WOW!

What a success my little review has been! I would like to welcome two more followers to my blog; inrepose and Dragonforge. Welcome to you both and I hope you enjoy your stay.

Now for a sort of apology.

A while ago I was over at Frothers Unite and I saw the perfect range of resin bases in one of the forum threads. At the time I said I was going to put an order in at some point due to the fact that the bases were perfect for what I was going to do with them. The bases were made by Dragonforge:

http://dragonforge.com/Painting%20service/for%20sale/gaming_bases.htm

Time passed and I suddenly, without warning, decided that I needed to get the resin bases NOW (as I am impetuous and unpredictable sometimes) so I visited the Dragonforge store...only to discover that it was based in America. Unfortunately I couldn't wait so I went for a different, UK option and that was Fenris Games.

Don't get me wrong...the Fenris bases are excellent but I do feel a bit like I've broken my word so I will be putting in an order with Dragonforge very soon and will put a review up when the bases arrive.

Now all I have to do is decide what the bases will be used for...but I have SO MANY MINIATURES I'm sure I'll find something worthy of them!

See you through the blizzard!

Sunday Update...and a Review.

Hello and welcome to a rather dull Sunday afternoon in Inso's World. I hope that our British viewers have remembered to put their clocks back...far be it for us to have natural body clocks after all...we'd have nothing to moan about then!

So, what has been going on? Not a lot I'm afraid. It has most certainly been a slow week on the hobby front. I know I finished the little robot for the Starship Crew earlier in the week but I have been a little bit too tired for much else and have been driving my wife mad by digging things out and putting them away again...and digging them out...and putting them away...etc...

I did, however, manage to prepare a set of resin bases from Fenris Games...so here is a review.

Fenris Games produce a range of resin bases and scenery for 28mm wargaming. They have an E-Bay shop here:

http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/Fenris-Games__W0QQ_armrsZ1

This review is focused on the Sulaco SF, chamfered edge, 25mm bases shown here:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/25mm-round-Sulaco-SF-chamfer-profile-resin-bases_W0QQitemZ380158718104QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Toys_Wargames_RL?hash=item588339b098

When my order arrived I was pleased to see that there were twelve resin bases packed nicely in a zip-lock bag, inside the jiffy bag. They were made from a light grey resin and there was minimal flash to remove from the edges. Before I thought about painting them I sanded a small amount of resin off the bottom of the bases to remove the meniscus and any flash and to make sure they sat happily on a flat surface. For all twelve bases it took a total of 5 minutes preparation time.

Next, I washed them in warm water with plenty of washing-up liquid to remove any mould-release oil (something that resin casting always has); using a gentle scrubbing action with a toothbrush. After drying them thoroughly with kitchen towels, I let them sit overnight to make sure they were completely dry.

To start the painting I gave them a coat of GW foundation paint to act as an undercoat and then painted them in GW Chaos Black paint. This was followed by a dry-brush of GW Chainmail and a couple of washes of GW Devlan Mud. After I painted the rims in GW Chaos Black again, the bases looked like this:

Click the Pic!

One thing to mention at this point is that I wanted to keep the painting really simple...I have upwards of a hundred of these to paint and I will be adding as little flair as I can get away with. That said, these bases do have enough details to add a bit of colour and weathering to so don't take my basic paint job as a rule...just a simple demonstration!

If you look at the above picture, you will see that the base edges are just like standard GW slotta base edges...something that isn't immediately apparent on the Fenris site. Also, all of the detail is below the rim of the base.

So...the bases were prepared and painted and now they needed to be put to use. After I removed the slotta bases from some of my Urban Grymn and removed their basing tabs, I filed their feet flush and drilled a single hole in one of their feet. A pin was glued in place. While this was drying a single pin hole was drilled in each of the bases. The miniatures were then glued in place. This was the end result:

Click the Pic!

As a result of removing them from their original bases, I have to tidy up the paint on thier feet but apart from that...job's a good 'un!

I really like the look of these and it certainly suits the miniatures better than the desert bases I originally had them based on. If I didn't have an entire army to base, I would probably paint some of the more solid floor panels in different colours but I am happy with the simple metallic look of these for a whole army.

So...any negatives? Yes.

These particular bases have a gridded floor (which can easily be seen from the pics) and because of that, it is quite difficult to remove the Mould release from the depths of the grid. That meant that when painting them, it was often fairly difficult to get the paint into all of the corners in the gaps between the grid. If you have an air-brush or used a spray primer/under-coat, this won't be a problem but I don't...so I had to spend extra time making sure that everything was coated. I reckon that a spirit based primer would make the job easier.

Apart from that I am extremely happy with the bases and would heartily recommend them to anyone who was looking for a good resin base supplier.

Well, that will be it for today I'm afraid. I doubt if I will get much more done today because the change in the time here has completely thrown me out!

Have a great Sunday and enjoy the sun that is out there...Winter is on the way and with it comes less light and shorter days...the bane of the painter!

See you through the falling leaves!

Mmmm...I'm not quite sure?...

Welcome to Friday evening in Inso's World. I am a little bit confused as to this first announcement so you'll have to bear with me.

First of all, I'd like to welcome BRUNA OLLY to my blog. Normally it would be a case of me hoping that a new follower gains something from my blog but I'm not sure that would be appropriate in this case. It seems that BRUNA OLLY is some sort of a performer who has joined almost every blog in the world for a bit of exposure. I doubt if she will even be visiting this blog and if she did, I'm not sure whether her English is good enough to take an active part in it (I could be wrong but seeing as my Spanish is terrible, I am just making that assumption).

That said, I looked at her blog and she seems nice enough so good on her for showing a bit of initiative ;).

So Welcome BRUNA!

Now then...something completely different. I have been distracted again by the need to finish stuff that I started an age ago. Well this guy had different arms in other pix but now the latest member of the Starship Crew is finished. He is called APE and is the latest civilian version of the Beetlebot 2000; he helps Sola with the mechanical duties and organising the ships stowage:

Click the Pic!

I haven't a clue what I'll do next...but I reckon I'll do something.

Oh...by the way, I have cleaned and prepped some of the Fenris Games bases that I received recently and they are very spiffy. I will have some pictures done for Sunday's update so stay tuned.

See you through the Black Hole!

I couldn't resist...

Welcome to new follower Steven Weidner. I hope that you enjoy your stay and maybe get a tiny bit of inspiration from something here.

What couldn't I resist? The final member of the Starship Mystics is finished:

Click the Pic!

He's the Mystic Panda from Hasslefree Miniatures and I have named him Tully.

I just thought I'd share.

Sunday sauntering...

Welcome to Sunday's update. I have deliberately left an update for a few days just so that I had a few things to show off.

Before I start, I'd like to welcome our newest follower; Phil C. Welcome Phil, I hope you enjoy your stay :).

So what have I been up to over the past few days? Well, I've had a few parcels turn up...

I received a parcel from Hasslefree Miniatures which contained a bunch of conversion bits and pieces and also a very cool little Mystic Panda which is shown next to a Grymn pilot here:

Click the Pic!

In amongst the same order, I received a bunch of Rhino heads which I have been using for my Games Workshop Space-Marine Terminator conversions here:

Click the Pic!

Click the Pic!

They are going to be 'Counts as' Space Wolves. The squad in the top pic is being led by Arjac, a special character.

I received another parcel from Fenris Games which contained a whole host of resin bases. I was going to put up some pictures of them today but I have been a bit too caught up with the terminator conversions and haven't had enough time to prepare them for photographs...so they will be arriving in a future update (sorry).

A further parcel arrived from E-bay with five plastic Terminators in. I now have a total of 15 which will be converted to Rhino-men as soon as I get around to it.

What...more parcels? You bet! I finally got my parcel from Renegade and the miniatures look lovely...just 2 weeks too late to be useful.

I think that is about it...I'm not sure if I already mentioned the Void miniatures from E-bay or the Plasticard/Milliput from Evil Mushroom Games...but I guess I have now :).

Finally, I have made a decision about the Ogarix. He was sitting there looking very sorry for himself and all because I couldn't make up my mind how to make his gun/club weapon so I have decided to make his weapon a purely close combat weapon. That means I have chopped the end off, tidied up the shaft and now have a direction to focus on. All he needs to be finished is a few bits on his hand, a bit on his shoulder and to tidy up the head of the weapon...I must get him finished this week. Here is a pic of the alterations:

Click the Pic!

On to other matters...I've actually managed to get a bit of sleep over the last couple of days so I am hoping it is the start of a trend.

I also managed to drill straight through the end of my thumb with my pin-vice. Fortunately it was only a 0.8mm drill bit so the hole wasn't as big as it could have been. It still bled quite well :)...so, everybody...take care when drilling...it hurts if you drill yourself!

I took the stray cat to the vet and managed to get a nicley torn up hand in the process. It's all very sore but it is also functional so I can't really complain. We now know that the cat is male, is between 7 and 12 years old, doesn't have an identity chip, WILL NOT ALLOW ITSELF TO BE EXAMINED, and has a really bad set of teeth. He's back to the vet on Tuesday to get fixed, one way or the other (depending on test results). We'll see!

That is about it...at last!

See you through the blood!

Tuesday...aaaand relax!

Well, what can I say? The shock has worn off and apart from a few minor niggles, we are all starting to think about what needs to be done and what we need to get in to order.

We've been to the doctor's and have been given a birth date of 13th Jun 2010...now we have that, it is all real.

I reckon that before long, the hobby side of things will pick up again as I need a distraction from all of the preparations and worries that being a new parent at the age of 40+ brings.

To say I am ecstatic about the situation is an understatement and I have been overwhelmed by all of the congratulations and kind words that me and my wife have received through various on-line forums (and of course, this blog) so thank you.

On to other things and you will notice that I have put up a list of the Blogs that I follow. Now some of them aren't very regularly updated but they are full of stuff worthy of looking at when you need a bit of inspiration...so they are most definitely worthy of being in the list.

If you look at the list, you will notice a blog by Dwartist. Well, Dwartist has just joined Inso's World as a follower; David. Welcome David and I hope that you get as much pleasure from this blog as I get when I see your Imperial Guard conversions and paint jobs. There are few people out there who manage to add such realism to sci-fi without covering their work in battle-damage. I am glad to have you aboard.

What the heck am I doing at the moment? Well, I have stopped sculpting whole miniatures at the moment because my mind isn't 'on it' at the moment and I have started doing a few conversions...just to keep my hand in whilst NOT ruining what I have already sculpted.

What am I converting? Plastic GW Terminators.

Why? I had a box...I now have two boxes and another five terminators coming from E-bay and I thought they would be a fun distraction.

How? I am giving them different feet, hands, heads and equipment. There is quite a lot of work required and I am waiting for the heads to arrive from Hasslefree Miniatures so until I get the heads, I won't be showing off pix (otherwise you just won't see the direction I am going in).

The Terminators will be converted to be a 'counts as' Space Wolves army but obviously won't be Space Wolves. There will be approximately 15 troops and they will all be unique.

In case people are concerned about the other bits and pieces I have been working on lately...don't be. I need to take a deep breath for a short while and the Terminators are the deep breath. Once they are done, I am sure that I will be back to the proper work.

Well that's the lot for now.

See you through the sunshine!

Sunday Bombshell!

What can I say? I've just had a bit of a bombshell dropped:

Click the Pic!

As you can imagine, I am a bit stunned at the surprising news because it wasn't planned. I am, however over the moon about it! Inso is on the baby trail again :).

The hobby has taken a bit of a back seat as a result...so I doubt very much that there will be an update later due to the fact that my hands are shaking!

These are, most certainly, interesting times we are living in!

See you through the joy!