Monday 31 August 2009

Go on then...I couldn't resist!

I thought about it and decided to post some progress pix of the Ogarix. Please bear in mind that the arms are not fixed in position yet and they are still VERY WIP. As the pic states, the copper hand will hold a weapon so I haven't added any 'flesh' yet. You can see that the cap has been shaped a bit better and sanded down...still a way to go yet though:

Click the Pic!

Now on to what everyone REALLY wants to see; the Grymn Powered Armour. I have glued the legs in place so that I can get an idea of the required height but I will be completely changing them...they are much too spindly for the bulk of the suit. I have also trimmed away a bit of the codpiece so that it didn't look like he had a 'horse under there' with an unnatural, wide legged stance. The shoulders are just popped on loose. Tomlinz is for scale:

Click the Pic!

As you can see from the pic, the suit is MUCH more bulky than the original Torsten suit and really exudes POWER.

I'm not saying anything more about the powered armour...I'll let you all study it and make up your own minds...rest assured, I have some major plans for it!

I will not be showing any pix of the Grymn Walker until I have decided what to do with it...and that may take some time. For the two Grymn trooper blanks, just check out the workbench page on the Hasslefree Miniatures site.

See you on the flip side!

Sunday 30 August 2009

Is it Sunday?...

I did something different today. I took my family down to Somerset and visited my Dad and Step-Mum. I also took them over to Lyme Regis but it was so packed with tourists that I couldn't find a place to park so we traveled through the fog and went to Seaton instead. It was great to see my Dad and Step Mum again (haven't seen them since February) and it was great to see the sea as well. It is funny how a trip to the beach with children is a bit like taking dogs out for a walk, you let them off the lead and they run about like lunatics!

Anyway, that explains why I haven't posted anything today...

On another subject, I have sanded down the Ogarix's cap and am ready to get to work on his arms properly now. I have also started to assemble the Enuks and Baruks that I recently had delivered...so Grymn the cavalry unit is in the making.

I may be doing a small commission for a member of the Forum of Doom soon, a conversion of a zombie hunter...once I have cofirmation, I'll be sure to show some pix.

I have decided how to convert the powered armour that Kev (from Hasslefree Miniatures) sent over. Whilst lying awake all night, I fixed a design in my head so now all that remains is to recreate the design in miniature form...that's the difficult bit! I just hope that Kev knows what he has let himself in for because it is not going to be what he may be expecting...

The War Walker, on the other hand, will be waiting for a while as I need to stare at it for some time to get some inspiration. I hate to say it but I may end up re-making the cabin/body completely...we'll see.

The two blanks will get done when they get done but I'm thinking that we need some real 'hero' miniatures for them...possibly a chariacture or two?

So Monday's pix will consist of an Ogarix update and possibly the start of the Powered armour wearing Grymn. If I get anywhere with the cavalry mounts, then they'll get pix too.

Is it Monday already?!

See you through the haze!

Thursday 27 August 2009

Thursday...STOP THE PRESS!

Today has been pretty cool (apart from the sunburn on my forehead, nose and neck).

Why?

I received a parcel.

It contained my order from Hasslefree Miniatures so I can now make 8 Grymn cavalry.

It contained a goody bag containing some magnetic bits and pieces, a bubble gum and some metal components for conversions (alien heads and a few cinematic effects).

It also contained, as a gift, some resin components.

I now have the main components for building a resin Grymn walker AND a powered armour trooper. Not only that, I have a pair of resin blanks for two Grymn in standard armour!

I am extremely happy about the gifts and I thank Kev and Sally white, at Hasslefree Miniatures for their generosity.

Now...what can I do with the bits and pieces...decisions, decisions...

On to other things, I also went to a families day today. There were lots of parked aircraft, flying displays, parachutists, classic cars, a fun fair and many other things to see. I went with my family and my in-laws and we had a very nice time. It was only when I got home that I realised I looked like a tomato...oh, I am going to get the mickey taken out of me tomorrow!

See you on the happy farm!

Wednesday 26 August 2009

Wednesday...welcomes!

I wasn't going to post again this week until I'd got a bit further with my Ogarix but I have had an influx of followers so I thought I'd better return the interest with a few hellos.

Welcomes are going to Grekwood, TJ, Anevilgiraffe and Skullcrafts who have all joined the blog since Sunday...I think that is the most followers I've gained in a week! Thank you all for joining and I hope you find something of interest in Inso's World.

What is going on with the Ogarix? Well, he has had his arms fleshed out a bit and his cap covered in Brown putty. I haven't started on the weapon yet and will seriously need to sand down the cap to get it nice and smooth (then I can cut holes in it :D ).

As well as working on the big guy, I have been doing a lot of thinking about the next character; the shaman. I have a completely set idea on how he will look and also I am convinced that he should be bigger than the Agarix but smaller than the Ogarix. He will be different to the look of the standard Mushroom Men so far. I'm not saying anything else about the design because I want to surprise you. Finally...I haven't started it yet so I have nothing to show off at the moment.

At the moment, I am really suffering with insomnia so I am not able to get on with some of the more fiddly elements of the hobby. That said, being really tired expands the mind so I have got a head full of new ideas! I am looking forward to receiving my parcel from Hasslefree Miniatures so that I can crack on with some Grymn cavalry...not start the sculpting yet but just get the Grymn trimmed and cleaned ready for the putty to go on (I think that there will need to be a lot of conversion work on these...so I am taking a pre-emptive deep breath).

That's it for now; my ramblings are over!

See you on the bright side!

Sunday 23 August 2009

Sunday again!

I have been busy again today and have steadily plodded along with the Ogarix. I have just finished sculpting what is pictured and the legs are still in the process of setting...so I won't be able to do much more today (without damaging what I have already done)...anyway, here he is:

Click the Pic!

Click the Pic!

What have I done? Well...I've altered the face a little (so that it fits in better with the little guys), added the gills under the cap (and if I NEVER have to do that again, it will be too soon!) and also built up the legs. Some of the leg anatomy is a little bit odd...but it's a giant walking mushroom...so I'm not really too worried about it.

Well...so far so good. I now have the cap, arms and weapon(s) to finish off and he'll be all ready for paint! I am hoping to have this finished (sculpt wise) by next weekend but it all depends on work and things like that.

I have plans for the weapon and the arms are going to be as long as the little guy's arms (but obviously to scale) so he'll be able to touch the ground without bending down...how else are you supposed to squash the humans?!

See you on the flip side!

Saturday 22 August 2009

Saturday spores...

Well, I guess it's the weekend again and time for another post...but before I go too far, I'd like to welcome another follower; Piotr Adamiak. Welcome to my blog Piotr!

So what's new? Well spurred on by my MUSHROOM MEN FROM OUTER SPACE!, I couldn't help turning my attention to a bit of heavy support.

The first thing I did was to twist up a bit of copper wire and cover it with some Milliput; building it up into a basic frame:

Click the Pic!

Next I put a few blobs of Green Stuff on the frame for the eyes, knees and toes so that they could set hard ready for a bit of putty to go over the top. Then I started building up the face and torso. What looks a bit like ears is where the arms will plug in.

Click the Pic!

As you can see from the pic, I have changed a few details so that it isn't a straight copy of one of the smaller ones (but BIGGER), namely the mouth and the bulkiness of the legs.

When the sculpt is finished, it will be completely green so you can see that I still have quite a long way to go. I hope to spend a bit of time on this one tomorrow so hopefully I should almost have the legs and body done...If I'm really lucky I may get the gills done too...

So...is it a hit or a miss?

See you on the flip side!

Wednesday 19 August 2009

Wednesday Update.

Well, it is Wednesday and that means that it is the last day of my holiday so I will be back to work tomorrow. I've had quite a nice break pottering about, going shopping and chilling out.

Before I start the post proper, I'd like to welcome the newest follower to my blog. Welcome Mikkel Nyboe! I hope you enjoy your visits!

On to the hobby...The MUSHROOM MEN FROM OUTER SPACE! have progressed a little. I have assembled and painted all eight of them and just have the bases to texture and paint. Here is a pic of their current state:

Click the Pic!

Here is a larger pic so that you can see their staring, uncaring eyes:

Click the Pic!

I am quite pleased with how they turned out, especially seeing as they didn't really take too much work (not when compared to some of the camouflaged Grymn).

Speaking of Grymn, I have completed the conversion work on the desert veteran platoon. I could go the whole hog and put buttons on all of the pouches but to be frank, I can't really be bothered. The first pic below, is a front and back view of the command squad:

Click the Pic!

Next up is a front and back view of the first squad:

Click the Pic!

Finally, we have a front and back view of the second squad:

Click the Pic!

Each squad contains a Sgt, missile launcher, comms specialist and grenade launcher. The command squad has a lieutenant, comms specialist, Medic, melta-gunner and standard trooper.

If there are any questions/comments feel free to ask away!

I suppose the next job will be sorting out the bases for the MUSHROOM MEN FROM OUTER SPACE! and assembling the desert veteran command HQ ready for converting. I can't say when I'll get around to it but hopefully, it will be quite soon.

See you on the flip side!

Sunday 16 August 2009

Sunday INVASION!

Look to the skies! The invasion has begun!...

...Well, not really but I had an itch that I needed to scratch after seeing some cool conversions over at The Miniatures Page. What I saw were some converted Agarix miniatures from Hasslefree Miniatures and I was so taken with them, I had to have a go myself. Well the order arrived and I used some Hasslefree railrifles (trimmed down a bit) and a lot of little brass pins to turn the Agarix into these...MUSHROOM MEN FROM OUTER SPACE!:

Click the Pic!

I think they may be called Stroganoffians! Here is a scale pic with one of the Grymn desert veterans:

Click the Pic!

Speaking of Grymn desert veterans, I have been pottering along with the conversions and have finished 15 so far, with 10 more in progress. Here is a pic of the platoon in progress:

Click the Pic!

As you can see, quite a lot of work has been done but there is still quite a lot to go.

Tomorrow, we have family visiting so I won't get as much time as I'd like to carry on with the sculpting but I'm sure I'll get something done. I still have 4 more MUSHROOM MEN FROM OUTER SPACE to put togethr so maybe they'll get some of the days effort spent on them.

Who knows?

See you on the wild side.

Thursday 13 August 2009

Thursday progress.

It has been another sunny day and we all visited Basingstoke today. I haven't been there for a good few years and the whole place has changed dramatically. It now has a very nice shopping centre with, amongst other things, a couple of model shops so I was very pleased (even though I didn't actually buy anything).

When I returned from my travels, I found that a parcel had arrived and in it were some minis from the Twilight creator; Mike Thorp. I have been sworn to secrecy over two of the minis but I can tell you that they are very, very nice... you may see a certain Enuk in the pic further down this post (I'm sure he won't mind me showing that one off...well, I hope not!)...

...while we're on the subject of the pic, it shows the first work for ages on my desert veterans:

Click the Pic!

I have started to bulk up the existing troops with extra water bottles and pouches. Most of them already had their hats sculpted about a year ago but a few still needed them adding. The pic shows the first squad of a platoon. Five have had extra pouches and bottles added (they just need buttons) and five are awaiting the same treatment. I have a total of 40 of these to do.

You can also see a scale pic (at the bottom) of an Enuk next to the leader of the squad. I think it will make a really nice cavalry mount and I have a selection of armoured ones in the post ready to join this one when they arrive. I think that the riders will take a lot of converting...but I'm sure I'll think of something!

That's it for now!

See you on the other side.

Wednesday 12 August 2009

Holiday time!

I am on holiday. I went in to work on Monday and just couldn't face being there so I've put in a week and a bits leave. That means I have got a little bit of R&R time. So far we (as a family) have been to Reading and Oxford and have been out and about to various places. I've even been out and kicked a football around with my lad (which is a bloody miracle!).

I have also had a bit of internet time and have been hitting the E-shops hard!

As I have mentioned before, I have a bit of money set aside in the Hasslefree Miniatures shop (it was a Bonus Credit deal...buy £150 of credit for £100) so I have ordered a bunch of Twilight 'Enuks' and 'Baruks' along with a bunch of Grymn to make a squad of eight cavalry.

I've also been very lucky and have been in touch with the designer and sculptor of the Twilight miniatures. He is sending me some very special Twilight items that are not released yet. When they arrive and I have them assembled, I will post some pix. The REALLY special thing about the items that are being sent is that one of them is the miniature I have been most looking forward to seeing since I saw it partially completed at Salute a couple of years ago...I CAN'T WAIT!!!

On another Hasslefree front, they are having the yearly bonus event at the moment. Basically, there are all sorts of deals going on including 'buy stuff and get free miniatures', ' buy stuff and get free miniatures and a bonus bag' and 'buy stuff get free miniatures, a bonus bag AND raffle tickets for master castings from the whole year!'...it really is too good an opportunity to miss...

...so I bought a lot of stuff (not using credit but REAL MONEY) including more Grymn, some guns and some mushroom men!

Did I mention mushroom men? Well, I was browsing over at TMP and clicked onto a Golgo Island game thread and shown in some the pix of the game were some converted alien mushroom men. I took one look at them and saw justification for me buying some (I have been looking for a reason to buy some for ages...now I had one!). Now all I have to do is wait for them to turn up, add the guns that I bought to go with them and off we go!

Back to Grymn. As you can tell, I have been thinking Grymn a lot lately. They are my favourite miniatures at the moment and I feel that I have somewhat neglected them recently. As a result, I had my storage cases out last night and have been looking through the Desert Veterans to try to sort out what I was going to do with them. I totted everything up and I have a full platoon, a special weapon squad and a colonel to lead them. The order that I placed was for 4 troops to join the colonel in the HQ squad and ten troops to make up an armoured fist squad. That means that the little army will be as follows:

Command HQ (HQ Choice):
Colonel, Comms, Medic, 2x Melta.

Special Weapon Squad (Part of the Colonel's HQ Choice):
3xSMG, 3xSniper.

Infantry platoon (Troops Choice):
HQ: Lieutenant, Comms, Medic, SMG, Melta.
Squad1: Sgt, Comms, Grenade Launcher, Missile Launcher, 6xSMG.
Squad2: Sgt, Comms, Grenade Launcher, Missile Launcher, 6xSMG.

Armoured Fist squad (Troops Choice):
Sgt, Comms, Meltagun, Missile Launcher, 6xSMG.

All six of the above units will be mounted in Tiger APCs (they will count as Chimeras).

Doctrines will be: Mechanised, Carapace Armour, Special Weapon Squads and possibly Rough Riders at a later date...depending on how the cavalry experiment turns out.

Well...that's all the paper-plans, what about the work plans? Well, the Urban squad will continue being painted but they will be joined by a few desert veterans who will be getting a bit of Green Stuff work done. Most of the troops have had desert head-gear added but there will be extra pouches and stuff to add as well. I have NO PLANS to work on the Tiger APCs in any way at the moment. I need a decent sander and an airbrush before I even unpack the Tigers from their box.

PHEW! That is about it at the moment. I'm sure that there will be more to follow soon!

See you on the funny side!

Sunday 9 August 2009

Chilled out Sunday.

What a nice evening for posting on my blog. I have just got back from a couple of hours just sitting on the edge of a rural part of the Thames river, drinking coffee and chatting with my family. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a couple of beers but I was designated driver so just coffee for me.

That is one thing about being in England that is really good; I don't have to check a map or ask the security guys where I am allowed to go (like I had to in Northern Ireland), I can just go where I like. It gives you a real sense of freedom.

So...on with the pix. First up is a pic of a 1/35 scale Marshy Dog; complete with the pilot and a Grymn for scale:

Click the Pic!

Obviously it needs paint but I really only assembled it to get an idea of scale and how the pilot fits into it. I really don't know what I will do with it but I'm sure something will come up. I only bought the two 1/35 scale Votoms to make up a minimum order value...so they were just a bonus really.

The next pic is a WIP of the fourth fireteam for my Urban Assault Platoon. I have got the hard bit out of the way (TINY SQUARES!!!) and have started to paint the brown bits:

Click the Pic!

I still have quite a way to go on these but they are a bit of a milestone because I haven't painted actual Grymn for absolutely ages (mostly because of the camouflage being daunting). Hopefully I'll manage to finish these off and then I'll get back into the swing of things and paint the remaining eight for the platoon. We'll see.

Just to show what a chilled out evening we've been having, here is Moggy smiling for the camera:

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And Fred who really doesn't give a damn!:

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As you can see, the cats have settled into our new home!

See you on the flip side!


Saturday 8 August 2009

Saturday reminiscing

It is Saturday and rather than showing pix of new stuff I thought I'd dig out my first complete Grymn army instead. This is my standard, temperate DPM camouflaged army and it is the only Grymn army (so far) that I have finished.

It is based on the now replaced Imperial Guard codex from Games Workshop. It uses the Grenadiers, Carapace armour, Ogryn Squad, Stormtroopers Squad and Special Weapon Squad doctrines.

It consists of:

Command platoon with 2 special weapon squads and a heavy weapon squad.
1 infantry platoon with command squad, two infantry squads and a small remnant squad.
1 infantry platoon with command squad & two infantry squads.
1 grenadier squad
1 sentinel squadron (a single sentinel).
1 Ogryn squad.
2 stormtrooper squad.

First up is the whole army:

Click the pic!

Next up is the command platoon with the command HQ at the front, a special flamer squad, a special sniper squad and a heavt rocket launcher squad:

Click the Pic!

Next up is a squad of grenadiers (a troop choice that uses the stats for stormtroopers):

Click the Pic!

This pic shows the first infantry platoon. There is a command squad at the front with two squads (each with a melta-gun and mini-gun) behind and a small remnants squad of five troops at the back:

Click the Pic!

Another infantry platoon, this time the two squads have a grenade launcher and missile launcher:

Click the Pic!

Finally we have a few support units. There is a Sentinel at the back, a small OGrymn squad and two small squads of Storm-troopers at the front (the heavy weapons are counted as plasma guns):

Click the Pic!

Now I know that the photographs could be better but this is the first time I have had the whole army on the table at once and I am not used to taking wide angled pix of troops...I usually stick to a squad at most. One day, I'll actually learn to take decent pictures!

I'm sure there will be more pix soon so stay tuned!

Friday 7 August 2009

Friday and I'm connected!

Well, I'm back on-line at last. The engineers turned up and sorted out the connection in about 10 minutes. I just wish that BT had sent them around to sort it out 7 days ago...then I wouldn't be so narked at them.

This is a very short post just to let everyone know that photos will start very soon, now that I have internet in my own home.

I don't have much to show off at the moment but I have painted the black squares on the four Urban Grymn I started painting a few days ago...

Catch you on the flip side!

Thursday 6 August 2009

New Home Woes.

Wow...my 20th follower has come to join the fun! Welcome aboard Ajsalium!

Well, I warned you all that there would be less traffic for a few days due to the move...well, I am now living back in England so hopefully things should return to normal soon.

At the moment I have no web access at home due to BT being totally useless. After 8 days, they still haven't sent the right sort of engineer to our house to sort out the web connection...I am starting to get a little bit psychotic about it...

...luckily, I have nice in-laws who have allowed me a little time to browse the net so i thought I'd post an update.

What has been happening recently? Well, I have begun to unpack a few bits and pieces but have by no means got rid of all the boxes...I need more cupboard space!

I received a small parcel from Comet Miniatures with a pair of 1/35 scale Votoms kits and another 1/60 scale Scopedog diecast. I now have an assembled 'Marshydog' sat on one of my cupboards ready for whatever I decide to do with it.

I have unpacked all of my painting stuff and have painted the little blue squares on four more Grymn urban troopers and have suddenly realised why they have been sat in the cupboard for so long...LITTLE TINY SQUARES!!!

That is it really. Until I get web connested, I can't post pix and have not been able to do any shopping...so I have been pretty bored lately.

On the plus side, it is great to be back in England again so hopefully my mood will improve!

Catch you all when I get more web access!