Inso's World

This week has been another busy one, with the added complication of having a poorly wife to look after. As a result, I have been doing all the chores on top of what I would usually doing so my time has been well used.

Luckily my wife has a really bad cough so I have really slept well this week... oh no... what I meant to say is that I have been listening to coughing all night so sleep has been a bit sparse too. That said, I must have had enough sleep because I have been able to work hard, get all my chores done and still have time for a small amount of hobby time.

First up, I have been continue to work on my Primaris marines and have got another five, roughly base-coated. I just need to tidy them up, before a wash and highlighting:

Hello again... and welcome to Inso's World.

It is a stunning Sunday afternoon in sunny Cornwall and I have just got back from the pub, after watching the England football team win a match (Yay! Go team!). Friday, we went out and watched a band  and Saturday we just pottered around; not doing very much... which is roughly how the rest of the week went too.

From a hobby perspective, I have also pottered along. First of all, I have finished sculpting the Plasma-Tank's commander and she has gone from this:

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

I've had a great week this week because my lad has been staying with us. He had some leave so I have had company for the week.

Non-hobby wise has been lots of going out, chatting, and just pottering around enjoying the daily company.

Sadly, he had to return to his unit today but not before he'd wished me a happy father's day... speaking of which, my lass has had dinner with us today as well so it has been a proper family day (in one way or another) and I was well gifted for Father's Day.

Hobby wise, things have been a little slow but I have managed to finish the second Plasma-Tank... currently, this is where the tank company is at:

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

This week has more or less revolved around chores, shaking off this bloody virus and continuing the tank company.

This is a short, sharp blog post revolving around the assembling and painting of tanks.

To start with, I got hold of some hair ties and some highlighter pens and made some plasma-cannons by cutting a segment from the side of the pen lids and gluing segments of hair ties in to them:

Hello and welcome to a rather tardy Inso's World.

Not to put too fine a point on it, I have had a nagging virus that has kicked the arse out of any motivation that I may have had... so I have been doing rather a lot of not very much at all.

That said... I have done a few things over the last couple of weeks.

The house painting (external) is now finished apart from a nasty mark where the boiler vented down my newly painted wall. I have since added a hose to take the draining, dirty water away from my nice white walls and will dab a bit of paint on at a later date to cover the mess. The tree stumps are more or less gone from the garden, thanks to a friend who turned up with a trusty chainsaw. I also managed to empty the shed a bit, by sorting out some recycling of old electronics/metals and wood and getting it to the recycling center.

Since the last blog update, I have also been out and about with my wife to see numerous local bands and we also went up to Chard in Somerset to attend an '80s/'90s School Disco/Reunion this weekend just gone and stayed at a lovely little hotel overnight before returning home. The disco was a charity event, arranged by a friend of mine and was brilliant. We both had an immense time... I even met up with a couple of people I hadn't seen for over 25 years!

On a hobby note, I have ordered some alternative decals from EBay because I have lost hope in getting the ones I previously ordered. I have sculpted the tank commander in the third tank:

Before I start, I would like to welcome zorro the Inso's World. I hope you find lots of things to keep you occupied during your stay and feel free to share comments if there is anything that particularly interests you.

I guess Autumn is properly here. It has been dreary, with a capital D, all week. It didn't help that I have pulled a muscle in my back which meant meds and a lack of mobility... but I didn't let it stop me going to a wine and cheese tasting evening this week (I am not a big wine fan and cheese doesn't agree with me... but we had a great evening anyway).

From the drearyness of the week to something really cool. I mentioned that Impact Miniatures were selling a Chibi Judge figure based on my Goblin Aid sculpt last week. Well Tom sent me a gift this week:

I knew I wouldn't be able to focus on the Squat project this week... especially when I have my Mechadrome mechs sitting so close. As a result, I have spent a lot of the week messing around with my mechs and... to be brutally honest... first impressions didn't last.

Don't get me wrong, the mech casts have suberbly sharp and crisp details but while I was cleaning up the resin components, I quickly realised that quality control at Gangfight Games could be a little better. This week, I have focussed on cleaning up the resin components and getting them washed ready for filling/assembly.



The light mech bodies aren't too bad apart from one or two being fractionally misaligned and the steps on the right side being in various states from perfect to missing... but not so bad that I couldn't fudge it enough to look OK (that means 24 little brass foot rails need to be made and fitted into 48 little drilled holes).

The medium mechs took a lot more work and to be frank, for the money I paid for them, the work was too much. However... they are cleaned and washed ready for filling. Here are the components for the medium mechs:

• The legs were slightly misaligned and took a lot of work to look OK.
• The torsos were slightly misaligned and took a lot of work to look OK.
• There are a good few airbubbles and blobs of excess resin that obscure details.
• The guns were so misaligned that I had to cut them down their length to realign them.

Today is Remembrance Sunday. It is a day when my family visit the local town of Wallingford to attend the ceremony of Remembrance. Every year (when I am in the country) we do the same and every year, the square is filled with people who are also there to pay their respects and give humble thanks for the ultimate sacrifice of so many people so that we could live in relative peace and freedom today.

In 2007, I went to Iraq for a couple of weeks to carry out some maintenance on a helicopter there. When the plane landed, we discovered that three of our colleagues had just been killed when a rocket landed in their accomodation area. Today, I remembered them.

Here is a short poem I wrote for Remembrance day:

I know it's Saturday but this is just too good not to share.

My parcel from the Mechadrome Kickstarter from Gangfight Games has arrived... (Click on the pics for bigger images)...

Here is the box:


Here is the bag:


Here is the bag once removed from the box:


Here are all the mechs:


That is all I am showing off today because I am very hungover and daren't go any further with unpacking for fear of messing everything up. I hope that all of the bits are there but I will have to wait until later for a full inspection.

It's all rather exciting!

See you from my cloud!

Hello again. Another week has passed and it is time for another update.

This week has been one of a virus for a couple of days, some very quick (for me) running, some sculpting and a trip to London.

So... Monday and Tuesday, I got a bug that knocked me for six. I had no energy for anything but still dragged myself into work. Wednesday and Thursday, I felt much better so was able to go for a couple of runs. First a 3 miler (at 8min 20sec mile pace) and then a 4 miler (at 8min 28sec mile pace); both much quicker than the usual 9 minute mile pace I have been used to. It goes to show the importance of having a running partner.

Over the week I have been trying to finish the Squat Engineseer and have got to a point where I am happy that he is complete:

Welcome to Inso's World on a rather autumnal Sunday. Before I kick things off, I'd like to welcome our newest traveller, Bob Kinnear. Welcome Bob! I hope you enjoy your time here.

WOW! What a week.

I have had a few days at home and have done a few cool things this week. First off... I travelled over water on this very beast:

Just a quick update on the Mechadrome kickstarter... a new mech called Trion. He's a freelancer and is a 15mm mech:

I was wondering just how to go about chopping down the Votoms kits so I managed to find a nice full frontal picture on line so that I could chop it about. Here is what I came up with: