Yet more prevaricating

Posted on November 4, 2016 by grumpyoldtin

Earlier this week we took a trip across the border (luckily nobody mentioned the war) to visit the Hans-Peter Porsche Traumwerk. A new toy museum in Bavaria.
Link here http://www.hanspeterporsche.com/

This was a really well laid out and beautifully curated museum, and as is typical of Porsche no expense was spared.

An unusual camouflage scheme which I imagine would be hard to do in real life

The lighting was a bit too subdued to take proper photographs which was a pity, but you have to also understand that they are also conserving the exhibits. Upstairs was a large collection of tin toys. This description does the displays somewhat of a disservice as the exhibits covered circuses, zoos, ships, a small amount of military, fire engines and of course trains. Lots of them.
There was a gallery looking down to the main attraction, a vast train layout.

Again this is an understatement. There were wall projections of clouds and a lighting sequence that cycled between day and night. Clouds passed over the mountains and an immersive ambient soundscape.

I’m not really a train person, but I wouldn’t mind tapping into that market, so the trains weren’t all that exciting. But the scenery was to die for.

Really well done, again it was attention to detail. You would look into the windows of a house and see that it was fully furnished.
Well worth a visit, but bring sandwiches as the restaurant was expensive (I’ve never had a meal that has been up to scratch in Germany) and the kids adventure playground was very well designed.

So how is the Dragon going I hear you ask.
Well…..
I am going to stick with the colour scheme, but I have been prevaricating. Again.
Continuing the Undead theme and the Bob Olley addiction.

So now I have a command group.

And this chap, sculpted by Justin Coutange from the Oldhammer community.

This was another entry to the Warhammer Salzburg “Spooky” painting contest. I finished him with a couple of days to spare, but I didn’t get into town to submit him.
Late news.
The figure that I did enter came second, so not too bad.

And finally this figure from Grimskull Miniatures. A bit T&A but I thought she would go nicely with my Raging Heroes Not DKK army.
So there you have it. Time to tidy the desk and knuckle down with the dragon.
Honest!

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March Workbench

Posted on March 2, 2015 by grumpyoldtin

Here are some, ahem, Forgeworld Deathriders which will be serving as Rough Riders in my Imperial Guard army.

Varnished, prepped and undercoated

Image

November’s workbench

Posted on November 1, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

This is what I have planned for this months workbench.
The main job is to finish a unit of Mantic Undead which will be used as Fir Bolg in my Albion Army.
Next up is to finish a unit of Home Guard for my Bolt Action Army. The figures are from Foundry and feature some well known characters.
I want to get a Penal Unit, top center, prepped and ready for painting. They are from Victoria Miniatures and they look very very good and I can’t wait to paint them. Maybe in the New Year? These are destined for my 40K Imperial Guard/Not DKK Army. Finally on the right are some Arcworlde figures, just for fun.

August progress

Posted on August 25, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

Here are some work in progress shots of my command vehicle used in my Not DKK Army. Vehicle by Ramshackle Games from the recent Kickstarter.

Undercoat and the start of weathering

Weathering finished and dozer blade.

Rubbing away the white paint. I used the Hairspray Technique for this. It is a bit disheartening to spend hours painting on weathering for it all to be painted over.

Masking for the blue paint

Blue paint applied

Cutting the masking for the black stripes. This camouflage scheme was inspired by the film, “Inception”.

The original design

Black stripes. I wasn’t as successful as I had hoped with the masking and had to do a fair amount of retouching.

Start of muddying up the dozer blade. I used weathering products from AK Interactive.

And the finished result

July’s workbench

Posted on August 2, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

This last month saw me more involved with the Boys so there was less time devoted to painting.
I managed to finish two squads of Ramshackle Games “Iron Brotherhood” troops from the Kickstarter campaign, but I didn’t manage the command vehicle.

These will complement my Anvil Industries “Tox Troopers” and the Raging Heroes “Toughest Girls of the Galaxy”, another Kickstarter I backed.
As you can see, a far amount of work to go before I even start on the camoflage.

Scribd

Posted on July 22, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

Am I the last person to the party with this resource?
http://www.scribd.com
I just spent an afternoon reading and adding to my “Library” all the books that I had thought of tracking down on eBay.
Warhammer Ancient Battles for forty quid? I don’t think so. Most of these titles I’d only look at once or twice a year so money (I don’t have anyway) saved.

July’s Workbench

Posted on July 7, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

This month I will mostly be painting two squads of Iron Brotherhood troops. I got these from the Ramshackle Games Kickstarter last year. I will be using them as zombie troops in my Not DKK Army alongside the miniatures from Anvil Industries (already painted) and the Iron Empire troops from the Raging Heroes Kickstarter. I plan to add some real DKK and the Leviathan from Dreamforge Games.

If there is time I will also paint the APC from Ramshackle.

ACHTUNG!

Posted on June 8, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

Just a little side project

Another basing interlude and thoughts on motivation

Posted on April 16, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

Just trying out a new product for basing. No More Nails. I have no idea what the German name is. I’m using this to glue the figure to the base and to fill in between the figure base and the base.

So far the result is fairly promising, the only thing that I need to work on is smoothing it out afterwards, it’s not as easy as the ready mixed plaster I have been using.

I really should be getting on with the projects that I said I would rather than getting distracted. I have just about finished the Albion heroes and the Albionican unit. They just need varnishing and photographing. The Reaper Necromancer Babe is underway. I will need to do some interweb research on what near naked skin looks like. Surely there will be sites I can study in great depth? Other distractions have been the Goblinaid Spacer Goblin sculpted by Mark Cragg. Prepping a unit of Napoleonic English and a Raging Heroes female kommisar.

Peter from D6 Painting and Gaming wrote a good article on his blog about what keeps him motivated to paint. At the moment I have been distracted by various models rather than committing to paint. I think that everybody has some form of reward system. Mine is if I paint a unit I can paint a hero/leader. I love painting individual figures and find painting units a chore.

There are two things I use to keep me on track. The first and probably the most important is to keep my Lead Mountain out of sight. Only one project on the workbench at a time. I love opening boxes and picturing the painted model in my mind, or discovering a model that I had forgotten that I had. It is also slightly discouraging seeing how much work there is ahead of me. At the moment all bar a couple of boxes are in storage in the lager. The second thing I use is a list. One item on the list a month. It helps me stay focused.

Next month is my Roman Army. I need to finish my Scorpions and a unit of Auxiliaries. Add metal highlights to all the other units. Photograph, catalogue and put on the website.

After that:

A unit of Napoleonic infantry

The reanimated DKK Troopers and command vehicle from Ramshackle Games

GW Squig Mangler

Unit of plastic Warlord Games Celts for my Albion Army

Three Ork jets from Puppets War which will be proxy Deth Kopters

Finish a unit of Faeries and a unit of Undead for my Albion Army

Finish my Bolt Action Home Guard and a unit of British Infantry

Ultraforge Tree Woman a proxy giant in my Albion Army

So if I stay on target, this will be the next nine months work. This doesn’t allow for any distractions like taking any commissioned work (no takers yet), any Kickstarter bits arriving or the bust of Kevin Adams which I am itching to get started on.