"Chupacabras spotted rummaging through Dumpster..." Topic

To anyone who's been following my quest for Chupacabras, I finally got round to buying, basing, slightly modifying and painting up some Thane Games Howlers as Chupacabras. I'm quite pleased with the results ( and still have another 15 to go… ) , although one of my mates first comments was "Ah, carnivorous newts…". Anyway, enough with the words, here's the pic.

Good job, they look freakishly scary. What are you going to do with 20 Chupacabras?

Very nice Carrion Crow!

Sparky, if you have to ask what to do with 20 Chupacabras, you probably don't want to know… LOL!

Do you have any idea how many chickens and goats it would take to satisfy a herd (gaggle) of twenty chupacabras? Egads, they would probably have to start hunting larger prey….. oh…

Is there a link to the original (pre-converted) "howlers", just for comparison purposes?

Thanks.

CC

<<Do you have any idea how many chickens and goats it would take to satisfy a herd (gaggle) of twenty chupacabras? Egads, they would probably have to start hunting larger prey….. oh…>>

A number of years ago I worked in a large shopping center in Northern CA where all but one member of the maintenance and engineering staff were Latinos. Whenever I saw one repairing something, digging into a planter after a broken water line, etc., I would tease them about having to deal with *chupacabras* nesting in the attics, chewing up the conduits, etc. This quickly became a running joke for all of us, such that I wound up taking our favorite chicken stealin' reptile to the next level…

When I co-wrote the SILENT DEATH: FIGHTER TACTICS MANUAL with Dr. Greaves, I included some background fluff concerning a colony in the Far and Away of Terran Space named Loma Verde, in which the Espan-speaking inhabitants of this principally agrarian colony had been forced to develop their own indigenous star fighter design to fend off pirates and other assorted spacefaring scum and villany.

It was a small, fast ship with a potentially very lethal bite. The Loma Verdeans named it after a local pest-predator that had a taste for Terrestrial chickens and goats the founding colonists had brought with them, and due to its reptilian appearence it was naturally named after a creature from Old Earth folklore; Chupacabra.

I simply couldn't resist..

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

Leland,

For the very first Chupacabra sightings (which were in Puerto Rico in the early 90s), many of the descriptions taken from witnesses seemed very much like . . . big baboons (like on lots of steroids), down to the spacing and shape of bitemarks!

Based on that, and all the many urban and folk legends (later called disinformation propaganda) about animal experiments in government labs deep in the forests of the island, I am going to use my surplus baboon figures and try to come up with something like this:

picture
link

CC

Shame on you, Cacique Caribe! The original thread had your name in the title:

TMP link

Carrion Crow,

Sorry I forgot about that thread and the howler link. :)

However, I actually like your version much, much better than that original Thanes Games figure:

link

CC

Looks good – what did you make the garbage bag in the dumpster from?

I wanted to make one for my dumpster, but couldnt figure that one out (must have spend that days brain power on making the dumpster).

Shelldrake, the garbage bag was very simple. Take a small square of clingfilm (I think it's called Saran wrap in the states) and half a cotton wool pad, the kind women use to remove eye make-up. Form a circle with your finger and thumb on your left hand and rest the square on top, then push from the centre through the hole. Twist the top until you have a garbage bag shape and then trim any excess off the top. Paint black. And that's it…

As it's effectively it's own little bag, you could fill it with anything, such as bits of sprue, etc. to give your bag a more interesting shape and, unlike the Combat Zone Chronicles article for garbage bags, it takes zero sculpting skill, which, for some of us, is an advantage…lol

Cacique Caribe, I think that the paint job on the Thane sight doesn't do the figure justice. All I did was trim the tail down (as it's longer and actually molded to the base) then carefully tweak the arms on each one to give variation. However, the legs are quite thin, so should anyone else wnat to try this, be careful if you're adjusting the stance once the tail is removed, as you could snap the legs quite easily.

And to give a comparision to a 'normal' figure, here's my Freddie substitute about to become dinner…

picture

Many thanks Carrion Crow – the garbage bag sounds so simple. :-)

<<For the very first Chupacabra sightings (which were in Puerto Rico in the early 90s), many of the descriptions taken from witnesses seemed very much like . . . big baboons (like on lots of steroids), down to the spacing and shape of bitemarks!>>

CC,

yup. And since then the legend has grown and lil' Chuppy has become more reptilian with each Tequila-induced sighting, and SD:TNM is set 9,000 years from now, so a bit of folklore can morph pretty impressively in such a span of time and with each generation's retelling…

<<Based on that, and all the many urban and folk legends (later called disinformation propaganda) about animal experiments in government labs deep in the forests of the island, I am going to use my surplus baboon figures and try to come up with something like this:

picture
link>>

CC, why on earth would you want to sculpt my ex-wife?

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

Leland,

Sorry to hear about your ex-wife:

link
link
link

But, then again, I don't think she should have been running across that Louisiana road, in the dark, and after all those drinks. :)

CC

There were reports of the critters going back centuries.

Lots of similar creatures all over. It's an infestation man!!

link

In the immortal words of Pvt. Hudson . . .
"Game over man… Game over!"
"Oh dear Lord Jesus, this ain't happening, man… This can't be happening, man! This isn't happening!"

CC

What I want to know is this . . .

If a SEAL unit couldn't bring one of these in dead or alive, we are in a world of trouble when they finally swarm over us.

CC
PS. Where is that purported video? I just love these "reports". :)

That was a cool link CC

I want to see that video too. makes you wonder – why are SEAL collecting footage of beasties from around the world, and why is it so top secret?

I used to call a girlfriend my little "Chubbacabre". She didn't like it. I thought it was cute.

Shelldrake,

If the story of the "video" is indeed true, I think they have forgotten a few basic Public Relations rules:

"I have no recollection of that event"
"I can neither deny or confirm those claims and allegations"
"I cannot speculate on the final results of the investigation"
"Those media reports are still pending verification"

These are just a few of the phrases I've been paid to memorize. :)

Maybe it is part of an on-going (and highly classified, I might add) effort to do this:

imdb.com/title/tt0194543
link

CC
PS. I'm already getting my 6 extra Obelisk Miniatures baboons ready for conversion!
link

Just wondering . . .

Has anyone else tried their hand at converting figures into "Chupacabras"?

CC

If a SEAL unit couldn't bring one of these in dead or alive, we are in a world of trouble when they finally swarm over us.

nah, just call in the SAS/SBS ;-p

<<"I have no recollection of that event"
"I can neither deny or confirm those claims and allegations"
"I cannot speculate on the final results of the investigation"
"Those media reports are still pending verification">>

I can just see the press conference:

"Right. OK, Admiral, and what is that THING you're SEAL Team members keep refering to as '… just our mascot Skippy?'" That doesn't look like any 'stray dog' I'VE ever seen! And what's with the rumour amongst the crew about the ship's cat disappearing?"

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net
("Aw, c'mon, Chief! Why can't we keep him? He don't take up much room under my bunk!")

What about reworking the head on these?

They would be about the right size, wouldn't they?

link

CC