Aaaarr Jim Lad..Aaaaar....aaar..aaaaaaaaar

Sounds like we are either visting the dentist (in the vein of Dustin Hoffman), or having a diorama idea..lets go with the diorama.

So ..the idea.

I thought it would be good to put the pirates in a setting where they have discovered more than they bargained for on a raiding party..perhaps they have dug down too deep, dived to the wrong wreck or just made things that go bump in the night emerge from some random cave.

After all, pirates shouldn’t just have conventional problems like getting sand in their shoes and in their pants (and in other unfortunate places, though that might actually account for some of those classic pirate facial expressions).

This might sound a bit Pirates of the Caribbean, but I have decided to go for it anyway as I think it would make a fun diorama – you can never have too many pirates and monsters in one place. In fact it’s a shame one cannot get away with ninjas as well. Mm..

So, moving swiftly past the ninjas and pirates thing, the idea is to have a ship in a cove being boarded by some unpleasant sea looking things, perhaps with a few other things pursuing our gallant (well unpleasant and cut throat, but, hey look, someone has to be the ‘good’ guy) heroes (or villains, this everyone is evil thing makes life complicated) along a little jetty. I had in mind a ships boat loaded with treasure being set on by something…yucky. I saw a terrain piece of a wrecked pirate ship on Tabletop Gaming News a while ago, shame that has already been done as it would have made a good concept.

Of course one of the main motivations here is the strange and inexplicable need, that most modellers will have at some point, to break out loads of balsa wood and build a gigantic pirate ship. The first question is..how complicated can I make my life in trying to achieve this? Looking around….the answer is very, very, very complicated, if I want to. For example there is the Maiden, which consists of a printed set of plans to download and mount on foamboard (or similar), that builds into the biggest ship in the 28mm world. Nice, but I fear it might be cheating as I wouldn’t need to paint much.

I also toyed momentarily with steampunk style Landships and Frigates and the slightly off the wall concept of an airship, which I still rather like and for which there was no sane source on how to build it (though one of those big styrofoam eggs from a craft shop might work).

But ‘classic’ ship wise there are also a few good choices. There are Colonial Ships which appear to be pretty simple to construct. There is a ship guide from Games Workshop which I like, though I would add more detail. There are always more boats everywhere you look. There is a small fast vessel in a set of plans from Wargames Foundry for example. Last and not least there is a big project sized ship, bizarrely on the Blue Peter website which might be a bit large but has all the detailing required

Decisions, decisions. On the one hand we do have three months, on the other I’d have to be mad as a mad thing labelled nuts and consigned to an asylum for loonies (no offence to anyone genuinely loony intended) to contemplate the larger ships. So I shall ponder on a little more. In the meantime I downloaded plans and stuck them onto paper to see what might look best and fit to a reasonable scale. Pictures to follow later.

I also bought this months GW magazine White Dwarf as there was a natty ship in it..sadly no plans. Drat.

Acts of Heresy....

More evidence of active wallet opening and further to my huge pile of metal entry some more model shots and links for your delectation.

So following on from my post about the heap of metal I had acquired from Black Scorpion we move on to the stuff that has arrived from Heresy Miniatures

Before beginning though I had mentioned I hadn’t had my Hasslefree order, well it arrived this morning and very nice it turned out to be too. Apparently Hasslefree have had a bit of a slowdown due to a variety of circumstances (including producing a new mini in a larger than usual scale). I should have paid more attention to the Hasslefree website where this was announced. The order (more later) was well up to expectations and had sweets with it and a handwritten note! Talk about customer service. The company comes over as a very friendly and offering a personal service, not that common these days.

To be relevant to this entry, the same standard of customer service goes for Heresy, whose models always arrive with a note and very well packed. I must say, at the risk of repeating myself, that dealing with smaller mini companies is a bit of a revelation after time with GW. The smaller 28mm manufacturers behave more like their 54mm and 120mm ‘cottage industry’ sized counterparts..much more pleasant as a shopping experience. The last time I was in GW I realised I am old enough to be regarded as someone more likely to be buying a present than wanting a figure for myself..ugh. For some reason larger figures and 28mm wargaming figures seem to be marketed at adults (or at least at people who are fairly mature while refusing to grow up), its nice to find someone doing the same for the smaller scale fantasy scene.

But enough of this random blather what of the models?

I had previously bought some lovely tunnel guard command figures from Heresy. Nice sculpts, very clean and they have a real air of menace. I am not sure they will make the diorama as its not in a tunnel (typical me), but they would look great in a chaos army. This is a drummer figure, very nice casting and a great face on the figure. £4 for two figures. Very good stuff. There is also a standard bearer in the pack with a nice big standard (insert a double entendre of your choice here).

I had also previously bought a demon figure (The Fallen One, costing £5)and I might use him as he is a great sculpt, again well proportioned and a clean casting and lots of bits..when Heresy say ‘multi part’ they really mean it. I like this sculpt so much that I was toying with an alternative diorama idea, but I might be able to work him in somewhere.

I also got some procreate modelling putty off the site and its much nicer to work with than green stuff and seems to hold detail better (and the price was competitive too).

This time however I went for monsters who might fit my sea scape / ship in the harbour being attacked by all manner of things idea. A vampire in bat form was amongst them, nice clean cast, really great facial expression and a menacing pose.

I also acquired..

• Diego the rogue, a very ‘piratey’ feel to a figure lunging with a sword. £2.50
  
• Some leaping lurkers £5.00
  
• Captain Nathan (A sci fi figure, do not ask me what I was thinking, it was so..shiny and nice. £3.00
  
• Filthy Scrote the jailer..because every home should have one (the jailer not the ..in fact never mind)£2.50
  
• A great ‘sludge gulper’, apparently sculpted by the Hasslefree owner Kev White. I really loved this mini when I saw the picture, I might convert the bottom so it has a body that extends a bit further into the water. £7.50
  

I really like the feel of the sculpts, even though a couple have different sculptors they hold a theme very well and they are a good match in terms of quality. The castings are also of a really good standard with not too much flash.

So what shall become of all these minis?

Watch this space!

Black Scorpion's contribution to the metal mountain...

So, following on from the entry about the mounting pile of metal gathering for the diorama, I thought I’d put up a few pictures of the miniatures I have acquired and offer a few comments about them.

First up Black Scorpion Miniatures.

These minis are really nice clean sculpts, standing a little taller than some other ‘28mm’ miniatures but nothing too noticeable, unless you are trying to precisely match them to early GW figures. Miniatures have been creeping up a little in size and I don’t mind the trend myself, though historical figure modellers appear to have a few things to say about it. I am someone who is a sucker for a great sculpt, so size isn’t such a big deal for me(cue something about it not being the size of the mini but what you do with it, meeting the requirement for there to be at least one double entendre per blog entry).

First miniatures I bought from this company were some cowboys from their Tombstone range. I really like the different poses and physical characteristics of the minis in this particular range, I got Tombstone pack 1 which has 5 miniatures for £7.50 and which are nice neat sculpts;

I like the fact the group looks as if they are townsfolk with their own weapons, hurriedly gathered to visit an impromptu hanging on some unfortunate miscreant. The poses are convincing and not over done and the proportions are all in keeping with the overall feel of the miniatures.

Anyway it was a visit to the site when they brought out the pirate range that inspired my idea for the diorama for the competition one of the reasons I started this blog), but more of that later.

I did as a result though pick up some pirates. A few ‘basic’ sorts like this one

and a couple of really nice commander figures

These are multi part minis and I haven’t cleaned them up or assembled them as yet but you can see the clean lines and super amount of detail from the pictures. I was really surprised there is so little flash and the casts are so clean..too used to spending ages prepping GW minis for priming. The poses are great and there is a huge amount of detail and a lot to paint. The command figures are £3 each, which I think is a great price, but then I have been buying Warhammer for a while!

Painted by Black Scorpion painters the figures certainly look the part, as you can see from their Mad Jim Jones, but I like to reserve judgement until I see the figures in the ‘metal’ and these didn’t disappoint. It’s a little concerning to make the first couple of purchases from a manufacturer you have never used before, as its really tough to tell if the actual figures will match the samples posted on their site. I must say I have been really pleased with my ‘buys’so far.

I read a few comments on the Forum of Doom where people had somewhat frowned on the amount of wooden legs and eye patches on the figures. However, in my opinion, they exactly fit the sort of semi cartoony, semi bloodthirsty look I really like in pirate miniatures and its not over done. The character minis are particularly strong and very distinctive. Its hard to make a pirate miniature without being cliched, but I think the sculptor has pulled that off. All in all these guys truly deserve a ship and some stuff trying to rip their arms off (but more of that later, as I said before).

The service from Black Scorpion is friendly and fast and I’d recommend it.

All the better to see you with...

Continuing a series of Red Riding Hood references...

I have been using a canon 530 Powershot camera for a while (and it is a worthy, compact, little shiny toy), I used it for my review of the Maurice Corry 120mm Korean War figure (See that review), but I have had a longing for a digital SLR.

However, they are very, very, very, expensive and so my wallet has been hiding under the bed, crying and clinging to the bedlegs lest I try and prize it out to pay for one.

So I had planned on acquiring a 'bridge camera', those that fall between standard digital cameras and a full blown SLR. But someone at work had a second hand EOS300D they are letting me have for less than the bridge camera. So I have taken the plunge. I won't get it until next week, but have been reading up on it and the macro lenses I would like for it. And using some old pound coins and a saucer of milk I have secured the wallet in order to fork out the cash.

I don't fool myself a decent camera makes a magically better photographer, any more than a series 7 brush makes a magically good painter, but good tools cannot hurt and, most importantly, its something new to be nerdy about.

Bonus!

Its not the newest EOS in the book and its not the full monty, but it will be a good start for me.

More information for those who love linkies cane be found on the Canon siteand more comments will be made about it when the little lovely arrives in chez Sprout.

While roaming around reading about things I cannot afford, I found this Digital Photography site, which offers great digital camera reviews, hints and tips and is highly recommended for anyone wanting a burst of photo nerdy goodness. Talking of site recommendations, I also found a blog a while ago while making a DIY £10 lightbox, all about lighting and taking great shots. Its called Strobist and I plan on following some of the lessons on it and recording my progress on this blog. There is something inspiring about playing with light. Its in a sense like painting miniatures..using a structure that already exists to give a leg up start to creating something of your own.

So..is that a zoom lens in your camera bag, or are you just pleased to see me?

Oh my..what a big pile of metal you have...

So I had said I wouldn't buy any more metal, but then I gave in (click to witness the doom enjoyed by my previous good intentions), so now I do have ..some more metal.

One of the rules for the Forum of Doom competition is the requirement to supply a picture of the uncleaned and unprepped miniatures to be used in the diorama, with some evidence that they were not all prettily painted and bunged together forty two years ago and kept in box, awaiting the day when a competition would match the contents. Hopefully this rule will prevent people entering miniatures they have been working steadily on since the earth was created.

I haven't had my Hasslefree order as yet (postal strikes, floods, act of the Gods, who knows), but thought I should make a start with some miniatures from Heresy and Black Scorpion. Some of these I ordered recently. Some have been waiting for an excuse to join the painting queue for a little while.

A more detailed look at the miniatures and links to the actual place one might shell cash out for them, will follow, as well as a few close ups ..some of these sculpts are well worth a closer look before I mess them up, er, wait, artistically enhance them, with my brush.

Before anyone wonders..no, I am not creating something the size of a house (a literal diorama of doom as the one tonne thing falls through the floor and heads towards Australia). All these probably won't get used for the comp, but I am working on the premise that one is better safe than sorry (later and in a similar vein I will be working on curiosity killed the cat, if she doesn't quit molesting my brushes).

So, for now, here's a photo of what is a REALLY big pile of metal, with date references on a particularly scruffily written piece of paper. Of course you cannot make out what some of the bags contain.

Ooh the mystery.

Ooooh the excitement.

Ah ..the lazy photographer.

Looking at the date note, I realise there is something to be said for computers and typing..at last people will be able to read my writing who have no formal qualifications in hieroglyphics.

Now that is progress.

The second law of the book of nerds...

States that modellers should display their desk setup and display where all the hard work, mini destruction and the wrecking of the fine work of renowned sculptors goes on.

And so...

A quick desk shot. Basic sort of setup and not very tidy, sadly enough.

A couple of desk lamps (from the Swedish purveyor of all things with names that sound as if the company is genuinely owned by that chef from the muppets). With daylight bulbs (not cheap, but they make quite a difference).

Apart from that we have a couple of things in progress, a pile of stuff yet to be completed (metal mountain part uno only) and home for all things paint like (kitchen space savers from Bettaware, turned upside down and a couple of rotating spinning things obtained for a pound from a car boot sale). A load of unopened Coat d'arms paint awaits at the back- such good deals at Salute this year that a stock up was required. The older paint is in the rotaries.

Paint wise I use acrylics, including Liquitex, Vallejo model and game colour, Games Workshop colours (some from ages ago, as well as the more modern foundation paints), Coat d'arms and some hobby paint which is great for scenery. I have a few bottles of Reaper paint and recently got some of the new P3 paints which are excellent. I undercoat in artists gesso or Halford's car primer, depending on what I am painting. I'll probably sum up the paints and their advantages and disadvantages, as I find them, in a later blog.

Nothing remarkable then in desk terms, but its good to have dedicated space.

One of the reasons the desk is not that tidy is out of all human control ....

Here she is pictured phoning the RSPCA, following our discussion on why small furry things of under 3 months old and my prized Windsor and Newton series 7 brushes shall never meet again.

Basic law of kitten ownership; they won't ever chew the brush you mix PVA and water with.

Quick look: 120mm Sergeant of the Gloucester Regiment, Korea 1951

As it is technically a law to bring Monty Python into everything at some stage (If nerds had a bible then this law would be in Genesis 1.1.1).. now for something completely different.

Something in 120mm actually.

Way back when I started painting I was a big fan of the 120mm figures produced by companies such as Fort Royal Review, The Roll Call and Imperial Gallery, all sadly long since departed (though a US Company called The Lost Battalion seems to have bought a lot of the sculpts, you can check them out at http://www.tlbminiatures.com/ ).

One of the sculptors for Roll Call was the very talented Maurice Corry and I was really pleased to see new work from him released and more pleased to buy a kit from him direct on Ebay uk.


As a bit of background to my purchase, I was reading Max Hastings's Korean War book again the other day. Max Hastings is a decent war historian and even though I found his Falklands material a little self aggrandising, his Korean War book is an excellent overview of the conflict.

I also had a Company Commander who was a Major in the Gloucesters when I was in UOTC, some moons ago, and so Imjin River and its battle were something I had heard quite a bit about. Additionally, for those who have served or are interested in British forces in general, the 'right' figures tend to be a little few and far between, so it is great to see a new one.

So all in all when I saw the Gloucester figure I thought..that's one for me!

Having received the kit I thought I would offer a quick overview of it in its unbuilt form and post some pictures of the resin parts 'in the flesh'. I have not cleaned the kit up or removed moulding plugs, the pieces are literally straight out of the bag.

The kit comes in a ziplock bag with a single A4 sheet of instructions that, usefully, includes a colour representation of the camouflage pattern common to SAS smocks of the time, though most modellers will seek out other references. There are also some notes on the general gear and equipment. There are no assembly instructions, but the figure is sufficiently straightforward not to need them. No straps for the weapon are provided but the kit notes indicate these should be easy to fabricate from thin card or paper.

A quick note on the figure's material. Most people buying figures in this scale will have some expertise working with resin. For anyone who doesn't, beware of resin dust when removing moulding plugs. I find the best way to clean up the parts is to take a saw to the major plugs and sand the rest away with wet and dry sand paper, being careful not to eliminate any details. Prior to assembly I usually wash the castings in soapy water and give them a bit of a scrub with a toothbrush, this eliminates any casting residue and indeed grease from handling the parts during cleaning up. Assembly is with superglue or two part epoxy, pinning the major joints with brass rod using a pin vice.


The 14 kit parts are very cleanly cast in a creamish resin that holds a good level of detail. The sculpture is really well done, well proportioned and the pose is excellent, with the Sergeant looking off into the distance, perhaps reflecting on a hard battle, either gone or to come. The face detail is particularly clean.

There is a well sculpted sandbag supplied for the Sergeant to rest his foot on (not pictured), any other base will have to be provided by / built by the modeller.





There are some small sub assemblies for the weapon (a nicely modelled SMG), with the pistol grip being cast into the figure's gloved hand. The webbing pouches, left boot and water bottle are also provided as separate castings.

There are locator holes for the pouches on the SAS smock, which should make assembly easy. The smock is also well detailed, with realistic cloth creases, something lesser sculptors tend to overdo.

The right and left legs are moulded separately but a quick test fit shows they should go together well with perhaps a modicum of filler. Again, a locator plug is provided to help the modeller get the pose 'just so'.

All in all this is a quality casting from a great sculptor. Its as good in the resin flesh as it looks in its advert.

I look forward to cleaning this one up, assembling it and getting some paint on it. Whether I can do the sculpt justice is another blog entry entirely!

Maurice Corry has some WW2 Germans and (very tempting)Falklands soldiers (both Argentinian and British) in his new range and people interested in buying the models can contact him at mcorry1ATaol.com or therollcall2ATyahoo.co.uk. A search for 120mm resin on Ebay uk will also show the kits he currently has for sale. Well worth a look for any fan of big scale figures (and quite a change if you have been squinting at 28mm models for a while!).

For anyone who wants to know a little more about the battle mentioned above, this is a fairly good basic starting point.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Imjin_River

Best laid plans of mice and modellers..

Well despite my good intentions not to add to my metal pile I ordered some stuff from Heresy, Hasslefree and Black Scorpion for the competition.

Second order with both Heresy and Black Scorpion (got a demon and some cowboys respectively on previous occasions, as well as some pro-create, more of that later) and they were lightning fast yet again with everything arriving this morning.

First order with Hasslefree and as I was paying by Paypal there was a little wait for an invoice (which is understandable), so their stuff is not here yet.

Also placed an order with Anteoniciti for various bits and pieces..really good scenic stuff.

Pics and summary and links (for those wishing to indulge) shortly.

For people who usually don't move outside the more recognised 28mm worlds of the major manufacturers like Games Workshop the small manufacturers will be a bit of a revelation..personal service, very nice quality castings and some really creative work. Always worth exploring.

And started work on the diorama idea and started looking for..pirate ships.

More of that later too.

From little acorns

Everything starts somewhere. And from little acorns big oaks grow.

Well so the saying goes, but thinking more modestly about it a little shrub or even something that makes it out of the ground will just about do.

There are so many blogs and some have lofty and noble purpose (and some are about porn, sex and death it seems), but this one is really to give me focus. If other people happen upon it or find anything useful in it, well that's a bonus (if we are going crazy with the acorn, growth metaphor, its a few roots added, but one can over do these things).

So..the purpose of this blog is to record progress on models I am making and projects underway. It won't cover my previous work, I'll link to that instead.

Model making..usually renowned as a weird act done by slightly nerdy people. Who are mostly men. Actually a fun way to express creativity. And includes (yes folks this is true)..girls! But I'll defend my hobby later I am sure..

I model in various scales, mostly because I don't game with any of the figures, I just like to paint them. And I am a sucker for a pretty sculpt.

One of the reasons I am blogging is to track progress on my entry for a rather cool competition being run on the forum of doom;

http://heresyminiatures.com/forumofdoom/index.php?topic=6258.0

to make a diorama using the figures from a few (if not all) of the participating companies. These are metal figures standing at an average 28mm tall.

Little acorns indeed.

I have a plan..its a grand plan. One always needs a grand plan..and if pesky kids don't get in my way and Sherlock Holmes doesn't foil the idea and there is not a conspiracy to flood my house before I finish or a gap in the space time continuum, I may achieve a little bit of it.

And on the way there will be research and other models and much distraction.

So..onwards. Upwards. And..all that good stuff.