Inso's World

Phew...the end of the week.

2012-01-27T19:07:00.003Z

It has been a bit of a week but at least it is now over. I can relax and hopefully get some sleep over the weekend.

I have managed to write a bit more of the STORY so feel free to click the link and have a read...feel free to comment as it is still in the making.

I have finished the first Grymn for my Urban Mechanised Army; a test model that can be seen here: LINK Please feel free to share comments about it because it is the first one of an awful lot of troops and it would be nice to get it right (I won't be painting camouflage though).

Thoughts are on VASA pledges for next month and I have decided to go for my original idea and re-paint a unit of already prepare Black Legion troops with jump packs (some of the Black Legion models have wings). I am debating whether I should re-paint Commander X in my chosen urban scheme...or maybe pick up another one instead...Here she is at the moment:

Click the Pic!

Funnily enough, the red unit below her are the ones I will be re-painting...now there's a coincidence!

See you from the shed!

I'd forgotten how nice it is...

2012-01-26T21:31:00.002Z

...to paint a single piece miniature.

I have finished painting the first Grymn in ages. What makes this one different is the distinct lack of converting or messing about. I cleaned it, glued it to a base, filled the gaps and painted it. Smashing!

I have also written a bit more STORY...which is nice.

Just thought I'd share.

See you from the top of a step-ladder!

The future is bright...

2012-01-25T17:53:00.002Z

...the future is Grymn.

I have a Grymn on my painting table that has been cleaned, and stuck to a base ready to become the painting datum for my next army. I have been thinking about colours today and have a scheme in my head so now all I have to do is put it on a miniature to set it in stone. Once the putty has dried, the journey will begin.

Speaking of journeys, the STORY continues. Remember to scroll down the linked topic to get to the latest instalment...the intrigue increases...

See you from The Obituary! (That's the name of the ship).

A quiet day at home.

2012-01-24T17:30:00.003Z

After all the exertions of yesterday's sport and my complete inability to get any useful sleep lately, I took a day's leave and stayed at home today. That means that I have had a little bit of quiet time to sit and do pretty much nothing. That said, I can't just sit and do nothing so I have finished up a few bikes:

Click the Pic!

With these finished, I just need to varnish them and the platoon will be finished; that's 3 combinations, 9 bikes and a lieutenant on bike...job's a good 'un!

The next Void unit will be some Black Legionnaires...but not until February (they are my February Void pledge).

I will now start the process of cleaning Grymn and basing them, ready for some paint. They will be done a platoon at a time and that will include the vehicles that go with them...should be fun.

See you from the back of the front bit!

Life, writing and sport...OUCH!

2012-01-23T20:04:00.000Z

Just a quick post today. I have added another part of my ongoing STORY. Again, you'll have to scroll down to read the latest part. Things are hotting up as the trip continues...

I am in the process of basing the last of the bikes. Once the glue has dried, I'll be painting the bases and adding the camouflage to the tops of the bikes. Then it will be transfers and varnish. Not far to go but the PVA takes a long time to set the sand in place...

That, as they say, is that...

...but I did pass my fitness test today (easily) and afterwards I spent an hour playing indoor football (badly). I now have a poorly functioning left hand and feel like I have been run over by a truck...at 41, I think fitness must be something that other people do.

Football...a game where even a friendly kick-about has people telling you you are doing things wrong. I thought my awesome leg waving skills were great...not to mention my fantastic air kicks, awesome 'eyes shut' headers and flailing arm goal keeping skills! I scored goals too! I bet the opposition were crying into their boots over that!

Good fun that I will pay for later.

See you from the minor injuries unit!

Slowly...steadily...

2012-01-22T19:04:00.000Z

Well, it's a Sunday and an update is due...so here it is:

There is no update!

...not really but damn close to it. I have been slowly getting the layers painted on my bike squad and in order to 'get them done' have also been painting the leader of the platoon while I have been at it. At the moment, I have base-coated and washed them with Devlan mud and I am now in the process of repainting the colours. It has been slow going but I am getting there.

I went out for a coffee this afternoon because I was bored. I wasn't in the right frame of mind for painting so I dragged my daughter into town so that I could get some air and a change of environment. While I was out I bought a very cheap web-cam that will come in handy at some point, I'm sure.

I took a trip up into my loft to look for stuff...didn't find it...opened a cupboard downstairs and there it was! I have now started chopping up a Trade Federation tank to go with the Thunderbird 2 to make a Beetle-bot APC (that will count as a Monolith). Started chopping...got bored...put it away again.

I flew my mini helicopter around the room a bit...got bored...put it away. Painted a bit...got bored...stopped.

Can you notice a theme here. I just hope that I get some sleep tonight because I have my fitness test tomorrow and I would like to vaguely run in the right direction.

Just because I haven't got any hobby pictures...

Click the Pic!

See you from the gravy boat!

Trying to get back in the game...

2012-01-21T13:50:00.000Z

I am going to give myself a good shake and focus! That is the plan, anyway. I have been doing a lot of browsing (by that read 'random shopping') to try and fire some enthusiasm and have had various bits and bobs turn up in the post.

First I had a couple of Ground Zero Games, resin kits turn up as an extremely generous gift from a friend on the WIP forum . They were a six wheeled APC and a small flier and they will both come in useful once I decide what faction/race to attach them to.

Next, I a number of purchases through the post. First, I received four Space Dwarfs and a free Goblin from Silent Spectre Studio. They are nice little miniatures from an amateur sculptor who is trying to break into the miniatures market (so give his site a look!).

My Marauder has arrived from Fenris Games after a replacement being sent as a result of the first one going missing in the mail. Not only did one e-mail sort the issue out but I also received a few extra bits and bobs as 'compensation' for the wait. I say "Thank you Fenris!" and would suggest that there are other companies who could follow this fine example.

My Decals arrived and they came with a nice coloured booklet with photos of the Merlin and the Splat included. Here is the decal sheet that I received:

Click the Pic!

The Splat design is in two parts; the colours and the outline. The sheet will be sealed away with its booklet and kept for prosperity. I may get a second set and 'Splat' a flier in the future (especially if the dropship gets built...maybe, I'll even paint a larger version instead!).

Plans are afoot to get me back on track...and that means that I need to paint some Grymn. My current idea is to finish off the bike platoon for Void and then paint up a squad of Urban Grymn. I think that I really need to get them going and I also think that once I get a squad done, I may get the urge to paint a few more. Of course, I will have other things floating about...but that is the very basic plan. The Grymn will be basic colours rather than having any complicated camouflage so that I can get them painted relatively quickly...nothing increases enthusiasm better than finished units!

I have written another bit of text for my STORY so feel free to pop along and read it. Things are going to get more and more interesting as the voyage continues...

Lastly...a funny story...

...When I get tired, my words disappear. I often have trouble remembering simple things and need prompting when I am talking to people. Most of the time, I appreciate this because I am tired all the time. The trouble is, I also mix words up...only names though. On my last trip to Kenya, I called one of my mates 'Dave' for the entire time we were there. His name was Big Rob. He just put up with it and took the mickey a bit. Yesterday I sent an e-mail to a guy named Paul. Understand that I am in a new job, dealing with high profile, professional people from outside agencies. Anyway, I get a phone call.

'Was the e-mail meant for me or am I just taking a note of it?' said Paul.

'It's for you...that's why you are the only person in the receiving box' I replied.

'Oh...so who's Dave then?' He says.

'...Ah...I guess I've done it again!' I say 'Sorry Paul...it just happens sometimes.'

Fortunately, I have known Paul a long time and he took it in good spirits...but next time...who knows who will be called Dave?!?!.

See you from the nice, white, comfy, padded, room!

The doldrums.

2012-01-19T19:57:00.001Z

I knew it had to happen at some point because I have had such a good run of hobby creativity... I have hit the doldrums and am having an immense amount of trouble picking up a brush or sculpting tool. It isn't all bad though. I have been writing again and have written the third instalment in the Duplicate story...feel free to click this link: STORY and scroll down to find the third part (or read the whole thing if you like).

Things in the mix are varied. I have my Void bikes on the table and they are slowly getting painted. I also have five resin space Dwarfs in the process of paint and they are sitting next to the bikes. Beside those is a Grymn in powered armour that is waiting for a claw to be sculpted. Everything else is in the cupboard. I had hoped that clearing the decks would help to get me painting but it doesn't seem to have worked...

...so I have been doing a lot of thinking. The Dropship idea has changed from day to day and I am even going to the effort of asking serious model makers about internal measurements of modern aircraft kits in various scales. One of many ideas is to strap a couple of modern transport aircraft together and work from there...other ideas include wooden frames with thick foil walls held on with pins and even a length of waste-pipe. The problem is that I know what I want to do but have yet to work out how I will do it. It is no biggy though...it's not as if I haven't got a lot to get on with while I think about it.

On top of that, I have been thinking about the vehicles for my Urban Grymn and am getting close to thinking about assembling them (I have ten to assemble). The trouble is that my working storage area is currently filled with 150+ Grymn, mechs and vehicles that all need varnishing...so I have to be careful about what I build because I will have nowhere to put it. I also have no colour scheme sorted so that will slow things down as well.

I have stalled on the Mantic space Dwarfs...I will make further comment about those at some point when I can be bothered (oh dear).

I have been checking out my VASA minis and have decided on a few colour changes for some existing minis as well as some minor recovery jobs on some of the Black Legion minis I have. It is important for me to keep up the momentum with the Void stuff because I have joined the challenge of '£10-00 a month PLUS' and want to achieve that.

My writing has stimulated a need for a few character sculpts...but until the doldrums finish, there is no chance of that.

Roll on the weekend! Hopefully, I can shake off the lack of motivation and get back to the hobby again.

See you whilst I'm standing by the lamp-post, on the corner of the street!

What? More?

2012-01-17T22:26:00.001Z

Shhh...don't tell anyone...but I've written a bit more STORY (you'll need to scroll down a bit when you get there).

See you from inside the cupboard...

Zig-zagging along.

2012-01-16T22:33:00.001Z

I had one of those days today.

Work was a little quiet so I had a bit of time to think (bloody dropship won't go away!!!).

I had a nice run at lunchtime...until I slipped over...not immediately a problem but DAMN my knee is sore tonight.

I started painting bits on my Void bikes this evening but got bored so I dug out some resin Space Dwarfs to clean and prep instead.

I have been looking through my miniatures boxes and seeing what I had for VASA apart from the jump troops and marines and found a Void Knight of Balance and a Void Knight of Silence and whilst looking through my segmented boxes of minis I had a huge surge of guilt...

...so many Grymn (100+) with so many plans and yet they still sit there waiting for the start. My last Urban Grymn troops have so put me off the camouflage that I may end up scrapping the urban theme and returning to more familiar ground...

SO tonight, I have been mostly annoying everybody :).

A cup of de-caf and bed I think.

See you from the end of a bungee rope!

Another day older...

2012-01-15T15:54:00.000Z

Well, it would appear that today, I mark another notch on the life-post...it's my birthday. So far, I have had a mellow day and have had a 'picnic' lunch in the country...for that read McDonalds, in the car whilst parked in a lay-by overlooking fields.

I have received a couple of gift vouchers that will mean another visit to GW at some point (batons and riot shields at the ready!) and some well wishes so I am quite happy with my lot today.

On to the grander scale of things, I have been busy tinkering and have managed to change direction yet again! Instead of painting the Void bikes like I planned, I have returned to the converting table and have finished a few of my Beetle-bot conversions. First of all, the five finished Immortals:

Click the pic!

These were sitting there goading me to get them finished so I had no choice...and while I was at it I thought I may as well finish the five sniper-bots as well:

Click the Pic!

Now I don't have any conversions sitting on my table, waiting to be finished. That means that I can get on with other things...and it was at this point, I realised just how little needed to be done to the Tunnel Fighter, drone-squad vehicle to finish it...so I finished it:

Click the Pic!

It is a converted Marauder APC from Fenris Games and is the perfect vehicle to carry the drones and their controllers.

What else has been going on? Well, as usual, I can't stop buying things so I have ordered 4 Dwarfs from Silent Spectre Games (sci-fi), 5 Russian Power-Armour suits from Micro Panzer, a sheet of decals from another on-line shop, a Junkers force-book for Void1.1 and I also have another Marauder coming from Fenris Games.

I have been sent some Necron Scarabs (as a kind gift), have a couple of resin vehicles being sent as a gift as well (more on that in a future post) and have traded DALEKS for Necrons. In a bid to help out a little (it is the least I can do with all the gifts I am getting at the moment!), I have sent a bunch of Necron bits to someone building a 15mm drone army.

WOW!

On to Void and I have been pottering along, slowly, with the bike squad and will most likely get that finished for next Sunday. I am thinking that once the bikes are finished (including the leading biker), I will start on some Shuriken Guards...I have a small squad of five that are bare metal, straight from the box that need a bit of cleaning up and painting.

The draw of drop-ships has not been far from my mind and I have broached the subject of building a 2 foot long aircraft with a 2 foot wingspan on the living room table...I got a long silence and a disapproving look but my lovely wife understands that if I HAVE to do it then she will just have to stand by and watch otherwise I'll drive her mad.

So, add to that the lack of sleep I'm getting (bleeping drop-ship!), the running I have been doing and the work that I have going on...not to mention some WRITING ...and you'll see that Inso's World is on complete overdrive at the moment.

See you from the stress councillor's office!

Angles are just so yesterday...

2012-01-13T19:04:00.000Z

What does a metre long piece of 150mm, plastic ducting have in common with a platoon of Grymn troops?

What makes the space shuttle and a C17 Globemaster the same...but different?

How many 'D' rings does it take to allow enough points to tie something down without affecting the integrity of a floor?

I guess that I have been re-visiting my original theories on drop-ship design and I have been taking a close look at various big lift aircraft and the good old Space Shuttle for ideas. It seems that all the angles that I had planned have lost their appeal and in a fit of insanity, I have decided that a tube will make a good base for my design.

I will have to adapt a few things (like adding panels to widen the tube...yes...WIDEN it!) but I reckon when I'm done, the drop-ship will be about 2 foot long with a similar wingspan.

It will have two decks with the bottom one being for cargo/APC transport and the upper one for troop transportation.

I haven't started buying anything YET...but the itch is really getting annoying lately...

AND on a different note, I have written a short story! Here is the link: LINK

...oh...and I couldn't resist buying the decal set that has my 'Splat' artwork in it...I'll share when it gets here.

See you from the drawing board!

A bit of a surprise.

2012-01-12T21:25:00.001Z

I was at work today and happened to find a picture on the web that surprised me...

...a few years ago I was deployed in a sunny country and working on Merlin helicopters. One of them returned in a poorly condition after having a head on collision with a bird and the nose cone was badly damaged. Fortunately, the nice Americans had a workshop that could cope with composite repairs and we got it patched up... they did an excellent job... but they didn't have the right colour paint. Seeing as the paint was the wrong colour, the repair was non standard and the nose cone would be replaced when we could get the spares, I got the opportunity to paint something nice:

Click the BIG pic!

Well...today I noticed that the picture on line had been taken back in England and I also found out that my artwork adorned the Merlin for a good couple of months before the nose cone was replaced. I then noticed that a model making company was producing special decals and one of them was the 'Splat!' design that I painted!

How cool is that!?

...so I'm painting Viper Wing bikes tonight :)

See you from the front of the queue!

I haven't forgotten...

2012-01-10T21:37:00.000Z

I would like to welcome porkandbeans to Inso's World. I hope you find something to your liking as you wander through the mazes and topiary of my blog. Feel free to use ideas and share comments!

So...what haven't I forgotten? The Void1.1 project. Last month, I finished a couple of bike squads for my VASA army (in fact, the two bike squads ARE my VASA army!) so in order to keep things plodding along, I put aside my drive for 'robotic domination of the world' and prepared another bike squad.

It is a bike squad that is exactly the same as the last two.

It is all cleaned and assembled but the putty needs to dry so I can't really start painting the bikes yet.

I decided that tonight I needed a bit of a rest. Yesterday, I went for the first run of the year and today it feels like I have been run over by a truck. Add to that a run of limited sleep and the last thing I could face was drilling and pinning tiny bits and pieces together...so cleaning and assembling a few bikes was a good breather from that and it meant that I got something productive done by getting the bikes ready for paint.

Super!

Oh how the twists and turns of my mind play tricks on me!

Meow!

See you from the edge of reason!

Snipers in bound!

2012-01-09T19:54:00.003Z

I have just put together a small 'How To' for the Sniper Bots...and here it is:

Click the Pic!

...and there it was!

See you from the dock of the bay!

The second Sunday post.

2012-01-08T16:57:00.000Z

What a week I have had! I have been doing an awful lot of sorting out...both in the house and with the hobby. I must have shredded a sack full of old documents; some going back 17 years! Various uniform has been bagged up for storage (desert camouflage...no longer used due to new multi-cam being issued...but they don't want it back in stores so I have to drag it around with me everywhere), boxes sorted through and bin-bags filled up.

It feels good to sort things out once in a while...

...and the same thing goes with the hobby. Prior to Christmas, I had a big sort out, put a lot of stuff away, went through my paints and binned the dead ones, tidied tools away and generally sorted the hobby area out. Yesterday, I went through my growing collection of Necron plastics and de-sprued everything to sort into multi-celled storage boxes. I also put all the components needed for individual Beetle-bots into little kits in plastic bags so all I need to do is pick up a bag and I have everything I need to build a single Beetle-bot. It really is amazing to see the amount of waste plastic that is generated when you de-sprue all those spare components.

Once I had finished all that, I was able to list what I had for the Beetle-bot army and so far we have:

1x Lord on foot (finished)
3x Destroyers (finished)
12x Beetle-bots (finished)

5x Wraiths (converted and waiting for paint)
5x Immortals (conversions in progress)
5x Deathmarks (conversion in progress)

22x Beetle-bots (not started)
1x Heavy Destroyer (not started)
1x Destroyer Lord (not started)
1x Monolith (not started)

It all makes up quite a little force and the bonus is that I have everything I need to put together what is listed above (apart from a few bits and bobs for the Monolith...but that is still in the design phase).

So, in amongst all the tidying, sorting and general day-to-day stuff, I managed to put together a how to (see last post) and convert a few other bits and bobs. First, I have finished the last two Wraiths and here they all are together:

Click the Pic!

The two newest ones are on the black bases. None of them have seen any paint yet because I want to finish the Immortals and Deathmarks (Sniper beetles) before I move on to the paint stage. Speaking of Immortals, I built a second one while putting together the How To:

Click the Pic!

So, there are three more Immortals and four more Deathmarks to go before I start painting the bots.

On the subject of paint, I have started painting my Mantic Forgeguards. I decided to spray undercoat them and have been ticking along very slowly (I have been busy with other things) so there are no pics to show off but I am working on them.

Well, I think that about finishes things up for today!

Coming up soon will be more How To guides and more Beetle-bots... but not today!

See you from the spire!

The first of my Sunday post.

2012-01-08T14:04:00.001Z

As a start to a bit of a busy Sunday of posting, I will show you all how I set about building my latest Beetle-bots...the Immortals:

Click the Pic!

The pictures above are a comprehensive guide to converting a Necron into a Beetle-bot. As you can see, there is a lot of work that goes into each one so you can imagine the time that is required to put these together. That means that an army of them takes a huge amount of time to build up. Even the simpler Beetle-bots take a similar amount of effort so to build these takes grit, determination...and possibly a few voices at the back of your mind!

Later today, I will be posting a few pix of other bits and bobs that I have finished this week.

See you...a little bit later on!

The invasion continues

2012-01-05T21:40:00.000Z

I'd like to welcome my newest follower Makaison! Welcome to Inso's World and I hope you enjoy investigating the local area. You never know what you'll find.

If I am not mistaken (I may well be), I reckon Makaison is someone who I've just traded with to get more Necrons. If that is the case...cheers greatly! If it isn't the case...move along; nothing to see here :D .

So...I have been wheeling and dealing and have managed to source another 12 Necrons and 12 Scarabs with more scarabs being kindly donated by someone over at the Forum of Doom (I will wait with anticipation for them). Add to that a 10" long, stripped down, Thunderbird 2 model, my remaining Necrons and a host of 'bits and bobs' and it looks like I am in the grip of the latest project to resurrect itself.

So much for plans!

That said, I have an almost complete transport for the Tunnel Fighter army, sitting on the painting table...so it isn't all Beetle-bots (although it may as well be).

While all this conversion is going on, I have been gripped by my dropship demon. I can see myself digging out some of my Old Crow vehicles for measuring so that I can start working out the size of the beast. One thing I have been working on is how to break it up into modules and I have decided to build things in bits with dowels to join the modules together. The first module will be the cargo area...hence the need to measure the 'cargo'.

Thoughts have also turned to the Beetle-bot transport (a counts-as Monolith made from the Thunderbird 2 toy). I am not saying too much more about it at the moment but I am trying to find a way of making it 'cute' but still quite menacing. It will also need to look like it will do the job...so there is quite a lot to think about!

My brain is burning!

Well...that is it for now. I will have a few pix to show off on Sunday so it will be something to look forward to.

See you from the poop-deck!

Back to work tomorrow...

2012-01-02T19:23:00.001Z

Well, all good things come to an end and the Christmas holiday is one of them. That means that there will be less posts but it doesn't mean that everything stops. I have a couple of bits and bobs on the way through the post and I have a lot to be getting on with while they find their way here.

So today, I have been enjoying the last day off by going into town for lunch with my family and chilling out at home afterwards.

However, I have also been putting together an Immortal for my Beetle-bots:

Click the Pic!

I am not sure whether to add a pipe from the gun to the rear carapace but apart from that, I think he looks about right. Only four more to build now.

While that is going on, I am ticking along with another two of the Wraiths so when all the dust settles, I should have 5 Wraiths and 5 Immortals.

Time ticks by...

See you through the maize!

The voices have been at work...

2012-01-01T23:08:00.001Z

...and they have been telling me how to use the other Thunderbird 2 that is on the way.

If you squint... and look at it in a specific way... and imagine things are slightly different...with more legs...

...well, it sort of looks like a beetle, doesn't it?

Get rid of the wings, add some legs (where from, I can't even begin to decide yet), a cockpit (two domes, like eyes?)... add a glowy door at the front, just under the nose...

Could it be a Monolith?

You could put the arc projectors on the legs and have the thing hover like a tomb spider...

It would be a pretty cheap Monolith when the base model (Thunderbird 2) only cost £7-99 including postage. I have some wooden dowel and a host of Necron bits and bobs to make the weaponry. I even have the domes needed for the cockpit (thanks to Hello Kitty phone tags from one of those dispensing machines :) ).

It is an idea...

See you in the cold light of a dead sun!

The first day...

2012-01-01T19:44:00.000Z

Well, I guess it is welcome to 2012! The first day of the year started really well but unfortunately, this afternoon, things have been curtailed by a mighty headache...so I haven't started converting any Immortals yet. On the plus side, I have managed to finish the three Wraith conversions I was working on so here they are:

Click the Squad Pic!

Click the Resting Wraith Pic!

Click the Slowing Wraith Pic!

Click the Charging Wraith Pic!

I'm quite happy with them...even if they do look a little more aggressive than a lot of the Beetle-bots. When these get painted, I may go for the glowing ghost approach that was done in the Lord of the Rings film for the ghosts...sort of a minty green. It will help them look like they are slightly different to the rest of the troops (because they phase in and out of existence and can travel through things).

On to the Immortals and I will be taking a similar approach with them that I took with the standard bots, they will have a right arm that is physically connected to their heavy weapon and the left arm will either hold the gun or be free to use. I have clipped a few bits and bobs off sprues, ready to start work but my focus is shot at the moment...so that is as far as I can go tonight (unless I shift this headache).

So last night went well...a couple of glasses of port, a bit of telly and a bit of a Karaoke session on the Wii with my family. I saw in the new year watching an extraordinary display of fireworks in London...whether it was worth the cost at these times of Economic stagnation is anyone's guess. So a good night...and I went to bed sober(ish).

That is about it for now. I'll echo yesterday's sentiment and wish you all a Happy New Year again and see you for another post next time.

See you through my fingers!

The last day...

2011-12-31T19:55:00.003Z

It has arrived. The last day of the year. In time honoured tradition, it is a time for recounting the past and reminiscing. However...nuts to that!

I am going to be enjoying a few drinks tonight and watching the new year arrive. In the meantime, I have got a little bit further with my hover-boarding Beetle-bot...well, a lot further actually:

Click the Pic!

I still have to add the Green Stuff to the resting one's chest/back and then finish all of the boards but these three will form the first Wraith unit. Unfortunately, the second unit will only have two members...but that will be plenty to add flavour to the little army.

Well, if you are going out tonight, stay safe. If you are staying in tonight stay cheerful and if you are at work I hope you get the opportunity to make merry at some point.

Happy New Year to everyone out there.

See you from behind the safety-match!

It's a WIP surfer-dude!

2011-12-30T21:36:00.001Z

Just a couple of WIP shots of what I have managed to come up with so far, using the Necron boxed sets:

Click the Pic!

He will represent a Wraith in a Necron army and rides a hover-board into battle. I have another four to put together but I will fill in the gaps on this one first.

I also played about with some spare components and came up with an ickle sniper:

Click the Pic!

Again, it is WIP and needs a bit of tidying up but it is, what it is.

See you from inside the tin!

I've only gone and done it again...

2011-12-30T14:26:00.001Z

One of the worst things about Christmas is getting gift vouchers.

Hear me out on this.

Gift vouchers are great. They allow you to buy what you want from a shop and can also be considered a present because they aren't cash.

But the trouble starts when you go to spend them. Spending gift vouchers rattles your inner cage and unearths some of those ideas that only come out when you get gift vouchers because you have to spend them in a certain place.

To explain my views...I received some Games Workshop gift vouchers this Christmas. I like getting them because I can spend them on paint. However, when there are more vouchers than you need paint for, there comes a problem...what to spend the rest on?

Last year, I spent them on a box of Necron Warriors and a box of Space Orks. This year, I bought some paint and was thinking what to spend the rest on when it suddenly dawned on me...Special Necrons to convert into more specialised Beetle-bots.

So I have bought a box of Lychguard and a box of Immortals. The reason I bought the Immortals was to make...Beetle-bot Immortals! I bought the Lychguard to build...Beetle-bot Wraiths!

...Wraiths!?

Well, the Lychguard have some nice big shields that are perfect for hover-boards and the box also contains all sorts of blades and scythes so they are perfect to represent the Wraiths.

Both boxes contain a wealth of other components so I may end up with a few extra specialised units as well.

...and here was me hoping to concentrate on finishing the Tunnel Fighter army!

...That said, I have a second Marauder APC coming from Fenris Games to act as transport for the medical squad and for some reason that I am completely unable to explain, I have a second Thunderbird 2 on it's way from E-Bay.

Oh, come on! Where would I be without far too much to occupy my time with?!

See you from the mosh pit!

Today's chatter...

2011-12-29T13:18:00.001Z

It is really annoying when you have an idea, know exactly what you want to do but don't have a simple method of putting it down as hard-copy somewhere. I can draw but I need things to be 3d so I can turn them over in my hands to get a proper idea of perspective.

I suppose I could get a 3d modelling program for my PC but it would still be just an image with nothing solid to actually hold on to.

I expect that I will build a scale model out of cardboard but it seems a waste of valuable time to me...time I could be using to build the real thing.

...Oh...I'm talking about dropships, if you haven't gathered :) .

I have the design.

I have had the design in my head for a long time BUT it only goes as far as the outside so I will have to think about the internals. Today I have been thinking about retractable undercarriage and have worked out a way of opening the external doors before the undercarriage drops...it's all done with rotation and levers...of course, I have to build the legs, wheels, lever/roller system, hinges for the doors...not to mention the rest of the ship!

I suppose I'll get the drawing to a standard where I can scan it at some point...

While all that thinking is going on, I have been painting the drone vehicle and due to it's larger size, I have just finished base-coating it ready for it's wash in Devlan Mud.

Time flies...

See you from the back of the bus!

We're airborne!

2011-12-28T13:01:00.000Z

Before I start, I'd like to welcome Jeff and...'a mystery follower' to my blog. If the mystery follower who joined yesterday/today, would like to introduce themselves, they will get the usual welcome personally. No matter who it is, I would like to welcome you both to Inso's World and would also hope that you take away ideas and feel happy sharing your own here.

Today I went shopping and have returned with a new helicopter. It is a little larger than the ones I usually fly around my living room and it has induced fear in all those I hover over...I love it! I'm sure I'll pop a pic up at some point.

So, yesterday I finished a drop ship but today, I finished the K9 squad transport for my Tunnel Fighters:

Click the Pic!

As much as it isn't an armoured vehicle, it fits in nicely with the police dog-unit that it more or less represents in the army so I am quite pleased with it. It is painted in quite a flat style but it is in tune with the mechs so, again, I am happy with the finish (even if it isn't as accomplished as I can manage).

Next on the painting table (vehicle wise) is the Drone unit transport and it is quite a lot bigger than the K9 one so it will take a little longer.

It is all ticking along nicely.

See you from behind the radiator!

Into the Abyss.

2011-12-27T13:08:00.000Z

A long time ago in a galaxy not too far away...

...well...this galaxy actually. An addicted hobbyist decided to put together a small Starship crew. To go with the crew, a starship was needed; a SMALL starship...

Click the Pic!

The trouble with small starships is that they look a bit...small so in order to readdress the balance, the starship was miraculously transformed into a dropship by...calling it a dropship instead.

As time progressed and the paint changed from off-white to a flame colour and got thicker and thicker, the enthusiasm waned and the poor little dropship was consigned to the attic for an eternity.

until yesterday when I had to put a box in the attic and was drawn to the box that happened to be right at the bottom of a pile of boxes. Inside the box...was another box! Inside that box were three partially-converted Tau Devilfish and a mysteriously wrapped bundle that needed to be taken down stairs...in the bundle was a poor little dropship with a ghastly paint-job.

There was no way it could stay like that so I threw some Necron Abyss at it and stippled on a few other coats of paint and it ended up like this:

Click the Pics!

Now the starship crew have a dropship to get them from the 'Galaxy', into the 'Abyss' and onto the planet surface.

The dropship is a very simple conversion. I bought a 10 inch Thunderbird 2 toy (from the motion picture), chopped off the tail's cross-member, filled in the front windows with green stuff, glued a plastic spoon to the top and filled the gaps/built a window frame with green-stuff. Underneath the nose is a Spartan shield that is painted as an observation window. That is all I did.

I think it looks the part...

See you from the port-side observation deck!

Dropship woes.

2011-12-26T21:28:00.000Z

Well...a funny thing happened today. I went up into the loft to put a box up there and one thing led to another...and I ended up bringing down one of my old stalled projects.

It stalled because I had painted it in awful colours and had given up on it...well I decided that the voices couldn't be ignored today and I have been re-painting it a lovely shade of...

...well I guess you'll see what my little dropship looks like tomorrow, won't you?!

Fear not. It isn't the one that has been eating at me, just another one from days of yore :D .

Tomorrow, I will mostly be sharpening my elbows because I am going shopping with my family. God help them because I detest shopping during Christmas when the sales are on. It seems to turn people into zombies...hey, there's a neat idea for a zombie themed game...people turned into zombies as a result of blind capitalism. I think it would be most satisfying playing a game where you can get miniature revenge on the type of people who bump, push and charge at you during sales shopping.

"Push in front of me, will you?" The adventurer screamed "EAT CHAINSAW DEATH!!!"

I may throw that one to Vampifan, he's well into all things zombie.

See you as I leave things in my elbow fuelled wake!

Landing on Boxing Day.

2011-12-26T10:52:00.000Z

To start today's post, I'd like to welcome Mark Beardmore to Inso's World. Hopefully, there will be something to inspire or interest you as you stroll around the grounds :). Make sure you get involved and feel free to ask questions and give ideas...it costs nothing and shares the wealth.

So...it is Boxing Day...the day after the biggest day of the year. I am happy that everything went well on the day because I was responsible for dinner! I always knew my goose was cooked; even before I cooked one yesterday...but the fact that everything landed on the table at the right time, was cooked and there was enough of it means that I managed to get it right so I am happy.

Boxing Day is the big exhale after Christmas. All the build up has gone...the big day has gone...it is all quiet in the house with children clinging to their beds and parents too tired to move far from the sofa. It is a time for chilling out and reflecting...

...but with quiet times come the voices...

...and at the moment, they won't leave me alone! I am beset by thoughts of Dropships. I have been looking on search engines, trawling through E-bay, drawing pictures...and I know what I want to do but it will be a lot of work and I don't know where it will be stored once it is finished. The basic idea (even though it will make it more difficult) is to make a Dropship that fulfils the following criteria

1. Large enough to carry a mechanised platoon with troops dismounted from their vehicles (vehicle and troop space)
2. A detailed cargo area.
3. A detailed cockpit area (with crew).
4. Modular construction (with a possible thought of casting).
5. It must look functional and able to travel in space and in atmosphere.
6. It will be made with Grymn in mind.
7. It will be VTOL but with wheeled undercarriage (that way it can manoeuvre on the ground and be towed)

It will be a big project with a big final product so it will take a long time but it seems that this is one itch that I am really going to have to scratch because it won't go away.

In other news...I have been cleaning up some Critical Mass Games, 15mm, 'Protolenes':

Click the Pic!

They are bipedal dog-soldiers and they are bleeping tiny. I may even end up not painting them because they are smaller than I thought...but they are getting cleaned up, just in case.

Another thing that jumped out at me were some rather nice little toys. While I was Christmas shopping at a local supermarket, I saw these hanging from a shelf and thought that they would make cool little service vehicles:

Click the pic!

There were only two of them, unfortunately, but they are Matchbox 6x6 ATV, toy cars and once I have sorted out the cockpit and painted them, they will make a great addition to the masses.

As a final note, I have ticked along with the K9 vehicle and have washed it and top coated it ready for detailing...only a small amount of effort required to finish it. It should be finished soon and then I'll take a squad pic.

Well, I hope everyone had a good day yesterday and are able to chill out today...it is only fair, after all!

See you from the sofa!

Christmas Eve...and I made it :).

2011-12-24T12:42:00.000Z

Well it is Christmas Eve again and it couldn't be more different than last year with it's -22 degree temperatures and snow all over the place. Today is cloudy and overcast outside...

...but inside the house it is tidy time!

The TV was so bad that we have some Jack FM radio playing instead. the hoovering, tidying and cleaning has been done ready for the big day tomorrow. A bit later I will be checking the goose so that I can sort out cooking it tomorrow, fishing out the giblets for some stock, deciding on veg and generally preparing everything.

The lap-top has been dug out for it's monthly dose of up-dates, my work space has been cleared from the dining table, all my WIP stuff is out of sight in one of the many cupboards and everything looks far too tidy...well...far too tidy for MY house anyway!!!

I doubt if I will be able to resist a spot of painting later so I'll be putting some paper down and washing my K9 vehicle with Devlan Mud...and maybe even painting the highlights too...who knows?

What is left?

Click the Pic!

I wish everyone well this Christmas and even if you are not celebrating the event, make sure you stay safe and enjoy the weekend.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS FROM INSO'S WORLD!

A small army pic...or two...

2011-12-23T12:51:00.001Z

Before I start what will be, a momentous post, I would like to welcome CounterFett to Inso's World. I hope that you enjoy your stay and find a modicum of insanity in an overly sane 'real world'.

Well...after two years, various government supplied foreign holidays, a house move, a job move and all sorts of interesting events...I can now post the basic army for the Grymn Tunnel Fighters.

I am sorry for the picture quality but I can't get everything to focus at the same time...so here are a few pix of the basic troop units:

Click the Pic!

The basic army consists of 110 troops, 11 mechs and 11 APCs.

There are 11 mech units made up of:

COMMAND:

BRONZE - Sgt(Pistol), 4 Troopers(Power-sword and pistol), 2 Troopers(Heavy Flame-thrower), 2 Troopers(Plasma Rifle), Comms robot.

ASSAULT:

RED - Sgt(Pistols), 6 Troopers(Pistols), Trooper with Mini-gun, Trooper with Grenade Launcher, Comms robot. Mech with Heavy Chaingun, APC with twin cannons.

L.GREEN - Sgt(Pistols), 6 Troopers(Pistols), Trooper with Mini-gun, Trooper with Grenade Launcher, Comms robot. Mech with Heavy Chaingun, APC with twin cannons.

D.GREEN - Sgt(Pistols), 6 Troopers(Pistols), Trooper with Mini-gun, Trooper with Grenade Launcher, Comms robot. Mech with Heavy Chaingun, APC with twin cannons.

BLUE - Sgt(Shotgun), 6 Troopers(Shotgun), 2 Troopers with Flame-throwers, Comms robot. Mech with Heavy Flame-thrower, APC with twin cannons.

TACTICAL:

YELLOW - Sgt(Pulse-gun), 6 Troopers(Pulse-gun), 2 Troopers(Heavy Pulse-gun), Comms robot. Mech with High Energy Rifle, APC with Rocket pods.

PINK - Sgt(Pulse-gun), 6 Troopers(Pulse-gun), 2 Troopers(Heavy Pulse-gun), Comms robot. Mech with High Energy Rifle, APC with Rocket pods.

ORANGE - Sgt(Pulse-gun), 6 Troopers(Pulse-gun), 2 Troopers(Heavy Pulse-gun), Comms robot. Mech with High Energy Rifle, APC with Rocket pods.

BRIGHT PURPLE - Sgt(Pulse-gun), 6 Troopers(Pulse-gun), 2 Troopers(Heavy Pulse-gun), Comms robot. Mech with High Energy Rifle, APC with Rocket pods.

LIGHT PURPLE - Sgt(Pulse-gun), 6 Troopers(Pulse-gun), 2 Troopers(Heavy Pulse-gun), Comms robot. Mech with High Energy Rifle, APC with Rocket pods.

BROWN - Sgt(Pulse-gun), 6 Troopers(Pulse-gun), 2 Troopers(Heavy Pulse-gun), Comms robot. Mech with High Energy Rifle, APC with Rocket pods.

I haven't posted pix of the specialist units so I will do that once they are all finished.

Today...is a good day :) .

See you from the turret!

Tomorrow...

2011-12-22T07:10:00.002Z

...an army pic.

A momentous event...

2011-12-21T20:26:00.001Z

I was going to hold off on this until I had the time to take a big picture but I am so glad to have these finished that I couldn't wait...so here are two BIG pix of my eleven FINISHED mechs:

Click the 'BIG' Pics!

The completion of the mechs takes me another step closer to finishing the Tunnel Fighter army and I am very pleased to have finished them so early in the holiday. To finish the army properly, I have to finish off the miscellaneous squad, 4 transports (one each for the medics, drones, K9 unit and misc squad) and 15 Clankers (that will take them to a total of 21). In reality, if I finish off three transports then the army will be fully mechanised (so far) and I can do the rest in slow time.

I am just SO pleased.

I had one of my nights last night and was up until 02:15 so I was always going to be tired...but my lovely wife and I were walking around Tesco at 07:25 so I am a bit worse for wear today. On the plus side, I found a couple of interesting Matchbox vehicles that will be joining a future project...but that is for another time.

My parcel filled with Twilight miniatures arrived yesterday and I am REALLY impressed with them. I will be showing them off some time in the near future and have decided that they will be remaining in the fantasy genre...well, my Dwarfs will need someone to trade with, after all.

I have started converting my Ferrus miniature and have been glad to discover that both of his arms are separate from his body so I don't have to chop them off...which is always handy.

I just can't switch off...

...and the voices won't stop going on about bleeping drop-ships...

See you from the waiting room!

Everything has gone grey...

2011-12-19T22:41:00.001Z

I have been busy painting things today. Not something unusual in itself but today I have been top coating mechs. First of all, I finished washing the last one with Devlan Mud and then I commenced the tedious task of re-painting all those grey panels. So far, I have managed two of them...all the grey panels done...again...in grey...I also managed to finish the pilots in both of them. So there are still two more to go...all that grey...so much grey...

...once the grey has been finished and the pilots painted, I have the packs, lenses (in the visors), shoulder pads and bases to paint...but at least there will be no more grey.

I will be very glad to see the end of these (as I really like seeing them fully painted but don't always enjoy the process of getting them there).

Also today, I wrapped a few presents, went out for a coffee with my wife (while both the nippers were off visiting friends) and read a bit of Void1.1 to see the rules for Ronin APCs.

What the voices tell me...

...dropships...gunships...Void1.1 miniatures (especially Void Knights)...Daemonscape buildings...bikes.

On a completely separate note...I find it really amusing when people break the law and then moan about it when they are caught. There is a bloke who has been teaching children to play drums in his garden shed. They pay him for lessons. He didn't apply for planning permission and has been forced to stop.

He is moaning about losing his lively-hood but he is using an unlicensed building to teach children to play drums...

Is the building up to code?
Has he applied for a license to teach/run a business from his property?
Has he been correctly vetted?
What are the safety measures in the building?
Is he a noisy neighbour?

who knows? But I think if a bunch of travellers turned up in his neighbourhood and set up camp, he'd soon be on to the council to shift them on because the don't have planning permission.

I was saddened today when I heard that the dog of a friend of mine had died. Terrible timing but worst of all, the passing of his dear friend. I really feel for him. I still miss my little Smudge and that was 7 years ago :( .

See you from behind the curtain!

A mixed bag today.

2011-12-18T11:41:00.001Z

I have been busy for the last couple of days and thought that I would share some of the results. To start with, I have added grey to selected panels on the remaining four mechs:

Click the Pic!

The next step is to wash them with Devlan Mud and re-paint all the grey. I guess that it will all be worth it once they are all finished...

...on the subject of grey, the next squad of bikes for my Void project is finished:

Click the Pic!

They have slightly smaller decals and a more regular camouflage pattern than the last squad but I think that they will fit into the platoon fine.

The Pug squad has got a fully painted leader now so I'd like you to meet Meg:

Click the Pic!

She is finished but I am still in two minds as to whether I want to add some camouflage to her...I quite like her plain and she is so small that painting the camouflage will be quite fiddly...Hmmm...decisions; decisions.

Finally...it isn't purple but it is an interesting shade of red...

...to cut a long story short, I opened a secret Santa gift at work and it contained a hint that my hair was grey...so I applied it and now it isn't! I suppose, in the light of day, I should have thought about it more sensibly but hey...I'm on holiday so what can possibly go wrong?:

Click the Pic!

...and so the world turns...

See you from the stage, man!

3...2...1...HOLIDAY!

2011-12-17T09:50:00.000Z

I have started my Christmas holiday today and I am looking forward to two weeks where I can relax and recuperate from a year of high-paced challenges, varying emotions and a complete change of working environment.

I was out last night and because I was 'duty driver' I returned home late but sober...something I am really not used to. As a side effect of all that diet-coke and orange juice, I was up fairly early and have already glued the sand to a few bases; ready for them to be painted later on.

What is on the cards? Well, my main goal for this holiday (apart from all that family stuff that I will be enjoying), is to get the last four of the Tunnel Fighter mechs finished. It is a relatively small goal but it is one that will signify a lot...another milestone in the Tunnel Fighter history.

In amongst the mechs, there will need to be a few minor distractions and I have some other little bits and bobs to keep the mental juices flowing...a pug squad, some vehicles, some more Void stuff, the sci-fire and maybe even some Mantic dwarfs...but the main thing will be keeping up the pace on the mechs.

Well...if you are on holiday now, I hope you have a good one. If you haven't started your holiday yet, I hope you have a good holiday when it arrives. If you aren't getting a holiday this year...I hope you get what you can from your time and eventually get the rest/recuperation you are owed.

All the best and stay safe.

See you from the dug-out!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention...don't drink and drive and if you know someone who is/is about to either stop them or shop them...

Click the Pic!

A short story.

2011-12-14T12:08:00.001Z

Just for a change, I thought I'd throw together a short story about a lowly Grymn trooper making a very important delivery...so here it is. Enjoy:

A Special Delivery.

Tomlinz neatly placed the package in the stowage compartment in his Grav-bike. It wasn’t too heavy so there was no need to adjust the repulsor arrays to compensate. He jumped into the pilot’s seat and gunned the engines before waving to the ground engineers and lifting into the air.

Tomlinz was very proud to have been given the honour of delivering the package. It was marked as top priority; essential for front line activities and it meant that he had taken another step up with the responsibility and trust that his seniors gave him. As he darted along the tracks, feet above the ground, the head-up display (HUD) glittered with holographic images of the trees and terrain that was dashing past. Occasionally, a red warning would flash if he got within a couple of metres of an obstacle but Tomlinz was an accomplished flier and avoided the hazards easily. He was having a peaceful trip at the moment but knew that it would be a little trickier once he crossed the border and entered the disputed territory.

The first sign of the ambush was the motion sensor beeping a warning with accompanying red dots appearing on the HUD. Tomlinz was quick to react and slowed quickly to re-arrange his route. The beauty of the warning system was that it had a good range and as long as you reacted quickly, you would have plenty of time to get out of trouble. After a quick course adjustment, he set off again and zipped through a small forest; avoiding the main track and the enemy soldiers that were lying in wait. As he zipped though the trees, his motion sensor beeped again to indicate that the ambushers were moving towards him and although he tried to avoid them, there was the sound of small arms fire and the associated ‘WHIP…WHIP’ of rounds flying past. Tomlinz accelerated and took evasive action but was un-able to avoid all of the incoming rounds as some bounced off the armour of his bike. Just as he thought he was past the worst of it, the HUD illuminated with a flashing array of cautions and the warbling beeps that accompanied them filled his ears. “MASTER CAUTION! ENGINE 2” was quickly followed by a marked drop in power and a sudden lurch to the right. Tomlinz kept his cool and immediately shut the offending engine down whilst flicking the emergency power switch for the remaining engine. He was still leaning to the right so he compensated with an additional boost to the repulsor on that side to offset the imbalance. He was lucky; the corrections worked and he was able to continue on his way. It was then that he realised that the HUD wasn’t indicating any motion and the incoming rounds had ceased…he was past the ambush.

After another hour of uneventful travel, Tomlinz reached the first check-point for the Grymn outpost. It was set quite away from the actual camp to ensure that there was time to flag up defence, should there be enemy attack. The guards checked Tomlinz’ ID documents and were very pleased to see that the package was safe on board. One of them dashed into the bunker to pass on the information and when he returned, he said that the gates would be opened from now on and ID checks wouldn’t be necessary. It was, of course, a very urgent delivery. Once he was cheerfully waved through the barrier, Tomlinz continued on his journey and as he passed through the remaining two check-points, the guards waved and cheered at him. After a couple of minutes, he reached the main gate and was met by a junior officer who checked his details and made sure that the package was safe. Tomlinz picked up the package and followed the officer through a doorway that was situated on the side of a sheer rock-face and led into the depths of the ground. In a couple of minutes, after passing many side offices, he was led into a large hall and seated all around were Grymn soldiers on benches, looking expectantly towards him. He walked over to a very senior officer who warmly shook his hand and received the package from him; signing the docket in the process. The senior officer turned to his adjutant and said “Prepare accommodation for this Grymn, he will need to wait until tomorrow for the reply”. With a ‘yes sir’ the adjutant hurried off and Tomlinz was ushered to a small seat with some refreshments on hand.

The senior officer stood up and faced the gathered Grymn. “Mail call!” he shouted “The Christmas mail is here!” He tore open the package and started to call out names for the gathered troops to collect their messages of good will.

“Trooper Tomlinz, isn’t it?” the officer asked.
“Yes sir” He replied.
“You’ll drink well tonight, my lad!” he said as he raised his voice to shout “let the festivities begin!”

On another note...

'What the Voices Tell Me'

On my conscience today we have dropships, Void army selection for VASA, Mantic sci-fi dwarfs, 'THE HOLIDAY PROJECT' and little-purple-people.

See you from the stern!

It's a complete void...

2011-12-12T20:05:00.002Z

Before I start, I'll say welcome to the newest follower of Inso's World and that would be psychobob808. Welcome Psychobob808, I hope you enjoy looking around but please watch your step...you never know what may be just around the corner.

So, I received a nice little parcel today and it stimulated a brief period of exploration in one of my storage cupboards.

It is funny really...as a bit of a miniatures hoarder, I occasionally need to reacquaint myself with my collection and today, I did just that.

What did I find? Well...to go with the five VASA Archangels that I received in my little parcel today, I found 5 Black Legion with wings, 10 Black Legion with jump-packs and 5 Shuriken Guards with wings....that is a total of 25 jump troopers in anyone's calculations!

Five of the Black Legion need a little TLC because they were an E-Bay lot and the little balls were removed from the end of their staffs for some reason...so I will need to replace those. The Shuriken Guard are a little bit on the squiffy side so they will need a little extra clean-up...but apart from that, they are all good to go.

It is a shame that I couldn't get access to my other cupboard...that is where all of the marines live and I reckon I must have about 30 VASA marines to go with the army. I seem to have secretly collected quite a lot of VASA kit...so secretly, in fact, that I didn't even realise it myself!

So...to keep with the Void theme, I have base-coated the small bike squad and am in the process of giving them a wash with Devlan Mud, ready for the next stage. Isn't it great when someone sets a little challenge that gets you painting things you hadn't looked at for ages.

...and don't look now but the Pugs are purple...and it made this cat very unhappy:

See you from the bridge of the HMS Starchaser!

WHAT...A...WEEK!

2011-12-11T16:07:00.005Z

It has been a rather interesting week for me. Lots of things have happened and the biggest was a change in job.

I have now moved over to my new job and I have now got my feet beneath the desk and have started to take on tasking. The people are good and they are starting to get used to me, even though I haven't let ME out of the bag too much yet (don't want to scare the natives too much, too soon). It is an eight-to-five job and it will enable me to regain some of the routine I lost whilst working shifts. It is early days but I think I will fit in nicely. This week we have 'secret santa' and a Christmas party to look forward to. Should be nice.

As I mentioned yesterday, I went to a Christmas party with people from my last job this week and had a great time. I also have had to recover somewhat (sleep has been a rare and wonderful thing this week).

I have collected a lovely, runny, head-cold this week and have been feeling a little bit sluggish. Add to that the fact that I am breaking in a new pair of RAF shoes this week and I must look like a hunched old crone whilst walking to work!

My wife is poorly at the moment...dizzy with occasional sickness...so I am Mr. House-dad today and have sorted out a nice stew for dinner (lots of pepper). My two teen-aged children are manning the barriers as well so all is as well as it could be.

So...quite eventful.

But what of the hobby? Well...I can't say that I have been over active on the hobby front but I am quite happy to have dug my Tunnel Fighter mechs from the cupboard and especially to have them all painted in gun-metal. I have also painted the pilots, ready for the ink stage that comes once I have painted the grey bits on the mechs. Here's where they are at the moment:

Click the Pic!

After painting all that gun-metal, I needed a break from the mechs so I have started base-coating the bike squad (still a bit to go yet):

Click the pic!

I've only managed to under-coat the Pug Squad...but it may show the details better than raw-lead does...so here they are:

Click the Pic!

Shopping...yes we all like shopping and this week I have purchased a couple of items. I had a small win on E-Bay and as a result, I have a small parcel containing a squad of Void Archangels, waiting at the post office. I have also bought some Twilight Miniatures (as mentioned in my last post). I am not sure whether they will remain fantasy...but we'll see.

I have also added some cash to a Kick-starter project for a band of superhero sculpts called Crossover It looks very promising so if you like the thought of multi-choice superhero sculpts in 28mm, then this may be for you...if it is, then pledge some money.

My final thought for the day is exactly that...a thought. I have decided to add a small section to my blog called 'What The Voices Tell Me'. It will be a little note on what I have been thinking about between posts that may or may not be hobby related and may or may not be something I will pursue/progress...so watch out for it.

Whew! That is it for today. I have things to do.

See you through the red window!

NEWS FLASH!!!

2011-12-11T13:33:00.004Z

I have just been pottering around the forums (Frothers...be warned, it is a sweary place) and have seen something that made me go straight to the linked page and buy them! These are Dhogu from the World of Twilight range of miniatures and they ROCK!:

Click the Pic!

There are a limited amount of pre-release miniatures available from Pyre Studios and I was so impressed with them that I bought a patrol straight away.

Excellent stuff!

I just thought I'd share.

See you from the time machine!

An experiment.

2011-12-10T16:22:00.004Z

Welcome to todays post and I'd like to kick it off by welcoming two new followers. Welcome Henrique de Moura Paula and Tael! I hope you enjoy your time here and feel free to get involved if there are things you like.

I suppose I am going to have to explain the title of this post. I have seen video clips on various blogs and wondered if I could do something similar...it's all extra stuff to add some interest, after all. so I have been pottering about on the web today and decided to meander through a bit of You-Tube nonsense when I found this:

It is a cat playing an application on an I-Pad that has been specifically designed to entertain cats! What a brilliant idea. The cat certainly seems to be having fun anyway. Hopefully, you will be able to click the play button and get it to play for you...hence the 'experiment'.

On to other things and I have been busy slapping Boltgun Metal paint all over the remaining mechs for my Grymn Tunnel Fighter army and I have managed to coat three out of four...so by tomorrow's post, I will have all four shiny.

I have only managed to under-coat the Pug Squad and have really achieved little else this week because of other activities going on.

Works parties are great. This year we went to a fancy 'big-top' and got to watch acrobats, fire-jugglers and dancers whilst eating a very nice meal. After eating there was a disco with other entertainment including dodgems, roulette, silent auctions and of course getting drunk! I was a good boy and stayed pretty sober but it always entertains me when people spend a fortune to go to these sort of things and get so drunk early in the evening that they miss all the fun! Servicemen are a funny breed.

See you tomorrow :).

Sunday and the re-emergence continues.

2011-12-04T18:47:00.004Z

After deciding that one of my support vehicles needed some new wheels, I managed to get hold of some yesterday and after ripping them off a cheap 4WD toy, I set about fixing them to the vehicle. While I was sorting that out, I was also assembling the other vehicle...so here they are; the first two support vehicles all assembled, ready for paint:

Click the Pic!

I had to fudge the wheels a bit but I don't think it looks too bad. The larger vehicle had a ramp fitted to the rear and some hatches added to the top. That means the drones can exit and leave the vehicle now. In the above picture, you can also see a Tunnel Fighter. She will be joining the other Grymn in the drone squad so that she can drive and assist.

In addition to the Tunnel Fighter news, I have been working on something a little different to show off. As you know, I have had a few deliveries this last week and amongst them were a small amount of Space Dogs. I decided a while back, that I wanted to put together a small group of space dogs with a leader and what we have here, is the result:

Click the Pic!

All of the miniatures come from Hasslefree Miniatures and are in the pirate section on their site. I am undecided as to where these will fit in but I reckon they will either be a security team for my Starship Crew or a small team of SHIELD type agents for my super-soldier project...In case you have forgotten, this is the Starship Crew:

Click the Pic!

I am sure that the Pug Squad will fit in wherever I decide to put them.

So tomorrow I start my new job. On the plus side, it is a constant day job (no weird shift patterns) so I will be able to catch up on some sleep and also be able to plan my life a little better...or not...it all depends how things go!

Well...that is it for today. I will post when there is something more to show off!

See you from the corner; standing in the lamp-light!

A little tinkering and a fond farewell.

2011-12-03T17:00:00.003Z

Today, I am between jobs. I left my last job on Friday and was sorry to go. I start my new job on Monday and am looking forward to a new challenge.

The job I left was working as a Puma, rectification controller on 230 'Tiger' Sqn and I can honestly say that the last three years have been the best of my career.

The job I am moving to is on the same unit (so I don't have to move home) and is a staff job that takes me further towards a desk but ticks a box for further promotion. It is also a job that I have wanted for a very long time so leaving 230 Sqn is very bitter/sweet. My new job sees me liaising with the RAF Puma units and industry/design authorities so it should be quite entertaining once I get my feet under the desk. It doesn't stop me being apprehensive about Monday though...

On to hobby things and I went over to Reading today and picked up some cheap wheels for the K9 vehicle. I have been busy tinkering with both of the support vehicles and once I have attached the wheels to the K9 transport, I will post pix of the pair of them. I have had a bit of a mare with wheels and gluing stuff...and have managed to get glue all over the place! I even managed to glue my fingers together last night (the super-glue tube split and I hadn't realised...) but I managed to sort things out with a little soapy water.

Since I received my parcel on Wednesday, I have sorted out a few miniatures and hope to show a few bits and bobs on Sunday's post.

See? There's always lots going on here!

See you after the start but way before the end!

Recycling

2011-12-01T11:37:00.004Z

To start today's post, I'd like to welcome Phil C. He has just found his way into Inso's World and will hopefully find something to inspire or borrow for his own purposes. Welcome aboard Phil C, I hope you enjoy your stay.

Recycling is a great way to build armies without buying in lots of new stuff. As you all know, I am a bit partial to buying cheap bits and bobs from E-Bay and I have bought a wide range of 'stuff that might come in useful'. The two vehicles below fall into this category:

Click the Pic!

On the left, we have an IFV from Fenris Games. On the right we have a small van from Ground Zero Games. Two things immediately spring to mind. First, the van has been out of production from Ground Zero Games for a very long time...but fear not! You can now purchase it from Daemonscape on E-Bay. Secondly, the Fenris IFV originally came with a turret but I decided to add a skirt to it and turn it into a small hover vehicle for my Grymn desert army...here is what happened (a LONG time ago):

Click the Pic!

Anyway...I digress...My Tunnel Fighter army is in need of four transport vehicles; one each for the specialist units. Last night I had a sudden brainwave and remembered that I had some resin vehicles hidden away that hadn't been allocated to any projects. I had a quick root around and now have the perfect vehicles for my K9 and Drone squads.

The K9 vehicle will be the GZG van. It has plenty of room to house 6 K9s and 3 Grymn so I won't be converting it at all. When I bought this vehicle, I was warned that the moulds were a bit old so there is quite a bit of clean up to do...and I may end up having to use some Lego wheels...but it isn't un-salvageable.

The Drone vehicle needed to be quite large and as a result, the Fenris vehicle is perfect. I will need to convert a few bits and bobs for it to achieve it's purpose but not too much. I will be adding some roof hatches for the aerial drones to fly out of and will also be adding a large rear ramp for the wheeled drones to gain entry and leave from the back. I am also going to armour-up the front a little. As you can see, I have added spacers to the wheels to add a bit of width to the vehicle so conversion is under way.

As you can see, I now only need two transport vehicles...one for the medics and one for the OGrymn squad. I am thinking about having a flier for the OGrymn (and I already have a kit in mind that, again, I have in my collection) and another vehicle that is large enough to house an operating theatre for the medics...and that one is going to take a bit of thought.

One thing that has happened as a result of my digging is that I have decided to add a second trooper to the drone squad to act as a driver.

...AND...I find I have been distracted again...

At least it is a distraction that has led back to a constructive project.

See you from the deep, dark caverns!

A little consolidation.

2011-11-30T12:00:00.004Z

After all the happiness involved in finishing a block of APCs yesterday, it got me thinking about how near to finishing the Grymn Tunnel Fighter army I really am. After all, there is more to the army than just the basic troop units...and finishing the last of the mechs will finish those off nicely...but what about the rest?

The army currently has 3 specialist units; a drone squad, a medic squad and a K9 squad. At the moment, none of those units have any transport and to be honest, the APCs that I have been using up until now just won't work so I would need to find something more appropriate.

Add to that, the start of another specialist unit that has a pair of OGrymn in it (please ignore the three APC's, it is just the WIP conversion that is of interest):

Click the Pic!

I am really unsure where I want to go with this unit. The OGrymn are quite rare (in Grymn society) so I only want to have the two of them in the unit. I will need to add a comms drone and 7 other troops to finish the unit off but I haven't decided how I want them armed...do I have a unit full of heavy weapons or bodyguards or even basic troops? Then I have to consider the size of the OGrymn and how they can be transported.

More questions are raised when I look at the Clanker units:

Click the Pic!

At the moment, I have two Clanker units and they each have 3 members. The models that they are converted from (Vulkan Battlesuits from the OOP Warzone game) are very unique and really suit the theme of this army. As a result...I have a further 15 of them in my cupboard. I have decided that I need to keep all these models for the Tunnel Fighters, rather than spreading them piecemeal over a range of projects so that means that I have to find a way of integrating them into the army. I have decided that three units of 7 clankers would be the best option because that would keep the colours down and also make each of the units fearsome opposition. 6 of the Clankers I have in the cupboard have weapons conversions (3 laser cannon and 3 heavy cannon) so it also made sense to build three units to take that into account.

So to sum up...

I need to finish the 4 mechs in order to complete the basic troop units.

I need to finish the OGrymn and 8 other squad members PLUS decide on a transport.

I need to decide on the transport for the 3 specialist units (drone, medic and K9).

I need to build and paint 15 Clankers and add them to those already finished.

THEN the army will be finished...

It is funny how slowing down to think about things really adds to the work-load!

See you from the forge!

Life is full of little mile-stones...

2011-11-29T14:21:00.002Z

I'm sure that everyone remembers my Grymn Tunnel Fighter army, even though they have been neglected recently. Well, I have completed another little mile-stone because I have finished the last of the APCs for the basic troops. Each of my assault, tactical and command squads now have transport:

Click for BIG Pic!

I now have to think about painting the last four of the mechs and then I can start thinking about an army pic and pics of all of the completed units.

I am really quite happy about this :).

See you from the happy bus!

Recommendations

2011-11-27T18:45:00.003Z

After a quiet day, doing little more than painting, I have a few WIP pix to show off. First, I have the last four of the Grymn Tunnel Fighter APCs:

Click the Pic!

I have finished the grey and started to base-coat all of the other bits. They are more or less at a point where, once the metals are washed and the windows filled in, it will be a case of adding the squad colours. The thing with these is that they have been sat on my shelf for a while and it was today that I decided to crack on with them.

Next was the second squad for the Void project:

Click the Pic!

As you can see, they are barely started but they are on their way.

So...I mentioned earlier that I was going to make a few suggestions for various sci-fi bits and bobs. I haven't included Games Workshop or Forge World because they always get the press...so here are a few stores that I like to visit:

For 28mm sci-fi miniatures, I would heartily recommend having a look through these links:

Hasslefree Miniatures (they have a December Bonus promotion on from tomorrow)

Heresy Miniatures

Studio McVey

Micropanzer (for vehicles too...when they get there)

Pig Iron Productions (for vehicles too)

Em4

Scotia Grendel (for vehicles too)

Copplestone Castings

Antenociti's Workshop (for vehicles too)

Other sci-fi miniature sizes:

Ground Zero Games (These are 25mm and 15mm and are certainly NOT 28mm)

Critical Mass Games (these are 15mm)

Rebel Miniatures (these are 15mm)

Khurasan Miniatures (these are 15mm and a small amount of 28mm)

Sci-fi vehicles: In addition to Antenociti's Workshop, Scotia Grendel, Pig Iron Productions and Micropanzer:

Daemonscape (these are the old Ground Zero Games vehicles for 25mm)

Old Crow Models (these are a mix of 25mm, 15mm and 6mm vehicles)

Other bits and bobs:

Hobby Link Japan (for everything Japanese from Mecha to vehicles)

Wayland Games (discount shop for all sorts of miniature related things)

Comet Miniatures (all sorts of kits...it's where all my VOTOMs kits came from)

Evil Mushroom Games (all sorts of stuff)

Fenris Games Ebay / Normal store (some awesome miniatures, vehicles and bases)

World of Twilight (a lovely range for an alternative fantasy world)

Ramshackle Games (cheap resin miniatures, vehicles, bases and other bits)

This list isn't exhaustive but there are some gems in there that are well worth a browse. I am also a fan of E-bay but I could never point you in specific directions there...there is too much variety.

Well...that is that. I hope you find something in amongst that lot that opens your eyes to a wider miniature wargaming world.

See you from the foot-plate.

Was it a left...or a right?

2011-11-27T13:46:00.004Z

As you may well have realised by now, I have real trouble sticking to one project. Only a couple of weeks ago, I was churning out super-Grymn by the dozen...but now, I seem to have been diverted by painting. I must admit that it usually goes like that...either one or the other and never the twain shall meet.

At least I haven't stopped altogether!

With the incentive driven project well under way, I give you the first small bike squad for the Void 1.1 challenge:

Click the Pic!

This is the first squad of the first platoon (hence the 11 marking). There are two more squads just like this one, waiting for some paint with the final member being a single officer. I went for a fairly flat look but thought a small amount of camouflage would help add a little pazzaz! At this moment in time, the finished squad has been gloss varnished to keep them protected and that will be covered with a matt varnish to take away the shine.

With a further change of direction, I have been dry-brushing the four remaining APCs for my Grymn Tunnel Fighter army. I think it just dawned on me that I only have a small handful of bits and bobs to finish and the army will be complete! I am of the opinion that I want this army finished by the new year so I need to get my skates on so that I can put it to bed, so to speak.

...mind you...

...I have to varnish the army as well...

...AAAAARGGGHHH!!!!

I have been thinking about the Mantic Space Dwarfs. I haven't decided on a paint scheme yet so I will be undercoating them in a light colour so that I have a broad spectrum of colours that would work from it. I think that I will be taking a 'modern' approach to their paint rather than the 'medieval' style of the miniatures and will likely go for a green or desert scheme. No metals will be present in the finished item.

The Spitfire needs some specially shaped pods to cover the engines. I am on the look out for them and will progress further once I have found them. I have a lot of filling to get done but would rather do it all once I have the pods on because they will have gaps as well.

The BIG terminator is still on the painting table and will be getting further washes. He needs to be a bit more shady...after all...he is a Chaos terminator ;).

The super-Grymn are still on the table. They haven't gone away but are just taking a breather.

Well...that is about it for this post but I am planning a second one later. Christmas is coming and I have a wide range of suggestions for those of you who haven't decided on the lead-pile list for the holidays. Grab a pen and paper and batten down the hatches for a few ideas for Christmas.

See you...later!

Shameless Advertising.

2011-11-26T10:17:00.005Z

Christmas is coming and in a bit to divert your attention from big, shiny things from big, shiny manufacturers, I thought I'd plug a few things I've seen lately that would help out some of those smaller sellers who put the effort in and deserve a bit more custom.

I'll start with my favourite one; Hasslefree Miniatures. They have to come top of my list because they are the creators and sellers of Grymn (my favourite miniatures of all time). In the run up to Christmas, they have some cool new releases, including THIS, THIS and THIS. They have also started to release Grymn squad packs like THIS, THIS and THIS and also some Alien/adventurer packs like THIS and THIS. They are also the sellers of Twilight, a fantastic little range of miniatures by Mike Thorp. With new releases every month and the highly anticipated Grymn Walker, Hasslefree keeps the interest going.

Heresy Miniatures is another small miniatures manufacturer who has a constant flow of miniatures releases. Recently things have been chaotic with the Heresy Dragon but as that eventually levels out, there will hopefully be a plethora of new releases such as the recent ones like THIS, THIS and THIS as well as the already available Gang Pack. Heresy is where I buy all of my putty too...they also sell sculpting tools and clay shapers. It is a veritable one stop shop.

Old Crow Production make a wide range of resin vehicles and accessories. They sell them in various scales and include a range especially created for the Hammer's Slammers rule set. My favourite vehicles include the Glaive, Gladius and Slingshot. The quality is second to none, especially when compared to other resin producers.

Another company that I buy from fairly regularly is Scotia Grendel. They sell a wide range of products for various games that have been around forever (it seems). Void1.1, Kryomek, Leviathan are just a few of the games covered. I am a fan of THESE for my Grymn vehicles and quite often buy from the Void1.1 range.

If you want a wide range of products at knock down prices, you can do worse than trying Wayland Games. I could link to a huge number of products but I would run out of space. Pop along and have a look...they are also the only reliable UK seller of Heavy Gear stuff so if that floats your boat then this is the place to go.

Do you need plasticard? Evil Mushroom Games sells all sorts of model making accessories and is a very handy place for everything from putty to plasticard. Always quick to deliver, they are definitely one place I visit a lot for my scratch-building needs. They also have a range of scenery and accessories including a wide range of resin bases.

I know this is a fairly short list but I usually frequent these for everything I don't buy on E-bay or at the shops. Every time I have ordered, I have received top service and with Hasslefree and Heresy, you get sweets in with your order too!

In the current economic climate, small producers are suffering so it is worth throwing a few of your hard earned sheckles in their direction to keep the miniatures world vibrant.

Just my opinion.

See you from the mall!

There's a Storm-Rage Coming...

2011-11-25T11:39:00.005Z

To follow on from yesterday's Mantic review, I have managed to find the time to get to my Stormrage Veterans. Here's the box:

Click the Pic!

It is a standard video style box but is a little bit thinner than the one the Steel Warriors came in. Inside we have a pamphlet, two pieces of foam, a sprue of bases (five spare) and the miniatures themselves. When they arrived they weren't floating loose in the box but were packed in a very small plastic bag (possibly too small as I could see there being issues with the contents damaging themselves). The components in the picture have not been snipped from sprues or altered in any way...they were individual pieces:

Click the Pic!

Here is a close up of the three different types of miniature:

Click the Pic!

The Stormrage Veterans are made of Mantic's 'Plastic Resin'. There was no indication of what glue to use on them so I used Superglue (cyanoacrylate) on one and liquid polystyrene glue on another...both worked well! Cleaning them was slightly more involved than the Steel Warriors because the material is slightly more brittle than standard polystyrene and the small amount of clean-up that was required took slightly longer...but it wasn't an ordeal and there was no mould slip to worry about. The two different gunners are single pose with no variation possible (you can't even swap the weapons between the two different bodies). The leader is single pose with the option of either a pointing hand or one holding a big hammer.

Once they were assembled, there was something that really stood out about them and that can be seen in this comparison picture with a Steel Warrior:

Click the Pic!

It was immediately apparent that the Stormrage Veterans are smaller than the Steel Warriors. Stylistically, they fit together perfectly but size wise, they could be a completely different race. For me, mixing the sizes isn't a problem but for the more discerning gamer, I can see this being a deal-breaker...which is a terrible shame.

Conclusion: Easy to clean but it takes slightly longer than a Steel Warrior, simple to assemble once cleaned with no extra trimming required and can be glued together with standard plastic glue. Stylistically, they go well with their basic troopers but they are markedly smaller. There is a lack of variety in pose.

I like these but would have preferred them to have been in the same material as the Steel Warriors. I would also have preferred them to have been the same size as their basic brothers as the difference is quite plain to see. I can see a lot of gamers having real concerns over the size difference especially because the smaller troops have the heavier weapons!

Once I have assembled the leader, I will post pix but I see no reason to expect that assembly will be any different to the ones here.

See you from the top of the pine-pole!

Twice...in one day?

2011-11-24T19:04:00.007Z

Another welcome is due! Welcome Qalpha! I hope you find something cool in one of the side-streets or alleys of Inso's World...if you don't, it may find you!

So...here is one of the boxes that turned up in the post...a box of ten Steel Warriors:

Click the Pic!

Inside the box I found 6 sprues: 5 identical troop sprues and one with ten bases on it. There was also two pieces of foam and an advertising pamphlet...I was expecting a Mantic point but was disappointed:

Click the Pic!

Here is a pic of one of the sprues from the front and the back:

Click the Pic!

...and here is a pic of the bases and a small squad of assembled Steel Warriors:

Click the Pic!

Looking at the assembled troops: from the left, we have two un-poseable troops, Two troops with a poseable head (chosen from a selection of three) and a Sgt/leader with different equipment and poseable head.

Cleaning: Once clipped from the sprues, the cut lines were removed with a scalpel and any mould lines were scraped off in seconds. No issues to speak of.

Assembling: In order to get a tight fit for the torso onto the leg section, a small amount of trimming was required on the top inner corners of the leg piece (just where the rear fits in behind the shoulders). Apart from that, basic assembly is simple. I used polystyrene cement and it worked well. The only issue I have is that there were no instructions in the box so there are a couple of components that I am not sure of (the hose piece for one)...so I may have missed out on a vital component.

Conclusions: The plastic that is used is polystyrene so standard plastic glue is OK. Cleaning was hardly necessary. Assembly required a small amount of fettling but didn't take too long. The troops are fairly static with limited to no poseability. You have enough components to make ten basic troopers or five basic and five Sgt/leader models. The addition of an assembly sheet would make understanding what some of the small components are much easier.

I think that for the price, they are a very cool way to build a sizeable army. They have just enough variety to make them interesting but would probably get a bit samey if you want a HUGE army.

I am now looking forward to getting a pair of Stormrage Veterans assembled so that they can join this squad and I can get some painting done.

My next small review will be on the Stormrage Veterans.

See you from the turret.

New arrivals

2011-11-24T06:43:00.002Z

Before I start, I'd like to welcome Dave to Inso's World. I hope you find something to keep your interest here.

You know what it's like...you wait a week and then two parcels turn up at once (only a 'metaphorical' week).

Yesterday, I received my parcel from Heresy Miniatures that contained a roll of Green Stuff and a bunch of their fine Trench Coat gangers. I have all of the gang except for the juves and a couple of Slicks with alternative weapons. They are an excellent set of miniatures and I really should start painting them but at the moment I will have to just admire them in their metal state because I have too much on.

The second parcel I received was from Mantic Games and it contained a box of Steel Warriors and a box of Stormrage Veterans. I will be posting more about these at a later date but am really quite impressed by them at the moment.

I have managed to find the time to wash the VASA bikes and have started the highlighting process with a repeat of the base-coat. They are coming along nicely and I hope to have something decent to show off in Sunday's blog post.

Yesterday's celebration went really well and we had a good time with our children at a restaurant last night. Roll on to the next one.

See you from the bus stop!

Celebrations.

2011-11-23T12:40:00.002Z

Today, is a very special day.

20 years ago, I got married to my awesome wife.

Many people have got married but not to a completely obsessed model maker, painter, sculptor and serviceman...especially one with so many different personalities that it would make a normal person need to sit down for a stiff drink...never mind my sense of humour!!!

Over the last 20 years, we have moved about a bit, had triumphs and tragedies, differences of opinions, highs and lows but through it all there has always been the one thing that has kept us together...we are completely mad about each other.

Yep...it's all very soppy but today, I can be soppy!

Next year, I will have been married longer than I haven't but I can rest easy, knowing that It will have been a great trip all the way.

20 years...and I remember the very moment she stole my heart :)

See you over the bridge :)

Stepping into the Void!

2011-11-22T19:05:00.004Z

First up, I'd like to welcome Leutenant Brittan to Inso's World and seeing as tonight's little foray is all as a result of his suggestions and idea's, I hope that he enjoys the ride. Welcome LB!

Well, I have been encouraged by Leutenant Brittan to start painting some VOID 1.1 stuff and seeing as I have an awful lot of unpainted miniatures, I have decided to join in with his painting pledge (£10-00 worth each month...ish).

I will be starting with VASA and although I won't be painting to any set list, I will be painting to a theme and making sure that the factions are kept in their place.

So, since Sunday, in between night shifts, I have base-coated the first unit: Three Viper Wing bikes and a Hero & Liander Combination:

I will be washing these and highlighting over the coming days/weeks but hope to have them finished a long way before the month limit runs out.

It is good to get the first step out of the way :) .

This unit is the first of three that are identical. I will add a leader (Viper Wing Sgt...acting as a lieutenant for the platoon) to make 13 bikes in all. These will make up red platoon.

Isn't it funny how things just pop up every now and then...I guess I am just fickle.

See you from here...no, there...NO, here...

Into the Void.

2011-11-21T12:49:00.005Z

I have been reading some stuff over at Lead Adventure Forum (amongst other places) and have been encouraged to start painting a few of the many Void 1.1 miniatures that I have in my collection.

The main instigator is 'lieutenantbrittan' and if you check out the blog list over on the right, you'll see a link to his blog.

The idea is that you paint £10-00 worth of Void stuff each month. Now I already have all of the Void stuff I won't be following exactly...but what I aim to do is get a small unit painted as often as I can manage, in between the super-soldiers, Spitfire and Terminator that I am currently working on.

To start, I have a small unit of Viper Wing bikes consisting of 3 bikes and a bike with side-car. I have assembled them, cleaned and based them and they are in the process of getting an under-coat ready for the painting to start proper.

I haven't decided on colour schemes yet...but they will be quite dark and maybe 'urban' themed in some way. I won't be following the schemes in the Void rule book and although these are VASA vehicles, they will be acting as generic sci-fi (because I don't game, it doesn't really matter).

I have had these sitting in the cupboard for ages so it is a good excuse to get something going...watch this space!

On top of this, I have managed to sell some Orca battle-suits which have funded a purchase of some Mantic Space Dwarfs. I have 10 basic troops and 5 heavy troops ordered and on their way from Wayland Games. Hopefully they will arrive soon and I can throw a basic paint job on them. I reckon base-coat, wash and base-coat should do it. I will also be aiming to undo some of the misconceptions of the bird-beak helmets by painting them in the same colours as the rest of the armour...we shall see if it works.

See you from the river!

Meet you at angels...watch for the Hun in the sun...

2011-11-20T15:23:00.003Z

After a VERY hectic week at work and a lot of unsettled nights, I was certainly glad to see Friday and the end of my shift. Once I had landed, I managed to finish sculpting Captain Britain and then started the painting process. By the end of Saturday, the Captain was all finished with just the base needing to dry before the pix could be taken. Well, he is now finished and here he is wth the rest of the Super-Team:

Click the Pic!

Captain Britain is probably my favourite super Grymn so far. He took me from despair to joy, from nearly being thrown in the bin to being finished and nicely painted. I am quite chuffed that I managed to get the lion and the various union flags looking as neat as they do...so that is why he is my favourite so far. The next one will be Beast and of course, Goliath will be ticking along in the background because he is an absolute monster of a sculpt!

While I have been waiting for the putty to dry, I have been ticking along with the War-Smith and have washed him with Devlan Mud and started to highlight up. Here he is again and although he is still very WIP, his details are starting to stand out a little:

Click the Pic!

From a previous post, you will remember me saying that I wanted to sci-fi up a Spitfire. Well, yesterday, I bought a 1/72nd scale Italeri kit of a Spitfire Mk9 and have been tinkering with it a little today. So far I have split it right down the middle and widened the body. It is now big enough for a Grymn pilot and will have plenty of space to house the gas-turbine engines in the wing-roots. The wings have been fractionally swept (a very tiny amount) so the cannons will have to be removed...but they were going to get replaced anyway; they need to meet the demands of the larger scale.

I plan to make the aircraft 'fly-by-wire' so there will be no external control wires but there will be little bulges that will house the PFCUs. The engines in the wings will be nicely shaped to be part of the wings (a bit like the Nimrod), with the air intakes being in the nose of the aircraft (where the exhausts would normally be). With the propeller being removed, there is a nice space for a shaped nose-cone...and that will mean that there may be space for a bit of nose art...it all depends.

I may end up filling the cockpit with a pilot and details but at the moment, I am thinking that it will be solid and blocked in (it depends on whether I can build a see through canopy or not).

I'm sorry about not having pix of her at the moment but she is most certainly looking under the weather and doesn't want to show off her new lines just yet...but soon, she will have the strength of character to oblige!

Well, that is about it. I hope to see you all again soon.

See you from bleachers!

Maybe the muse still lives?

2011-11-19T16:00:00.002Z

I was really worried that Captain Britain had caused my muse to leave town. After ripping his face off twice and worrying over his legs for far too long, I finally decided to add a bit of extra to the shoulders and everything fell into place. Here is Captain Britain, ready to be painted:

Click the Pic!

As you can see, he is just as small as all the others and will fit in fine. He has been on the painting table since yesterday and thanks to a bit of a sleepless night, he is finished except for the base...but I'll post the pics when that is finished (I have to let the glue dry before I paint it...so it will be tomorrow). Can you imagine how hard it was to paint the union jacks on his wrists? VERY!

On to other things and today, I bought a model kit of a Spitfire Mk9. It will be interesting to see what happens when I start to chop it up and move stuff about. I am curious to see how much I can change it without it losing it's classic lines...

The mind boggles!

See you over the barricades!

The most beautiful thing.

2011-11-18T17:41:00.003Z

Every day, I walk past a Spitfire as I travel to work. This is what it used to look like:

Click the Pic!

It isn't a real one, it is a fibreglass replica but it still looks like a thing of beauty. Anyway, I digress...recently, it has been away for a bit of a spruce up and repaint and has returned with a set of D-Day markings and it looks all shiny and new.

I have always been a huge fan of the Spitfire because it is the most beautiful aircraft ever made. The great thing about the one near my work-place is that it is from a reconnaissance squadron so it never had any guns in the wings. All weapons and every other piece of equipment that wasn't needed, were removed to keep the aircraft light, fast and fuel efficient. That means that it is as clean lined as a Spitfire can get...and it is superb.

...as usual, this got me thinking...

Would it be possible to build a sci-fi Spitfire that kept the lines of the original but was altered enough to be a sci-fi, sub-sonic, fighter aircraft?

...I suppose we'll just have to see, won't we?

See you from the drawing board.

Even Stranger Days...

2011-11-13T20:13:00.002Z

Once upon a time,

In a galaxy far, far away...

After a profound Remembrance ceremony this morning, I wondered what to do for the rest of the day. I didn't get very much sleep at all last night so anything too detailed was right out so I had to find something a little less immersing... and then I realised that I had something that I had just dug out of my cupboard that would be perfect for the task.

Yes...it has been lurking in my cupboard for a good few years.

Yes...it is a Terminator space marine.

Yes...it is a lot bigger than it should be.

Here is a War-Smith for the Dire Wolves; a renegade band of space marines:

Click the Pic!

He is only base coated but I guess I'll be getting on with it for a week or so. It may finally end up complete...who knows?

On a more familiar note, I have managed to rescue Captain Britain so not all hope is lost on the super-soldier programme.

Time ticks by...

See you from the taxi.

With a bump...

2011-11-13T08:54:00.003Z

I just thought I'd post a small update before I go to the Remembrance ceremony today.

I realised yesterday that Captain Britain has done it...

As I ripped his face of for the third time and realised that his proportions were off I knew that my sculpting muse had come to an end. I must admit that I have been pleasantly surprised at how long it has lasted but am a little disappointed that I didn't get through the whole super team before it left.

What does this mean?

First of all, the sculpting side of things will slow right down and actually sculpting will be a difficult process. Because I will be gnarly doing that, I will probably end up getting annoyed with painting...

It's a bit of a wotsit really.

You never know though. Maybe it is a blip and I'll get straight back to things.

In the mean time, here is Fixit of the Star League:

Click the Pic!

He is a miniature that hasn't been converted in any way. He has just been painted and based. He is from Studio McVey and I bought him at Salute this year.

I have extracted a rather old sculpt from the cupboard and have put an undercoat on it. It is a real departure from everything I have done recently and should pander to a wider audience. Maybe some of the more mainstream forums I post on will generate a few replies to my topics with this one...who knows?

Remember the fallen today. Remember the veteran's who made it through, though not quite unscathed.

I REMEMBER THEM.

With Remembrance in Mind.

2011-11-12T22:06:00.002Z

Remembrance Sunday is tomorrow.

Every year, I think of those who gave their lives in service to their monarch and country.

Each year, many more fall and each year, many more are wounded of body, mind and spirit as a result of the work they do.

They are suffering every day, as a result.

We owe them a debt and that debt is paid by keeping their memory safe and by handing it down, from generation to generation.

Tomorrow, with my family, I will be at a remembrance service to hear the names of the fallen called and to give thanks for their ultimate sacrifice. It will also be a time to think of those who have been injured, maimed or mentally scarred whilst doing their duty. They suffer their duty every day.

A poem I wrote today...

Remember Them.

Forward to the breach my son,

Grab a bayonet, grab your gun,

Charge with purpose at the hun,

You can rest when you are done.

In the heat of battle cry,

As blood is spilled and bullets fly,

Give your guts now, don’t be shy,

If courage fails then you will die.

Think of friends at home, at rest,

Give for them now, do your best,

Now’s the time to take the test,

Give your all, although hard-pressed.

You’ve done your utmost from the start,

Rest your head; you’ve done your part,

Sleep my son and still your heart,

Lay with brothers on the cart.

Through mud and snow and sun and rain,

Lay peacefully, you’ve earned refrain,

Unburdened now from earthly pain,

Just memories of you remain.

Of sacrifice for home and King

Of how you gave up everything

Of how you lay down in the spring

And now, in gratitude we sing.

Show not sorrow. Shed no tear.

Just remember every the year,

Those who pushed, through pain and fear.

Protecting those, who they held dear.

See you at the going down of the sun.

And then there were three...

2011-11-10T00:38:00.002Z

Before I start, I'd like to welcome Aaron Bailey to Inso's World. Welcome Aaron; I hope you enjoy your stay here but watch out for the pace of changing ideas...it may catch you out if you are not careful :).

So...I decided that I wasn't going to keep this picture for Sunday and thought I'd show it off now. the Star League now has a third member; Torphig:

Click the Pic!

Torphig has an alien artefact on his stomach that enables him to generate weapons out of pure energy.

Torphig is also a departure from the rest of the League because he is the first one that isn't home sculpted. He is a conversion (as seen in the last post). I think he fits in perfectly though.

On the topic of the Star League, I have a further member on my painting table at the moment. He is a completely un-converted, metal miniature that I picked up at Salute this year. I will post more information when I post pix.

E-Bay has been kind to me again with another cheap haul of Void Miniatures. At the time of bidding, I was only after 5 of the 19 but now they have arrived and I have seen them up close, I quite like them all because they have a real 'villainous henchmen' feel about them. Once I have sorted things out with them, I am sure more information will be forth coming.

Well...that's it for now.

See you from the lounge door-way!

A funny thing happened on the way...

2011-11-06T17:57:00.003Z

...to the shopping cart.

Here is the way my mind works:

1. I want to buy some Green Stuff and the first place I always go for it, is Heresy Miniatures.

2. I have some of the Trench-coat gangers in my collection but I am not sure how many.

3. I have a look which ones I have, check the site and realise I need a bunch to finish the gang.

4. Seeing as I am ordering Green Stuff, I may as well order the gang members.

5. As I put away all of the gang members that I have checked, I start looking in their box.

6. In amongst things I find some miniatures that I had forgotten...one of which is this one:

Click the Pic!

7. I think...'what a good miniature for the Star League' so I add a few bits and he's ready to join.

The miniature above was sent to me by a mate of mine called Mike (who, coincidentally, is responsible for the Twilight range of miniatures) a while ago and has lain in wait for the perfect opportunity to surface...and this is it. He will make an excellent League member and I think he will be able to generate a pistol out of energy, rather than needing a holster or any means to carry the thing about.

...and all this came about because I needed to order some Green Stuff.

It is funny the way things happen.

See you in the garden of serendipity!

Well...throw a little candy cane red in there...

2011-11-06T10:06:00.005Z

Good morning everyone. I'd like to start by extending a warm welcome to our latest follower CPBelt. Welcome! I hope that you enjoy the turbulent idea stream that runs through Inso's World...it's the way I do things :) .

So...Iron Man got finished. Here he is before paint:

Click the Pic!

...and here he is after paint:

Click the Pic!

I really enjoyed painting this one because he took very little time due to the very limited colour palette. He is also another one that improved in the paint (in my opinion).

It is quite strange because Iron Man really highlighted the fact that small facets of an idea create the overall impression. To explain myself I can say that I could have sculpted practically any style of armoured body but as long as I added the right style of mask, I would have ended up with a recognisable Iron Man...the mask makes the man. Add to that the colours and we have an overall impression of Iron Man no matter how little the armour resembles the actual character...

...now there's an idea.

Generic characters with tiny little design cues being IP free. Add a distinctive paint job and all of a sudden you have a recognised character from a Marvel/DC universe.

Goliath is big...in fact, he is REALLY big. I have added some flesh to his wire frame using Milliput because it is cheaper to buy than Green Stuff. Even as an OGrymn he will be approximately 60mm tall. If I am not particularly careful, Goliath may be the one that breaks my muse...so I will be ticking along with him while I sculpt other, smaller heroes. Out of all of the various Hank Pym costumes, I have decided to go for the following one but with additional ear-covers in yellow:

Click the Pic!

There are various versions of the same costume including one that gets rid of the spiky boot/glove tops so I will be doing that version.

With Goliath, you will have to close one eye when you look at him because he will be a slightly hunched OGrymn with shorter proportioned legs, extended torso and over-large head. Unlike the Goliath in the comic books, he won't be able to shrink/grow and would never have had that ability. What we have is a character that is already giant sized, taking a super-serum and gaining additional strength, toughness and durability compared to his counterparts...and bearing in mind that an OGrymn is already quite a brute, he will be quite exceptional in Grymn society.

OGrymn are genetic throwbacks from Grymn DNA. They are born, just like Grymn but grow at an alarming rate. They are very rare and as a result are treated as gods among Grymn; practically revered! They are trained and tutored through their lives to be leaders and great fighters and what they want, they generally get. When the Grymn super-soldier program was approached by an OGrymn who wanted to join, they had to radically change certain parts of the facility to be able to fit the bulk of an OGrymn in. They also had to be very careful with their calculations because to harm an OGrymn would be considered an inexcusable crime. Once they had triple checked everything, they went ahead and Goliath was created.

More background will be coming soon.

See you from the giant's boot!

I am...Iron Man!

2011-11-04T22:35:00.003Z

Welcome to Vern; the newest traveller through Inso's World. It is great to have you aboard and make sure you comment on the things that interest you because it may influence what gets posted :).

I have finished a week of night shifts and as usual, I finish at 07:30 and return home. Once I am out of my uniform and into some civvies, it's off to town for a cooked breakfast and then a day of pottering about and tinkering with things. I don't generally have a sleep on the last morning because I won't sleep at night so I just stay up and occasionally dose for a few minutes. Fortunately, I am generally in a lovely, dopey, relaxed frame of mind that is perfect for those jobs that require a lot of patience...

...like sculpting :).

As a result, I have finished sculpting Iron Man. Unfortunately, I started painting him before editing the pix...so there aren't any at the moment.

In addition to that, Captain Britain is more or less finished from the waist down. Now I need to sort out the rest of him but he is ticking along nicely.

Seeing as I am in the right mood...I watched Iron Man two again this evening. It is a cracking film purely as a result of Iron Man, War Machine, the drones and 'big suit with whips guy'. It really makes me appreciate the joys of modern digital special effects...AWESOME!

So...where the heck am I at with the super-soldier project?

Well, once Iron Man is finished I have these to make:

Captain Britain

Rescue

Demolition Man

Beast

...and I have decided to add an OGrymn to the programme. He will be dressed as Goliath, resplendent in blue and yellow spandex :).

I was thinking that there may come a time where an OGrymn might decide that he wants to undergo the upgrades and because they are revered in Grymn society...how could the scientists refuse?

I am listening to all of the suggestions I have been getting and there is likely going to come a time where some other characters get sculpted but I am holding on until I have my little band finished first...so keep the suggestions coming in because they may well appear if I think they fit the bill.

What about the Wrecking Crew? Can there be villainous Grymn? Would they fight amongst themselves? Who knows?

See you in the reflection of the final tear from a dying man!

She Hulk in all her glory.

2011-11-03T18:17:00.003Z

Seeing as I finished painting her this afternoon, I thought I'd post pix of She-Hulk with the rest of the team:

Click the Pic!

I hope you like her.

The next one along will be Iron Man and I have heard talk that there may be an OGrymn joining the team in the form of Goliath (Hank Pym style).

Now who would have thought it?!

See you from the centre of the nuclear blast!

She Hulk

2011-11-02T16:42:00.002Z

I wasn't going to post this today but I guess I couldn't resist it...Sunday's post may be a little sparse as a result! Any way, here is She-Hulk and she's going primal:

Click the Pic!

I am quite happy with her in general but her face isn't as pretty as I would have liked.

I thought that her wavy hair didn't suit this sculpt so I back-combed it and gave it more body so it added to the RAAARRGGGHHH effect of her.

I was never going to sculpt her as a glamour girl, I just didn't think that aspect of her comic persona suited my image of what she should be...hence, she is a bit more bumpy than her comic book pix. She is a Grymn Super-Soldier remember!

See you from the big chair!

Sorted...

2011-11-01T18:32:00.003Z

After all the indecision about the Iron Man design, I have decided which direction to go in by means of 'trial and error'. I started by sculpting an armature and whilst looking at pix of the various Iron Man armour types, I just sculpted bits and bobs and went where the muse took me. Fortunately, the muse has been helpful so the sculpt is looking good...

...She-Hulk just needs her hands finishing and a general clean-up. She may be a little more heavily built than a lot of people would be expecting but I have gone for a more 'beastial' temperament for her and to quote the Marvel site, she doesn't always maintain complete control while she is Green. That said, I will be smoothing things down a bit so that she looks like a well built woman rather than a man with an over-developed chest.

The Mushroom Spore Launcher has got a base coat and is ticking along...but he is low on the priority.

I reckon that by Sunday, the super team will be at 7 (not necessarily all painted...) and the mushroom will be pretty much the same as it is.

See you from the saddle of my Dragon!

EDIT:

From the rubble of a destroyed building, the defeated form of Abomination staggers forth; only to drop, face down on to the scored earth. As the dust settles, a shape coalesces from a blurry outline into a shapely female...with green skin. Standing next to the unconscious villain, she brushed her hands together, flicked her hair from her face and said...

"Any one for coffee? I really fancy a Mocha"...

With that, She Hulk strode off while the SHIELD agents scooped up Abomination and secured him in custody.

Yes...She-Hulk is finished :)

A change of tack...

2011-10-30T12:10:00.003Z

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...

2011-10-28T21:01:00.004+01:00

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...

2011-10-27T17:01:00.003+01:00

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...

2011-10-25T20:59:00.002+01:00

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...

2011-10-23T12:22:00.003+01:00

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?

2011-10-21T10:50:00.002+01:00

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.

2011-10-20T12:20:00.003+01:00

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.

2011-10-19T14:39:00.002+01:00

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...

2011-10-19T01:03:00.004+01:00

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!

2011-10-17T22:26:00.003+01:00

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!

2011-10-16T20:25:00.003+01:00

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...

2011-10-15T22:41:00.003+01:00

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!

2011-10-14T20:41:00.002+01:00

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.

2011-10-13T20:14:00.003+01:00

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...

2011-10-12T17:20:00.002+01:00

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.

2011-10-10T17:08:00.003+01:00

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!

2011-10-09T17:04:00.005+01:00

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...

2011-10-02T19:43:00.002+01:00

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...

2011-10-01T20:26:00.003+01:00

...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!

If at first you don't succeed...

2011-09-30T21:34:00.002+01:00

I'd like to start today's post with a welcome. Welcome to Lord Siwoc! Good to have yo aboard and feel free to comment and join in while roaming about and (hopefully) getting ideas for projects of your own.

So I re-sculpted Black Widows arms and although the hands could be a little bit smaller, I am relatively happy with the end result:

Click the Pic!

I hope you agree that there is an improvement because I think there is. I know for sure that once she has a bit of paint on her, she'll look better as well.

So...on to the next one and Hurricane has been all fleshed out, ready to start detailing. She is a chunky lass but I am happy that I have got her proportions right this time around. I am smoothing the bumps on her because she is a speedster and will be wearing a special, protective, suit (a bit like a wet-suit) so her lady bumps won't be so pronounced. I don't have any new pix of her but will have something by Sunday's update, I am sure.

See you from the dock of the bay!

Oh Dear...again...

2011-09-29T13:51:00.003+01:00

Sometimes you get caught up in a sculpt and you keep plodding on in a bid to finish it, even if you know there is something not quite right. That is exactly what has happened with this sculpt and it is a bit annoying because I have essentially finished it but now have to go back and rip its arms off because they are too long:

Click the Pic!

The picture above shows how tiny she is but also it shows just how obviously long her arms are. I will be finishing the other WIP sculpt in the picture before I go back to the first one...as I can't face ripping the arms off just yet.

Oh woe is me :(

On a different note, my little doggies have turned up from E-Bay and they are smaller than I was expecting so I will have to think about what to do with them.

Ah, the ups and downs of the hobbyist!

See you from behind that door...YES...THAT one!

Oh dear...

2011-09-28T00:50:00.002+01:00

Before I start my post, I'd like to welcome Spacejacker to Inso's World. Welcome! I hope you find some comfort as you travel around the mazes and the labyrinths!

So why 'oh dear'?

I have just won another auction on E-Bay. It was a timely appearance of something that had gained my interest during my internet travels. It didn't cost much...

...but it's more 15mm stuff.

I have a bunch of armoured wolfies winging their way to me and they will be perfect to go with my nine little walkers...probably because they are Protolenes, just the same as the walkers. I reckon that they will still be able to tie in with my 28mm stuff by being 'ickle aliens' but I may have to change my ideas when they actually arrive.

Strange things happen when you work funny shifts.

My little sculpt of my first superhero is nearly complete. I just have ears, hair, wrist-bands and hands to go and she will be finished. I reckon that by the time I go on shift tomorrow, I will have her finished...we'll just have to see.

My four APCs are now under-coated and ready for the base-coat to be applied. If I get time tomorrow, I'll start that little process. Unfortunately, the fiddly nature of the sculpting is keeping me from painting the three walkers so they have just sat...but they are certainly not forgotten.

That is about it for now.

See you through the window of my Spitfire as it plummets towards the ground!

Is it Sunday yet?

2011-09-25T19:30:00.003+01:00

Shift work has had a nasty effect on me this week...I have had a major re-lapse on the sleep front and was wide awake until gone 04:00hrs this morning. It is a pain when I go to bed and feel tired out but have an active and wide-awake mind...but it does give me time to think.

So in amongst the de-caf tea I trawled the net to find some decent pix of superheroes for my little team and have now decided on the following group:

Nick Fury (go between)

Iron Man (flier/blaster)
Black Widow (martial artist)
Hurricane (speedster)
Juggernaut (brute)
Beast (brawler)

I have started sculpting the first of them and there is a sneak peak at the bottom right of the following picture:

Click the Pic!

Also in the Pic, you will see that I have progressed slightly with the three walkers. Although they are still in need of a major tidy up before I even wash them, they look a bit better now that the windows are defined.

Above the walkers are four more of my Tunnel Fighter APCs. They are assembled and filled as far as they need to be to get their undercoat applied...but the putty still needs to dry a bit so paint will have to wait. It is a funny thing that when I get a bit over-tired, I dig out things from the cupboard and just tick along with them...this time it was quite productive. I assembled the APCs with some epoxy glue from a 99p store...and apart from smelling very strongly of ammonia, it worked very well.

I reckon that I'll get a bit more finished on the little sculpt tonight but that will be about it. She is looking OK at the moment but don't expect super-detailed because I want to keep the little team simple and have the paint-scheme bring it to life. Also bear in mind that each one will be around 22mm tall...so you'll have to cut me some slack if they don't turn out awesome.

Can you guess which one the first sculpt will be?

See you over the metropolis tower!

From Russia in Perfect Safety

2011-09-21T17:05:00.005+01:00

Whilst sleeping off my night shift, I was rudely awoken by the post man so I dashed downstairs in little more than my underwear and signed for my latest parcel.

The parcel had a nice Russian stamp on the front and a bunch of Russian script and inside the jiffy-bag was this:

Click the Pic!

Yes...it was a nice plastic soap dish or, as I'd like to put it, a future component in some sort of vehicle.

So I open up the little capsule and this is what I find:

Click the Pic!

Whoever sent this parcel REALLY knows how to pack things safely. So I delve a little deeper and I discover the true identity of the delivery...a small squad of Space Dwarfs:

Click the Pic!

They are from Velard Miniatures (a defunct company that had some great little sculpts) and they have been cast to order in resin. They are nicely cast with minimal mould lines and they will look very nice as a small security unit. They didn't come with bases but I have plenty of those so it isn't an issue.

I really like them and would recommend them...but they only appear infrequently on E-Bay so getting hold of them may not be easy.

Once I have got around to basing them (they will be on the back-burner for now), I'll post some scale pix.

Now...where's my cuppa? I need all the help I can get today!

See you through misted lenses as I drink from the cup of life!

Robotic News.

2011-09-20T16:39:00.003+01:00

I was so glad that I finished my other two walkers today that I thought I'd throw a picture out there with the assembled group:

Click the Pic!

I have to decide how I am going to paint them all at the moment but they will be urban coloured (grey) but may have some sort of camouflage and will DEFINITELY have nose-art teeth and eyes. They need that big space under the cockpit covering up.

A bit earlier, whilst travelling the web, I found this:

Click the Pic!

It is a WIP Spider-Mech from Antenociti's Workshop and I can see a lot of gamers going mad for them. The smaller body at the front, is possibly aimed at the 15mm market but I can see myself going for the smaller one for my Grymn forces. With a small amount of conversion, they would make great Tachikomas from Ghost in the Shell. I reckon they will be fairly pricey, looking at them (especially the big one), but if they were used as transport for your commander/character models, you wouldn't need too many to add flavour to your forces.

Just a thought :).

See you ducking down in the gully, avoiding the snipers!

Yay! A parcel!

2011-09-19T13:13:00.002+01:00

I went over to my local postal depot this morning and collected the parcel that was waiting there from Saturday. Straight away, I knew that it was too heavy to be my Space Dwarfs so it had to be my other purchase. I was very lucky to get these at the price I did:

Click the Pic!

The miniatures in the pic are 13 Exo-suit wearing Gladiators from the Urban War game and can be found here. Each one is £8-00 to buy so buying them new would have cost me £104-00 plus postage. I paid less than £19-00 including postage so I am extremely happy about my lucky E-Bay bidding :).

What I am going to do with them, I'm not sure but I am thinking that a different skin colour and some glowy paint on the weapons would turn them into an alien race of Gladiators...who knows?

Definitely something different...maybe even something for a few superheroes to fight...

2nd Post.

2011-09-18T19:51:00.005+01:00

On to the second part of Sunday's posting and this time there is hobby news. Unfortunately, I have been unable to finish the remaining two walkers but have got a fair way. Here is a pic to show them so far:

Click the Pic!

All I have left to do is add two window frames, either side in green-stuff (at the moment, I have to wait for the existing layer to dry) and then fill in all of the gaps in the frames. Once that is done I just need to pin and glue the guns on before undercoating and painting. I guess it is a case of 'so near, yet so far'. Well. I'll be ticking along with those until they are finished.

The postman only rings once...and then takes my parcel off to the depot until I can pick it up tomorrow. The big question is..."Is it Space Dwarfs or my other parcel?"...I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

For ages I have been keen to add a few superheroes to my collection and I have finally decided that it is time to get the ball rolling. The idea is to have a team of five 'super-soldiers' with a liaison officer to act as a go between with the normal armed forces. I have decided that, rather than just making it all up, I'd opt for some recognised Marvel/DC heroes and have decided on the following:

Go-Between:
Nick Fury.

Team:
Captain America
Ironman/Warmachine (maybe even the Crimson Dynamo).
Black Widow
Hurricane (effectively a female version of the Flash - super speedster)
A brute of some description (maybe Juggernaut or Beast)

I have chosen the above because they can all be explained away with serums or technological or biological science. There won't be any 'struck by a mystic bolt' nonsense! I want them to be super soldiers rather than mutants or mystical superheroes or aliens.

Unfortunately, the miniatures that are on the market don't fit in with my plans so I will have to sculpt/convert my own which is one of the reasons I have kept it to a limited number of team-members.

I'm not saying that they are imminent but they are on the drawing board...

One last note before I get back to my Walkers. I have been trawling the web...as I do...and I noticed that Miniature Heroes has the Denison range of sci-fi troops. In amongst them are a few gems and for their time, they are pretty decent little miniatures. It may be worth a look...

Miniature Heroes

Well, that is about it for today. I am on night shifts this week so I will be a bit disjointed with sleep and that will impact things a little. It doesn't mean I won't get anything done, it just means I am getting my excuses in early!!!

See you through the shattered remains of the bay window!

The first post for Sunday.

2011-09-18T10:23:00.003+01:00

I have a lot of stuff to say today so I thought I'd split today's post into two parts...this being the first post.

I'd first like to welcome a plethora of new followers this week! Welcome Diakon, Blitzspear, Ironmammoth, Warped and Lorenzo Calvi. I hope that you all enjoy your stay here and I also hope that you take away some inspiration for a future project of your own.

I think five new followers in one week is a bit of a record...I must be doing something right ;).

In case you haven't noticed, I have added another link on the blog list...Role 'n' Roll! It looks an interesting site so pop over and browse (especially if you like superhero fun).

On a completely separate note...I have got a new job :). I have been chosen to work in a design integration team and will be leaving my current post in December. I am still on the same unit but moving to a different building and will be going on to a permanent day shift. It will be a new challenge and is a job that I have wanted for a very long time so I am over the moon! My new job means that I have a bit more of a standard routine which should enable me to get a sleep pattern going...that will mean that I have more energy for everything; including my hobby.

It is about time that I got some decent luck ;).

Later on today, I'll be posting proper hobby news so watch this space.

See you from behind the sofa!

Job done...

2011-09-11T16:00:00.006+01:00

Before I start today, I would like to welcome ADAM to Inso's World. I hope that you enjoy your stay here and find something that takes your interest.

I must admit that I have had a bit of a busy working week with late shifts but I have still managed to set aside some hobby time to carry out a walker conversion. You may remember me mentioning that I had bought some walkers from Critical Mass Games, at Salute a couple of years ago. Well, the walkers in question were three 'Arc Fleet Cannon/Missile Support Combat Walker' models and here is a picture of one (courtesy of Critical Mass Games):

Click the Pic!

The walkers themselves, are made for 15mm wargaming but I thought that, with a little conversion, they would make good combat walkers for my Urban Grymn. Here is a picture of the components for one of the mechs and each of the three mechs came with all of the components shown (so there were spare chin weapons):

Click the Pic!

The good thing is that the chin weapons will happily fit on the shoulder mounts instead of the main guns. This means that you could get the scout walkers and use them as close infantry support by fixing the chin weapons on the shoulders and under the chin...and they would be £2-00 cheaper than buying walkers with shoulder guns.

...anyway...I digress! I was intending to use the walker for my 28mm Grymn so I set about converting the body with plasticard and putty. After filling in the chin area I added a cockpit and a hinge block at the rear to give the impression that the canopy lifts like an aircraft canopy. Well...this is what I came up with:

Click the Pic!

I used plasticard where I could and only used putty where I had to (to try and keep the design as simple as possible to re-create...especially because I have three of them). Here is what it looks like with some under-coat on:

Click the Pic!

I almost forgot the usual scale shot so here it is:

Click the Pic!

I hope you like it. I think it will be perfect for trotting down urban streets; blowing the heck out of the enemies of Grymn kind.

Once I have got it painted, I'll post more pics...and then I'll have another two bodies to convert. I must admit that although chopping up tiny pieces of plasticard can be quite frustrating, it can also be quite therapeutic!

That is it for today!

See you from the depths of the the deepest, darkest, hobby cupboard!

All things 15mm...

2011-09-08T12:30:00.002+01:00

I seem to have got the intention to empty my cupboards of 15mm stuff at the moment.

After the 'Dogbots' I am keen to progress with a few more walkers so I am in the process of assembling a few more from Critical Mass Games. These ones are another Salute purchase...but from a few years ago and they, like the Dogbots, have been hanging around in my cupboard, making themselves awkward for quite a while.

Unlike the Dogbots, these walkers will need a small amount of conversion to make them usable for a 28mm army so I will be assembling them as far as I can and then converting them to suit. I already have plans for these and they will be joining my Urban Grymn forces in the future...in fact, they may be the start of that project proper...who knows?

I know I have been a bit chatty this week but I am on a late shift and have not been sleeping too well...so I am tired and can't do too much that taxes the mind. A bit of on-line chat and miniature assembly is about all I am good for, hence the multiple posts this week.

Don't worry though...pretty soon I will be back to Sunday posting so you won't have the same amount of waffle you have been getting over the last week or so :).

See you when the sun shines and the fish are jumping!

Dogbots

2011-09-07T13:14:00.003+01:00

First of all, welcome to Vampifan and Christopher; the newest followers here at Inso's World. If you want Zombie action, Vampifan's blog is the place to go for all things undead. There's nothing much of that in Inso's World but I hope you both find something to get the muse going.

Well, nothing much to report today apart from the fact that I have finished the Dogbots now:

Click the Pic!

I have put in a scale pic for those of you who are interested in how they will fit with 28mm. I am sorry about the quality of the pic but my camera has just run out of batteries and it never performs well on the wind-down.

I will take better pics when my camera has recharged.

See you over the top of the world!

Links Update.

2011-09-06T09:51:00.002+01:00

I'd like to welcome Avicenna to Inso's World. Avicenna is a painter of renown and to name but one of his achievements, was the winner of the Salute painting competition this year. Welcome aboard and I hope you find something to interest you here on my blog.

Tenuous link...but speaking of blogs...the axeman has come and removed some of those blogs that have been dormant for awhile and replaced them with a few that are new and a bit more regularly updated (I hope). Feel free to browse away and enjoy.

See you over the editing suite floor!