Some news, some is important, some middling and some trivial

Posted on January 19, 2023 by grumpyoldtin

This is the important one!

Some of you may know Heresy Miniatures?

Well he is in a spot of bother. His words about it.

“Hi! My name is Andy Foster, I’m a miniatures sculptor who has run a tiny indie wargames miniatures maker for the last 21 years. Unfortunately, this means I can’t afford to buy a home in the UK because our housing market is nuts, and the average starter home costs over 12 times what I make in a good year, so I am only able to rent.

And because the housing market IS so insane, rental property prices are also incredibly high, and I’ve just been told that the house we have lived in for the last 8 years is having its rent increased by the landlord from £800 a month to £1175, which I absolutely can’t afford to cover.

The problem is, because I am living hand to mouth, as a lot of indie miniatures manufacturers do, I don’t have the funds in my bank account to pay for a deposit on a new rental home, or the fees involved, which amount to around £1500 for a tiny 2 bed terraced house in the UK, so I must turn to you, dear friends and customers, to help me out. Any amount is gratefully received! Any extra may need to go towards a new bed, wardrobe, etc if the house ends up with a bedroom that is too small for our current one to fit in (and I suspect my existing wardrobes won’t survive another move, they’re decades old self assembly things that are already a bit fragile!)”

There is a Go Fund Me set up and it would be really nice if everyone reading this was able to donate a little something. Even a quid would be amazing.

https://gofund.me/811fdb7b

Now to something of middling importance.

I mentioned the “Not Nog Ball” medball Kickstarter a few days ago. There has been a new addition to the campaign.

We’ve just got permission to add the Noggin character pack to the Medball Kickstarter which is great news! It consists of 3 miniatures; Noggin as a referee, Nogbad as a fan (with separate rattle) and Knut waving his scarf.

And finally some trivial news.

Last summer we were looking after two kittens that were dumped on a friend’s farm and were going to get them re homed.

One of them decided that he adored me and decided to stay. I now have a constant companion wherever I am.

Hooray! The dragon is slain!

Posted on June 22, 2021 by grumpyoldtin

Some of my older readers may remember my prevarications over the last few years. Well no more! It is done.

This big old beastie was brought to you by Heresy Miniatures.

https://heresyminiatures.com/shop/

Everyone’s gone painting, painting 21!

Posted on April 26, 2021 by grumpyoldtin

I have just come to the realisation that I haven’t posted any painting pictures this year. Like last year I have joined the Painting Challenge on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/groups/461386338087891/?multi_permalinks=783926889167166%2C782822129277642%2C782821865944335%2C782776412615547%2C782319642661224&notif_id=1619204235340920&notif_t=group_activity&ref=notif

This year is an extra challenge, which I am trying in conjunction with the main challenge. The main challenge is to paint 52 miniatures over the year. The second challenge is to tackle 12 scary models or projects that have been intimidating and that have been put on a back burner.

I will start with the main challenge.

Weeks 1 – 12 Light artillery for my Earth Elemental Dragon Rampant Army.

Weeks 13 – 24 Ravening horde for my Earth Elemental Dragon Rampant Army.

Weeks 25, 43 and 44 Some Mousling Rangers from Duncan Louca

Week 26, very iffy photo of Ork Monowheel

Week 27 Colour test for my Iron Hive Army from The Makers Cult

Week 28 figure from Ramshackle Games part of my Greater Good Ecclestically

Week 29 figure from Ramshackle Games part of my Greater Good Ecclestically

Weeks 30 – 42 Helpers for my Greater Good Ecclestically

Now to the 12 scary things

This is the Goblin Chariot that Bob Olley produced for G’Dubs Iron Claw range

What has been holding me up, but I am plugging along with it, is the Heresy Dragon. I have pledged to myself that I will not paint anything else until it is finished. When I have finished it, which will be another week at current progress, I am going to kick back and relax with a couple of tanks that I have been itching to paint. Plus a couple of projects that are half finished.

What I did in my holidays

Posted on August 22, 2019 by grumpyoldtin

Every summer my Wife and the Boys drive down to Croatia for a holiday. Well somebody has to stay and tend to the chickens and cats. My chance to have a bit of time to myself and spread out and finish any projects that have been on hold for a while. I was a bit ill with a virus that made me very tired and demotivated so I didn’t do as much as I wanted.

Way back in 2011 I was approaching my redundancy at St. Martins and I used the time wisely. I made a whole load of these.

A plastic base, wire looped and glued into position, sand and PVA applied and primed in black. I didn’t do anything with them until now. This was the base build for some hedges. Following Mel’s videos on his YouTube channel I made a load of foam clump foliage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN16RxVNrvc Then following Luke’s videos on his YouTube channel I hade some flock. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsmD5774MOQhjYBkXqu3Jdw Using Luke’s videos I purchased some Tacky Glue, I must find somewhere here in Austria that stocks it because the postage was a killer. At my local DIY store I purchased some spray adhesive.

Stage One: paint base brown. Stage Two: drybrush base. Stage Three: apply Tacky Glue to wire and press on clump foliage. Stage Four: spray on adhesive and sprinkle with flock. I didn’t bother photographing these stages as you will get a better idea from the videos.

What I managed to do. There are some still to do but I had run out of clump foliage and the blender used for making it was awaiting a part from the UK.

Figure for scale, available from Heresy Miniatures

I must mention that Mel has been hard at work and recently had a Kickstarter to promote a book all about making wargaming terrain. If you missed it, or like me don’t have a form of money that Kickstarter recognises…. you can get on board herehttps://terrain-essentials.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

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Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago

Posted on March 16, 2018 by grumpyoldtin

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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First splash of paint

Posted on October 27, 2016 by grumpyoldtin

dragonhead Here is my first attempts at a colour scheme. I think I need to step away for a couple of days and re-assess it. The pale colour is a little bluer than it appears here.

There’s something in the air

Posted on October 20, 2016 by grumpyoldtin

Mostly paint particles.

I decided to strike while the iron was hot and try airbrushing the wings. The set up for airbrushing isn’t quite right yet, but a few small tweaks should get it there. More practice is required. Firstly getting the paint to the right consistancy and secondly getting the airflow/needle balance right.

And patience. Take time and build up the paint slowly otherwise it runs.

Most importantly wear a mask.

Winter is coming

Posted on October 20, 2016 by grumpyoldtin

The leaves on the trees are changing from green to orange. The mountains have had their first snow. Our winter wood has been delivered and safely stored.

And now I have primed the Dragon.
So far I have only used a single action airbrush. Now it’s time to up my game and break out the double-action airbrush for the wings.

Dragon glued

Posted on October 11, 2016 by grumpyoldtin

Finally after much prevarication the Dragon has been assembled. There is a tiny bit of filling to be done on the two wing fingers. After that time to start painting the beast.

Pinning for the fjords

Posted on August 25, 2016 by grumpyoldtin

I have been prevaricating around the bush about the Dragon. Mainly because I am nervous as it is the biggest model that I will have attempted. I do have bigger in the lead mountain, a Forgeworld Titan, but that model really does put the wind up me. Maybe next year?
I have been doing other things, work avoidance really, glueing together all the laser cut bits that that I have made for my scenery over the year and various DIY and painting jobs around the house.
The Wife and Kids have gone to Croatia for a week so I have the whole place to myself. This is good, the dining room table has been commandeered and all my loose ends from various corners have been spread out and collated. This has tidied up my work areas and reduced clutter.
The weather is far too good to be sat inside painting. So I am sat looking at the hazy mountains all blue in the distance and soaking up the sun. I have set some thermometers to tell me how hot it is. One is telling me it is 57 degrees. Another says 41.4 degrees, it also says it’s raining. And an older more traditional thermometer says 45 degrees. So it’s quite warm.

Luckily drilling holes for pinning is something that can be done outdoors. I am using paper-clips for the pinning because although the Dragon is resin it’s still pretty hefty and I’m not sure if my usual thin brass wire will be up to the job.
For some strange reason I’ve got it into my mind that this Dragon is Norwegian. But it won’t be blue.

Clear the decks! The dragon is coming!

Posted on August 11, 2016 by grumpyoldtin

I haven’t painted for four months.
There has been the Puppet’s War Robot sat on my desk half done for all this time and I think I have been using it as an excuse. So I have packed it away and cleaned the desk away of any other distractions.

Tidy desk

So the next project is the dragon.

Image copyright Heresy and is used totally without permission.

Here is the post I’d written before, for the benefit of my newer followers.
https://grumpyoldtin.wordpress.com/2015/05/21/jobs-a-good-un/
This project has also be an excuse to crack on with my workshop where I plan to airbrush and do some of the dirtier jobs.

Workbench

I’m going to have a permanent airbrush set-up as before I had been packing it away after every use which I found that it put me off using it.
Part of my equipment is a single action airbrush which was being used for primer and for varnishing. I wanted a double action but the expense put me off. I use Facebook, probably too much, and one of the groups I subscribe to is the “Artblock Social” for people who went to Camborne Tech in the 80’s. The good old days before computers when there was Letraset, Cow-Gum, Type Scales, Grant Projectors, Magic Markers and of course Airbrushes. Anyway, earlier this year was a chat about Type Scales, how totally useless they are these days and why do we still have them lurking in the bottom of our drawers. So this got me thinking, and I posted that if any of the Technical Illustrators had an old one kicking about I’d gladly take it off their hands. I got a message back from one of the guys that he used to be a demonstrator and had a spare airbrush in his garage. He sent it to me and I was half expecting something quite well worn, not that I wouldn’t be grateful. When I opened the parcel I had quite a surprise, a brand new boxed DeVilbiss Aerograph Sprite!
On to the Dragon. I’d met Andy Foster from Heresy earlier this year at Salute and I had promised that this year I would be painting it. It appears that most of the dragons are boxed up on a shelf somewhere.
The next question was what colour? Red? Or green? These are your two classic colour schemes which most painters seem to follow. I was undecided. That was until last week when I had a trip to the zoo with my Boys.
Then I came across this and had my mind made up.

This is a Caiman crocodile and I was very taken by the orange and grey markings.
I think another trip to the zoo may be in order.

Job’s a good ‘un

Posted on May 21, 2015 by grumpyoldtin

It’s arrived at last! And it’s huge! Flippin’ huge!
I am of course talking about the Heresy Dragon. I ordered it before Number Two Son was even thought of.
Andy, the creative genius behind Heresy, has had an absolute nightmare producing this. Originally he thought it would take a couple of months to produce. Since then…
http://heresyminiatures.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=260

Here is a scale shot with a 28mm figure just to give you an idea.
The pity is that now it has to go back into the box for a couple of months until my man-cave is set up in our new house.
Did I say, “New house”? Yes, I did. More on that to come.

Image copyright Heresy and is used totally without permission.

Now go to Heresy and buy something!
http://heresyminiatures.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=7&zenid=663b39432d06ba7ae00dc76821cede6a

Heresy Kickstarter

Posted on August 19, 2014 by grumpyoldtin

If you can’t beat them, join them!

I want to bring back the old classic monsters in resin as it’s so much nicer to have 3 or 4 large chunks of lovely smooth resin to assemble rather than a dozen chunks of hard to put together metal.

To raise the funds for this new project – which will be shipped post-Dragon, in February next year, so don’t panic, Dragon queue, you’re still being sorted out first! – I’ve turned to that Kickstarter that they have now and that everyone seems to love.

Here’s the link, it’s live and you can pledge RIGHT NOW.

The most exciting bit?

The NetherLord Mark 1, spined and winged versions, will be exclusively available as part of this Kickstarter campaign!

Yes, all those of you who have waited years and pestered me about it at every show and buy email, this is your chance, your one chance, to get that model you missed out on a few years back. Not only is it back, but it’s beautiful. None of the problems with assembly that the metal one had, and a lovely smooth surface to paint. Also you don’t need an arm like the Hulk to hold it up to paint! There are a few early bird special offers and one or two very limited reward levels on the campaign. Just go take a look and see what catches your interest.

I’m going to be constantly adding new Large Monsters and Minions and Fallen Ones and Merch and all sorts of wonderful, evil things over the next two weeks. The Kickstarter ends Wednesday the 3rd September.

Even if you don’t want to take part yourself, please tell your friends! This might be the chance to turn things around for Heresy (and if things go really well indeed, maybe even take some time off to concentrate on clearing the dragon queue or get some new staff to help out!). I have such sights to show you, but I need you to help me get them out there!

Go, go, go!

All the best, and good luck!

Andy Foster

Heresy Miniatures Ltd