400th Follower

Welcome to Benno de Groot, my 400th follower.

This little landmark almost slipped by unnoticed as I have been hovering around the 400th follower mark for some time. I will now have to look at something special for the 500th, something like the Flintloque Ogre that I converted for the 250th follower give away. See this post and this post for details.

A very big thank you to all of my followers, keep the comments coming.

Finally for this short post. I will be at Colours, Newbury this Sunday, I'll be wearing my Dampfpanzerwagon Polo Shirt, so if you see a grey haired, bespectacled oaf with a moustache in a grey Polo Shirt, that will be me. I'm planning on bringing the last of the books - Building Wargame Terrain by Tony Harwood with me to place on the Bring-and-Buy stall. There aren't that many left and a second print run is looking unlikely, so if you are interested, search them out on the B&B.

Tony

Hooked Hulk for Flash Gordon

The second of my Wednesday updates is a Hooked Hulk based for my 40mm Flash Gordon collection. Details of the first update - Kali for Typhon, can be found at this link.

The miniature is a metal casting from Reaper Miniatures, Dark Heaven Legends - The Hooked Hulk (03069 - CW08) and bought from Waylands Forge in Birmingham for £4.65. The figure is 50mm tall (head to toe) and 80mm wide (across the claws). It is mounted on to a 40mm round lipped plastic base and painted with various acrylics. The figure comes with two separate heads, I choose the insect one (with the 'beady eyes') over the large beaked option.

The painting was simple enough - some dark blue drybrushing over a black undercoat with Enchanted Blue highlights and Blood Red eyes. I think it works well as a Sci-Fi monster. The final image shows the finished creature alongside a 40mm Graven Images/Cliffhanger trooper from my 40mm Flash Gordon collection.

Tony

Carp Feeding and Veterinary Suit 1877

I recently came across this illustration from the acclaimed tome, The Secret Scrapbook of Professor A.J. Copperthwaite (The Lost Genius of English Architecture) Edited by Alan Robertson and Michael Taylor. The book gives details of a revolutionary plan to improve and re-model Caernarvon Castle, North Wales into a Carp Farm and Aquarium 1875-1877.

I was immediately struck by the possible use of a similar suit as an underwater or low atmosphere EVA suit in Victorian Science Fiction adventures.

For anyone interested in these lost records, I would suggest that they search their local records office for a copy of this book (google or e-bay).

The Secret Scrapbook of Professor A.J. Copperthwaite
Edited by Alan Robertson and Michael Taylor
Published by Grafton Books 1986
ISBN 0-586-07043-5

Tony

The Throwing War with Brian Blessed

I came across this fantastic short film while browsing The Lead Adventure this morning and thought it was well worth re-posting.

For full details go to this link, settle back with a cup of tea and enjoy a true legend enjoying himself.

Tony

Kali for Typhon

Over the last two, to three months I have found myself wanting to paint some of my un-loved figures, my Lead Mountain! The Building Wargame Terrain book has taken up much more of my time than I had expected, and Book Two is continuing to be a drain on my free time or leisure time. However in between modelling structures for the book I have also allowed myself the decadent pleasure of 'just painting a miniature'. Most (if not all) have been 40mm figures, either 40mm Ancient Greek for my long shelved 40mm Typhon project or my 40mm Flash Gordon figure collection.

Instead of trying to update my Blog with an On-Line Build for September, I intend featuring one model a week, one model that I have based and painted over the Summer. I will start with Kali. Kali is a plastic figure, part of the Monster in my Pocket collection that I picked up some years ago from Poundland (for one pound). I choose Kali after reading a thread on the Lead Adventure Forum, where a member was asking for suitable Kali figures for his own Ancient Greek adventure.

The figure is mounted on to a pre-decimal 1d coin with the base built up with Milliput. There are some areas where I have had to fill gaps (most notably, around the back of the shoulders), but the figure is pretty much stock.

Prior to painting, I have undercoated the whole figure with some slightly diluted uPVA glue before painting with acrylic paints. The colour scheme is as the original miniature with some added 'Kevin Dallimore style' highlighting on the snakes body. I have Matt Varnished the miniature with Galleria Matt Varnish before adding some static grass.

Photo Two - Shows the Kali figure alongside my 40mm Spartan Miniatures Greek Hero. Kali stands 65mm from base to top of swords.

Photo Three - Kali from the rear. It is obvious where I have had to use Milliput to fill-in the joints between the central pair of arms and the body. This Kali model is ideal for my 40mm collection, but possibly too tall for a 28mm/30mm collection.

Tony

Masons Court, Rother Street, Stratford upon Avon

These photos were taken last week when Sue and I visited Stratford upon Avon. The building has obvious Wealden House features, similar to the model master that I produced for Grand Manner, for details go to this link.

The building is situated on Rother Street, Stratford upon Avon and is named Masons Court, for anyone wanting to find it go to the Queen Victorian Monument and head West away from the market place. Masons Court is situated on the right and opposite The Shakespeare Hospice Bookshop.

Information found on the Internet states that this is reputed to be the oldest dwellings in the Stratford, built around 1450. It is obvious that over time the building has been rebuilt and modified, but there are a surprising number of original features that are worth checking out. The following photos show some of the details. For more details go to this link

Tony

COLOURS 2013, Newbury

It's that time of year again. The Newbury & Reading Wargames Society will be holding their annual wargame show COLOURS 2013 at Newbury Race Course on the weekend of Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th September 2013, for full details go to this link.

I have made plans to be there on Sunday 15th and will be helping out on the Grand Manner trade stand, so if you fancy meeting up - you know where I will be.

I missed Colours last year with work commitments and am looking forward to a full day at the show. I intend wearing my Dampfpanzerwagon poloshirt, so if you see a grey poloshirt with Dampfpanzerwagon emblazoned across the shoulders, make yourself known.

Tony