Welcome to this weeks Musings!
The Plymouth Model Show
Thank you to those of you who wished me well at the Plymouth Show. It went very well but since the weekend I have had very little time to call my own.
I intentionally left a gap in this weeks Musings to insert an update but I haven’t had a chance to get my thoughts together or sort through the photo’s I took. I will write a proper review for posting, hopefully that will be next week.
Reaper Miniatures
I suspect many of you will already be familiar with Reaper Miniatures, until quite recently I wasn’t. I did do a Chronoscope figure based on the Tom Selleck character Quigley from the film Quigley Down Under …
… but I didn’t check out their range in any detail at that time. In fact the figure was purchased on Ebay which probably explains why that happened.
My discovery came about when I was looking for a figure for a model idea that I had for the July challenge. Google images threw up some great looking figures which subsequently provided a link to a UK distributor for Reaper (Mighty Lancer Games). This in turn led to a tour of the site and an initial purchase of a couple of figures.
I was very impressed with the figures when they arrived and loved the finer detail of the sculptures. They offered a painting challenge that other figures often do not. I think the fact that the figures were fantasy based helped. Not being restricted to military uniforms or the dress code of a given period allowing a greater expression of creativity. The same can be said when it comes to painting them, freedom to use the entire paint pallet.
I’ve since trawled through the site again and purchased another half a dozen white metal figures from the Reaper Dark Heaven Legends range, not my usual fare I grant you but expect to see the end results appearing on this blog in the coming weeks and months.
“My Hero!”
Heroes, my heroes. I’m not sure what got me thinking about them but the subject popped into my mind and then decided to stay there for a while. Long enough for me to give the matter some considerable thought.
The first thing that struck me was that my heroes, the people and characters I admire for one reason or another, can be found in a multitude of places. For example, I have real life heroes from history, acting, music and sport and even fictional hero’s from Hollywood movies and literature including comics.
It then occurred to me that I could highlight some of these heroes in my weekly musings and even look to see which hero’s of mine could be turned into models. Some are certainly available as figures, others I suspect wont be. In any event it struck me as something that might be fun to do and, if others wish to participate, it would be nice to learn about other people’s heroes as well.
I’ll aim to do my first hero post in the next few week with others to follow as and when. In the meanwhile I’ll leave you to try to guess who’s top of my list!
How To Name an Alien
Prior to the Plymouth Model show I was thinking about names and titles for dioramas, a topic I shall visit again in a future post, when my mind went off on a tangent. For some reason I was reminded of something which did the rounds many years ago and that was “how to determine your alien name”. It then occurred to me that for anyone who likes to name their figures or armies that this might prove useful. Clearly it can be adapted in a variety of ways.
As best I can recall you take the first two or three letters of a Christian name, the make of a car and a prescription drug. So, for example, you could have something like “Dav Mazda from the planet Warfarin” or “Jo Royce from Candesartan”.
Endless possibilities of course and some will work far better than others but when lacking some inspiration perhaps this approach might help? In any event I thought I’d share it.
—000—
Until next time!
TIM
The Imperfect Modeller 
There as also one of those name things going around about porn star names too. It was your first pets name and your favourite car so I became Tipsy Mustang haha which sounds more like a girl but hey ho.
So when you come to paint a “hero” model I expect to see myself in miniature 😂😂😂
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He said hero not dero.
Do they even have deros in the UK?
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Not an expression I’ve heard of but I’m guessing it’s a term of endearment!
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It is, in the sense of giving him some stick. He shouldn’t be too offended, though since I’m pretty sure he’s not actually a dero!
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I haven’t heard the word Dero in years Grandad
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I think they’re called Ned’s in the UK
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I’m none the wiser but it could be a generation thing given my age!
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Kinda-sorta like a Bogan, or as you call them – a Chav. Only a bit worse. Dirtier and more feral. I’d say it’s also more offensive, since (some) people here take pride in being called Bogans.
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Ah, chav, got it now!
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Not an English term I ever heard used in the UK when I lived there ,but has been around Auss since I was a kid , derivative of derelict I would imagine ,could have come in from the USA ,maybe our USA mates can shed some light on this .
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I would have been happy with “Harry Ferrari”! As for a miniature, perhaps something alone these lines 🏄♂️?
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More along these lines: 🥁
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As usual, this is all too complicated for me! I don’t think I have heroes, or certainly never think of people in that light, which probably means I’m wired up wrong somewhere! Glad the model show went well!
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What, not even IRO? I guess hero can mean different things to different people, for me I suspect it refers more to people I admire for one reason or another. Hero’s just sounded better!
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Funnily enough, I’d thought about the blogs I read and the people behind them, everyday heroes really, bringing something into peoples’ lives, sometimes on a large scale, sometimes small, but always something! That probably sounds so corny! Maybe we’re all heroes to someone! Uh oh, I’ve started musing and burst my brain! Fell right into your trap there!
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Not corny at all in my opinion. Not all heroes have to be dragon slayer types that save the world. Mine certainly aren’t. In many instances they are just ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Got you thinking and musing though which is the point as far as I’m concerned! I’ll publish my first hero soon which will give you an insight to my thinking perhaps. Thanks for playing along.
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I gave up on heroes unless theyare dead- that way the idealised type is not spolit by meeting them and being disappointed in them….
Cheers,
Pete.
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I’m with you all the way Pete, no one on my list is living. To avoid disappointment they do say you shouldn’t meet your idols although I’ve no personal experience to support the claim. I did once fall for a girl who to look at was in every way my perfect 10. Sadly she had no personality.
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They say with women you have a choice: sexiness, brains, sanity, pick two…
🙂
Cheers,
Pete.
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Yea, I’ve met some idols, only to find out they were far from what I thought. I guess that happens with dead people too though, dirt might be uncovered later.
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It’s easy to forget that we are all human. Nobody is perfect but we can fall into the trap of thinking they are if we aren’t carefull. The more I think about it the more I think it’s about things you admire. You can admire someone’s skill for example but may dislike the person.
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Indeed, I was fairly young and naive when it happened.
I probably figured we would instantly be friends, haha! It quickly taught me a lesson that just because someone is famous, doesn’t mean they are necessary a great person. There are still quite a few admire for skills and traits, etc. When you get that blog post up, I’ll reveal my hero. 😉
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Well that will spur my hero post on! I also think this is why I’ve not asked Jennifer Aniston out on a date yet. I’m sure she would be fine with me but at the back of mind I just know there’s a flaw in her somewhere. She probably snores.
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That last line cobber is so true but only comes with maturity ,and by that I don’t mean age Dave ,it’s a point in life for all individuals ,I feel you got it a little earlier than I did ,but as the misses says, I have always been a slow learner ,but at least I learnt I say !
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Naming an alien. Soooooo, playing as kids and playing a lot of fantasy and SciFi role-playing games, we had to come up with a lot of names. Oddly, it seems most our friends had no clue. They would come up with characters named “John” (and their name would be John) to “Greedo” (a named character from Star Wars).
Some tricks to coming up with completely made up names: spell a word backwards. Look around the room at objects and make up something from that. “Phone” becomes Ephan, Phawn, Piphione, etc. I read once that George Lucas would ask his kids to make up the names for many of the Star Wars characters. My daughter is certainly good at cranking out her own gibberish, so I’m not surprised. Ah, which reminds me, she is bilingual….and taking words from other languages is another great inspiration for Alien sounding names!
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