Back to the usual chaos.

This week has been an interesting one. There was plenty going on at work, we have a little kitten making herself at home, I've started a little bit of sculpting again and I've managed to get a little bit of painting in too.

There was also an instance of almost falling asleep at my desk so that evening I took some meds (prescribed by my doctor) and had to have the following day off work because, to be frank, I was feeling a little bit too mellow and was laughing at things that weren't as funny as I would normally find them. Once I Landed, I finished off some painting and ended up with these:

Click the Pix!

They are Space Dwarfs from Velard Miniatures and can only be found on E-Bay now (Mrs Velard, if you would like to search). These ones are resin and were very clean casts with little clean-up. I thought I'd give them a little bit of a pulp feel rather than the usual military look. I think it works.

It seems that I am going through a subconscious clearance of the shelf... I am just painting random things. I have put the last Clanker unit away for now and have shuffled things around in 'the cupboard' so that I can fit everything in. One of the side effects of this is noticing things that have been hidden away... like Judge Grymn and their transport vehicles... Urban walkers, Pods, GZG Mechs, Beetle-bots... the list goes on and they are all assembled, ready to be attacked with a brush.

So... I got up early today to take my son to work and when I returned home was treated to an hour or so of next door's puppy screeching. I will put up with it for a few more days because it is settling in but after that I will be getting all military. While I was distracted by the puppy, I dug out one of my gifts (I have been gifted some wonderful things by many hobbyists out there who must think to themselves..."I know just the man who'd like that"... people who I've never met but show generosity that I am humbled by) and started to work on it. It is a vehicle from GZG's range of 25mm vehicles (long OOP but in the process of being resurrected by Daemonscape) and will make an excellent vehicle for my newly painted Velard Dwarfs. The thing is that I have to convert it into an exploration vehicle so it is at the very first stages of having some bulk adding to it... there will be pix once I have built the body to an acceptable WIP status.

Sculpting has been slow but getting there. I have bulked out an armature and have started to add muscle groups for my Thor commission. I have also been sculpting something random... but I will be showing no WIP pics of it. I don't want to spoil it's entrance.

In other news, I sold a squad of my old, second edition, Space Marines and I thought..."while I have the army out, I may as well sell the lot" so that is what I am doing. If you want to take a look I have linked to three forums: LAF, Frothers and FoD. You may (or may not) need to be a member of the forums to see the pix. Hopefully, you'll see them on one of the sites. If you are interested... get in quick... they are going fast :).

An example:

Click the Pic!

Well... that is about it for now.

See you from the back of the Jub-Jub bird!

By the numbers.

This week has been one of little hobby action. I have taken to being on-line a bit more and when that runs out of interesting things, I dig out my Sudoku and put numbers into grids. I think that part of my indifference has come from starting up the Frothers sculpting comp and drafting rules. There have been a few e-mails pinging back and forth and I have been contacting people about judging and theme direction. It has been a bit of a distraction... but I guess it is all about getting the competition up and running so it is a good thing (I hope).

The FoD UNDoD is also ticking along. So far there have been lots of theme suggestions and there has definitely been a bit more interest than the last one (so far). Hopefully, this will transfer into lots of dioramas but we shall see. The first theme polls will start soon.

Yesterday was taken up with 'Operation kitty-fetch'. A five hour round trip to Somerset means that we now have our latest family member, Charmmy:

Click the Pic!

 She is much smaller than The Pog was at her age and she toddles around with a lot less certainty than he did.  She is a little cutey and has a little spirit but she needs to get some extra food in her and get to the vets for her worm/flea treatment (she is 580grams!!!... we are not sure about whether we can put the treatment on/in her so we will let her be for a week or so before she goes to the vet, has her jabs and hopefully gets flea/worm treatment at the same time). We have been combing her and the present count is 47 fleas... not a good start but our other cats are properly treated so they should be OK and their treatment will kill any fleas in their bedding too. Once she is treated, we will sort the carpet etc out. My daughter is well chuffed with her new baby... as you can probably tell:

Click the Pic!

So... what's on the table? Well, I received an e-mail from someone that led to E-Bay and a seller that I have been looking for for a long time (now saved). I looked through the shop and was reminded of some Dwarfs I had bought a while ago... so they are now on the table getting some paint. I also have the last Silent Spectre miniature, the Clankers and two mechs... so I haven't stopped altogether; I've just slowed down a bit. 

Here's the dwarfs (prior to assembly and paint):

Click the Pic!

Maybe once I stop being soppy about losing The Pog I'll snap out of it and get back to painting/sculpting at my usual rate again. I hope so because I'd rather be doing that than being so miserable.

That is about it for today...

See you from the place of tiny-clawed, spiky terror!!!

From Russia in Perfect Safety

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!