agram award which went to Mr. Zijie Li in China.

The following is a gallery of some of the more notable works from the miniatures category.

Of course, at this huge competition, with over 2,500 exhibits, it was impossible to photograph everything, and below are some of the author's more interesting works.

Besides the handful of truly beautiful entries, the best part of the competition was, as always, the social aspect. Socializing with foreign friends and making new friends is the highlight of such competitions.

Finally, there was some shopping, and the Bolyai Makett Klub from Budapest made sure I didn't leave empty-handed. Thank you!!

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Tijekom prošle godine, nakon sudjelovanja na Black Queen H&MPC 2024. naši prijatelji iz Mađarske, Gabor i Erika, su me upitali da li bih bio voljan suditi na Mosonshow-u 2025. Moram priznati da me pitanje zateklo, takvu čast nisam očekivao. Načelno sam prihvatio, s obzirom da je samo natjecanje bilo dosta udaljeno u tom trenutku.

Kao što vidite na fotografiji, prihvatio sam te sam se zadnjeg vikenda u travnju uputio prema Mađarskoj. Ovo je prvi puta da sudjelujem na tom velikom natjecanju i moram priznati da me prije nije baš privlačilo – upravo zbog svoje veličine. Dugi redovi za čekanje, nepregledne kolone pri registraciji i slično stvarno je nešto što me nije veselilo. Nakon malo raspitivanja što i kako, skovao sam plan da dođem u petak (uzeo i godišnji zbog toga) čim otvore vrata i da odradim registraciju i postavljanje modela (u kategorije koje ne sudim, jel :D ) tako da se u subotu mogu u miru baviti sa natjecanjem.

Subota je počela, kako sam i očekivao, radno. Biti sudac, iako „prestižno“, nije nimalo zabavna aktivnost. Računajte da vam dobar dio subote otpada na dužnosti. Prvo ide sudački sastanak na kojem nas organizator upoznaje sa kriterijem i načinom suđenja koji želi. Nakon više ili manje pitanja, sastanak završava i (na svu sreću) slijedi gablec za suce. I organizator shvaća da je bolje da suci budu zadovoljni, ili barem siti. Nakon gableca, upućujemo se na suđenje. Na licu mjesta upoznajete članove žirija s kojima sudite. Postoje dva ranga kategorija. Hobby i Master. Ja sam sudio tri Hobby kategorije (Fantasy/SF figure, Fantasy/SF biste i Fantasy/SF diorame i vinjete). Pored moje malenkosti u žiriju za ove kategorije bili su Eszter Elek iz Mađarske te Keigo Murakami iz Japana. Suđenje je trajalo do cca 16h. Time sam propustio radionice koje sam htio posjetiti – ali to je cijena suđenja.

Tijekom suđenja, odlučio sam dodijeliti i Best of Show by UMS Agram nagradu koja je otišla u ruke gospodinu Zijie Li-u u Kinu.

Slijedi galerija nekih zapaženijih radova iz kategorija minijatura.

Naravno, na ovom golemom natjecanju, sa preko 2500 izložaka bilo je nemoguće sve fotografirati, a u nastavku slijede neki od autoru zanimljivijih radova.

Pored pregršt usitinu predivnih radova, najbolji dio natjecanja bio je kao i uvijek društveni aspekt. Druženje s inozemnim prijateljima te stjecanje novih prijateljstava vrhunac su ovakvih natjecanja.

Za kraj, bilo je tu i shoppinga, a da ne odem praznih ruku, pobrinuo se Bolyai Makett Klub iz Budimpešte. Hvala!!

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Marko Paunović, 5th May 2025

March to Hren28 week 5

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	MARIO: „This week I finished the elephant and was finishing up the toff (Boletus). I added some fun details like the sleeping bag with the nobleman and the fishing rod, with added crows.

	  

	Boletus will have a banner of his own, and I modified his giraffe's neck and added more mushrooms."

	  

	  
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	Naša ekipa se sprema za nastup na Turnip28 turniru pod nazivom H.R.E.N.28 u Sloveniji u srpnju. Ana, Mario, Domagoj, Seb i Antoni slažu svoje vojske i farbaju, a mi ih pratimo na njihovom putu! 

	  

	MARIO: „Ovaj tjedan sam završio slona i dovršavao toffa (Boletusa). Dodao sam neke zabavne detalje poput vreće za spavanje sa plemićem i štapa za pecanje, sa dodanim vranama.

	  

	Boletus će imati barjak za sebe, a njegovoj žirafi sam modificirao vrat i dodao još gljiva.“

	  

	  
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Mario Grgurev, 5th May 2025

AGRAM LEGO SECTION - Orient Express: Third Lecture and continuation of the build

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	U srijedu 30.4. u sklopu naše Agram Lego Sekcije nastavili smo sa serijom predavanja paralelno sa izradom LEGO makete vlaka Orient Express!

	Treće predavanje u ovoj seriji je počelo u 18:00 i trajalo je otprilike 45 minuta u kojem nas je naš dežurni inženjer strojarstva Marko Paunović upoznao sa radom parnih lokomotiva.

	

	

	Ulaz na predavanja je besplatan i otvoren za sve te prijave nisu potrebne.

	

	Izrada makete je rezervirana za članove Agram Lego Sekcije. Ukoliko se želite uključiti u sljedeće projekte, javite se za više informacija na ums.agram@gmail.com .

	

	
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Marko Paunović, 5th May 2025

AGRAM LEGO SECTION - Orient Express: Second Lecture and continuation of the build

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	Ulaz na predavanja je besplatan i otvoren za sve te prijave nisu potrebne.

	

	

	Izrada makete je rezervirana za članove Agram Lego Sekcije. Ukoliko se želite uključiti u sljedeće projekte, javite se za više informacija na ums.agram@gmail.com .

	

	
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Marko Paunović, 24th April 2025

March to Hren28 week 4

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	Our team is preparing to perform at the Turnip28 tournament called H.R.E.N.28 in Slovenia in July. Ana, Mario, Domagoj, Seb and Antoni assemble their armies and paint, and we follow them on their way!

	  

	MARIO: „My next step was working on Proboscis, I wanted to add some texture to it so I sculpted his fur from brown stuff, along with a textured mass of mud on his back. I wanted to achieve the effect of overgrown plants and mushrooms on the skin. I also finished the existing trunks and added another pair.“

	  

	SEB: „Over the past week I have continued work on the conversion of the cannon Snail Knight.

	  

	I added Liquid Green Stuff (from GSW) to the metal parts (the paperclip) and then sponged it on to get a rust plus algae effect so that the overall impression was: they just came out of the water.

	  

	Today I added textures to the base.

	  

	And to end this part of the army building, before my trip to England/Scotland, here's a close-up of the snails pulling the cart. The rest will follow at the end of May, as far as I'm concerned!

	  
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	Naša ekipa se sprema za nastup na Turnip28 turniru pod nazivom H.R.E.N.28 u Sloveniji u srpnju. Ana, Mario, Domagoj, Seb i Antoni slažu svoje vojske i farbaju, a mi ih pratimo na njihovom putu! 

	  

	MARIO: „Moj sljedeći korak je bio rad na Proboscisu, želio sam mu dodati teksture pa sam mu kipario krzno od brown stuffa, zajedno sa teksturnom masom blata na leđima. Želim postići efekt obraslog bilja i gljiva na koži. Ujedno sam doradio postojeće surle i dodao još jedan par.

	  

	SEB: „U proteklom tjednu nastavio sam rad na konverziji topovskog Snail Knighta.

	  

	Na metalne dijelove (spajalicu) sam dodao Liquid Green Stuff (od GSW-a) i onda ga stipplao spužvicom da dobijem efekt hrđe plus algi kako bi cjelokupni dojam bio: upravo su izašli iz vode.

	  

	Danas sam dodao teksture po bazi.

	  

	I za kraj ovog dijela izrade vojske, prije mog puta u Englesku/Škotsku, evo jedan close-up puževa koji vuku zapregu. Nastavak slijedi krajem svibnja, što se mene tiče!“

	  

	 
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Mario Grgurev, 24th April 2025

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Association of miniature collectors, modellers and tabletop wargamers "Agram"

Kitbashing 101

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