It was some months ago that 
Editor in Chief Bill 
notified me of an available Workbench project:
Two Norse Gods (Bronze Age) - not yet listed in the company's catalogue.
I was aware of the figures that Bronze Age produces, and I have often been tempted to try painting one or more of their 40mm Gods and adding them to my Flash Gordon 40mm collection (see my blog).
I had a number of other projects on the go, and was a little reticent to take on yet another modelling/painting project. At a weak moment, I agreed to take this project, without having seen the miniatures!
The first miniature, Thor, is the subject of this article, The second miniature will follow soon.
When I saw the miniature, I was immediately struck by just how well sculpted it was - no flash, and an imposing pose. The miniature stands 45mm tall (base of foot to top of head).
Within an hour, I had mounted it on to a 40mm 'premium' round base, and just wanted to get on with painting it. The groundwork is built up on top of a strip of plastic-card, some small lumps of cork, and Milliput. Once that set, I added some fine sand and grit over a diluted coat of PVA white glue.
I believe that it is better to full-mount my miniatures prior to undercoating and painting. I am aware that this is not the most common approach.
You will also notice that I have added a small amount of greenstuff to build up the shoulder and forearm area. I felt that the musculature in this area was just a little too 'thin'.
The miniature was undercoated with Games Workshop Chaos Black spraypaint, and any small areas that the spray did not cover was further painted with Chaos Black acrylic paint.
I am planning on painting this figure in a more subtle scheme than my usual black undercoat technique. I have therefore further undercoated part of the miniature with dark brown - Vallejo Game Colour Charred Brown. I have used this technique in the past, it is not as stark as using a pure black basecoat. If you have never tried this, you may want to test it.