Mark... TIME!

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

It's been a slow couple of weeks and it seems that most of the stuff I will be talking about, has been somewhat put on hold.

I've had the last week off as holiday but I am still staying at home and not going far. That said, last weekend marked my 28th wedding anniversary so we did have an evening away at a local, exclusive hotel and really enjoyed the peace, different environment and food/drink that we found there. The next day, we found out that one of our friends had died... and spent the rest of the day with other friends, sharing both a sense of shock and sadness...

This week has been spent drinking.

Helston had its Christmas light 'switch on' which was great, as was the burger and chips from one of the many vendors there. Helston always has a good show of lights and if you are in need of cheering up, during the festive season, the lights and the wonderful people of our town will certainly do their best to help.

On the switch on evening, I also learned of the sad passing of one of our care home's residents... toasts were drunk.

One day last week, it actually stopped raining for long enough to go out on my bike so I popped over to Coverack for a coffee and a look at the sea.

Click the Pix!

I also turned the VFR round in the garage and fired her up to make sure she still ticked over. Now I'll be able to see what the radiator damage is like and get around to getting some stripping down sorted.

In hobby news, the Leviathan has stopped, the Tauroxes have stopped, my army build has stopped and the only thing that has happened is that I bought a model kit and have been commission sculpting... so nothing to show off. On the plus side, the commissions are all Squat related so things should start making an appearance out there fairly soon, I reckon... watch this space for an announcement.

That's about it for now. Hopefully, this coming week should be a bit more positive because I have another week off and have a few plans on the social calendar. We live in hope, eh?

See you from the edge!

2018 in retrospect.

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

It's very nearly 2019 so I thought I'd look back over a year that has seen a lot of change for me and my family... plus a little bit of hobby along the way... so let's get started.

Early in the year, things were pretty settled. I was at home, my wife was at work and things were ticking along nicely... then my other shoulder froze up so the painkillers came out again. As a result, I became lethargic and began to get a little bit house bound... so I decided to do something a little bit different, in memory of my Dad, and quit drinking for a year (the only exceptions were toasts for very special occasions and the passing of friends/relatives). Since 8th May 18, I have been on the wagon and have had seven toasts... I will be finishing this drought on 7th May 2019, which is the evening before Flora Day and the first toast will be to my Dad.

Quitting drinking has made a big difference and I have been more cheerful as a result. I have also lost all of my 'drinking' weight and am back to where I was when I was fit and healthy in the RAF.

This year has also seen the completion of my "leaving the RAF" list because I have not only become a member of a charity committee (Marie Curie) but have also got myself a job, working as an HCA in dementia care, for a non-profit, charity organisation... completing my list, which was:

• Move to Cornwall.
• Become part of the community.
• Get a part time job that I could walk to.
• Get involved with charity.

It wasn't a big list but it was an important one. Now the list has been completed, I can properly settle and get my feet under the desk. 

As I have mentioned, my job has changed directions in a dramatic way... from Aircraft Engineer to Dementia Care-Worker. It has been a real eye opener and has been extremely tiring... I haven't had such a physically demanding job for years... but I love the work and get a huge amount of satisfaction from it so I am likely to be doing care work for the foreseeable future.

From a Charity perspective, Not only have I been assisting and working for charity, I have also been able to do a bit of fund raising and donating and have raised well over £1200 this year for various charities... especially those of which my friends are involved. I hope to exceed this amount in 2019.

From a family perspective, my daughter is doing very well at her job and is gaining more training and responsibility... and getting suitable pay rises to go along with it. She has also found a nice lad to share her journey and things are settling down nicely... joint habitation is their goal in 2019. My son has been in the RAF now, for 3 years and is currently enjoying a detachment in the Falklands (another coincidence because the Falklands was my first overseas detachment when I was in the mob). 

Click the Pic! (Port Stanley, The Falklands)

He is enjoying himself and has really flourished in his military role... and he has grown up considerably as a result. He passed his driving test this year and will be getting a car when he returns to the UK. My wife has been pottering along as she always does... being the anchor for us all to cling to. She was the one who gave me some tough love and got me to seek work... something that needed to happen. She still loves her child-care job and is looking forward to a few changes to her work routine in the new year. The pets are all doing well (apart from Boris, our Giant African Land Snail, who passed away), especially my cat Sam, who has really grown into a proper cat now:

Click the Pic!

The house renovations have stalled... I am too tired to start doing all that stuff at the moment but will look to ramp things up in the new year. Another thing I plan to do in the new year is get some miles in, on my bike. I am ashamed to say that I have had the bike for a year and haven't even ridden a thousand miles yet! That will change in 2019... my bike needs to be seen:

Click the Pic!

From a hobby perspective, I have been fairly productive. In fact, I thought I'd been pretty slow this year until I checked back through this blog and listed what I'd done... Here's the list:

• Sly Marbo - Conversion.
• Valkyrie Drop-Ship - Conversion.
• Sgt Harker - Conversion.
• 6x Demiurg Air Guilders - Converted and Painted.
• Squat Berserker - Sculpted, Sold, Cast Received, Painted.
• Halfling Cavalryman - Converted and Painted.
• Badger Rider Squat - Converted and Painted.
• 2x Dreadnought - Converted.
• 5x Squat Bodies (Commission) - Sculpted.
• Tank Company - 11x Armoured Vehicles - Converted and Painted (Awaiting Decals).
• 10x Halfling Snipers - Painted.
• Engineseer and 4x Servitors - Painted.
• Primaris Beastman - Painted.
• Squat, Platoon Command Squad - Painted.
• Squat, Infantry Squad - Painted.
• Dash Hound (Superhero) - Converted.
• Big Olaf - Painted.
• Snorri the Giant -Converted and Painted.
• 3x Hearthguard Bikers - Converted.

On top of all that, I have also painted a few Primaris Marines, part painted a host of Drones (for my Demiurg project), part sculpted a bunch of commissions (but lost my mojo and haven't sculpted properly for most of the year), part sculpted an Ogryn, Lizardman and various other characters... and I am currently in the process of converting a couple of Hearthguard Biker units. That said, I think that my crowning glory, this year, has been my tank company. I have always struggled to complete armoured vehicle conversions so I am glad that I have managed to complete the tank company:

Click the Pic!

That was 2018... so what will 2019 bring? 

Hopefully, a settled year where I become accustomed to the physical aspects of my job and start getting my home-life back... rather than getting home and flopping! More bike riding, more charitable activities and more hobby time. I don't make resolutions because they just set you up to fail but I do plan to try hard in 2019, just the same as I do every year... and that is resolution enough.

I'll be celebrating the New Year in company and will be having a toast at mid-night (the only drink of the evening) so I will take this opportunity to wish everyone a 2019 that they deserve and also that you all stay safe and remember that living to work, will kill you... so work to live!

Click the Pic! (Taken at Perranuthnoe Beach).

See you from the big reveal!

Hurry up and wait.

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

It has been a varied week and as a result, hobby time has stalled somewhat. In fact, all I have achieved is to assemble a few more Aerial Drones for my Demiurg Air Guild, prime them and slap a very rough base-coat on them.

In other hobby news, I decided to see if I could sculpt something... and haven't got anywhere.

It doesn't help when you come up with a good back story and are enthusiastic about something... and then a few people get all 'button counter' on you and discourage the idea. Bearing in mind that I sculpt stuff for science-FICTION, it beggars belief.

To say that it has had a negative impact on something which I am really struggling to get back into, would be an understatement. As a result... I started sculpting, got completely discouraged, questioned why I bothered and stopped completely. My view is that people are always so keen to rip things apart but rarely put the same effort into encouragement and finding reasons why things should be done.

Anyway... moaning aside... Shoulder pain has been a bit of a thing this week and I needed to take some medication for it. That wiped out Tuesday. Also a bit of Thursday... but not too much.

Sleep has been a treasured commodity and I have struggled to get any motivation this week as a result. That said, on Monday, I popped into my new work-place to hand in documentations and the process for my DBS clearance started. Since then, I have had an email (yesterday) saying that the checks were complete and the certificate is on the way... so I should have the certificate very soon. Once I take it in to the Care Home, they will be looking to get me working; shadowing staff until I can get my courses done and then properly working from then on. As I have mentioned to my friends, it seems that fate is really keen to get me working.

On Monday, I also got some Marie Curie work done. I did some money counting and banking and had a nice chat with the committee chairwoman. There was also a meeting on Thursday so I got to meet a few more of the committee members... and they were all decent people so that was nice. I have a few extra chores to sort out now but I am getting there with the admin side of things now and am properly taking an active role in the charity.

Wednesday was a day with my missus and we pottered about and sorted a few things (as usual).

Then... along came Friday and I decided to go for a nice ride on my motorbike, over to Marazion and seeing as I haven't shown any decent pix of my bike since the screen was fitted, here's some now:

Click the Pix!

That's about it for this week. I know it's been a bit of a moan but lack of sleep, chronic pain and the 'negative waves' from strangers can do that sometimes.

See you from the grindstone!

The platoon is growing.

Hello again and welcome to Inso's World on a lovely, foggy day.

This is currently the view from my window:

Click the Pic!

It's definitely different to last weekend... Hopefully, it will disappear and we'll get some sun again.

Back on track... this week has been one of travels and a bit of hobby so we'll start with travels.

My missus has had a bit of a holiday and we have been pottering around and doing everything she wanted to. We have been to the Cornish Seal Sanctuary, Pendennis Castle, Trebah Garden and have also traveled up to see my Step Mum in Seaton. While we were there we went for a lovely ride on the Seaton Tram system and had lunch on Colyton station. In lesser travels, we have also been to see Ant Man and the Wasp at the cinema. I was also (thankfully) left at home when my missus went to see the second Mama Mia film with my niece so that was a bullet dodged. We have also pottered about in town and spent some quality time together so this has been a good week.

On Monday, I had a bit of official duty to perform. I went over to Mullion in order to take part in a little photo opportunity for Marie Curie. There was a 'big cheque' handover that needed some yellow-shirts to be present and that went really well. I can't share the whole photo but here I am in all of my Marie Curie finery:

Click the Pic!

As you can tell from the sun in my eyes, Monday was a little less foggy than today!

That's enough life for today so let's talk hobby now. Last week, I showed off two finished elements of the first infantry platoon for my Squat army. This week, I get to show the first complete, Squat elements. This is the Platoon Command Squad for the First Infantry Platoon (complete with Primaris Psyker, as shown off last week):

Click the Pic!

As you can see... there are ACTUAL Squats painted! Okay, it isn't the best pic but when the platoon is all finished, it will get a decent photo-shoot. 

Now that the troop units are well under way, here's a WIP of the First Infantry Squad:

Click the Pic!

The image shows the first, basic, base-coat, ready for tidying up prior to a wash. The gun-tractor has been progressed since the picture and is already washed, ready for highlights... mostly because it has to be painted in a different way to the troops due to the need for it to be separate from its base. It's also nice to have a 'little project' when painting blocks of troops, just to take the edge off a bit.

In other hobby news, Warlord game have had a summer sale and the prices were so ridiculous, I felt obliged to spend some money with them. As a result, I have ordered twelve Ghar Battle-suits and ten sprues of Concord troops/drones. The reason for this was that the sprues were reduced from £10.00, £8.00 and £12.00 to £1.00 each! Instead of having to spend £20.00 on three battle-suits, I got twelve for £12.00! It would have cost me £120.00 to get ten of the Concord sprues... instead it cost £10.00! It would have been insane NOT to buy any... especially seeing as they will all be added to my Demiurg army and were already earmarked as future purchases.

Click the Pix!

... Speaking of which, when all the sprues turn up, I will have the following:

• 6x Ground Guilders.
• 3x Air Guilders.
• 1x Ground Guilder Command Crawler.
• 30x Ground Drones.
• 10x Large Air Drones.
• 20x Small Air Drones.

I will also have fifty Concord troops to add to the bits box and this may be an opportunity for a little conversion for something else that has been rattling around in my head lately... Kill Team.

... but that is for another day!

See you from the abandoned city!

Water? From the sky?

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

It would appear that the weather has turned from glorious sunshine to wonderful storms and heavy rain. The only downside is that it means priming is off the table so I will only be able to progress any projects up to the priming point.

Yesterday we popped over to Porthleven for lunch and we spent a while watching the sea crash against the shore in the blustery weather. That's the wonderful thing about living in Cornwall. You get to see every aspect of the county in all weathers.

I have had uncle duties to attend to this week and have been busy helping to get things sorted with cars. It has made a nice change and has meant doing a few things that I haven't had to do for a while... like getting a mechanic to fix a car without ripping anyone off... so that was fun.

Friday evening was spent in The Rodney Inn, listening to a decent local band while socialising with friends and it was handy that I am teetotal because it meant we could avoid the rain by me driving to the pub.

So... what about hobby stuff? Well, to start with, work on the last of the tanks for the tank company has stalled completely. I am completely unable to sculpt at the moment. I have tried but I have a bad case of the yips and even after mixing putty, I cannot sculpt anything and end up wasting the putty. That said, I am able to fill gaps and do simple stuff but I just can't seem to face anything more artistic. I am hoping it will change soon.

That's what I haven't been able to achieve. However, I have been able to get some work done on the Chimera proxy and have managed to get it finished:

Click the Pix!

I am very happy with the results; especially because it has certain hints towards my favourite AFV, the FV432. I also think that the process is simple enough to repeat in a fairly straightforward manner so producing more 'identical' vehicles shouldn't be a problem.

With the Chimera finished and the last tank stalled, I had reached the end of what I could be getting on with so I needed to have a think. First, I ordered some more tanks... but in the meantime it meant having a look at the army list and seeing what I could work on. Then I had an epiphany. I could finish a Spearhead Detachment fairly quickly by using the armour that I have made, finishing the last tank and painting up five miniatures. here is the detachment:

HQ - Tank commander (Vanquisher Battle Cannon)

Elite - Techpriest Engineseer (mounted in Chimera)

Elite - 4x Servitor (2 standard, 2 heavy - also in the Chimera)

Heavy Support - 3x Leman Russ (Battle Cannon)

Heavy Support - 3x Leman Russ (Punisher Cannon)

Heavy Support - 3x Leman Russ ( Plasma Cannon)

Luckily, everything was already converted (apart from the Company Tank commander) and it was just a case of locating things.

On the 'to-do' list was:

1. Paint the Engineseer and Servitors.
2. Sculpt the Company Commander.
3. Paint the Company Command tank.
4. Add decals to all of the vehicles (including the Chimera - it would be marked up in the same way as the rest of the tanks because it would be a tank-company support vehicle, rather than an infantry company vehicle).

With a solid plan in mind, I have located my little Engineseer team that originally looked like this:

Click the Pic!

... and have started painting them. They now look like this:

Click the Pic!

As you can see, the Engineseer is more or less finished and I have started to work on the two basic servitors. I haven't started on the heavy servitors yet because I need to sort out basing them but also being able to paint them off the base (so I can paint the bases without being hampered by the tracked chassis of the two servitors).... so I will be putting my thinking cap on for that. 

Overall, I think that having a goal for everything that I am currently working on, that is all tied together so cleanly, will help me to finish sculpting the tank commander... hopefully!

Anyway... that's it for now.

See you from the shopping cart!

Plasma-Tank!

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

This week has been one of household chores, a few social gatherings and a bit of hobby stuff.

Chores wise, I have had to get the gardens sorted for my missus' peace of mind so now the grass is all mowed, the weeds are all gone and this morning, the clippings were dropped off at the recycling centre. I also managed to get rid of the existing, mains, smoke detector (broken and hanging from the ceiling on it's wire), safely capping the wire, fillig in all the mess on the ceiling (where it had fallen from, been glued to and then fallen from again), repainting the ceiling area and then fitting a nice little battery operated one that works a treat. As well as that, it was a case of sorting a leaking toilet and doing household chores.

From a social perspective, we popped over to the Harbour Inn, Porthleven to meet up with an old friend and his new partner for an evening of chat. It was lovely to see them both together for the first time and get to know his new lady. On another night, we went to see a local ska band at the Rodney Inn, Helston and that was cool. On Wednesday, my missus completed a Race for Life with her work-mates and I got to meet them for the first time... they're a good bunch. I'd go as far to say that I have had quite a sociable week.

Hobby wise, I have been ticking along with my tank company and have got the first platoon of punisher-tanks finished (apart from decals):

Click the Pic!

I have also mocked up a marking scheme to show off how I want the tanks to look when finished (using Windows Paint): 

Click the Pic!

With the first platoon out of the way, I continued with the rest and managed to get the first of the plasma-tanks finished (except for decals):

Click the Pix!

It's the fourth complete tank and I have now made space on my table for the fifth one; also a plasma-tank. I also have the turret from the sixth tank on my table, waiting to get a tank commander sculpted into it... unfortunately, this may be a stumbling block. That said... my sculpting muse may turn up to help at some point... I hope so. 

Being keen to get the tanks finished, I have deliberately stored the Dougram kit away from sight so that I don't start getting it assembled. That doesn't mean I am not thinking about how I plan to convert it. In fact, I have more or less decided that it will have the same proportions as this one:

Click the Pic!

I found it on Pinterest and it has called out to be recruited by my Squat army as a titan. My version will not look the same but it will lean heavily on the proportions and some of the design elements of this particular mech... but not until the tank company is complete!

That's it for today.

See you from the workshop!

What a week!

Hello and welcome to Inso's world, after what has been a very eventful week.

To cut to the chase, Hobby time hasn't really been the main focus of my week because I have had family visiting and have been enjoying having them around.

Hobby wise, the Necromunda Squat arrived:

Click the Pic!

As you can see from my image, he is big... he's even bigger than a Kharadron. Although I am not too bothered about his height, his tiny hands and pin-head bother me... so I will be sorting those problems out. I have started on the head:

Click the Pic!

As you can see, the head has mostly gone but I will be using what's left and blending it in with a larger head (wearing a beret). The hands won't be a problem and I will be able to sort those out with a bit of green stuff. Am I disappointed? No. I knew what to expect and I never had any specific spot to place the miniature but I reckon that after a bit of tinkering, he'll fit in with my 'Big Squats' and they'll all become a bit of a Necromunda gang.

In other hobby news, I have started on tank number three and it is currently at this point:

Click the Pic!

As you can see, basic conversion is finished but I need to sculpt a tank commander on the piece of sprue that is sticking out of the cupola. I will be able to get a certain amount of painting and assembly done in the meantime but it won't be too much until I knuckle down and get the commander finished.

With this tank being firmly WIP now, I have ordered the next section of three tanks and they should be arriving this coming week.

As for other hobby news... I'll be saving that for next week.

Life news now... and this week has been filled with it. I have got a head cold and have had a bit of insomnia but on the whole, life is good. My mother and father in-law have been visiting this week and my wife has had some time off work so we have spent a lot of time together. Meals out, trips to places and the odd cuppa here and there has meant for a very nice, sociable, week. Flora Day was this week and the Furry Dance hit the town. I was mostly solo for the day and spent it doing what any sane man would do... I went to my local pub and stayed there all day... only venturing out to watch the dances. On the day, there are adult dances at 07:00hrs, 12:00hrs and 17:00hrs, with a children's dance at 10:00hrs and the Hal-An-Tow starting at 08:30hrs... so there is plenty of time in between, to enjoy a drink or two. Here's the difference between the 07:00hrs dance and the 17:00hrs dance. First, the 07:00hrs dance:

... and here's the 17:00hrs dance (with the same people in it):

As you can see, the day's merriment has hit home by the evening dance.

With Flora day, a meal out on Friday evening and a live band on Saturday evening at my local, this week has been a properly social affair and I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting many people (including one who I hadn't seen for a good 15 years!) and getting to know some new faces.

Prior to Flora Day I came to the conclusion that I needed to kick-start my life again. I have been getting a bit down in the dumps and have let things slide too much... so the first thing that has to go is booze. As a result, I am teetotal until the evening before Flora Day 2019 (yes, that's a year). In addition to this, I am returning to my usual healthy diet and am beginning to get a bit more exercise in. I am hoping that these three things will invigorate me a little and get me back to my usual jovial and productive self. Only time will tell on that one but if nothing else, I will lose some weight and hopefully feel a bit healthier in body.

It should also mean that once I start increasing my exercise, I will be able to focus on my charity run again... something that has fallen by the wayside a bit and has been playing on my mind.

That's it for now.

See you from the epiphany tree!

Three wheels on my wagon.

Hello and welcome to Inso's World this week.

This week has been quiet. A trip out on the bike... A few chores... another couple of great nights, watching live bands... watching Avengers Infinity War at the cinema... and having a day of grieving because these week would have seen my Dad's 75th birthday, if he wasn't beaten by cancer last year.

This coming week is one of the biggest in my town's annual calendar because on Tuesday it is Flora Day! This year, I am going rogue and striking out on my own for the day... but we have family visiting and I will be spending quite a lot of time with them, over the week so I reckon this coming week will be pretty excellent.

From a hobby perspective, I have achieved very little sculpting because, quite frankly, I have a bogging head cold at the moment so I am not in the mood for very much... apart from this:

Click the Pic!

Yes, I now have twp of the Tiger-Russ tanks painted up and have started the process again on the third one, by giving the sprues a good wash in detergent; ready for work to begin properly. While I am waiting for that to get going, I thought I'd share a picture of my armoury so far:

Click the Pic!

The spray primer that I got from Warlord Games is doing a grand job of making things smooth and green.

Incidentally, the third tank will be getting a tank commander. He won't represent one in the rules, he'll just be there to show that his tank is the lead tank.

Short but sweet.

See you from the streets!

Sunshine and showers.

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

I know it's been two weeks since my last post but I have been keeping myself busy with household chores and haven't had very much time for the hobby so I haven't had very much to update.

There have also been days that have been wiped out due to painkillers... so boring stuff that really isn't worth posting about.

Luckily, as a result of a week or two of preparation and painting, the front of the house now looks presentable (having painted the walls, mowed the grass and tidied up what needed tidying), the rear of the house is almost at a point for painting and the grass in the garden has been mowed/cut so the property is starting to look a bit more lived in and maintained. I've also had a friend round to look at removing the tree stumps from the garden (something I would have done myself if my shoulder wasn't too crook for me to swing a pick-axe or sledgehammer) and once the stumps have gone, it means I can focus on sorting out the verge and making it presentable as well.

This coming week, I hope to finish painting the back wall and also finish painting the side of the porch (I have chatted with my neighbour now so I will be able to stand on her property to gain access to it - it was only polite to ask). Once all that is done, I can get in touch with Collingtons and they can take pictures of the nice windows they fitted.

So... no hobby? Well, that isn't strictly true. As much as my sculpting mojo has left the building and I have been totally unable to sculpt anything (much to my displeasure because I am letting commissions slide and that isn't good), I have been ticking along with a model kit. The model kit in question is a Meng, World War Toon, King Tiger tank. I decided that it would make a nice proxy Leman Russ so I converted the weapons and it is now armed with a Punisher Cannon and a Las Cannon instead of its original weapons.

This is what I started with:

Click the Pic!

The main gun is made up of some of the plastic sprue from the kit and a couple of bits of tubing from the barrel of a pen. The Lascannon is one from a Centurion Kit from GW. Once the weapons were converted, I started painting. Some of the bits and pieces were painted on their sprue and others were sprayed after they were assembled. This is what the base-coat looked like:

Click the Pic!

At this point I realised that there were a few holes to fill (I left the aerial off and also an over-large spade) so I popped some Green Stuff into those and touched up the paint, prior to a Wash with Nuln Oil (for the grey bits) and Agrax Earthshade (for the green bits). After this, I stippled the tank with the original colour (Warpaints Army Green), touched up the grey again (Coat d'Arms Iron Grey) and then dry-brushed the whole tank (Vallejo Green Grey). A bit of black for the tracks on the side of the turret, followed by the all the tracks getting a dry-brush of Iron grey. Windows were just painted blue (Coat d'Arms Wizard Blue) and may get a highlight if I feel brave enough to squeeze a brush in there. This is where I am, at the moment:

Click the Pic!

I plan to add markings similar to British WWII tanks and have assembled some decals to do this. Unfortunately, I haven't got everything I need so I have put in an order with Dom's Decals for those I am missing.

I am really very happy with the kit and I think it is perfect as a proxy Leman Russ. I plan to put together a small company of them (ten tanks) with different weapons. With this in mind, I have ordered another two tanks from EBay so they should arrive sometime this week. I plan to arm the first three in the same way, with the next three having Battle Cannons, the three after that with Plasma Cannons and the leader with a Vanquisher Cannon. First things first though, the three Punishers.

Apart from that... not a lot of hobby at all. I really hope that a bit of sunshine this coming week, will help get my DIY jobs done and that I can stay off the painkillers for long enough to get some sculpting done. I guess that only time will tell.

That's it for now.

See you from the top of the ladder!

WINDOWS and DOORS!

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

This week has been quite productive with lots going on so I won't waste any time and I'll get on with it.

After just over a year in our house, the windows and doors are being replaced. They were the bane of my life over the winter and I will be glad to see the back of the howling gales and damp that was a result of our terribly fitted windows and doors. This week, the fitters have been in and everything has been replaced apart from the back door and side panel (which will be getting done on Monday). The difference is amazing.

It's funny how a house full of tradesmen inspires a bit of work... as a result, I have been sculpting commissions and other bits and bobs... but sadly, not too much that I can show off yet. I do have this though:

Click the Pix!

It isn't too far along but it is a converted GW Cold One who will eventually become a sci-fi Lizard-man with heavy weapon. There are three more that will also get the sci-fi treatment but that will be in-between other sculpting work.

In other hobby news, I have been sent a couple of casts of my Berserker and last night, I decided to paint one:

Click the Pic!

His name is Steppen Odinson... and here is his story (you will need to open in a new tab/window to read it):

Right click and open in new tab to read!

While I was painting the Berserker, I used one of GW's painting handles and I am really chuffed at how easy it was to use. I would recommend getting one and I think at £5.00, it is a bargain... well worth the money.

So... what's on the table at the moment? Well...

• Commission: 5 Squat bodies.
• Commission: Squat heavy weapon gunner.
• Commission: Goblin leader.
• Charity: Squat Living Ancestor.
• My stuff: Lizard, 2 Bullgryn, Predator team (movie Squats).

What is my focus on? At the moment, in this order:

1. Commission: Squat heavy weapon gunner.
2. Charity: Squat Living Ancestor.
3. Commission: Goblin.
4. Lizard.
5. Commission: 5 Squat bodies.
6. Other stuff.

I would prefer all the commissions to be at the top but my mojo is just starting to reappear at the moment so I expect to be able to improve my commission rate very soon. That is just the way the cookie crumbles.

So... Monday will see the end of the window/door fitting and I can get a few things sorted out... which probably means 'house jobs' so my hobby time will reduce... but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

See you through clear windows!

After the thaw.

Hello and welcome to Inso's World.

What can I say about this week? Well, for starters, this happened:

Yes, we had snow in Cornwall and ended up getting a good few inches of it so there has been a lot of disruption. My wife ended up having a couple of days off work and we pretty much hunkered down and only popped out once or twice for a few items of shopping. Luckily, all the snow has gone now so everything should get back to normal for the coming week.

Most of this week has been about commissions. All of my hobby time from Monday to Thursday, was spent sculpting stuff for other people. Here's where I am at (goblin at the top, Squat below and 5 Squat bodies below that):

Click the Pix!

Friday, I woke up very tired so I decided not to sculpt and instead, began the process of converting the Kastelan robots into Squat dreadnoughts. After a couple of days, I have got the basic shape sorted out and now need to start adding the details:

Click the Pic!

I wanted to give the dreadnoughts a few design elements from Rogue Trader so have given them shoulder pads like those found on the Squat Exo Armour and have tried to make the bodies similar to those found on the old Rogue Trader dreadnoughts. There is still a way to go but I think they look pretty good so far.

In other news, the Exo Armour legs that I sculpted have now been sold and are on their way to America. That means that both of my casting experiments have now moved on to other owners.

I think that's about it for now.

See you from the igloo!

It has begun...

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

This week has been very quiet on the hobby front but lots has been going on with the whole 'move' thing.

This is all I've managed on the Hobby front; I cast a copy of the first leg sculpt and put a Hearthguard together so that he can join Telion:

Click the Pic!

Nothing spectacular... just a standard trooper with one of the extra breastplates that are slightly different to the standard ones (just to make him look slightly different). Once I have sculpted the next set of legs, I'll get on with this squad again.

SO... the move... I have packed all of my hobby stuff up and here is around half of it:

Click the Pic!

This sort of highlights why there will be a lack of hobby for a few weeks. We move house a week Monday and then I will be flitting between Oxfordshire and Cornwall for a short time while I sort things out. When in Oxfordshire, I will have no internet and when I'm in Cornwall I will be busy... so basically, I am signing off from Inso's World for a few weeks until things are sorted out. HOPEFULLY, things will start getting back to normal by the end of November... but the hobby side of things will be taking a back seat until I am happy that the new house is watertight, safe and clean.

There you have it.

In the meantime, here's a video of Fred (AKA the Bear) snoring:

Click twice to play!

See you from the other side (in a few weeks)!

A slow one.

Hello again and welcome to Inso's World after what has been a very slow week.

Since the first five of the Veteran Tyranid Hunters were posted, I have not really been in the mood for much hobby time... especially seeing as I had the Summer Ball to go to on Friday.

Obviously, the Summer Ball is an annual event where our mess holds an all night ball with music, live bands, dancing, great food, a free bar, dodgems, fairground rides... the list goes on... So Friday night was very much a case of partying the night away with my wife and friends, having 'survivors' breakfast at aroung 03:30hrs and then taking the winding path home. Saturday was a very leisurely affair and today hasn't been much better but every once in a while, it does you good to chill out and be a slob.

So... what hobby stuff have I been up to?

Well... I have bulked out the replacement commission sculpt and I have been working on the remaining five bodies for the Veteran Tyranid Hunters. They are all at the same stage now... ready for the faces to be sculpted and the helmets to be cleaned up before the arms and packs are glued on:

Click the Pic!

In other news... I have had another distraction. A distraction so cunning that you could pin a tail on it and call it a fox. A third detachment for my army! Yes a third detachment. A detachment that will only involve four models. It certainly isn't a big detachment... but it is a very hard hitting one... so be sure to watch out for it in future posts.

I know... it's another very short post this week but I am hopeful that I will have some great stuff for the next post... which won't be on Sunday because... I'm off to the Silverstone F1 Grand Prix with my 'completely obsessed with F1' wife... so that will be fun.

Then of course... there is Cornwall, house hunting, mortgage seeking and cider drinking...

The wheels of life are certainly turning!

See you from the bullet train!