Hobby Stuff: Shipping Containers

I have been accumulating these shipping containers from Tablescape in dribs and drabs, steadily gathering more and more. I have at last count around 18, which should do for a credible container yard or docks set-up I hope (click on pictures to enlarge).

The latest batch are the rust red colour (top picture) and were painted that colour on request (the usual packs come in 3's with one of each colour of grey, blue and green). Tablescape are happy to listen to customer requests on having their stuff in different colours and cost depends on whether they have that colour in stock or not. Since they had a suitable colour, there was no extra cost for the 6 I bought.

The purple containers (a set of 3) were re-painted by myself. It did take a few coats to over-paint the original colour, so I will look to discuss custom colours with Tablescape if I want more in non-standard colours.

Gallows

Click to make bigger-er

I built this a while back, but only recently added the 'rope' which still needs to be tied off some-how.

The kit is from Battle-flag (link) and is BW4 Hang 'Em High Gallows.

The rope supplied with the kit looked too thin for my liking, so I replaced it with a suitable alternative from Gale Force 9; that came in a black colour so had to be painted a suitable colour as an alternative.

The kit comes with a base, which I was not satisfied about, so I assembled it without base (as carefully as possible, using dry fit to the base as a guide), and then snipped off the tabs to fit to the base.

The painting was my quick washing technique from the other Old West buildings (using really thinned down Vallejo paints).

Lady Panther (Super November 2012 #2)

This is the second mini in the challenge, and Rob and I have agreed to get as many supers minis painted in one month a we can, after the relative success of Zomtober.

So after last week's Harrier (seen on Pulp Citizen here) this week I have painted the Lady Tiger mini from Reaper's Chronoscope range.

I make no bones that the colour scheme is stolen off a certain Marvel-lous cat-themed super; if it works why not?

After last months Zeds got my painting rustiness out of the way, it has been nice getting more diverse pieces painted, and diversity is definitely a key point with this month's challenge.

This mini may never even see gaming - who knows - but it was nice to paint and nice to have it finished. Lady Panther's back-story has her as an Unhuman adventurer-thief with cat-like powers,who keeps making bad decisions, such as throwing in  with the Crimemasters from time to time!

Keep watching here and Pulp Citizen to see how I get on!

Batman Miniature Game

Oh Knight Models, take my money now. Really, I will check down the sofa straightaway.

The words Batman Miniatures Game (or will it be Arkham City?) and expectations of Knight Models based on the quality of their other sculpts means I am sold sight-unseen on this new game and its minis.

After seeing some of the previews I am definitely in. This ticks so many boxes for me. Great IP, great (presumed) quality, and the option to use terrain I have already.

I have serious doubts about the game simply based on the fact that this is Knight Models first foray into gaming, and I thought I heard a rumour at salute about a Star Wars game from them; so is this a re-purposed system? Who knows. Well the Star Wars license has gone and this could be brilliant  Or it could be some decent minis and a terrible game, I don't care - they got me at Batman Miniatures Game, even if the prices are sky-high.

This won't replace Pulp City as my favourite, simply because I feel so invested and immersed in the game and its continuance, but as a side-line? Well that is another story.

So excited am I about this, that I shelled out for the 35mm Batman mini KM do, not even knowing if it will scale with the upcoming releases!

Oh Knight Models, get those minis and that game out now, please!

Super...Something-or-other Month!

Okay, after the relative success of Zomtober, and with Rob mentioning he felt that he was behind in painting 'supers' minis, and with me knowing I have been remiss in painting through the year, we have settled on SupersNovember. Or Supervember, Or whatever we will call it (I favour Supervemeber right now, or maybe Newsupersvemeber, who knows...).

Anyhoo, the plan is to paint one 'supers' themed mini per week through the month. To that end I have picked out three Pulp City minis (one of which will be for Hendybadger's Paint the City Pink initiative), and one Chronoscope super. So most will be posted on the Pulp Citizen and one will be posted here, if I hit my targets. The minis I plan to do are in the picture, but plans often change don't they?

So each week, ending the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th we aim to each finish at least one 'supers' themed mini. yes some have a little work on them done already, but we  agreed that as part of the Zomtober ground rules so it apples here too.

Wish me luck and stop by the Pulp Citizen and/or here for progress updates!

Zomtober Zombie (Week 4)

The final Zed - another Big Boss  Zombie, and another ugly one!

This could have been finished at the weekend, except for my sojourn with Rob to some VBCW gaming in Evesham (read about here on Rob's blog).

So the last bits and bobs of painting were completed over the past two nights.

In all I hit the minimum target which is pleasing. Considering I had painted so little in the last few months I suppose I should be satisfied with doing even just 5 minis.

This Boss Zombie is from the same pack as the last one and is by Studio Miniatures. Base as usual is by Fenris Games to tie my horde together.

A nasty looking piece of work this one, I wanted the 'cracked skin' on the hands to have the hint of red-raw muscle underneath.

So Zomtober ends, and my horde (ha-ha - a genrous definition if ever there was one) has grown by 5. Well done to all who participated. There will be next year I reckon...

Zomtober Zombie (Week 3)

Okay, my offering for Week 3, and the fourth of the target minimum of five. A big Zombie (or a boss as I like to think of the Zeds I mount on 40 mm bases).

That means my current 'horde' stands at 19 minis, and if I hit the Zomtober target it will mean a twenty five per cent increase since last year.

I love the irony of this mini - a fat Zed in sweats!

I feel my painting rustiness has subsided, so this is probably the most satisfying of the minis painted so far this month, and the nice big surfaces probably helped in that. The skin toe is my usual Zed-recipe of Vallejo Green-Grey base, with highlights of a Green-Grey plus Basic Skin Tone mix at 2:1, 1:1, and finally 1:2 ratios, with some very thin Devlan Mud as a wash.

The mini is a from a pack by Studio Miniatures, with the usual (for me) base choice from Fenris Games.

I have some more Zombies in various stages of completion, so I think I should hit the Zomtober target; just one more to go to hit the target, anything else is a bonus. Rob, inevitably, has painted about twice as many as I have!