Tuesday 27 March 2012

Awesome.

Awesome is how I feel today. Why? The weather is gorgeous, the air is fresh and I am alive.

To make things even better, I'd like to welcome the latest follower to Inso's World so welcome Pat G, it is great to have you aboard. As I say to all my guests, make sure you travel the paths and take away any ideas that are floating around. Also...feel free to comment and get involved, it makes your stay more interesting :).

After a whole week of feverish hobby action, the wheels have fallen off and I haven't touched a brush or sculpting implement since Sunday.

I have tidied a few things away and stared at a lot of stuff...but ACTUALLY working on things has stopped.

But on a beautiful spring day like today...I'm not sad. I know I'll get back to things soon.

I tend to be one of those people who stride purposely wherever I go...but in such glorious weather, I have been meandering...I even managed to be fashionably late back to work after lunch! THAT never happens! Not to me...I am always on time! I hate being late!

...But today, I was cool with it. I didn't mind...I worked a little extra to make up for my guilt so it turned out fine.

I guess I've taken a lot of time to say nothing much and do you know what? I'm good with that too :)

See you from under the apple tree!

Sunday 25 March 2012

Now the pix are out of the way...

This week has been one of those where I have just gone with the flow and have used tired spells for mundane things that didn't need much thought and more awake spells for the more intricate stuff. Mostly, I have been sorting out all of those little jobs that needed doing but I hadn't got around to.

I was very glad to end up with the 6th Platoon fully complete. That means that they are ready to be fitted to a KR multicase at some point. Finishing the Walker and pilot off with a Matt varnish also tidied things up nicely.

At the beginning of the week, I decided to sort out the airborne assault platoon. This was something that has been an anchor around my neck for quite some time. I was never happy with the bases they were on. That is in NO WAY a dig at Fenris because the bases themselves are superb. It is just that I knew I would never base a huge army on them so at some point I was destined to change them. Now that I have done so, I am happy with the outcome... especially because I have also added decals and brought the rank into line with the rest of the urban troops... so they now have a place (something that resonates with me). In concert with the airborne troops, I also decided to try and sort out their drop-ship transports...

...I had bought three Tau Hammerhead tanks from GW because I wanted to get hold of the missile pods for the front. I was lucky to get a box of three as a squadron, for a knock-down price so it made sense to take the plunge. Then... it all went wrong. I converted the three of them but hadn't done a very good job of getting the rocket pods square. I also didn't like the way I had done the top hatches. After staring at them and getting fed up, they ended up in the loft and were an irritation that wouldn't go away. This week gave me the opportunity to sort things out  so it has allowed me to move on.

On the Forum of Doom, I have been talking about art and of a particular artist; Mondrian. He was famous for using grids of lines with primary colours filling certain geometric shapes. The conversation came about as a remark about the camouflage on my Grymn Walker and eventually led to me starting work on the multi-coloured tank I showed off. It has really made me think about how we view art and also how we can sometimes use art in practical terms as well as food for thought. Although I have decided to go for a straight homage to the artist, using black, white and the primary colours, it would be simple to change the colours to create a wide range of geometric camouflage schemes; not just for urban areas but for all manners of terrain.

Finally, there were the Mawes. These have been in pieces for ages and I have always put off building them because they need pinning and I am not brilliant at lining up pin joints where the centres aren't really obvious. The other night I just decided to bite the bullet and now they are ready for paint.

As you can see, from a hobby point of view, this week has mostly been about finishing things off and tidying up.

John Carter was one of those things that I promised myself but was continually distracted from so I ended up seeing the film today. I have only heard about the books and have a very basic knowledge of what things look like and no knowledge of the stories that seem to be the bread and butter of so many people's Sci-fi sandwich. With that in mind, I saw the film and thought it was really very good. The aliens were well crafted, the story was simple and could be explained with 'magic-science' and the characters were also quite strong (if a little simplified). My favourite creatures in the film were the rhino-sized beasts of burden that the Tharks rode around on...definitely food for thought there. I enjoyed the film very much and would recommend it to anyone who wanted to kill a couple of hours with a simple fairy story with the addition of lots of fighting and a few wars thrown in for good measure...not to mention a super-hero leaping about all over the place!

Well... time has a way of catching up to you and that means it is back to work tomorrow so things will be deathly quiet for the week... I bet you'll be glad of the peace!

See you from the treadmill!

A week well spent?

I had no plans for my week away from work and as a result, have managed to achieve quite a lot. First of all, I have managed to matt-varnish all of the first platoon of Urban Grymn:


(Command Section) Click the Pic!


(First Section) Click the Pic!


(Second Section) Click the Pic!


(Third Section) Click the Pic!

Add to that The matt varnishing of the walker:


Click the Pic!

Not to mention, re-basing, adding decals and re-ranking these Airborne Assault troops:


Click the Pic!

...and converting/tidying up their drop-ships:


Click the Pic!

...and you'll see that I have been busy! BUT it doesn't stop there. Oh no! I have also started painting something that Mondrian himself would be interested in:


Click the Pic!

I have also managed to assemble and base these Mawes, ready for paint (even though their demonic aura has blurred the fabric of space between my camera and their bodies):


Click the Pic!

I also managed to have a great night out at a beer-call and see the film John Carter (Very good film).

That...

is all.

See you from the clinic!

Thursday 22 March 2012

Shhh...don't shout...

I found myself hi-jacked by a beer-call last night.

Some mates from my old Squadron were leaving so I was invited to pop along for the evening. It was a great evening with a live band and started in 'The Lair' and ended at the Kebab van, via the sergeant's mess.

Needless to say, today has been one of gravelly voiced chat and a sore head... but I have managed to finish filling the Pilum carriers and have given the 6th platoon a coat of varnish so it hasn't been a completely wasted day.

I still need to sand a bit of Green Stuff down but I reckon I'll be starting to under-coat the Pilums tomorrow. I may start matt varnishing 6th platoons vehicles as well...it depends how much I can tolerate all of the fumes from the spray cans.

I am still planning to go and see the John Carter film at some point... but it may end up falling by the way side.

Hmmm...

See you through blood-shot eyes!

Wednesday 21 March 2012

WOOOSSSHHHH!

The airborne Regiment has arrived in all of it's re-marked glory. Have a look HERE for pix and more details!

Please...carry on... go about your business...

See you from behind the wire!

Tuesday 20 March 2012

Washed down with a glass of water.

I had difficulty dragging my carcass around today... I have taken to waking up extremely early in the mornings.

When I got down stairs I drank a cup of tea while base-coating the airborne troop's bases and then sort of vegetated until I made the decision to nip into the village and have a salad for lunch. It was a chicken Caesar salad and it had cheese and a few pickled herrings in it... a very nice mix, even though I wasn't expecting it. I washed it down with a glass of water because of the immense headache I had managed to cultivate. When I got home, I killed the headache with some paracetamol and got to work on my airborne troops again.

This evening, I have a platoon of Grymn Airborne Assault troops with finished bases and decals on their helmets. They have also had rank markings that have been brought into line with the other platoon but on their shoulder pads instead.

The rocket tubes for the Pilum drop-ships have all been sanded ready to be fitted and the drop-ships have had Green Stuff applied to the wing stubs to fill the unsightly gaps... they just need trimming and sanding when they have dried and then I can glue the rocket tubes on.

It is funny how my muse has decided that I need to put an end to a couple of old projects and as a result, I have thrown all of my hobby efforts into these old troops and their transports while not touching the other urban platoon.

I expect that I will matt varnish over the decals tomorrow and get the rocket tubes attached to the drop-ships after sanding everything down that needs it.

I hope to have some pix as well.

I may go and see a movie too... who knows?

See you from the sun-lounger!

Monday 19 March 2012

What an eventful day.

As the title says, I have had an interesting day.

On Saturday, I completely failed to find any spray, Matt varnish so today I went over to a Hobby Craft store and managed to find some...so I can start varnishing my armoured vehicles when I fancy it.

Switching back to Saturday again...while I was looking for Matt varnish I went into Games Workshop to replenish my stock of grey paint and while I was paying I made an impulse buy of some Liquid Green Stuff. I have been playing about with it today and it is very easy to work with and is perfect for filling the little gaps you get at the edges of plasticard constructions. I reckon it is a similar product to Squadron Green but it is a little more runny and easier to use because it is in a pot rather than a tube. At the moment, I have some drying on some scratch built rocket pods and will be sanding them down when they are dry. When they are finished, I will let you know the results.

So, after last nights MARATHON Green-Stuff work on the Airborne Assault Platoon's bases, I have painted them and have applied the sand. Again, I am waiting for things to dry before painting the bases.

Finally, I went into the attic and found the Airborne transports...the 3 Pilum Drop-ships. Here is what one looks like:


Click the Pic!

As most of you will notice, it is a Tau Devilfish with the drone wings clipped, the burst-cannon replaced with a Grymn mini-gun, rocket tubes added and an alternative cupola fitted. Unfortunately, the picture shows the Pilum Drop-ship before I got to work on it. Since this pic was taken, I have removed the rocket tubes to straighten them up, I have taken the top hatch off and improved the area and have cleaned up most of the joints/mould lines. I have been using the Liquid Green Stuff on the rocket tubes from three of these Pilums. 


Click the Pic!

The above pic shows the three Pilums before I decided to remove the drones. You will notice that the bottom-most one has a saddle over the front, just behind the cockpit. That designates it as the leader (it has some improved doo-dads!).

So...I have been a busy chap today and even managed to get an 'almost' Mc Donalds breakfast. I arrived at 10:31am and ended up with the last sausage and egg McMuffin because breakfast had finished.

Enough said.

See you from Toys 'R' Us!

Sunday 18 March 2012

A chilled out Sunday post.

Today has been a lazy day. I have only base-coated a few pairs of boots and some fatigues...nothing to write home about.

Over the last week I have been tinkering and preparing miniatures for paint and if you want to see how far I got, look HERE. Apart from that, I haven't really accomplished much.

Today, My family left me to my own devices as they all went off to my Mother-in-law's for the afternoon and that gave me a lot of time for thinking and surfing the WWW... yes, I could have got a lot of painting done...but I didn't.

I have had a few things on my mind. One of them was to sort out the drones in the Tunnel Fighter army...they were on long wire stands that meant the drones kept falling over so I shortened all the stems and they are now much more stable.

I have also dug out my Airborne Assault platoon and am in the process of filling in their bases so that they match the rest of the Urban Army...they used to have the Fenris 'Sulaco' bases which were very nice:


Click the Pic!

...but they just don't fit in with the rest of the crowd so I am filling them in with Green Stuff and will be giving them the standard sand texture that I have on all the rest of the troops. 

While I'm messing about with these, I may well be adding a few decals and rank badges...that way, they will become integrated into the support network for the infantry platoons. The walker and flier are not part of my plans so they will be staying as they are.

So...this week's holiday will mean I have a chance to un-wind, relax, get some chores done and sort a few little bits and bobs out that have been bothering me for a while.

I may even get the opportunity to have a swift pint or two... it should be a blast.

See you from the plans room!


Friday 16 March 2012

Today is a good day.

Not only is it Friday but it is the start of a week's leave!

YAY!

I was all set to get a lot of prep work done on my latest platoon of Grymn but I stopped and thought that maybe a night off and a long soak in the tub would be better.... after all, I have a whole week to mess around with hobby stuff.

I have reached page 117 (A5) of my little Grymn story so if you are inclined to spend a while reading the saga so far, then have a look HERE. It may...or may not float your boat.

On a different note, Games Workshop are changing all their paints again. Yes, they are keeping all of the paints that are in the range at the moment BUT they are changing all the names just to confuse everyone. They are also adding a load of other paints and washes.

I am really losing the will to live where Games Workshop are concerned.

See you from the garden gate!

Thursday 15 March 2012

Shiny Things.

I have a host of Grymn urban army stuff HERE. I hope you enjoy it.

See you from the bucket!

Wednesday 14 March 2012

Decals done!

The title says it all really. I have finished putting all of the decals on my troops and vehicles... so far. I still have to decide on a way to show rank on my troops... and maybe add a few vehicle registration numbers at some point but for now, all the decals are on and sealed.

With the finish of the decals for Number 6 Platoon, 3rd Regiment of the Grymn Army, it means that I can start the next platoon. I think it may be 8th platoon from the same regiment. I have plenty of decals to sort that out.

I am going to have to start matt varnishing everything but I am planning to get hold of some spray varnish for the vehicles so they will have to wait for the weekend or later.

I am glad to have finished the decals and am also glad that I managed to get them applied so quickly without too many mishaps.

See you from the bar!

Tuesday 13 March 2012

Decals...

At this moment in time, I am not a fan of decals.

I now have 4 armoured vehicles with some decals on them but soon realised that there was something wrong when I took a step back and looked at the markings.

I have put roundels and numbers on the vehicles and the numbers are slightly different sizes...and it sticks out like a sore thumb.

I also found that when I put varnish over them, the numbers fell to pieces and the roundels lost colour unless I was extremely careful and didn't touch them with the brush... so I had to get the paint out to repair some of them.

Awesome stuff...NOT!

I am now REALLY looking forward to adding decals to the troops... he said sarcastically.

See you from the stroppy tree!

##EDIT##

I feel a small amount of retribution happening...I have just managed to apply all 28 roundels to the sides of my troop's helmets without incident! I also managed to cover them with varnish with no leeching of colour!

Only 56 numbers to go!

...but not today.

See you from the happy tree!

##ANOTHER EDIT##

Yay! Things are getting better by the hour. I have painted over the vehicle numbers and have replaced them with alternatives that look much better... and I am happy with them now. I can at least stop fretting over them and get on with other things.

See you from the ecstatic tree!

Sunday 11 March 2012

Sunday and a few decal woes...

Another Sunday and after a fitful 'post curry' night, I set about painting the seated pilot for the Grymn walker. Once he was finished I gloss varnished the areas of the walker that were going to have decals applied and looked through my decal stash for the appropriate markings.

So...here is the painted Grymn walker (before any decals were applied) with the standing pilot for company:


Click the Pic!

Here are some more pix of the standing pilot:


Click the Pic!

This pic shows the seated pilot:


Click the Pic!

Finally, this shows the decals that have been applied to the gloss areas and then glossed over the top again:


Click the Pic!

The final pic shows the decals off quite clearly and they represent:

Lightning bolt: Command Badge.
Red/White/Blue marking: Regiment Badge.
Yellow Square: Squadron Badge.
501: Company Number.

Unfortunately, the decals didn't go on as smoothly as I would have liked so I will need to practice a little with 'decal soft' before I start the arduous task of adding decals to all of the troops.

Once I had fitted the pilot to the walker, I had to trim out the canopy cover a little to stop the head/hands catching on it (my positioning of the pilot was to blame because I had trial fitted him previously with no problems)...but after a quick Dremel and paint re-touch, everything is fine now.

Next I will be gloss varnishing it ready fro a matt coat (when I get some). It is nice to have got some decals on part of the big Grymn Urban Army project at last (even if they weren't as clean as I would have liked).

See you from the top of the cupboard, just next to the kidney beans!

Saturday 10 March 2012

More parcels.

I was very happy to find my E-bay parcel from Australia on my doorstep today. Inside the nicely packed box was something I have wanted to get my grubby little mitts on for a very long time:


Click the Pic!

Yes, I have finally got hold of one of the Wave 1/60 scaled VOTOMS kits. This one is a Scopedog with extra components to make it a Red Shoulder. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the parachute back-back that a basic Scopedog has...but I am lucky enough to have a die-cast 1/60 scale Scopedog that Kev from Hasslefree Miniatures sent me a while ago, so I will be able to borrow the one from there to help with my plans:


Click the Pic!

I haven't opened the packets yet but after looking at the sprues, I will have enough components to create both Scopedogs and Red shoulders.

It is a future plan (probably next year...or even later) but I am going to be converting the kit to use ball joints and will be using the converted components to cast my own pieces. I won't be selling any and when I've finished, the kits will not be recognisable as plastic kits...I will be simplifying everything into as few parts as possible and they will be in resin. I feel that it is the only way that I can build the army of VOTOMs troops that I have always wanted to do. It will also be an excellent way to learn how to cast resin.

On to other things and I have put in another order to Old Crow. Three more Glaive APCs will be winging their way towards me in a month or so and they will be the last vehicles needed to finish off the Urban infantry company. I would have waited for Salute to get them but Old Crow, won't be there...so I thought I'd get in and buy some now.

I have nearly finished painting my Grymn Walker. I only have the base to go and it is done. I haven't painted the seated pilot yet...but the standing pilot is also painted except for the base so show and tell tomorrow should be worth the wait. I have gone for a slightly different Urban camouflage scheme for the walker but I think it will fit in fine with the rest of the army.

Interesting times...and still no decal fitting! Mind you, if I am going to get distracted from my chosen tasks, I'd rather it was as a result of free Grymn Walkers than anything else!!!

See you from the Mech command seat!


Wednesday 7 March 2012

A quick post.

In answer to one of the comments that I received on my Grymn Walker post...I have posted a sort of review over at my Grymn Blog. You can find it HERE .

See you from the peaks!

Monday 5 March 2012

The case of the mysterious parcel...

On Saturday, after returning from town, I discovered a mysterious note from one of her Majesty's servants on my door mat (a 'you've missed the delivery of your parcel and need to go and collect it on Monday' note). I immediately thought that my E-bay parcel had arrived, rather expeditiously, from one of her Majesties colonies (Australia) and was disappointed to have missed the delivery.

My dearest wife went and collected the parcel today...

...and a picture tells the story better than I could in words:


Click the Pic!

Yes, I have a Grymn walker... sent as gift from Sally and Kev at Hasslefree Miniatures

No words at this time can express how happy I am!

See you from a magic cloud, hovering somewhere over Oxfordshire!

Sunday 4 March 2012

Armour...everywhere!

Welcome to Sunday's post and I'll start off by welcoming my newest follower; Hammer and Forge. Welcome to Inso's World and I hope you enjoy your stay. Feel free to comment on things and take ideas to help you with your own creations...I don't even mind blatant copying either :) .

This week has been a week of painting Old Crow armoured vehicles. If you want to see four painted vehicles, click HERE. The painting of those has seriously curtailed other hobby projects...so I have been messing about with one of the Russian Heavy Battle Armour suits from Micropanzer. As I mentioned in my last post, they arrived this week and I have been looking at what I received with a critical eye. If you want to see what you get, check out DWartist's blog HERE and HERE to see them. Rather than reposting the same information, I have taken a very much more singular view and will be talking about a few things particular to me and also Grymn. Here is a picture that shows what I will be talking about:


Click the Pic!

First of all, the top picture shows the Heavy Battle Armour standing comfortably on a 40mm plastic base, next to a Grymn. You can see straight away that it is twice the height of the Grymn so could not be worn as a suit. Next, you will notice that the torso in the assembled mech is metal. That is because Micropanzer realised that the resin ones would be spoiled when you remove them from the sprue, so they sent metal ones to cover it (excellent stuff!). That means (in my particular case) that I have the resin torsos to play about with. I'll go into that shortly. Next, you will notice at the bottom of the picture that the two shoulder pads are actually handed (ie different for right and left shoulders)...I didn't notice so the one I sent to a friend had two the same...DOH!

So...my plans. The legs and abdomen look well capable of holding a larger torso and the arms are suitably large enough to cope as well. That means that I can tinker with the resin torso to see if I can make it big enough to realistically fit a seated Grymn. I will have to be careful about going too far forward with the torso construction because the arms will need to be able to hold the gun across the chest but I reckon that I will be able to come up with something. I may follow a similar idea as AT Votoms and have different types of mech, based on the same design. That means that I can have four different mechs without having to get everyone identical... making conversion much easier.

Now all I have to do is get cracking.

Other stuff...

I have received some lovely toys from a mate as a gift (one of which is next to the mech in the pic) so thank you Gi6ers...much appreciated! That means that I will be able to put together a command section for my latest army now... and also add another mecha to my growing collection (more to come on that in a later post). I have a parcel waiting for me at the post office. I have finally managed to get my hands on a 1/60 scale Scopedog model kit. This will be the start of a massive project that will eventually mean I need to build a shed! I am very excited about it but it is very much a future project that I can't see myself starting for a few years...but by that time all the preparations will be complete.

I have three sculpts that I need to do. One commission, one gift and one for a competition. I am sorry to say that I haven't started any of them yet BUT they are on my mind so they will be some light relief between painting Grymn and their armoured vehicles.

This week I hope to start sculpting, get the vehicles varnished and possibly come up with a new torso for the mechs... interesting times ahead.

... and on a final note...

My son is 16 this week! 16! I am amazed that I managed to help raise a child for that long and immensely proud of the way he has turned out. 

See you from the tree-house!