Sunday and all is well.

It is Sunday, I've slept for over 9 hours (the most I've slept for months), the air is fresh, my daughter is 12 today, I don't have to call the bingo EVER AGAIN and I've just had a lovely cup of tea...if it wasn't for the fact I have to do the food shopping today, it would be a perfect day.

Well, what has been going on? I had a potter around the shops yesterday and all I came away with was the latest White Dwarf magazine. Every month I buy it and every month I flick though it and question my decision. White Dwarf stopped being worth a read A LONG TIME AGO...I suppose it is a case of A) Habit and B) what else would I buy to read?

I had a very small parcel turn up on Friday that contained a Grymn Spotter (from Hasslefree). He is going to be the lieutenant for my second urban light-infantry platoon. The miniature itself was a pre-release, master casting and was very sharply cast.

On the subject of actual miniatures, I have finished basing the Grizzly, so here is a pic:

Click the Pic!

I've also finished painting my starship-crew warrior:

Click the Pic!

I thought I'd paint him in fairly dull, military clothing but with a colourful twist (his hair). I look at him as a retired serviceman who can't switch off his military training...but doesn't want all the routine of military service. As with the other starship-crew, his base is plain until I decide what to do with it.

Time is getting short. I am in the throws of packing up all my kit, ready for the move. All I have in the cupboard now is my Grymn urban assault platoon, the starship crew and a bunch of Macross mechs. Realistically, all I have to paint is the remainder of the starship crew because the mechs need an airbrush (which I don't have yet) and the assault troops need LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of tiny little squares (which can go swim at the moment!).

I have STRONGLY resisted the urge to spend money of miniatures for the time being (due to the move) but am planning a few purchases when I get to my new home.

Well, apart from shopping and a few other little chores I may get the opportunity to spend some time painting the starship-crew pilot/mechanic so you never know...I may post another update later in the day (because I don't have to call the bingo tonight!!!).

See you on the dark side ;).

Thursday!

What? A Thursday update...after a Wednesday update?

That's because I'm now in charge! I've sacked my other personality and will be writing my own stuff from now on. I know a lot of people don't like the whole 'third person' style of my writing so I've decided that I'll stop with the story telling and say it how it is...if you don't like the new style...let me know. If you do like the new style...let me know.

Now on with the show and tell...

This is a Grizzly Battle armour suit made by Mongoose Publishing:

Click the Pic!

The base isn't finished but it will probably be the same 'brown sand' that adorns most of my bases.

Sadly they don't make them any more...but they are a wotsit to paint so I won't be losing any sleep about it. I reckon that after painting three of them I'll be well fed up with them. I painted it red to go with this Grymn here:

Click the Pic!

I have never planned to make an army of these...but a small skirmish force may be in order. Maybe a small force of about 20 troops and three Grizzlies.

Who knows?!

See you in the depths.

Wednesday and a change of image.

After a comment made on another forum, I thought I'd change the colours on the blog. If you have an opinion on the colour change (good or bad) I'd like to hear it so please feel free to leave a comment.

I'd also like to welcome our newest follower Slobberblood. Welcome aboard!

Catch you later!

Tuesday Musings...Halo Warthog Review.

After his spur-of-the-moment spending at the weekend, Inso has opened up one of the Warthog collectible miniatures from McFarlane models. Being a tinkerer, he has put together a few pix to show it off with a few miniatures for scale purposes. You'll need to click on the pix to read the script on some of them but here are the pix.

First a basic pic with some miniatures for scale and a shot of the base:


Next a selection of scale pix:


This pic shows the multi positional ball and socket joint that allows you to pose the Warthog in all sorts of positions (although, with no driver it does seem a bit odd):


Finally a pic showing the Warthog taken to pieces:

As I have already mentioned, you'll need to click the pix to see some of the text.

Here are a few words from Inso:

From a conversion perspective, the model is really easy to dismantle and is not glued at all. The whole thing is held together with 8 little screws and when stripped down it is easy to re-assemble.

The fact that the cockpit is removable means that fitting drivers (of your own choice) and painting them will be very easy and also painting the underside of the screen supports will be easier too.

The whole thing is made of a hard styrene plastic except for the ammo feed and the aerial (which are made of a bendy rubber) so if you choose to glue it you shouldn't have any trouble.

The wheels rotate and so does the gun platform. The gun is fixed so it doesn't elevate at all.

The base ball joint just pops in and out of the base of the Warthog with no fuss at all.

For £3-99 it is a great buy and has a wealth of flexibility for converting to a number of different types (think of all of the types of the Humvee and you'll know what I mean). I have seen these fitted with Cadian drivers (Cadians are Imperial Guard, made by Games Workshop) and I will probably end up putting a few of my Rogue Troopers in as drivers (using plastic Catachan Imperial Guard...also from Games Workshop).

I'd really recommend these Warthogs (if you can find them out there).

Well, that's it from Inso tonight so I'll catch you later!

Father's Day in the UK.

Today is Father's Day in the United Kingdom and Inso has been out and about in Belfast and the surrounding area instead of his usual Sunday antics.

Being Father's Day, he got a couple of hand made cards from his children (he won't let them buy him a present because he likes their cards better) and then decided that a nice cup of Starbucks coffee was on the cards so off they all went to Belfast.

Whilst on the subject of Starbucks, have you ever tried the Granola bars that they sell? Well, Inso loves them and always buys one when he visits. The down side to that is that it costs him extra because he can't just buy a cake for himself; he has to do the honours for the whole family!

On his travels today, he has bought three CDs: The Mission (Tower of Strength) and Bob Dylan (the Times They are a Changin' and Freewheelin'). He also bought a few more interesting goodies:

Click the Pic!

...it is the soft-back graphic novel of the Watchmen and a pair of Halo Warthogs by McFarlane collectibles.

The Warthogs may become part of his Rogue Trooper force but he just bought them because they looked cool and once he had them he could decide what to do with them at his leisure.

On his return from shopping it was re-cycling time up at the club so he is now sitting picking splinters of glass out of his hands! Still...it could be worse...he could have to go and call the bingo again tonight...oh wait...he IS going to call the bingo tonight! Isn't he lucky?!

So, what is on the hobby cards for Inso this week? Well, on the painting table are the warrior and pilot for the star ship crew, four Grymn assault troops and a Grizzly battle-suit (from Star ship Troopers). Whether or not anything happens to them, I daren't say because he has a habit of changing directions quicker than a shoal of sardines!

Catch you later!

Saturday...a change of direction?

It would appear that packing away a lot of his collection has meant that Inso is clutching at straws for inspiration. Well, the latest pix certainly prove that the spirit is still willing if nothing else. For all those expecting starship crews, Grymn or starships...you'll be disappointed. Inso has decided to finally finish his Super-Deformed Zaku from the Gundam series. It has been sitting in his cupboard for ages and it would appear that emptying it for the move has meant a re-discovery:

Click the Pic!

Here is a scale shot with a squad of Urban Grymn:

Click the Pic!

According to Inso, he started painting this one again due to seeing this thread on Frothers Unite:

http://frothersunite.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=20139

The mechs in the link are so cool that they inspired him to paint something of his own. He didn't want to start on his 'proper mechs' (because he wants to use an airbrush for them) so he went for his comedy mech instead...even though he has painted it fairly realistically.

What has been a real problem is the fact that the little Zaku has 'polycap' joints; made of nylon. That means that the joints are extremely flexible and it also means two things:

1>They are really cool and very poseable (which makes gluing them together and sticking the Zaku on a base a difficult decision)

2>If he does glue it all together...what glue is good for nylon?

Hmmm...decisions, decisions...

Catch you later!

Monday.

...and when he looked there, the cupboard was bare...

It would appear that Inso is taking packing very seriously. So far, he has packed his Tiger APCs, dropships, starship (Phoenix), all of the miniatures on his 'to get around to shelf', his sculpting stuff and his WIP 'big tank'...among other things...

He has left his paints out and a handful of miniatures, namely his starship crew and his Urban Grymn assault platoon.

As much as it pains him (especially with the release of the Twilight range), he has decided that his next purchase of miniature related goodness will be from his new address...and that won't be until mid August!

Inso reckons that he will be more motivated to get a small amount of available miniatures painted better than having a host of distractions...so I guess we'll see if that holds true.

I think that before long, things will be removed from boxes (especially the sculpting/converting stuff) and orders for more miniatures will be placed before the move...but we'll see.

The good news is that the Phoenix is now out of harms way so it is less likely to be smashed into tiny pieces.

I just wonder how bored he'll have to get to start unpacking again!

Catch you later!

Sunday Blues.

Before I start with the usual Sunday update, I'd really like to welcome Sonny to our humble blog.

He is a miniatures painter that frequents many forums and I know him especially from the Forum of Doom. Inso is particularly fond of his 'gritty' style of painting and has bookmarked many of his Grymn paint-jobs for his personal gallery.

So, Sonny, welcome to the blog!

Well...it's that time again...another move is about to begin. Over the next few weeks it will be chaos in the Inso household as plans are made to move house (again). That means that things will be packed away and time will be short for hobby activities.

It also means that he isn't as focused as he could be and is a lot less patient when things start to go wrong.

So...what has he been upto then? Well, I can tell you straight away that there are no pix this week.

The spaceship has had a total change of colour. It has also had a total change in texture as a result of brush painting and it currently looks terrible. There are brush streaks all over it, colour runs and blobs of paint where it has pooled. To be honest, the last time Inso had a failure like this (a sculpt for a competition) he threw it at the wall, smashed it to pieces and threw it in the bin. I just hope that he can work out a way to save it, otherwise I can see this one going the same way. I have suggested that he should pack it away and concentrate on other things in a vain hope that it will give him time to calm down and think of a way to save it...

...I think that an airbrush will be top of his shopping list when he moves because he is extremely put off painting large things with a brush (and he has 6 Tiger APCs, 5 Glaive APCs a Gladius tank, a resin truck and a resin VTOL to paint...in addition to the Phoenix)!

On the bright side, Inso has mentioned that the ship will be finished, even if he has to buy another TB2 and start afresh (well...it's only cost him less than £10-00 so far)...so even though he is upset about the whole thing, he is still remaining positive.

On to other things...

The pilot/mechanic and the warrior for the starship crew have received a small amount of paint...unfortunately not enough to show off.

Inso dug out his Catachan Imperial Guard army to have a look at. They are all metal (apart from 6 Sentinel walkers) and there are about 160 of them. Even though they were painted a while ago with enamel paints, they still look quite presentable and would certainly look OK on the tabletop. In the same draw were his Soran troops. They are the old metal Cadian Imperial Guard and there are about 60/70 of them. They have a few tanks to go with them (a Griffon, Leman Russ and two Chimeras). I was keen to get Inso to put them on the table and take pix but he was in a weird mood and couldn't summon the enthusiasm.

Short Kroot. Terminator conversions. VTOLs. Grymn scout vehicles. Robots.

All things that have been occupying Inso's mind lately. He gibber-jabbers on about all sorts of things but rarely shares pix or exact details...so I have no idea where these thoughts will lead.

Finally, there is great news from the Twilight front. Hasslefree miniatures have just added the range of cool miniatures to their site. I strongly suggest that you take a look at the following link so that you too can see what Inso has been enhusing about for so long:

http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/range.php?range_id=64

For more background information have a look here:

http://www.worldoftwilight.com/

I think you'll all agree that there is some great stuff there. Inso will be splashing the cash over at Hasslefree once he has moved and a lot of it will be on the Twilight miniatures (he doesn't game so the rules aren't what he's into).

So a bit of an odd week on the whole. I can't say what the next update will bring but I hope there will be a few pix of painted/converted miniatures to show off.

Catch you later!

Sunday and the Ship has Arrived!

Before all the festivities, I'd like to welcome our 15th follower, Ivan Goncearuc, to the blog...

...WELCOME!

Now for the news...

Well I guess this was overdue in arriving but it seems Inso is now happy to share his WIP starship:

Click the Pic!

Click the Pic!

From what Inso has said, this is just base-coated and still has a long way to go but it is in the approximate colours now. The ship is 11 inches long and about 8 inches wide and even though it looks fairly large, there won't be enough room for the six extra troops to join the crew...it would stretch the sensibilities a bit.

After seeing the ship, I guess you can understand why it needed a colour change before he showed it off...if you saw it green you wouldn't be able to get the 'Thunderbird' image out of your heads.

In homage to it's roots Inso has chosen to name it 'The Phoenix' (because a fire-bird is a bit like a thunder-bird...isn't it?!).

So, there you have it. Lots of work to go (even after the 5 layers of paint it has currently received!) but you can see it has definitely changed from the original scheme.

...Now Inso is wishing he had an airbrush...

Catch you later!

Friday fun...

I've just seen Inso and he is covered in dust. He has been busy filling gaps and sanding filler down on his new spaceship.

What's good about the spaceship? Well, it is a nice shape, it looks like a spaceship and when it is painted it will be quite original and may cause a few giggles...

What's bad about it? It didn't arrive as complete as Inso would have liked so he had to make a few more modifications than he would have liked but most of them were to do with the internal structure to tidy up panel lines and things. It is also a bit smaller than he was expecting so it looks like the boarding party will be left at home when the starship crew take this one out for a spin...a shame but that is the way things go.

I would LOVE to tell you more about it but I am sworn to secrecy...sorry :(.

There is still quite a bit of work left to do before it is ready for paint but I am fairly confident that it will see undercoat by Sunday evening's update.

Stay tuned for more info!

Catch you later!

Another update?

Standby for broadcast.

The Starship has landed.

I repeat...

The Starship has landed.

End of broadcast.

Tuesday...an eventful day...

Well, it has started. Things are being packed away ready for yet another move. Inso has been rooting around, finding boxes and foam and arranging things in order.

So...what has been done so far? Not a lot really. Lots of action but not a lot of packing yet. What he has packed up, are 6 Tiger APCs (3 nice shiny new ones and 3 second hand ones) and they are now snug in a pair of boxes, all wrapped up in foam (yes, his latest E-bay purchase arrived safe and sound).

Inso has also re-cycled a big stack of White Dwarf magasines. He only has one left! I think that it is a case of out with the old...but I know for a fact that he has become more and more fed up with the publication and has decided to buy, read and dispose of them...if he buys them at all.

From what I understand, he plans on thinning down a lot of stuff. I really think that his bits box is going to take a bit of a hammering at the weekend...he has been struggling to open the thing because it is so full and the box itself is very temperamental...I think the box will be replaced and a small portion of the current contents will go into the new one.

I don't think the move is for a month or so and Inso seems to be sorting through all the stuff he is unlikely to touch just yet. I can see all of the resin vehicles being packed, along with a host of Tau, Macross, Goblin conversions and even the Dropships for the Urban Grymn...not to mention the big tank conversion. I reckon that the starship crew, starship (when it arrives) and some Grymn will be the main miniatures left unpacked. I also think that the Tyranids will remain out until he can work out a safe way of packing them.

I suppose life in the Inso household is never dull...from what Inso has said lately, he could really do with a bit of dullness...

On to other things and Inso has been at school again. He is currently learning all about Risk Assessments. He even had some homework tonight!

Finally, there was a terrible sight this evening...horrible, skinny and pallid...Inso was wearing shorts for the first time this year! Miracles will never cease!

Catch you later!