A sad day.

I am writing this post after watching the news and finding out that a serving soldier was murdered, in broad daylight, by two people who claimed to be Islamic. They ran him down with a car and attacked him with knives and a meat cleaver; murdering him in the street, in front of horrified onlookers who were rightly terrified.

This is not religion.

This is hate.

This is terrorism.

I am utterly horrified, stunned and disgusted that this could happen to a fellow serviceman at home. 

My heart-felt and sincere condolences go out to his family and friends who must be distraught and horrified at what has happened.

RIP Drummer Lee Rigby.

A very arid Sunday.

I suppose I should start this post with an apology. I have managed to achieve nothing this week. Absolutely nothing. I suppose that having everything piling up and trying to spread out further and further has just led to me not doing anything.

So... what have I actually been doing? Too much internet, too much drinking and too much dealing with life's little tantrums, that's what.

I have tried to work on my tank, my Sharclon APC, paint some miniatures (namely a couple of random Dwarfs that don't have a crap-load of mates to paint along with them) and do some sculpting but all I have managed is a very rough base-coat on a dwarf and a pair of sculpted feet on Thor.

Yesterday, I went into town and bought a small storage chest... hoping that the drawers were big enough for two layers of paint-pots... but they were short by 5mm so my hope of saving space failed... but now I have a nice place for just my paints to live rather than paint and all the other stuff.

I could moan about so much...

On the bright side, my Warzone Kickstarter pledge has now been finalised so I should be receiving three of the new Vulkan Battlesuits with additional close combat arms when they start sending things out. As I won't be gaming with them, I have decided that they will make a nice addition to the Dream Forge Storm-Troopers that I already have.

In other news, Charmmy has decided that she will sit on me every evening and go to sleep. She is now getting quite a grown up little catten but I doubt that she will ever be a big... or even medium sized cat. She is quite the murderer at the moment. Everything that moves in the garden is killed and eaten. Bees, wasps, flies, leaves... I am surprised that she hasn't been stung and needed veterinary treatment by now but she just keeps on killing. You wouldn't think it from such a lovely looking catten:

Click the Pic!

That's it for today. Hopefully, I'll find some life this week and get back to some hobby stuff again.

See you from a place of indecision!

###EDIT###

During a rather spontaneous bout of tidying, I found this:

Click the Pic!

It is a Scorpion mech from Reaper's CAV universe. It is 1/60 scale and was sold in 2003 by Hellion Productions. It is NOT Battletech. It is made from resin with some white metal joints. The miniature in the picture is for scale. Since the picture has been taken, I have removed the remainder of the Milliput from the body and have prised the roof off the cockpit causing a small amount of damage. There are a few little miscast areas but the kit is complete and a relatively skilled modeller will easily be able to sort it out. I want to sell it for around £40-00 plus postage so if you are interested, let me know in a message and we'll work things out (Pay Pal only). It is now all sealed up in a box ready to be posted.

See you from the Mech Hangar!

And it was all going so well...

Every once in a while, everything catches up with me and I just can't get motivated to do anything hobby related. This week has been one of those times where my sleep deprivation has destroyed my will to paint, sculpt or anything else really.

That said, at the beginning of the week, I did manage to finish Stunner:

Click the Pic!

... and start off Steel Spartan... but that was as far as it got until yesterday, when I decided to get the plasticard out and make some shapes. I haven't achieved much worth showing off but I have assembled the main hull of a Sharclon grav APC and in the process managed to work out how to make domes using a set of measuring spoons, some olive oil and some green stuff.  Once I get a little bit further along, I'll post some pix. 

Yesterday I decided to buy one of my favourite tank kits; a Tamiya 1/35th scale M41 Walker Bulldog with the soul purpose being to convert it. Well, I assembled the basic tank but without all the little details and have been converting bits. It has a bigger gun and some extra armour so far but will get much more work... when I have some motivation. It is starting to look good... so I hope it works out OK in the long run.

In other news, my son has just had an appointment sent through for his aptitude tests for the RAF and that means the process has started proper. I am so happy about it right now and hope that he manages to get through the process as easily as I know he is able to do. It will be a proud day for me when I watch him leave for his basic training.

So... it has been shopping, shopping, shopping lately. My daughter has her prom dress and all of the accessories and make-up that goes with it so I don't have to worry about that. My wife has her evening dress and shoes sorted for the summer ball and I don't have to hang around dress/lingerie shops any more.

Hopefully, I will manage to shake off the sleepless nights soon because I am really getting fed up with being exhausted... then maybe I'll catch up with some of the sculpting backlog that I have built up.

See you through half closed eyes!

A holiday Sunday post.

It is a bank holiday weekend and that means I have three days to play, rather than just two. On this particular occasion it has been quite handy because I have had one night where I got very little sleep (rendering the following day's plans useless) and one night where I slept pretty well so I got to catch up and still have a day off.

What have I been up to this week? Well, the main drive of this week's hobby time has been superheroes and what better way to introduce a couple of new characters than with some pix? First up, we have Exocette:

Click the Pic!

...and APE (Alien Psychic Entity) followed closely behind:

Click the Pic!

I have another two on the go at the moment; Stunner and Steel Spartan but they are still very WIP at the moment so there are no pix yet.

In other news, I have been sculpting today and have managed to get quite a bit done... hopefully the muse will stay with me for long enough to finish some commissions. Only time can tell.

Due to the fact that I hope to be attending a summer ball, yesterday's shopping trip was spent choosing a dress for my wife so no hobby shopping got done... but I did get a 'grow your own crystals' set for a bit of a fun distraction so hopefully it will work.

That is about it for today.

See you from the summer lawns!

Iron Man Sunday.

What has happened this week?

I have been working hard and finishing tasks at work... including a closing meeting for a big modification that has been on-going now for over eight years! BOOSH!

I have not been sleeping at all... and that has been a real downer but I managed to get a bit of extra kip last night so it isn't all bad.

I managed to paint my Sharclon troopers (from last weekend's Salute haul):

Click the Pic!

I really like these and will be getting many more. Andy (owner and sculptor of Heresy Miniatures) has said that more will appear at some point but probably not before Christmas. Just for a bit of information, I have put together a scale pic with other ranges:

Click the Pic!

In other news... I decided to finish off a superhero that was sitting on the table... and also put a name on another one's base. So I now have The Judge and Tango Man joining my team of human sized superheroes:

Click the Pic!

The group is looking a bit too masculine at this point so I have also been painting the first female, Exocette... and she will be making an appearance soon (once I have finished painting her base). She is the first flying superhero; hence her name.

This weekend has been a bit odd. Friday night I had to get up in the middle of the night because I was wide awake. I realised that at 02:30hrs, my son hadn't returned home from work and got in touch with him (he should have finished at 23:00hrs... and he's 17 and had been at college all day before going to work at 17:00hrs). He finally got home at 03:15hrs and they wanted him back at work for 11:00hrs. To cut a long story short... Saturday lunchtime, I had a one way conversation with my son's boss after threats of sacking because my son wasn't at work for 11:00hrs. Needless to say the Health and Safety training that I have received really came in handy when quoting policy for young workers and a stream of apologies suddenly happened. The Royal Air Force trains its personnel well.

Today... we went to see Iron Man 3 and I thought it was awesome. Some of the story was a bit lame and needed some padding for those not in the comic-book know but that really didn't matter because there were lots of different suits flying about. There was also a big twist involving the Mandarin (that I didn't expect) so I thoroughly enjoyed the film. The 'botanist' was quite nice too. I'd recommend seeing the film and would say that, even though the Marvel films have a bit of info after the credits, on this occasion it tells you nothing but it is worth stopping back to watch because it is amusing.

Well... that is it for now. This week I'll be finishing off Exocette, trying to get some sculpting done (I'll need to get a bit more sleep before I can focus on that so here's hoping) and then get cracking on my Grymn in powered armour again.

Life is never dull.

See you from the top of the tree!

Post Salute lethargy.

I slept properly last night for the first time in ages... ten whole hours! Why? Because I was completely exhausted after Salute.

I was up at 06.00hrs (after a fairly sleepless night) to travel to London on Friday morning. Had a leisurely trip, lunch and a bit of waiting before getting into the venue at about 13.20hrs. I bumped into the Rev and Akula from Frothers and while I was waiting for the van to arrive, I helped the Rev unpack his scenery and I can safely say it was pretty disturbing...

Unpacking the van with the crew didn't take as long as I had expected; we automatically worked as a team and that made the work fly by. Once we'd finished setting up as far as possible, we booked into our hotel and then had a few beers before popping out for dinner... and a few more beers... and a sleepless night caused by the water-pipes in the hotel whistling all night.

The final stand prep started at 07.05hrs and was all finished by about 09.15hrs so there was a short time to hit the stands before the doors opened.

Once the doors opened, we had a constant stream of punters to the Hasslefree stand and the only time there was a bit of a lull was when the painting results were being presented so by the end of the day, all of us were done-in.

So... Major thanks go to:

Neil, who managed to do his share AND direct us all to set the stand up properly.
Dave, who I don't think has a flustered bone in his body.
Jason, who has the gift and can wrangle money out of punters like a pro.
Scott, another professional salesman who also managed to get a mention in the painting competition.
Matt, who managed to arrive and join the team even though he was in casualty first thing with his poorly bairn.
...and of course Dameon, who was running the Artemis Black stand and still answering all of our queries and keeping an interested eye over the Hasslferee stand too.

I'd also like to thank all the people who came and said 'hi' and give a big shout out to all the Frothers I met too.

I had a great day and although I was completely exhausted by the time I got home, it was a satisfied tiredness that comes with knowing that we all did a good job. The team was a joy to work with.

Obviously, it wasn't the same without Kev and Sally being there... and I know that if Sarah had been there, the Goblin Aid tin would have been over-flowing!

Salute seemed to be packed again this year and I think sales were very good. There were some great tables (the Frothers corner had some very original and interesting games on the go), a good mix of cos-players, plenty of variety in the games, lots of stands and it seemed to be very well run apart from a few delays here and there... which didn't seem to be too much of an issue (apart from the usual discord about the length of the queues and waiting to get in).

I even had time in amongst everything to go and do a small amount of shopping... I guess I should share the haul...

3 broken down, Corvus walkers that need a bit of work (a bargain for the price - cheers, Ben).
1 GZG 'power-loader' mech (15mm).
2 Antenociti Spider weapon support platforms (15mm).
1 ALF and 1 Alien trooper from Four A miniatures.
5 Sharclons from Heresy Miniatures.
2 Graku and the mounted knight on lizardy thing from Twilight Miniatures.
16 Grymn in powered armour from Hasslefree miniatures.
1 Kev Adams pack from Wargames Foundry.
1 Salute 2012 mug (it was going cheap and looked lonely).

On the negative side, I picked up the free carrier bag with the guide and miniature inside (I bought a standard ticket, just to do this... even though I had a traders badge) and put it away straight away without looking inside. That meant I didn't get my free rucksack from Kaiser Rushforth :(... DAMN!

A few insta-thoughts about the day...

The Docklands Light Railway is cool.
The Saturday morning, walking to the venue was glorious, with sunshine, crisp air and swans asleep on the Thames.
My feet hurt.
VAT caused a few frowns.
Friendly people (especially the HF team).
Strange brew!
Variety.
Comraderie and fun.

Today, I am having a complete rest. I have unpacked and sorted out my Salute haul and have called it a day. When I have found some enthusiasm, I will try to put some pix together... but it will be next week I reckon.

See you from a point in time and space!

The list.

So... I have been looking around and having some fun and here are some interesting things that will hit Salute this year...

SALUTE

Hasslefree Miniatures will have multiple new releases including the Grymn powered armour and a bunch of other stuff that you will find HERE.

Heresy Miniatures will also have some new stuff on offer that may include Sharclons, sci-fi troopers, gangers and a new barbarian.

Antenociti's Workshop has lots of new stuff but the pick of the bunch is THIS and THIS.

World of Twilight has a host of new releases that can be found HERE.

Fenris Games have some interesting stuff (especially laser cut scenery) and is also the Goblin Aid central hub.

Ground Zero Games has some new mecha that looks quite interesting. It can be seen HERE.

Pulp City have a threesome of new releases that can be found HERE.

Studio McVey have some new releases too. My favourite can be found HERE.

There is also a mystery manufacturer that has some of THIS and THIS but unfortunately it won't be at Salute.

I am sure that I have missed some... but I can't think what.

Well... that is all I have until Salute is over and I return home on Saturday night. To leave you with something that I managed to finish today, here is a picture of Grekwood:

Click the Pic!

Unfortunately, the varnish was a bit patchy so I have to wait a while to apply a second coat and hope that it sorts out the glossy bits.

I hope to see you on the day. As I have mentioned, I will be on the Hasslefree Miniatures stand (walk through the doors, turn left and keep walking until you bump into the stand - it's TA03) and look forward to lots of visitors (especially two people who have some items to collect).

I am very excited.

See you from the front of the queue!