Vinyl Sampling - Part two

As mentioned in Part One, following Suber's lead, I selected a few Star Wars Miniatures for conversion to use in 40k.

The first figures I would like to show off are two "gangster" types I created from the following figures:

I cut the alien heads off of both of them, and in both cases replaced the left hand with a GW knife hand.

I also added a sort of a "purse" to the larger figure, as he needed to have something to carry his undoubtedly stolen goods in, and a shoulder pad.

The shorter guy got a new head, a sort of ribbed collar or closed hood, as well as a redone chest plate.

As you can see, neither has been based, and that will happen sometime in the future, and will follow my now standard basing scheme.

More to come in Part Three with the two pilot figures, and in Part Four a special character.

Urban Debris

Suber showed off his finished multi-building block a while back, and in commenting on the painting and weathering (which is seriously good, go check it out), I suggested "you could make a mix of paper bits, sand, and some baking soda with glue, and just sort of smear it into the corners and edges."

Now, afterwards I got to thinking.  Was it fair to suggest that he do something to his lovely buildings without first hand knowledge of the results?  After all, I imagined that it would go well, but I had never done it myself.

So, the next day at lunch, I knocked together a little photo background using some super glue and various paper and card found in my office.  I then painted it, and like all projects of mine, it sat waiting for some free time to appear.

Here is the background without the added litter

When that time arrived, I printed out some collected posters and newspapers to mix with some sand, baking soda, paint, and glue to apply to the photo background, just as suggested to Suber.

As it turned out, I did need to repaint the litter concoction, which is why it took me so long to get this posted.  Adding a bit of paint, ink, and pastels on the top of the litter really helped, although I could have probably mixed those in the beginning to save time.

I think that it took about an hour worth of time to build and paint the photo-background (most of that agonizing over the graffiti), and about 10 minutes to do the litter.  I think it adds to the look of the piece though, but what do you think?

Pound Pounded

Well, in light of the surprising results of the referendum on Thursday, it is unsurprising to find that the Pound to USD exchange rate has collapsed. ($1.37 to the £ as of this writing [and a similar collapse against the Euro])

Here are some great British companies you should patronize in a show of solidarity (and to get some great deals on great figures)

Perry Miniatures Home of the fabulous Perry Brothers.

GZG Astounding 15mm scifi, as well as 6mm and space ships

Pendraken Miniatures 10mm

Hasslefree miniatures  fantastic 28mm figures

Brigade Models 6mm/space/15mm

I know that there are ton of smaller companies out there, so let me know in comments where you plan to shop.

Vinyl sampling - Part one

At the beginning of March 2016, Suber had a great post on his blog Old School Workshop about using Star Wars miniatures as bodies for Inquisitor 28/Rogue Trader/Necromunda conversions.  For those of you not in the know, Star Wars miniatures was a collectible miniatures game from Wizards of the Coast, which used a similar system to the Star Wars D20 system roll playing game, and allowed for quick, point based skirmished on a gridded board.  The "common" figures from the collectible packs were available cheaply on Ebay, and I ended up with a few figures.  Well, maybe more than a few...

Collection status as of ~2008

On ebay, the Star Wars figures were often sold in "x4" lots, where more than one of the common or uncommon figures were grouped together in lots, meaning that I ended up with quite a few duplicates, often far in excess of what I needed or wanted. The figures themselves are often well sculpted, if a bit thin in comparison to the rather "heroic" GW figures. After reviewing Suber's success with chopping and repainting the figures, I got out my miniatures and the bitz box, and set to work.

The first five, prior to sculpting and painting

Over the next couple days, I will be showing the results off, which I think went quite nicely.

Weekend Basics - flock and tufts

I had a three day weekend this weekend due to a work holiday, and managed to get a bit of time while the kids were asleep to finally flock and add tufts to these figures.

Monday I sprayed them with matte sealer, so we are inching so very close to completion.  On that happy day, I will post a review of the whole project, and also try and feature some of the various conversions present here. (Might be useful to someone, since, last I checked anyway, GW still sells these figures!)

White Dwarf Weekly to End

White Dwarf is now to change back to a monthly magazine after two and a half years as a weekly.

I remember being shocked that the magazine would change to a weekly format, and it took me a while to get used to that.  I did like the "clean" formatting, and the comparatively tight focus on a single product release of the week that the change engendered, but the consequential rise in price meant that I would pick and choose issues to buy, which ended my collection of the magazine.

The newly monthly magazine will start in September, will be 156 pages, and will incorporate the new Golden Daemon material as well. (current rumor is that Visions will change only slightly, but will remain)  If you subscribe before August, you can get an introductory price of £50/$80 (including the postage), which works out to only $6.67 per issue... not too bad for a magazine which has the potential that White Dwarf does, and substantially cheaper than its price when the monthly magazine ended (to say nothing of buying 52 weeklies).  No word on the cover price, or regular subscription price.

Things really seem different with GW late, with discount bundles (that contain things people actually want), boxed game releases, return of fan favorite sub factions (Genestealers, Harlequins, and Adeptus Mechanicus), FAQs, and now a return to a monthly format for White Dwarf.

Small preview

Small preview (although quite large if you click on the picture) of three projects. 

"Abdul Goldberg? I have a warrant for your arrest" 

Skull and Crown 10mm Wagon

About a month ago, I noticed a cool post on Skull and Crown about 10mm wagons created with a laser cutter on mat board for a game of Warmaster.  Further, he had some spare, which could be requested... naturally I sent an email to that effect posthaste. A couple of weeks later, two wagons came through the post, and after the usual delay in waiting for time without the kids about, I put one together.

Pretty effective I think, and very easy to assemble (aside from some small fit issues caused by me using all four walls without trimming).  I think this took me about 10 minutes, most of which was spent on the walls of the wagon.

Here is the horse as compared to two metal ones I had handy.

GW, SnC, Copplestone

Conclusion: great little piece, and should be useful for a wide range of armies.

Converted Spiders

Way back at the end of 2011, I was planning to run a D&D game using miniatures, and as one does, I collected a bunch of various monsters to terrorize the poor players with.  Spiders are a natural fit for this, and I bought a few of the spiders from the then current Warhammer box (Battle of Skull Pass), got out the sharp knife, and produced the following monsters on 50mm bases:

The last picture shows the range of motion possible if you cut the legs off after splitting them apart.  The only ones which are particularly hard to separate are the rear legs closest to the abdomen. Really the hardest part of this conversion is getting the spiders to stick to the bases... and apparently painting them, since this is how they have languished for four plus years. 

Return to Colony 87

The wondrous Axiom, of Magpie and Old Lead, has launched his second kickestarter aptly titled: Return to Colony 87.  The goal of this kickstarter is to produce a set of six old school styled science fiction figures, suitable for Rogue Trader, Inq28, or other similar scifi skirmish games.

Samples painted by "Asslessman"

If you are into the whole Oldhammer/Rogue Trader/Inq28 scene, you have probably seen the prior kickstarers figures, so here is your chance to get this next set (or indeed the first set).

And with the Pound at such a low lately, this is an excellent time to get in for overseas buyers as well.