Bot-tastic Saturday.

Yep... I'm still bored so here is a full army pic of my Beetlebot force:

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It isn't the best of pictures but I am still getting used to my new camera (which is more of a 'fun camera' than a proper camera).

The Beetlebots have cropped up on here quite frequently over the years but I haven't taken an army pic of what I have finished... so I thought it was about time.

There are more units planned for the army; namely sky-surfers, heavy weapons and spider-snipers... and of course a BIG Beetle Bot... and another leader on a destroyer chassis... and maybe some Dreadbots...

Anyway, there may be more little army pics coming up so watch this space.

See you from the depths of the caverns!

It's Grymn down South...

I was sitting, minding my own business, when I suddenly realised that I haven't posted an army pic for my Tunnel Fighters.

The only previous picture of any note was this one but it was only the basic units:

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Well... seeing as I have time on my hands and had nothing too pressing to do, I decided to dig everything out and plonk it on the table... so here is the entire army (including the white vehicle which is the only unit that remains unfinished):

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As part of this random event, I decided to make a rough tally of how much it had cost and I suddenly realised that I spend far too much on my hobby. Without taking into account the paint, glue, putty and man-hours to build it up, it comes in at around £1100.00... that's a whole lot of money spent on a completely unpractical thing... Anyway, here's a pic with a few labels:

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Hopefully, when I get back from my tour, I will dedicate the required effort to finish the command vehicle, varnish the remaining un-varnished items and finally finish this project once and for all.

If nothing else, this project shows that you can take fairly random items and tie them all together with a coherent paint scheme and a bit of explanation. It also shows that it is possible to complete an army, even though every single unit is converted in some way.

See you from the cupboard!

It's nearly Christmas!

Before I start this rather late blog post, I'd like to welcome Barks to Inso's World. Hi! I hope you find something amongst the pathways that inspires or challenges you.

So this week has been one of fun and frollicks!

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday was all about off road driving. I had a great time putting a Land Rover through its paces... on and off road, in daylight and darkness... even with the lights off! It was very entertaining and I recommend that, if you get the opportunity to have a go at it, make sure you do. It is definitely the most fun I have had behind the wheel of a car.

Wednesday morning I passed another fitness test and Thursday/Friday, I was chasing up paperwork for my deployment. Today, I've been down to Somerset (6 hour round trip) to see my family for the last time before I disappear for 4 months.

So... quite an eventful week.

The main thing that has happened is that I found out that my flight is just after Christmas so I get Christmas at home and New Year's Eve in the Falklands... so that was very welcome news.

What about the hobby? Well, I'm afraid that has all been packed away so I am not touching anything at the moment.

Hopefully, I will finish off all of my work prep for the deployment by Wednesday so I can put in some leave and enjoy a bit of family time before I go. Then I may do a little bit of painting (it's all I haven't properly packed away) but I may be too busy.

That, I am afraid, is that for this week. I'm sorry it isn't more interesting but things are just the way they are at the moment.

See you from the rumble strip!

Packing up and preparing.

This week has been one of packing things away and preparing to go away for four months. I have had confirmation that I will be deployed to the Falkland Islands the day after Boxing Day (if I'm lucky) or possibly as early as 23rd Dec (if I'm not lucky)... it all depends on my flight being available.

With that in mind, I have been clearing my hobby stuff away so that I don't leave the house in a state for 4 months for my wife to stare at. I have also bought a little carry box and filled it with my Squat platoon and the tools/putty needed to convert it. These two pictures show my hobby space (completely cleared away) and my little box of tricks to take away with me (and I need to iron those camo trousers/shirt for tomorrow):

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It's only a cheap box which I cut up a bit so that my tools would fit... but there is just enough space for everything. On a side note, the pictures were taken with my new little travel camera; a purple Canon IXUS 145. It is quite a nice little camera that should enable me to take some better pictures than last time I was in the Falklands. 

This coming week I am off on a driving course to refresh my off-road skills so that should be quite fun. It also gives me the tick in the box I need to drive out on the island. After that, I just have a fitness test and a few more forms to fill out before I am clear to go... then it is just packing and jumping on the plane.

Everything is happening so fast at the moment, I hardly have time to think... so you can understand why I have not been spending time on the hobby lately.

Well... that is about it for now.

See you from the tarmac!

A bit of a downer.

Welcome to Inso's World and this week I have no hobby stuff to share. Why? Well... if you read on, you'll find out.

In the military, you often have to go away on detachments/deployments and sometimes they are planned months in advance and a rota is sorted out so that people can be sent out and replaced when their time is up. It relys on the people who are chosen, being fit to deploy.

When you are chosen for a deployment of this kind, you are given a 'go' date and you are given a 'reserve' date. The reserve date is a detachment length before you are due to deploy. Your go date is when you should have your boots on the ground.

I am on such a list and have a go date and a reserve date. my go date is April 2015. My reserve date is December 2014. Unfortunately, it looks like the person who is due to go out before me, may be unfit to deply so it is very likely that I will be going in December.

As you can imagine, that means that I have a lot of stuff to get sorted out before I go and as a result, my hobby time will be dramatically reduced (if not stopped all together) so that I have the time to get prepared to deploy.

I am not going anywhere nasty (once I'm there, I will share more) but it is from 4 to 6 months away.

So... if Inso's World is devoid of hobby stuff for a while, that's the reason.

But it isn't all doom and gloom. When I get where I am going, I will have a decent room and will have time to sculpt a bunch of arms on a bunch of Squats and will be taking hobby stuff with me to keep me entertained. I also plan to do a little writing so I will have stuff to share while I am away.

What have I been upto this week? I have primed and base-coated the Mechadrome, light mech, a nice military green and I have started to work on my Diorama of doom... but that will all have to wind down for a bit so I can sort stuff out so that my wife doesn't have my hobby clogging up the living room while I am away.

Well that's about it. When I know a bit more about what is going on, I will keep you posted but in the meantime... here are some kittens:

See you from the strange new world.

A typically Autumnal week.

Before I start, I would like to welcome zorro the Inso's World. I hope you find lots of things to keep you occupied during your stay and feel free to share comments if there is anything that particularly interests you.

I guess Autumn is properly here. It has been dreary, with a capital D, all week. It didn't help that I have pulled a muscle in my back which meant meds and a lack of mobility... but I didn't let it stop me going to a wine and cheese tasting evening this week (I am not a big wine fan and cheese doesn't agree with me... but we had a great evening anyway).

From the drearyness of the week to something really cool. I mentioned that Impact Miniatures were selling a Chibi Judge figure based on my Goblin Aid sculpt last week. Well Tom sent me a gift this week:

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He has mentioned that the original miniature will also be sold at some point so if you are interested, pop along to Impact Miniatures to see what's what. Thanks to Tom for his very kind gift.

So... where do I start? I know, let's start with the Squat project and first up, we have some beards added to the remaining command figures (although I seem to have forgotten the leader's moustache:

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While I was at it, I also added their neckerchiefs (which can only be seen from behind). Once I've given the leader his 'tache, I only need to sculpt the arms/hands and they will be finished. Still on the Squat theme, I have finished Big Robot... he even has a name badge:

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I decided to keep a lot of the details simple and hope that he looks OK. I wanted to give him a questioning look so I tilted his head slightly and made him stare into the sky.

In other news, I have had a change of heart on my UnDoD 2014 project and have changed the miniatures and the story. You will get nothing but miniature selection from the photo... but it is a start:

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The base is just a CD with a disc of plasticard glued on. It will turn into a Diorama over the next four weeks and I will keep posting WIP shots in the meantime.

Last but not least, we have the first assembled Mechadrome mech. It is a light mech called Kodachi, however, in my world it is a standard military mech:

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Grant (from Hasslefree Miniatures) is just there to show the size of the mech. This mech was much better quality than the medium mechs but still had issues with the little steps that went up the right leg... so I trimmed them off. Apart from that, I couldn't work out how the shoulder armour should go so I added a few bits of plastic to pack things out and used Green Stuff to sort the gaps. The rest was a doddle to assemble. I have another five of these to build so I hope that they will be faster to assemble now I have sorted the shoulder problem. I think you'll agree that the light mech is a joy to behold.

So not a bad week really. Hopefully, this coming week will see more progress on the Diorama and also the Squats (with maybe a little assembly of Mechadrome mechs into the mix).

I nearly forgot... Do you remember these?:

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They are Greys from Tengu miniatures. Unfortunately, Tengu seems to have disappeared but I have just found out that many of the Tengu miniatures (including the Greys) are available from CP Models so I am still able to get hold of them when I decide to expand the force. I am quite pleased about this.

See you from the middle of the fast-flowing fjord!

A week of nice distractions.

I knew I wouldn't be able to focus on the Squat project this week... especially when I have my Mechadrome mechs sitting so close. As a result, I have spent a lot of the week messing around with my mechs and... to be brutally honest... first impressions didn't last.

Don't get me wrong, the mech casts have suberbly sharp and crisp details but while I was cleaning up the resin components, I quickly realised that quality control at Gangfight Games could be a little better. This week, I have focussed on cleaning up the resin components and getting them washed ready for filling/assembly.

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The light mech bodies aren't too bad apart from one or two being fractionally misaligned and the steps on the right side being in various states from perfect to missing... but not so bad that I couldn't fudge it enough to look OK (that means 24 little brass foot rails need to be made and fitted into 48 little drilled holes).

The medium mechs took a lot more work and to be frank, for the money I paid for them, the work was too much. However... they are cleaned and washed ready for filling. Here are the components for the medium mechs:

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The picture shows the torsos, legs, gun-arms, rocket pods (they go on the top of the torso), a pair of fists, the shoulders, the little pistons (for the rear of the legs) and two mystery components (I think they fit to the front of the cockpit... but I guess I'll just have to wait and see).

Overall, the details are fabulous and the design is excellent but there are a number of things that bothered me about the resin components:

• The legs were slightly misaligned and took a lot of work to look OK.
• The torsos were slightly misaligned and took a lot of work to look OK.
• There are a good few airbubbles and blobs of excess resin that obscure details.
• The guns were so misaligned that I had to cut them down their length to realign them.

Here is a picture of the guns:

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I think that the main issue I had with the legs could be as a result of them being cast as a single item, rather than being broken down into two legs and pants for casting. 

What about the metal components? Fortunately, they were much better and didn't need too much clean-up. Iwas disappointed to find that I have been given opposite fists rather than two left fists (like I ordered) but I am not hugely concerned as it will just mean that one of my eight mechs will be a lefty (a special character... maybe the overall leader).

I still have to sort out the metal components for the light mechs but I have checked them and they are all correct so it will just take me the time to clean them up prior to assembly.

So quality control could be better but I am not unduly concerned (however... it did take the shine off a little). I could complain but I can't really be bothered as I have made the best of them anyway and it just adds time and awkwardness to the whole thing... and I want these to be assembled... NOW!

To cheer things up, an online friend of mine (DWartist), sent me a very generous gift this week:

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You may not be able to see the pic very clearly but there is a veritable horde of Grymn and a rather handy Old Crow Hammer's Slammers vehicle. I'd like to extend a public THANKS! to DWartist for his wonderful gift that really cheered me up after fighting with my mechs all week. And what better way to highlight how much it cheered me up by showing what I plan for the vehicle:

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That's right. The Engineseer now has some transport for him and his two servitors. I will be adding a servitor head in the hatch on the front to act as the driver and I will also be adding a mechanical arm and a pair of bolters. Big Robot will either have to walk or be sent off to another army.  

In other news, I recently spotted my work on the Impact Miniatures site. Unfortunately, it was labelled as being sculpted by someone else... so I contacted tham and queried the mistake. They got back to me straight away, corrected the error and are sending me a gift. I didn't ask for anything, other than the change of details so I am really very impressed with Impact for their kind gesture. The miniature in question uses the body from this miniature that I sculpted for Goblin Aid:

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but with the head sculpted by another sculptor.

This coming week should be one of more component cleaning, assembling, filling and maybe a bit of converting. 

... and I have to go into the gas chamber again (yes... it is that time of year again). 

See you through the bleary eyes of realisation!