Useful find

WW2-era European streets were usually paved with cobblestones. While picturesque, these are a bit of a pain in the butt to model, since you pretty much have to sculpt an entire #%@# bunch of them yourself, or find a textured plastic product (usually not cheap or available locally) to get the effect.

I found this stuff at the local art store for $2. God help me, I think it's scrapbooking paper.



But painted, it makes pretty decent 1:100 scale cobblestones. Go figure.

WW2 Update

I need to post more in-progress shots so there are more updates here. I've been pretty lax.

Anyway here are my latest 15 mm scale WW2 minis, they're done but obviously the base isn't started yet. Alas, American vehicles in WW2 weren't that interesting to look at, the regulation markings were very plain. The vehicle names would probably have to have been painted on by the crew once there weren't any authority figures around.

Lettering "Betty Boop" was surprisingly difficult, the letters are less than 2 mm tall :P "Yellow Fever" was, thankfully, a decal.



The walker commander (presumably holding binoculars) was originally the .50 gunner on the car, but I sawed him off at the waist and gave his legs to the waving man so he could stand up in the car turret. All the extra bags etc. were sculpted from putty.

More WW2

US "General Early" walker and M-20 Scout Car
~35 mm



Some real and fictional WW2 American gear.

What could have been...

... if World War 2 was fought with big stompy robots!

"Gear Krieg" British Walker
~50 mm



Definitely a different take on WW2 war games! "Weird War 2" is a popular miniature genre right now so maybe this line will become more available. This is a Christmas gift for someone who hopefully doesn't read my blog...

A gift

In return for submitting a Chick Challenge entry this year, the CC crew sent me a goat-monkey thing, all the way from Italy. Very kind! (I'll have to send them a Christmas card...)

Research is Hell

Graduate Student
28 mm



This guy really has seen it all: unexplainable results, all-night experimental marathons ruined by a dropped test tube rack, instruments going off-calibration as soon as a precious sample is loaded, and his supervisor skipping his committee meeting to play squash. His body runs on caffeine and anxiety and his bank account is laughable. He hasn't had time to read a novel for years, but he took a pile of journal articles into the toilet this morning. All that keeps him going is the faint glimmer of graduation, at the end of a very long tunnel.

This miniature is dedicated to all the graduate students I know, and to Jorge Cham.

Twinkle twinkle...

Jolie the Astronomer
28 mm



Another non-violent mini... I always liked this one. Suffice to say, the telescope and candle holder were awful to make, too many tiny parts glued together. I wanted the two vertical elements to share a helical design but not "match", I think the compact wire helix ended up looking much better than the greenstuff one, but we shall see once they're painted. The "hatstand" base of the telescope used to be the fin end of a model airplane missile, it would probably have been easier to make it from scratch.

Misty Mountain Sam

Nobody knew where Sam was really from, or why he had left there to hire out his pistols in the scrubby towns between Gondor and Harad. But one thing was for certain, no-one ever dared call him "short" to his face.

Chick Challenge 2008

Rebel Alliance Pilot and droid
25mm


"They're moving our base to Dantooine, R5. It looks pretty safe and out of the way to me."

This is my Chick Challenge 2008 entry, in the Sci-Fi category. No chance of winning anything, of course, since the quality of the other entries is pretty high. The miniatures are 80's-era Grenadier figures, the holo generator is made from Zoid toy parts.

Slither

Nurgle Warrior
28mm



A family photo:

The Short, the Bad and the Ugly

Dwarf Gunslinger
16mm



A minor conversion of a plastic dwarf given to me by MPJ in the Coolminiornot.com Miniature Exchange #16. Frankly, these aren't very good figures, the plastic casting method ruins too many details at the sides of the miniature. But I liked the subject matter, at least as a starting point.

(Re: comment below, he's 16mm tall, but in 28mm scale)

There's never an octopus wrangler when you need one.

The very deep did rot : O Christ !
That ever this should be !
Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs
Upon the slimy sea.

Some sculpted tentacles seemed right for this guy's base. He's not quite done; I still have to do some highlighting, detailing etc.

Works in Progress

Nurgle Warrior
28mm

Iron Man
25mm



Old and new stuff here: a Games Workshop chaos warrior from the 80's, and a Heroclix mini given away at Free Comic Book Day 2008.

Little Rotter

Nurgling
12mm



Just a small piece to get me back in the swing of things after a four month painting hiatus! More to come soon, hopefully.

It's been a while...

Besides moving house, what little painting time I have has been spent on a Chick Challenge entry, which I'm not supposed to post pics of... But it's be in the "Science Fiction And Steampunk" category.

Hero of the Shire

Bandobras Took
20 mm



Bandobras... gained fame for leading the Hobbits at the Battle of Greenfields in 2747 when Orcs from Mount Gram in the Misty Mountains invaded the Northfarthing. At this battle, Bandobras charged at the Orc leader Golfimbul and knocked off his head with a club. The Orc's head flew through the air for 100 yards and went down a rabbit hole; it is said that this is how the game of golf was invented.

Gingerbread in excelsis gloria

Merry Christmas/Eid/Chanukah everyone!

I made a gingerbread house again this year. It was modeled after Le Corbusier's avant-garde church "Notre Dame du Haut", built in 1954 (which I visited as a child). Lighting was a white LED inside.

ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU!

Zed
25 mm



All finished! Just in time to deal with the plague of brutals, a.k.a. Christmas shoppers :D

And some video for your LOL:
(If it doesn't work... blame the MPAA)



And some soothing Zardoz-themed desktop wallpaper.

Oops!

I guess I should have checked my reference image:



The fact that the mini kind of looks like Saddam Hussein... well there's not much I can do about that. But the boots are getting a repaint, even though I think the all-red look is kind of neat (sort of makes him match "Sister Compassion")

Abandoned... complete

Abandoned Warrior
30 mm



Now complete, with a natural base and source-lighting effects!

The tropical fronds are masking tape over wire, cut and painted. The leaf litter is Club House Italian Seasoning. The snake is poisonous... or not, I can never remember :D

Abandoned...

Abandoned Warrior
30 mm



This ancient, corroding creature was left behind by its comrades centuries ago during some long-forgotten evacuation. Now it silently patrols an uninhabited world, waiting for a recovery mission which will never come.

"Necrons" are Terminator-like robot warriors from the game Warhammer 40,000. I decided to practice my rust effects on this guy, he'll be wading through a steamy jungle base when he's finished. I'm going to try some lighting effects from the green power weapon too.

Halloween... now back to painting!

Mad Scientist
1760 mm


A good time was had by all...

Zzzzzap!

The mad scientist's electrical death ray helmet!




(Yes, those are real vacuum tubes.)

Fire up the Tesla Coil!

Halloween's coming! To honour the occasion, I've put together steampunk goggles and wristwatch, for my costume, a mad scientist. It's all made from Dollarama trinkets and plumbing supplies (I don't own a lathe!). The death ray helmet is in the works.

Ghoulish!

Ghoul
30 mm

Straight out of hell
One of a kind
Stalking his victim
Dont look behind you
Nightcrawler
- Judas Priest, "Nightcrawler"

Finally done after a hiatus of camping and busy-ness. In retrospect, I missed an opportunity to use strong lighting contrast on this figure. As a nocturnal creature, he should be moonlit, with heavy shadows and anything not directly lit should be almost black. Oh well, next time.

I has rock!

My rock, let me show you it.


Just a quick update on this gruesome guy. He needs a graveyard base with a tombstone behind him, of course.

The game's afoot...

"A Nasty Discovery Behind the Vicarage"
30 mm

As she glanced up from the ditch to scan the nearby pasture with a shrewd eye, Miss Chumleigh mentally tallied at least ten people who'd have wanted to do the old man in. Of course, in her experience, detective work was rarely blessed with a paucity of suspects.

"Natural" bases have always been difficult for me. I can never seem to muster enough disorder and variety to make them look convincing. Here I'm convinced my river is too smooth, my leaf litter just a little too carefully placed, and my grass looks like somebody's unmowed lawn (or just like static grass). But overall, I'm pleased with the result.

Plague of Brutals!

This purchase falls strictly under "What Was I Thinking?"



What the eye-bleeding heck is that, you ask? Well, this review sums up the film "Zardoz" nicely, I think. It also explains why I don't remember much of the plot except the "The gun is good, the penis is evil!" speech by the giant flying head (that vomits guns).



Of course, I had to buy THREE of these abominations... I think somebody I know is getting one for Christmas >:D

Dark Things

This piece is getting surprisingly close to completion, I've put gloss acrylic medium on as (muddy) water... whether it's convincing or not is another matter, but I'm hoping it looks more natural once the grass and vegetation etc. is added. I'm thinking the corpse needs a bit of blood too.

---

Ghoul
30 mm



This is one of the figures I received in the latest Mini Exchange. It's a ghoul - not an undead creature, but a pseudo-humanoid which roams the night, feeding on corpses. Delish!

Group Shot

The Fellowship of the Ring
10 mm



Well, as requested here they are, all together. Shiny! It was a lot of fun painting these little guys, I'm ready to get back to some slightly larger work now, but I'd definitely do some more 10 mm if I can find some good minis out there.

Mini Exchange

An abundance!

Received from Will in England:



Sent to Neil in Winnipeg:

Crunch-Waffle "Samurai Toshiro"
Confrontation "Vargas Metatron"
Games Workshop "Cadian Shock Trooper"
Games Workshop classic Space Marine
Reaper "Michelle Dancing Blades"

The Ring Bearers

Frodo and Sam
6 mm

"What a tale we have been in, Mr. Frodo, haven't we?... I wish I could hear it told! Do you think they'll say: Now comes the story of Nine-Fingered Frodo and the Ring of Doom? And then everyone will hush, like we did, when in Rivendell they told us the tale of Beren One-Hand and the Great Jewel. I wish I could hear it! And I wonder how it will go on after our part."
- Samwise Gamgee, "The Return of the King"

The Warrior

Boromir
10 mm

"The men of Gondor are valiant, and they will never submit; but they may be beaten down. Valour needs first strength, and then a weapon. Let the Ring be your weapon, if it has such power as you say. Take it and go forth to victory!"
- Boromir, The Fellowship of the Ring

Update

My sleuth's base, in progress:



Yes, I sculpted that face-down dead guy myself, that's about the limit of my abilities. Don't look to closely at the hands. He still needs a knife sticking out of his back.

Nasty Business Behind the Vicarage (WIP)

No, I haven't forgotten this project :)

The Young Hobbits

Pippin and Merry
6 mm

"Welcome, my lords, to Isengard!" he said. "We are the door-wardens. Meriadoc, son of Saradoc is my name; and my companion, who, alas! is overcome with weariness" - here he gave the other a dig with his foot - "is Peregrin, son of Paladin, of the house of Took. Far in the North is our home."
- Merry, The Two Towers

The Elf

Legolas
10 mm

"The strongest must seek a way, say you? But I say: let a ploughman plough, but choose an otter for swimming, and for running light over grass and leaf, or over snow - an Elf."
- Legolas, The Fellowship of the Ring

The Dwarf

Gimli
6 mm

"Welcome Gimli, son of Gloin! It is long indeed since we saw one of Durin's folk in Caras Galadhon. But today we have broken our long law. May it be a sign that though the world is now dark better days are at hand, and that friendship shall be renewed between our peoples."
- Celeborn, The Fellowship of the Ring

The King

Aragorn/Strider
10 mm

"I see," laughed Strider. "I look foul and feel fair. Is that it? All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost."
- Aragorn, The Fellowship of the Ring

The Wizard

Gandalf the Grey
10 mm

"A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."
- Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring

Latest WIPs

Yeah... slow month. This is mostly what I'm working on right now.