Monday 21 March 2016

On Cottages & Lighthouse Keepers

Regular readers of my irregular offerings may remember the cottages I wrote about late last year. They were plain ornaments for burning or some mysterious other function. I, however, spotted their potential and the other day they came to the top of the to-do list. 

I pondered on how to paint them: black Plastikote and then paint up from there? I decided to use the following scheme.
  1. I decided the walls looked absolutely fine as they were. The seated figures at the front of each cottage were chiselled gently away.
  2. The thatch was done with emulsion paints from tester pots: dark brown base and a lighter brown/yellow dry-brushed over it. 
  3. The chimney pots: Vallejo black base coat, dry brush grey then white. Once dry they were given an Army Painter wash. 
  4. The windows: Vallejo dark blue with a Vallejo pale blue highlight. I picked out the frames in a light grey.
  5. The front doors were constructed from coffee stirrers and matchsticks. Painted with a wash of watered down Vallejo grey. Then a watered down Army Painter wash.
 
 A Cottage

Cottages Rear View

Loading Contraband Or Unloading Supplies?

Lighthouse Len & Salty Sam

Len Close-up

The figures and vehicle are from several manufacturers. Lighthouse Len is descended from a long line of lighthouse keepers. His belief in the power of light is so strong he carries a permanently lit lamp at all times. Sam isn't a sailor, he does like plenty of sodium chloride on his grub though. Len and Sam work here of course.

All the best!

Wednesday 16 March 2016

Brown & Black Shirts In The Desert

Hello!

I've been working on this gang of state-sponsored n'er-do-wells for a while and finally, finally, finished them. Joy! So, what have we got then, Mr Tin? Well, what we have here is a group of Pulp German N*zis and one Italian F*scist. Four male figures and one female: Helga, She-Wolf of the EssEss.

Oberfuehrer Fritz von Toppgitz
The leader of the group. A tough street fighter and true believer. Nasty.

Hauptsturmfuehrer Hermann Kartofelnkopf
Assassin. Likes to point at his victims before doing them in. Brutal.

The gang's all here. 
LtoR: Kartofelnkopf, Untersturmfuehrer Helga Fuchs, von Toppgitz, 
Sturmbannfuehrer Horst Wurst (2i/c), Centurione Luigi Bartoletti of the MVSN

Somewhere in the desert searching, possibly in the wrong place, 
for powerful artefacts which may be lost or hidden.

 Can we get these crated up?

 Kartofelnkopf points; Helga & Bartoletti take aim. 
The senior officers sneer.

Aerial view. 
Note the truck and blue-fezzed chap behind the mini sphinx.

The figures are all Bob Murch Pulp figures. There was one head swap: the Italian head from the Empress Miniatures drivers set onto Bartoletti. All painted with Vallejo colours and varnished with Vallejo matt which is my new favourite thing. The Egyptian statues are resin jobs picked up in charity shops.

UATH!

Monday 11 January 2016

David Bowie


I'm not going to batter on about how great DB was and his influence on popular music, style, and culture. Many others will do that both today and in the coming weeks. No, all I want to do is thank publicly DB for the effect he had on my life: that it is more than okay to be, according to 'normal' society, different, odd, unusual, weird. To not follow the crowd but to be true to yourself and do what makes you happy and not to do what is necessarily expected of you by 'normal' society.

Wednesday 6 January 2016

The Hat Squad

This gang has been bimbling along for awhile now so I for one am glad they're finished. I have gone for the double figure idea once again: one in town clothes and one in adventuresome gear. They're a bit of an odd bunch and not all of them wear a hat. The figures are a mix of Copplestone, Bob Murch & Empress. Here they are:

Outside Ottomanelli's in downtown Pulpville
LtoR Brad Sterling, Boats Bailey, Ripcord O'Reilly, Jim Trueman, Smoot Schmid

Up on the roof

Dr Jim Trueman
Archaeologist &  Adventurer

Ripcord O'Reilly
Can fly anything.

Boats Bailey
It is, he likes to be clean shaven and sharply suited when not afloat 

Brad Sterling
Note how pale he is in town and how easily he tans when adventuring!

Smoot Schmid
Enjoys the finer things. A lot.

Field trip

 Ripcord & Jim outside The Darkroom camera shop

 Smoot & Brad outside a greengrocery

Boats passes by the bakery

UATH!