There once was a man from Nantucket...

Welcome to this week's blog and I'm afraid I have nothing that much to share with you.

From a hobby perspective, I have been painting little bits on the driver figure and have also been working on the gunners for the heavy weapons in the second platoon. but apart from that, not a lot.

I think the main thing about this week is that I have finally landed from the Falklands and have shaken off my, dare I say it, abject lack of motivation for anything... so that means that my head is straight and I can now start planning and clearing things, ready for the big push to freedom next year.

One thing that I plan in the future is to work on my retirement project which involves lots of converting and casting of 1/60 scale VOTOMs mechs. It will be just for me but it is something I have been collecting towards for ages. Unfortunately, one of my favourite mechs is the Diving Beetle and I have been unable to find a 1/60 scale, plastic kit for them (only a die-cast version which is no good for my needs). Fortunately, I have been able to gather most of what I want and yesterday, this one turned up:

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It will be very useful because it is a Scopedog so I have more flexibility when it comes to chopping them up (the more I have, the more mistakes I can get away with) and also, there are the back-pack and other weapons that can be messed about with and added to other mechs too.

One day, my army will be complete and I will rule the world (in 1/60 scale) MWA HA HA HA HAAAAAA!

See you from my evil lair!

A single minded post.

Hello again.

This week has been a productive one. I seem to have shaken off my lack of enthusiasm for everything and managed to acheive a few things (mostly home/work related) but most importantly of all, I have finished my secret project.

It has taken a good few weeks to do but I have finished a commission that I took on, not long after returning from the Falklands. Basically, it was to put together a squad of Squats in the same style as the ones I am building for myself... something I knew I would actually be able to finish because I was already sculpting my own and was enjoying it.

So... without further ado, here is the finished project:

Firstly, here are all the troops:

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Secondly, here are Gunner and Larry with a relay trolley so that Gunner can control aerial drones as well as ground based ones:

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Thirdly, we have the whole unit complete with names:

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As you can see, most of them had berets but there are two with helmets. Tom and Tim are twins and they are new to the unit so they have been given helmets so that everyone knows who they are in a firefight and they can be watched. Tom is also the unit medic because he's a junior and no one else wanted to do it. The boss, Bill, is a berserker who is very experienced and has a fighting Mastiff that counts as a close combat weapon. Meat has been beefed up around the neck because he is always lugging his trusty meltagun around with him.

The drones that will be used for this unit are from Anvil Industries and are AERIAL and GROUND.

From what I understand, the unit will form part of an Imperial Guard army... but I'm not sure. 

They have already been sent off and I hope that the guy who commissioned them has as much fun painting them, as I had making them.

See you from the rocking chair on the porch!

An eclectic Sunday mix.

Before I start today's post proper, I would like to welcome The Responsible One to Inso's World. Welcome aboard and I hope you enjoy wandering around and soaking up the atmosphere. Feel free to comment and take inspiration where you find it.

So... where to start?

Being an 'artist' has its ups and downs. You'd like to be able to get stuff done but your muse comes and goes and finding motivation can be tough. There are also times when you get the terrifying statement "you're an artist... can you do...?" thrown towards you. It is apparent that just because I can sculpt and paint tiny people, I can paint portraits, build stage backdrops, hew sculptures from stone... etc... which of course I would give (and have given) a go at but it isn't my speciality and leads to mixed results. At the moment, I have a number of small commissions on the go. One I have had for almost a year and I have just lost my mojo for (fortunately no money has changed hands)... I have also misplaced the sculpts I was working on because I packed a lot of stuff away when I went to the Falklands and haven't found everything yet. Another I forgot about but found languishing in a bag and am now getting sorted:

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It is a driver for a radio controlled car that needs a coat of paint. There was no rush on this one but I must admit to feeling a bit guilty when I found it in my work bag. I get to choose the colours and just paint it up.

I then had a request to paint black bits on a Celtic Knot for a wedding next weekend... so this is now done:

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It's about 60mm diameter and will look much better than a solid chrome piece, when fitted to the kilt it is destined for.

In addition to this, I have my secret project, which I will reveal in a few weeks and have just been approached to make a cake topper for a wedding cake.

The trouble is... I take on these projects with all intention of getting them finished quickly and up to a good quality... and then my muse buggers off and I am left with no flair or motivation to get things finished! Then you just feel guilty... and that makes things worse.

I certainly couldn't do this sort of thing for a living. It would have to be on my terms and it would also have to be on subjects that I enjoyed working on.

Anyway... back to other things and I have now got as far as I need to on my first badger rider, 'Chuck':

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I still need to finish the lance head but I will sort out the whole unit's lances at the same time so that I can focus on getting them all the same. The base also needs to be finished but I will tick along with that, using waste putty from the other sculpting I am working on at the time. 

I have also been thinking about other elite units and my thoughts turned to Bullgryn. Now at £28.50 for three, getting some from GW would have been overly expensive and to be honest, I fancied having a go at something different anyway so I ordered some Dreadball Orx from EBay and now have five miniatures to convert. While I was waiting for them to arrive, I thought I'd mock a few ideas up on Microsoft Paint... here's one of my ideas:

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They look the part but will be slightly smaller than the newest version of Ogryn; however, with a slightly taller base, they are the perfect height for the old second edition Ogryn so I am not overly concerned about the difference.

As I have mentioned, I plan on casting up some vehicles at some point, using plaster. Part of the preparation is to assemble a casting kit and I am now one step closetr as a result of finding some cheap Lego 'proxy' bricks in a shop. 2 boxes of 500 bricks came to £5.98 so I was very happy with that. Now I have the ability to build a moulding box... I just have to wait for two large bases to arrive and my casting kit will be complete:

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I guess I'll need some talc too... and to build what I want to cast of course!

Finally... I have got to get my uniform up to scratch because I am going to a wedding next week and in a few weeks will be going to an award presentation... so it will have to be very immaculate.

... and that is it for this week. My plan is to finish the secret project this week, continue with the badger riders and get some paint on the driver. Hopefully, my motivation will stick around long enough to achieve this. Who knows?

See you from the inside of a particularly robust turtle shell!

A Sunday post with no waffle.

Before I start this post, I would like to welcome tony maher and JP Price to Inso's World. Welcome to you both and I hope that you can feel safe travelling the pathways, sharing comments and ideas as you go.

So the big news this week is that my sculpting muse is wavering. I have my secret project to finish (and that will get finished no matter what) but I am getting to a point where I can see some paint coming out of the cupboard very soon. I may be wrong... but it seems that my sculpting muse is packing her bags ready for a holiday.

But enough doom and gloom... let's talk Squats... or not-Squats.

I decided that I would quite like to fill an elite slot in my army list and as a result I landed on the Wyrdvane Psyker page of the Astra Militarum Codex. Initially, I thought I'd go for small Beastmen (in line with my Beastman Primaris Psyker) but then I had a brainwave... I could repurpose my Gowachin!

What's a Gowachin? Well... it's a small creature that resembles a hooded frog with a rat-like tail... similar to what a Hrud has. The Gowachin were started a few years ago on a whim and now it looked like they would fit in with my Squat army nicely. So here are my Hrud (or not-Gowachin any more):

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And while I am at it, here is the tutorial I made when I put them together:

 

Click the Pix!

In other news, I have finished converting the guns on the Sentinels and they now look like this:

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They are counts-as armoured Sentinels with Autocannon and Smoke Launchers (the spiky bits above the heads)... which is nice.

Finally, work has begun on the first Rough Rider:

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Obviously, there is a lot of work to come... but it's a start.

Well... that's it for today. Hopefully, I will be able to reveal the secret project very soon... assuming that my sculpting muse stays for long enough to do it justice!

See you from the tight-rope over the river Exe!

A week of calamity, reflection and insomnia.

Welcome to the 900th post on Inso's World.

Before I start this week's post proper, I'd like to welcome MIKE OLIVER to Inso's World. Welcome aboard, Mike and I hope you enjoy your stroll around. Feel free to comment on what you find.

So this week I have been hit with the insomnia stick and have not really been on the planet. That said, I have still managed to go to work and get a few things done at home as well.

First up, I have put in my notice and will be leaving the Royal Air Force in January 2017 (if they accept my notice). At that point, I will have completed 28 years  and 4 months service. Now I have put my notice in, my hobby time will dramatically reduce due to having to sort things out for my move and change of life. That is all I am saying about that at the moment.

A lot of other stuff has been going on that I want to share, and it is all about the Windows 10 upgrade.

My Dad decided to upgrade his computer to Windows 10 from Windows 7. He clicked on the free download and his computer has died. Now, I am sure that a computer engineer can sort it out but all the fixes that I have had suggested have failed because you can't actually enter anything in normal mode. As a result, my Dad, who is a pensioner that lives alone, in a town where there are no computer shops is stuck with no internet (fortunately, I have a spare tablet to send him so it shouldn't be for long).

So... part of my travels to try and find a solution was to join the Windows community forum... and guess what? Windows 10 is killing computers all over the world. For some it is minor stuff and for others it is like my Dad's computer... expert level fixes.

There are a few things to think about if you plan on upgrading to Windows 10:

1. Make sure you investigate system requirements before you start.
2. Make sure you save all of your important files to an alternative source.
3. Make sure you have the correct listed updates installed on your computer.
4. If the internet/your computer is essential... have an alternative handy.
5. Wait a short while for all the bugs to be ironed out before you go for it.
6. When you do it, make sure you are prepared to have to fix things.

You have been warned!

I went to Oxford yesterday. The main reason was to talk to my tattooist about getting my tattoo retouched... but he wasn't there so I'll have to go back another time. It isn't an issue because it has turned out very nicely with only a tiny area that needs a bit more filling. While I was there I popped into the Games Workshop store and noticed that they had one of the new base packs for sale... so I bought a couple. The reason I did this was because they have just introduced a wide range of oval and larger bases that I thought would come in handy. Here is what I bought:

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The pic shows one packet that I unpacked and another that is still sealed. As you can see, due to a packing error, I got a free 40mm base. You will also see that one of the base packs was £8.00 so that price may put people off a bit. That said, the bases will all get used and one of the main reasons I bought them was because I needed bases for my badgers and they seemed perfect:

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The badgers use the smaller sized oval bases and it is as if they were made for each other. I decided that I would fill the little moulding dimple in the middle of the base with green stuff so that when I come to add detail to the base, I don't have to worry about it.

Due to me being so tired, sculpting has been completely off the menu this week so I have had to find other things to keep me occupied. As a result, I had a check of the rule books and made a note of what was legal and what wasn't. I needed to change the Sentinel heavy bolters for autocannons and the Exo trooper hammers for either powerfists or chainfists. So, after a bit of thought, I opted to go for Anvil Industries chainglaives and howitzers for the conversions... and with a bit of work, have carried out the basic assembly work, ready for the sculpting bit to start:

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As I have already mentioned, they are still WIP and will be, until I have the aptitude for a bit of sculpting.

Well that, as they say, is that. Have a great Week and hopefully, I'll be back next week with something a bit more substantial to share.

See you from the side of the long and winding road.