Category: Miscellaneous

A figure and a post which I thought would be different but help with the festive mood.

First I though I’d start you off with Bruce Springsteen’s version of “Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town” and so you can sing along I have posted the lyrics below.

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Secondly, the figure.  This is one from Reaper which I bought last year, never got painted and almost forgot about it this year too.  As luck would have it I stumbled across the little chap while searching for something else and then of course had to stop everything to get him done in time.

Merry Christmas!  Ho Ho Ho!

TIM

It will not surprise you to know that “Gruff” is a 28mm Hasslefree figure.  Before too long I will have exhausted my supply of them and I will have to place another order. Some new releases should be out soon as well and that will provide the ideal time I think.  In the meanwhile I have plenty of other things to do but more on that in future posts.

The image on the back of “Gruff” is embossed so freehand opportunities for my imagination were limited.  I did however add a stripe and numbers to his shorts and a couple of letters (hardly detectable in the photo’s below) to the can he is holding.   Other than that it was a simple figure with no difficult areas to access so painting him was pretty quick and easy.  I kept the base simple, mainly out of laziness really.  Although I like the figure I wasn’t inspired beyond just painting it, partly I think because my imagination and ideas are now taking me all over the place right now.  Quite where that will lead though remains to be seen.

TIM

This weeks Hasslefree miniature goes by the name of “Taylor”  As with numerous Hasslefree figures this is not the first time I have painted this one.  First time around she appeared in a little diorama called “Apocalypse: What The F**k Was That!”

On this occasion I decided to give Taylor her own stand alone spot and this is the end result.  Nothing overly exciting but I saw an opportunity for some different freehand and settled on some psychedelic pants!  In a post apocalyptic graffiti strewn world I figure she’d be well camouflaged and blend in nicely.  Painting each colour in random patterns was easy enough but outlining each one in black to make it stand out was a more lengthy process.

As with most things I am doing these days the figure was based on an MDF square base before being stuck to an oak cube for a display plinth.   In this case everything is 25mm square.

Images below.

TIM

Welcome to this weeks Miniatures & Musings!

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This weeks miniature is another knight double act and sees the end of my Footsore backlog of foot knights.  I have a couple of mounted ones in the pile to do but these are going to be neglected for a little while longer until I can muster up the right level of enthusiasm for them.  In all fairness I do love knights and bizarrely am now contemplating buying some more!  Footsore under their Barons War range have recently issued some new figures and I am tempted to buy and paint more.  Ideally I’d like to create a couple of small dioramas and if I can come up with the right ideas and right figures for them then I will take the plunge.  Not entirely sure why I lost the love for these ones but I suspect it has more to do with the number of ideas I have floating around right now.  Anyway, images below.  Next week something different but quite what I haven’t a clue right now.

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Well It Made Me Laugh

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The Wednesday Whinge

Now at the risk of upsetting someone this week (never my intention I can assure you) I thought I would touch on the subject of Gender Neutral. Truth be told I’m not sure I really understand it but it appears to have become a thing of late, a trend, a fad.  It’s fashionable.  Well so it seems to me.  Highlighted recently in the world of awards where it seems there has been a move from the two categories of Best Actor (Male) and Best Actress (Female) to the single category Best Actor (Gender Neutral).  I’m OK with that although I really don’t see the need for the two sexes to compete.  It strikes me that only one person can now have success instead of two.  Perhaps it’s to save the money on an award?  The thing is who are the minority driving this agenda, why are the masses taking note and where does this trend end?  Does the Worlds Strongest Man and Worlds Strongest Women become the Worlds Strongest Human and if it does how long then before someone moans because men keeping winning?  That’s not a sexist statement by the way just the reality that men are physically stronger than women and until man evolves further it will remain that way.

For me life is a simple affair.  If you have a willy you are male, if you don’t you are female.  If nature got it wrong and you want to swap genitalia then fine.  Only the individual knows best and it must be pretty tough being trapped in the wrong body.  For me the French have it right with their saying “Vive la difference”.  If someone wants to consider themselves Gender Neutral then fine, as long as they aren’t going out killing people then so be it.  I’m not sure I’ll ever get the hang of it so doubtless jail beckons for me in my dotage for the heinous crime of failing to be politically correct.  However, when Mr Potato Head has been rebranded Potato Head to avoid a backlash and comply with political correctness the world has truly gone bloody mad.

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Give Me Five

This week I decided to evaluate my top five obscure inventions.  Those little unsung things which we take for granted but play a significant part in our lives and which we couldn’t do without.  I’m not talking cars, planes, computers or anything like that, just the little things.  You’ll get the idea.  In no particular order:

1. The Battery
2. The Calendar
3. The Clock/Watch
4. The Mirror
5. The Tape Measure

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This week TIM has been listening to …

“Should I Stay or Should I Go” by the Clash.   A classic track and probably one of the best groups of their era and genre.

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This week TIM has been watching …

“Crash”.  This film came out in 2004 and even won three Oscars including best picture.  Quite how it managed that I will never know.  I can only assume everything else which came out that year was crap.  Some decent acting from a decent cast but I just didn’t get it.  Probably me.

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Remember …

Sometimes the first step to forgiveness is understanding the other person is a complete idiot.

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TIM

I have no idea if there will be Bounty Hunters in the Apocalypse but this Hasslefree figure gives off the vibe of being one I think.  Evolution being what it is I can imagine Zombies becoming organised with leaders popping up here and there.  This being the case human survivors would surely put a price on the heads of such zombies, but what would that price be?  Money would have little value, food maybe?  Karl just strikes me as someone who would do it just for the pleasure!

Karl Drax is another excellent 28mm Hasslefree sculpt and if it is based on anyone then I really haven’t a clue who it is.  If anyone has any ideas then please let me know.

As to the figure itself I liked the irony of giving him a freehand Peace T-Shirt.

TIM

“Lewis” is another Hasslefree figure which will come as no surprise to any of you given how much I love this range.  In my vision of an apocalyptic world I see Lewis as a Zombie beheader, I rather think the sizeable axe steered me in that direction!  Accordingly the base needed a Zombie head on it so there was nothing for it but another TIM conversion.  In this instance I took a sharp blade and cut the head from the body of a figure I had.  Feel free to follow me for more tips and in depth tutorials on figure conversion! 😂😂   

The figure itself conjured up an image for me of an apocolyptic IRO, albeit that the figure is a bit more butch.  So with that in mind I gave him a couple of arm tattoos and as a tribute to the fact that IRO is a gardener added some flowers to the base.

For the benefit of scale, and based on a comment Faust recently made, I have include an additional photo, something which I might do a little more often!

TIM