Space Marine Drop Pod

Well, here it is. Done at last. I have to say that it turned out OK I guess but I am not really happy with it. I spent nearly 18 hours on the model and it really does not show. For that much effort this thing should look a lot better. Oh well, it will look good on the table and I plan to try it out later this week.

The second one has to be easier and quicker, right?

A Little Dry Spell

Well, it has been more than a month without an update and that is just not right. The problem is I have been having some trouble getting motivated for just about any hobby projects. I have been working on some stuff but nothing has really grabbed my interest lately. Not sure why just one of those things I guess.

The latest thing that I have been working on is the new Space Marine Drop Pod. I would love to show you some pictures but it is not done yet, even though I have put in nearly 12 hours building and painting the thing. I have at least 2 more hours left to go. Turns out this model is a true pain in the ass. It is by far the most fiddly model GW has ever put out. It is not that it has a lot of parts. It is just poorly designed - no real nice way to put it. To top it all off I have another one to build. Maybe I will do a step by step build post for the next one. I have learned a lot about how to build this beast so hopefully number 2 will be a little easier.

I have been thinking about other potential projects, something that might get me motivated. At the beginning of the year Tim and I talked about doing a large WWII tank battle in 28mm (1/48th). We put together some plans and ideas and set a goal of this summer sometime. The battle would be on an 8'x8' table with killer terrain and models. Well, we have both been busy with life and Tim has been busy with convention/tournament planning so we have really made no progress, and I feel no urge to get it going.

A friend has been working on a set of ACW rules for a while and last year I made a large investment in Sash and Saber 28mm ACW figures. I have also had my eye on the new Perry plastics and the new Crusader ACW figures. There is some really nice stuff out but, again, no spark to get this one going either.

How about WWI I ask myself. The Great War rules look pretty good even if they are basically 40K (my home-spun rules would have been a better choice). There are tons of excellent figures to cover almost all theaters and periods. There is a huge gap in the GWGW rules, however, and two of these gaps happen to be areas of interest - Eastern front or Mediterranean. Seems like now is just not the time to dive into this one.

WAB? Not likely. It has been months since I last played and years since I last cared. That is too bad as this was once my favorite game. Most of the local players have moved on. I do have a good start on a Kievan Rus army but who knows when I will ever finish it.

WHFB? I have made some progress in the last year on my Beasts of Chaos army. I have three core, a hero and some other stuff painted but I am still only about half way to a functional army. Seems like my local game group is not interested so this is really just a large painting project. Not something that will get me out of this funk.

Seems like the big project stuff just does not have any draw right now. I might need to go back to an approach I used a couple of years ago when I had a similar problem. Perhaps I just need to go digging through all my boxes of figures and just paint something that looks like it would be fun to paint. This can be a very inspirational exercise. No pressure. No bulk painting of a bunch of uniform figures. Just something that looks cool.

I'll let you know how it goes. Enough whinin' fer now!

Doors

I have been working some more on my drawing projects lately. Here is a perspective exercise drawing from the excellent Vanishing Point book by Jason Cheeseman-Meyer. Turns out that a drawing like this takes a lot of time. I have about 8 hours in this project. This is ink over pencil and then rendered with colored pencil.

Sorry for the crappy picture. This is an 11"x17" drawing and my scanner will not work with paper that big. This is a digital photo of the drawing.

Gulavhar, Terror of Arnor

Here is my Gulavhar, Terror of Arnor that I painted for the Gathering in the Desert LOTR Indy GT. There was a painting competition as well as the game tourney and this was one of my entries. I assembled and painted this fig just a few days before the event. In fact, I finished it late on the eve of the event. This cost me in the judging as my rushed work was sloppy.

The model is a pain to build and the metal wings are hard to mount. I am already going to have to reattach one.

Angmar Army Board

I have finished my display board for my Lord of the Ring Angmar army. I will be playing in the Gathering in the Desert independent Lord of the Rings Grand Tournament at the end of the month. My painting scores in the last couple of events I have attended have been very close to the top but I need a little something more if I will have a chance a best painted. A display board is a must.


Angmar is described as a broken and dieing land. It is not the total wasteland like Mordor but that is the direction it is going. With this in mind I wanted a rocky and barren board with only slight amounts of vegetation. Naturally the board would need to match the basing of the army so the color selection was easy - just use what I used for the figure bases.



A lot of army boards will have holes cut so that the figure bases sit flush with the board surface. This generally looks very nice BUT if you change the army you might not be able to reuse the board. I put too much work into this to risk having to junk it if the army changed. I elected to take the approach of building it like a piece of gaming terrain.

The base of the army board is a framed bulletin board from Walmart. It cost about $7. For most of the build I had the frame taped off because I wanted to preserve the fake wood finish. The hills are made of cork tiles with a very coarse texture - basically the stuff that people in the '70s put on the wall between the mirrors...you remember, the dark brown stuff. Anyway the stuff break apart easily to make very nice and large rocky formations. The rest is the usual rock, sand, gravel with some model railroad flocking.

For those who will be at the event look closely. This is the actual army I will be playing. This is the only hint you will get.

Samurai

Ha! I tricked you! This isn't a picture a painted miniature.

This is my first serious drawing. This is an ink over pencil drawing of a Samurai. I have always enjoyed drawing but I have not done anything serious for MANY years. Back at the beginning of December I started going through my daughter's art supplies (she was an avid artist who created lots drawings and paintings). Seeing the huge amount of stuff she had got me thinking about it all going to waste...then I starting thinkung about all the drawings she left. I could hear myself telling her that if she really enjoyed something she should just do it and worry about it. Inspiration hit and I decided to follow my own advice. For the last couple of months I have been drawing almost daily and going through various books I have aquired.

Don't worry, this new interset is not going to replace my miniatures...but I think that in time it will prove to be very helpful. I have already learned a lot about how to SEE things. From time to time I will be posting up one of my works, if I feel it is worthy.

Sherman IC Firefly

Here we have the Tamiya Sherman IC Firefly model in 1/48th scale. This is the third tank in my 1 Troop, A squadron, 4th County of London Yeomanry. This model was painted and weathered with the same colors and techniques as with the Cromwells, 1 and 2.

On this tank I did a little more chipped paint and added some rust streaks. I did not want to over do it. I think that many tank models really do too much of this sort of thing. If it is overdone then the tank looks like it is 50 years old rather than in service for 6 months.

Now I just need to get another Cromwell and the British figure set so that I can do the Platoon command tank.