Mechanic revisited!

Hey guys,

after I've shown you the photos of my so called WWW2 mechanic, I've decided it needs improvement. I've thus slightly converted a miniature, I've sculpted gloves and the side cap.

I have also finally got around to watch the infamous World War Z after reading Vampifan's review. I was in no hurry with it as I kept hearing negative reviews, but my younger brother said the movie was great. Now, I am no film critic and I apparently got an odd taste as I don't really like the Walking dead series (I do watch them and I have to say it is getting better :P) and I have even quit watching Game of Thrones, which everyone loves so much. Now, I've watched it very open minded and I've came to following conclusions:

Film is good as any other they make these days. I suppose it's a lot like Prometheus or Avatar...a great idea that went wrong. Or something. There is one thing I loved, all those zombie hordes shots, just amazing. Really nice. And the rest was shit. Climbing walls of Jerusalem included. The whole film has no story at all, mr. Pitt just flies all over the world and everything is happening so fast nothing actually happens. They mention Cardiff, so that's a plus, I suppose. I have no idea what was the point with that israeli soldier gal. I've noticed the lack of blood Vampifan mentioned...that was really odd, it was all so clean. And by the way, gawd fast zombies make no sense. I loved 28 days later, but fast zombies are still not really my thing. Also, an ending is just...ah...
Anyways, I'd still say it's not THAT horrible if you watch it as a film about some infected someones (that can only be put down by a head shot) - zombies are fiction anyways (sorry Bryan!), so they are entitled to their own version..no matter how inconsistent they made them. I mean...there are tons of zombies climbing walls of Jerusalem, but the roofed road leading to the city is zombie free. But oh well...I was putting together my zombie vixens while watching, so I might have missed an important detail or two. I rate it better than that zombie movie with a tiger in it!

And that's it for today,

thanks for looking!

Meet another Blasphemous construct!

 Hey guys!

Got the third and last ramshackle miniature to show you today. Given I've painted him with the other two, I should post it days ago, but I somehow couldn't get myself to even type this. Needless to say, I am making huge hobby related plans, but I haven't picked a brush or putty in a while.  It really irritates me, as I have 3 half-painted miniatures on my desk and nothing bothers me more than a work half done, as I can't start something else until I'm done with that now!

Anyway, on to the miniature. It's by far my favorite of the three and I could say at least one of the top 5 of Ramshackle miniatures I've seen so far.

His helmet roughly resembles stahlhelm, so he was instantly recognized as a possible Nazi experimental übermensch - sporting a huge teutonic sword and even larger shield!

He has been coated in black, white and red for propaganda purposes and I'm pretty sure he inspires patriotism and horror in those who lay eyes on him...especially the latter!

 Not much to say beyond that, he has lots of details and different textures to paint and has that general "ramshackle" feel  of, well, Ramshackle games. He also has two exhausts on the back machinery, so I suppose he could also fit in with Victorian sci-fi - the colours I gave him would be all that more appropriate!

 Below, our typical hero pointing his light towards abomination's oddly round belly - I bet he has just came from the Octoberfest!

That's it for today, in the next posts, I will hopefully have my miniatures painted and I've also decided to customize mechanic from the last post a bit!

Thanks for looking,
Mathyoo

Meet the mechanic!

 Hey guys,

second of the Ramshackle games' resin miniatures I won (well, I did won them!) from Johnny at the Brains and Guts. This time a chick climbing a barrel. For some reason. With a wrench. Half naked - or so she was, because I've decided to give her a decent pair of pants.

When I saw her, I wanted to make a sort of a pin up girl / mechanic (she has a wrench after all) for mechas or whatever in WWW II setting...or something. I wanted to sculpt her a nice sidecap, but I've noticed she has goggles on her head and there was no way I could sculpt a head in a way to make it all make sense. I might mention I was apparently exaggerating again, because I forgot to paint said goggles! (still haven't fixed it, but I will, honestly!).

She is another miscast and has one single air bubble but was perfect otherwise. Perhaps a bit too muscular for my taste, but knowing how hard sculpting is, I've grown to admire every attempt where finished product at least resembles what it is supposed to resemble (not that this one is that bad, though!)

I've given her greenish-greyish-khaki colours, which I felt had the right "W WW2" feel. Apart from slotta base, the junk basing was already on the miniature.

What I need now is a stroke of motivation so I could start building a mecha she could drive. I loads of spare 15mm STUG guns, which could represent some kind of small calibre automatic guns...hmm...

Well, that's it for today, thanks for looking!

Mathyoo

Ramshackle's flamethrower-guy!

Hey guys,

I've finally managed to finish painting something again! As promised, it was the three miniatures Johnny from Brains and guts has sent me.  I can't get rid of the feeling they're only half-done, but I've really taken my time with them. I think I need to get some new paints because the ones I got were mostly bought for Flames of War and eventually are all the same. I've grown in a big independent gamer/painter/hobby-guy and I'm not afraid of mixing my colours, so having 3 shades of same colour limits my palette a bit. If only I'd learn how to highlight properly, so all those shades wouldn't go to waste!

Anyways, I've decided to make them three separate entries, I'm struggling to put anything out lately, so this will buy me some time. Plus, the other two were painted with a bit of a WWWII in mind, so they can be put in broader Strange Aeons category...or something!

So, the miniatures were a prize, they're resin Ramshackle games miniatures and Johnny's random pick has fantastically picked three miniatures I could actually use in a way. They're all miscasts I believe, so they had some bubbles here and there, but are otherwise quite perfect. I was daunted by all the little details they  have and in attempt to bring them all up, I think I've used too many different colours. You can see how silly it came out on this guy...I am really not satisfied with the blue robe, but I wanted him bright.

 Below you can see an air bubble in his spine-toxic-something. I didn't really bother filling them up, I've wanted to make this appear broken, but I couldn't find a way to do it, so I just painted it as those above.

To be honest, this one is the one I can't really put in any setting I play, but giving his home made flamethrower (which is of a great design, just look at that pipe :D), he will be great for most periods odd mutant burning things with an improvised weapon that might as well burn him up. Now that I think of it, he should really be black, grey and red, making him look like an evil cultist and not a homeless clown. How do you strip resin, now? :D

In other hobby related stuff, I am having huge problems (yes, I do complain a lot in general). I had great spike of enthusiasm and wanted to do something hobby related yesterday, but ended gluing 3 miniatures together. I have so many plans and ideas I get nothing done in the end. I've decided to just keep it simple and paint and glue what I have to paint and glue...as much as I'd like to start working on that board of mine, I figured I should do that next year, if the job situation won't improve by then.

Well, apologies for the subtle rant and thanks for looking, more to follow!

Mathyoo

More mail!

Well, I was honestly painting in the past week (finished 2 posts worth of miniatures, 9 in total!), but as parcels are raining here lately, I'll show the painted stuff in following posts!

First, few days after Brummie's parcel, my order from Ebob arrived. It had (what he calls) "some extras" which materialised in bag full of useful stuff! I've ordered some dollies and sculpting tools for my grand sculpting project that has partly started with the conversion of the humvees. I've ordered dollies quite some time ago, I think it was between 3-4 weeks back, but I was let known it would take time as armatures were out of stock. As the one thing I have is time, the wait was no bother and I have to compliment Ebob once again as it was more than worth it. He has kindly sent me some of his AUGs he made for Skirmish Sangin to help me out as we were talking a bit about my project. There were loads of other bits that will be more than useful in the project. As I think doing a bit of advertising is the least I can do, feel free to check his store by clicking the image on the right. And while you're doing it, you should certainly check the Grekwood miniatures (under Ebob because of the alphabet order :P), Carl is another great guy to deal with and will, conveniently, also help me with my project. Talking of great guys, Lord Johnny Siwoc from Brains and guts! has sent me the prize I won by answering some simple question every true stalker knows (not sure if that is something to be proud about! :P). Well, to be honest, I haven't dealt with a gamer that wouldn't be a gentleman and half, so I should simply ask you to pay attention to my blog roll on the left, all great guys with awesome blogs! And I mean that without exaggeration.

So, time to brag, I suppose. This is what Johnny has sent me. Its the 3 miniatures from Ramshackle games that will make me start WWW II project (or acthung cthulhu type of games etc) and even a pair of socks...I'll carry them with my most open sandals! :D

I honestly love the colours, Johnny! As for miniatures, first one seems to be some kind of flame thrower guy, so that is what I'll paint him like. I am not exactly sure how to fit him in, but I'll find a role for him to play. Second miniature is a half naked chick climbing on a barrel for some reason. She'll get some proper military pants and a side cap. Then she can be anything from a mechanic (she holds a wrench) for tanks to mechanic for mechas or something. The last one, big guy is my favorite and one of the miniatures that made me remember the Ramshackle games the most. Now, I don't know for you, but he just screams a (failed, tbh) nazi Ubermensch warlord that came from the past to make someone suffer.  As soon as I get them converted and some painting mojo, those are first on the list to be painted!

As for that horrific secretly project I keep talking about...here is my failed attempt to sculpt the assault rifles, as shown few posts back:

 And yes, this is how far I've actually came. And here they are being converted from AUG (still WIP ofc):

 There is actually third one as well, but I've figured once you've seen 2 you've seen them all. I started by working on only one, but later added other two as one needs better optics and other needs an underslung grenade launcher. The one on the left is at third stage of sculpting. I'm taking my time and adding little bits. First I've cut the guns (obviously) of the excess handles. Second was sculpting that little "bridge" you can see on the right gun. Third was filling the area between stock and magazine and fourth was added detailing to the stock. Next comes the hand grip, then the upper half of the body, after that probably a rail and optics and in the end I'll fill the gaps I might find.

 I'm also working on minimi (squad automatic weapon) conversion. Not much to show yet, but here you can see solid ammo box swapped for cloth pouch (I hope this is clear even from this photo)...only really difference is a zipper and a bit more rounded edges. I'm also working on adding a scope (harder than it might seem, honestly) and by now it has lost the stock and I'm building a new one, appropriate for minimi para variant.

Lastly, I'm working on RGW 90 "law", but that has came to a bit of a stand still as I know I have to cut it but I don't want to :D. The mental barriers are honestly the only problem you can encounter at sculpting. Once those are surpassed, everyone is a talented sculptor.  I am still searching for good poses for my first 4 miniatures, so I haven't yet started working on the bodies. If this (so modern soldiers if it's still unclear) is something you'd be interested in, feel free to add some ideas,

Thanks for looking yet once again,
Mathyoo