My next Steampunk offering. Another figure from Reaper which goes by the name of “Vermina” on account of the fact that she likes vermin and rats in particular. I really loved painting this figure. So much detail and no paint colour restrictions.
Managed to find some rather nice victorian style lamps on Ebay which befitted the period and provide a little more interest in the base. With hindsite I ought to have done a lighter colour on the base so that the rats at her feet stand out better although the photos do make it a little darker than it actually appears up close and personal. Something to revist at some point perhaps.
As luck would have it I managed to get a single figure done for this post. Nothing exciting just a straight forward Knuckleduster cowboy by the name of Rowdy Joe Lowe. I have a pile of Knuckleduster figures to work through so expect to see little else on the Mid Week Miniature post for a good few weeks. Unless I get bored that is!
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2020 – The Plan!
As mentioned in last weeks Miniatures & Musings, this week is mainly about my plans for 2020. Like all plans I very much doubt it will unfold as I would like to anticipate it will but with creativity at the centre of it all perhaps it’s to be expected.
So, moving on what can you dear reader expect to be confronted with at the dawn of this new decade? Well for starters, and as previously posted, I have acquired the urge to dable with Steampunk. Certainly to begin with I will be focused on figures only and in this respect Reaper and an Australian company, Twisted Miniatures, are coming up trumps. I really do fancy doing one or two little dioramas along the way as well and have a few ideas but nothing concrete. Much rests of finding the right figures to begin with.
I am keen to participate in one or two competions again this year with the first being my club annual event to be held at the end of this month. Retiring the models I submitted at Telford in November wiped me out so it will be very difficult to do well at the club this year as I haven’t had enough time to replace them. After the in-house Plymouth Club event it’s the club hosted show in June followed by Cornwall in September and Telford in November. For now time is on my side to produce a single figure under 54mm, a mounted figure under 54mm, a vignette of upto 6 figures, a fantasy figure under 54mm and two dioramas one of which will be a fantasy one. A tall order but at least I have some ideas of what I want to do.
Somewhere along the way I would like to expand upon the Apocalypse models I have done as these were fun to do and I will need to do a few cowboy figures along the way in order to keep my brother happy! On top of that there is the guilt pile, all the must have stuff I bought but which sits there looking at me as if to say “you bastard!”. I’ve promised my self I will make a concentrated effort to get a lot of the stuff done but then again I promised She Who Must Be Obeyed that I would cook once a week and that’s never going to happen either so we will have to wait and see.
Painting figures for sale on Ebay will continue. It has really helped me to practice my painting while at the same time completely self funding my hobby. It also keeps SWMBO of my back and that alone makes the whole thing worth the while.
Two things which have become apparent though. Firstly, given some of the models I want to do it isn’t going to be possible I think to turn out something new every week. That said I still want to keep the blog going so expect a few more “work in progress” posts. I’ll try to keep them as interesting as I can.
Secondly, I need to think about my WordPress memory and the need for archiving older posts. No need for immediate action but thinking about how to deal with it has given me an idea. It struck me that very few people who start to follow a blog look back on old posts, they simply start where they pitch in and move forward. With this in mind I’m thinking of a new weekly post called “Memory Monday”. I did toy with “Flashback Friday” and do prefer the name but thought posting Monday made for a more even distribution. Then again I could call it “Flashback Friday” but post on a Monday! In any event the idea is to re-post older articles and give them a second lease of life to a slightly wider audience before archiving them to a new site I am going to call “TIM Gone By”. However, this all needs to be thought through and once I have gotten my head around it I will let you know. Hopefully this coming Monday will see the first post. The trouble is neither one of my tech savvy kids are about when I bloody need one!
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Important Question
Does refusing to go to the gym count as resistance training? Asking for a friend.
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Well It Made Me Laugh …
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This week TIM has been listening to …
Erasure.
Thought I would work my way through my CD collection with the emphasis on playing stuff I haven’t listened to in years and forgot I had. Expect more blasts from the past!
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This week TIM has been watching …
“Secret in Their Eyes” a film I recorded over Christmas. Can’t say I knew anything much about it but it was watchable and had a twist at the end which I didn’t anticipate.
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Remember …
The human body is roughly made up of 60% water … you’re not fat you’re flooded!
This week, despite various forms of domestic chaos, I managed to get another of my Reaper Chronoscope steampunk figures done. This one goes by the name of Dr Charles Bennet, billed by Reaper as a Steampunk Hero.
I wasn’t entirely sure how to base him but decided to give my recently acquired Green Stuff World UV acrylic water effect a go. The result looks better in the flesh than in the photos and overall I was pleased with how the stuff worked. Using the UV torch the acrylic set in under a minute! A small piece of a plastic straw was used for the water pipe.
The figure itself was a straight forward paint job but looking at the photos the stubble I added to his face appears much darker. Not sure I am happy with that so will take a closer look at the figure again and if necessary tone it down a little.
The observant amongst you will notice that this week there is no new miniature! The reason for that is this week I am mainly concentrating on a review of the year that was 2019. Next weeks Minatures and Musings will concentrate on plans for 2020 so it’s likely that I wont have a miniature to share with you that week either. Devastated as I am sure you are by this news I have a feeling you will be able to cope!
What I do have to kick off with and so as not to leave you with no pictures whatsoever, are my favourite model posts of 2019. These are simply the models which, for one reason or another, gave me the most pleasure during the course of the year. In month order we have …
I thought I would begin my review by taking a brief look at my WordPress statistics now that 2019 has come to end. I don’t put to much store by these if I am being honest but as things stand my “Views” are down on last year despite the number of “Visitors” and “Likes” having increased and my “Comments” have taken a dip as well. So what can be determined from this data? Fucked if I know. Make of it what you will. In the meanwhile I will continue to envy the number of followers and views many of you get.
What has been encouraging is that my number of “Followers”, including those that follow by email, has increased to 99. For a couple of days it stood at 100 but then someone decided to stop following me (hard to blame them) and I fell back to 99. I have to say it’s nice having WordPress followers. Even though I know very little if anything about most of you the concept of following is a pleasing one. By contrast when you follow someone going for a walk in the park who you don’t know that well either it’s called stalking and is deemed a criminal offence. It’s a complicated world to understand at times.
The one thing that does give me a buzz is seeing where in the world people have viewed my blog. As things currently stand my blog has been seen in 65 countries and in 6 of the 7 continents and this I do find amazing. Whilst I’m sure a great number of people have logged in by mistake it does excite me to think that something I can write in a house in a tiny little village in Devon can be viewed pretty much anywhere in the world.
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Modelling Matters.
The Plymouth Modelling Club continued to be enjoyable throughout 2019. It can at times be a little frustrating due to most members being fixated on all things World War 2 but I guess that’s just the way it is. To be fair to the guys (notice I said guys, for some reason the club has been unable to attract any hot women but I am hopeful this will change in 2020!) they produce some great stuff but try as I might most are reluctant to deviate from their comfort zone. That said some progress has been made and a couple of the guys have successfully branched out into other genres. Long may it continue. In fairness it is each to their own and I would never tell anyone what they should or should not do but for me variety is key along with trying out new things along the way, something I will aim to continue in 2020.
As part of the club I attended a few shows last year. More than the year before but not as many as I had hoped. Not all of the shows the club goes to have competitions but I do like participating in those when they have them. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea I know but personally I like the idea of bench marking my work even though I know some of the best modellers don’t chose to enter. Still, you can only compete against those that enter and my limited success has enabled me to consider myself a “modeller”, something I would never have deemed to call myself a year or two ago.
Sticking with the show theme last year provided two huge highlights. The first was in April when for the first time I went to “Salute” at the Excel Center in London. A fantastic show and an opportunity to buy some very nice bits and pieces. I also got to meet Alex of Leadbaloony blog fame and hopefully I will get to say “hi” this year too as I aim to go to the 2020 event in a few months time. The other highlight was attending “IPMS Scale Model World” at Telford in November. It is a fantastic event and my second only visit. Success in the competition was an obvious highlight given the standard of models on display and I am gearing myself up for this years event. Win or lose it will be another great event for sure.
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Figures and Dioramas
I had a couple of lost mojo moments during the year but nothing major and as a consequence I managed to get a lot of enjoyable stuff done. Models included figures for selling on Ebay and personal bits and bobs including pieces I hoped would go down well as competition entries. Needless to say some things turned out better than expected whilst others proved a disappointment. Sometimes, despite my best efforts, I just cannot translate the ideas in my head into the model I am trying to create.
Ebay remains hit and miss but continues to pay for all things relating to my hobby so I have no grounds for complaint. It’s fun and I still get a buzz for everyone I sell. Knowing someone likes what I have done and is willing to part with their hard earnt cash is very flattering and continues ro make me chuffed.
So there you have it, a brief review of TIM’s year that was 2019. Next week I will provide an insight to what I hope to achieve throughout 2020.
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Well It Made Me Laugh …
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This week TIM has been listening to …
David Bowie and “Suffragette City” from the Ziggy Stardust album.
Simply the best.
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This week TIM has been watching …
His dark Materials. An 8 part TVseries which was being shown before Christmas but which I have only just started watching. Two episodes in and very much enjoying it.
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Remember …
Never take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.
I thought I would kick start the New Year with my growing interest in a new genre for me – Victorian Steampunk. Now before anyone gets carried away, myself included, the emphasis is likely to be more on figures and small scenes rather than large dioramas featuring Jules Verne type machines. That may come at some point in the future but not before I get my head around the genre far more and not until I have completed lots of other bits and pieces (like others I am determined to try to clear my backlog!). In next weeks TIM’s Miniatures and Musings I will reflect upon 2019 and in the one after that I’ll do a little feature on my aims for 2020 and where Steampunk fits in. For now though back to this post.
This figure goes by the name of Benedict Baker, a victorian genteleman produced by Reaper under their Chronoscope range. The figure reminded me of the Paul Whitehouse charachter which featured in the Fast Show …
… and so I decided to buy him.
The figure looks to me like he wants to tell a story and I thought this seemed like a pretty good place to start a new genre.
The figure itself is a straight forward paint job but the base is entirely scratch built. As with the Paul Whitehouse chap I thought a fireside scene was appropriate so I made a fireplace using MDF, cardboard, a coffee stirrer and some twisted wire. The pot plant was made from Milliput and some fern moss dipped in PVA. I managed to find a small book to place on the mantlepiece and the small vase was made from the plastic protection pieces which come on the ends of paint brushes. Match sticks were used for logs. The wooden floor was made of coffee stirrers and the wallpaper and rug were prints from online images.
“HAPPY NEW YEAR” and welcome to my first Miniatures & Musings post of 2020! I hope you all had an enjoyable time but more on Christmas, the year that was 2019 and the year that will be 2020 later.
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TIM’s Mid Week Miniature
I got very little done over the festive period due partly to obvious distractions and partly because I lost my mojo for a short while. With family staying over, not feeling 100% and generally knackered I couldn’t be arsed to lift a brush. The good news is my mojo is now back but the bad news is I need to get my finger out if I am to have more to post in the weeks ahead.
My offering for this week is a figure I painted once before for a small vignette. This time I painted it as a stand alone. IT is a Hasslefree figure which goes by the name of “Katie”. She’s a tough little school girl with a lot of attitude.
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Christmas and New Year
Well both Christmas and the New Year have come and gone once again and now it is time to slip back into my familiar routine of mòdelling, blogging and, as befits my age, moaning! Quite simply I have reached the age where I like some sort of routine. Sad but true.
Christmas was fine but predictable. I knew what presents I was getting because I bought them myself. My family can be relied on to either not bother or buy complete shit so it is by far and away the best option. I’m sure I am not alone in adopting this approach. Annoyingly an expensive kit I ordered had a missing part which pissed me off to say the least and so now the back and forth emails begin to resolve the matter. I sense Milliput will end up providing the answer but I live in hope.
The festive television was crap as usual but a few old films I hadn’t seen in a long while and don’t have the DVD’s of were fun to watch once again. I suspect I will watch them again next year too! On a more positive note I did manage to achieve my long held ambition of getting all the letters to spell out FUCK on the Scrabble board. Unfortunatley this pissed off She Who Must Be Obeyed. I’m still not sure if this was because my mum and dad were playing as well or if it was becasue I scored 39 points thanks to a triple word score. In any event it remains my personal highlight.
New Years Eve proved most enjoyable. The new owners at the Blacksmiths Arms decided to hire a band for the evening so a dozen of us got together for a meal there first and then settled down to drinking the night away. The place was heaving and the band were excellent but the service was slow. Well that was the excuse I gave my daughter who waitresses there for why I didn’t give her a tip. When she leaves school and gets a real job she will encounter all kinds of people. I figure she should come to terms with miserable bastards like me sooner rather than later.
Finally, on the subject of Christmas presents can I remind all of you that I gave books to that they are due back at the library on the 13th January!
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The Year That Was and The Year That Will Be
It had been my intention to do a little summary of 2019 and a brief look ahead to 2020. Unfortunatley time or a lack of it got the better of me so next week and/or the week after I will reflect on both.
I can however report two pieces of good news as we enter the new decade.
Firstly, it was rumoured that dirty Derek our village flasher was going to retire at the end of the year. It turns out he has changed his mind and plans to stick it out for another year. Well done Derek.
Secondly, as we all know Christmas is an expensive time of the year for us all but as luck would have it I have a meeting with my bank manager tomorrow and if all goes well I will be out of debt. I’m so excited I can barely put my ski mask on. Wish me luck!
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This week TIM has been watching …
The Wedding Singer. One of the many old films to appear on TV over Christmas but one I hadn’t seen in a while. Dated in terms of fashion but a few laughs along the way together with a decent sound track.
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This week TIM has been listening to …
“White Wedding” by Billy Idol. Inspired by watching The Wedding Singer and his cameo appearance in the film.
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Remember …
Viagra wont make you James Bond but it will make you Roger Moore!
This is my last post for 2019 so here’s wishing you all a great Christmas and a Happy New Year and I hope you get the models you bought yourself!
For my Christmas figure I decided to go with this chap – “The Old Fiddler”.
The figure is a 54mm miniature produced by Andrea. It’s a figure I have had my eye on for a while and when I saw it several pounds cheaper at Telford I took the plunge and bought it. I’m not sure it is but in my own mind the figure felt seasonal.
Other than adding some fallen leaves to the base it is just a paint job. Even if I had wanted to do more it would have been difficult to see how to add or attempt to better the original composition. Images below.
This weeks figure is another Hasslefree miniature of a young lady who goes by the name of “Pulse”.
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No Interruptions!
One of the nice things about Christmas is it provides a certain amount of solitude which allows me to get some modelling done with fewer interruptions. I find that if I shout out “You can’t come in!” the wife and kids think I am wrapping Christmas presents.
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New Year New Job?
It’s early days but I am thinking about going back to work. For £100 an hour I will pose as a couples therapist and tell your spouse they are wrong about everything. If you think you could benefit from this service please contact me via this blog.
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The Perfect Gift?
I asked She Who Must Be Obeyed if she had any idea what she might like for Christmas. “Something Silk” she replied. Knowing my luck I’m sure to have gotten the wrong colour!
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This week TIM has been watching …
The sharp eyed amoungst you may have noticed that I have reversed the order between “watching” and “listening” this week. There is a reason for it.
This year Marks and Spencer produced a Christmas TV advert featuring the song “Jump Around” by the “House of Pain”. It’s a catchy tune and therefore a catchy advert and it has had me and my kids performing the moves. Badly in their case, expertly in mine!
I then pointed out to both of them that several years ago there was a TV advert using the same track involving Monks and church bells. If I ever put together my top ten adverts this would be one. Thanks to YouTube I was able to show them the advert.
The links to both are below. I will leave you to decide which one you prefer.
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This week TIM has been listening to …
“Jump Around” by the House of Pain.
Needless to say following on from the above it was appropriate to listen to the official version.
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As next Wednesday is Christmas Day this will be my last mid-week post for 2019 (I aim to put up a final post for the year on Saturday). Hopefully I will put a mid-week post up on New Years Day subject to how hung over I am from the night before. In the meanwhile have a Merry Christmas one and all and a Happy New Year.
Whilst it is true to say I have some French blood (a short story for another day) I cannot claim to speak the language with any level of ability. At a push I can read a menu, fill up the car with petrol, get by in a supermarket and order any number of beers up to ten. Accordingly any error in translation in the title of this post is down to Google translate.
This is the second model That I have managed to complete having been laying around for far too long. In this instance the French mechanic was painted the best part of a year ago and that is as far as I got. The original plan had been to make a bigger garage type scene with the British Despatch Rider who appeared in last weeks post but in the end the idea just fizzled out as my mind moved on. There it sat until I went through my bitz box and found the dog.
The facial expression on the dog seemed to say “What, me?” and from there it was just a case of how best to represent it. A trashed workshop came to mind and thereafter it was the simple matter of making it happen. The figure is another 1/35th scale Soverign 2000 figure, the dog I have no idea about as it was a purchase from years and years ago. Most of the accessories are from Tamiya with a fair bit of scratch building.
Apologies for the poor images below. At some point I might try and retake them and lose the shadows.
The second of my two Hasslefree miniatures from the same SiFi genre. Following on from Lt. Thoran we have “Cpt. Nee Sun”. Nothing much else to say other than photo’s below.
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Questions Best Left Unanswered
The other day while I was modelling away my daughter asked me out or the blue – “Dad did you ever date anyone before you met mum?”. Not having a clue where She Who must Be Obeyed might be lurking I took the unusually safe route for me and replied – “No sweet heart your mum was the only one for me” – and with that of she went.
I returned to my painting but was left considering my checkered past. There had been a few flirtatious episodes way back when and one in particular was quite serious until I decided to rumage through her knicker drawer while she was having a shower. To my surprise I found a nurses outfit, a French maids outfit and a police uniform. Needless to say I drew the same conclussion any man in my position would. If she can’t hold down a job then this relationship is going nowhere!
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Well It Made Me Laugh …
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This week TIM has been listening to …
The Pogues and “Fairytale Of New York”
With the lead up to Christmas I thought I would go with one of my favourite festive songs. Maybe next week I will go with another one.
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This week TIM has been watching …
“Last Christmas” starring Emilia Clarke who is perhaps best well known for her role in Game of Thrones.
I always enjoy a trip to the cinema and it made a change to go with the two women in my life. A nice little RomCom and one destined to be on the TV at Christmas for the next hundred years or so.
The Imperfect Modeller 