My entry into the Facebook group, 'Eavier Metal's 1st painting competition. Sadly, for me, I did not place, but it was fun regardless.
Inspired by Daniel Horne's, "The Real Reason the Romans Left Britain" from a Dragon Magazine cover in 1987.
Features Kostchtchie from the Fractured Dimensions KS and some heavily converted Warlord Romans.
More images can be seen on my Flickr page alone with my post on CMON, thanks for looking ;)
https://m.flickr.com...s/86225740@N05/
http://www.coolminiornot.com/385975

Social Media and "old lead"

So, it's been quite a while

and I've been absent. I'm guiltily of hanging out on Facebook, a place, I once dreaded and refused to join. I discovered there are a number of great miniature groups and personalities who frequent FB, and have been fortunate enough to even chat with a few. Notably, sculptor John Dennett, formally of Grenadier Models. I was pleased to find he is still sculpting (although in larger scale) and plans on revisiting fantasy, including a series of 54mm Orcs. My favorite group currently is "Old School miniatures" Us regular folks along with many of the current industry pros all share and talk about what we love most...old lead ;)

And some WIP of miniatures sculpted by John Dennett and Andrew Chernak

WIP: Otherworld Red Dragon

Since I have the week off after a busy Holiday and year, I have been wrapping long overdue projects up. One of those is this huge Red Dragon from Otherworld Miniatures. Mine is one of the resin masters so assembly came easy, just finding the time to paint with my OCD hang ups has be tough. ;)

On the table in 2015

15mm Tom Meier from Khurasan Miniatures

15mm Dungeon Encounters from Splintered Light (recently discovered the wonders of 15mm😀)

Here's my versions so far;)

Detail of the demon and red dragon, these miniatures with a few exceptions have a very old school vibe:

Something new...Finally!

If anyone is out there... You may have noticed I'm not very good at this whole blogging thing;) but I do like to share. With little or no free time I sometimes wonder why I bother. I'd say it's because someday I would like to be better at this and this is just an experiment. But enough talk and if you are even here it's probably just for the pics;)

Otherworld Cockatrice 

Grenadier Orc

Ral Partha AD&D Orc

Converted Grenadier Troll

WIP troll

Grenadier Orcus (95% done ;))

Grenadier Hobgoblin WIP

Hanger 18 Photo Backdrops test shots

Just got around to playing with some photo backdrops I ordered from Hanger 18 Miniatures took some quick shots. I will give more of my impression's later;)

Vermithrax! More Bang For your Buck!

Everyone knows by now, that love them or leave them GW is ripping us off. They are able to do what they want when it comes to prices, and until people speak with their wallets the trend won't end. I for one have cut my GW purchases about 90% and 10% is just because they manage to make a figure or kit hard to resist every once in a while;) I have switched to small Manufactures such as Otherworld, Red Box and I'm starting to grow fond of Mithril Miniatures. My last post was on my experience with Reaper bones in which I concluded, while more bang for your buck they are best for beginners or casual gamers who are learning to paint and not for someone like me who's had the best ;) (metal and "good"resin).
     Now below are examples of a deal I found on Amazon marketplace over Christmas for only $48.00! It Pegasus models: Dragonslayer Vinyl model kit based on the 1981 film. Just look at the size and detail of the kit compared to the GW chaos Champion. Who I picked up sometime ago in fine-cast for $25! The kit is a heavy professional vinyl and if you have ever done a vinyl kit you know it is also a dream to work with, it holds detail awesome, paints and glues great. So,why hasn't anyone tried vinyl for larger miniature kits? ...unless the molding process is more involved???

A quick update

While Bones holds paint excellent, I'm finding the more I paint the more blemishes and lack of detail:( and can't help but think I'd rather have paid extra for the metal version.(pics to come...but I recently been distracted with painting a superior Red Dragon;) pics of that coming soon also!) I'm just glad I didn't invest heavily in Bones, great for beginners not for the experienced. 

I believe that those who start with bones and love to paint, won't look back when they discover the detail, metal and resin hold.

Reaper Bones: First impression

So I gave in after not being part of the first Bones Kickstarter, I couldn't hold back on the Bones II one. Esp. after seeing what Reaper pulled out of their hat on the last day , "Dragons Don't Share 2"! Check it out here:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Kg17Wuz8mw
All for only $36 bucks , it will retail at $100 when released.
Well anyway, since I gave in, I better check out the material I've been dissing and also skeptical about. I will list the pros and cons I found so far:
Pros:
1.Cheap: Ebonwrath, which retails for $50 and up in metal was acquired in Bones on ebay for just $9.99
2.Glues well with no pinning. Even with huge wings this would be unimaginable in metal
3.Holds green stuff well for modifying. I ran into a few areas where I got a little overzealous with the X-acto and need to re-sculpt:\
Cons:
1.Though, I found little flash, it is hard to clean of and requires a new approach. So far, the suggestions from reapers own painters really help. Such as, diamond files (filing in one direction) and a chisel like seam scraper.
2.It's not metal, it is rubbery like the pre-painted figures from Hero-Clix. so it will take getting used to if you are ever going to accept it.
3.Less detail. I don't have a metal version to compare it to, but I have heard it dose not hold detail like metal or resin.
Just some of my impressions as I head off to try some paint on this guy, I will let you know what I find.

 Meanwhile here are some other W.I.P. for this month

 Otherworld Dwarf Fighter from their Fantasy Adventures line

 GW Goblin Captain in Finecast(cough) but a Perry brothers sculpt non the less:)

Another Paul Muller Orc from the once Fictive line

Any guesses?

I just wanted to tease a WIP, that I started recently from a line that's chromatic in nature;)

Summers always busy...

Sorry for lack of post but between work and vacations and covering vacations, I haven't had a hole lot of time:( so, here are a few project in the works, all oop old school miniatures
with a few real cool orcs from the Perry's

Citadel D&D -BDD10 Red Dragon WIP

There's not much I can say about this piece By Nicholas Bibby based on the painting by Larry Elmore that hasn't been said in Miniature circles. It's an amazing piece, I found him on eBay with some minor damage, which I was able to repair with green stuff and begin to paint. Currently, I'm about 85% complete.

*the base is a resin treasure hoard vignette base by Reaper Miniatures

Hello, for my first entry I'm just going to post some pics of some old school and old school inspired miniatures just to break the ice. I've been working on some of these over the past few years and in the future I will post more detailed info along with other ramblings;)

This first pic(above) is of the classic Grenadier set Dragon's Lair, which I started working on a little over 3 years ago. ( I tend to project jump) Almost complete, I really hope to wrap this one up this year.

This guy is an Orc Sculpted by Paul Muller for Fictive Miniatures.They only produced 4 Orcs By Paul all of which I was lucky enough to grab.

and finally the Lizard King By Otherworld Miniatures (a work in Progress)