Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock... goes the metronome.

All or nothing.

This or that.

Here or there.

That is how my week has been.

Work has been busy and I have just tried to relax in the evenings because my sleep has been poor lately. I am hoping that now the clocks have gone back, I will get a bit of sleep again. My rhythm seems to be tuned to the winter clock.. I guess we'll just have to see.

This week has been a little disappointing. I ordered some stuff on line and have been watching the store, only to see 'awaiting dispatch'. I checked in detail and noticed that the payment was in process so I checked paypal. Due to my card having to be replaced a few weeks ago, I had to upload a card to Pay-pal to replace it (which I did)... but I forgot to validate it so I have to send 'e-cheques' at the moment which take 5 to 10 days to process... I have now started the validation process and await my code in the post. I wish that I had done this sooner, then I may have my products now.

Another disappointment was buying a DVD to watch, getting it home and finding no DVD inside. Luckily, the shop had shut so I had to wait an extra day to watch my DVD... I may have been a bit sarcastic there. It was Oblivion and it was OK. I am glad I watched it on DVD rather than going to the cinema though. It was more predictable the longer it went on but had a neat twist near the end. The tech was good and the scenics were good... but it was definitely a DVD movie.

So... I have some Teratons (from Mantic) on order to convert up for a sci-fi order. I have also been informed that my 3 Vulkans from the Warzone Resurrection Kickstarter are going to be sent this week so there is a bit of light on the horizon.

In other news, my 3 eyed, moustachioed, hairy, groper has found a new home. I sold him on Friday and he has been sent off... hopefully to be cast up and sold on. Here he is:

Click the Pic!

He was a mess around sculpt so I am glad that someone wanted to buy him and make something of him.

From a painting point of view I have finished another Reptiliad character... the Power-Stone Automaton:

Click the Pic!

He's not as well painted as I would like but I had no enthusiasm for it... so I am glad that he is as painted as he is, to be honest. 

To completely de-rail things, the Puppetswar freebie turret has been scratching at my subconscious thoughts and yesterday, I decided that I needed to make something of it. I had planned to build it up into something and wasn't sure what... until another annoyance reared its head:

Click the Pic!

I added a cockpit to a Macross kit and have never really liked it so the paint-job never got finished. With a little bit of snipping, re-shaping and a quick over spray of primer, we have the start of something different:

Click the Pic!

I have now found a place for the free turret... it is the cockpit acting as the mech's head. This is only tacked together at the moment and there will be more pix to follow once I have painted a few bits. The lid of the cockpit is held on with a couple of magnets so you will be able to see the pilot inside once it is finished. It is a proper Macross/Puppetswar collaboration :).

That's it... there's a storm brewing in my neck of the woods so it is time to batten down the hatches and enjoy the ride (hopefully, we'll still have a roof tomorrow).

See you from the Cobb, Lyme-Regis, while watching the waves crash and the gulls stay ashore!

Of Chaos Marines and flying Gods.

This has been one of those weeks where I have been fully wired. So many ideas, so many distractions, so much to be getting on with. That generally means that I do little bits to a lot of things and don't achieve anything as a result. However, this week, I set myself little goals and managed to achieve most of them. The first job was to paint-strip the Vulkan Battlesuit, which I have now done. The second was to finish off the first normal sized Dire Wolf (an ex Space Wolf), which I did:

Click the Pic!

I then decided to start the next one, which I then finished:

Click the Pic!

He is an ex Crimson Fist who has turned to the Dire Wolves for fame and fortune. After I finished that one, I thought I would add some paint to the Reptiliad automaton but only got as far as the first highlight coat... but I then decided to try my hand at a Puppetswar Air Striker... so I finished one of those:

Click the Pic!

You may notice that he has the head of an eagle. Well all of my Puppetswar characters will have Egyptian heads... the next being Anubis (who has been assembled ready for painting). The other Puppetswar troops will not have the flight-packs... a flying bull just doesn't seem right. I also have other plans for their flight packs...

Oh and please have a look at THESE (from the Puppetswar site):

Click the Pic!

...They are Rippers and they are awesome!

So a week of bits and bobs. In addition to that, I have had a very kind gift of some Warmachine Dwarfs that will fit in to the Reptiliad project and a couple of Darkage characters that will make great Chaos cultists to join my Dire Wolves.

In other news... I am slowly becoming obsessed with Mantic Games' Teratons... Oh dear.

See you from the queue that is behind the queue for the queue!

A Sunday deluge.

The light is dull, the sky is overcast and the rain has been falling for an awful long time. It's just me and my daughter in the house at the moment; with the BTCC on the TV. She is knitting and I am am painting and doing a few odd hobby jobs...

... so what has happened this week?

Work has been crazy, sleep has been limited and hobby time has mostly been spent on Facebook.

That said, I have finished the first of my normal sized Chaos Marines and have started the second one. If my camera was working, I'd be able to show you a pic but I fear the battery is on its last legs and charging it is getting to be a very lengthy process. Maybe it will be up for a pic later on... if so I'll pop one up.

In other news, I have been pleasantly surprised by the generosity of one company and that would be Puppetswar. As you are aware, I ordered some Air-Strikers and extra heads from them a couple of weeks ago but there was a mistake with the arms so I didn't get the right amount to put the miniatures together. Well, I picked up a parcel from the depot yesterday and not only did I get enough arms for the ten Air Strikers but I also received one of these:

Click the Pix!

It is a very handy little turret. What can I say? That is customer service done right! Kudos to Puppetswar. As a result of my parcel, I have assembled and begun to paint the first of me Air Striker models... but that will be for another time.

While I was at the post office, I also picked up two other parcels which contained a total of four Vulkan battlesuits. Unfortunately, one of them didn't have a power pack but I am OK about it because I plan to heavily convert them all anyway. Speaking of which, this one:

Click the Pic!

...has now been torn to pieces and thrown in the Dettol for a paint strip. I wasn't going to strip it before repainting but the varnish was just too thick to consider a repaint because the washes wouldn't work properly. It isn't a bad thing... I rescued the pieces AND the unit gets to be built together so they will all learn to be friends. Obviously the head will need to be rebuilt because the green stuff will dissolve... but there are only five of the suits to convert so it won't be a problem. In fact, it will be nice to be able to do something different with the unit instead of fitting them in with my Tunnel Fighters.

Did I mention the Tunnel Fighters? Yes, I did... and yesterday, I dug out all of the vehicles that were complete (all but the final command vehicle) and painted over their number plates, ready for some numbers to be added. Each plate has also been outlined so it is just a case of adding decals now. That will come when I have finished the command vehicle... I'll decal-up the lot of them together (it isn't something I enjoy doing).

Well... that is about it. Hopefully, I'll be able to take a load of pix of things this week so it can be a veritable gallery on here next week. If not, I may have to elicit the help of my daughter and her camera.

See you through the tunnel of TERROR!

Dioramas are the new black.

This week has mostly been about my diorama for the UnDoD13 competition (apart from an ink-wash on a space marine) and apart from what has been shown so far, I have continued to bulk out the base.  First of all I filled out the brain-pan with Milliput and then added a bit more shape to the facial area:

Click the Pic!

Then I covered the Milliput brain-pan with a thin layer of Green Stuff:

Click the Pic!

There is still a lot of shaping and detailing to come so the whole look of the sculpt will change but I am heading in the right direction (I think).

In other news... I've only gone and won another auction... for three more OOP Vulkan Battlesuits! Yes, it would appear that my on-going obsession for all things Vulkan has not abated and I have obsessively managed to get hold of three more to play about with. They will not be joining the Tunnel Fighters but will be something separate... maybe some renegades or something... who knows? I am happy to have won them though... for around the price of a box of Space Marine Centurions from GW. I know which ones I'd rather have :).

I watched Iron Man 3 again last night and still thoroughly enjoyed it. The range of suits is great and there are a host of little details that I missed out on last time. It is always nice to see additional little ideas to work from...

That is about it for now. 

See you from the Cat Bus... I'm next to Totoro!

100,000?

Well, I'll be jiggered! I popped into Ins's World earlier today and it seems that It has broken the 100,000 hits line.

It's taken a while.

Thanks to everyone who visits and especially those who spend some time here while leaving comments.

I got an e-mail from Puppets War today. They apologised for the arms mix-up in my recent order (Air Strikers) and will be sending replacement parts ASAP. So far, I can't complain at all about their customer service. It is nice to see prompt replies to e-mails and positive noises from the other end of the line.

Speaking of Puppets War, it looks like I may well be ordering from them again very soon with new stuff like this turning up:

Click the Pic!

See you from beside the fence!

Wednesday WIP.

I mentioned a couple of days ago, that I was going to create a diorama for the Forum of Doom's UNDoD2013 competition that is titled 'Pick On Someone Your Own Size'. Well, I have started and here is a stage by stage view of what I have done so far:

 First up we have the starting picture which is nothing more than a Grymn Walker Pilot and a 50mm plastic base. Unfortunately, I forgot to add the essential ball bearing to the pic... but hey... it's a ball bearing!

 Next, we have the first progress. I fleshed out the base with a blob of Milliput (held in place with wire) and then stuck the ball bearing on with Green Stuff. I then began to fill out the really basic frame of one side of a face.

And here is where I am at the moment. I am deliberately being a bit vague with what I say at the moment because things will all become clearer as I continue to make progress... I wouldn't want to spoil all of the little surprises. One thing I will say is that the look of the face is going to change because I have another layer to go on top yet.

Remember to click the pix to enlarge them.

So there you have it... the start of another little adventure. I will make sure to take plenty of WIP pix as I go so that you can get an idea of how I work. Stay tuned.

See you from the middle seat!

Oooo... Toys on Tuesday!

It is Tuesday and today, I received a parcel from Puppets War in Poland. I had ordered some of their cool Air Strikers and some additional heads.

Well I opened the parcel and inside were lots of lovely sprues that included these:

BODIES 

WEAPONS/FLIGHT-PACKS

HEADS

ARMS

Click all the Pix!

I haven't shown everything but it is all great... however, you may have noticed the arms being a problem. Unfortunately, I was only sent enough arms for five troops and then a sprue without left arms to go with the right ones. I now have the opportunity to try out Puppets War's customer service. Apart from that little glitch, I was sent extra heads as a bonus and the casting is crisp and pretty bubble free so I am very happy with my purchase. The flight packs are fantastic and they will be perfect for adding to Grymn in Powered armour. 

You may have noticed a metal miniature in the pix for scale purposes. He is from Heresy Miniatures.

Now... let's see how Puppets War deals with customer order corrections...

I'll keep you posted.

See you from atop a wild and dangerous beach-ball!