~ anevilgiraffe ~

the Munich Manual of Demonic Magic...

2012-01-02T00:06:00.006Z

recently on Channel 4, there was a thing on called Gods and Monsters that covered the mythology and folklore of England... the frankly embarrassing to watch bits with Tony Robinson aside, it had some interesting nuggets of information covering fairies, plague and possession and one such nugget was the Munich Manual... a 15th Century grimoire written in Latin that covered Necromancy and Demonology... of course, being written in Latin, it could only really be read and used by the learned of the age and none were more fluent in Latin than the Church...

I had thought of doing something similar with the Warlord's Archbishop Laud figure, dressed as he is in a scholarly fashion, so the Munich Manual fitted in perfectly. I'd actually done the cassocky thing a while back, but had got put off with yet another black and white figure for this and another nudge to get this chap done was when I stumbled across one painted with a purple cassock on the Warlord forums... I don't think I've ever painted anything purple, the 6th Doctor's waistcoat was about it, and it had the bonus of not being black, but still ecumenical or not depending on my mood...

the figure had a hefty integral base which I couldn't be bothered to file down, nor could I be bothered to cut the slotta and sink it down... as the devout trooper started me on the uneven moorland look, I thought that would work quite nicely here and I added a fallen gravestone to the base as something a bit different - disused or abused graveyard just perfect for ghoulish things... the book I painted using leathery flesh tones to give it a Necronomicon feel... oddly, the shading on the black lining looks a bit clumsy in the photos, but isn't in the lead...

annoyingly the grass doesn't seem to work, did everything the same as the others in this range, but it doesn't look right to me... very annoying...

of course, this wasn't anything I had otherwise been working on in December, the purple gown kind of prodded me on with this one... hey ho...

December is rather running away from me...

2011-12-18T20:13:00.003Z

and I'm not likely to have anything finished to post up... the ghouls have some paint on them (but not enough) and my first attempt at a fairy ring hasn't quite worked so need to have another bash at that... Angel's gang has slowly been getting some recruits as well, but they need a bit of a g/s session.

It's all very Folk Horror at the moment, especially as I've been given the Lore of the Land as an early Christmas present - lots of bits about English folklore that has given me some ideas... to hell with brooms, I need some hurdles!

+++INPUT+++MECHANOIDS+++INPUT+++

2011-11-30T19:45:00.004Z

some classic Who Mechanoids...

from an admittedly not so random question now I think about it to a 3D print to this, now available from Ainsty as the Mechanot... and it's the same shiny silver problem I had with the Giant Robot, shading and super shiny are beyond me so they have more of a lived in air to them...

I've change a bit from the Ainsty model/original design (which has three sensors in a triangular pattern) - I want to do some identifiers on the front panel, so filled that in with g/s - need to work on those decals at some point... another divergence is the area below the antenna... I did toy with paint in the white balls (or could have done some conversion work to add them in), but decided to inject even the slightest bit of colour in there so tried for a pale blue glow to suggest a power source within...

have also left the bases for now, as I'm entertaining ideas on doing a space station build again... so they could be deck plate or they could be dirt/gravel and grass...

so, pending decals and deciding on the base, done for now...

ECW Ghouls...

2011-11-30T19:41:00.002Z

have been slowly g/s stuff to get some ECW ghouls from the Warlord placcy stuff and the Mantic placcy Ghouls...

first off Mantic Ghouls with g/s puffy trousers and shredded Llewellyn-Bowen shirts, some of the orginal rags should make for decent enough shredded stockings...

a mix of Mantic and Warlord bits for a more recently departed (or more careful) ghoul... sadly, the Mantic stuff is a little too big for the Warlord plastics, but with the more action poses you can get away with the head and arms ok... I do have some more planned, but the pose means they may have to use the original Warlord head and I'll need to be a bit more creative... but I've g/s'd out at the moment...

and finally, the above, mixed in with some standard fantasy rag Mantic ghouls...

introducing the Mechanot...

2011-11-04T22:22:00.007Z

remember this fella?

now in resin with some lovely brasswork...

I have to say, it looks great, the brasswork has really brought this up to another level... even if I do say so myself ...

I should be getting hold of some shortly, so painted versions to follow, but it's available from Ainsty now.

a new crown...

2011-10-20T20:45:00.006+01:00

Angel Blake now with added prongs...

removed the old crown, losing the top of the hair in the process, and added a new one made from some etched brass cedar twigs from Hasslefree... replaced the missing hair with greenstuff, slight superglue accident and then was regretting my choice til it got painted... looks much better now... the heavy handling wasn't much good for the nipples though, so they got painted again and heavily glossed before the dullcote...

have noticed a few other spots of dirt now on the skin, and I've dullcoted, so need to have a worry at those... dammit...

and also been working on getting some of the Mantic ghouls upto the 17th Century...

Angel Blake...

2011-10-09T20:46:00.007+01:00

another one for my vague Folk Horror project...

Angel Blake from Blood on Satan's Claw

one of the sub-boob shadows looks a bit heavy handed there, so that'll get touched up... but quite happy with the skin tones

not very happy with the crown of thorns (or hawthorn or whatever it is... any botanists in?), it was never going to be as fragile as in the film... (actually, is it mistletoe?)

but what looked ok when I was working on it (it's actually some 28mm scale barbwire), not so much now... has lost it's pronginess and pale grey wood I'd intended didn't really stand out very much against the pale hair and pale skin... am half considering some leaves to make it a bit more bramble-ish... not sure...

and got a bit more adventurous with my basing and added some purple heatherish touches...

Witchfinder General - the rules

2011-09-25T21:10:00.003+01:00

and just found this...

Witchfinder General: Days of Revelation is set during the period of the 17th Century leading up to the English Civil Wars.

Courageous Witchfinders battle against the many vile abominations that plague a once green and pleasant land. Clandestine vampire factions, aided by their loyal Guardsmen of Blind Obedience, secretly strive to gain ultimate power over a deceived nation. Cruel barguests create fear and mayhem across town and country. Evil witchcraft is rife; vicious werewolves savage the innocent and crazed noctelinger hunt in the shadows.

This exciting new wargame rule book contains 108 A4 sized pages of furious wargaming fun. The game is inspired by folklore, myth and the propaganda pamphlets produced by all sides involved in the English Civil Wars. Witchfinder General: Days of Revelation provides background and rules for using: Witchfinders; angry villagers; clubmen; pikemen; musketeers; dragoons; cavalry; vampires; werewolves; witches; noctelinger and barguests. Designed for use with 28mm scale figures.

http://www.dashingdicegames.co.uk/

damn and buggeration... was going to use Fear and Faith, but may pick this up...

still only the two figures and the gibbet painted mind...

more minor set backs...

2011-09-25T20:48:00.004+01:00

sigh... am trying to finish something this month, but it's not working out...

attempts at making tents has backfired slightly (yes I have Renedra bell tents - but not what I wanted ultimately), so that now has to wait til next month to get picked up again - lots has been made and bought for this little project, just not the sodding tents which are at the same time a small part, but big part...

and the Omega Prime bases for the Draconians arrived... lovely casts, completely flawless for quality... but for some reason, in a solid resin base, they are about 5mm deep... a basic base of 3mm which is solid resin, so you build another 1-2mm on top of that? why not take a resin blank and shave it down a mm to build up or carve down into a 3mm blank of whatever material..? the gradient on the base edge is the same, so the top surface area is less then on a 25mm round slotta... I've done some deckplate ones with only .5mm plasticard on top... so why so big? I've been looking online and some timber decking ones are ridiculously thick... and over cluttered, but that's another rant... so to keep things reasonably level, will look at making more of my own... so .5mm thick timber embossed plasticard anyone? so that means the Draconians are put back again... fussy I know...

just need to do the bases on some Federation Troops and I should at least have something painted this month... grains of sand, only .5mm thick see... sigh

a minor disaster

2011-08-21T15:07:00.009+01:00

I've been bubbling away in the background with my Draconians, expanding the retinue... however as over the several attempts over the years to get a good colour for the ones I'd started, I figured I strip them all down... a month and a bit in the dettol and the paint has fallen away lovely... unfortunately so has the greenstuff on the conversion I did for the Draconian prince...

2008 that was... not the end of the world really, as I can redo the robes to better fit the new theme, but I really do need to pull my finger out... especially after having listened to Paper Cuts...

devout trooper...

2011-08-09T20:58:00.002+01:00

another recruit for the witch barbecue...

lovely little figure from The Assault Group, available as a freebie with orders... a couple of quirks though caused a bit of head scratching... the tip of the musket is below the level of the integral base, so couldn't level him out very easily which meant a bit of undulating terrain... also, I was surprised the raised visor wasn't seperate, god knows how they managed to cast that... but it made paint past that and the hands a chore...

as he's wearing the wrong jacket, my plans to Ian Ogilvy him up a bit went out of the window and I was forced to actually google some reference pics rather than just watch a DVD... buff jacket and some more puritan troos seemed the order of the day... and he matches his mate a bit...

tried something a bit different with the base and used some static grass and the usual tufts... I quite like it, gives a kind of moor feel to it I reckon... but I have never liked basing so hey...

a quick gibbet

2011-07-03T20:13:00.008+01:00

saw this on the Black Tree Design site when I was browsing and thought it would give a nice touch of dark, old English atmosphere... tried something new with the bushes, used the cleaning pads I had for the hedges for the body, painted brown and then added some leaf litter from Antenociti (usually used for ivy I think, bought it ages ago)... looks quite good and brambly...

pics don't really do it justice...

Witch Hunter

2011-07-02T00:28:00.007+01:00

painted my converted Witch Hunter for my vaguely planned ECW Horror skirmish project... Witchfinder General meets Blood on Satans Claw meets Solomon Kane... details on the conversion are in the earlier post... quite happy with the blacks, tried for slightly different shades, boots have a hint of light brown from the black for a worn leather look, and the rest of the leatherwork is a very dark brown... I had planned black hair as well, but it needed a lighter colour to bring it all out a bit more... the angry shouty head has a nice crease in his brow, but now I look at it, it's all gone a bit Cromwell warty - which all things considered isn't a bad thing...

I didn't shade the white collar, just slapped on the brightest white I had just so it stood out more, the other bits of white have been shaded though...

the 'what every good Doctor Who story needs' project intermission

2011-06-26T22:53:00.002+01:00

ok... so this stalled a wee bit... when I came to start undercoating, I completely fell out of love with the rock finish... it was all too rounded and worn, I wanted something a little more jagged - sheared rockfaces with tiny crevices and handholds... I came to realise I really wanted sharp edges and the whole thing stalled...

now I'd been giving it some thought lately, checking out various techniques online for wargaming and railroad set ups... bearing in mind I'll be building up on my existing structure, I needed a 'cladding' finish... bark bits are popular, but I couldn't see them working with what I had... recutting the foam wasn't winning me over... railroaders use the wet plaster in crinkled foil method (google is your friend), but would be too heavy and thick... however, I came up with a variation on that...

crinkled craft tissue paper... for the test piece I cut a thin strip, scrunched it up into a ball and then pulled it out into a strip again, without flattening it... slapped on some PVA and put on the strip, allowing the crinkles to stay and even creasing them some more... dry and a quick pj and I'm quite happy with that...

bearing in mind, there will also be the vertical definitions in the bluefoam that are absent here... should be good...

a Rescue to a Chase

2011-06-26T22:24:00.010+01:00

more companions... Ian, Barbara and Vicki...

I'm slowly working through my companions... with exception of Dodo, because let's face it, what use was she? Susan should have been part of this group, but I had to cut her head off on account of it being a really, really, really ugly head... no paint job could have solved that one, so off it came and I'm halfway through replacing it...

and a shape of something to come...

watch this space, just don't hold your breath... it's going to take a while...

River WIP

2011-05-22T15:46:00.003+01:00

well... almost done really...

As ever, looking for stuff that fits handily into A4 paper boxes (in this case a box for A4 label sheets), and as I've limited gaming space, confining myself to 3 or 4 foot square, a side/corner piece made more sense than having something run through the middle... I was quite impressed with Wirelizard's river banks over on LAF. Great idea... so I nicked it...

The three sections are a bugger to photo though, the above is the best I've managed (click pic for a bigger one)... I've added some marks on the photo to show where the joins are, but there are two peices the length of a sheet of A4 and a shorter peice... if necessary, the wooden dock/reinforced bank can be left out for a shorter section, if left in it should be enough room for my Dwarf longship if I ever get progressing with that, or any combo can be a handy entrance point for Sea Devils (again if I catch up with those)... the exposed bank is made from torn cork tile, nice and bitty and looks the job... the grass by the dock has some tracks in to show wear... I had gone with a patchier look all over, but when I did some test shots on my gaming tiles, just looked silly... by adding grass in those patches it has left faint thin patches of bare earth which looks more like the field/riverbank look I wanted so result...

The river itself could do with darkening... annoyingly, the reeds look the same colour as the grass, should have used the paler ones, so may give them a lick of paint to lightenen them up... and of course the water surface needs lots and lots of gloss to look watery... I did look at various ways of doing waves and so on for the surface, but as I want to add the longship at some point, it would be better just flat... also a removable/seperate jetty is on the cards...

I'll try and get some better photos at some point/when finished, but I wanted to get something up this month and move on to a long planned Who project...

Salute 2011

2011-04-17T11:50:00.017+01:00

a good day, if long day, back at around 10.40 last night... three Frother's games and there seemed to be a lot of interest... the mansion in all it's glory, the first game was a bit slow, but the rules were trimmed back and the later games went better...

the mansion game together really well, especially considering how scattered around the UK the contributors are... of course, Akkie's Battlefield game was just one chaps efforts and was outstanding to look at...

the Tron game, oddly only got one pic of that, but it was genius in it's simplicity and won an award...

and Crooked Dice launched 7TV rather spectacularly... table looked great...

even down to the scale map of the table in the villains lair...

CD also had a Who game going...

other stuff included a nice looking VSF Aeronef game and a few ECW games (which considering my recent dabbling was nice to look at)...

Witch Hunter WIP

2011-04-13T18:56:00.011+01:00

post-Salute-build, pre-Salute motivation means he now has hair...

after several attempts since January, I quite like that... gave up on windblown and went with long and a bit of chin hair... quite a relief to get the Library out of the way... sigh

the library at Cthluedo Mansion finished

2011-04-10T15:12:00.007+01:00

it's finished... well it's done and I'm stepping away from it before I cock it up in a spectacular fashion...

the table is scratch built from foampvc and beads for the legs (not that you can see them very well, but they look bloody great) and the books/cthulhu idol mark out the spaces on the floor so players can climb on/over it as they wish... the wallpaper on the outer walls will tie this room in with all the others (that's the plan - as ever the Frothers build doesn't come together until the day) with some suitable staining... I had planned on putting some Mythosy pictures, but they haven't turned up, so have used the ones the frames came with as most could pass for sinister in some way... removed 1 picture though to help fill the walls up with removed portraits... not 100% sure that has worked very well though... hey ho...

the library at Cthluedo Mansion part 5

2011-04-03T17:12:00.007+01:00

I never want to paint another book in my life... sadly I have some more to do for the table... if I can bring myself to do them... sigh... oddly, the photos make it look much brighter than it is, but the basic room is done, just the corridor side walls to finish and to put in the windows to have a playable room... everything else, including the table is just gravy at this point as I'm quite sick to death of the bloody thing...

and in a desperate attempt to add a bit of Mythos to it all, a Mi-Go brain jar on the shelves:

the library at Cthluedo Mansion part 4

2011-03-07T12:39:00.005Z

the library walls/shelfs are painted, the massive table is as well, but still deliberating over the floor. While I ponder that, Salute gets closer and I need books... lots and lots of books for the library walls...

I'm using bought metal books for those out on the table and strewn about the room, but all I need for the shelves are spines. Now there are essentially two different sizes of book shelf in the room, the mid-wall case and the corner case (which is slightly narrower) and after some quick playing with 3mm pvcfoam, I need 15 books to fill a shelf in mid-wall case and 12 books for a shelf in the corner case... and there are 5 shelves to a case... that should be around 1750 books. No way was I making those by hand.

I made some blocks of books out of foam pvc, 8 different 5 book blocks and 2 different 7 book blocks (henceforth refered to as bb)... that meant 140 x 5bb and 50 x 7bb to fill the walls... much more manageable, so out came the Siligum and the Alumilite Super Plastic:

I did a few molds to optimise the resin when mixed, but was bricking the actual resin bit. This is chemistry. This is chemistry with warning labels. Scary chemistry. Only it turns out it isn't...

Some deliberation over the need for well ventilated and room temperature while being a very cold March, I ditched the garden, turned up the heating and opened all the windows... it's not exactly room temperatue, but warmer than the garden, this has had the downside of slowing down the curing time a smidge (3 minutes normally), but this means I have slightly longer to pour. I've had to limit my mixing to a quarter of a fluid ounce, as any more caused problems with the tin foil cake cups I planned on using for the mixing pot... large amounts caused the foil cups to buckle, making pouring a pig. I will get some plastic cups later, but it means for now I do half the molds at a time, one lot is curing while I mix the next lot which seems to be working so far. I've also got some spare for the Timelord wall sconce when needed.

Now, I have a new found respect for mold makers, it turns out the hardest part of the entire process is getting a decent mold in the first place... I must confess I've had to ditch a couple of my earlier molds, simply because of flaws, I'm getting better at it though, but it was an expensive (if fun) learning curve... what I have now still have some flaws, but all I need are good spines, the rest of the books will not be seen...

the library at Cthluedo Mansion part 3

2011-02-20T15:34:00.004Z

nothing like a Sunday for putting up some shelves...

even managed to do my planned secret door...

which meant I had a lasercut door going spare, and seeing as I'd made too big a hole for the other door, I got creative and continued the general Gothic theme that seems to have happened by making the door a large double door instead...

(and now I look at it, I forgot to emphasise the join in the middle - so not quite done yet)

now all I need are books... lots and lots of books... I've plenty of bought 28mm books which will be 'hero' books and very visible out in the room, but for the walls I've tinkered with some faux spines... these will be made longer and with Siligum and some casting resin reproduced at a cracking rate hopefully...

but I'm kind of ready to paint... not sure what colour to do the floor... or what (or who) to hang from the very necessary beam...

EDIT: anyone keeping track will notice that there aren't 42 units of shelves there... originally I had plans for freestanding shelves within the room, but once the table was included, the other shelves didn't really help any...

and finally found a pic online of what has been nibbling at the back of my mind the whole time I've been building this... the Hammer version of Dracula...

of course it looks nothing like that, but with the table and the 'hero' books scattered about you never know...

Frothers' Charity Thingy final chance!

2011-02-06T12:12:00.002Z

From the ebay listing:

"LIMITED EDITION OF JUST ONE!
Cast by the talented and incredibly generous guys at
GREY MATTER FIGURES
This is a one off set of three Master Castings produced in
Funky Purple Resin

Original Sculpts by
Andrew Rae (Statuesque Miniatures)
Kevin White (Hasslefree Miniatures)
Seb Archer (Guild of Harmony)

Sold in aid of the MS Society via the
FROTHERS' CHARITY THINGY 2010"

All the other castings are spoken for so this is the last chance to get these figure. And you'd be doing a bit for charity too. And they're purple! Nearly £6000 raised so far!

Go here to bid: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270702418929

more knobrot iDaleks...

2011-02-03T17:32:00.007Z

I can't imagine anyone following this doesn't already know about these... but this weeks Doctor Who Adventures magazine has yet more iDalek figures as a freebie.... 17 of the buggers this time, as opposed to 5 previously...

you get 5 orange (although a strange orange) Scientists, 5 red Drones, 1 white Supreme, 1 yellow Eternal and 5 blue Strategists (the Supreme and Eternal being unique amongst Daleks)... as you can see there are some gaps, so like before will need popping apart and realigning, but that shouldn't be a problem...

and of course, they are a perfect match again, the older release (orange again, just not a strange orange) has a rounder dome which matches the prop better, the new releases have a lower tommy helmet shaped dome which is odd as otherwise the models are identical... the new release also seems to have slightly crisper detail as well... not sure why the dome change, perhaps it signals a slight redesign for the 2012 series and they are getting in the change early... dunno...

oh and while I remember, they are too big for 25mm slottas... as they were before and should be with that massive bumper... you can however get 30mm slottas from EM4 which do the job nicely...

next weeks issue is Cybermen and Sontarans, but they look crap...

the library at Cthluedo Mansion part 2

2011-01-30T20:29:00.004Z

the basic shell is up and running... there were a few teething problems with the prototype walls (as the room kits are planned to be available for sale at some point I believe) which I had to tweak with foampvc the same thickness of the plywood... but even that was nothing too big...

the window bay has had some plasticard put over the windows, there will be detail there and I should be able to work more easily on the plasticard (hopefully), I'm also thinking of giving that area a ceiling for some atmosphere and just to reinforce the structure as a whole... the other walls should be book cases... I've had to change my original plan a little bit, which had book cases within the room as well as around the walls, but the sheer scale of building those as well is a bit daunting... it may yet happen, we will see... there will be at least one massive table covered in books though (think end of the Hammer Dracula)...

Witch Hunter WIP

2011-01-10T23:02:00.007Z

whatever anyone else says, I really enjoyed Solomon Kane, especially the battle at the start, where it was lose one weapon, draw another and keep moving... a 17th century terminator... and when I saw the Warlord ECW command sprue going cheap on eBay, I figured I'd have a punt...

the drummer/standard bearer body had a nice forward motion, but as he was of a lower standing presumably, had stockings and shoes, so off came the boots from one of the commanders - I've made the turned tops of the boots smaller, they just looked weird even though it was the fashion, but now the troos look a bit too baggy, so may bulk the boots out again... using the command arms gave him the right tools for the job and a better quality jerkin, but his face was a bit too chubby and homely, so the head had to go and was replaced with a Hasslefree head... haven't decided on hair yet - kind of liking the bald look, maybe shaved, a late Renaissance Bruce Willis... the g/s may not be brilliant I'll admit, but paint should hide a multitude of sins... EDIT: I've my eyes on some ECW era yokels and civilians from Warlord Games (and maybe Foundry if I feel flush) and some Mantic Undead to join him - luckily, it shouldn't require any new scenery as it will all fit in with my never moving English countryside for Doctor Who... and the ruined tower can get a showing with them as well... huzzar!

Chieftain tank WIP

2011-01-10T22:50:00.005Z

finally moving on the diecast Corgi 1/50 Chieftain tank... glossy bits are wear the paint was chipping far to easily while I was still working on other bits of it, so nice and varnish in spots for now...

the toy originally fired missiles which I didn't have anyway when I got it off eBay... the raised turret hatch doubled as the firing button and sections of the upper turret had the handy slogan PRESS TO FIRE... the barrel also had a huge raised section that appeared to be just somewhere for a secure bolt to go - presumably those missiles really shifted... either way, out came the Dremel and out flew some scalding hot flakes of metal at speed... much sanding and g/s'ing later and it looks good I reckon.... and differences regarding the turret and anything else can be put down to UNIT modifications to the armour... so there...

the black bits on the barrel were originally plastic and had apparently at sometime been attacked by a small mammal judging by the teeth marks... these came off as the plastic was too soft to sand and repair and were replaced with plastic tube and g/s... need to paint these and finish the lower hull which has only just been attached (hence the silver screw head which can't be hidden), then touch up the lights and gloss varnish for decalling... toying with a brown over the tracks and dry/wet brushing black over them... need something...

fun with Siligum

2010-12-21T18:52:00.004Z

ok, not a great picture, but here you go...

some Timelord wall decoration courtesy of Siligum - a fun instant molding stuff recommended to me by Germy over on Frothers... very useful stuff, even if these tests haven't been 100% successful - the face on the right on isn't well defined and the the tween collar bits on the left one aren't level even though the face is spot on, but this could be down to using g/s for the pressmold... come the new year I'll try with some other stuff to see what's what, but it could ultimately be the depth of the mold that's causing the problem which is fine... I bought this stuff to do the books for the shelves of the library, this was just a bit of fun and I can redesign it easily enough... probably will now I've had a play... was an interesting learning curve...

partly why I've gone for a Tomb of Rassilon effect is this diorama I stumbled on while looking for reference pics a while ago... I think his quoted scales are a bit out (20mm and 1/50 doesn't sound right) and any statue to Omega wouldn't show him in his antimatter universe armour, but I do like it...

the library at Cthluedo Mansion part 1

2010-12-19T11:53:00.006Z

December has been mostly tiling the floor for my part of the Salute 2011 game, the library...

Not very exciting to look at I admit, but quite time consuming... also experiment with some small scale pressmolding, the results of which I will hopefully manage to show before Christmas... the main need for that is also the library (42 units of 3-4 shelves equals a fecking lot of books), however my experiments are with something very very Who-ish which should also prove useful in time...

The Giant Robot!

2010-11-29T22:11:00.004Z

well... not that giant really... big bugger, but some of the BTD Invasion Cybermen are the same height... barely a head taller than a normal 28mm figure... anyhoo, Professor Kettlewell's K-1 robot:

bit of a bugger to paint for a quickie really... the living metal (and that's as far as the writers got to naming it) it was made from was nice and silvery and shiney... which is a bugger to shade and still be nice and shiney and there are a lot of nubbins and bits that give shading... I quite like the darker finish mind...

essentially a quick pj (red stripes were a git) to get a November post, still plodding with several half arsed projects, still payday tomorrow so will get the fresh g/s I need... of course that won't change much as the Salute build has started so I really need to start knuckling down and actually doing stuff...

no one hold your breath...

October update...

2010-10-22T20:46:00.003+01:00

well... bit of a bugger of a month - summed up by Woody on Frothers describing my super power as Glacial Slowness... he's not wrong there you know...

got my longed for Warlord plastic Germans and the top secret armoured heads are undersized, so will need to do my own - for 20 of the buggers... that was one project that got stuck pretty quick...

so... started on jazzing up my Wirrn, hefty bit of g/s'ing done, but need to work on the legs and had problems with the g/s around wire, tried using brass rod, but that looked too regular - after a call out for help on Frothers I think I can move on it, but to eliminate any problems I need to get some new g/s as my batch isn't the freshest...

so then returned to my hedges, finished off some flocking on that and picked up some trees - but need to get some bases sorted out for those...

and then back to the quarry... finished off the 'something extra' piece and did some test fitting and things aren't quite as good a fit as I'd first hoped... so plenty of filling, plenty of sanding, one bit of rebasing and some major restructuring to one side it should almost be done - this I intend to get painted in November... just need to texture the base, add rubble and... oh bugger...

in the meantime, if you haven't seen gamerMac's Zeppelin, do check this out... most frothworthy pics on the bottom of page 34 - makes me want more space...

Crooked Dice Astronauts...

2010-09-19T19:47:00.008+01:00

the soon to be released Astronauts from Crooked Dice, painted for Karl and Graeme @ CD in a Space:1999-esque fashion...

Melody Lake and not who you might think it might be from a certain library... no spoilers...

Karl wanted them all to be part of the British Rocket Group, but after an entire evening trying to get the one Union flag right the air was very very blue - Melody managed to be British (just), but the other two became French and Chinese...

the bases need a finishing touch and they need a dullcote - the base is shiney, but looks much better from above... sigh...

Windmill 123...

2010-09-05T20:26:00.002+01:00

UNIT helicopter...

1/48 Corgi diecast Bell 47 that was one of many bargains from Salute (cheers Karl)... basic repaint over the existing job - made easy as the plastic/metal used the same olive green as me (although have noticed a blip in the pic on the top of the skid which stands out, may have rubbed some paint off without realising...), the danger sticker was on the original (carefully painted around) and homemade UNIT decals were added...

couldn't for the life of me remove the bubble canopy to paint the interior (the single screw did nothing when unscrewed) so it was either paint it or have a crappy plastic interior... on the plus side, it matches the Mobile HQ and Lanny windows and will never look like it's piloted by the invisible man...

speaking of which a flight stand is in hand...

the 'what every good Doctor Who story needs' project part 4

2010-08-22T15:30:00.004+01:00

right... basic build done... need to do the gravel/dirt transition at the top which I'm hoping will be successfully achieved with torn cork tile...

the eagle-eyed amongst you may notice the promontory is now longer than the earlier shots, it looked too stumpy and is now a full length of A4 with the end piece now seperate... still fits in two boxes though with space to spare so I need to come up with something a little extra...

still a few kinks in the joining edges which need fixing (really do need plans when I do this sort of thing) but basically that should be that... have run out of filler and sandpaper though...

also had a thought - quite random and may not do anything with it, but do some high security fences and it could do service as somekind of animal enclosure... raptors maybe?

the 'what every good Doctor Who story needs' project part 3

2010-08-17T19:02:00.004+01:00

right... I have to say that the upper levels have stumped me a bit... the replication of the 25mm thick layers wasn't going to look right so I had to have a rethink and this is what I'm going with at the moment...

I think the larger slabs need a bit more definition, have been adding bits that jut out a bit to make it more rugged and less of a flat surface (looks good from looking up from the base), which have helped break up the large flat surface, but not sure how much of that I can get away with... there is some grooving and so on in there, but it's been partially killed by the flash... I also scored the 3rd 25mm layer into two layers for a bit more variety, but again, that's barely visible...

it certainly won't be any higher than that, as that's the depth of the paper box it will be stored in, allowing for the base and the rock/dirt/grass transitional layer on the top...

a Rose by any other name...

2010-08-09T22:27:00.003+01:00

Crooked Dice's Daisy Taylor...

a really nice sculpt by Andrew Rae (Korosho Productions) for Karl and Graeme at Crooked Dice, she is due to appear on the Crooked Dice website at some point - hence the extra effort on the base (for me at anyrate)... chip and burger papers and a crushed Fosters can made from Rizla paper... it will probably get rebased at some point as it won't match any of the other stuff and I have little to no urban terrain planned (dreamed of, but not planned)...

UNIT pilot....

2010-07-29T23:17:00.004+01:00

still working on his ride, but a quickie for the UNIT pilot...

after trying just the visor shield and giving him a logo (all very Top Gun), but that didn't work so finally settled on the familar UNIT mustard for the helmet... tried mirrored shades as well, but they didn't look right either, so stayed with black (which helps hide the fact that the face is slightly off centre in the helmet)...

need to varnish and then finish the base, but July was looking bare as I've been doing stuff, but not finishing much...

the figure is from the Mo-Fo Mogadishu range, have plans for the wounded downed pilots in the same pack...

the 'what every good Doctor Who story needs' project part 2

2010-06-28T20:38:00.005+01:00

just caught up with the two end pieces after a week away housesitting... first is the corner piece, with the passage that leads to the Skin Room cave, and alongside is the central cave piece and then the wide gallery... at the end is trailing edge that would take the rest of it 'off table' as it were... I've put some platforms on that end piece to allow for figure placement... I may or may not make the top accessible, haven't decided yet, will probably not to be honest...

I had the pieces stacked up earlier while I was working on the trailing end and the long gallery looked quite good high up the cliff face... I won't do it on these ones, but may do another piece with a high gallery just for some variety... it's also just big enough to fit the Dalek saucer in... very Thunderbirds...

the 'what every good Doctor Who story needs' project

2010-06-15T21:17:00.003+01:00

it's a classic stalwart of British tv sci-fi... and I've always planned to build one...

the trusty quarry...

now, I had one main limiting factor with this - space... I ain't got much...

so the first consideration was storage - as I can easily get hold of boxes that used to contain reams of A4 paper, the quarry will be based around a footprint of a sheet of A4, it can (and will) be smaller than a sheet of A4, but everything should nestle in together nicely...

next of course came the look of it, and what choice... rock quarries, sand pits, gravel pits... and yet, oddly, I do have a favourite quarry and what a quarry it is... half of pre-War London is built from it, it was a WW2 naval installation and starred in Doctor Who twice and Blakes Seven once...

Winspit in Dorset...
http://www.doctorwholocations.net/locations/winspitquarry

great massive blocks of stone that doubled as Skaro, Atlantis and Mecron II

now I'm realistic enough to realise it's not going to be a rock for rock, crack for crack match up... especially with the in a box requirement, so I wouldn't bother with the Skin Room cave, concentrating on the North Front area and the massive outcrop that hides the Skin Room... this area should give me a nice corner terrain piece, which can double as an abandoned Skaro, a Silurian shelter on Earth and (with a bit of dressing) a Dwarf mine...

so, after much playing with paper cut outs I had a plan...

the plan was, of course, completely flawed...

aside from what you see there, there is an end piece which trails off to the table edge (similar to the entrance to the real quarry) and plans for 'in table' pieces so this rock wall doesn't just spring from no-where...

on reflection of it at that stage (you're looking at 2 A4 long pieces, one an L shape A4 wide) I realised that the distance between the long open cave and the smaller central cave was too short, similarly the distance from the corner to the central cave as also too small... even allowing for my fudging for gaming/storage, it looked wrong...

so foam was cut and swapped about and the central cave got a section of it's own, the L shape was lopped down.... the resulting 'wall' is now 2 foot long from corner to end of the long thin cave section... which is a happy coinkydink for future plans... I've made the central cave taller than in real life as well, so, well, tall things can exit safely...

the corner section is midglue so declined this photo opportunity...

I reckon, to reflect the cliff face, it needs at least another 3-4 layers of the 25mm thick foam, with some more 5mm layers added in for some variety...

knobrot iDaleks...

2010-06-09T17:43:00.005+01:00

for some reason my ftp software is buggering about so I can't upload the pics to Frothers or LAF where it's been brought up... so...

free with this weeks Doctor Who Adventures magazine (comic) are 5 new style Daleks... in horrible orange plastic... right... they are a bit crappy looking, but that's because they look exactly like the iDalek and that looks crap... there are 5... but of the 5 I had, only 1 had the two halves aligned correctly, and it's taken me 20 minutes to pop the other 4 apart so I can try and glue them straight... they are big, obviously... but eyeline wise match the Heresy Nerdlord...

and the MU old new style Dalek - which I still prefer...

Oi! Spaceman!

2010-05-09T20:55:00.007+01:00

Donna Noble...

converted from the KissKissBangBang not-Pussy Galore from Artizan... helpful assistance from Andrew Rae on the hair... with the base figure I could have gone for the Partners In Crime pinstripe or the Sontaran Strategem outfit... I figured the pinstripe would be a bit much with the Doctor in it as well so it had to be the other one...

bit of a mixed bag on this one I reckon... not 100% happy with my g/s'ing (noticed little niggles when I was painting her) and I spent far too long doing and redoing her trousers (didn't help that the reference pics had been doctored and had the trousers either grey or beige) before I figured that would do... all in all, I like what I've done, but could be so much better - may start from scratch at some point, the base figure is fine, I just need to get better with the g/s...

needs varnishing and grass adding... but out of Dullcote til payday and the gloss would kill any pics... I may feel better about it after the Dullcote...

Salute 2010

2010-04-25T12:46:00.009+01:00

well that was a cracking day... Frotherheim eventually got working smoothly after a few bum starts... we almost had too much scenery and too many figures oddly... but sterling efforts for all...

The other Frothers game was brilliantly done and looked great - World War 1 Subutteo:

and other fun stuff was to be seen...

Star Wars Lego:

Weird War Two with the cracking Area 51 UFO kit under the camo netting:

of course, some time was spent taking plenty of reference pics of the Doctor Who Miniatures game (the Mobile HQ did special duty on the day) and that oil rig...

and Antenociti's Governance of Technology game look superb, every building with fully accessible interiors... cracking work...

got to chat to plenty of folks... said hi to Andy at Heresy and checked out the not-Doctors I painted for him in his display cabinet (forgot to get pictures of them myself before I sent them off to him)... as for purchases, I got a lovely Bell heli for UNIT from Karl at the DWMG table (not a proper purchase in terms of trade stands, but most welcome), some of Mantic placcy skeletons to go with the free ghouls sprue and some control panels from Antenociti that I reckon can get Daleked up quite nicely... Ian from Fenris mugged me and I ended up with load of really lovely deep ones... and lots of sundry other little things picked up or thrust at me so that was great (I have classic GW pygmies! completely politically incorrect and lovely!)

Salute 2010 - Frothers presents Frotherheim...

2010-04-18T18:13:00.002+01:00

Frotherheim - where the sky rains with fire and all below is ruined and wracked.
Frotherheim - where looters and adventurers seek rich pickings in the wrecked buildings and mysterious rocks that have fallen from above.
Frotherheim - where the survivors blame the warbands for all the ills that have befallen them and happily execute them in cruel and unusual ways in Execution Square.
Never was a town more cursed than Frotherheim.
In every alley way scum waits to cut your throat.
In every shadow lurks a monster ready to rip you asunder.
Fame and fortune or shame and an ignoble and rather painful death await all who venture within!

Frotherheim is a game run by Frothers for Salute 2010 using the Song of Blades and Heroes ruleset.

Prizes have been generously donated by such companies as Blood Moon, Otherworld (yes, you have a chance to win the uber massive Otherworld giant!), Dave Thomas, Fenris Games and Red Box Games.

Come and see us on table GD03 where death, glory and spankingly good prizes await you!

Salute next week...

2010-04-14T17:27:00.004+01:00

still buggering about and staring at stuff for Salute... have much Who-ness planned once Salute is out of the way, in the meantime the results of several snatched moments in Photoshop and I get a new logo... well two technically... haven't the heart to get rid of Ernst Stavro just yet though, so the monocled bugger will hang about still...

wonder if I should make the A more visible... hey ho...

Ruined Tower...

2010-02-28T14:53:00.004Z

a peak at the ruined tower destined for the Frother's table at Salute 2010... still needs some bits finishing, but wanted to get some pics up for the Feb entry and just to show I've not been completely twiddling my fingers...

the whole tower is 17.5 inches tall, scratch built from foamcore, card, balsa and kitty litter... windows and embossed foamcore from Antenociti... hard to get a decent full length pic, so this will have to do...

the Ice Warriors cometh...

2010-01-28T18:35:00.007Z

a quick distraction to get my mojo back (oddly have found painting a real chore since I bought new glasses - prescription did change, but can't really see what that has to do with anything)...

BTD Ice Warriors (since Jon at BTD was able to track me down an Ice Lord for the normal price as opposed to the tenner eBay would demand)... not much to them really, a lot of green (must do Tre's gobbo's at some point), bit of red... the GW washes came in handy...

need to finish the bases and varnish, but I like these as is really... half toying with doing some snow on the bases, but that's a bit dressy for my bases... tried to do some wrinkles/scales on the Ice Lords skin, but you can barely see it in the pics... I did a hint of teeth as well which seems just enough...

one of these guys will double as Harma in full Dalek Killer mode...

the lenses were a bit of a pig as, when you really look at them, I don't think a single one matches another... reds have come out better than I thought though... all in all, I'm happy enough and feeling mojo'd...

December update

2009-12-15T20:31:00.005Z

well, ok the Sontarans aren't technically part of the update a month thingy as they were done mid 2008, just needed rebasing... however, I've not got much else finished at the moment, I'm working on some stuff for the Frother's game for Salute 2010 - ruined tower and some warbands, but I need to contribute more ruins - and am doing my first painting commission which may be my only one as it's not nearly as much fun painting for someone else...

the Frotherheim stuff will get a showing on here in time...

the good news is I've finally tracked down an Ice Lord which means I can finally do my Ice Warrior unit, which means I then need to finish my Draconians so they can both donate models to Abslom Daak and the Star Tigers...

The ur-Sontaran Warburg

2009-12-15T20:03:00.006Z

time to finish the rebasing... so here are my Sontarans from about a year and a bit ago... first up are the Sontaran Special Space Service, the elite storm troopers of the Sontaran Empire:

all of the Sontarans are from Black Tree Design, with a little bit of conversion work (head swaps and some reshaping of the collars - which meant the probic vents needed to be changed as well) to make them all uniform. The bare heads come from the Sontaran trooper figure... I've reglossed the armour and fabrics after they've been dullcoted to give them the shine they had in the series... the banner is scratch built - I wanted something to look similar to the flag Lynx planted in the Time Warrior that expanded out from a simple rod, hence the sectional look. The banner itself is also from the Time Warrior and was printed out and painted over. next up are the Sontaran Assault Infantry:

I've been a bit free with the standard Sontaran trooper figure, first off, new sleeves and collars for all of them to fit in more with the other minis, the two helmets that came from the S.S.S.S. conversions find a home here (seeing as the bare heads came from here in the first place) and, as the guns and arms are seperate castings, by a stroke of good fortune I was supplied with an extra arm that allowed me to convert the leader figure... the Meson gun is one of the worst designs ever, but it was in the series, so what can you do... fluff has since explained the strange curvey bits as blade attachments, so the weapon is part gun, part hand to hand weapon which makes it bearable... I went with the red armour from the Shakedown spin off to distinguish the unit from the S.S.S.S. and it stands out nicely... Lords of the Storm by David McIntee expands the whole Sontaran Army and gives the colour divisions for each arm of the Empire, if I ever get the chance, I'll do some more for the other arms... finally, the Sontaran Experiment...

the Sontaran Military Assessment Survey with the continuity hiccup of five fingers and a different gun... the helmet was greenstuffed over the bare head as I prefered the helmeted look... the comm unit is just greenstuff, the scout sphere is a Christmas bauble with the door scratched into the surface and the Enslaver robot is a Star Wars Probe Droid with the head replaced with a 25mm round slotta and an eye and panels from greenstuff... not 100% happy with the tufts on the comm unit and the sphere, tried to hide the wire that gives the floaty appearance, but will probably strip off the tufts and redo them some how... the wire on the robot was necessary after a house moving disaster... sigh

the new boy...

2009-11-14T13:12:00.003Z

well this fella was waiting in the post when I got home yesterday, and I got a bit obsessed/possessed and finished him off this morning...

I'm aware that in my OCD painting session he's possibly a bit rushed... I'm not 100% sure on the face, but then thinking about it, I'm not 100% sure on Matt Smith yet either, so I figured I'd let it grow on me...

I am very happy with the shirt colour as a match to the source and the suggestion of a weave on the jacket works, but the jacket is a bit too dark... may have a crack at another one in time...

and finally, the new series trio, all available from Heresy...

another Master, another TARDIS

2009-11-14T12:19:00.003Z

first off a big thanks to fellow Frother onebigriver who very kindly acquired a dolls house clock for me... which then meant I had to paint my decaying Master to do with it... not overly fond of the mini to be honest, the way the cloak looped around the hands always bothered me, so some g/s to hide that nonsense...

the clock was a great base though, I made it deeper with some plasticard to give it some more bulk when it stands alone, continued the fancy edging bits with mixed success and added a rear access panel so an obvious door exists in game (I know the Masters TARDIS opened at the front when it was a clock, but this looks nothing like that clock anyway so there...)

and of course, it had to be black with silver and bone trim... perhaps a little more Pratchet than Who, but I like it...

another restless month...

2009-10-23T16:54:00.006+01:00

...annoyingly I had been working on my Sea Devils... did the netting on the 18 Pertwee Devils and the armour on the 9 Davison Devils I have with the plan on doing the skin next... and well... just not getting the urge with the skin, maybe it's the colours I'm trying for the leathery look, maybe it's the flaws in the BTD sculpts just not winning me over... dunno... either way, a WIP shot at least of a couple of the Pertwee ones (the Davison ones are just black armour and you've seen enough of my blacks recently)...

oh, and figured I'd do the Myrka while I was at it as well... here's the WIP from last year that got caught in the purge... the BTD one doesn't have the tail that is clearly visible in Warriors of the Deep, so one added with some g/s and plasticard... may try my mojo on something else over the weekend at least... but I suspect these are going back in the queue for now... sigh

a TARDIS for the Master...

2009-09-29T21:31:00.004+01:00

finished the Master's TARDIS...

obviously the column was more popular with the later Master, but always liked the computer bank... a working chameleon circuit means it could be anything, but this'll do for me...

it's half of a Copplestone Castings KissKissBangBang databank (cheers for the cut Ian), which unfortunately isn't that great a cast... lots of edges and angles on the piste as it were, made more obvious by the cut - also removed the two rows of round lights/buttons on the front as they were completely off kilter, just put a thin bit of plasticard over the open space as another panel...

changed the access panel at the back into more of a door, again with plasticard and the thing isn't a bad size against the old Ainsty Police Box... after struggling with various 60's/70's computer suite colour schemes, finally went with a plainer grey/black - the more garish colours would work better in context, as this will be plonked anywhere, it just stood out wrong, grey/black may not be accurate but it makes it his...

Granny and Nanny...

2009-09-23T21:28:00.003+01:00

Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg from the Discworld books... lovely minis (although massive and out of scale with almost everything), great fun to paint - I'm really proud of the blacks on these, which is just as well considering... they're available through Antenociti's Workshop (bases by Fenris Games)...

they were done a while back as a birthday present for some friends - surpise done so there they are...

So you're my replacements — a dandy and a clown!

2009-09-08T21:21:00.002+01:00

finally finished my first and second Doctors (bloody hedges - still not finished, but needed a change)...

nothing really that spectacular, although the Troughton sculpt is horrible (for some reason they have him in an ill fitting tail coat rather than the baggy coat he's known for - so out come the g/s, not my best it has to be said)... I may try and track down the limited edition in the hat, that has more character (and the first Doctor in the cape)...

overall there are no real details or bits and bobs requiring fancy pics, so in with the third Doctor just so I can use the quote...

The Hedge of Destruction

2009-08-15T14:53:00.005+01:00

(sorry couldn't resist)*

ok... so the scenery slowly trudges along with some hedges... I've had two grand plans for scenery - the main and first one was always for some urban scenery but that takes up a hell of a lot space with buildings and so on... the second was rural, the beauty of it being I already have some grass gaming tiles and the majority of it becomes universal - hedges exist in the alien invaded English countryside for Doctor Who and in wherever I decide my fantasy stuff exists...

these are rapidly looking like my first ever finished proper bit of scenery... they're made from industrial polisher pads from eBay (have loads left as well), plasticard bases and balsa for the stiles, gate and posts...

this is where I am with them now... had a fun time with the scatter grip and the flock... that stuff is great... although it appears to help stick the flock somehow in places where I didn't put any, so the gaps I left aren't always visible... most obvious on the upper of the two gateways... I will let it cure and see if it gives up more loose stuff...

so... just need to add the foliage now... downside as I've just discovered is I don't have anything to keep the foliage in once I open the packs, so that may have to wait til after a trip to Poundland... which means that in the meantime I get to work on UNIT's latest bit of kit...

*very sad Doctor Who pun if you didn't know...

The Master...

2009-07-20T22:18:00.004+01:00

well two of them anyway...

The Anthony Ainley version is a pretty dodgy likeness really, the pose is quite nice, but the head is about as unlike Ainley as you could attempt. Not a fan of the mini, but it needed doing:

Now the Roger Delgado version is a lovely mini, captures the character and the likeness lovely... the profile in particular is perfect, but then he is my favourite version as well:

have the Decayed Master and the Eric Roberts version kicking about, but it's been one of those months... can't seem to finish anything... have also run out of dullcote so that will need replacing at the end of the month...

lots of planets have a north...

2009-06-08T21:35:00.005+01:00

the long anticipated Doctor Malcolm Ecclescake from Heresy... uncannily a good match for the Ninth Doctor...

I'd tried to go for the worn leather coming through the black of the jacket... stands out better in real life actually... was a bit worried I'd done my usual and screwed up the varnishing, but I think it's ok (no patience me)...

and of course, with Heresy's Doctor Hugh McCrimmon:

setting the scene...

2009-06-03T22:08:00.002+01:00

Nothing overly special... always been desperately lacking in scenery and really need to do some... had a play with some moveable walls and props and quite like the finish... has inspired me for the larger scenery project, but then will probably not get much done on it... urban scenery is such a pain...

Robomen

2009-05-28T21:32:00.003+01:00

Again, some old models, rebased... some Robomen allies for the Imperial Daleks:

The standard Black Tree Design models, with a female recruit from Artizan Designs (for equal opportunity enslavement):

Renegade Daleks

2009-05-28T21:18:00.004+01:00

More catch up photos... again, my Renegade Daleks were done ages back, but got lost in the reboot/purge... anyhoo...

for the Renegade Daleks I went with the panzer grey finish of Genesis of the Daleks (complete with Aryan blue eyepiece)... although not strictly renegade at that point, they are a nice colour scheme, and Davros in black is waiting to join them at some point... 11 Warrior Daleks and the Special Weapons Dalek (not strictly canon but hey...):

A couple more specialised Dalek types... first off, from the Daleks Master Plan, Warrior Daleks equiped with flame units, just what you need for clearing a path in the jungles of Kembel:

... and from Destiny of the Daleks, Suicide Daleks:

And finally, a couple of command options, the Gold Dalek from Day of the Daleks and the Black Dalek from Resurrection of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks:

There is an Engineer Dalek as well, but I appear to have forgotten to include him in the photos... and they do have some Ogron allies waiting for them...

Imperial Daleks

2009-05-28T21:06:00.008+01:00

Some catch up photos... my Imperial Daleks were done ages back, but got lost in the reboot/purge... anyhoo...

Imperial Daleks as seen in Remembrance of the Daleks... 10 Warrior Daleks and the Special Weapons Dalek:

The Emperor with a Black Command Dalek (can't have the Emperor in the field every single game now) and Engineer Dalek:

The Emperor Dalek and the Emperor/Davros:

and some Spider Daleks... some nice if pricey models from Reviresco based on an online fan design based on a couple of scenes in the really terrible novel War of the Daleks:

And for allies, there are some Robomen along with a couple of Slythers...

Age of Steel...

2009-05-19T20:21:00.006+01:00

I swear I'm going to go blind one day... it can be the stillest day imaginable, but as soon as I press down on that dullcote nozzle a bloody breeze will make sure most of it goes right in my face... sigh...

nothing that special really... finished the Micro Universe Cybermen I started mucking about with ages ago... nothing flash really with the paint job, although just noticed the gammy knee on the Cyberleader which will need a touch up... no idea what happened there... anyhoo just a quick paint job as a side project to something else I'm working on at the moment...

there would have been more of them, except you just can't get the Gangs of Mega City One Street Gang set anymore, so my source of replacement hands has dried up.... I had also planned some part cybernised humans, but the difference in physical dimensions between the MU and metal mini's made it look really odd... do have some plans though for other part cybernised types...

two more Doctors...

2009-04-20T20:32:00.010+01:00

the 5th and 6th Doctors...

the likenesses aren't great and the casting on the 6th Doctor looks like he's had a mild stroke as his face has dropped slightly... also, oddly, the casting looks like the head was removed and reattached off centre... wish I'd noticed that before I'd started painting as I would have removed it and repositioned it... what I did notice is that the casting of the 6th Doctor doesn't have the long lapels of the actual costume, so they were added with greenstuff and are present in a vision of yellow and pink...

the alternating red, cream, brown, cream stripes of the 5th Doctor's trousers were tricky and at that thickness, the red and brown are very similar, but I'm happy enough...

the 6th Doctor's clothes... well, they're as close as I can get, except the collar and pocket flaps - for some reason I just could not get something that looked right for how they actually were... so I fudged it and went with a blue/white check (and there was never any blue in the original coat due to limitations of the special effects work)... looks ok, not 100% but spent about as long on those three small bits as I did on the rest of the coat... his waistcoat and necktie changed between stories, so I made that up a bit... only downside is the brightness plays havoc with my auto focus... his face looks a bit soft in some shots...

now, something I didn't notice til I was commited with the paint job was the absence of a button tie detail thingy (whatever that may be called) at the rear above the tails...

and the Doctors so far...

UNIT rollcall...

2009-04-09T21:12:00.003+01:00

right, this is UNIT as it stands (minus sundry civilian hangers on - hmmm... I guess Harry falls through the cracks there)... at least almost everyone is in focus...

UNIT Landrover

2009-04-08T22:43:00.008+01:00

photos aren't brilliant as I was running against the low battery indicator...

1/48th white metal model I bought about 10 or 12 years ago and promptly buried in the lead mountain. It was only when I saw one on eBay (which went for a horribly large amount) that I remembered it. The hamfisted gluing of a decade ago made it unlikely to fetch anything near the mint kit got...

It's the same scale as the Mobile HQ and (assuming the BBC OB van is based on a standard Bedford chasis) they match up quite well and really gives the Mobile HQ some real bulk...

Hasslefresian the Troll Slayer

2009-03-27T21:38:00.011Z

OK... so first off, no this isn't the Citadel dwarfs that it should have been... I've really struggled to progress with those, they're just not inspiring me, so I figured I'd work on something else and here it is... and, well, I was motivated, sorry about that...

So... Hasslefree's Hasslefresian the Troll Slayer: I wanted a nice natural look for him, very outdoorsy, so went with leathers and bronzes and a nice fleecy lining to his boots... after all that brown though I needed something else for his hair... red/orange is of course traditional for slayers, but Kev's sculpted him with short hair rather than shaved either side of the crest, and I didn't reckon it would look right, so a natural hair colour and there was enough brown on him already...

Cyclops again...

2009-03-20T08:45:00.004Z

I've just noticed that Andy at Heresy has put my painted Nabrott up on his site. Go and buy one now... : )

http://www.heresyminiatures.com/hm030.htm

Obviously this can't count towards the mini a month post thing I set myself, some 80's Citadel Dwarves are in progress for that and should be done by the end of the month (hopefully - been a weary month)...

Inside The Spaceship...

2009-02-25T17:09:00.007Z

or the Edge of Destruction if you prefer...

a kind of amalgam of the classic TARDIS primary control room:
the console is an OOP resin model by Ainsty that you may be able to find somewhere (nudge nudge) and is a fair copy of the mark 3 console used during the 4th and 5th Doctors run - I went with a pure white console as opposed to the silver of the original so it leant itself more to the other eras... the walls are a prototype space ship interior by a company that shall remain nameless (although I'm sure someone will know and blab - I just figure there's no point bothering the poor man if he isn't able to do production versions as planned - of course thanks due for letting me have them) - they aren't an exact match for the roundels, but then again, the roundels were never an exact match either (being at various times photocopies, salad bowls and all but none existant). Having recently watched the Planet of Evil, these are actually much more interesting...

the size of the room again is more in keeping with the Hartnell era as opposed to later eras, but allows for better figure placement... the interior door has a door on the other side, should I ever progress with my vaguely planned dungeon crawl interior, but for now this is more of a display piece I guess... I have an idea for a piece to cover up the wall monitor with that strange transporter pad affair visible in the 1st Doctors TARDIS, but that may keep for now... the hat stand is made from plastic rod and bits of a plastic lettering set (O's, R's and J's if you must know) - other furniture will no doubt be added as time progresses... which seems in keeping with the Doctor really...

took far too long to finish this really, but that expanse of pure white is a real bugger to do and I had to take a break from going snow blind...

UNIT Mobile HQ

2009-02-07T20:58:00.020Z

As seen in The Claws of Axos and The Daemons:

Must be twenty years I've been painting on and off and this is my first vehicle I think.... didn't strip the original paint (didn't have a container big enough - she's big), but did what I could to hide the earlier decals and chips... painted in a darker olive green than the UNIT troops, Devlan Mud wash really worked well with the nooks and crannies... I think it looks better than than the original BBC livery, but of course the stripe had to stay (had toyed with doing it the UNIT beige, but as the stripe is at head height that would look silly) and once the UNIT logo was on, it helped bring the white stripe in a bit... homemade decals - first time in ages doing decals, so they may be a bit rough and ready compared to some, but I'm happy... do need to tweak the windows though, all black isn't working...

Before and After:

The original had a knackered chasis so the body dropped at the rear, that was replaced and I may have jacked up the wheels just a smidge compared to the original, but I reckon it (and the paint job) gives it more of a military look, very off-road... ideally though I'd like to have a couple of steps down from the doors, but hey ho...

UPDATE: Now with added windows:

Possibly more muted than many had suggested on Frothers and LAF, but I like it... too bright would have distracted from the vehicle I think...

two Doctors, two companions, a box and some old bits...

2009-01-25T17:29:00.009Z

A couple of Doctors finished, along with some companions and the rebasing project makes some headway... they need varnishing/dullcoting and some grass tufts adding, but here you go...

3rd Doctor and Tardis:

7th Doctor and Tardis:

The Doctor and Liz Shaw:
Liz was sculpted from the story The Silurians, so the Doctor is in his black velvet jacket and cape as worn in that same story and throughout that season.

The Doctor and Jo Grant:
Jo was taken from Day of the Daleks, which meant annoying bloody red and black plaid shirt which was done and redone and redone again over about 3 evenings... still working on a more colourful later 3rd Doctor.

I have to say, difficulties of sculpting a likeness aside, they are really ugly miniatures... the Pertwee and McCoy are fine in my mind, but the girls could at least have been made to look at least feminine facially and there is just only so much you can do with them...

The 3 Doctors (so far):

UNITs finest:
UNIT finally get to the front of my rebasing queue... again just need the bases varnishing and some grass...

Dwarf Slayer

2009-01-05T18:45:00.005Z

reposting for the Dwarf Berserker from Avatars of War... with the discovery of some old GW dwarfs over the holiday, he should have some friends soon enough... currently having some very old paint jobs stripped, I should initially have a small Songs of Blades and Heroes party...

Cyclops

2009-01-05T18:39:00.003Z

first figure of the year is Heresy's Narbrott the Cyclops... I wanted a more animal look to it, so went for a darker skin tone, which as these things work in the animal world, meant dark fur and dark nails/hooves... end result, he's very brown (well I couldn't really do his loincloth a different colour could I?)...

38mm from hoof to head, 50mm to the highest point of the bone... lovely figure, begging for some monster bashing action... needs varnishing and some grass adding to the base to finish it off...

Blog Update

2009-01-05T18:35:00.004Z

never satisfied and with a new year and all that stuff, I'm having a clearout on the entries... some older ones I've left as they are still useful, but as the mass rebasing project gets closer to completion, there will be new photos of everything and if nothing else, this will encourage me to get it done...

New Year's Resolution, at least one update a month...

The Star Beast

2008-10-12T18:07:00.010+01:00

The cruel, the terrible, the evil, the Most High Beep of the Meeps....

The Meeps were an advanced and peaceful race, who lived in harmony and happiness until their natures were radically altered by their planet's orbit passing close to the Black Sun. The Black Sun radiation mutated them into an aggressive, expansionist species who began to mercilessly conquer and subjugate other planets. After the deaths of countless billions, the Meep fleet was destroyed by Wrarth peace keepers, but their leader, the Most High Beep, escaped to Earth where his cute and fluffy outward appearance hides his true nature as a malevolent, homicidal conqueror and dictator.

And yes... I now realise I got his ears wrong... took me bloody ages, and these were the third attempt and I was happy enough until I had another look at the comic and thought sod it, it'll do.... I'm no sculptor, but I'm happy with it... aside from the ears, the other difference from the comics is the colour, the original strip was black and white, but in the colourised reprints he has blue fur and purple skin... now I was happy with the sculpted fur, but to paint fur a non-fur colour and expect it to look like fur is asking a bit much for my sculpting efforts so I went with white... I think this fits him better and makes him more cute and fluffy looking in the eyes of humans than blue would... besides I seem to remember reading that Dave Gibbons based him on his cat (hence the tongue sticking out all the time)...

And a quick comparison with the 10th Doctor. Beep needs matting down a bit more I think.... God I miss Dullcote...

Saucer Project

2008-08-06T21:46:00.012+01:00

I'll save you the trouble now... the pictures are shite... it's too big to fit in my light tent, the lighting is all over the place and I had to buy a sheet of paper big enough for it as well, so they are not up to my usual standard...

anyhoo... the painted saucer... very monotone really, it will be completely generic, the Dalek was just to hand and is likely to get the most use of it (the Dalek is part of the rebasing project so hence the mess around the base edge), but should be useful for loads of stuff... not bad for a couple of broken clocks...

after discussion on Frothers, went with the no landing gear option... the clear rod supports the saucer, the ramp actually gives quite a bit of stability and has a very small foot print... at 45degrees the ramp is a touch steep, so there are a couple of strips that stop figures from sliding down...

shots of the underside and the hatch (with a couple of ground defence lasers ), the ramp is left detachable as it will be easier to store that way...

WIP Time War Daleks

2008-03-25T22:00:00.014Z

The first in progress shot of the Micro Universe new series Daleks. A bit quick and out of focus, but just to show the bendy plungers and gun arms have been replaced with good stiff wire and greenstuff suction cups - I'm considering greenstuffing the guns to get the ribbed wire effect, but not sure (it may not work, it may not be necessary) and I may yet replace the eyestalks with wire, but they are a little thicker and being shorter less prone to the bending seen in the arms. I've only gone with four Daleks for now for the Cult of Skaro.

Next the first go at the paint job on the 'bronze' Time War Daleks... at this point I was thinking I may need to go up to a lighter gold colour for the globes. The wire for the replacement gun was - well replaced... it's now a plastic covered wire with the plastic covering clipped back for the attachment and muzzle - replicating the wire look just wasn't working out, but this gives the weapon some bulk and should look fine painted up black (as will the plunger arm)... eye stalk and ear lights still to be done.

Finally with a lighter gold paint for the globes, the band and the panels... looks a bit yellow in this photo, but is a better match for the new look Daleks in the series...

I'm actually really liking these models now... I may have to get me some more....

The Horror of the Micro Universe figures....

2008-02-09T21:18:00.001Z

ok... so the Micro Universe figures offer some nice possiblities for new series beasties, but the humanoid figures in particular suffer from being made in really bendy plastic... the Daleks are fine, the Slitheen are ok, but the Cybermen are just let down by bendy legs and arms and club deformed hands...

... but they can be saved (in my opinion anyway)... they have a lovely tall and slender look about them compared to the majority of other 28mm figures (which looks horrible in the rest of the humanoid MU range, but works with these guys) and reminds me of the Cybermen from the 8th Doctor comic strip The Flood which was a complete absence of the 'man in a suit' look.

Now, the first obstacle is the legs, the figures as a whole just aren't sturdy for wargaming and the legs are a major let down - so they come off at the knee... luckily the thigh armour has a flat edge and is the perfect hidden join....

the thigh is then drilled - now drilling this soft bendy plastic is tricky as you don't so much drill as slice... yanking the drill bit out rather than turning the bit brings some of the plastic out with it and leaves a bit of a hole for you to work with. You need to go as far into the body as you can, but you need to be careful of your drilling going awry (on the plus side if you have an exit hole where you don't want one, it will normally seal up). Stick in a good thick (unbendy) bit of wire - if the wire has a sharp end it will go further into the plastic than the hole if you're not careful...

... and do the same with the lower leg and foot - you just need to maintain a central drill point which is easy enough I reckon (I did experiment with drilling without the amputation, but the plastic tended to misdirect the drill bit and after a certain distance in, I couldn't guarantee where I was going to end up)...

.... and repeat for the other leg (if you look at the rear of the knee joint, the right leg has a small stubb which is absent from the left leg which is a useful observation). I've not glued until this point, just add superglue to the join and the wire seems to be enough, just slide the lower legs up to meet the thigh and position it so it becomes as close to the original as you care to have it. Leave some wire at the feet to connect to your chosen base.

Next is the hands... no stage by stage here - sorry... but cut off the deformed club hands from hell at the flared cuff. Again wire is drilled into the arm, but I use a smaller diameter wire because it has to fit into the replacement hands - which come from the Gangs of Mega-City One Street Gang sprue. The G0MC1 range is a bit variable in scale and the hands from the plastic sprue are perfect for the Cybermen - other 28mm hands look to big on the arm and too human, these at least look right and painted silver should look fine. Of course they will be smaller than any other figures hands, but that works for me as they are essentially robotic replacements for real hands and it helps move the figures away from the man in marigold gloves look....

I haven't worked out what to do about the bendy arms yet, but with the legs reinforced, I'm happy with what is now a sturdy piece... with a bit of variety on the position of the arms and the head, I should be able to come up with some variety between models... I even have some partially cybernised humans on the work table...