Sculpting and other things.

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

This week has mostly been about sculpting. First of all, I finished my competition sculpt so I am now free to get on with other things:

Click the Pic!

He is a Squat (Space Dwarf) Berserker. I have kept him fairly neutral in genre so that he can be used for fantasy by removing his holstered pistol. I have sent pictures off so he can be judged and depending on the out come, he will either be cast as part of the competition or I'll get him cast up for sale at some point, through 'Inso's Diminutive Emporium'.

I have now got time to work on other things... but it seems that I have been overrun by commissions lately. I currently have ten sculpts that need to be finished (3 Goblins and 7 Squats). I have six on the corks at the moment and of those six, the Goblin is the furthest along:

Click the Pic!

He's going to be a grumpy officer, telling his minions how it is. He has moved on slightly from this picture but not much further. The other five sculpts (on the corks) are all Squats and I have got as far as bulking out the armatures and adding feet to them. As these get finished, I have a further two Squats and two Goblins to add to the corks. As you can probably tell, I have all the commissions I need at the moment and won't be taking any more on until these are all finished and I have had a chance to decompress with some of my own stuff.

With my own stuff in mind, The Aether Navigator has arrived and is tucked away, ready for conversion. I have also decided that I need to build a couple of proper Squat dreadnoughts so I have bought a set of Kastelan robots for the purpose; which is also tucked away, ready to be converted. Obviously, I still have the Predator team to finish but at the moment, commissions are taking up all my sculpting time, so that will have to wait as well.

In other news, I managed to see the doctor and have better pain control now. I also had the window survey done and am waiting for the team to start fitting new windows in March. Saturday, I travelled up country with my wife to see the in-laws which was tiring, but lovely to see the family. Today, I am pretty sore but well rested for a change.

This coming week will be all about commissions and possibly a few chores that have been gathering... so it is likely to be busy.

There is also the prospect of some very cold weather, snow and ice next week... so it will be interesting to say the least.

Well... that's about it for today.

See you from the dragon's cave!

Goblin Aid Master.

Just to let you know that my Goblin Aid Green is for sale on E-Bay

HERE IS THE LINK!

For those who can't remember what he looked like:

Click the Pic!

Please pop along and put a bid on if you are able (it's for charity).

See you from the end of the pier!

A varied week.

Another Sunday has arrived and it is another gloriously sunny day.

It has been a really busy week at work and the amount of computer work I've been doing has meant tired eyes so I have not really painted too much.

The bases arrived from Fenris Games and they are perfect for the job so this week has mostly been about getting the dragon based and primed. Here is the Dragon on it's new base:

Click the Pic!

You will notice that I have cunningly concealed the face of the statue with rocks and have added texture and a more natural look to the base as a whole... and before anyone says anything, he was never going to be red. He is at the very earliest of base-coat stages so the colours and look will change immensely by the time he is finished.

In other news... I have a few little miniatures to show off. These are the first of the Dragon Slayers and at some point soon they will get a write up over at the Reptiliad blog... but that isn't the place for WIP or miniature pix (without a little scenery) so here are the pix:

Click the Pix!

Most are from Privateer Press, bought from Wayland Games but the human is from Hasslefree Miniatures. These signify the end of my Muse-drought.

I was in town yesterday and saw that Modelzone was closing down so I was forced into a decision to buy the Merlin I was eventually planning to get. With £11-40 off, I couldn't really say no... so here it is:

Click the Pic!

I put the pen on the box to show how big it is. The kit will be packed away for a later time when I can focus on doing a proper job on it. It will be getting the following look:

Click the Pic!

Do you remember Goblin Aid? Well the first batch of casts are available to buy now so get over to Ral Partha Europe and buy the Historical Pack now.

Finally, while I was in town I also met my regular Big Issue seller, Al. He was in fine spirits and was enjoying the sunshine. He is back on his meds so he was feeling on top of the world (even though he has terminal bone-cancer). The cancer spread had slowed, which means he has more time now but it was really good to see him up and about instead of hunched under a blanket. 

It makes you think of the important things in life.

So continuing the theme of important things, my lovely wife is off racing for life today so I'm thinking pink and hoping that everything goes well.

See you from behind the kaleidoscopic eye of a fly!

Breaking traditions.

It is Saturday but this is Sunday's post.

Confused?

Well batten down the hatches because things are a bout to get very un-Inso like around here.

Why?

There's fantasy afoot.

Once upon a time, I saw a dragon and it was the Reaper Pathfinder Red Dragon. Here is a particularly lovely one painted by my friend Gi6ers from the FoD:

Click the Pic!

Well... to cut a long story short, I have been writing a bit of background about a fantasy land filled with dragons and a few other races, in order to try and put some of my existing miniatures to use (even if it is just to act as illustration for the story). This has led me to think about what fantasy miniatures I have and the most obvious ones are my World of Twilight miniatures and my Hasslefree Dwarfs... so they have been woven into the story along with the dragons and some goblins.

Now... me being the obsessive person that I am and irrespective of how I am currently feeling about the hobby, I have gone and bought a Red Dragon from the very helpful Tim over at Miniature Heroes and will be placing an order for a selection of their fine Mirliton Dragons very soon. I also plan to use their facility for ordering Reaper miniatures to get a few goblins.

Whether or not I'll actually summon the enthusiasm to paint them will be a completely different matter but I am trying my hardest to 'throw my muse a bone' and am hoping that the complete change in direction will help matters.

One thing I can say is that packing away almost all of my sci-fi stuff and taking a break from the hobby has really improved my mood so you never know, it may just be a short break that leads to some different and unexpected things from me.

More information about the Land of Dragons will be coming soon so please stay tuned... it should be quite an interesting diversion.

See you from the start of the race!