A Belated Merry Christmas! :)

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and that the new year is a good one for you.

Been busy here, but have managed to get some modelling done. First is a lick of paint on my Hasslefree Hustle. I feel like I have stalled somewhat on this, but can't quite put my finger on why. I am still pleased with the composition, but maybe its the similarity between the rusty metal and the orange coveralls that the Grymn are wearing... I have to decide whether the rust changes or the coveralls...

In the meantime (whilst I procrastinate, and possibly run out of time..!), I have started on what I hope to be my main Crystal Brush entry - a small vignette/duel between a Sedition Wars 'Strain' Revenant  (space zombie type thing) and one of the Studion McVey ltd edition resin girls, Sharro.

I have a few other pieces that I also want to get done, including another Barbarian, some new techniques I want to try (dayglow paints that I got for Christmas - thanks Toosh!), and a new camera (thanks Mum & Dad!) so I may post some new images of older models just to try it out... maybe a retrospective of what I have done in 2011. Although it will be quite short!

A quick update on last month's charity moustache growing - my team at work managed to raise just over £600 for some great causes! Thank you to all who were able to make a donation in these difficult times, it was most appreciated.

a WIP by Hasslefree Miniatures

I seem to have this 'thing' about Kev White sculpts, I just absolutely love what he does and there have been a couple of pieces over on the Forum of Doom recently which have really impressed me. One is a Powered Armoured human:

I think its difficult to top the quality of that sculpt even though Kev feels he needs to "sharpen some details". I'll buy this as soon as its released (and would be really happy if they released him in resin!)

The other is an ED209 style Grymn walker (Grymn are Hasslefree's space dwarves). This one is outrageous:

There is also a version with a detailed interior and pilot on its way:

One thing I'd love to see on this model is some kind of arm option for one (or both) of the shoulder mounts... but maybe that can be something for me to work on personally - it would certainly make it different!

I've got to stop fawning about HF minis... too damn good!

Hasslefree vignette

Well, I am pretty much there with the 'build' stage of the small Grymn Vignette now... hopefully will have it sprayed up tomorrow and start the painting. There have been a few 'cast' changes since the last photos, but I am pretty happy with the three I've ened up with. It was the guy on the left who kept changing...

Something up my sleeve... the Hasslefree Hustle

Something big going on over at Platoon Britannica at the moment. We have just launched the first in a themed set of competitions which we are calling the 'Best of British'. What we are hoping to do is spotlight a different independent British mini company over a series of competitions and events with the shameless yet selfless intent to encourage their support in this time of economic downturn.

Our official statement of intent can be found here!

The first event is called Hasslefree Hustle and as you can imagine, supports Hasslefree Miniatures. Full details can be found here. It is a painting competition with pretty simple rules - paint a model or group of models which fit on (up to) a 50mm x 50mm base and you can use models from other UK-based companies as long as Hasslefree pieces remain in the majority. Closing date: 15th January 2012

I have knocked up a quick concept of what I am hoping to enter into the 'staff' part of the comp - a group of Grymn pressing forward into no-man's-land... The intent will be to cram as much detail onto the small 40mm base as humanly possible... but it leaves me with some questions

1. Camo or coloured armour
2. Weapon glow or muted matte armaments
3. NMM or metallics

Gaaaaaah!

What are you going to do?

Vadim one last time

Actually, scrap that last post, I have fiddled a bit with him and tried to get some better photos.

Gave him a wolf's head tattoo and a crude but very subtle (less so in real life) wolf design on the metal scales on his back.

Vadim, Hasslefree Orc - Finito? (Nope!)

I think I'm at the end of another project, and had that strange feeling towards the end that I just wanted to get it done. Not entirely sure thats a positive thing, but there you go... I now have a completed Vadim, the Hasslefree Orc.

Part of me still feels he needs some tattoos or warpaint, but I cant decide on a theme or even where to put it... unless anyone has any great ideas, I think I will leave him as is!

Besides, is a model ever truly finished...?

Quick Orc update

Got a bit more done on the orc this week... he is getting close to completion now, but he needs some kind of fine detail. I am thinking of tattoos or warpaint, but I cant decide which!

On to the pics:

The WAMP Orc

As I mentioned in my previous post, I did some work on the Orc I am hoping to enter into the WAMP competition. He's looking a little rough atm, but he's getting there slowly...

I had a bit of a crisis once I started painting the metallics. His flesh was too light for the dark, worn metals I had gone for (a blackened steel and bronze) so I have tried to deepen the tone of the flesh, but keeping it fairly desaturated and not loose the brightness of the highlights.

Took a lot of faffing, but here are some pics:

Zenithal priming?

I dont know if this will come across so well in these photos, but here are pics of my orc after the zenithal priming.

You can just about see the transitions from grey to white where I have blasted white down from an angle

Straight on to the next project...

Well, I have been thinking about the model I want to do for the WAMP Hasslefree competition, and I have come to the conclusion that what I really want to do is something fantasy (after my recent sci-fi endeavour). With it being HF, you're pretty well spoilt for choice but I have had my eye on one of their earlier models for quite some time. It is Vadim the orc

He is now prepped, attached to the base and primed. I have gone for a 'zenithal priming' technique for the first time where I have primed grey and then primed white from about a 60 degree angle all round the model. This should give me a good idea for positioning of shadows and highlights but also allow the high spots to be naturally brighter as they have a white undercoat.

I am thinking 'real metallics', lots of leather and dark, oily metals... but only time will tell!

Interesting Competition over on WAMP

WAMP is one of those wonderful communities where something is ALWAYS going on, and this month its a painting competition sponsored by Hasslefree Miniatures. Its no secret that I love Kev White's stuff, and that I have probably painted more Hasslefree Miniatures over the last 5 years than any other mini company. This, combined with the fact I have been meaning to take part in one of the WAMP competitions for ages kinda makes this a 'must enter' moment.

Details of the WAMP competition

I think I know what I want to do, and I have the model already - something gothic-scifi. A 'Privateer' or 'Rogue Trader' if you will. Proper WIP pics to come!

Embarrassing photos, glorious moment

Well, Salute 2011 was a pretty amazing day for me, which resulted in me having to pop up on stage in front of everyone and receive some prizes. Unfortunately as embarassing as that is, its the photos that really make me cringe.

here goes....

Best Fantasy Award

Best in Show

I was pretty shocked...!

Maybe more importantly, here is a pic of my entry taken by the South London Warlords on the day:

Hasslefree Miniatures 'Wolf the Barbarian'

Stonking new Hasslefree greens...!

Well, I was just doing my usual browsing of "the forums" over lunch today and I saw a new thread on the Forum of Doom by Sally from Hasslefree with a couple of new greens. They were both VERY different, one 'modern' civilian and the other something always dear to my heart - a kick-ass barbarian.

I really love Kev's sculpts, and have done since I first discovered Hasslefree when they released their first Libby model and somehow he keep son going from strength to strength maintaining his own style whilst getting more and more detail onto his models. Just look at these two...