So-so...

Hello again and welcome to Inso's World.

This week has been pretty quiet due to the insomnia kicking in a bit too much. Even the medication didn't help this week so it has all been a bit of a blur.

As you can imagine, I have not really been in the frame of mind for much hobby stuff and even when I was, I made a few mistakes.

I decided that, in my infinite wisdom, I would paint the base coat on my alien champion and that it would be bright green. After looking at it when it was finished, I realised I had made a big mistake and repainted it the same blue as the rest of them. I then finished the first basecoat of the rest of the colours and it was so untidy that I stopped... and haven't restarted since.

And that... was my practical hobby time this week.

In other news, I watched a charming little film called Moonrise Kingdom... it was a little bit quirky, well cast and something that really ticked all the 'arty' boxes as well. Well worth a watch:

Sam kitten has properly settled in and has been getting a bit more play value from big Fred so there have been some properly amusing fights going on.

This coming week, I will be commuting to a "charity management awareness" course on a daily basis so I doubt that I will be in much of a mind for hobby stuff in the evenings. Still... it's another course and another bit of food for thought.

Oh... I nearly forgot. Games Workshop have started putting out White Dwarf magazine on a monthly basis again and the first issue had one of these as a freebie:

Click the Pic!

It is a Slaughter Priest and is available from HERE for the princely sum of £18!!! Seeing as White Dwarf was £5-99, I can see people buying one just for the £12 saving. I bought a copy for the sake of nostalgia and it was everything I expected it to be; a top quality, well laid out, full colour, advertising pamphlet with a few hobby articles thrown in. If GW is your thing, £5-99 for a monthly magazine of that quality and page count is not an unreasonable price. That said... most of the content can be found online in one form or another so it boils down to whether you like having a magazine or sitting in front of some form of screen.

Well... that's about it. 

See you through the haze!

Catching up.

Well, it's another Sunday where I was debating whether or not to update the Blog but then I thought... what the heck... so here I am.

This week has been very quiet on the hobby front with no painting being done on the pugs but a little bit of painting has been done on Big Robot... you remember Big Robot?:

Click the Pic!

He'll be painted similar to this one (on the right):

Click the Pic!

I have no idea why I decided to paint him but I am sort of 'clutching at straws' with the hobby at the moment. I guess the long run of sculpting Squats has sapped my hobby mojo and I need to recharge.

In other news, I finally got to watch a film that I have wanted to see for ages: Kingsmen. Well I thoroughly enjoyed the mix of stylised violence with a lot of classic 'James Bond' nonsense. It was definitely worth the wait; even if at times it was totally predictable.

I also found a copy of one of my all time favourite films; Brazil (by Terry Gillingham) so I will be able to watch that again soon.

In other news, the ginger cat has been poorly... and expensive this week so we've spent a bit of time at the vets trying to get things sorted out. Fortunately, things seem to be on the mend so hopefully (touch wood) she should return to normality very soon. She's 17 and a half years old, senile but seems to be as fit as a fiddle.

I'm sure you remember me mentioning that my son was away on basic training for the Royal Air Force... well, he has finished all the hard work and is now preparing for his pass-out parade in a week or so. The boy done good!

Finally, I have a few items for sale on EBay again (starting at 16:30 GMT today):

EBAY LINK

That's it for now.

See you from the top of the ladder!

The ebb and flow.

Before I start I'd like to welcome Amy Clark and Ariel El vikingo dark to Inso's World. Welcome to you both and I hope that you enjoy your stay. Please feel free to comment on anything you see fit and share your thoughts.

So...this week has been a bit up and down. Humid weather, lack of motivation, itchy tattoos, family stuff... it all takes a toll on the hobby. Fortunately, this week, I took a day off work to do some sculpting and managed to acheive something; the command squad for the second platoon of Squats:

Click the Pic!

It isn't much but it is another completed squad for the army. Since the picture was taken, I have added an aerial (made from a sewing pin) to the comms trooper so he can actually be spotted easier. In addition to the command squad, I have been working on the secret project and also a little bit on the next Beastman primaris psyker. The Psyker will be continuing the Jedi theme... but may well be a little darker... Hmmm... when I get to a point when I have something to show off, you will see what I mean.

In other hobby news, I have been sorting out my box of plastic squats and have discovered that I have enough components to make a further 115 troops. That doesn't include the 66 that are already finished/WIP (1 and 2 platoons, the engineseer and a few tester troopers) so I am getting very close to the 200 mark. The good thing about this is that I have lots of complete arm sprues that I won't be using so they will be hitting EBay at some point... yes... I am going to be mercenary and ask for similar prices that I have seen on there (it will help me claw back some of the money I have spent on all these Squats).

Yesterday, I went to see Ant Man, with my wife. Without spoiling things, I thought it was a great little film, filled with humour, some good characters and just the right amount of 'jeopardy' to make it exciting. I am surprised that it got a 12A cert because I have seen more grown up films with a lower rating. There is a bit after the credits which sort of ties things up a bit... but you'll have to see it to find out what it is. A very nice little film with a few links to the Avengers. Well worth going to see. The 3D was subtle too so there wasn't a huge amount of blurriness you sometimes get.

At the moment, I am working on the Primaris Beastman, the first infantry squad for the second platoon and the secret project so hopefully, by next week, I may have some finished stuff to show off.

That's it for today.

See you from the microverse!

Midweek Extra

I know it's midweek but I forgot to mention something on Sunday's update... I went to see a movie last Friday.

So... Avengers: Age of Ultron (without spoilers):

First of all, there are the familiar characters with a few extra thrown in for good measure. The Avengers have the usual rapport and there is still a little bit of humour BUT there is a darker tone to the movie... almost one of impending doom. As a result, it isn't as light hearted and there are times where it becomes a serious film... but overall, it is even better than the last Avengers movie (which is saying a lot because I loved the last one). There is the usual mix of toned down violence but there are a few bleeding bullet wounds so if you think your child is going to be upset about that, then go to see the movie without them... then if you think it is OK, take them along the second time you go because it will be a great excuse to see the movie twice.

There is a lot going on in the film and the new characters hardly have time to get aquainted with the audience but I'm sure they will be expanded upon in the next film.

Don't forget to watch the clip after the credits... it's the big one!

I thought the film was excellent and I strongly recommend you go and see it.

So... I've been home for a whole week now and that means I have had time to add a couple of backpacks and the little gun tractors to the two Squat infantry squads:

Click the Pix!

I've also been clipping another platoon's worth of Squats from their sprues ready to be cleaned up for conversion and have started to work on a Dreadnought to go with them... so watch this space.

See you from the bigger chair than last time!

Sunday sculpting and converting.

Hello again. It is Sunday so it is time for me to round up the week with a post about the things I have been getting up to.

First of all, I have been running a bit. That has meant a number of things...

Firstly, I have run around 13.5 miles this week. That was in 3 runs but still amounts to a half-marathon. This has led to the conclusion that...

Secondly, I need new trainers because my shins are not at all happy. I expect this to be as a result of the old trainers I have been running in so I went into town today and bought some shiny new running trainers and they are WAY better than the old ones.

Thirdly, I have signed up for a half marathon. That will be the furthest I have run in a single go (currently, it is 10 miles) and I will have to decide on a charity to get donations for... although it is likely to be the Royal British Legion.

The trip to town was eventful too... I managed to kill a pheasant. It ran all over the place and then ran at the car with fatal results. It was not a good start.

So... that is running done, now let's talk about the movie 'The Edge of Tomorrow' (I finally got to see it on DVD after missing it in the cinema).

The film is all about a bloke who ends up being labelled a deserter and put in a small unit of troops who are chosen as the first wave in a massive assault against alien invaders. The attack goes wrong and when the bloke is killed, he wakes up back where he started and has to re-live the day's events again and again. This leads him to meet a hero in the army who helps him on his journey.

There are aliens aplenty, some excellent powered suits and really cool looking aircraft. There is also the scene with an RAF Puma helicopter landing in Trafalgar Square (the very same aircraft that I have fixed in the past) so that was great.

What did I think of the film? I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to any sci-fi film buff.

On to the hobby now... and here is a picture:

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As you can see, the hovercraft conversion is coming along quite nicely. It is in the process of getting the add-ons shaped to fit the hull. There is still a way to go and the front and rear sections will change a bit before I am finished. The Squat Engineseer is starting to get his armour and is also taking shape nicely. I have learned that my sculpting finesse has taken a hit because the surfaces aren't as smooth as usual but I guess that I am just a little out of practice. As a result of only being able to do tiny bits at a time on the Squat, I have been bulking up the 'thing' in the middle with the leftover putty. The 'thing' will be revealed at some point... it should be worth the wait. Finally, at the bottom of the page we have the five eights. These are five sci-fi troopers from Hasslefree Miniatures that are going to be purple to go with these guys:

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As a result, 'Meg and the Purple Pugs' will soon become 'Meg and the Purple Pirates'. When new stuff turns up, it is always a case of 'adapt and overcome'!

This week also saw the arrival of my sculpt for the Hasslefree sculpting competition 2012:

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As you can see, the sculpt survived the casting process completely intact... and you will also notice the metal version next to her. I am very happy to have another of my sculpts in the metal. Hopefully, she will be deemed worthy to go into the Hasslefree Miniatures store... but we will have to wait and see. As well as my two sculpts, I also received a bunch of the winning casts and some others that were chosen, like mine, as HF choice miniatures. All in all... Hasslefree Miniatures have done me proud.

That is it for today. I hope to have some very exciting things to go in the next update so I hope you pop in and visit Ins's World again next week.

See you at a thousand miles an hour!

A mixed bag.

This week has been one of good times and sad times.

One of the things about being a serviceman is the transience of it all. You just get used to people being about and then they move on to be replaced by someone else. On the plus side, you get to go to many leaving functions but on the down side... your friends move on.

This week one of my friends left the service so we had a proper leaving function and gave him a good send off... I hope that the next person who comes a long becomes as much of a mate as his predecessor.

So... I went to the cinema yesterday and saw the new X-Men film. Now here's the rub. On the one hand, it is a good film with lots of action, lots of characters and some excellent special effects. On the other hand, time travel is used to totally re-write the X-Men universe and change the relevance of the first two main films. The purists will be spitting feathers... those who just want a simple super-hero film will be spitting feathers (unless they can suspend their beliefs for a couple of hours)... those who like time travel and all of the rubbish it conjures up will love the film.

Me... the film was great apart from the time travel aspects. The writers have completely altered much of the previous work. You are even left in doubt as to whether Wolverine will ever get his adamantium claws...

Recently, I have been converting/sculpting but my juices have dried up... so I decided to paint a cheap plastic dinosaur fo no apparent reason:

Click the Pix!

It's amazing what a quick paintjob does for these cheap, rubber dinosaurs... I reckon that I must have spent about 30p on the painted one. Not a bad result, really.

That's it for now.

See you from the Cretaceous period!

Easter Sunday

Welcome to this week's blog update. I'll start by saying hi to my two newest followers; Darcy Perry and Fred Jackson. Welcome to you both, feel free to get involved and share your thoughts.

Where do I start?

Let's start with this:

Yes, it's 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Me and my better half went to see it and I won't share any spoilers but here are a few observations:

• It is a couple's movie (one to take your significant other to).
• There is a lot of romantic angst.
• Spider-man is pretty cool (he is so much better than Toby Maguire ever was or could be).
• Gwen is a cool character.
• Electro is very cool... he gets better and better during the film.
• Green Goblin is very sinister... the best representation of the villain yet.
• The Rhino is a big mechanical suit (rather than a cybernitc body suit)... so it was different.
• The Rhino is only in the film for less than 2 minutes! 

It was an OK film but I was pretty disappointed to see so little of the Rhino. The door is very much open for a sequel. I'd say that it was a chick-flick with some decent action and nowhere near as good as the Avengers films.  

Do you like art? Sometimes I view life as art and part of life is making altered egos. One of my altered egos is a Velociraptor and when I saw a dinosaur picture on Facebook I asked the painter to paint me a picture of a Velociraptor. It will be arriving soon... here's a preview:

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It's by a very talented artist called Jacob who is just five and a half years old and I think the picture is brilliant. I can't wait to hang it on my wall (I did, however, insist that he signs it first). 

OK... let's talk about Miniatures. First of all, I have been busy adding decals and varnishing lately. My Powered armour platoon is finished and if you would like to see it, and the rest of the NMA (what has been finished so far), then check out this link:

LINK.

You will soon see why I have put it on the Grymn blog... but that is not all. I have been ticking along with the Squat program and have managed to get a bit more sculpted... and the Dreadnought painted:

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The Squat on the left is the first spotter for my sniper unit. The other two are troopers for the first squad (currently up to five models now... the Squat with the bolter is going to be part of the command squad). I think I am likely to add some decals to the dreadnought at some point but he will do for now.

In other news... my resolve is weakening for this:

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It is available from Puppet's War and has been on my radar for a long time but a reduction in price has made things worse. I am likely to get one soon to see how big it is and if it is suitable, it could be used for all sorts... watch this space.

Well, that is that!

See you from the edge of the dam!

A quiet week.

I'd like to say that I have made loads of progress on hobby stuff but, unfortunately, I have been kept busy with work this week and as a result, I have only managed to paint three of the Grymn in powered armour. I don't have pix because the bases aren't finished yet. I'm a bit disappointed but that's just the way the cookie crumbles.

In other news, I have become obsessed with my 'retirement' project and have been investigating 1/60 scale Votoms kits. I now have six of them in various forms and am still looking to get another couple (namely a Fatty and possibly a Berserga). The idea is that I use the various kits, trim down various components and make them more Grymn-like... also, make it so that the various limbs etc are cross compatible. Once I have improved the joints, shortened the various limbs etc, they will be cast and used to build a 'glorious army' (for personal use only of course).

Part of the obsession has seen me watching various Votoms films and it is great watching hordes of skating mechs flitting about while blowing the crap out of each other... here's an example:

 

I reckon that this week will also be a bit busy but hopefully, I'll manage to produce something by next Sunday... who knows?

See you from the cockpit of a Scopedog, Turbo Custom, ATM-09-STTC!

Pacific Rim.

I went to see Pacific Rim at the cinema today. I saw the 2D version so I can't comment on the 3D effects.

Without any spoilers, the film was exactly as I expected it to be BUT was really more polished than hoped.

It is a film about Giant Robots (Jaegers) fighting Giant Monsters (Kaiju). The Kaiju attack cities and the Jaegers protect them... that is the story.

What makes this film a bit more interesting (even though it is utterly predictable) is how the crews integrate with each other and their machines. In my mind, it takes it above the B-movie status the film should have had.

Every plot twist is predictable. Every possible cliché from many, MANY films is in there but in enjoyment terms... it's awesome... it's Giant Robots fighting Giant Monsters!

I thoroughly enjoyed the film and would recommend that anyone who wants to go and see the film should leave their 'critic' head behind and be realistic about what to expect. If you do that, you will LOVE the film. If you want to find interesting plot shifts and lots of characterisation... you'll be disappointed.

This film is a bit like Avatar. Avatar was awesome but it was the overall spectacle and easy going nature of the film that made it great... not the rather weak plot. Pacific Rim is just like that... a spectacle that hits you in the face like a giant, acid-spitting Kaiju and doesn't stop until the end of the film. You don't need to think about how it will go... it is predictable... so you can just enjoy the ride.

I loved the film and so did my wife and daughter. That makes it worth every penny in my books.

See you from the maroon chair!

Iron Man Sunday.

What has happened this week?

I have been working hard and finishing tasks at work... including a closing meeting for a big modification that has been on-going now for over eight years! BOOSH!

I have not been sleeping at all... and that has been a real downer but I managed to get a bit of extra kip last night so it isn't all bad.

I managed to paint my Sharclon troopers (from last weekend's Salute haul):

Click the Pic!

I really like these and will be getting many more. Andy (owner and sculptor of Heresy Miniatures) has said that more will appear at some point but probably not before Christmas. Just for a bit of information, I have put together a scale pic with other ranges:

Click the Pic!

In other news... I decided to finish off a superhero that was sitting on the table... and also put a name on another one's base. So I now have The Judge and Tango Man joining my team of human sized superheroes:

Click the Pic!

The group is looking a bit too masculine at this point so I have also been painting the first female, Exocette... and she will be making an appearance soon (once I have finished painting her base). She is the first flying superhero; hence her name.

This weekend has been a bit odd. Friday night I had to get up in the middle of the night because I was wide awake. I realised that at 02:30hrs, my son hadn't returned home from work and got in touch with him (he should have finished at 23:00hrs... and he's 17 and had been at college all day before going to work at 17:00hrs). He finally got home at 03:15hrs and they wanted him back at work for 11:00hrs. To cut a long story short... Saturday lunchtime, I had a one way conversation with my son's boss after threats of sacking because my son wasn't at work for 11:00hrs. Needless to say the Health and Safety training that I have received really came in handy when quoting policy for young workers and a stream of apologies suddenly happened. The Royal Air Force trains its personnel well.

Today... we went to see Iron Man 3 and I thought it was awesome. Some of the story was a bit lame and needed some padding for those not in the comic-book know but that really didn't matter because there were lots of different suits flying about. There was also a big twist involving the Mandarin (that I didn't expect) so I thoroughly enjoyed the film. The 'botanist' was quite nice too. I'd recommend seeing the film and would say that, even though the Marvel films have a bit of info after the credits, on this occasion it tells you nothing but it is worth stopping back to watch because it is amusing.

Well... that is it for now. This week I'll be finishing off Exocette, trying to get some sculpting done (I'll need to get a bit more sleep before I can focus on that so here's hoping) and then get cracking on my Grymn in powered armour again.

Life is never dull.

See you from the top of the tree!

A packed Sunday post

To kick off today's post, I'd like to welcome maxxev to Inso's World. I hope you enjoy your stay and feel free to get involved with comments and questions. If you look over at the blog list, you'll find his blog there and it is well worth a look because of the interesting conversions on display.

Here's a (blurry) picture:

Click the Pic!

On the left we have the start of Goliath for the super-soldier program and on the right we have a secret sculpt at a very early stage. It just shows that I am still ticking along on my current sculpting journey. Speaking of which, I have got more done on the Gizzit and the cowboy but I have been reminded that these are surprise gifts so I shouldn't really post them up... so I'm not going to (until they are finished and gifted). In other sculpting news:

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I managed to finish Beast and have even got as far as painting him:

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I think he fits in rather well. There is a nice mix of colours going on but red seems to be winning at the moment so it will be nice to have a big, blue Goliath towering over them all. I have been steered towards sculpting a Wolverine to go with the team and I think a dash of yellow would compliment the group as well. I just have to decide on how to make his claws.

In other news, my shopping addiction has returned and this week I have spent FAR too much money on STUFF. I have pre-ordered a Storm Talon, thrown some money into Old Crow stuff (more on that in a later post) and have been bidding on E-bay again... three Void miniature boxed sets (Syntha) for £12-00 (including postage) can't be bad.

I have been charging my bike-battery up and it appears that I won't be getting away with firing the bike up. I guess it is deep-strip time... at least I'll get to do a bit of spannering again :). I need to get some oil circulating around the engine so I'll have to hand-crank it with some oil in there... that means taking things to bits, removing the spark-plugs and trying to turn the rear wheel with the bike in-gear. If that fails...the engine will have to come out and get stripped and cleaned and re-assembled. I hope we have a dry summer (I don't have a garage).

Yesterday I watched a short film called 'The Telephone Box'. It is an old, foreign film from 1972 that when I was really small, it gave me terrible nightmares. To cut a long story short, it is about a man who gets trapped in a telephone box. He is just about to be saved by the fire brigade but the phone company turns up and takes the box, and its occupant away to a warehouse where there are phone boxes everywhere. In each one is a person in various states of decay. The box gets dropped off and the truck drives away. 

Well, I watched the film and although I didn't find it frightening, I could see how I would have been frightened and to be honest, I didn't really enjoy watching it again. Whether it was the memories from my past or the actual film, who knows? I am glad I watched it though... but I remembered it from start to finish...  it really must have made an impact on me.

Well... that about sums everything up. 

See you from the rickety bridge!

Slow and steady wins the race.

I have been ticking along with the sculpting again and am making slow but steady progress. The only trouble is that I have to wait for things to dry and it can be frustrating...

... anyway, here is some progress:

Click the Pic!

So, the cowboy has a face so I will be more inclined to finish HIM now (he was an 'IT' before he had a face), the beast has most of his fur done. I just have his forearms to go before I start on his head proper... he looks a bit like an ape at the moment! The mystic is gradually getting his coat finished. He still needs the sleeves and his sash sorting out but once they are done, a general smooth over will finish him off.

So... there you have it... sculpting progress.

I went to the cinema the other day and I saw 'Dark Shadows'. It was a film about a cursed bloke who was turned into a vampire and locked away for 200 years before turning up in the '70s. It was a Tim Burton film with Johnny Depp, Hit Girl, a Bond Girl, Michelle Pfeifer and Beatrix Le-Strange in it. 

It was... O.K. Not earth shattering... just O.K.

On a completely different note... I have finished writing my staff assessments and can kick back and relax now.

Awesome!

See you from the box, in a box on the shelf, in the shed, in the garden of a home on the hill!

Plans made... and ignored!

So... the fickle hand of my obsession has changed my plans again.

I have been sculpting and have made good progress:

Click the Pic!

In the above picture you can see a 'Gizzit' for a work colleague that will eventually be a bloke stood holding a shotgun, wearing plus-fours and having the face of the afore-mentioned colleague. Then you have the start of a space-cowboy commission that I am doing. He is a cartoon character so don't worry too much about the proportions... he has a big head and over-sized hands and feet. Next up is the Tunnel Fighter mystic who is based on an OGrymn model. He has been in a half-finished state for a very long time and I have decided that he'll join the others on the sculpting table. At the moment, I am just tidying things up and finishing the details before embarking on the coat. Finally, we have Beast. He is going to be joining the super-soldier team when he is finished....

Click the Pic!

So... yesterday I watched Underworld - Awakening... it was OK but pretty much more of the same from the franchise. It is always nice to see Selene running about in tight leather so it wasn't a waste of time.

We are off to see Dark Shadows today. A Johnny Depp vampire film... I hope that the only funny aspects of the film aren't limited to the preview adverts... I guess we'll see.

So... since yesterday, I have stopped the Vulkans and ignored my 'limited sculpting on the table' ethos.

I am a fickle person.

See you from the blacksmith's!

BLAM!

I was going to post hobby stuff but I've just got back from seeing 'The Avengers Assemble' and I thought I'd share my feelings on the film (without giving anything away...NO spoilers here!).

By now, everyone will know all of the characters in the film and so I feel safe mentioning names. All of the characters were good and were suitably expanded from their individual films. Old characters cropped up and were similarly expanded.  I thought all of the characters held their own (even diminutive ones like Agent Colson) but none as impressively as the new Hulk. In both Banner and Hulk forms, the character ROCKED! Gone are the boo-hoo, I'm a victim side to Banner. Here is a character who knows what he is capable of, knows the responsibility he has and knows when the right time to act is. He has humour and intelligence and he put the rest in the shade.

My overall view of the film was...YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS FILM.

... and remember, it's a Marvel film so stay until the credits are finished...for all you comic nerds out there, a metaphorical Pandora's box is opened after the credits that you won't want to miss.

See this one in 3d, see it often and buy the DVD... you won't be disappointed.

From this film... leaders find their path and stand forward, through pain a team finds it's way and watch out for the comic moments... PUNY HUMANS!

Whew! I'm still full of excitement and need to land a bit.

Oh... I forgot... something different? You're damn right!

This weekend has been a weird one for a lack of sleep so I can not be held responsible for what I do. Therefore, I decided to dig out some miniatures that I remembered as a result of a conversation at Salute. Last year, I met a guy who had a little line of home made miniatures that he was casting. He didn't have a spin caster or pressure pot... just silicon/rubber moulds and a pouring jug. He gave me his card and I remembered seeing his little site on my web-travels and I thought I'd buy some of his miniatures. This year he popped by and stirred my memories again so I thought I'd dig them out and paint them. I have only painted two so far but I have another two to go. The website is Silent Spectre Studio and you can find the miniatures I have painted HERE. So, here are two Dhurn with a Grymn to show how big they are:

Click the Pic!

Now I know that the guy who runs this little project has had some stick for his work and I would like to adjust the balance a little with some observations that I have made. I will be taking the fact that these are pour-cast miniatures in my findings.

What is good?:

• The cast is as crisp as you'd find on some spin cast miniatures
• The edges of the armour are sharp and not soft at all
• The drapery is good and shows different behaviour for different materials
• The faces are filled with character
• The weapons are well proportioned and sharply detailed (and look like weapons rather than an assembly of 'gubbins')
• Each of the miniatures work well together and all have the same stocky feel to them

What could be improved?

• There were a couple of voids that were in some of the deeper recesses
• Anatomy

I really had a blast painting these and can't envision painting the other two being any different. As you will see, I have chosen to paint the skin yellow. I did this because I have chosen to portray these as aliens rather than Dwarf-Humans because the anatomy is a little off around the neck and shoulder area.

Now for the anatomy issue. In order for these to be Human styled Space Dwarfs there are a few areas that need to be looked at:

• The shoulders are too high
• There doesn't appear to be any neck... the head seems to be attached to the front of the torso
• The hands need to be more defined and hands need to be studied to get the proportions right
• The musculature on the arms needs to be improved
• The heads need to have larger brain cases

That may seem over critical but I am only making observations. As far as I am concerned, a decent anatomy book is all that is needed to transform these from short aliens into proper Human styled Space Dwarfs. Everything else is brilliant...the pouches, armour, clothing and weapons are all bang on so the ability is there. All that is needed is for the sculptor to refine his anatomy knowledge and these would cater to a wider audience. Add a spin caster into the mix and these could hold their own against many producers out there. Not bad for an amateur sculptor who just thought he'd 'give it a go'.

I think these make excellent little alien mercenaries and I hope that the range expands so that I can buy a few more.

Right... I'm off to continue painting Dhurn.

See you from the Quin-jet!

##EDIT##

After having a chat with Silent Spectre, the position of the neck and shoulders was the chosen style for his particular race of Space Dwarfs... a more alien approach. So I was right to think they were aliens :) . Hopefully there will be more to come.

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!

Another post?

First of all, I'd like to welcome Infojunky and Relic to Inso's World. I hope you find something here to power your imaginations :).

...So...I just got back from seeing Captain America and I would like to say that it was a very enjoyable film. The main character was suitably 'gung-ho' and poster boy material so he was perfect for the role. The main characters (and those of the Captain's wartime gang of soldiers) were well cast and I thought that the female character (Peggy) was lovely. Again, after the credits, there was a small teaser towards the Avengers...so stay until all of the credits have run! You have been warned ;). All in all it was a great film and has really set the scene for the Avengers.

I have been asked to show a few close up pix of my Beetle-Bots so I took a bunch of pix of a representative and here he is:

Click the Pic!

I hope this satisfies the curious minds...if not, I'll sort some more pix in a while.

I am expecting a very quiet hobby week because I have family holiday plans and they don't include spending hours sat at a painting/hobby table.

Well...that is it for now.

See you from behind a stars and stripes shield!

So...X-Men 1st Class....

Well...today I didn't do any hobby stuff at all because, to be honest, I really couldn't be bothered. Instead, I decided it would be nice to go to the cinema instead. So we all went to see X-Men 1st Class and had a nice little chill-out in Cineworld.

The film was pretty good. I didn't think much to the beast or the Angel character but Azazael was pretty cool. The film certainly filled in a few gaps...how the mutants were first found, how the government get tied in, how Magneto gets his helmet and how Professor Xavier gets stuck in a wheel chair. We also find out how the factions start up and get introduced to a few new mutants.

All in all it was pretty good, with the right amount of action but it seemed to be a bit too much of an introduction film rather than expanding on a story. It was worth seeing though.

...

There comes a time when you realise your children are growing up. Apart from obvious things (biological changes and all those wonderful things puberty throw at us all), temperaments change, priorities change and you see that the little baby you once cradled in your arms is slowly slipping away to adulthood.

My son had his first shave the other day...

See you over the four leaf clover.

Landing with a bump!

I have had a somewhat woolly week. I haven't been sleeping well so I have had to take some medication to help me sleep...it really is cracking stuff but it sort of knocks my equilibrium a bit...couple that with a monstrous hangover today and we have a huge amount of hobby stuff achieved this week...NOT!

I'd like to welcome the 90th follower to Inso's World but for the life of me I can't tell whether it is wargamer or Ivan DBA so I'll welcome both of you (just in case). Welcome to the blog and I hope you see something that you like.

I decided that I needed yet another distraction to occupy my flagging hobby enthusiasm...so I started chopping up Necron parts. While this was going on, I sort of dabbed a bit of paint on a few Grymn Tunnel Fighters...here's where I am with that:

Click the Pic!

I had no idea that it would take so long to get 12 Necron conversions finished but last time I did some, I did them one at a time and didn't really pay too much attention to how long it took. To cut a long story short...I quickly knocked one of them together and apart from a bit of putty on the hip joints, this is the first of 12 new Beetle-Bots:

Click the Pic!

I haven't made up my mind what to do with them yet but they will get a grey paint-job so that they can be considered useful to a number of different armies. I think that they will be considered fully 'human' in their thought patterns and would act as humans on the field of battle...but would just have robot bodies. I'm thinking that they could be shock troops that are dropped into battle in small pods to disrupt and cause panic amongst the enemy. They would work well with the Tunnel Fighter army because they use quite a lot of robots/drones and could even be mixed in with the squads or have a small army of their own. I have even considered building a few specials from a few spare Necron bits and pieces that I have from old projects.

The good thing is that now that I have finished converting all of the torsos, the rest isn't too much of a problem so the hard work has already been finished.

I'm on night-shift this week but have a few days that I have to go in instead...one of them to get my annual trip to the gas chamber over and done with...awesome...NOT! But looking on the bright side, I don't have to work tomorrow (apart from finishing a report and preparing kit) so it will be fairly chilled.

Soon...Kenya...

I'm not going to say that I have any hobby plans this week but I will say that I am a bit narked at the lack of stuff on here so far this year so hopefully I'll manage to get a few things done to make up for it.

I saw a few films this week...Inception (not one for me...a bit far-out), Whipped (Ellen Paige and Drew Barrymore skating about...what's not to like?) and The Expendables (exactly as you'd expect! Full-on ACTION!!!)...

...see you across the airfield :) !

Do this...

Watch 'Youth in Revolt' if you haven't already...it is a good film. Michael Cera at his usual best.

Sunday evening's update.

As I promised earlier, I have some pictures for you. The first pic shows the start of the command squad troops. From left to right, we have: two plasma rifles, a body guard and two Dante Flame-throwers:

Click the Pic!

Seeing as the picture isn't the best, I'd recommend clicking on it so that some of the details show up.

Next up is a diversion from the original plan. It shows a squad of three Vulkan Assault Walkers with the commander in there for scale purposes:

Click the Pic!

They are manned battle-suits and I think that their stumpy nature sits well with the Tunnel Fighter theme. As a side note, the Vulkan on the right has so far been painted three times! In desert, urban and now a tunnel fighter theme...I used to be indecisive...but now I'm not so sure ;).

I have 22 of the Vulkans but only plan to use another three for this army as the rest are spoken for (my Urban Grymn will be using them too...but with a few weapon upgrades).

So...what else have I got to say?

I have just got back from watching Ironman 2 at the cinema. It was awesome!

See you through the paisley pattern drapes!