FFotW - Creating Neon Signs

It is time for another Friday Finding of the Week: Rob Hawkins shows on his blog how he created neon signs for the Wild West Exodus terrain he did.
Very good step by step tutorial he did there and a great effect you can achieve with it. If you don't know this one already have a look I can really recommend it.

And if you are there you can also just have a look at the other terrain tutorials or the loads of stuff he has on his blog.


So long,
Paradox0n

P.S.: Welcome aboard Zzzzzz. The next wave of Majorca impressons is work in progress and will be posted soon :)

MMM - Sunshine Reggae

Winter is coming! Yesterday evening we had 6°C and I didn't worry too much about the cold but in the morning I had to unfreeze my car because it had -2°C. De-Iceing the windows isn't fun, really. At least I get my winter tires today.

And to get some warm feelings on this bitter cold day I thought of posting some summer feelings: Sunshine Reggae from Laid Back.

Have a good start into your week.


So long,
Paradox0n

P.S.: Welcome aboard Zab. Take a seat and enjoy the journey.

Dark Elves - Harpies WIP (color scheme)

Just a short update on my Harpies: I tested out a color scheme with just priming them gray, heavy black wash and cleaning the puddles up... Didn't work and don't like the result so I repainted the whole miniature in black, the wings purple and gave it a heavy drybrush of increasingly lighter graytones. Then glazed the wings to tone down the gray tones again to purple.
One thing I want to try after cleaning everything up is to gave it a marble look (yes my Harpies will be made of stone as I use the Gargoyle models from Mantic here). First time I try this, curious how this will turn out.

Please excuse the crappy picture but my camera goes havoc at the moment and I just didn't want to use my photo bucket for this short update (or buy a new camera :) ).


Have a good start into your weekend,
Paradox0n

Dark Elves - Harpies WIP

After pillaging through my whole Kickstarter stuff I found the Gargoyles from Mantic which could be a nice
replacement for my Harpies I used this far. So I spent the last two evenings (first time using my laptop cushion) with removing the mold lines and trying to get these thingies into a state that I can prime and paint them.

And oh boy... They have lots of mold lines. I am somewhat disappointed by the quality of these miniatures (as with the Orcs I started for Orctober and stopped painting before I threw them out of the window). But at least here the details work and you don't have to question yourself which part of the model this is you look at...

To be honest I like the sculpt pretty much, the mold quality is the problem here. But as with all the Mantic stuff: Its cheap and you get a good deal for your money.
The first miniature is already primed and awaits color getting brushed on. I want to do them in a very easy and simple color scheme: black/gray with the folds of the wings in purple. That should be just a lots of drybrushing and stuff.
So lets see what I can do here :)

Stay tuned and have a nice Sunday.

Paradox0n

Blogging update - Bug rant and moving pictures

Lately I got some serious problems with some disappearing pictures. Be it in the Followers Widget, in my Related Post Widget or even in my articles. Today this miracle is solved! I don't know why but the appropriate Picasa folder changed the displaying rights and therefore all links to the pictures in it where broken... I hope know this will now be solved and not happen again (had to correct  five posts, my widgets and some other stuff here). So be careful with your Picasa stuff, you never know what can happen :)

Another thing is, that I want to do some videos some while now. Perhaps you remember my posts from April where I started thinking about this topic and showed my camcorder and stuff. This weekend I played a bit with some stuff I found (and a trial license of an editing software) and don't want to keep this experiment from you. It nothing fancy but hey you have to start somewhere!

And I have two new adventurers on board! Welcome Remco and Old Fogey. Enjoy the travel and I hope you find your fortune on it.


So long,
Paradox0n

Hobby Basics - Cleaning your stuff

Today I had a very frustrating moment (to be honest moments): Since the wheather here is REALLY bad I loaded my wet palette, got my miniatures I wanted to paint and switched some nice music on. Then I wanted to do the first brush strokes and BÄMM! One brush stuck together nearly to the point and the other brush divided itself into two nice halves... And worse to that, my airbrush completely stopped working and I had to disassemble it completely. And oh boy... it was nearly completely glued together (although I cleaned it after every usage like I described earlier). After calmly counting to 10 and taking some deep breathes I gritted my teeth and set to the task of cleaning my stuff. The brushes are my everyday brushes and its not really a loss if I can't rescue them but with the airbrush it is somehting completely different.

Lesson learned Number 1:  Keep your brushes in safety from your cats. Seems they found a new toy to play with on my desk and made things even worse...
Lesson learned Number 2: The Vallejo Primer I reviewed some time ago is a bit more sticky than normal paint and a normal blow out and cleaning isn't enough.

To see the positive in this disaster I thought on doing another Hobby Basic post on cleaning your stuff the advanced way :)

Impressions from Majorca - Part I: Attractions

As promised I will start with some impressions of our Majorca trip a week ago. It is not easy to sort and select all those pictures (we did ~370 pictures in one week) so I decided to separate the pictures into two categories: sight seeing and landscape. With the sight seeing I will start today and dive directly into the pictures of the cathedral of Majorca, the town's landmark. So watch out: Picture heavy and wall of text ahead!

The "Cathedral of Santa Maria of Palma" or just "La Seu"is a gothic roman catholic cathedral build on the site of an earlier existing mosque (Majorca has a pretty turbulent history with lots of captures and stuff). The construction began ~1230 but was finished in 1601 when the main portal was sanctified. Around 1850 the main facade was reconstructed and was only finished in the early 20th century.

The cathedral now is on of the main attractions in Palma and you have to pay to visit it (~6€ pP). We did that and spend some time there. As I know many Gothic churches/cathedrals here in Germany (especially the Freiburger Münster) I wasn't that impressed by La Seu. It is beautiful and especially the altar is quite impressive.

Dark Elves - New miniature videos from Games Workshop

With the new Release of the Dark Elves it seems I have to rethink my complete army and stop my projects like my own Cauldron of Blood and the like. And I finally have to go to do the Harpies/Gargoyles I got from the Mantic Kickstarter and all the other stuff lying arround. Too many things to attend to, don't know where to start first...
But first some look at the new miniatures after the break.

Papercut - Small house

Since my Photobucket is too small I just had to shoot this one on my cutting mat. Therefore the green background. As the posted Shack a while ago, this is the papercut house from the 5th edition starterbox from Warhammer Fantasy.

As the shack this was just glued on a cardboard base, flocked with static grass and the folding lines where painted in the corresponding colors. Again nothing fancy but it does its job pretty good (and this since the late 90ies). This is why the base is slightly warped, I think this thingy was based in the late 90ies and saw lots of games in this time :)

So long,
Paradox0n

P.S.: Again a new passenger on board! Welcome Peter, your blog already is in my blogroll and thanks for commenting :)

Some late summer pictures from Europa Park

Before I am posting some of my pictures from my trip to Mallorca (which I still have to sort and select first) I post some late summer pictures I took on our last day in Europa Park (when our annual pass ran out).
These are from late August and it was a beautiful day there and we once again had lots of fun there. The park has some really cool places which are most of the time ignored or you just run by because you have to get to the next attraction.

The first two are from the children wonderland the first is the giant from the Grimm's story "Das tapfere Schneiderlein" (The Valiant Tailor) the second is a Gnome with snail pets from a children rollercoaster. There are many such things for kids when you have a keen eye and really look out for it (or you have kids and therefore have to look for them).

Life signs

Yes I am still alive. I just had a very interesting one week trip to Mallorca (or Majorca as it is written in English) with lots of driving and walking around on lots of sports on the isle. I had to dive immediately into working again so I am just catching up with all the stuff happening in the blogosphere.

I think I will post some pictures of this trip soon because I really was surprised of how beautiful this island is (if you don't go to places like El Arenal I suppose).


So long,
Paradox0n

MMM - Way Back Home from Danny MacAskill

Todays Monday Morning Music is a bit of mixture between really nice music and incredible Thinkbike skills. It's Danny MacAskills: Way Back Home. The music is from Loch Lomond "Wax and Wire" and The Jezabels "A Little Piece".

Have a good start into your week.


So long,
Paradox0n

P.S.: And a new traveller onboard our airship. Welcome czaki. I couldn't identify if you have a blog yourself, if so please drop a line and I will add you to the blogroll.

Hobby Basics - Wet Palette Tutorial

As many of you, I also use a wet palette for mixing and keeping my colors fresh. Inspired by Mr. Lees post about his way of doing it, I thought about making a "wet palette my way" post too. Et voila here we are. First of all: This is no rocket science, and I think most of you already know or use a wet palette these days. If not: Do it! Even if you are a beginners painter you will feel the difference between using a wet palette or just fetching your colors from a paint pot.
But I think everyone does it a little different and its best to experiment a bit with the stuff you have until you are satisfied and it really works for you.

Orctober - First WIP: Mantic Orcs

A while ago I read a nice article on Sean's Wargames Corner about the Orctober.  The original post comes from Erny's Place and as I read it, the Orctober is also a giveaway contest.
As I have a lots of stuff in various packages I pillaged through the stuff and found some Orcs I wanted to try out some time ago and now seems a pretty good time.
As you can see, the Crazy Christmas Box contained (among lots of other stuff) some fantasy orcs which I wanted to test out because in the Kickstarter Armydeal there are lots more and they are part of the Abyssal Dwarves army from Kings of War. This small sprue contains three Orcs with axes & shields and two minions (which I will use for something different).

I chose to build one with two axes (he could also be build with axe & shield like the other ones) and the other two with axe & shield as there is no other option for it. As you can see in the picture there is one head, one shield, one arm and the two minions left from the sprue which will happily wander into my bits box :) Already freed from molding lines but not completely glued together because than some places would be pretty difficult to paint.

So lets see if I am able to paint them up. A short vacation is also waiting for me and I will do a short trip to Majorca next week :) Stay tuned.


So long,
Paradox0n

MMM - I don't want to set the world on fire

As someone who played Fallout a lot I also am a fan to the Fallout radio music. One of the favorites (and one I loved to head while playing Fallout 3) is: I don't want to set the world on fire from The Ink Spots.

I really love the moody and lonely feeling you get while playing the game(s) and at the same time the game(s) give you the feeling of hope and perseverance. It is really seldom that a game can achieve transmitting such feelings while playing.

And something on my own behalf: I forgot a rather important point (for me) on my DVD review for Painting Buddha Season 1.1 and therefore updated the article (added something about the shipping costs). So if you haven't read it already just have a look :)

Have a good start into your week!


So long,
Paradox0n

Review: Painting Buddha - Season 1.1:Target Identified | Tale of two painters

Alllriiiiight!!! So we start directly with an insider you will understand if you have watched the first three DVDs with Ben Komets :) After watching the 6 DVDs I was completely smashed and to be honest: I had some difficulties to find a way how to describe this set and writing a review about it. Not because it is bad, on the opposite, but because it has many different things to see AND you have two different painters who have a somewhat different approach to painting those two wonderful miniatures I already wrote about.

So where to start? Perhaps some general stuff first...
The set is completely in English with subtitles in English, German and Spanish. You get a DVD set from two painters with pretty different approaches how to paint exactly the same miniatures. Ben does everything "by hand" where Rafael starts with using an airbrush.

The menus are in English and describe the parts which are painted of the miniature (not the techniques though).
Both painters are setup straight in front of the camera and Zaphod does some Q&A while they are painting. These comments from the OFF are sometimes pretty funny e.d. that is where the ALRIIIIIIGHT!!! comes from :) Maybe here is some space to optimize so that the painters are watching a bit more into the camera and not to the side where Zaphod and/or the self-monitor is placed. Telepromter effect you know? And one odd thing I noticed: The aspect ratio of the filmed material seems to be a bit off on my TV. Some parts of the screen is cut off, I tried to fix it with on-board possibilities of my TV but nothing worked. On my PC everything works fine.

MMM - The Doctor's Wife

Picture from Mike Savad

After visiting the Dentist once again today (lucky me only for a follow up check) and getting examined by the "doctors wife", which does the substitute at the moment, this song nearly immediately came to my mind for my (unregular) Monday Morning Music post:

The picture is "Waiting for the dentist" from Mike Savad. Check his page he has some more nice pictures there!

"The Doctor's Wife from The Clockwork Quartet"

Yes I know the text doesn't match my morningly visit but I really like this song :)

FFotW - Charlie Chaplin: Final speech in "The Great Dictator"

If only people today would take the words said here by heart... This speech is so breathtaking. Unbelievable if you think WHEN this movie was filmed.
Nothing more to say here, just listen...

So long,

Paradox0n

P.S.: I hope you don't mind posting me stuff far from our beloved hobby. But blogging for me isn't always just posting pics of miniatures or writing tutorials but also letting some of my personality shining through and giving a view beyond the horizon.

Quick tips from Kris Belleau

I just wanted to share some nice quick tips recently posted from Miniwargaming.com. To be precise the Quick tips"-series from Kris Belleau. I collected all those free videos into one playlist. There are even more in the Wargaming-Vault but since I don't have access to that I just wanted to share and point out those nice videos.

Hope you enjoy it.


So long,
Paradox0n

Nightmares coming true

I really hate it when my nightmares are coming true. Perhaps you can remember my worries with the Scibor Moscal Boyar Lord I received from Mr. Lee this week. I feared that cutting the axe head and shield from the sprue may cause some problems... I really shouldn't have said that because exactly this happened. While carefully trying to cut of the stuff (with a new blade for my scalpel and everything) there was a short snap and the axe head broke in two halves. Maybe you can think of all those curses on my lips...
Apart from that I also have some problems with the casting quality of some of the parts. You can clearly see some miscasts and the problems the stamp technique brings (sharp details on the surface but on the melting areas you can see the different layers). The miniature itself is great, the additional stuff so lala. Overall I hope I can fix all the stuff and make this a beautiful figure.


So long,
Paradox0n

Battered airbag from Turkey

Yesterday I had an unexpected information leaflet from our "Deutsche Post" in my letterbox. A registered letter has been delivered to me and waits for pickup at my local post office. So I went there today at 8 o'clock and was disappointed that the office opens at 9 ... I asked myself WHY they write on the leaflet "Pick it up from 8 o'clock tomorrow" but OK... So I went there again just some minutes ago and TADA there was a battered airbag from Turkey waiting for me :) And perhaps you can already guess it, it is my price from Mr. Lee's 100k views contest, the Scibor Moscal Boyar Lord.

If you compare the two pictures (the one on Mr. Lee's blog and mine) you can only guess what airmail, customs and transport did do this poor airbag. But happy me the miniature itself wasn't harmed at all.
Its the first time I have one of those Scibor miniatures in my hands and to be honest: On the first look I am rather impressed. I've read lots of how bad those stamp techniques are and stuff like this. But the miniature has clear details and nearly no molding lines. Clear details and a stout and resolute posture give this miniature the perfect look for such a stubborn Chaos Dwarf Moscal Boyar Lord. The only thing which DOES worry me are the additional parts like the axe head and the shield which are cast on an extra sprue and seem to be rather heavily attached to it. I hope I can cleanly cut them off the sprue, especially the axe head which really seems to be a problem. The miniature is delivered with a small scenic base which looks pretty good. Again I am impressed how clean the casting is. I slowly understand why these miniatures are so expensive (in Germany at least).

The Lord will be a nice addition to my still secret army :) Ok ok you can guess it: I have some Chaos Dwarves (to be honest some Abyssal Dwarves from Mantic) flying around which wait for assembly and paint. Since I think I got all those miniatures from the KS (have lost the overview) I think I finally can start to put everything together with this lovely Lord as start. I hope I can give it the love needed, especially since it is such a nice price from the contest.

Stay tuned for more sumpy, grumbly, evil madness :)

So long,
Paradox0n

Motivation - Or at least some loss of frustration

Today I checked my stats of the blog and just blinked my eyes because I had some increased of views in the last two days. Normally I fell back to just a small dripple (no wonder because I don't post as much as last month) but on the weekend I was added to another bloglist: The Blogs of War. Don't know who runs this blog but thanks for adding me :)

That brings me to another point: I really was a winner in Mr. Lees 100k view contest. And since I placed second I was lucky to get the miniature I wanted, the Scibor moscal hero. I hope I can find the time to give this miniature some love and paint it the best I can.

And the next thing: As you may have read I procrastinate and rather drive my new bike than painting BUT this has a major impact on my (caution Buzzword alarm) work-life-balance. Since my wife and I cycle together we spend much more time with another. Pretty cool. And watching some of the MTB stuff (especially the following video) I feel like I can fight dragons or climbing mountains.

Review - Laptop cushion as paintstation

Today I want to show you my new painting station which I can use if I paint in front of the TV. Since my wife has to sit alone in our living room when I paint or tinker and we only have these evening times together, she bought me thisthingy which she thought would be cool for painting at our TV desk. Normally this is a laptop cushion with a pencil- and cup holder. And a small LED lamp. The lamp is powered by batteries so no need for some nasty cables. The surface is somewhat rubberized so the stuff on it won't slide around.

So what will I gonna do with this thing? Slot for pencils = slot for brushes, slot for cups = slot for water pot and rubberized surface to keep my painting pots and wet palette on place. Check! I did some testing with arm position and the like and it seems pretty decent either lying on the table or resting on my legs. The LED's give a rather cold light, no clue how near or far away from daylight this may be... But for some basecoloring or stuff it is more than enough. The light also is so focused that I can paint while my wife is watching TV and we could spend some time together. And maybe it can motivate me for some more hobby time :)


So long,
Paradox0n

MMM - Goldfish Salvation

Not a real Monday Morning Music after all but some kind of mixture between relaxing music and unbelievable 3D painting. I hope I do post the original video because this artist should get all respect possible. If someone only told me what he is doing, without seeing this video I wouldn't have believed him.

The art of Riusuke Fukahori is simply amazing. Just watch the video and stand amazed at the finished pieces. (especially the oil pieces).

Hope I will get better soon so that I can post a bit more stuff.

So long,
Paradox0n

Procrastination - Blogging laziness and Late summer

Perhaps you already wondered why there are so few new posts on the blog at the moment. To be honest I am taking a step back from the blogosphere do some gaming and most important taking the chance to enjoy the last rays of sun and mild temperatures for a reborn hobby. But first things first:
I think I have some kind of hobby burnout. Most of the time I fight alone with my hobby stuff, have fun with it, but mostly painting or crafting alone isn't really motivating. At least my wife supports me and lets me piling up my stuff and so but at the moment I see all those plastic miniatures (or started terrain stuff) and am disheartened be the amount of stuff I have flying around. Lots of ideas but no creative power to execute all those ideas. Somehow this is really sad but if your work also kicks in (I have to substitute our Scrummaster on top my development work) the only thing you can do is to sort your time and ask yourself what to do with it.

Mr. Lees 100k views contest

Just a really short post while writing an article: Mr. Lee from Mr. Lee's Painting Emporium has a small competition running for his over 100k views now. If you missed this blog you really should jump over and have a look. Mr. Lee was one of those few who commented pretty early on my blog and helped to keep me motivated. Therefore I do this "advertising" which I haven't done earlier.

So long,
Paradox0n

MMM: Naughty Boy - Lalala

This weeks MMM is a bit late due to some proxy problems I had (I really like our GEMA who blocked this video although it was posted by the rights owner). This time I show you Naughty Boy - Lalala. First time I heard in the radio I was like: "Hm nice song, especially the singing kid". Next time I saw this video on Viva and went: "Yeah nice video, has something magical. Great text..." But today it struck me: This video is an adaption of a bolivian legend.

The legend goes roughly like that: A deaf boy who has the ability to sense the bad in the world is abused by his dad and one day runs away from home. His dad doesn't even bother to search for him and so he wanders around finding a homeless dog who accompanies him on his journey. One day, he finds an old man who is being abused by villagers while being taunted and ridiculed. By screaming, the boy conjures an earthquake and resolves the situation (in some versions the man dies and he revives him). Together they journey on and meet a disfigured man who was abused and made fun of because his malformed face. The man reveals that he is a shaman who was cursed by a demon (El Tio) because he didn't worship him. El Tio "The uncle" is considered as the lord of the underworld, to whom mortal people offer gifts to him in order to be protected by him or to ease his anger. The shaman said anybody who could hear the demon would fall under his control. Together they go to the place where the demon should reside and arrive at a mine where the demon is supposed to be. At the entry the whispering of unknown words in a unknown language is heard and all the companions of the boy cover of fear. Only the deaf boy could not be cursed by the demon, and enters the cave to face the demon alone. While his friends leave, they can hear him start screaming and therefore overvoice the daemon and stop him from cursing the world.

Pretty nice story, no?
Have a nice start into your week!

So long,
Paradox0n

P.S.: Sad sidefact: The mines in bolivia where the last sequences of the video were shot still have kids labour until today.

Short Blogger Update

While I am thinking of how I will write my review of the Painting Buddha DVDs I am also thing about some blog changes. First I think of changing the layout a bit into one bigger column left and two columns right. That would also give me the opportunity to place the blogger networks on the most right column and would give me entry to the BoL network. Hopefully this could bring some more traffic on my blog.
Another thing I think of are future posts... I am still fiddling with my video setup with no satisfying results at the moment so nothing new on this front.
So yeah pretty much on the conceptial part.

While I am on it. I do some advertisement for the Painting Buddha DVDs. Although I haven't written my review yet, I can say that this is a pretty good set.

So long,
Paradox0n

P.S.: No I am not sponsored by the president, I just like what he and the other guys are doing. :)

FFotW - The Innovation of Loneliness

The Innovation of Loneliness is a really nice presentation. I especially liked the design and flow which is realised here.

The Innovation of Loneliness from Shimi Cohen on Vimeo.
What is the connection between Social Networks and Being Lonely?
Inspired and Based on the wonderful book by Sherry Turkle - Alone Together.
Also Based on Dr. Yair Amichai-Hamburgers hebrew article -The Invention of Being Lonely.

Funny sidefact: My wife almost immediately said: "Ah yes I know the book and the article and I can't agree with some of the stuff in this presentation". So this brought a nice topic for evenly discussion :)


So long,
Paradox0n

Papercut - Shack

Just a short update on my papercut section. Perhaps you have seen this terrain piece already in my battle reports. But I just wanted to upload some close ups. This is the small shack which was included in the 5th edition starterbox for Warhammer Fantasy. So yes, pretty old this thing and pretty much documents my hobby career. This was the second starterbox our playing group bought and I think I have the box somehwere flying around :)
This is really nothing fancy, I just glued it onto a base and painted the edges in the appropriate color to mask the white cardboard. Back then we only worked with thick cardboard for bases but as you can see they warp over time. I won't re-base it because I fear that I will destroy the shack itself while doing it.

Enlightenment of the day: I need a bigger photobox, my photobucket is too small for bigger pieces. Otherwise I would have completed the post with the corresponding house. So that will be something for another post.


So long,
Paradox0n

WIP - Ramshackle Games Dunny

Some fast WIP shots from the Dunny. As said I am experimenting with the weathering a bit. So far the Dunny is primed, base colored with some dark metal paint, washed with Vallejo Smokey Ink, with some selfmade wash from Vallejo Halcon Turquoise and with a selfmade wash from different pigments.
I think I will try some more pigmenting perhaps in a mixture of glue, baking soda and pigments to get the rough rust feeling. And some painted on pigments without any solvent.

At the end I will drybrush the whole thing to get a more metallic look back. And weather it again a bit down, depending on the overall result. I know it doesn't look very clean but I want a rusted look as far as I can get it :)

[UPDATE]
Just realised that something weird happened while uploading the pictures. Therefore I adjusted the post a bit.

So long,
Paradox0n

MMM - Ukulele potpourri

Finally our efforts on fighting our bug invasion show success. Without using some nuclear rockets or planet killers :) So it is time for some more blogging stuff and I can return to posting my Monday Morning Music post today which will consist of some Ukulele potpourri :)

Buuuuuuuuuugs

Today I somehow felt like a soldier from Starship Troopers. I don't know exactly where they all appeared but we have an invasion of bugs in our supply closet. So today was full of clearing the room, checking everything we stored (flour, herbs, different sorts of rice etc. pp.) cleaning all the shelves and trying to find the hatchery. At least we know know WHICH bug invades us. In english I think it is the wheat weevil. As far as I could find the information this thing nests in flour or other food (e.g. the dry food of our cats of which we will have caught them we think) and has a rather quick life cycle. If you do not fight them, they can easily multiply their population in a few weeks. So we spent over 3 hours with searching, examining, cleaning and throwing stuff away. Hopefully this will start to work.

At least we didn't find a brainbug :)

Therefore: No painting today, the Dunny only got a basecoat of dark metal. I wanted to start with some rust experiments but after this meee today I really wasn't in the mood. I rather repaired the bike of my wife and tinkered the clutch of our small trailer to my bike. Perfect for the necessary short shopping trip today :) Hope tomorrow I find some time to paint. Want to try out to achieve some rust effect with stippling browns and oranges onto the Dunny...

So long,
Paradox0n

P.S.: And a new fellow on board my little flying vessel. Hello Miniature Man, take a seat and have good time :)

Review: Ramshackle Games - Dunny & Drill

Today Labschi brought me a small package from Ramshackle Games, some late birthday presents which took some time before they finally arrived in Germany. It contained the "Dunny" and the "Boring Machine". The two pieces were pretty good protected with thick layers of air cushion foil. Therefore everything was undamaged and ready to be prepared and reviewed.
The resin is somewhat heavy (much heavier than I thought) and had a really bad smell on it. On touch you could feel the thin film of abherent which had a somewhat slimy feel on it. But after cleaning it with some dish soap both the slimy feeling and the smell was completely gone.

Painting Buddha - Season 1.1:Target Identified | The Miniatures

After unboxing the Season 1.1:Target Identified set and having all the stuff lying around I decided to split my review into different parts because it really would be too much text for only one post. Additionally the box contains of 6 DVDs with two different approaches to painting the miniatures (and the base) so I will cover them later after I watched them completely and have a better and more general opinion of all the stuff (my first impression is a very good one). The miniatures are delivered in a small metal box with the Painting Buddha logo which is sealed with a sweet, little sticker. As already said, these small details give me the feeling that there are people at work who love(d) what they are doing. At this point of writing I notice that I completely forgot to take a picture of the miniatures inside the opened box, but you can see it on the overview picture in my first glance post if you want.

Painting Buddha - Season 1.1:Target Identified | First glance

Wohoo a long awaited package finally arrived: The Painting Buddha - Season 1.1:Target Identified DVD set is finally in my hands.
This boxed set was a birthday present from my wife and although it was marked as sent from Monday on it only arrived yesterday...
But nonetheless I am really happy that this thingy now is mine. And I couldn't wait to unpack this box. As you see the postal package is tightly packed with no air to move for the box. Unluckily the stuff inside wasn't protected by airfoil or something like this but luckily the content wasn't hurt even if the package had some small damages.

So what is inside? Inside is a personalized letter (addressed to my wife since it was a present), a certify card with the dvd number and a "hoopy" "Thank you" from the 3 producers, a small brochure with "How to prepare the miniatures", a small brochure which introduces Painting Buddha and their goals and targets, a pretty cool, sealed metal box with the minis (and the optional base) inside and the DVD box.
I REALLY like all the fine details you can find here, e.g. the metal box is sealed with Buddha stickers, the brochures are of really high quality. On the first look this stuff really holds the promise of "we do this with love and passion".

I can't wait to remove the protecting foil of the DVDs an risk a first look. But first my wife had a Tupperware Party and we had to prepare some stuff and clean up everything :)
So stay tuned for a closer look into this box.

Cya,
Paradox0n

Basket full of gifts

Perhaps you remember that I had my birthday some weeks ago. After having my birthday party last weekend and receiving lots of hobby related presents there, I thought I want to share with you the stuff which was given to me. A big thanks to all my friends and family for supporting my nerd hobby!

From my mother-in-law I got a whole bunch of modelling tools. First I got some modelling brushes or clay shaper or whatever these things are called in English :) That was really something I missed at my last experiments. And I also have the need for them in a future project I am planning at the moment.

FFotW: Bill Cosby - Himself

I think most of you know Bill Cosby from the "Bill Cosby Show". But he also is a standup comedian and the "Bill Cosby - Himself" show is really awesome. One man, a microphone and a chair. Nothing more needed.
I nearly fell of my chair with laughing. Pretty stupid if you are on work ;)

Hope you do enjoy him as much as I did.


So long,
Paradox0n


P.S.: I am still waiting for the painting buddha DVDs and hoping I can do a review of them soon. Perhaps I'll try to do one of the DVD of Jeremy meanwhile... We'll see.

MMM - Spaghetti Western Orchestra

If you are a fan of old spaghetti westerns and especially the soundtracks of Ennio Morricone you will also like the Spaghetti Western Orchestra :)

Have a good start into your week.

So long,
Paradox0n

FFotW - Warlord Games Day Coverage from Brückenkopf

©Warlord Games

Maybe you already found it in some newstickers but nonetheless I want to mention this great coverage of the Warlord Games Day from Brückenkopf. Especially since I am normally not into historical wargaming. But this coverage shows some phenomenal gaming tables and lots of the surrounding of this event. Even if you can't read german there are lots of pictures (and maybe a translator of your choice can help understanding the texts).

Warlord Games Day - Coverage Part I
Warlord Games Day - Coverage Part II
Warlord Games Day - Coverage Part III

The event was also a open house, and gave some insights into production and packaging of Warlord Games.

Warlord Games Open House

It really seems this was a great event. After coverages like these I can slowly understand why many are big fans of historical wargaming and the events that are held.


So long,
Paradox0n

Its over 9000!!!

Again a seldom but happy day in a bloggers life. Yesterday the visits climbed unknown heights, thanks to Natfka who gave me a backlink on his famous Faeit 212 blog. Thanks again for that!
This brought me over 640 visits in one day! A number which I had never thought it would be possible :) That's normally the amount of visits I get in half a month.

Another thing is that I broke the 10.000 visits mark. I didn't mention this earlier because lots of traffic is from spambots, which I already moaned about. But slowly real visitors crowd out the bots which I am very happy about.

Hobby Basics - Basing material | Part I

From time to time you will hear the question "Oh what do you use to do this and that on your bases?" or "Where can I find some stuff for basing my miniatures?". Therefore I thought of making a small list of the things I found work well with miniatures and what stuff I don't like.
And to be mentioned at the beginning: I will not talk about premade bases! This stuff is great but most of the time too expensive for big armies.

Today I will talk about the different basing materials I use especially the stuff you can get for free (or with very small costs):