A change of tack...

After my Eureka moment, I sculpted on the required elements for Beast to look like his comic counterpart and that spurred me on to get him painted:

Click the Pic!

I am in the process of deciding whether to sell him on so his base has been painted in a street style. If I decide to keep him, I'll add sand like all my other miniatures get.

Sitting at the sculpting table can be an odd thing. Sometimes you are keen to jump in and start from scratch and other times you are just looking for a simple fix. This next picture is an example of a simple fix. It is a Mushroom Spore-Launcher for my Agarix army and all it took to finish it was to smooth down the crown...so he is now finished:

Click the Pic!

I think he is functional and will get a bit more detail in the painting process.

The Grymn Super-Soldier project is still moving along at a great pace. On the corks at the moment are Iron Man and She-Hulk.

Iron Man will be getting a mix of film and comic styling and is well on the way to getting his legs and body finished at the moment...OH, THOSE PANEL LINES!!!!

She-Hulk is a little less further along but will be getting the same costume as the chibi version here:

Click the Pic!

In fact, if I could get her to look like the picture, I'd be really happy. I prefer the more clothed look of this costume rather than the more exposing costume of the mainstream comics...I also prefer the boots as they give a little more colour to the figure.

Well...that is about it for today.

See you from the hole in the garden!

Rewind...replay...

I was in the bath today and I had one of those eureka moments. Lying there daydreaming, as I usually do, I suddenly realised that the Human scaled Beast was never going to get painted because something just wasn't right. I had him all base-coated but he didn't look right because I had decided not to give him an under-suit and his costume was completely yellow.

What to do?

Well, I finished my bath and have now sculpted on an under-suit, round belt buckle and belt-loops on his costume. As a result, I have been fired up again and want to finish painting him.

He will be painted up to match the original Beast from the X-Men comics and now that he has the under-suit, he is likely to be painted.

What do we do about the Iron Man project?

I am torn on which Iron Man costume to sculpt. I am having difficulty deciding whether I will go for the classic, comic-book style or the more recent film style of armour. There is always the alternative of a bit of mix and match because, when all is said and done, it is the helmet that makes Iron Man so if I get that right, I can pretty much sculpt the armour any way I like.

Maybe even Hulk Buster armour (although I am really not keen on having two brutes in the group).

Hmmm...sometimes the muse is a cruel mistress! Too many ideas spoiling the focus!

Suggestions are welcome!

See you as I crawl from my Pupae!

Strange Days...

Another day and another new follower! Welcome Deadestdai! I hope you enjoy your stay.

I should have been at work today but two days of sleeping meds has made me an angry man...so I took a day's leave and went home again! Hopefully, I won't be on such a downer tomorrow.

On the plus side, I have been able to do a bit of 'Dad' stuff with my family and also have a small amount of hobby time.

Over the last few weeks, I have been ticking away with Puck and finally finished him last night:

Click the Pic!

I finished him fairly early so I started painting him and have had enough time today to finish him off completely...so here is Puck with the rest of the Super-Soldiers:

Click the Pic!

He is a bit shiny at the moment but once I have finished the team, I will varnish them all so that they are the same grade.

I am really quite pleased with Puck. He turned out quite nicely and is particularly special because he is a bit smaller than the rest.

There is trouble on the table! I have no Supers to sculpt! I do have a couple of Star Leaguers to tick along with but the corks are bare apart from them...

...but fear not! An armature has been twisted into shape and has had the first layer applied...Iron Man is now on the cork and has had his pose decided.

On another note...Beast has entered the paint phase...but I am not necessarily happy with his colouring. I am starting to think that I should have sculpted on his black under-suit...

I'm sure everything will come out in the wash!

See you from the rail!

Choices...

I have been working on one of the sculpts I dug out of the cupboard and have started to build up texture and flesh out the body:

Click the Pic!

My first thoughts are to add this one to The Star League by giving it armour and robotic gauntlets on scaly arms...maybe even giving it wings. However, my sci-fi brain is thinking more armour and a really big gun.

What's the verdict?

See you in the springtime!

Tumble weed...

As promised earlier this week, this update will be very sparse due to that dreaded thing called 'work' getting in the way.

That said, I would like to welcome our newest follower Idaoh. Welcome to Inso's World and I hope you enjoy your stay.

Since Sharrak got posted, I have not managed to get very much sculpting done so there isn't going to be pictorial evidence of anything to show.

I have had a bit of an up and down week with sleep, work and sculpting so I am quite happy with my output and am not disheartened. Today is just a consolidation day.

What has happened in the hobby world this week? Well, I have been looking through my cupboards and have looked at a bunch of part completed sculpts that have languished, unfinished, for far too long. I decided that I needed to dig them out and either finish them or bin them so a few got binned and a few got put on the sculpting table for completion. I did leave some in the cupboards due to their subject matter being part of a larger project but I have definitely cleared the decks a bit.

During the week, I ordered the Marvel Encyclopaedia from Amazon and it turned up on Friday so I have been browsing through it. I was quite impressed so I have ordered the DC version to accompany it.

On the subject of DC, I watched The Green Lantern yesterday and thought it was pretty cool...more for the aliens and special effects than anything else...but a good way to spend a couple of hours.

I have been thinking about The Star League and have managed to tie some of my old sculpts in to the group. Not all of them will be Grymn sized but there is definitely going to be a weird selection...

...ideas include Lizard Men, a female (alien) Dr. Octopus, a small alien in powered armour and much more besides.

The Super-Soldier program is also ticking along slowly. Puck has now got arms so all he needs now is hands and a head. I will be thinking about building the armature for the next one soon...probably Iron Man but it may end up a less fiddly one...it depends on how I feel.

The human scaled Beast now has feet but needs quite a bit of tidying up. He was started a while ago and some of his surfaces are 'rustic'. Lots of messing about required to smooth things over.

Well...there you have it. A rather disjointed post but there is quite a bit of stuff in there. I doubt if I will be getting any further hobby work done today because I have a lot of homework to sort out...but you never know!

See you from behind that thing...over there...just outside your peripheral vision!

What? Another post?

Just a short post today. Here is Sharrak; the second member of The Star League:

Click the Pic!

As usual, I have a trusty Dark Eldar for scale purposes.

Things will be a bit quiet now because I have some work that I have to do that will take me away from the hobby table so don't expect miracles in the Sunday update.

See you from the porthole!

The same...but different.

Seeing as I have a fairly decent sculpt that had no direction in life, I decided to take it to super-school and give it a new outlook on life. With my super-soldier program, I have limited myself to those heroes that could be explained away with super-serums and science. With this venture I have no such limitations. I have decided that a new super-hero group was in order and that it could include aliens and strangeness...

...so welcome Morg of 'The Star League'

Click the Pic!

He has unlimited strength and endurance and can vary his mass to make him super dense or as light as a feather. He can't fly but when he reduces his mass, he can leap vast distances.

It makes sense that there is more than one member of The Star League so I have been looking through some of my stored items and have found a couple of sculpts that can be brought into service. The first of these is Sharrak, leader and genius of the group:

Click the Pic!

He will be a light weight brawler with super speed and fast healing. He is fully aquatic and can move just as fast under water.

The beauty of this one is that he is fully sculpted and can be painted straight away. The next couple are a bit less finished so will need a bit of work...but it finishes old projects whilst filling the slots in a new one.

See you from a black hole...

Another Super Day.

Before I start, I'd like to welcome Hendybadger to Inso's World. He's our newest follower and I hope he finds something to interest him on his travels here.

The super project is progressing well. The latest member to join the team is Nick Fury; leader of SHIELD:

Click the Pic!

The flash has made him a little brighter than he actually is but apart from that, I am quite happy with the way he has turned out.

I have almost finished painting the alien sculpt as well. I must admit to adding a few bits to the sculpt before I started painting it...so it may not be as expected...but you'll have to wait to see how he has turned out (I have to base him and add a small amount of detail yet).

I haven't sculpted anything today...I am working odd shifts at the moment and I don't want to spoil what I have done so far.

That's it for now!

See you from the head of the pack!

Random Charity Information...

A while ago, I sculpted this:

Click the Pic!

30 were cast with a view to selling them for charity; in particular the Royal British Legion. Here's what they looked like 'in the metal':

Click the Pic!

Well, one of them has been turned into a lovely diorama and is up for sale on E-Bay. Please take a look and bid if you are able to:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120796178856#ht_500wt_949

Thank you for looking :)

See you through the poppy fields!

More superhero action!

I have been busy sculpting again today and have managed to finish Nick Fury. Here he is with a Dark Eldar for scale:

Click the Pic!

Nick is slightly taller than the other characters but he is still no taller than some of my Grymn...so I got away with a bit of inadvertent scale-creep. The reason he is a bit taller than planned is because I had to take his feet off and add a millimetre on his ankles in order to get his proportions correct. I think the bit of extra height is okay; especially because he is the leader of the group.

Once he is properly dry, I'll be basing him and cracking on with the paint-job. I am quite looking forward to it.

While I was sculpting Nick Fury, I have been adding to my other sculpts as well.

Puck is really getting there. He is nearly done apart from his feet, arms and head...so not too much more to finish. I also decided to act on a suggestion for the alien sculpt and have given him a suit, boots and gloves so that he can be a superhero too...even if he is a bit alien. The miscellaneous Dwarf has been binned. His proportions were so bad, he was un-salvageable...so the bin was the best place for him. The Mushroom man has been smoothed out and only has his crown, gun and a few details left...I am really motoring at this sculpting lark at the moment!

Finally, I have decided to make the big human sculpt into a Beast...so I have given him a trouser-suit and mask and just need to tidy up his hands and feet and he is done...here he is so far:

Click the Pic!

My next task will be to finish Puck and this Beast and then start the next superhero which will probably be Iron Man (or Captain Britain)...PHEW!

See you down there!

I just can't stop!

I am a bit disappointed today. I wanted to have a couple of sculpts finished but drying times (amongst other things) have scuppered my plans.

I couldn't leave the Sunday post bare of pix when I had been busy sculpting so much...so I thought I'd post a group WIP pic:

Click the Pic!

At the top of the pic, from left to right, we have a Mushroom Man From Outer Space with a spore cannon arm, Nick Fury (agent of SHIELD), Puck (from Alpha Flight), a miscellaneous Dwarf character and a large, human sized superhero in shorts.

The Mushroom man is very nearly finished; the crown and a few details are all that are left to finish. Nick Fury needs his arms and belts/pouches finishing off. Puck is still at an early stage but is tiny. The Dwarf is still at an early stage and finally the human Superhero is almost finished but I am stuck with what direction to go with him. I thought of going for an early version of Beast:

Click the Pic!

The problem with that is I would need to change the costume slightly and would also need to sculpt proper feet...something I don't enjoy. I could make him a Hulk but I am not keen on that. Decisions, decisions!

I have been completely immersed in my sculpting lately and it has been a very long time since I have enjoyed pushing putty as much as I am now. Hopefully, it will be a while until it wears off because I really want to finish my supers before it does.

As for the Grymn Super-Soldier project...I have decided to add a few extras and the team will now be:

Nick Fury

Iron Man

Black Widow

Puck

Hurricane

Juggernaut

Captain Britain (the original one dressed in red, carrying a staff)

Beast

Demolition Man (because he looks like Wolverine but doesn't have claws)

She-Hulk

Rescue (Pepper Potts in Iron Man armour)

...and whether I finish this project depends on how long my muse lasts!

See you from the top of the world!

Just a quickie...

I wasn't going to post this until tomorrow but...I changed my mind! The Grymn super-soldier team now stands at three:

Click the Pic!

Nick Fury has also progressed and he now has a face, arms and is in the process of getting details added. Tomorrow's post will have a few other oddities as well.

See you from the end of the course!

Enter...Juggernaut!

I was going to hold off posting the latest superhero...but I am so pleased with how it has turned out that I couldn't! Here is Juggernaut:

Click the Pic!

When Juggernaut was treated with the latest test serum in the Grymn laboratories, he succumbed to muscular hypertrophy and became extremely bulky. His skin became extra thick and impervious to physical harm, his energy levels rose to super-human levels and his endurance was second to none. His chosen method of attack was to charge, headlong, into his foes so the Grymn armourers built him a heavy costume that befitted this particular method of assault. The Juggernaut was born and was quickly enlisted into the Grymn Superhero Project...the rest...will be history :).

I am really pleased with the result of this particular sculpt and although he isn't an exact copy of any of the Juggernaut images out there, it contains bits and bobs from a lot of them so he is my own Juggernaut design :).

Next up will be Nick Fury...and a surprise reappearance of something a little larger than I normally sculpt.

See you from the rubble!

Finishing what I started.

With my current sculpting muse being in dominance of my hobby, I just have to keep sculpting until all of the mixed putty is used up. The trouble is that I only have a certain number of primary sculpts on the go at the same time. That means that I have to have other sculpts to tick along with. 'Creature' is one of those sculpts that I am just playing with. He was also my first go at using clay shapers. I think of him as a space ape of some kind...what do you think?:

Click the Pic!

I suppose that he would make a cool replacement for a 'Thing' or 'Hulk' character in a superhero team but at the moment he is just an alien test sculpt.

The eyes are tiny, 1mm diameter, steel-balls from Hasslefree and they make face sculpting much easier. Looking at the sculpt, I may just define the shoulders a little but I am fairly happy with it as it is.

I guess the mushroom man will be getting all the left-overs from now on!

See you from the top of a tower!

I just can't make up my mind...

Before I start, I'd like to welcome Colonel Shofer to my blog. I hope, as I always say, that there is something here that you feel inspired by. Make sure you join in with comments if you feel the need!

So...what am I going to do? It is the age old problem of finding out who the sixth man is.

I have had some great suggestions for the sixth member of the superhero team that I am building and I am getting to a point where I am going to have to make my mind up because I am nearly finished with four of the six...and I need to be thinking about how the sixth man will be posed by now, rather than deciding who it will be.

What I am after is a mid-level brawler who can soak up the punishment and keep fighting.

He has to fit in with my super-serum/technological/genetic theme (so no weird powers/abilities) and ideally, must be slightly quirky.

On the cards are:

Beast (original, human looking but with big hands/feet)

Beast (hairy)

Wolverine (ruled out for being too killy)

Sabretooth

Puck

Captain Britain

Captain America/USAgent

Luke Cage - Power Man

Collossus (ruled out for being in the too weird category)

I haven't ruled out Luke Cage but I am not sold on him. The original Beast is a bit boring looking and the hairy Beast is a worry for me...I don't want him to look like a teddy bear! Sabretooth suffers from the same hair problem as Beast.

So I am currently torn between Captain Britain, Captain America and Puck!

I ruled Captain America out a while ago for being a bit niche/boring but I can't rule him out because, quite frankly, I am running out of contenders!

Captain Britain is a cool character and he could easily have his background replaced by a super-serum due to his powers just being strength, agility, toughness and fighting prowess. He is probably the second contender at the moment...

...

But...how cool would a tiny, mid level brawler be? A REALLY tiny mid level brawler. One that is about 15mm tall (in miniature form)...

...and I am finding myself drawn towards the challenge of sculpting Puck. Whether or not I can rise (or shrink) to the challenge, is yet to be seen but I will give it a go, I think.

...but I am starting to think that Captain Britain, with his golden hair, red costume and staff, would make a characterful addition to the team.

Decisions, decisions...

Suggestions are still very welcome!

See you from the pool of radioactive waste!

Two down and four to go.

I really couldn't help myself and decided that I needed to paint Hurricane. The trouble with Hurricane is that she has a really fiddly costume:

Click The Pic!

As you can see, there are an awful lot of stripes and lines going on...which is great on a drawing but not so easy to replicate on a miniature that is 22mm tall! This is where the beauty of this little project comes in...I can change things because they are only based on the characters I have chosen to replicate, rather than being exact copies. With that in mind, I have chosen to simplify the stripes and lines with bold, black panels instead.

To cut a long story short...here she is, keeping Black Widow company:

Click the Pic!

I think that the new scheme has just enough to still be considered the Hurricane...

...you may, of course, disagree :).

On a similar, yet different note, I am having a huge amount of difficulty deciding on whether the Beast is going to join the party or not. I like the original concept of Beast (a chunky bloke with big hands and feet) but I also like the modern, more hairy approach. The trouble is that the hairy one is going to be a nightmare to sculpt. The trouble with the original is that he doesn't really have anything 'glitzy' going for him.

I really want a mid-level brawler but when I start looking through the alternatives, I am pretty much stumped. All I can come up with are Beast, Wolverine, Sabre-tooth and Luke Cage-Power Man...maybe Sasquatch (but he is terrible) at a real stretch...

So...are there any more out there, from the Marvel universe that could fill the role? I thought of Black Panther but he isn't beefy enough...

Hmmm...decisions, decisions...

See you over the rim of my spectacles; gazing in a studious manner!

Sculpty...Sculpt!

Welcome to another Sunday with another post and a big welcome to our newest follower; Thornin. Good to have you aboard and I hope you enjoy wandering through the passages of my humble blog. I am SURE there will be something that will take your interest because, like myself, I know you to be fond of the diminutive characters of Dwarf kind.

There are things in life that can't be rushed. Sculpting miniatures...or sculpting in general, is one of those things. The frustration that surrounds waiting for putty to dry is massive...so massive that occasionally, I have to go out of the house to stop me putting fingerprints on my work because of my impatience to allow things to dry.

That leads me neatly on to what I have been doing this week and first up, I have finished sculpting Hurricane; the second of my superhero band. She can be seen here with a few other models shown for scale:

Click the Pic!

You may have already noticed that there is a further sculpt in the scale pic...and that is my third superhero, Juggernaut. At the moment, he doesn't have any arms but I am relatively happy with the way he is going:

Click the Pic!

I have taken some design cues from a number of different versions of Juggernaut and have come up with an over-stocky, battering-ram of a character. Once the arms are added, he will be an absolute beast! Obviously, his arms will be high on the list for getting done but while I have been sculpting the superheroes, I have dug out a couple of WIP from the cupboard and have been slowly ticking along with those as well. In the following pic, you will see a really special kind of mushroom and a rather alien looking character...obviously there is more work required but I am getting there:

Click the Pic!

I seem to have been visited by the sculpting muse at the moment so I have stopped painting for fear of losing her...can't have that now, can we?

So...Juggernaut's arms and the next character will be on the sculpting menu this week...but which character? Who knows?

See you from the parapet!

Lazing on a Sunny Afternoon...

Sunny days can be great. You can sit in the shady garden, sipping a nice Gin and Tonic whilst watching the world go by. You can take a trip to the beach or maybe paddle in a river. Alternatively, you could be on call with one hour's notice to move and trying to sculpt when your hands are generating a constant layer of clamminess. Paint dries before you can use it and the light is all wrong. Then there is the taxi-driving duty for your children and the house guests visiting...

...so I haven't managed to achieve everything I wanted to today but I have managed a small amount:

Click the Pic!

The four tanks have been under-coated, base-coated and washed, ready for the dry-brushing stage. Hurricane has been fleshed out a bit and is almost ready for detailing (the helmet will be the next thing to be added). I have also started to bulk out the frame of Juggernaut.

...and that is about it.

I would have loved to have completed more but the weather, as glorious as it has been, has not been conducive to the hobby.

See you across the gallery!

One down...

...five more to go:

Click the Pic!

For good or ill, Black Widow now defends the righteous amongst the Grymn people.

I guess I will have to come up with something else for tomorrow's post now!

See you when the sun shines!