summer break - done

As expected, I didn’t really get everything accomplished on my week off.
I did clear down a bit of the ‘mess’ in the kitchen. I finally returned some empties - I had an empty twelve in the shed and another twelve in the kitchen. I went through a bunch of magazines that Shan had read the week before.

We popped into a Value Village and found a skirt and boots for Gee's costume. I need to dye the skirt but these were two of the big components that I was concerned about.

Then on the weekend, I found my square and cut a bunch of the bases for the western figures and glued the ones I was working on to the bases.

I started to assemble my Deff Dread bits. I don’t have all of the bits to complete one yet but got the torso assembled.

My son pulled out his figures and paints so I started to repaint his Space Wolves.
We even managed to finally watch 24 (2008-2009) off the tapes so now we can start watching 24 off of the DVR. We also finally watched Torchwood: Children of Earth.

I took some pictures with the camera, so will be able to update some of the pictures-to-follow labeled posts shortly.

All-in-all, I’m declaring it a productive week.

figure (non)painting total - July

In July I really got into buying 40k bits online. Not all have shown up yet though.
I did manage to get:
40K Tau stealth XV25 (in bits) - 3
40K Drop Pod (in bits) - 1

Since I still haven't found my metal t-square to cut the bases, I haven't painted anything. With the new paint from GW, the paint from Dollarama, and next week off I hope to finally add something to the painted column. We'll see how the weather and what Shan has planned for me to do.

July figures bought – 4, figures painted – 0

Running total 2010 – figures bought 87, figures painted 0

Whitewash City

After admiring it for quite some time, I finally ordered the Whitewash City from HotzArtWorks. I had downloaded the free sample saloon before and finally ordered the Pioneer (starter) set. The value on this is unbelievably good. For $15.99 you can get it sent as PDFs by email or mailed on CD. It included a Bank, Sheriff’s Office & Jail, Saloon, two hotels, and 6 other buildings. With the extra free saloon this is more than enough to flesh out a small town.

He has many other buildings on his site which enables you to build quite a substantial western town. The files include both the colored and black and white versions of the buildings so you can reuse the same buildings without being as noticeable.

They are scaled to 30mm (1/60) so are a bit big for 1/75 scale plastic figures but are perfect for most 25mm figures. I’m looking to upsize them to 1/35 to be able to use with the cowboy figures I’ve been working at painting.

summer movies

Knight and Day - Finally, a fun movie from Tom Cruise like he used to make. This one has all the charm and fun that we used to expect from him. The story held together enough and the glossing over parts worked very well. Cameron Diaz holds her own in this one. We certainly recommend it as a fun action film. Tom is still 'the guy' in this one.


Predators brought back a lot of the feelings of the first Predator movie. You don’t see the Predators much in this sequel but it doesn’t suffer because of it. Having just seen the Brothers Bloom, we were a bit unsure of Adrian Brody as a callous action hero but he managed to pull it off quite well. The action holds up and the many targeted characters held up enough for an action film. Good fun all around.


The Sorcerer’s Apprentice tied in to the part from the Fantasia clip and rolled in with Merlin vs Morgana Le Fey. Nic Cage is suitably wacky and Jay Baruchel came across as a believably dubious apprentice. The blend of physics and sorcery was a nice touch – I loved the Faraday cage and Telsa coil.

Cultural Shift - TVs

I grew up in the seventies and eighties. Even then there had been a large cultural shift in technology. Since then there has been another shift.

By then everybody had a color television set. Some people still had a black and white TV as an extra TV but the main set was color. A lot of people had a second TV – some even had mini-portable TVs – with a tiny 1”-3” screen. A few people had old projection TVs - but they were bulky and not very good quality.
Now some people don't even have a TV - they have a media center monitor which doubles as their computer screen. They can also watch video on a portable device with a great picture. Large TVs now take up a lot less room and have a great picture.

When a TV program was on you either had to watch it then or wait for it to play again in reruns during the summer. Then VCRs came out and you were able to tape a program to watch again later. Originally the tapes were very expensive and you had to erase them to use again. Recorded programs (movies, etc) were crazy expensive - $100 a tape when they came out. These prices soon dropped to about $30 a tape.
Now you can download programs and watch what you want, when you want. PVRs allow you to record programs and watch and delete shows at your whim. DVDs are out for about $25 when they first come out - but quickly drop in price until they hit the $5 bins. Many TV series have been released on to DVD, and quickly too - so you can catch any shows that you missed.

Video cameras came out - huge at first (you had to carry the camera and a VCR) and then more portable. This allowed you to record other things and make your own movies. This was much more accessible than the old Super 8 film cameras that were out before – you could see things right away instead of having to send in the film to get processed.
Now most cameras and even cell phones will record video. Camcorders have come down in size and price. Instead of fussing with dubbing tapes, most are able to connect to a DVD recorder or computer and copy onto DVDs. Some cameras even record directly on to digital media – SD cards or mini-discs.

We are now an army!

With the bits I have been getting, and the figures I already have, I think I will work at making an Ork army for 40K. While I do have enough marines to field and almost enough Tyranids, I also have a lot of Orks, especially with the Assault on Black Reach set. They also have the bonus of being Orks – which means I can scratch build some and work on my painting skills.

The Tau and the Necrons both intrigue me – but since I don’t have a base of those figures to start the outlay would be a bit steep to start a new army.
The Space Wolves are certainly high on my list and have the bonus of working with my son’s army. My Dead Heads are fine to field, but are somewhere in my room.
My Tyranids are fine to field but need a few upgrades – and at that point I have to see if I want to change my color scheme.

While I have a lot of Orks buried in my room with my other figures, I have a lot of the new ones on hand too. With the bits I've been getting, I can start to put together a coherent force.
I'm digging through the Ork codex to get point values for the figures I have and to see what to build towards.

Painting with liquid gold

I popped by the local Games Workshop on Sunday. Shan came with me so I pre-warned her about the ‘red shirts’. For those of you who haven’t encountered one of these yet, they are a hyper-enthusiastic sales staff that most GW stores have to push product. Luckily, he wasn’t in – but Shan still found the regular manager pretty pushy.

I was in to pick up some paints for D3’s Space Wolves. I got a Fenris Grey Foundation paint, Boltgun metallic, Space Wolf Grey, and the Asurmen Blue ink. I was looking for Space Wolf Blue Grey but they no longer sell it.
These should let me see how the new foundation paints work and get a good base of the colors so that I can look for cheaper equivalents. The three paints and inks cost about twenty dollars. However, these should be the main one I need to paint up his figures. I finally shook out a Great Company from him and a design for the other shoulders squad markings, so it’s all just a matter of me actually painting them.