Thursday, May 10, 2012
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Anyone else wish 40k didn't suck?
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
He's a big fan of Three Dog Night
Silver and green were colors unworthy to adorn the triumphant visage of not-Cobra Commander. So I whipped some paint on him. Still needs a bit of touching up and more work on the Cobra logo. My eyes were giving out, past my bed time, trying to use magnifiers, and watch Zulu at the same time. Give it another go tomorrow, hey what?
Chin chin, and carry on with your mud-pies.
Chin chin, and carry on with your mud-pies.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Vehicular Combat at KublaCon 2012
Join us at KublaCon in Burlingame, CA on May 25-28, 2012. I have scheduled to run the vehicular combat game of Axles & Alloys 2 on Sunday at 10:00am.
"Come focus your pent up road rage in our radioactive desert landscape. Axles & Alloys 2 is fast paced and easy to learn car combat miniatures game. Rules are a homebrew adaptation of Full Thrust, with cars rather than Spacecraft. Rules are quick to learn (fit on 1 page) and don’t take themselves too seriously, and are designed for jumping in and playing. Free for all battle and scenarios planned."
I will be bringing my custom modified hotwheels/matchbox car miniatures. I have some scenarios we can try or just royale rumble style. Join us at the Khan of Cons!
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Work in Prog-Rock
A few weeks back Spooktalker, celebrating my arrival on your planet, gave me a set of Grindhouse Games Dogface Combots from their tennative JUNK line of miniatures. The Dogfaces are currently out of production, but Spooktalker was able to get his hands on a previously owned set. The previous owner had severely neglected the poor 'bots. Shoddy assembly, lack of clean up, sub-standard primer, and improper handling had left them in a sad state.
So with a 2 week soak in Simple Green and a little tlc, they are starting to look like the crack team of metal militants they were made to be.
I made a few minor alterations to establish some character, for instance the CQB Combot with his auto-shotgun would be in the thick of the fighting and ought to have a few more scrapes, dents and blown circuits than the basic model. So I used round and leaf-blade needle files to add some realistic battle damage.
The set also included a boonie hat, designed to fit snugly over the 'Bot's camera eye. While test fitting, I found the slouch of the hat combined with the roundness of their domed heads to give a overly comical cartoon hobo appearance. Not the sort of thing that causes hardened Martian Commandos to quake in their grim, skull shaped gasmasks. Determined to rise to Spooktalker's challenge of, "I know you'll put this to good use," I thought of a picture of Carlos Hathcock wearing a boonie hat tipped back on his head. Probably protecting him from the harsh South East Asian sun while he rested after shooting yet another top NVA sniper straight down the scope into his no-good commie eye.
I also made a minor conversion to his left arm and hand, in order to give him a scouting "Hold, Contact" pose. An homage to several classic Perry Brothers Imperial Guard minis.
So with a 2 week soak in Simple Green and a little tlc, they are starting to look like the crack team of metal militants they were made to be.
I made a few minor alterations to establish some character, for instance the CQB Combot with his auto-shotgun would be in the thick of the fighting and ought to have a few more scrapes, dents and blown circuits than the basic model. So I used round and leaf-blade needle files to add some realistic battle damage.
The set also included a boonie hat, designed to fit snugly over the 'Bot's camera eye. While test fitting, I found the slouch of the hat combined with the roundness of their domed heads to give a overly comical cartoon hobo appearance. Not the sort of thing that causes hardened Martian Commandos to quake in their grim, skull shaped gasmasks. Determined to rise to Spooktalker's challenge of, "I know you'll put this to good use," I thought of a picture of Carlos Hathcock wearing a boonie hat tipped back on his head. Probably protecting him from the harsh South East Asian sun while he rested after shooting yet another top NVA sniper straight down the scope into his no-good commie eye.
I also made a minor conversion to his left arm and hand, in order to give him a scouting "Hold, Contact" pose. An homage to several classic Perry Brothers Imperial Guard minis.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Work in Progressssssssss.
Been working on a birthday gift for a friend, the very pulpy Kol. Zanzibar from East Riding Miniatures. He comes with a Not Cobra Commander alternate head, but what he real needs to take over the world is a good cape. How could he boogie to Three Dog Night without one? Besides, there is a technique for sculpting capes I've always wanted to try.
I had cleaned assembled and based the miniature before hand. I used Green Stuff, it has a predictable set time and is stiff enough to span gaps unsupported. After mixing I rolled it out as flat as I could, then put it in between to sheets of plastic. I used a sandwich bag. Then I pressed it between two hard cover books, standing on them in order to get it even flatter. I let the putty set for 20 minutes before removing it from the sandwich bag, then cut it into the size and shape I needed. The putty was stiff enough to hold its shape, yet still workable. Once stuck to the miniature, I used a rubber tipped shaper to smooth folds and curves, and a metal blade tool to create the smaller wrinkles at the top of the cape.
There were a few unwanted wrinkles from the sandwich bag as well as from the shaping. I plan on touching these up with some more putty. Here is the cape from the front:
I had cleaned assembled and based the miniature before hand. I used Green Stuff, it has a predictable set time and is stiff enough to span gaps unsupported. After mixing I rolled it out as flat as I could, then put it in between to sheets of plastic. I used a sandwich bag. Then I pressed it between two hard cover books, standing on them in order to get it even flatter. I let the putty set for 20 minutes before removing it from the sandwich bag, then cut it into the size and shape I needed. The putty was stiff enough to hold its shape, yet still workable. Once stuck to the miniature, I used a rubber tipped shaper to smooth folds and curves, and a metal blade tool to create the smaller wrinkles at the top of the cape.
There were a few unwanted wrinkles from the sandwich bag as well as from the shaping. I plan on touching these up with some more putty. Here is the cape from the front:
Saturday, February 4, 2012
BTW My Solo Project
At least a couple of you must have seen this already, but I realized I get up to Op-For HQ so infrequently these days (deep cover covert ops, etc, you know how it goes) the word has probably not got around. But for the past six months now I've been doing a blog called Belched for the Depths—check it out!
The low-down is, now that my new career is in full swing and I've shelved the commission painting gig I've finally got the time to throw myself into my own projects, and BftD is for those projects.
Don't worry, though, I'm not leaving the band and you can still find me around here on the Op-For blog. I know you were all panicking there for a sec. ;)
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