Welcome to this weeks Miniatures & Musings!
—000—
This weeks miniature is another Knuckleduster one from the faction pack of six that I recently acquired. The Knuckleduster website has this guy down as being called “Duvene”. A lot of the Knuckleduster figures are based on film characters and this one appears to be a take on Boss Spearman played by Robert Duvall in the movie Open Range. A great film by the way if you haven’t seen it and one I am now reminded to watch again. The only oddity of this figure is that it appears in the Bad Guys faction pack and Boss Spearman was a good guy.
—000—
Well It Made Me Laugh
—000—
Back To The Future?
My recently finished diorama, “Fools Gold”, went as well as it could have done and unusually I can’t recall a single glitch along the way. This last week though I have been trying a few base things out for some little diorama ideas that I have and for whatever reason I have abandoned every attempt. Modelling it seems to me can be a bit like golf. You play a few good holes and just when you think you have cracked it your game falls apart. Frustration sets in and from there the only way is down.
In truth this is not the first time I have experienced this unwelcome phenonom. In days gone by I would allow my frustration to get to me, my temper would rage and things would get broken to the point where whatever I was doing truly had to be adandoned. These days I am more mature. I stop before I break things!
In conclusion it is time for a time out by which I mean a return to simply painting figures and allowing my mind to forget all about base work for a while. It isn’t a mojo thing, the enthusiasm is there along with the ideas but the solutions and execution aren’t. Invariably a Back To The Future stance works, the mind relaxes, the fog clears and the solutions magically appear. Hopefully it will happen again.
—000—
Give Me Five
A couple of weeks back I posted my top five dinners and asked for meal idea so I could get She Who Must Be Obeyed to up her game and get off my back by continually asking what I would like to eat. It says a lot about this blog that I probably had more comments on food than figures! Perhaps I need to change hobbies?
Thanks to you guys I now have a much expanded dinner menu but now need to move on to puddings. By all means give me you ideas on them but let me say straight up healthy options probably wont make my list. Puddings even more than dinners are about over indulgence. My five in no particular order are:
- New York Cheesecake
- Ice Cream
- Chocolate melt in the middle pudding with custard and cream
- Pears with toffee sauce and cream
- Eton Mess
—000—
This week TIM has been listening to …
“I Predict A Riot” by the Kaiser chiefs. A great track with a title which may well come true at some point if the UK lockdown continues with no end in sight.
—000—
This week TIM has been watching …
“The Three Amigos” starring Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short. An old film with a great cast and one I had not seen in a long while. Shows its age but still very amusing in places – “Sew like the wind!”
—000—
Remember …
If you sit on the toilet at 11:59 and the clock strikes midnight it’s the same shit different day.
—000—
TIM
Great work, TIM – and good to see the return of your classic pin-stripes! 😀
LikeLiked by 4 people
Thanks mate.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Nice mini dude, classic stripes! I’d have to have a trifle in my top 5 desert-wise 😉
LikeLiked by 3 people
Cheers Alex and just at Trifle to the list. 🙂
LikeLiked by 3 people
Excellent work on the figure TIM, good to hear you haven’t lost your motivation, even though it’s not been working on the bases ( do hope the answer to the problem comes at a reasonable time, unlike mine 3 in the morning !)
5 puddings, most forms of cheesecake are good ( need to try more baked ones)
Apple crumble with custard or apple struddle with custard
Rice pudding ( like my gran made, sadly no longer with us )
Jam Roly Poly with custard
Lemon meringue pie
LikeLiked by 4 people
Haha, had to laugh at the 3 in the morning. Had my share of those. Solutions arrive at the oddest of times! Had me drooling over Rice Pudding and Lemon Meringue Pie!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Nice figure as always, and some super subtle stripes, when I need to plan or sort something out (figure wise or not) I tend to have a bath, I do most of my best thinking I a hot bath, sometimes I even have a wash too!
Now you’re talking, top five pud’s
Tiramisu
Bread and Butter Pudding
Apple Pie and custard
Trifle
New York Cheesecake
and anything with cream!
Though to be honest I haven’t met a pudding I didn’t like😁
Cheers Roger.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Haha, it’s the shower for me or when I walk the dog but alas for now I’m on a drought.
Funny how our taste buds change over the years. As a kid I did not like bread and butter pudding but now it’s one I do … with creak of course!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great figure- amazing work on the trousers too.
Cheers,
Pete.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks Pete, I’m getting to like stripes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Definitely a nice figure! 🙂 One of the nicest puds I ever had was in a pub in Wales – chocolate orange bread and butter pudding (and I am not a bread and butter pudding sort of person, but this was brilliant)!
LikeLiked by 4 people
I like the sound of that pud John, perhaps with a little drop of whisky. 😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
Haha, class! 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
This is another strong mini from Knuckleduster. You painted it well as always, mate. I hope you get unstuck with the diorama ideas too. The mental component of painting is underrated and I don’t think people talk about how hard it can be mentally or how best to handle that part of hobbying.
In terms of pudding, is that a catch-all for desserts that aren’t pie, cookies, or cake across the pond? I wouldn’t have thought some of the suggested desserts above fit in that category but I’m thinking it might be a cultural thing. Sometimes its hard to believe we’re a former colony with how different our cultures have become 🙂 With that said, I’m going to recommend something from the continent and it will once again push SWMBO’s skills. How about a nice crème brulee? 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes, pudding as you say is basically a catch all for everything you might eat after your dinner and Creme Brulee would fit the bill perfectly. 😊 Over here fruit pies would count but cookies and cakes generally wouldn’t unless the cake was a gateaux and then it might! Pancakes is something we would have for pudding too, not for breakfast. 😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
You had me up until the pancakes part! I mean some people eat pancakes at any time of the day here but I tend to believe they should be eaten at breakfast. If you want a pancake for dessert, eat a crepe! 🙂 Regardless, I see I’m going to have to visit the UK for some additional research on all of this 😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ok, ok…I finally figured out how you paint those impossible pin stripes. Sorry buddy, your secret is out!
What no one realizes, is that the “mini” is actually the size of a billboard, and you just zoom way out when taking the picture! Anyone else notice how the background of the “mini” is all dark and there is no other object included for size reference?!?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Damn, I’ve been sussed! 🤣
LikeLiked by 2 people
I haven’t seen the three amigos or open range for years. I just looked Duval up and he’s 90. A great actor. I loved him on Falling Down with Michael Douglas. I really like the sculpt mate and the paint work is very nice indeed. I was just gonna say go back to simply painting figures for a while but then you said it hehe. I think after my current diorama I’ll go back to adding minis to various armies I have but I do plan for another diorama soonish.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Figures is going to be the way forward for a while. I’ll carry on with the Wizard Tower of course but then I think my aim will be to try to push my boundaries on freehand. If nothing else it will slow me down which will help with storage issues!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Lovin’ those pinstripes mate, Duvene looks great (of course he does – when do your models turn out any other way?!). Been scratching my head over puddings for the last 24 hours and you’ve made me realise I don’t have such a sweet tooth as I used to, and I hardly ever eat pudding. I think I’d better do something about that! I spotted a chocolate muffin in the cupboard last night, cut it in half and put chocolate spread on it, then ate it with ice-cream (fat git that I am!) but that’s an exception rather than the rule. Was downright amazing though!
A mate of mine said to me the other day “Food has replaced sex in my life, and now I can’t even get into my own pants”.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’m feeling pretty confident with pinstripes now which is nice and have some plans to push the freehand boundaries with a few minis i have lined up. How they will work out we’ll have to see. I tend to find that the level of freehand is directly proportional to the amount of f’ing and blinding that you put into it. 😉 Must say that designer muffin sounds rather delish 😋 but I was expecting a few takes on deep fried Mars bars to be honest. Can’t help but feel with your passion for food and the possibility of a dog that your partner isn’t going to get a look in! 😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
A deep fried Mars bar?! Do I look like a tourist to you?! 😛 I have tried that (of course I have – don’t act like you wouldn’t!), it’s not as bad as you’d think but eat it more than once and you’ll end up the size of a house. Tried a deep fried jaffa cake once (just happened to be in the chippy when the chef was experimenting with deep frying things, I was the only person there brave/stupid enough to try his “recipes”). Again, not bad as a strictly once in a lifetime experience. Place near us used to do deep fried sprouts for Christmas, they said they were their most popular item although funnily enough I wasn’t feeling quite so enthusiastic about trying them out…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Actually I’d love to try a deep fried Mars Bar. Not sure about the Jaffa Cake option and although I don’t dislike Brussel Sprouts that is definitely a step to far. In fact that option alone is grounds for Scotland having its independence! 😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
Love the stripes, so well done. I’m not much of a dessert guy (and I echo Kuribo’s comments as I had no idea pudding was a catch all). Chocolate chip ice cream, bananas foster, chocolate pudding, pretzels (really), and chocolate chip cookies would round out my list. And kudos on a golf reference, though with a snowstorm coming in and temps below zero (Fahrenheit not Celsius or centigrade or whatever ) I try not to think of green grass I won’t see for months! Keep doing what you do, and we’ll all be fine eventually.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Cheers Mark. I’ll mark you down as a chocolate loving guy then shall I? 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Chocolate 🍫 lover indeed
LikeLiked by 1 person