Showing posts with label 15mm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 15mm. Show all posts

Sunday, 5 January 2014

A Grymn start to 2014

First up, welcome to Lee Morley. He's the first new follower to be welcomed this year. I hope you enjoy your stay and comment on stuff you feel the need to.

So... this is 2014. Am I going to make any resolutions? No.

I often say that I will finish this or start that and just end up getting distracted... it is just how I roll. That means that any resolutions will simply be empty gestures.

That said, I am planning to thin down my hobby stuff, reduce the money I spend on new stuff and get working on some of the backlog that has accumulated over the last twenty-plus years. I have already made a start on this so part of the plan has already come to fruition. I have also sorted out a box full of stuff I want to sell and that money will be going to a very special project that is all about getting someone home.

Reptiliad will be getting worked on. Sci fi will be getting worked on. Sculpting will be done too (with a view to getting back upto speed to complete a few commissions... again to put the money towards the special project)... so I don't plan on being idle.

Well... before I bore you any longer, here are eight painted Grymn in powered armour:


Click the Pic!

They are made up of the four that have been painted for a while (the command unit) and the second four that make up the first fire team. However, there has been a disturbance in the warp and that means that Hasslefree Miniatures has upset my plans again. Why? well, they have only gone and released these:

LINK 

So I have had to buy some and that means that I have had to find a way of adding them to my squads... which I have done. That also means that the squads in the pic above are now incomplete and will be changed to include some of the weapon back-packs.

In addition to the weapon back-packs, there is a conversion kit to turn your 28mm Grymn trooper into a smaller scale mini-mecha:


Seeing as I was sent a lovely little gift of a Powered Armour Trooper body and the new arm pack from Hasslefree Miniatures, I decided it would be nice to put together a fully up-gunned mini mech to show off:


Click the Pic!

I think it would work really well as a small mech for 15mm space Dwarfs... but regardless of that, it looks cool and the weapon back-packs will be perfect for my troopers.

I think that about sums it up. Happy New Year!

See you from the flooded plains!



Monday, 26 December 2011

Landing on Boxing Day.

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!


Wednesday, 28 September 2011

Oh dear...

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!

Sunday, 25 September 2011

Is it Sunday yet?

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!

Tuesday, 20 September 2011

Robotic News.

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!

Sunday, 18 September 2011

2nd Post.

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!


Sunday, 11 September 2011

Job done...

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!


Thursday, 8 September 2011

All things 15mm...

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!

Wednesday, 7 September 2011

Dogbots

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!

Sunday, 4 September 2011

Robots...FAAAHSANDS of 'em!!!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was looking through one of my hobby cupboards and I was finally convinced that I needed to assemble and paint these:

Click the Pic!

They are Ayame Battlesuits from Critical Mass Games and are meant for 15mm but will work fine for 28mm robots. I still need to finish the bases but I won't have them done by the end of the day so I thought I'd post these anyway. At this moment in time, I have no plans for these...they are just ticked off and available to add to a future project at some point.

There are a host of these Protolene battlesuits available so they could be used to build a complete army if you wanted...and at around £4-00 each, they are comparable to standard 28mm prices. They come as a resin torso with separate resin legs and metal arms. All of the components are crisply cast but there are some very faint striations where the 3d digital sculpting method has been used. At this sort of size, they aren't too noticeable but they are a particular bugbear of mine.

Lovely little robots though.

I have a few more bits and bobs from Critical Mass Games that will appear at some point...but they will be tied straight into my Grymn forces.

Here is a picture of the Condor with a cardboard 15mm miniature for scale:

Click the Pic!

I would have used a proper miniature but I don't have any 15mm ones so just for Comstar, I made an ickle cardboard one :). I hope this is good enough for your purposes.

This week has been a mixed blessing on E-Bay. I was unfortunate in losing my bidding war for a pair of Warzone Vulkans...but went 'buy it now' for a squad of Space Dwarfs.

The Space Dwarfs are from a Russian Company who used to be called Vellard but due to IP problems, they disappeared. Occasionally, the miniatures turn up on E-Bay and I decided to take a punt and order some. Once they arrive, I'll share the wealth and show off a few pics.

The Condor has stalled a little while I try to decide how I am going to explain some undercarriage...but I am sure something will crop up.

Sculpting has stopped for now...but I have a strong feeling that it won't be for long...

See you from the poop deck, me hearties!

Wednesday, 31 August 2011

Angels high!

I was awoken this afternoon with cup of tea and a parcel from Russia (with some nice stamps on it). Sometimes, night-shifts aren't so bad :).

The parcel was a little squashed but inside, was a fully intact model kit of a Condor for the Robogear game. I haven't really had a good look at it but it looks quite chunky and usable so we'll have to see what I come up with...it will need an undercarriage building for it and it will need to be repeatable so it will have to be fairly simple. I will be putting wheels on it (so that it can taxi without having to hover) so I'll need to source some of those...but there is definitely some potential there.

A bit of an edit here...here is the box:

Click the Pic!

...and here is a scale pic with a 28mm Human and a Grymn:

Click the Pic!

O.K. ...I've kept you in suspense about the 15mm stuff...so I'll put you out of your misery. It is from Critical Mass Games and I will happily say that, for a smaller scaled item, the detail is very crisp and the models themselves will make a perfect addition to a larger scaled army. It is proof that smaller scale doesn't mean less effort in the detail department.

...of course...I'm not saying exactly what I've got until I have decided where they will end up although they may get to be in their own army but will likely fit in with one or two of my other projects. I am quite happy pottering along with them so there will be pix of at least three of them by the weekend.

I am starting to get back to a certain amount of normality. It isn't very often that I get too emotional but over the last couple of weeks I have re-discovered what is important in life so I am awaiting the big sigh that will unwind me. My son is at home and eating like someone possessed! He is still wobbly but his stoic character is returning to him and he is almost back to his former, cheeky self (although he will need to put on a lot more weight to get back to his normal size...as skinny as THAT was!). I am back at work and am on nights for this week so I am a bit done-in and am having to get back into the swing of things.

Life is full of opportunities.

See you over the plains of Mars!

Tuesday, 30 August 2011

15mm?

You know how it is...you get a bit bored, can't decide what you want to do, can't be bothered with sculpting and are busy rooting through your boxes of miniatures and then something gets in your way and you can't close the door of your cupboard so you take out the offending item...

...and realise that it may be worth getting the offending item finished because it has sat there since Salute this year and has been getting in the way ever since.

I would post a pic but I am just on my way to work BUT I can say that it is something in a size that I don't dally with very often...15mm. Obviously, I'll be using it for my usual 28mm stuff but it is what it is...

There are nine of them, they are all assembled and undercoated and they all look rather spiffy :).

See you when the meds allow!

Sunday, 12 September 2010

A new day...and a new dawn...

Well, it has certainly been a strange week. I met up with a school friend that I haven't seen for over 22 years (had an excellent lunch :) ), I went to a birthday party where I didn't know many of the people there, I have played the ukulele a bit, had a few stark reminders of my wide and various obligations and I have found out that I am back at work from 07:30hrs tomorrow morning.

So...I haven't got as far with my latest Tunnel Fighter squad as I would have liked:

Click the Pic!

...however, I have certainly not been idle and have managed to more or less finish all of the drones for the drone squad:

Click the Pic!

I need to add the bases to the ground drones, paint up the Grymn controller and then paint all of the bases. As I have mentioned, the Grymn controls the three ground drones and they in-turn, have control over three aerial drones each.

Now you may think that a squad of almost complete drones would be a weeks work for me...especially seeing as I have had so many distractions this week...but NO! There is more...

I was over at the Lead Adventure Forum and saw a thread that was talking about 15mm Ogryn. A guy named 'Hybrid' did a cracking conversion using some Games Workshop Orks and I was so impressed that I went and bought some Orks to give it a go myself...here is the result:

Click the Pic!

I have no plans for any 15mm armies so these will probably end up as flesh-coloured Orks...or even...SPACE PIRATES!!!

Still keeping up? I would say 'finally' but this is only the last picture, not the last bit of news...here is the other deep-one...Bruce:

Click the Pic!

I'm not as happy with the paint job on Bruce as I am on the previous one...but I'm sure they will look fine together on the tabletop...especially when I paint up the eight smaller ones I have :).

So...in life we all make choices and we all have obligations. I have a habit of getting a bit carried away sometimes and offering to do all sorts of wide and varied stuff...I have designed tattoos, sculpted leaving presents, have been asked to do various commissions and even fix things (cars, houses, motorbikes etc...)...occasionally, I get so carried away that I say I'll do stuff that I really don't have the enthusiasm for...and it is that stuff that has caught up with me...

I have a commission to convert some Space Marine parts and I also have one to sculpt a Tiger onto a pipe (one that has been used to smoke tobacco in). Today I have decided that they are now on my work-bench and will be finished as soon as I can. That is a pledge and I will endeavour to make it happen...I will be able to post pipe pix but not Space Marine pix (shhh...they are secret ;) ).

Well...that is about it for today...I hope it is enough because there isn't any more!!!

See you through the sliding doors!

Sunday, 16 May 2010

Tiny, Happy people holding hands...

Here is the first complete 15mm Dwarf, with a 28mm scale Dwarf for comparison purposes:

Click the Pic!

I may end up detailing the helmet a bit more but, for now, it is good to go.

...better late than never? Who knows?

Comments are welcome on this one (please).

See you in the supermarket.

Early post...for a Sunday change.

Before I start with today's update, I'd like to Welcome tim_b42 and Si, as new followers to the blog. Welcome to both of you and I hope you enjoy some of the more varied aspects of this place.

Speaking of varied aspects, I've gone from Grymn Tunnel Fighters, to waiting for Grymn to arrive and finally to...what can I do to keep me busy while I wait? Well, Friday saw the Mushroom Ogre get his sculpting finished and today he gets his coat of paint finished:

Click the Pic!

He is an Ogarix and was originally sculpted to join the band of MUSHROOM MEN FROM OUTER SPACE!!! that I was converting up. The race as a whole are called Agarix and the original miniatures were from Hasslefree Miniatures and they are pictured, in their converted and finished state (I painted their bases today...they have been waiting for this for a very long time!), below:

Click the Pic!

The Agarix miniatures don't come with weapons so I added some to give them that menacing ALIEN INVADER look.

For a final bit of cheese...Protect the mushroom god!!!:

Click the Pic!

Why didn't I get the Ogarix cast? That is a question I have been asked a lot and here is a list of reasons:

1) It is huge and would need to be cast in resin...I'm not a fan of resin.
2) It has a mix of materials which mean it would have to be cast in resin...see above.
3) The putty I used was old and full of little lumps. Some of the lumps were impossible to remove so throughout the sculpt there are little lumps of un-cured putty...also the surface is not very smooth.
4) He has a really 'half-arsed' weapon that isn't good enough really.
5) I didn't want this to be a measure of the quality of my sculpting. When I release a mini I want people to be impressed with it's quality...not disappointed.

So...that is why it didn't get cast.

That doesn't mean that no one will get the chance to own one...I plan to sculpt a few new big mushrooms over the coming few months and they will be of the required quality to cast...watch this space!

On to other news...I knew it was going to happen...someone else has sculpted 15mm Space Dwarfs. It is also quite likely that the guys who have been patiently waiting for me to finish mine have bought them...and if that is the case, I don't blame them because I have been exceptionally tardy. That said...I have taken this new development in the miniatures world as a bit of a kick in the pants to get my little guys finished...even if they aren't necessarily going to end up where I wanted them (it is all rumours and conjecture...so I guess we'll see).

To finally get some movement on the 15mm Dwarf project I am going to completely finish one and then see how it goes from there. The first one is almost there...I only need to add feet and a head and then tidy up the gun a bit and he is finished. Seeing as I have posted so early today...I may have finished pix later (if I don't get too sidetracked today)...we'll have to see.

Note to self...don't plaster your unfinished 15mm Space Dwarfs all over the web when you are too lazy to get them finished quickly...SOMEONE will beat you to the prize!

I have a small commission to work on. I am building a Space Marine for a bloke in Belgium. He is sending me a plastic marine and I will be making it all pretty, like :). As I get things done, I'll show it off here...I'm doing the job for a pittance so there will be no complaints :).

Well I guess that food shopping awaits so I'll see you through the bottom of the coffee mug :).

Wednesday, 21 April 2010

Busy Wednesday.

Before I start, I'd like to welcome Justin Zimmerman and CJP to my blog. What better way to start your time here than to have a look at a few progress pix :).

...So I said that I had the last of the Grymn Tunnel Fighters nearly finished? Well now they are done. I had to paint ten troops and then put the whole army so far into squads. Once I had done that I had to add all of the shoulder markings...so here are some pix of the fifty four members of the army so far:

Click the Pic!

This pic will end up a bit bigger when you click it:

Click the Pic!

At the moment, these are all of the basic troops that I plan to have. I can now focus on getting the command squad finished along with all of the support robots that I am planning...not to mention the transport vehicles...and I have just started putting together some powered armour troops...

What is 11mm tall, bulky and in need of weapons? You guessed it...it is the humble Space Dwarf. With them in mind, I made up a special stamp for trying to get some weapons made and have come up with a strip of pressed weapons. I now have to remove them from their backing and see how they look. so far, they look a little 'soft' on the detail front but I reckon that a bit of jigging will sort them out. It is the first time I have tried making stamped out weapons so it is a learning curve and I'll need to learn the technique...but in the big scheme of things, I have made a little progress with the 15mm Space Dwarfs so it can't be a bad thing...can it?

I don't know what tomorrow will bring...maybe Grymn, maybe Dwarfs, maybe even Kindred...who knows?

See you through the stained glass window!

Tuesday, 20 April 2010

Tuesday...

I am not in the best of moods. I appear to have some sort of bug that has not only made me feel nauseous and dizzy but very tired as well. As a result I am doing a little bit but not very often.

That said, I have started to write a bit more Grymn fiction that will no doubt appear on my other blog at some point soon. I have also been painting the last ten Grymn tunnel fighters and have them all base-coated, ready for a tidy up before washes are applied.

What else have I done? Well...

...I have a 15mm weapon stamp made. I plan on stamping some green/brown stuff to make moulds for green/brown stuff weapons which can be fixed to the Dwarfs once they are dry. I will be using more putty to attach them so there won't be the issue with weapons falling off (during casting) by using glue. Now all that remains is to see whether everything works...if it doesn't, it will be back to the drawing board again.

Anything else? Of course there is! We have another follower. I'd like to welcome 'Jack of all games' to the blog! Welcome aboard and I hope you enjoy your stay.

I find one of the interesting things about the various followers who have joined is what blogs they like to visit. Some of the followers are here to attract more hits to their blog (by following thousands of blogs) and others have a small area of interest which is reflected in the blogs that they follow. When I get a new follower, I have a brief flick through their favourite blogs to get an idea of why they are here and quite often, I am pleasantly surprised to find some fantastic links.

It is always worth while exploring the follower's blog list...you never know what you'll find!

You could say that as much as they visit to gain interest for themselves...the followers trade in kind with sharing their blog lists with us all!

See you through the dusty sky!

Sunday, 18 April 2010

3, 2, 1...Aaaand I'm back in the room!

After an extremely busy couple of weeks, I have taken a big chill and come back down to earth again. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to show off but that doesn't mean that I have been idle; it just means that I have been doing a little consolidation.

First of all (for all you people who are keen on finding out what is happening to the 15mm Dwarfs). I have taken the Dwarfs out of my cupboard and they are now nestled together on my work table. I have been thinking long and hard about how to deal with the weapons (which is why they stalled) and have come up with a cunning plan to sort something out very soon. Once I have the weapons on, I think they will get finished very quickly so I hope to have some progress pix soon...WATCH THIS SPACE.

Next up, I have finally assembled all of the basic troops for my Grymn Tunnel Fighters. I have ten assembled miniatures sat on my work table in various states of paint and hope to get them finished very soon. Speaking of my tunnel fighters; I have continued to sculpt the big robot and have bulked up the shoulders and started to detail the joints and main components of the arms. I have also begun the painstaking task of cleaning up all of the Epic scale Landraiders that I have, ready for converting into robot barriers.

Speaking of Landraiders, I have been using them for a bit of an experiment. When they arrived from E-Bay, they were all in various states of paint so I needed to paint-strip them. After browsing the forums for paint-stripping advice, I settled on Dettol disinfectant to do the job. All I had to do was throw the Landraiders into a glass bowl, cover them in Dettol and leave them over night. In the morning I brushed them vigorously with a toothbrush and repeated the process over a couple of days to get them perfectly stripped. One thing I found out was that you shouldn't rinse them with water in between as it makes the paint sticky. Apart from that, I now have 8 more nicely clean Landradiers that have begun the transition to robots...so a job well done!

What? More plans? Yes! This time not of a hobby nature. Tomorrow I bite the bullet and go to look at my motorcycle. I have had it sat in a garage for 2 years and have been putting off going to look at it because I am dreading what I'll find. The bike went into the garage in a rush and never got a clean or any other preparation for storage...top that off with a pair of popped fork seals and you'll realise why I have been none too keen to look at it.

I hope you all wish me luck with it because, quite frankly, I need all the luck I can get!

Well...that's it for today!

See you through the glorious sunshine!

Saturday, 17 April 2010

..."Send Message; Over"

..."The Dwarfs have reached the table"
"I say again...the Dwarfs have reached the table".

"Message Received and understood; Out"

Sunday, 1 November 2009

Sunday Thoughts...

I had a great Halloween yesterday. Me and my family went out for dinner and a trip to the cinema; avoiding all of the trick-or-treaters. What better way to avoid the whole thing?!

We all went to see 'UP' by Disney/Pixar and we thoroughly enjoyed it. It is definitely a film for all the family and is well worth going to see.

On to other things...

I said I was working on a couple of Void miniatures and here they are:

Click the pic!

They are Syntha troops and I thought I'd keep them fairly simple. These were the only four I got in amongst the box of Void miniatures I received from E-Bay so there are unlikely to be any more...not with so many others to paint.

To change the subject...never underestimate the awesome power of soaking in a nice warm bubble bath. There I was, slowly being boiled alive when I came up with a method of clearing the block on my 15mm Dwarf sculpts.

One of the reasons I have sort of stopped on the 15mm Dwarfs is that I couldn't work out how I was going to make the weapons all the same. Well, I've come up with a cunning plan! What I am going to do is make a gun 'stamp' out of plasticard and bits of sprue. With the stamp in hand, I will roll out some Green Stuff and push the stamp into it, making little moulds for the guns. All I'll need to do then is to press a bit of Green Stuff into them and let it dry...a bit of trimming later and I have a gun.

Now I realise that the gun will only be textured on one side but most of the Dwarfs have the weapon up against their bodies anyway...so you won't see the other side.

I plan on working on the gun-stamp over this coming week...so we'll see how things go.

You see?...I haven't forgotten the 15mm Dwarfs, I just met a stumbling block for a short while.

There are times when the painting bug strikes and times when the sculpting bug strikes. You just have to ride the ebb and flow and progress when the mood takes you.

See you through the condensation!