Just another one of those weeks.

Welcome to Inso's World again.

This week has been filled with life... the new kitten has more or less settled in, the house buying is ticking along at 'solicitor speed', our cat that had disappeared; turned up, and some of the stresses of life have caught up with us a bit... so there has been a bit of a deep breath to try and land a bit.

This week, our daughter finally moved her things out of the house so we are now a two person home. That obviously causes a lot of mixed emotions but these things have to happen for life to advance; from our perspective AND our daughter's. Definitely bitter-sweet and just another pebble in the pot of other stresses that is getting pretty full at the moment.

That said, I did complete the five Squat bodies and have got them all packed up, ready for sending off on Monday to their new home in the USA.

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

The KING OF RATS is now fully converted and is paint-in-progress. It is part way through base coating and, even now, is looking exactly as good as I expected so I reckon it will be just what I planned by the end. I just need to come up with a fitting quote for it (it is going to be a very specific diorama).

DUNCAN has begun the conversion process. I have assembled him as standard but am now adding details to spice him up and make him into a Rogue Trader type adventurer. There isn't really anything worth showing off at the moment so no pix just yet.

In the bid to finish off commissions, I have been sculpting a small Cthulhu beast (15mm) that would have been much further on, had I not packed the WIP sculpt 'SOMEWHERE' and lost it... so I had to start again. It just needs arms and legs now so that should be finished very soon.

From a practical hobby point of view, that's about it... however, there has been a shift in the Force this week and a few things have turned up that have got me enthusing.

Do you remember these? (converted Greys - Alien Visitors):

Click the Pix!

They were originally available from Tengu Miniatures but that company no longer trades. Fortunately, they were sold to CP Miniatures so you can still get hold of them... and in order to finish off the project, I have ordered another 24 this week. They will join the other unstarted miniatures in their little storage box, ready for some work in the fututure... BUT WAIT!

... there is more...

The Tengu sculptor sculpted some of these little miniatures in 15mm scale. They were sold to Khurasan Miniatures and are now available to buy. I have looked at them and think that they would fit in perfectly with my project by putting three on a 40mm base and using them as swarms. I am currently deciding how many to go for but I can safely state, there will be a bunch of 13mm tall aliens joining this force soon.

Surely there can't be more?! Well... yes there can. 

Games Workshop has decided to bring out a DROPSHIP that seems to be perfect for my Squat army. With a very small amount of tinkering, it will make a great proxy Valkyrie. With that in mind, I am almost certain to buy some:

Click the Pix!

It may involve a certain amount of reorganisation but I think these are just what I have been looking for for a very long time.

Well... that is that.

See you from the edge of eternity!

Tigers!

I know I sound like a bit of a stuck record but I have had another slow hobby week this week. I have put a bunch of plastic space Dwarfs into the Dettol and cleaned them off. I then separated them down into their components and quickly discovered that I have got enough heads/bodies/weapons for about 35 troops... but not enough arms. It isn't a problem because I'll just sculpt them on but it does add to the length of time it will take to put them all together... and it is something that will be on the back burner for now anyway.

I've been throwing bids on Ebay this week and failing in glorious fashion... so I don't have any news about that.

I am looking forward to the end of this Kickstarter project (Mechadrome):

Mechadrome Kickstarter Link!

I have pledged for a small gathering of these awesome little mechs and I hope that they are as awesome in hand as they appear on the site.

Speaking of mechs, Prodos Games has been updating a lot of their Warzone Resurrection miniatures and they have been doing a great job. The one that really caught my eye was the new version of the Bauhaus Vulkan... a proper stocky little chap:

Click the Pic!

I think that this will make an excellent addition to any Squat/Space Dwarf force... oh... and Warzone Bauhaus force (of course).

In other news, the Forum of Doom is having an Unofficial Diorama of Doom competition again this year. At the moment, the final poll is up to vote for a theme. If you want to pop along, have a look and vote it would be very cool of you. Here's the link:

UNDoD 2014 LINK!

You never know; you may be inspired enough to join in with your own offering.

From a personal hobby perspective, I managed to throw a basecoat on my Torge's Tigers dropship. It is still very WIP but, I think I have the patterns roughly in place:

Click the Pix!

So... tomorrow I am travelling down to Somerset for the funeral of my friend who recently passed away after her fight with cancer. It's not one I am looking forward to but I wouldn't miss it for the world...

See you from the pit!

A Saturday Post... just for a change.

Before I start the post proper, I would like to welcome Zog to Inso's World. Welcome to the wonders of my world and feel free to stick around, borrow ideas and share your thoughts.

So why have I decided on a Saturday post? Well, it is the first day of a week long holiday so that is a good reason. Add to that I have just had a parcel delivered. Also... the sun is shining so I have managed to get some priming done. AND... among other things, I have a sculpt to show off.

That means that I can't keep quiet and need to blab (I have other news too)... so here we go.

I have been looking for a drop-ship for ages and as I have mentioned on a previous post here, I managed to get hold of an action figure toy version of an Avengers Quinjet. Well, it arrived today and I have been turning it over and making plans and while I was doing that, I took a few pix:

Click the Pic!

I will commence disassembly of the thing soon. 

As it has been a nice sunny day, I managed to get a bit of priming done today. That meant that I can now try out some of my new Coat d'Arms paints from Grekwood Miniatures. I don't have very many of them yet but I wanted to see how they cover before I go totally bonkers and replace all of my GW paints. Here is what I primed and a very rough base-coat on one of the items:

Click the Pic!

As you can see, the greens are nice and bright so I will be moving on to the other three to continue with the base-coating later.

In other news, I have been thinking about the Frothers Sculpting Competition and how I am going to keep it in the front of people's minds while the forum is on a break. Seeing as I am a judge, I am not able to enter the competition so I thought it would be a good idea to sculpt a few miniatures to keep people thinking about the competition. The first one that I have finished is called a 'Moustachioed, three-eyed, hairy, Groper':

Click the Pix!

Keeping with the same sort of theme, the next sculpt (currently WIP) is called a Wang-Shambler... make of that, what you will.

Finally, there is some good news from Hasslefree Miniatures. First up, they have a lot of new releases on the site; including some Weird-World-War-1, Russian-style Dwarfs. Secondly... I have it on good authority that the Grymn Powered Armour is going to make an appearance on the site IMMINENTLY. I am rather pleased about this and have already drawn up plans for the ones I want.

That is it for now. I am sure I'll pop by tomorrow so watch this space.

See you from the happy garden!

It's still green.

Now that my camera battery has charged up I can show the final, final pic of the Goblin sculpt:

He now has a shiny new basing tab and the tiny holes in his groin and under his nose have been filled in. He just needs to dry before I send him off for casting. I will need to get the address first though!

Seeing as I have been sculpting the Goblin, I have been ending up with small amounts of putty leftover so I have been putting it to good use on my Thor commission:

Click the Pic!

I am just fleshing him out at the moment but he is progressing in the direction I want him to... so all is good. In other sculpting news, I have been adding to the Daemon Prince and will soon have some progress to show off. At the moment the face is being worked on and he currently looks like some sort of a fat-lipped fish so I don't want to post pix because people will get the wrong idea of what I want to achieve.

So... sculpting has taken over things at the moment but I have still been able to get a small amount of painting done. It seems that the new powered armour Grymn have stimulated an urban painting drive and I have dug some of the urban platoon out of the cupboard for some work. At the moment, I am getting the first base coat on the platoon so it really isn't that interesting to see... but it is a huge boost to the army painting drive because I actually get to see them as a painted unit (even if there is still a long way to go).

AND finally... I have bought a drop-ship toy to chop up and convert. It is one of these:

Click the Pic!

As you can see, it is an action figure toy and is the Quinjet from the Avengers movie. It should be a fun project but I will have to wait until it arrives to properly assess what I want to do with it. There are two options... I can use it as transport for the Powered Armour platoon or I can convert it to use as a  transport option for a mechanised platoon (including vehicles). Until I know dimensions, I can't make any decisions so I wait with baited breath.

Well... that appears to be it for today. I hope you all had a nice Easter and celebrated (or not) how you chose to; whether that meant chocolate eggs or a visit to church.

See you from the room of opportunities!

Tuesday...

First of all... Welcome Mathyoo. I hope you enjoy your stay and keep commenting and getting involved.

So, I learned that if you punch hard things really hard, they break but you hurt your sculpting hand. So... no sculpting for at least a couple of days until all the bones realign and the pain dies down a bit.

It is a good excuse to watch sport on the telly... and of course Dog the Bounty Hunter!

I have a plan for Dog... I call it Pup the Bounty Hunter. I just need to get my sculpting hand back and it will all become obvious.

I have been looking at pix of the old Figure Trader dropship and I have been really thinking about how I can build something like it... but not like it. Here's a couple of pics of the beautiful beast:

Clikc the Pics!

Isn't she GORGEOUS?! The trouble is, it isn't quite big enough. I need space for four Old Crow tanks in it... and 28 troops so it needs to be BIG.

Uh-oh... it's Beer O'Clock.

See you from the bottom of the deep, blue, sea!

Now the pix are out of the way...

This week has been one of those where I have just gone with the flow and have used tired spells for mundane things that didn't need much thought and more awake spells for the more intricate stuff. Mostly, I have been sorting out all of those little jobs that needed doing but I hadn't got around to.

I was very glad to end up with the 6th Platoon fully complete. That means that they are ready to be fitted to a KR multicase at some point. Finishing the Walker and pilot off with a Matt varnish also tidied things up nicely.

At the beginning of the week, I decided to sort out the airborne assault platoon. This was something that has been an anchor around my neck for quite some time. I was never happy with the bases they were on. That is in NO WAY a dig at Fenris because the bases themselves are superb. It is just that I knew I would never base a huge army on them so at some point I was destined to change them. Now that I have done so, I am happy with the outcome... especially because I have also added decals and brought the rank into line with the rest of the urban troops... so they now have a place (something that resonates with me). In concert with the airborne troops, I also decided to try and sort out their drop-ship transports...

...I had bought three Tau Hammerhead tanks from GW because I wanted to get hold of the missile pods for the front. I was lucky to get a box of three as a squadron, for a knock-down price so it made sense to take the plunge. Then... it all went wrong. I converted the three of them but hadn't done a very good job of getting the rocket pods square. I also didn't like the way I had done the top hatches. After staring at them and getting fed up, they ended up in the loft and were an irritation that wouldn't go away. This week gave me the opportunity to sort things out  so it has allowed me to move on.

On the Forum of Doom, I have been talking about art and of a particular artist; Mondrian. He was famous for using grids of lines with primary colours filling certain geometric shapes. The conversation came about as a remark about the camouflage on my Grymn Walker and eventually led to me starting work on the multi-coloured tank I showed off. It has really made me think about how we view art and also how we can sometimes use art in practical terms as well as food for thought. Although I have decided to go for a straight homage to the artist, using black, white and the primary colours, it would be simple to change the colours to create a wide range of geometric camouflage schemes; not just for urban areas but for all manners of terrain.

Finally, there were the Mawes. These have been in pieces for ages and I have always put off building them because they need pinning and I am not brilliant at lining up pin joints where the centres aren't really obvious. The other night I just decided to bite the bullet and now they are ready for paint.

As you can see, from a hobby point of view, this week has mostly been about finishing things off and tidying up.

John Carter was one of those things that I promised myself but was continually distracted from so I ended up seeing the film today. I have only heard about the books and have a very basic knowledge of what things look like and no knowledge of the stories that seem to be the bread and butter of so many people's Sci-fi sandwich. With that in mind, I saw the film and thought it was really very good. The aliens were well crafted, the story was simple and could be explained with 'magic-science' and the characters were also quite strong (if a little simplified). My favourite creatures in the film were the rhino-sized beasts of burden that the Tharks rode around on...definitely food for thought there. I enjoyed the film very much and would recommend it to anyone who wanted to kill a couple of hours with a simple fairy story with the addition of lots of fighting and a few wars thrown in for good measure...not to mention a super-hero leaping about all over the place!

Well... time has a way of catching up to you and that means it is back to work tomorrow so things will be deathly quiet for the week... I bet you'll be glad of the peace!

See you from the treadmill!

A week well spent?

I had no plans for my week away from work and as a result, have managed to achieve quite a lot. First of all, I have managed to matt-varnish all of the first platoon of Urban Grymn:

(Command Section) Click the Pic!

(First Section) Click the Pic!

(Second Section) Click the Pic!

(Third Section) Click the Pic!

Add to that The matt varnishing of the walker:

Click the Pic!

Not to mention, re-basing, adding decals and re-ranking these Airborne Assault troops:

Click the Pic!

...and converting/tidying up their drop-ships:

Click the Pic!

...and you'll see that I have been busy! BUT it doesn't stop there. Oh no! I have also started painting something that Mondrian himself would be interested in:

Click the Pic!

I have also managed to assemble and base these Mawes, ready for paint (even though their demonic aura has blurred the fabric of space between my camera and their bodies):

Click the Pic!

I also managed to have a great night out at a beer-call and see the film John Carter (Very good film).

That...

is all.

See you from the clinic!

What an eventful day.

As the title says, I have had an interesting day.

On Saturday, I completely failed to find any spray, Matt varnish so today I went over to a Hobby Craft store and managed to find some...so I can start varnishing my armoured vehicles when I fancy it.

Switching back to Saturday again...while I was looking for Matt varnish I went into Games Workshop to replenish my stock of grey paint and while I was paying I made an impulse buy of some Liquid Green Stuff. I have been playing about with it today and it is very easy to work with and is perfect for filling the little gaps you get at the edges of plasticard constructions. I reckon it is a similar product to Squadron Green but it is a little more runny and easier to use because it is in a pot rather than a tube. At the moment, I have some drying on some scratch built rocket pods and will be sanding them down when they are dry. When they are finished, I will let you know the results.

So, after last nights MARATHON Green-Stuff work on the Airborne Assault Platoon's bases, I have painted them and have applied the sand. Again, I am waiting for things to dry before painting the bases.

Finally, I went into the attic and found the Airborne transports...the 3 Pilum Drop-ships. Here is what one looks like:

Click the Pic!

As most of you will notice, it is a Tau Devilfish with the drone wings clipped, the burst-cannon replaced with a Grymn mini-gun, rocket tubes added and an alternative cupola fitted. Unfortunately, the picture shows the Pilum Drop-ship before I got to work on it. Since this pic was taken, I have removed the rocket tubes to straighten them up, I have taken the top hatch off and improved the area and have cleaned up most of the joints/mould lines. I have been using the Liquid Green Stuff on the rocket tubes from three of these Pilums. 

Click the Pic!

The above pic shows the three Pilums before I decided to remove the drones. You will notice that the bottom-most one has a saddle over the front, just behind the cockpit. That designates it as the leader (it has some improved doo-dads!).

So...I have been a busy chap today and even managed to get an 'almost' Mc Donalds breakfast. I arrived at 10:31am and ended up with the last sausage and egg McMuffin because breakfast had finished.

Enough said.

See you from Toys 'R' Us!

Another day older...

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

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

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

Click the pic!

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

Click the Pic!

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

Click the Pic!

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

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

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

WOW!  

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

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

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

See you from the stress councillor's office!

Angles are just so yesterday...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See you from the drawing board!

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!

Sunday...oh dear...

I guess it's Sunday already. I have had a very busy week of 12hour -long, night-shifts as guard commander and it has really taken it's toll on me. My sleep patterns are shot and as a result I have not picked up a brush or sculpting tool for over a week now. All I have managed to do is unpack ten Copplestone Castings, Future Wars troopers and put them on my table. I also decided to unpack an old army and take a few pix...when you see the quality of the pix you will quickly realise why I haven't done any hobby stuff lately:

Catachan Jungle Fighters (Click the link to see the album).

The army (above) is an all metal Catachan army that I painted a while ago. All gloss varnished and based using Milliput!

So...fliers.

What sorts are there when you think about troop transport and support? I have been thinking and I have come up with three that appeal to me:

1) Dropship - A craft that is able to breach the atmosphere, go into space and ferry troops from ship to planet surface and back again.

2) Surface troop transporter/equipment lifter - A futuristic version of a helicopter that is big enough to carry a squad of troops and maybe under-sling loads...or even fold all the troop seats up to carry cargo inside.

3) Surface gunship - I think a futuristic Apache helicopter would be where I'm heading with this idea.

Obviously, there are other fliers that could be thought about...fast interceptors, dog-fighters, bombers, heavy lift fliers (think Antonov) and jet-bikes...but I am a helicopter man and I am thinking that is the route I would like to take.

So...a dropship. Flying controls would have to be able to function in a vacuum and in an atmosphere so it would need to be a mix of thrusters and standard ailerons/flaps/rudders. The propulsion system would need to be able to fire in a vacuum...so no air intakes...maybe solid rockets or propulsion fields? The shape must be such that it looks like it could take on re-entry easily...maybe with the help of some protective fields? How large should it be...squad sized or platoon sized? Should it be armed and if so would it have guns or just protective missiles/flares/rockets?

All just thoughts and whimsy at the moment...but the idea is there...

Well...that's it for today. Sorry I haven't got any pictures to show off but I hope to be back on form soon :) .

See you through an optimistic sense of purpose.

I know...it's not Sunday but...

Yes, I know I didn't post a Sunday update but there wasn't anything to show as Inso never sent anything over.

Luckily, He seems to have conquered his inability to sort out the 'Pilum' drop-ship (or converted Tau Devilfish) with a rather simple solution:




All he has done is chop off the wing tips and the burst-cannon. He then chopped and sanded the smart missile clusters and covered them with a bit of plasticard. The replacement for the burst-cannon is a Grymn mini-gun that will count as an assault-cannon.

Obviously, there is a bit of filling to do and a few little bits to add as details...but this has been praying on Inso's mind for ages and he is relatively pleased to get SOMETHING done on the Pilum.

Life is still 'challenging' at home so as he said to me "it will be little and often...with not many pix".

Hopefully things will improve very soon.

Catch you later.

Thursday...with an update.

Inso has been a bit poorly so he hasn't been doing any painting for fear of messing things up. Fortunately, he hasn't been idle and has assembled a squadron of three Pilum drop-ships for his Grymn assault platoon:



The lead Pilum has an additional harness added to the area behind the cockpit to represent additional command/control/communications equipment. All of the drop-ships have to be cleaned and have a few minor modifications before painting starts.

As well as the drop-ships, there has been some progress on the flier. The box with all the Tau vehicles in contained plenty of other bits and pieces and the Ion cannon was just what Inso was looking for to add as an engine.


At the moment, things still look a bit cobbled together but I have been assured that it is early days and things will be sorted out as the conversion progresses. There are plans to add a downward pointing tail-fin and some missiles, along with some sort of nose weapon (HMG?). Don't be alarmed at the angles and sharp edges of the flier at the moment...things will change :).

Catch you later!

Slooow Sunday...

Inso has a case of man-flu so has not been able to concentrate as much as he would have liked this week.

That said, he had to drag himself into town in order to get a few Christmas presents and on his return had a box of 3 Tau vehicles. He bought them to act as drop-ships for his jet-pack assault troops. He was hoping that they would be big enough to house 16 troops but when he assembled one he realised that it was a bit smaller than he had hoped so is using them to carry 8 troops in each. Fortunately, there were 3 in the box so he has enough for the platoon (one for each assault squad and one for the command and support sections to share).

Here is a pic of the first 'Pilum' drop ship with the troops it is destined to carry:



In the above pic, you can also see that Inso has progressed the troops a little. This is mostly a case of him buying all sorts of grey paint on his travels. The 4 troops nearest the front have had their armour plates re-touched a level further than the 4 troops at the rear. From what he has said, Inso is so happy with the dark grey that he may not even paint camouflage on the armour! I'll believe that when I see it.

The whole build up of this army is going to be slightly different to his previous ones. What Inso is planning to do, is to finish each unit completely before moving on. That means that for each squad that is painted, he will build and paint their transport before he moves on to the next squad. That way, he won't end up with another army of troops with no vehicles. He is also talking about furnishing a travel case to house the army as he builds it...are there plans to start gaming???

I had a quick look at his painting table today and there is a small conversion on the go. It looks a bit like a Grymn body with all it's limbs and head removed and the start of some sculpted legs. If I am right, it may shed a little light on the 'Iron-Grymn' comment that Inso made...you never know!

Well, that is it for today. Inso will be off Bingo calling again tonight (even though he is poorly...bless him) so there won't be any more news from him today.

Catch you later!