The last Sunday post of 2012.

Well, it is Sunday and I have been out and about to get some fresh air and I feel a bit better for it so I thought I'd write an early post while I am of a mind for it.

First of all, I would like to show Big Frank in all of his finery:

Click the Pic!

As you will notice, his base isn't finished but he will get that sorted once the rest of the berserks are finished... after all, he will be part of their unit. I have kept his paint fairly simple and have the option of further highlights at a later date if I fancy it. As part of the Dark Forgefather project I have been continuing to paint the remaining Berserks and also assembled another unit of ten troops. These troops are based on the fantasy riflemen and will be a unit of scouts. I have primed them but there is nothing worth photographing at the moment... so I haven't. I have also got this to show off:

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I have four pairs of these and I think they are perfect for a side project for the Dark Forgefathers. You never know, next week may provide some answers... as well as seeing the assembly of the final Clanker unit.

Finally, a picture of peace:

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The Pog... fast asleep and twitching away to himself.

See you from the edge of space!

Must...get...out...

I think that I am reaching my limit for indoor-time. I have so much to do that I am not doing anything and that is making me bored. So bored that I did this:

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It is nowhere near as good as the one that inspired me to make my sofa fort but mine is more defend-able; with a better field of view and wider fire-arcs. NERF death awaits anyone who gets too close.

On the other hand, I have managed to assemble and prime ten more Dark Forgefathers for the cause and am  getting seriously close to building a giant, rolling fortress for them.

Here's a link:  LINK

Here's a cool picture (I really like the fighter):

Click the Pic!

...and here's a video:

See you from the chocolate castle!

So... what now?

Christmas has come and gone and the new year is fast approaching so it must be time to think of the future and the various plans and projects that are likely to be attempted in the new year. As I've already mentioned before, my only Christmas holiday project is to assemble the last remaining Clanker unit for my Tunnel Fighters and I plan to do that next week... here is the unit, ready to go:

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That will take me over the new year divide and then I plan to do a bunch of stuff for 2013:

• Finish the Grymn Tunnel Fighter army (two vehicles and three Clanker units)
• Complete the various superhero bits and bobs I have floating around
• Sculpt a couple of commissions (not too many though)
• Continue with my Grymn Urban Army
• Begin my HF Grymn walker platoon (14 walkers will be purchased this year)
• Continue my Beetlebot army
• Continue my Dark Forgefathers army (including the Land-Carrier... it's BIG )
• Other stuff that crops up along the way

Now it seems a lot and it is unlikely that I will get very much of it done apart from the top one (as that is one thing I really want to finish, including the varnish and storing in cases) but all things start with a thought so I am, as always, hopeful.

I know that I will get distracted, have a muse failure somewhere along the way and I also think I am due a detachment for a few months at some point this year but I am confident that some of the list will get looked at.

I am certainly not setting resolutions... I don't need them. What I need is a shortlist of things to try to focus on rather than the vast sprawl of projects I could be doing.

Then of course... there is the new 1/48th scale Merlin Mk3 that Airfix are releasing in February to think about...

See you from the wall!

A Christmas message.

To everyone out there...

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See you from the wild west!

A day trip.

Today was a good day.

I was up by 06:30hrs and on the road with my family by 07:30hrs.

I expected a terrible drive on packed, flooded roads with terrible weather but it didn't happen.

Yes it was a bit windy in places but the trip to Somerset went without a hitch and I landed at my Sister's and Dad's places in good time.

I had a lovely day catching up with family and enjoying the gossip before travelling back to Oxfordshire.

I nearly fell asleep on the drive back so a trip to the nearest service station for a cuppa and a can of Red Bull and I was fit to drive the rest of the way.

... and that was my day.

A glass of port for a night cap and tomorrow I will be picking up Christmas dinner from the butchers, closing down the Unofficial Diorama of Doom competition at midday GMT, getting a bit of hobby time in before wrapping up presents and retiring to my pit for the night...

...well, that's the plan at any rate.

...

... But a plan never survives contact with the enemy!

See you from under the kitchen table!

The Quest for Second Breakfast.

It's this way, Bernard.
No it's this way.
Why do you say that?
I can smell chicken.
But Bernard, we came here for the Gem of Ages.
It's time for second breakfast and I can smell chicken... it's this way (said Bernard with a glare that Spiky Pete knew not to question).
But we'll look for the Gem of Ages straight after.
I smell cheese as well...

Click the pix!

As you can see, the diorama is finished.

In other news, I would like to welcome wolfen to my blog. I hope you find something of interest and please feel free to share your views through the comments function.

See you from the top of the tree!

I'm still here...AGAIN.

I guess the 11.13AM and 09:00PM deadlines for oblivion have now passed and I am still kicking so here are a few bits and bobs. First up, I have got a bit further on my UDoD:

Clikc the Pic!

Mystic Mike and Bernard Foxbain are now finished. Just Spiky Pete and a little bit of tinkering to go now. I have to be strict on myself now because this turned up today and although I took time out to assemble it, I have to get other things finished before I take it passed the primer stage:

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I have nick-named him Big Frank and he will be joining the berserker squad but I will finish the UDoD and last three berserks before he sees much paint.

The Pog is growing fast. He has already got to the stroppy teenager stage:

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Henry is really starting to look like a cat now... he is eating us out of house and home and has had a massive growth spurt... but he is still my little Pog :).

See you from the deck-chair on the golden sands of Alpha Centauri!

I'm still here!

I am looking forward to the Apocalypse a bit later on. Either way... it will be a non-event.

If it is the end of the world then it shouldn't take long and hopefully won't hurt too much and if it isn't, it will be life as usual... go about your business.

The Apocalypse would be a leveller, wouldn't it? Everyone's life's works gone.  All of those achievements washed away. What price nuclear power, genetic modification, penicillin, the Hubble telescope etc. when it is all wiped out by fire and brimstone? What price charity, love, intellect, evil when in an instant, it is incinerated?

It would be like we never existed.

But if it doesn't happen, will we do anything different? Will 'dodging the bullet' make us better people? I very much doubt it. I think it will be life as usual. Why react in any way to something that, to be frank, is as unbelievable as those people who think it is a good idea to go on the Jeremy Kyle show.

On the plus side... if the apocalypse does turn up today, at least I won't have to worry about my headache any more.

Here's a pic:

Click the Pic!

The pic shows a second berserker and the first one with darker armour (a second wash of Devlan Mud to tone down the brightness a bit).

Only three more to go.

See you from the bubbling lava!

Ho, Ho, Hummus?

One of the things that has been a revelation to me this year is... hummus.

I went into a Armenian cafe and decided to try a Mezzeh (I'm not sure of the spelling). I asked the guy behind the counter what each dish tasted of and he suggested that he provide a dish of each item so that we (as a family) could try everything. Brilliant, I thought. Well, lots of dishes appeared with spiced lamb, onion bhajis, coated chicken, various salad items, spiced beef... and hummus.

I have never had hummus before and let's face it 'chickpea dip' doesn't sound very appetising but I tried it and it instantly became one of my favourite foods.

Now, you can buy it in pots from the supermarket but I decided to try to make some myself. I am a reasonable cook so I didn't think it would be a problem so I started soaking some chickpeas and assembled all my ingredients for the next day. Bear in mind that I am not familiar with using chickpeas... hence, I ended up with a kilogram of nicely soaked chickpeas.

I thought I'd skin half and leave the rest so that I could try two different textures. After cooking and assembling, I now have two bowls full of hummus. Unfortunately, it doesn't taste like the hummus I had at the cafe but it tastes OK in a 'health food' sort of way. What I will be doing is experimenting with the paste I have created and will be adding different flavours to see if I can zaz it up a bit. It certainly hasn't been a waste of time and I reckon I can freeze some of it for later (there is no WAY I could eat all that before it dies). I have tried mayonnaise with it and it works well... as does yoghurt but I am going to try some Worcester sauce and maybe a little mustard and cream... it really is funny what you do when you are on your own!

Oh, go on then... here is what I have also been working on:

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As you can see, I have finished another five basic Forgefathers and have painted a test-scheme for the berserker. I am not keen on the lighter shade of armour so the next one will have the same colour as the basic troops. I have painted the skin green to represent the chemicals coursing through his body... and seeing as he looks a bit 'Hulk'-like, I painted his tabard purple. He is armed with a heat-hammer so I painted it to look hot.

I have painted a little bit on the diorama miniatures but not enough to show off... maybe later.

See you from the starting blocks!

Tuesday...Hammer Time.

I thought that I would avoid the diorama today so I continued to paint my Forgefathers. I have nearly finished them but I don't have any pics... but along the same lines, this turned up:

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As you can see, I have received my Dread-ball order and have decided to arm them with hammers. The one at the bottom of the above pic is next to a standard trooper to give an idea of scale. After a bit of clean up and a small amount of conversion, I ended up with these:

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They are almost finished but I have just found out that a mystery component on the Forgefather sprue is a power cable for the hammers so I may end up adding some of those before I paint these. 

I think that the new miniatures will be Chemically Enhanced Assault Troops (CE-ATs); that will explain the smaller heads and beefier arms/legs. They are berserks that just charge forward and hit things... pretty simple.

See you from the spray booth!

Seeing as I am on Holiday...

...I have plenty of time to do all sorts of stuff so as well as going Christmas shopping and a few other things today, I also got a small amount of work done on my Unofficial Diorama of Doom. Here is where it is at the moment:

Click the Pix!

It is still very WIP but it is getting there.

More tomorrow.

See you from the cupola!

A busy Sunday.

It has been a busy day today. I was awake long before the alarm and went for a Mc Donalds breakfast on the way to get a news paper. The news paper was needed as an indicator of when I started my Unofficial Diorama of Doom entry.

The diorama in question has been my job for the day but I have also been painting Mantic Forgefathers while I was waiting... but I don't have any pix to show off yet... so I'll crack on with the diorama.

First thing this morning, this was the starting pic:

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All of the miniatures in the starting pic were brand new and hadn't seen a file or clippers and the CD was one from an old box of data-discs. Once I had taken the starting pic, I got to work with some plasticard, first covering the entire CD and then adding two layers of thicker plasticard to give the appearance of channels. A small stepping stone was made from a 20mm plastic base capped of with a disc of plasticard and a table was built from yet more of the stuff. The column was made from four plastic bases, the barrel of a pen, some plastic tubes and a disc of plasticard:

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I left the column off the base for now and glued the table down. I decided that I needed to trial fit the miniatures on the base so I assembled them and put them on the base. It quickly became apparent that there wasn't enough room for all of the Hellmites so I left two off:

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Once I was happy with all of the positioning, I began the green-stuff process. I filled the gaps in the column and contoured some of the surfaces before adding detail to the edges of the raised 'platform' areas of the base and the stepping stone:

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Next it was time to fill in the gaps on the miniatures and add the little details (like the spilled guts of the Hellmite and the one with quarrels sticking out of it). The column was correctly positioned and glued into place before a grapple and rope was fashioned from brass wire. Finally, skeletons for the food were stuck to the table so that when it came to sculpting the items, I had something to push against:

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Finally, everything was finished. The food was sculpted and the Hellmites had their pins glued in place. All of the miniatures were attached to a priming stand and all of the position pins on the base were fitted (not all pictured - they are just bits of brass wire that fill the holes the miniatures will be attached to so that they don't get clogged with paint):

Click the Pic!

I started the day with the hope that I would have everything ready for painting on Monday... and I succeeded so I am happy. Tomorrow I will prime everything and decide on colours. I think you will agree that today has been most productive.

See you from the hobby table!

A Friday post

I know it is unusual for me to post on a Friday but I thought I'd change the pace and share a few things tonight so I am sitting with a glass of port in hand typing this little post.

First of all, I'd like to welcome a new follower... I think it is adamcore but I am not sure so I hope that whoever the new follower is accepts my fond welcome. Please enjoy your stay and feel free to share ideas and thoughts through the comments box.

So today has been a day of mixed emotions.

First of all, a friend at work is leaving and I saw the last of him today... which made me sad. He is going to work somewhere else and I may get to see him in the future but it won't be like sharing banter in the office... that is service life for you.

Next I watched the final fly past of the Puma HC Mk1 helicopter today. It was a broken formation of four aircraft that overflew the airfield, landed and shut-down in unison; thus ending 41 years of illustrious service. It was a sad occasion but there is light at the end of the tunnel because the Puma HC Mk2 is now in the process of being brought into service. Hopefully it will see the successes that it's brother did.

After that, I left work to start my three week Christmas holiday. Thanks to the government for giving me an extra five days for free but I am still on call so I haven't fully escaped.

Finally, I have decided to build a diorama in seven days for the Unofficial Diorama of Doom 2012. See here for the LINK. My aim was to motivate a fellow FoDer but it seems to have fallen flat... so I'm doing it just for the hell of it now. I plan to start on Sunday morning from scratch so it could be an interesting week.

In other news, I have had my pre-Christmas tidy up... and my wife hasn't noticed. On the plus side, I now know where everything is but I would have liked her to notice... oh well.

The Mantic Forgefathers have grabbed me. That means that I have gone to the lengths of ordering a few bits and bobs; namely:

• THESE for converting
• THESE for more troops with a few extra options to help with conversions
• THIS for some heavy support
• THESE for some close combat action

I already have some of THESE and also THESE for converting so I have quite a selection of Forgefathers to command... obviously, I now need to get them all converted and painted but that shouldn't be too hard, should it?

As well as all the Mantic stuff going on, I have kept my Clanker unit on the table for the conversion and assembly process that was always going to be my Christmas project. I also have my two remaining superheroes to paint and a Thor to sculpt... plus the Diorama of Doom entry. 

That's plenty to keep me busy!

Please join me on Sunday as I post up some images of the start and progression of the diorama. I will need all of the help I can get.

See you from the tip of the iceberg!

Sweep and clean...

This week has been one of tidying up loose ends at home and at work. There has been a lot of shifting, moving and binning things and it seemed to extend to my home and the need to put Christmas decorations up.

I have been tidying up my hobby areas and still have a lot to go but things are slowly improving... but you don't want to hear about housework so I will start the post proper with a welcome. Welcome to Schrumpfkopf, the latest follower at Inso's World. Please feel free to share thoughts and ideas and I hope you enjoy your stay.

Well, first up is another superhero. This one is called Stockade and he has joined Beamer and Matterhorn:

Click the Pic!

Next is the tale of an early wake up call. Saturday, I awoke suddenly with the thought of the size discrepancy of Mantic's Forgefather miniatures. The plastics are bigger than the resin miniatures so I decided to just use the plastic ones which meant I could now paint some. I wanted to make them baddies so I kept their kit dark and their faces bleached. This is the first five:

Click the Pics!

I have just realised that the beards need a slight addition but I am happy with the way they turned out. I hope you do as well.

In other news, my Hellbrute still hasn't turned up but I am hopefull it will arrive this week. 

I have been asked to sculpt a Thor miniature. It will be a likeness of the Thor from the latest Avengers movie so it will be the newest super-version. It looks like a Loki will be following soon after too... but at the moment, there is no wire on the corks.

One week to go before I start my infeasibly long Christmas holiday. I will need to keep busy so it is likely that the hobby progress should i,prove dramatically.

Here's hoping.

See you from the bus queue!

Some news.

Well the time has come for me to share the secret that I have been barely keeping... the Space Cowboy sculpt.

A while ago I was asked to sculpt a character from a computer game and was given a few pix to copy so I set to work and took far too long to finish the job. Well I did manage to finish the sculpt and here it is in all of its glory:

Click the Pic!

He is about 3 inches tall (from the floor to the tip of the fuse) and is Green stuff over a wire frame. The only addition was a pin for the gun 'barrel' and a plastic base. He is based on Sheriff Lonestar from Awesomenauts. For more information, have a look at these two links: 

LINK, LINK

The sculpt was designed to be a gift for the buyer's friend who is one of the creators of the game and he wanted to paint it up before he sent it on. I think he did a pretty good job, don't you?:

Click the Pix!

That is just about it for now. 

See you from the middle of the queue!

It's all starting to get crazy!

It is getting to that time of year where I can't go shopping for fear of going postal on all the people who insist on walking at you because they have their Christmas blinkers on. That means that I have to occupy my time in other ways so this weekend has been one of painting and cleaning up stuff.

First on the agenda were my Visitors and I managed to finish off the Mekon's unit:

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Once they were finished, I started cleaning up the next vehicle for my Tunnel Fighter army; the ambulance but didn't get very far so I decided to look for something else to do and didn't have to look far because these were on my painting table... so I painted them:

Click the Pic!

Not the best pictures... but these are the first two of the five Crossover Miniatures I got as part of a Kickstarter I joined. I am not sure... but there may be more to follow.

In other news... Henry the kitten decided to go walkabouts this week and gave us all a case of nerves... but he came back and it was only when I looked him straight in the eye, I realised where the problem was:

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Can you see the problem? No? You mean you haven't noticed? Yes... he is a Hitler cat! Oh the shame! 

Last week, as you know, I dyed my daughter's hair. Well it didn't go down too well at school so this week, she looks like this:

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Some teachers should lighten up a bit... but I guess there are standards and there are no other people at the school who dye their hair (he said sarcastically). 

Well... what is next? I guess this:

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It is single shot and Henry loves chasing the darts. It also makes a handy distraction for him when he is doing things he shouldn't be... as long as I don't shoot at him of course! Even if I did, it is perfectly harmless so the odd one doesn't upset him.

Christmas is coming. Only a few weeks left. I have an extra long holiday this year so I should have plenty of time to get all of my chores done and crack on with a few projects. I plan on getting my travelling done before the event so that I can have time to chill out and get rid of all the tiredness that has built up over the last few months.

I guess that is about it for today. What will be next, who knows? 

See you from the top of the Blackpool Tower!