Adding labels.

You will notice that I now have a labels box on the right hand side of the page. You will also notice that there are not very many labels there... that is because I have 700+ posts to go through to add labels to. This will take some time so please have patience... then you will be able to find all of those things you forgot you wanted to look at.

See you from the other side of insanity!

Sunday's diversion.

I can sum up my weekend with one word... frustration.

I have been keen to get on with something but couldn't decide what so I just wound myself up and didn't achieve much at all. I sometimes have times like that; when I have a number of projects I want to get on with but my mind is not on it at all. When it happens, it is really aggravating but I just have to calm myself down and choose something different to do... so that is what I did.

Saturday, I went shopping (as usual) and spent some of my Christmas/birthday vouchers on a pair of graphic novels (Marvel: Civil War and Inhumans). I haven't read them yet but they look entertaining. During my trip around the town, I could really feel myself getting wound up so we had to cut the trip short, lest I did something daft and when I got home I decided to dig something out of the cupboard that was completely different to all of my current projects... and I managed to finish the items off. Here are some pix:

Click the Pic!

Click the Pic!

As you can see, they are a pair of mutated Mushroom Men from Outer Space! The top one is a poison spore launcher and the lower one is a mystic with deformed arm. Both of these have been sat in the cupboard for ages so it is about time they were finished. I still need to varnish them (they are still a bit shiny) but they can now join their big brother in the Mushroom army:

Click the Pic!

In other news, I decided to put together some trophies for the winners of the Unofficial Diorama of Doom and thought that some of my own sculpts/casts would be appropriate so I dug out three of my Dwarf divers and added some bases... here are the finished trophies:

Click the Pic!

There are very few of the divers out there now and there were only fifty cast in the first place so these are quite a limited edition... and worthy to be presented as a prize (I still have two more but one will always be mine and the other will have to be either a freebie or sold for charity).

Even though I have changed tack this weekend, I did manage to work on the Clankers during the week and have got a good way through base-coating the last unit. I expect them to get finished this week and then I can tick another box.

Phew! It's all going on here!

See you from the massage chair!

Tachi-time...

Before I start today's short post, I'd like to welcome Da Masta Cheef to Inso's World. Welcome aboard and I hope you enjoy your visits here.

I have traded a bit this week and have managed to get hold of something I've wanted for a very long time... my very own Tachikoma:

Click the Pic!

I would be the first to say that it is a very small Tachikoma but it is definitely well formed and full of details. It has ball joints at the hips and feet and the the arms can rotate to the left or right. Unfortunately the picture shows that the little beast is about 1cm too small for the Grymn to be able to fit in the rear pod comfortably but it doesn't really matter because I will assemble and paint this one as a Ghost in the Shell Tachikoma, rather than a mech for an army. Another good thing is that I now know how it goes together... so I have the reference to build my own if I want to... which may be a future project.

Now all I have to do is get to a post office to post the items I am trading for it... bleeping snow and work.

See you from a stand alone place!

And the winner is...

As you should already know, I put together a small diorama building contest over at the Forum of Doom and you can see all of the entries and the voting here:

LINK

Well, the voting has finished and the winner is... 'Dragon' with 'Day27':

For the full build, see this LINK.

In second place is 'Wings' with 'What's a girl got to do? or Jack and the giant':

For the full build, see this LINK.

And in third place we have 'beefcake' with 'The last goodbye':

For the full build, see this LINK.

Congratulations to the winners and well done to all those who took part and showed off their work.

Each of the three winners will receive a small prize which will be shown here, once I have finished them and know that the winners have received them (I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise).

See you from the high-chair while I suck my wooden spoon!

Sunday already?

This week hasn't been the best one on record for me. Everything was going well until I got a big dose of D&V... which effectively tied me to the toilet with an extra bucket for company. I can safely say that Friday and Saturday were complete write-offs with minimal energy and no concentration span.

But apart from that, everything was okay... so I guess it wasn't too bad after all (and as bad as things were, there were no embarrassing accidents).

So, let's get it out of the way... it snowed. Fortunately, I haven't wanted to go anywhere and I am about half a mile from work so I don't need to use the car tomorrow. All in all, I have been able to sit in the warm and watch the snow fall. It was quite funny watching people putting salt on a small patch of road yesterday. I watched them, they saw me and you could see that they were saying 'why isn't he helping?' but I was not brave enough to leave the safety of being close to a toilet. I did, however, go and salt the entire road today so I am now a knight in shiny armour and they can feel inadequate at the limited effort they made. Mind you, it is my responsibility to clear the road I live on (it's an RAF thing) but I can call upon others to help.

Well... I got my walkers this week but have kept them in their box so that I do not get distracted from my Clankers...

... did I mention Clankers? Well, here is the latest finished unit:

Click the Pic!

As you can see, I have used the time in between illness to finish the unit; especially today. I will now tidy these away and get the last unit ready to go. I have decided that they are likely to be purple or brown... but I don't have to decide just yet because I haven't even base coated them. At least they are primed. When the next unit is finished, I will only need to convert, assemble and paint two vehicles and the Tunnel Fighter army will be complete (except for varnishing the vehicles, Clankers and the special unit). That will mean that the army has taken over two years to complete. 

Hmmm... I will definitely need something to keep me ticking over from then onwards... so my Urban Army will step into the breach and get some much needed attention (yes, the walkers are part of the Urban Army).

Well... that is it for today. Enjoy the snow and stay safe!

See you from atop the tallest fir tree in the village!

Another year under my belt.

Today is my birthday. I have had a busy day at work, was late home and had to cook the tea as usual... but I have had a good day so it isn't as bad as it may seem. What has made today special is that a parcel arrived and the contractor who is fitting the bathroom lino was able to sign for the parcel in my absence... so I didn't have to go to the depot for it.

What was in the parcel?

This:

Click the Pic!

That is a box of 14 Grymn Walkers. Isn't that sweet?!

In other news, the second squad of Clankers is ticking along nicely:

Click the Pic!

...and I have started to add putty to the Daemon Prince:

Click the Pic!

Not very far along... but it's a start!

See you from the top of the swirly-whirly pony!

Waking up, on a Sunday Morning...

Before I start today's post, I would like to welcome Mr.J to Inso's World. Welcome aboard, Mr.J; I hope you find something of interest to take away with you and be sure to comment on things... it makes the days pass brighter.

I have had a bit of a slow start to my day... a mix of a late night and some Ruby Port but I am starting to get my head around things and perk up a bit now.

In a few days time, I am going to be right for the whole following year. Why? Well, I'll be 42 and that means I will be the answer to the question of the meaning of life, the universe and everything. I am sure there will be bumps in the road with this but I am sure I will flatten them out.

In the hobby field, I have been busy (even though there are builders in and out - we're getting a new bathroom from HM - whether we like it or not) and have been frantically painting Clankers. Here is the first unit finished:

Click the Pic!

In addition to that, I have primed and base-coated another unit in gun-metal ready for the next stage so I am quite happy with the way things are going. I have also started work on the Hellbrute but have only fitted wire and started to put a frame to sculpt over... so nothing worth showing off yet.

In other news, I have finally succumbed to the inevitable. It has cost me a few months hobby money too... 

... at Salute last year, Hasslefree Miniatures released the Grymn Walker (available HERE and HERE). It is a beautiful piece of equipment:

Click the Pic!

Click the Pic!

When I saw it I immediately began thinking how I would use such a beast for my Grymn forces and my first thought was "I now have a walker for my Urban Army". My second thought was "I hope they aren't too expensive because I'll need a lot". Well, for what they are, they aren't expensive but at £20-00 a go, I needed to think seriously about how many I needed. I looked at various formations and thought about how the walkers would interact and decided that they would use the modern British armoured squadron formation. That means 14 vehicles (four sections of three, an I/C and a 2I/C).

Well this week, I bit the bullet and ordered 14 of the Walkers. 

I figured that it would help to get them all painted uniformly if I did them all together. I also figured that it may kick start the Urban Army again. I know that a finished squadron of walkers will look the dog's danglies.

Well, that's about it for today. I doubt that I will achieve any post worthy stuff today so I doubt there will be further updates today.

See you from the Walker shed!