The calm before the excitement.

 Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

Since the last post, things have been a little slow on all fronts. The consistently miserable weather has had quite a negative effect on my mood and motivation so I am hoping that things will get fully back up to speed soon.

With that out of the way, April is very much a month for getting ready for a few big events...

First, the charity shop where I work, has been closed for refurbishment but is set to reopen in a couple of weeks and that will mean a thorough clean of the premises, a restock of the shelves and a time for learning the new layout and equipment. As a result, I am going to have to pop in and have a good look around before taking the helm on the 25th April... and I am looking forward to the start of the next chapter.

Next, we have the Flora Day preparations and celebrations. It'll start with the band practice parade on the first of May (07:00hrs and 19:00hrs), then there will be all of the town preparations on the seventh of May (the town is transformed with hanging flowers, garlands and banners) with the usual "Flora-Eve" celebrations and finally, on the eighth of May, it will be Flora Day (my favourite day of the year). I have mentioned it before but Flora Day is a massive Helstonian tradition where the town is filled with dance, music and festivities. There are four main dances and an additional pagan dance called the Hal-An-Tow. I start the day with a pint of ale and a pasty (followed by a bacon roll) at around 06:45hrs and stay out for the day; sharing great times with friends, family and newcomers. I can't wait.

THEN... My daughter is getting married in the same week as Flora Day! AS a result, I have a lot of family coming to visit and some will be staying for Flora Day as well... not to mention the planned celebration for my daughter's wedding! 

So there is a LOT for me to look forward to in the coming weeks... and an awful lot of getting things to get ready too.

What about the hobby?

Well... I have done NO sculpting. Not a jot since the last post. I tried but could not muster the briefest period of motivation... so it all stopped... and I decided to give painting a go for a change. 

So what have I painted?

I have been lucky enough to receive a few bits and bobs from Chris at Macrocosm Miniatures and as a result, I was able to paint up a Priest:

Click the Pic!

I also decided to paint the concept Beastman I sculpted because I didn't really think he would be a good choice to get cast up... so I painted the green:

Click the Pic!

With no sculpting motivation and a lack of inspiration for a way forward with the Beastman project, I continued to paint and have been working on my Proxy Catachan platoon:

Click the Pix!

So far, I have two Infantry Squads, two Command Squads and a bunch of characters painted (the top pic is everything and the other three "close-ups" of the Platoon). I also have another Infantry Squad that is ready for highlights and a Heavy Weapon Squad that has a rough base-coat; waiting for the neat base-coat to be applied. That will finish this platoon and enable me to start the AK Troopers platoon; which will be a proxy for the Death Korps of Krieg (DKoK).

The DKoK platoon will be two large units of 20 Infantry in each, led by a grizzled Commissar and most probably, the Priest from the Catachan platoon. That means that I will need to convert some of the AK Troopers to fit specific roles and will need to sculpt a suitably gnarly Commissar, most likely with a massive power claw and a bionic eye... 

All I need is some motivation and enthusiasm!

Sadly, no Salute for me this year. Last year was a bit of a mixed bag, spoiled by my anxiety... great to meet people and see some of the great things but my inability to cope with the crowds cut things abruptly short and I let a few people down so when I go again, I will definitely need a chaperone for the day. This coming Saturday, I will send out psychic emanations to all my friends who are attending the show and hope that they have a cracking time... I will be scouring the web for pix and videos so I can get my fix in a safer manner.

Best of luck to everyone at Salute. It's a cracking event.

Right, that's it for this post so lets hope the weather improves, the world calms down a bit and we can get back to enjoying things again.

See you from the top of the world!

The 6th of May...

 Hello and welcome to Inso's World again. As promised, I will be adding a few more "reflections from Salute 52", now that I have had a chance to land and look back with a clear, less exhausted, mind.

So here goes...

All the travelling sucked.

Yes, I have travelled afar in my previous life but now that I have settled in Cornwall, my will to travel... or even leave the place... has really died. I found sitting on a train full of people who didn't want to chat, a bit weird and wasn't really happy with the cushioning on the seats either. The air-conditioner wasn't really on top form and the train was packed (luckily I reserved seats for the to/from London train). Thank heavens for Sudoku.

My lack of familiarity with getting around London didn't matter because the underground is very easy to navigate BUT I over spent on unnecessary tickets due to not realising I could just tap my debit card on the Oyster pads. Also, the closure of the Chiltern line, over the weekend, meant a few diversions which added time and uncertainty to the journey.

Overall, I wasn't unhappy with the "travelling tools" at my disposal but the time it took and the cost of travel was hard to rationalise for me. It was a whole weekend of traveling for 5 hours at a show... I could have done a lot of things in the same time, had I not gone.

Sleep?

Nothing to do with the event BUT I had little more than a couple of hours of sleep over the three days of travelling/being away from home. This was caused by a mix of excitement for the show, anxiety about travelling/tickets and my insomnia. It was a real shame because the bed I was "sleeping" in was extremely comfortable. The lack of sleep and all the travelling, coupled with my "post long COVID lungs" and polluted air, meant that I was pretty exhausted before I even got to Salute... which was a shame.

The show.

The South London Warlords put on a cracking event. There was something for everyone, the staff were amazingly helpful and surprisingly friendly considering some of the nonsense that I expect they had to deal with. The venue, as always, was perfect for the show and the food-courts were varied and really not as expensive as I could have expected. The ticket price was very fair and although I arrived a little too late for the extra free miniature, I got a nice little bag of freebies; of which a small part, are on my workbench. If I could think of a negative from the show perspective, it would be a lack of a place in the hall to get a cold drink without having to go out into the food court areas (assuming that there wasn't one that I never noticed)... but that's a really small gripe.

The crowds.

I'll be the first to admit that the crowds bothered me a lot. I wasn't expecting it to be the case but I was quite overwhelmed by the floating masses. I can't fault the courteous nature of people... I experienced no rudeness or bother from anyone at all; in fact, everyone was friendly and willing to chat and those I wanted to interact with, were brilliant. The problem I had with the crowds was the unrelenting nature of them. I am not one to sharpen my elbows and push-in so I found that I was standing around in a bit of a daze for a lot of the show... waiting to steer around people to get to areas I wanted to go. As a result, I lost my bearings completely and had to look at the map a lot more than I would have expected. The daze also meant that I missed going to stalls that I wanted to visit, didn't realise some of them were there at all, forgot about others I planned to visit and became so overwhelmed by everything that I felt I had to leave the event earlier than I wanted to.

When I tried to find a quiet spot, away from the crowds, it was like I was being followed by people who just wanted to be in the space I was in... so I felt like I couldn't escape... and the longer it went on, the more anxious I was getting.

... and the crowds didn't die down... they remained pretty constant throughout the whole time I managed to remain at the event. It was great for the show but too much for me.

I had a nightmare trying to find people that I planned to meet up with. It was lucky that most of them found me, even though I was really trying to find them. I had some lovely chats with them and met some people for the first time, even though we'd been chatting for years on Facebook. I missed a few people that I really wanted to see but I was so overwhelmed by the event that it was inevitable that I wouldn't see everyone... and at the end, I ejected so rapidly that I didn't have time to shout out a warning so missed others who may have wanted to connect.

It would appear that living in a quiet Cornish town has had a dramatic effect on my ability to deal with large gatherings of people.

The vendors.

I really can't fault a single one! Every vendor was happy to chat (when the crowds allowed it) and I was able to enthuse about their products or listen to them enthuse about them. I connected with lots of people I knew from past Salutes, met new ones and did a bit of networking and chatted with people about new products that I hadn't seen before. The stalls were interesting, well laid out and there were many little add-ons / freebies floating about if you wanted to find them (like the colouring table at Bad Squiddo Games, for example).

Overall or TLDR...

The event was brilliant, the people were brilliant, the stalls were brilliant, the crowds sucked, the travelling sucked and my ability to deal with crowds hampered my enjoyment of the day a little.

Would I go to another one?

If I was to go to another Salute, I would need to be lodging nearer the event to save on travel time. I would need to go with someone who could take my mind off the crowds and I would need to find a way of getting some bloody sleep! If I managed to arrange that, then I would go again... but not for a couple of years because I need to land properly.

The End?...

On to other things... and I have a week off work! That means that I have had a lot of sculpting time and have been busy sorting out a Servitor and another Engineseer. This is the Engineseer (all primed, ready for paint):

Click the Pic!

... and this is the WIP Servitor:

Click the Pic!

The Servitor still needs a bit of tidying up and also three heavy weapons sculpting... but it's really getting there now.

In OTHER, other news... this Thursday is Flora Day; my favourite day of the year. I will be out a lot over the next couple of days so there won't be much hobby going on but it will be for a good cause... my enjoyment!

In less happy news, it has been three years since I lost my handsome Sam on 6th May... I miss him very much...

Click the Pic!

...

...

See you from the heart of the community!

Salute 52 plus other animals.

 Hello and welcome to Inso's World again... and this post is going to be a little longer than usual because of Salute 52 and a bunch of other stuff that has been going on since the last one.

So... here goes...

First up, this:

Click the Pic!

The above image is of the Space Dwarf army box and as you can see, everything in it is painted! That's right, I painted the whole contents of the box. At some point soon, I'll have another few miniatures to fill the Astropath and Servitor components (six miniatures in all), especially seeing as I have finally got a design sorted for the Servitors and am in the process of sculpting one... and that will be the army finished!

While I was looking at the troops, I felt that a couple of the Advisors were a bit "out of theme" so I decided to convert a couple more. These were purely for my army so I quickly painted the conversions and added them to the army:

Click the Pix!

The (painted) guys on the left are the new Airforce and Artillery Advisors. They replaced the "sweary" artillery Advisor and the Airforce Advisor that represents me in miniature form (the one wearing glasses with a dog leaning on him). They had extra patches and insignia that didn't fit with the rest of the army so they needed to go.

In related news, I have a WIP Servitor on the bench that ACTUALLY looks like it may have a chance of being finished and looking the part. I don't have any pix of it because I don't want to jinx it... but so far, it looks promising so watch this space. That said, I won a VERY cheap lot on Ebay that may or may not have influenced the direction that I have chosen...

Click the Pic!

Now lets talk about the big adventure to Salute 52, at the Excel centre in London Docklands.

Friday 11th April:

Bus from Helston, Cornwall at 08:17hrs. Train from Redruth, Cornwall at 09:41hrs. Tube from Paddington to Marlylebone and then on the Chiltern line to Aylesbury... finally arriving at around 17:30hrs. An evening in the company of my father-in-law followed by a sleepless night in a very comfy bed, worrying about tickets and things...

Saturday 12th April:

Train replacement bus from Aylesbury at 07:50hrs. Tube from Amersham to Liverpool Street Station, then Bank, then the DLR over to Station House and the Excel centre for Salute 52, arriving at around 09:45hrs.

Finding the queue was easy and once the event opened at 10:00hrs, it took about ten minutes to get into the event. As is usually the case, the South London Warlords did a cracking job of organising the event and it seemed to go very smoothly. 

Once inside, I realised that I had not considered the effect that having so many people around me might have on me... OBVIOUSLY, living in a quiet town has ruined my ability to cope with crowds so I sort of went into a bit of a zombie-mode. I was trying to meet up with a few people but ended up being found by people, rather than finding them. Luckily, I got to meet up with almost all of the people I planned to but sadly, I missed a couple of them which was a real shame... however I managed to dish out a few keyrings that I prepared so that was a good thing:

Click the Pic!

Here's the queue outside in special "blurry vision" and the only selfie I took, once I got inside the event:

Click the Pix!

The best bit of the show was meeting up with people and chatting... closely followed by seeing the "Bunny Badger Gaming" table, that I had made a couple of miniatures for, being used in anger as a "turn-up and play" gaming table:

Click the Pix!

I was particularly impressed when I found out that the table went and won the "Most Innovative Game" award which is brilliant for the guys after all the work that went into the table, the rules and manning the game during the day. 

As well as reconnecting with friends from past events and finally meeting friends that I've been chatting to on Facebook for YEARS, I also did a bit of networking and chatted with a lot of the stall owners... as well as also meeting Annie's (from Bad Squiddo Games) mum and we had a lovely chat about her recent trip down to Cornwall. A big thank you to everyone I met; I won't name names but I really appreciate everyone who took the time to find me and share a bit of time for a chat.

... I had planned to stay until the event closed...

... but at !5:00hrs, the wheels fell off and a very tired Inso decided he had to get the flip out of Dodge and get back to Aylesbury. The tiredness, the travelling and the massive crowds, finally took their toll and I needed to make for the DLR and go back to Aylesbury.

OBVIOUSLY, while pottering around the event, dodging people and watching the skies for invaders, I managed to buy a few bits and bobs so here's "the haul" (along with the freebies):

Click the Pic!

A Mammoth Walker, 20 paint brushes, 3 packs of basing tufts, a highland Space Dwarf, a "Salute 52" mug, 16 variously sized wheels, a sprue of Quar (free), a "Salute 52" Highlander miniature (free), "Salute 52" dice (free), some stickers (gifted) and some samples (free)... and not pictured, the Salute carrier bag and programme (free). 

Not a massive haul but enough... end everything I planned to buy; plus a bit extra.

Three hours later at around 18:00hrs, I was back in Aylesbury having a cuppa and chatting with my Father-in-law.

Sunday 13th April:

On the train replacement bus from Aylesbury to Amersham at 07:50hrs, then over to Paddington Station for the trip home to Cornwall... finally arriving at Redruth at around 18:00hrs to be collected by my lovely wife for the last half an hour drive home.

Reflections:

First of all, the event was a brilliant success. There were big crowds, lots of games, lots of traders and all sorts of other bits and bobs to keep you entertained... a triumph for the South London Warlords.

The Excel Centre had plenty of places to get food and drink and (once stamped) you could leave and enter Salute to get fed and watered freely... and the prices weren't ridiculous either (city prices but not CITY PRICES!!!).

I tried to find people but was so distracted by the crowds that I was found by them instead. I missed a few people and a few traders because of the crowds and I have been quite surprised to see some of the traders in photos that I never realised were there. The meet-ups were great and it was lovely to chat and share news. I talked to some traders I've never met and have got a few people interested in possibly commissioning me at some point so that is cool. I am sad about not meeting up with everyone I planned to but I must admit that I was REALLY distracted by the crowds. I think that I've become more of a "small town" chap than I thought.

Travelling about was easy and I have no complaints... but the time I spent on getting to Salute and home again was a big investment for what turned out to be five hours at the event. I would have to think very hard about whether I would repeat it in the future.

On the whole, it was well worth going and I really enjoyed the event. I wish I had been able to sleep, I wish I didn't get so tired out (my post "long Covid" lungs and air pollution DON'T mix) and I wish I wasn't so distracted by the crowds but them's the breaks.

I will probably write another post once I've properly landed again.

I reckon that's about all I have to say (for now).

See you from the pit!

Marching in to 2025.

 Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

It's been a couple of months but during that time, a lot has happened so I'll get straight to it.

Life-wise, I'm still volunteering with the Air Ambulance shop occasionally and I'm still working at the care-centre but in addition to caring for the clients, I have also been given the task of cooking their dinners and a bit of cleaning so things have ramped up, somewhat.

After nearly 2 years, I have made the decision to stop creating/delivering the bi-weekly quiz at my local pub. I've just run out of ideas and enthusiasm so I'm stepping aside for someone else to give it a go. This will have the effects of reducing my stress levels and giving me more time to do some stuff for me... which will be nice. You never know, I may even get some sleep occasionally!

Our goldfish passed away after 10 years of happy swimming... 

... and that's about it for normal stuff so it's on to hobby related things now.

So far this year, I have finished the Jungle Fighter project and have sent the sculpts off to Chris at Macrocosm Miniatures:

Click the Pic!

That's seven Jungle Fighters and one Alien predator. I expect these will be a Kickstarter at some point fairly soon.

While I was working on the Jungle Fighter project, I was also sculpting a couple of miniatures for the Bunny Badger / Frothers games at Salute this year. I was asked to sculpt a "fat Elon Musk in Homelander cosplay and Marvin the Martian" so I sculpted these:

Click the Pix!

They have since been sent off, painted and will appear on the gaming table at Salute 52, this year (12 Apr 2025).  

As well as these sculpts, I attempted to sculpt some Servitor robots for my Squat army but failed. I was hoping to add the Servitors to my other finished sculpts and send them off for casting but I decided to give up and send off what I had... so the two Astropaths, the Adventurer and the Mourning Diorama have all been sent off to Macrocosm Miniatures for casting. Hopefully, I'll get some casts soon.

Click the Pix!

Seeing as my sculpting muse has done a runner, I have been painting units for my Squat army for a change. So far, I have painted the second infantry squad for the third platoon and the heavy weapon squad for the same platoon. I am currently painting the command squad that will complete the platoon (one infantry squad was painted a while ago):

Click the Pix!

Once the command squad is painted, I only need to add two Astropaths and four Servitors to the army and it will be complete. Obviously, I need to get them delivered first so in the meantime, I will be painting up a few already started, spare miniatures to trial some stick-on, grass tufts, that I plan to use for the army... which is one of the reasons that I am going to Salute this year... so I can have a look at what's available and see what will be a nice colour to add to my army bases. I have a few other things to see while I'm there but that will be for my "post Salute" blog post.

That's about it for now.

See you from the hangar!

This is the end... of 2024!

 Hello and welcome to Inso's World again... admittedly, after quite a break... but welcome, nonetheless!

Tomorrow is the last day of 2024 and as a lot of people do, I decided to have a look back over the year and see what has happened in my life.

To start on a miserable note, I have come to the conclusion that the long COVID I had for over a year has permanently affected my breathing. Plans to run marathons have been permanently put on hiatus until I decide to go and get things checked out by the professionals. Apart from that, another cracked rib and a few aches and pains (related to my age and past activities), I'm feeling pretty chipper. 

This coming January, marks the second year of not being in therapy so I'd say that my mental health is pretty good and I'm in a good place with regards to that side of things. I am finding that NOT watching the news every day and ignoring the things that I can't change has really helped me to chill out and I am a lot less stressed/frustrated with life... which is nice...

I've been working in an elderly care facility for almost six months and I am really enjoying it. It's a day centre for people to visit, be looked after and entertained and then go home at the end of the day. It is great fun and I am getting on well with the clients and my work mates. For me, it's a bit like getting paid to go and have fun at a social club (with a bit of care-work thrown in) so I can see myself staying there for the foreseeable future.

I have started a college course to do with "behaviour that challenges" and plan to do more care related courses when I finish it and when they become available.

I still volunteer at the local Cornwall Air Ambulance charity shop on some weekends... something I really wanted to keep up with, after getting my care job.

The two-weekly quiz that I run at my local pub is ticking along nicely still... it's been over a year now and I have a group of regulars who pop along... as well as the occasional newbies.

Family is good. Cats are good. Norrel (our gold fish) is weird but still going strong.

I have been out on my motorcycle less than five times this year... that needs to change.

I (we) haven't had a holiday away, since we moved to Cornwall (8 years ago)... that needs to change.

All in all, I'm ticking along nicely but need to get a few ducks in a row in order to start getting more back from life.

The hobby... is it though? Is it a hobby? Over this year, I haven't been as active with my hobby as the previous year. I haven't painted anything... and I've sculpted 8 miniatures for myself. Everything else has been for other parties. This coming year, my main goal is to finish my "commission" list and not accept any more until I have had the chance to do some hobby, rather than "work" at my hobby. I need to learn to be a bit selfish and work on finishing my Squat army. I do a lot and don't have time for finishing my own projects... and that sucks.

So... what have I managed to finish this year? This:

• 4x Teletubbies, Noo-noo and a Tubby-Toast coin for the Frothers games at Salute 2024.
• 2x Astropath (for my army)
• Ukranian president for the Politicos range.
• 1x Squat adventurer (personal sculpt... for no reason).
• Chaos Squat (Predator) for Macrocosm Miniatures.
• 2x Human snipers in ghillie suits for a US company.
• Squat memorial diorama (personal project... for reasons).
• 3x alien creatures to use up left over putty from other sculpts.
• 4x Squat jungle troopers for Macrocosm Miniatures.
• (Preemptively) 1x Superhero for the Frothers games at Salute 2025.

Some images:

Jungle fighters so far - Click the Pic!

The Teletubbies and Noo-noo (painted by Badgers) - Click the Pic!

My memorial diorama - Click the Pic!

In the next few months, I need to finish:

• 3x Squat jungle troopers for Macrocosm Miniatures.
• 1x Martian for the Frothers games at Salute 2025.
• GET STUFF CAST UP AND IN MY ARMY!!!

It doesn't seem a lot but hopefully, I can get it finished and then I can get back to finishing my Squat army... which still needs some servitors to be sculpted... plus a few bits to be cast up and of course, everything that isn't painted, will need painting.

In other hobby news... I have got my ticket for Salute 2025. I am planning to use it and I am planning to meet a few friends who I haven't seen in a while; from the hobby community. Going to Salute is as far as any plans have got, apart from buying a ticket... so getting there, accommodation etc. is still required... but it's not for a few months yet... 

That's about it. 2024 hasn't been a bad year at all. It could have been better... but so could the weather! I'm looking forward to 2025 in much the same way as any other year... skeptical optimism. I hope that it's a s good a year as you or I deserve and hopefully the wheels don't fall off.

See you from the past... looking into the future!

Cheers! Have a Happy New Year!

A short spell of things.

 Hello and welcome to Inso's World again. It's Easter and the last post was around three months ago but frankly, it's been a bit "meh" since Christmas so I've not had much I wanted to post.

I was hoping to be a shop manager by now but that was on the table for eight days before "situations beyond our control" happened so it was deferred for at least 6 months. That means I have had to wait but I can't wait for ever... and I haven't got any idea what I'd like to do instead... so "meh"!

I had plans for sculpting a few more bits for the army but my sculpting mojo disappeared... so "meh"!

I had a long run of insomnia so I wasn't safe to go out on my bike... so "meh"!

I had a "health issue" that was linked to drinking grown up drinks... so I've practically been teetotal since the end of November... so "meh"!

... and then...

The Frothers Unite / Bunny Badger gamers for Salute, threw out a request and that started a bit of motivation which led to quite a lot of sculpting... and I'm still sculpting things as a result so it seems that things are looking up.

At least I have cats, eh?!

So... the sculpting. My friend Ben from Bunny Badger games put a request out for some Teletubbies (including Noo-noo) and I thought they would be a good thing to get my mojo back so I offered my help. There were a few specific requests (one needed to be holding a rabbit and one needed to be eating one) so I used a bit of poetic license and came up with these:

Click the Pic!

They were finished in good time and have already been painted up, ready for the gaming table at Salute 2024 (a massive gaming event in London  at the Excel Centre). I was also asked to make a token for the gamers to take away as a prize... so I made some Tubby Toast:

Click the Pic!

This was sent over to Jon at Ainsty Castings to replicate for the event. As a result of this little sculpting "change of direction" I decided to try working on an Astropath for the Dwarf project. I started with a clear idea of what I wanted... and then went with the flow; creating something completely different but perfect for what I wanted... so here's the Astropath:

Click the Pic!

I was aiming for a clean-cut version of a "Living Ancestor" but ended up with a feral "shaman" type of chap... which works fine for me.

As well as that, I finally finished a sculpt of the Ukrainian president for the Politicos range:

Click the Pic!

Sadly, it was one of those sculpts that was intimidating, due to having to get the likeness right... so it took far too long and in the end, was a reasonably passable version of Zelensky... not perfect but passable.

Then I got a request / commission for some themed miniatures from my friend at Macrocosm Miniatures, which I am keeping under my hat for now... but I've got a team of seven miniatures in mind, with six of them already on corks undergoing the very early stages of the sculpting process... ie, they all have feet!

While that has been happening, I started on a little personal project which I have called "my secret project"... and that is very nearly finished so will be appearing in the next post on here (whenever that may be) so it's a case of "watch this space".

Furthermore, I have made a decision on how to base my Epic Squats and have got some classic "strip" bases, rather than the square ones. I've started gluing the troops into them but haven't got any pix so far... so here's a reminder of where the were before I started gluing them onto their proper bases:

Click the Pix!

Hopefully, I'll have progress pix, next time...

Plans... plans... plans...

I still need to sculpt a few servitors and possibly a second Astropath... but that's all for the Dwarf army project. Then... whatever comes along, I guess...

See you from the big chair!

Random is as random does.

 Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

The dust has settled and 2023 is ticking along in earnest. I caught "the lurgy" a few weeks ago and am shaking it off... but it meant a few weeks off work and not much getting about. It also meant that I could get some sculpting done but a lack of "peopling" was annoying. I'm back to working in the charity shop now so things have improved.

I have finished going to psychotherapy now. Last Tuesday was my last session after 38 months of visits. If I look back at how I felt at the beginning and how I feel now, the two are incomparable. I haven't felt this light for MANY years so it may have been a tough journey but it was very much necessary and worth it.

I am currently doing this "dry January" thing so I haven't been drinking this month... not that it's been an issue... especially with being poorly... so Wednesday, I'll be able to toast my birthday and finishing therapy... YAY!

I am still ticking along with my charity push-up challenge and am up to day 86... that's 1720 push-ups for the Alzheimer's Society... even though donations have been non-existent... I'm still plugging along. Hopefully someone will bite the bullet and start the donations rolling in... or not... at least I'm trying. Here's my donation page:

Push-up Challenge Page

In other news, as mentioned earlier, I have been getting some sculpting finished. First of all, I have finished sculpting a diver for a friend to wear as a pendent. It's been sent off for casting so I am waiting for copies to arrive for clean-up and giving to my friend:

Click the Pic!

I am hoping that the metal version will polish up nicely. When this was sent off for casting, I also sent Thor, the Engineseer and a pair of advisors so they should be turning up soon. The only miniature that hasn't been posted here is the last advisor... the Air Force advisor:

Click the Pic!

He's the only Dwarf I've sculpted that doesn't have a beard (apart from the Wine Witch... who happens to be a female). 

I have also been busy with other sculpting... a conversion of a Hasslefree Miniature into "Leeloo" for the Frothers table at Salute 2023 (to go with Cousin It and Paddington):

Click the Pic!

I have also been asked to sculpt a couple of pairs of hanging, boxing gloves (28mm sized) for tractor decoration so that will be worked on very shortly. 

Finally, I finished a long delayed sculpt for the Politicos range... a certain Labour Party Leader:

Click the Pic!

He's been sent off and they are happy with him and that means that I am too. 

I have obviously been sharing these images online, in other places and have, as a result, been asked to sculpt other commissions. It's nice to be appreciated but I don't like to get too many or it puts me off sculpting... that said... it's still nice to be appreciated.

What's on the corks now?

• Two laughing Buddhas
• A superhero caricature
• Two tiny pairs of boxing gloves
• Another politician caricature
• A Hobbit conversion
• Two shield conversions

I also have a chess set to paint, a large scale (about 12" tall) lady to sculpt and paint and a couple of 28mm Servitors to finish... not to mention my OWN projects (currently building a Mech for my Squat army) ... so I am pretty busy at the moment... with other commissions banging on the door... madness!

That's it for now. Once I get a bit more to share, I'll share it!

See you from the back of the god-damn lunch line!

Salute weekend.

Hello and welcome to Inso's World on the day after Salute 2016.

What can I say about the show? Nothing... apart from I am both glad and saddened that I didn't go this year.

This week has been very quiet and I haven't really been very much of a hobbyist. I received another box of Ghar suits from EBay and a storage case from Kaiser Rushforth... meaning that I had some storage space to fill so a bit more sorting got done and a bunch of miniatures got packed away.

Whilst rummaging around, I found a few things that I have put on the painting table as 'quick wins' so I have been tinkering with those... but there is nothing to show off yet.

In other news, on Friday My wife and I went to the Sergeant's Mess for a Spring ball and enjoyed the event. Lots of good food, good music, great company and fabulous dancing daaahling! Saturday was a little slow to get going... as you may imagine.

So... Salute. Why didn't I go? To keep it simple:

• I was still a little jaded after the Spring ball.
• It costs a lot of money to just get into the show (including travel).
• I wasn't working for anyone so probably wouldn't have stayed too long.
• I didn't have anything specific to go and see.
• I am thinning down and knew that I would buy stuff I didn't really want/need.
• I couldn't be bothered to deal with the train mess in London.

As a result, it would seem that last year is my last Salute for some time (maybe ever).

The good news is that, from what I have heard from various people who went, it was a profitable show and they did pretty well.

I would have liked to have gone and met all the people I know and offer my support but it just wasn't to be this year.

Yesterday, I was on my own while my wife went to see a football match with my son so I watched 'Dredd' for the first time instead. I quite enjoyed it and thought that Lena Headey played a really gool baddie. Judge Anderson was cool too and Dredd... well he was Dredd (which compared to Stallone's version was MUCH better and quite true to the written character). If you haven't seen it, I'd suggest you do but be prepared for quite a lot of gory violence. In the meantime, you could do a lot worse than watch this nice little fan film:

That's it for today.

See you from behind the wire!

THE BIG BLOG UPDATE!

Hello again. It's Sunday and that means that it is time to update the blog, and what better way to do that than to make today's update... ENORMOUS?

Let's start at the begining and say that it is good to be home in England again, even though I am still shattered.

I started travelling on Tuesday morning with a 7 hour plane trip from the Falkland Islands to the Ascension Islands. I then got off the plane for a couple of hours and sat in holding while the plane was refuelled etc. Then it was back on the plane for a further 9 hours, arriving at Brize Norton at around 08:00hrs. An hour messing about in the terminal, followed by an hour in an MT vehicle (being driven by a nice driver) and I was dropped off at my door. I had time for a cuppa and a quick hello to my wife and daughter before I popped into work to let them know I was home and then I was home for a few days.

Things to note:

• I have not had a proper night's sleep since last Saturday (8 days ago)
• I am still on Falklands time (4 hours behind UK time)
• I am a little jet-lagged

So... that's the first bit out of the way. Next up...

...I was encouraged to go to Salute yesterday. Salute is an annual event run by the South London Warlords that is all about the wargaiming community. It was a change for me this year because I was not working on the Hasslefree Miniatures stand... I was just a punter. That meant that I could wander around and look at everything at my leisure. Here are a few of the tables that I noticed:

Battle Star Galactica (Click the Pic!)

Star Wars (Click the Pic!)

Beyond the Gates of Antares (Click the Pic!)

Alien VS Predator (Click the Pic!)

Warzone Resurrection (Click the Pic!)

Stingray (Click the Pic!)

Obviously, there were many more tables to see but I thought I'd just take a few of the ones I liked rather than spamming everywhere with too many photos to look at. On my travels, I was glad to see that the guys from Hawk Wargames had finished their spaceship for Dropzone Commander:

Click the Pix!

It was a truly epic ship, with tens of little dropships, tanks, vehicles and other details that really made the project pop.

So... onto the next thing... what did I buy? Well... here's a pic or two:

The Miniatures: Clockwork Goblin 'Grizzly' walker, 2x Vulkan Battlesuits from Prodos, Robotic arms from Blight Wheel Miniatures, a creature from Twilight Miniatures and a pack of Angry Beavers from North Star (bought from the Dice Bag Lady):

Click the Pic!

The food: Three lots of jerked meat from Artemis Black's:

Click the Pic!

Other Stuff: Two dice bags from the Dice Bag Lady and also (not shown) a Salute mug which is full of tea at the moment:

Click the Pic!

I bought the bags for my wife and daughter because they are extremely well made and I knew that they would find a use for them.

While at Salute, I met many people but due to me being so tired, I only stopped for a few moments so didn't have time for a propper chat... to be honest, I was little more than a zombie so I probably did them a favour! That said, I was very glad so see them and felt a little guilty about not spending more time with them but I was on the train home by 13:30hrs and was lucky that I didn't miss my stop (I may have dozed a little).

So... onto the hobby.

I have not done anything hobbywise yet, apart from digging out a pair of heavy weapon tractors for my finished Squat platoon and also the back-packs that I need to fit to my weapon loaders. Mind you, I have also clipped a second platoon of plastic Squats from their sprues, ready to be cleaned up and assembled for conversion... so I haven't been totally 'hobby idle'.

I think I have filled this post with enough for now. Once I have started to fill my space better at home, I will start with more hobby stuff and also get stuck into selling stuff on E-Bay... the time's they are a changin'!

See you from the open door!