Another post?

First of all, I'd like to welcome Infojunky and Relic to Inso's World. I hope you find something here to power your imaginations :).

...So...I just got back from seeing Captain America and I would like to say that it was a very enjoyable film. The main character was suitably 'gung-ho' and poster boy material so he was perfect for the role. The main characters (and those of the Captain's wartime gang of soldiers) were well cast and I thought that the female character (Peggy) was lovely. Again, after the credits, there was a small teaser towards the Avengers...so stay until all of the credits have run! You have been warned ;). All in all it was a great film and has really set the scene for the Avengers.

I have been asked to show a few close up pix of my Beetle-Bots so I took a bunch of pix of a representative and here he is:

Click the Pic!

I hope this satisfies the curious minds...if not, I'll sort some more pix in a while.

I am expecting a very quiet hobby week because I have family holiday plans and they don't include spending hours sat at a painting/hobby table.

Well...that is it for now.

See you from behind a stars and stripes shield!

An early update.

I will not be posting an update on Sunday because I will be busy doing something else. With that said, I thought it would be nice to post something before then just to make up for it.

...Now...a muse is a funny thing. Sometimes, it hits you and sometimes it doesn't. When the muse does visit, you never know what it will make you do and this latest stuff is no exception. After a very long time, I decided to re-visit my Beetle-Bots and have finished the first of the Death-Scooters:

Click the Pic!

I also realised that I haven't shown finished pix of the Beetle-Bots either...so it seemed the perfect opportunity for a family pic:

Click the Pic!

It is a weird thing, a muse...

More Beetle-Bots to come I expect...

See you through the lines of text; falling down like neon rain...

A rollercoaster week.

I will be the first to say what a week of highs and lows I have had.

The very sad news that a friend from the Forum of Doom had died.

The celebration of the Royal Air Force Puma HC1's 40 years of service.

The complete wipe-out that the following day was...

...but I can safely say that my hobby has kept me grounded this week. Through all the ups and downs of life, painting and sculpting will always be the same and that has been a boon at a time where I don't know whether I am coming or going!

I must admit that I have not managed to do any sculpting this week but I have managed to paint the three APCs I assembled last week:

Click the Pic!

They will sit very nicely next to their mech and troop units and look quite splendid in a block together with the other APCs. As you can see, these three have a missile launcher instead of guns in the turret. They are destined for basic infantry units so I wanted a more standard approach to their weaponry that could take out infantry and tanks alike.

This week I succumbed to the lure of shopping and have received 4 more APCs from Scotia Grendel; ready for introduction into the Tunnel Fighter army. They are the last 4 I need for the troops I have...but I will need to think about transport for my K9, Medic and Drone units...also the high command unit (once it is finished). I have ideas for some of the vehicles but the big guys will cause me a little more trouble, I fear.

I have also bought a Star Wars 'Republic Gunship' and a small stealth fighter from Model Zone. The Gunship was reduced to £9-99 so I really couldn't help myself. Unfortunately, the stealth fighter was a bit small for my purposes but it is always good for the bits box.

Finally, I am in the bidding for something cool from E-Bay...we'll see whether I am lucky in that or not...

Onto other things...I celebrated HARD on the 40th anniversary of Pumas. I met people I hadn't seen for years, threw away my diet for the evening and pulled out the metaphorical pin of my grenade as I partied hard and thoroughly enjoyed the evening. I may have been a little over-excited but I really hope that people didn't feel too put out by my hyper-activity (especially dancing at the gig...). Some times it is good to really let your hair down and the following day proved that I had done just that :) .

For any one out there who knew Gareth Sutherwood (AKA Grekwood), here is a link to his just giving page:

http://www.justgiving.com/Gareth-K-Sutherwood

Let's bump up the levels a bit, eh?

Banana Time!

See you though reflective sunglasses!

A sad day.

Last night, whilst I was on shift, I discovered that one of my WWW based friends had passed away.

Although I never met him, this chap was always chirpy and cheerful and never let his ailments drag him down. He was an inspiration to anyone who had a long term and debilitating medical affliction. He had been ill for as long as I have known him and he sadly passed away in hospital after fighting hard after an operation.

I am deeply saddened by his passing and want to humbly pass on my sincere condolences to his family and all of those people who have been affected by this tragic and untimely event.

R.I.P. Gareth Sutherwood, A.K.A Grekwood.

You will be sorely missed.

I had forgotten...

...just how long it takes to sculpt larger stuff. I t seems that it takes a lot more time because you worry more about covering the bits you have sculpted with finger-prints. The extra weight doesn't help either...but enough of that! Just to prove that I have been busying myself with a bit of hobby stuff lately, I thought I'd post some WIP pix of my newest Ogre sized conversion...and the assembly pix of the next three APCs:

Click the Pic!

Obviously, the OGrymn is for my Tunnel Fighter army, as are the APCs.

The OGrymn will be a bit of a seer/shaman sort of character and his little pet will be either albino or have some weird markings to differentiate it from the other K9s in the army. The armour parts will be brass instead of the usual gun-metal and the staff will literally be a plain rod with an inner glow that starts at the hand and dims the further away it gets. The outstretched hand will have a heavy metal gauntlet with a gem in the palm (much like Iron Man) that will have a similar glow to the staff and the bumps around the helmet. He will be a member of the high-command squad that will have a host of different characters in it.

You may notice that the three APCs have slightly different turrets. That is because they will eventually be attached to standard infantry squads and I thought that a missile turret would suit the role better. That way, they can be equipped with anti infantry or anti armour missiles...or a mix of both. I thought that was more appropriate than a pair of cannons.

So I still need to spend an age on the OGrymn and I need to fill all of the gaps and air-bubble holes in the APCs but at least there is a small amount of progress to share.

Speaking of APCs, I have just put in another order to Scotia Grendel for the last four of them. I hope that they arrive fairly quickly because I will need something to distract me from the drudgery of painting the mechs...even thinking about them makes me dread looking at them in their unfinished states...I'm sure that there will come a time where I bite the bullet and slap on a base coat (it is all down hill after that...it is the base coat that is the pain).

On to other things and this week is very special for me. I am attending a dinner in honour of the 40 years service of the Puma helicopter. A long time ago, when I first arrived at my unit after trade training, the Puma was the first aircraft I worked on. I have worked on the type, on and off, for the last 19 years (13 years total time) and it is an aircraft that I hold dear to my heart. What makes it even more special is the fact that the year I was born, the Puma joined the RAF...so we both came into service in the same year :D. I am going to be bending the diet somewhat on that night I reckon...

That is about it for today so I'll potter on my way and tick along with whatever I need to tick along with :).

See you from the balcony!

Watershed...

Sometimes we all have to take stock of our lives and go through a period of adjustment. Every time something happens, we need to understand why...that is human nature for you.

Well, this week has really been a week of adjustment and understanding. As a result of the blood-test 'diabetes bombshell', I have changed my diet and started a more intense fitness regime. This has had a number of effects:

1) I am not eating any processed/refined sugar...so my energy levels have dropped.
2) I am exercising more so I am finding all those muscles that I forgot I had.
3) I have discovered sleep...which, funnily enough, is making me feel tired during the day.
4) I am coming to terms with not being able to do what I like and eat what I like...WEIRD!!!
5) I am having to find replacements for all those foodstuffs that I love...that don't contain lots of sugar.

I am quite lucky because I can mentally label foods as 'BAD' and once I've done that, I don't miss them. That means I don't have cravings (yet) for things like ketchup, chocolate...and many other things. I have also begun to rediscover a love for vegetables and fruits...and more basic produce and don't feel the need to cover everything with salt or sauce.

I think the exercise is helping because I am already starting to feel more healthy...it must be all those endorphins!

Bananas are great. They have a really beneficial effect when you have overdone a run and quickly stop you from keeling over!

What I am trying to say is that while I am jumping on the 'New ME Bandwagon', I have a lot less time for the hobby. It also means that I have nothing to show off in this current update.

On the plus side, I have finally received the sci-fi troopers from Ramshackle Games and have washed them ready to start their clean-up and painting stages. From a quick once over, they look really nicely cast and have minimal flash...so I think they will be a joy to put together and paint.

For some strange reason, I have just stopped with the army building vibe at the moment and have decided that I want to get a few characters put together to go with this guy:

Click the Pic!

As a result, I have started the conversion work on a second Ogre-sized Tunnel Fighter who will act as an advisor and maybe a mystic. He has been based on the same miniature as the one above but will look rather different...he has a pet, for starters! I don't want the whole unit to be OGrymn and have been thinking about putting a few more troops together to act as high-ranking officers and advisors...but they will be the standard Grymn size.

...I suppose they will need transport...and maybe a mech to go with them...but I will need to put together a unit of troops first :).

Well, sorry for the empty update but hopefully, I'll get back into the groove soon and climb back into the hobby saddle again.

See you at the finish line!

So...X-Men 1st Class....

Well...today I didn't do any hobby stuff at all because, to be honest, I really couldn't be bothered. Instead, I decided it would be nice to go to the cinema instead. So we all went to see X-Men 1st Class and had a nice little chill-out in Cineworld.

The film was pretty good. I didn't think much to the beast or the Angel character but Azazael was pretty cool. The film certainly filled in a few gaps...how the mutants were first found, how the government get tied in, how Magneto gets his helmet and how Professor Xavier gets stuck in a wheel chair. We also find out how the factions start up and get introduced to a few new mutants.

All in all it was pretty good, with the right amount of action but it seemed to be a bit too much of an introduction film rather than expanding on a story. It was worth seeing though.

...

There comes a time when you realise your children are growing up. Apart from obvious things (biological changes and all those wonderful things puberty throw at us all), temperaments change, priorities change and you see that the little baby you once cradled in your arms is slowly slipping away to adulthood.

My son had his first shave the other day...

See you over the four leaf clover.

Holy cow...it's a Saturday update again.

So this week, I managed to get another two of the mechs finished:

Click the Pic!

Here they are together with the first of the rifle-mechs:

Click the Pic!

It is a right old pastel-fest! These are the first three complete rifle-mechs and they will go with their troop units and APCs...speaking of APCs, I have now got them soap-washed and drying out in the kitchen.

So I now have 7 painted mechs, 11 painted squads and 4 painted APCs. I still need to paint 4 mechs and 7 APCs...so not far to go now :) .

On to other things and I am still waiting for the two squads of sci-fi troopers from Ramshackle games. I still have a few days to go before I have to worry but I had hoped that they would have arrived by now...it may have taken the edge off the week I have had.

Recently, I had a medical and as part of that, I had a blood test. Well it turns out that I have early stage type-2 diabetes. Not a life stopper or anything but it dented my spirit a little. I am lucky that I caught it at such an early stage so I can hopefully sort things out with a diet change and a bit of extra exercise...

...so I have had a bit of a downer and haven't managed to get as much hobby stuff done as I would have liked.

Sometimes real-life has a way of taking up a bit more time than you would like...

See you over the top of the daily news :) .