A typically Autumnal week.

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

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

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

Click the Pic!

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

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

Click the pic!

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

Click the Pic!

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

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

Click the Pic!

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

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

Click the Pic!

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

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

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

Click the Pic!

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

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

It's the little things in life...

Welcome to this week's update and especially to Flo, the newest traveller to join our merry ranks. I hope you enjoy the trip and remember to share your thoughts.

So another week has gone by and it has been another week of sleepless nights but it hasn't all been bad.

I was presented with a certificate for 'Loyalty' and my nomination for last weeks special award evening... so at least I now have a momento of the event (which is nice). I have been making headway in the 'going away' administration so that has helped a bit. I've been very busy at work and have also managed to get a short run in as well... so it has been quite productive, even without too much sleep.

On the hobby side, I have finally given in to the dark side and ordered some of the little gun tractors from Anvil Industries. These are the ones I have gone for:

Click the Pic!

I have ordered a pack of five with howitzers and hopefully, they will stir me back into life with the Squat squads because these will need some firers/loaders to go with them. I plan on these being the heavy weapon in a weapon team in a similar way to the Imperial Guard weapon teams (except I will have the miniatures on separate bases).

In other hobby related news, the sculpting competition that finished in 2012 is nearing fruition... and my submission, Ther'ule, is in the winners pack. Here is a link to the Forum of Doom for more information:

FoD LINK

And here is the winners pack:

Click the Pic!

Ther'ule is the one to the left of 'WINNERS MOULD'. I am happy, as I have said before, that she is in metal now but also happy that she was a 'Hasslefree Choice' even if she wasn't an actual winner.

As a biproduct of the competition, I was given a voucher to spend at Hasslefree Miniatures and have gone for the five eight and Roddy... which will no doubt be making an appearance at some point on here.

The Unofficial Diorama of Doom 2014 is picking up pace now; with five entries so far. If you fancy a go at the competition, pop along and give it a go. Here is a link to the WIP topic:

WIP Topic

And here is a link to the rules (if you fancy giving it a go:

Rules Topic

It's only a bit of fun after all.

Finally... there has been a loss to the Squat community. The Engineseer that I started was 'all wrong' so I clipped him off the base and sent him to the funeral halls... OK... I put him in the bin... but I did start again and am happier with the bulk/pose/proportions now. I have also been tinkering a little bit with the hover bike and have started another hover type thing that may prove to be helpful to other factions, depending how things go. Here is a WIP shot of 'STUFF':

Click the Pic!

On the top left we have an Ainsty Castings buggy with a WIP hover skirt. To the right of that is the start of an intake turbine for the hover buggy. Next is the bike with added side pods (round-mover components from a VOTOMs kit) and finally, there is a padded out armature for the Engineseer. The buggy will be gitting three add-ons: a skirt, an intake pod and a propulsion pod. Each will be separate components. I hope that they will be cast up as well as the bike so I have more hover options... but we'll just have to see.

Well, I think that is about it for now. I hope you have a great week and I hope to see you here next week.

See you from the pinnacle of light!

Space Dwarfs, Robots and Award Dinners...

Welcome to Inso's World again. It has been another week of interesting developments so we will start at the top and work down.

As you know from last Sunday's post, I recently returned from a course that was to do with an upcoming deployment. Well... Monday, I found out that I wasn't going any more. I found out because of an e-mail which gave me information on stuff I needed to go somewhere different! After a few tense moments, it was confirmed that my sunny tour had swapped to a snowy one and that the course I had been on was now redundant. On the plus side, the course was for Quality Assurance and it is a good one for the CV... also, due to the change in destination, I get to do another off-road driving course (which is FINE BY ME!!!!).

Thursday, I was invited to a special award dinner as one of the guests. It was a very formal event with lots of high profile guests. The evening was free and was an oportunity for the bosses to thank us for the work we had done... so much wine, food and entertainment was had by all and to top it off... I was given Friday off to relax. I didn't win one of the awards but to be nominated was good enough for me. Unfortunately, Friday was a bit of a write off due to my excessive celebrating but it was worth it.

This week has seen the start of the Unofficial Diorama of Doom 2014 competition. It is an opportunity to show off your diorama building skills whilst using set ranges of miniatures. Here's a link for the rules so feel free to pop along and throw your hat into the ring:

RULES

GENERAL INFO

I am not sleeping again. It has been particularly bad over the last couple of days so I am getting a bit upset by stupid things... so as you may appreciate, I have steered away from the hobby a bit. That doesn't mean that I have been completely idle though. Here is a picture:

Click the Pic!

On the top row we have two finished servitors and a WIP Squat Engineseer. Below that we have three finished Squats. It may not be a lot... but it is still ticking along.

As for the Squat Engineseer... I tried to chop up spacemarines to convert one but couldn't find a way of getting the proportions right so I have bitten the bullet and will sculpt one. He is going to have a bionic leg, a power weapon, a ranged weapon and a servo arm. That is all I know at the moment and as he progresses, I will show of pics.

With Squats and my deployment in mind, I will have a perfect opportunity to get some sculpting done. I will be away for six months and, as long as I have a decent light source, I will be able to take my mind off being away from home with a little sculpting. What I plan to do is take the platoon of Squats that need their arms sculpting and sculpt on the arms. That way, when I return and have some time off (post deployment leave), I will be able to start painting them.

Of course... no plan survives contact with the enemy...

See you from the boat!

A continuing theme.

This week, I have not spent any time on the hobby at all. I have been enjoying life, socialising and drinking... which seems fair enough to me so this week I'd like to draw everyuones attention to the Forum of Doom's 'Unofficial Diorama of Doom 2014' competition.

Here is a link to the competition rules:

LINK

Basically, it is a yearly competition that encourages those who give it a go, to build a themed diorama using miniatures from one of the Forum of Doom companies. There is no prize, just bragging rights and the opportunity to show what you can come up with. Here are two which I built (not winners):

Click the Pix!

Over the last couple of years, there have been size restrictions but not this year! 

The competition is open to anyone who wants to have a go and there are two themes that you can chose to use:

It'll never fly

They mostly come at night... mostly

You can even choose to incorporate BOTH themes in the same diorama... and if you want you can enter more than one.

So please check out the very minimal rules, start collecting bits and bobs together ready for the event to start on September 24th and prepare your ideas.

See you from the observation post!

Tigers!

I know I sound like a bit of a stuck record but I have had another slow hobby week this week. I have put a bunch of plastic space Dwarfs into the Dettol and cleaned them off. I then separated them down into their components and quickly discovered that I have got enough heads/bodies/weapons for about 35 troops... but not enough arms. It isn't a problem because I'll just sculpt them on but it does add to the length of time it will take to put them all together... and it is something that will be on the back burner for now anyway.

I've been throwing bids on Ebay this week and failing in glorious fashion... so I don't have any news about that.

I am looking forward to the end of this Kickstarter project (Mechadrome):

Mechadrome Kickstarter Link!

I have pledged for a small gathering of these awesome little mechs and I hope that they are as awesome in hand as they appear on the site.

Speaking of mechs, Prodos Games has been updating a lot of their Warzone Resurrection miniatures and they have been doing a great job. The one that really caught my eye was the new version of the Bauhaus Vulkan... a proper stocky little chap:

Click the Pic!

I think that this will make an excellent addition to any Squat/Space Dwarf force... oh... and Warzone Bauhaus force (of course).

In other news, the Forum of Doom is having an Unofficial Diorama of Doom competition again this year. At the moment, the final poll is up to vote for a theme. If you want to pop along, have a look and vote it would be very cool of you. Here's the link:

UNDoD 2014 LINK!

You never know; you may be inspired enough to join in with your own offering.

From a personal hobby perspective, I managed to throw a basecoat on my Torge's Tigers dropship. It is still very WIP but, I think I have the patterns roughly in place:

Click the Pix!

So... tomorrow I am travelling down to Somerset for the funeral of my friend who recently passed away after her fight with cancer. It's not one I am looking forward to but I wouldn't miss it for the world...

See you from the pit!