London PB painting meet up

October 21st, in Dark Sphere in London will be held another painting meet up.
We can expect painters (and not only) associated with Platoon Britannica and Dark Sphere.
Nothing too formal, just fun time with paints and brushes, nice people to share knowledge with, some miniatures to stare at. Of course everything followed by a pint or two:D

If you'll be somewhere around that day, feel free to step in, say hello and spend some fun time with us.
The shop is open 12-5pm

Once again full address of the store:

57 York Road
Waterloo
London
SE1 7NJ
0207 928 7220

And a map

See you all there:D

cheers
'eM

Brock the Wanderer - review

I was going to try new formula 'Inbox: more pictures - less words' here, but I'm affraid the miniature I'm going to describe this time, begs for proper review. So here it goes:

One of my newest purchases (full set here): Brock the Wanderer from Scale 75, Scale World Fantasy range.
Product code: SCF-005.
The company name is Scale 75, so I'm gonna assume for now that he's 75mm tall. I'll check it with the ruler after assembly.
The miniature is multipart and casted fully in white metal.

The box:

Miniature is secured by two boxes, one external, more delicate, with the boxart and some marketing informations, and second, hard and plain. Inside the second box we can find two layers of thick foam and lots of pieces.

What's inside the box: 

As you can see the mini is divided into quite a lot of parts. There are:
2 different heads, one with helmet the other one with a ponytail (separate)
Torso,
2 legs,
Arm with the axe,
Arm with the hammer,
Sword in a sheath to be attached on the back,
Some sort of shoulder strap (brassard maybe??),
Back side of the cloth covering his private parts,
Base (which is kinda dull and unatractive, so I rather won't be using it).

And that's how the pieces look in close up:

As you can see there is a lot of flesh(?) and few mold lines, but it should be rather easy to get rid of.
Some of the parts have less smooth surface than others (i.e. torso or legs) but the pieces are quite big so cleaning it also shouldn't be a big deal. Some time with steel wool and sanding clothes should do the trick. The only thing that worries me is the way some parts are attached to the sprues:

I don't really understand why it has to be in the middle of hair or fur.  Was there no other places for it?
It's gonna be pain for me to restore facture there. Of course for many of you it might not even be a problem, but for me it is, I hate preparing miniatures. I can see few stressful hours spent on getting this little badboy ready for primer. Mr Bombel may even learn few new swearwords in the process:)

Assembly:
Parts seem to fit together nicely, I can't find any trouble spots at the moment. But after my experiences with Pegaso's Templar I'll be able to say it for sure after gluing the whole thing together. For now it's just an assumpiton.

Overall opinion:
Hard to say, really.
I really like the concept.
I like the packaging.
I'm even happy with the overall quality of the cast...
But I'm strongly dissapointed with the way head  and few other elements are attached to the sprues. Like I said, for some of you it might not even be a problem, but for me it is, and it brings down my joy of having this miniature.
This is my first Scale 75 miniature, so I have no idea if that's common thing with them or not, but I'll probably think twice before buying next one online without checking some reviews first. Which is very unfortunate, because I like quite a few minis from their range.

cheers

'eM

Euro Militaire - reports

I still didn't get round to processing my photos from Euro Militaire. It's not my favourite part of the event:D
Besides I spend most of the time shopping, socialising, tormenting judges and taking care of my extremely bored 'significant half', so I simply didn't take too many pictures in the first place. But I promise, I'm gonna post them at some point, because I'd like to discuss one thing with you by the way.

But for now I'm simply gonna post here links to the galleries I found in the Internet. I hope authors won't mind me doing that, it's some sort of publicity after all.

Les Chevaliers du Centaure

Megazord_man's photobucket

Mario Delgado's photos

Rafa Coll blog (check out more of his posts, lots of pictures there)

I found another report on Volomir's Blog

cheers

'eM

Talrashi - back to 'tiny' scale

With Grinder and Templar back on the WIP bench, I need to get back to 28mm scale for a while.
At this point I'm planning two 'tiny' projects, Talrashi from Red Box Games and Isabela from McVey's. 

On the photos below, first colour on girl's dress and 'family' photo with bigger uncle;]

Talrashi is a very very early WIP so far, so there is not much to say really. I just hope I still rememeber what to do with such a tiny minitatures;p
To be fair, size makes a difference;p

cheers

'eM

Euro Militaire 2012 - Shopping

Shopping wise it was a really good weekend, trust me.
So many nice stands with lots and lots of awesome models and accessories... All Vendors so nice and friendly:) Everything shiny and tempting:D

First group photo, ofc with Inspector Bombel:

You know, this cat is a big one (almost a stone). So taking that into consideration, the loot looks even more impressive;]


And because not everything is clearly visible on the photo, and because I'm still extremely excited about my new treasures, here is the list with official photos:

1. Landsknecht Soldier (Pegaso Models, 90mm)

(c) Pegaso Models

Sculptor: Andrea Jula
Painter: Diego Ruina

2. Iroquois 1760, or as I like to call him: pi**ed off Indian (Pegaso Models, 75mm)

 

(c) Pegaso Models

Sculptor: Andrea Jula 

Painter: Franco Mocci

3. Francois L'Olonnais (Pegaso Models, 75mm)

(c) Pegaso Models

Sculptor: Maurizio Bruno 

Painter: Danilo Cartacci

4. Port Royale (Andrea Miniatures, 54mm)

 (c) Andrea Miniatures

5. Norse Lord 800 A.D. (Andrea Miniatures, 54mm)

 (c) Andrea Miniatures

6. Brock the Wanderer (Scale 75, 75mm?)

(c) Scale 75

Sculptor: Joaquin Palacios

Painter: Alex Varela

7. Apache Lipan (La Meridiana, 200mm)

(c) La Meridiana Miniatures

Sculptor: Carles Vaquero

Painter: Danilo Cartacci

8. French Courtesan (El Viejo Dragon Miniatures, 1:10)

(c) El Viejo Dragon Miniatures

Sculptor: JR Arredondo

Painter: Pepa Saavedra

9. Gem Smith (War Griffon Miniatures, 1:10)

(c) War Griffon Miniatures

Sculptor: Raul Fernandez Romo

Painter: Adrian Hopwood

10. Leo Bust (Yedharo Models, 1:10)

(c) Yedharo Models

Sculptor: Fausto Gutierrez

12. Animal set (Mantis Miniatures, 1:35)

(c) Mantis Miniatures

12. Few bits and pieces : airbrush holder, a plinth (so called einzelstucke;p), set of sanding cloths,  few pigments.

I do believe it's all...

I think I should be done with buying new minis till Xmas;] Or maybe,  if I'm really lucky, till Salute next April;p

cheers

'eM

Euro Militaire 2012 - results

Well, not much to say really. This year I didn't even made a single cut.
I'm not gonna lie, I'm a bit dissapointed (everyone likes being appreciated), but on the other hand, to be perfectly honest with you... my works weren't the best there;p There is still lots for me to learn and practice, so I can only hope next year will be better.

But I didn't left Folkestone completely empty handed;]
I did proper shopping (list and photos soon) and had a chance to speak with few judges (big thanks guys for your patience:D), so I brought back really decent feedback:D
Thanks to that, Grinder and Templar are back on the workbench;] I'm not sure if I'll be able to make them winning pieces, but at least better looking ones:D

cheers

'eM

My EuroTrio;]

Here are my boys:D
Quick groupshot for now, but everyone should have a solo photoshoot closer to the next weekend.

cheers

'eM