Motor Pool

Been practicing up on my weathering, chipping, and washing.  Just completed an Abrams, Bradley, and 3 HMMWVs - all 1/72.  The Abrams and Bradley are from Trumpeter, and the HMMWVs are from Revell Germany.  Drivers (each of the HMMWVs have drivers that you can barely see!), gunners, and tank crew are from Liberation Minis and Elhiem Minis.

Star Wars The Old Republic is going to be crazy

I spent part of the weekend catching up on news from the upcoming MMO, Star Wars The Old Republic.  I have been quietly anticipating this game from BioWare (makers of several other high end RP games such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect) since it was announced a couple years ago.  Ive been trying my best not to get too excited about it, but I saw some stuff this weekend that has pretty much put me over the top.  No release date has been announced yet, but late this year, or more likely early next year would be my assumption.  E3 (the big video game conference in LA) is in a couple weeks, and Im hoping for an announcement there.

Anyway, here are some pics, most of which were stolen off of Darth Hater's website - a great fansite btw -  here.

Planet Alderaan

The Valley Of The Dark Lords, a Sith player in the Valley, and the inside of a Sith Temple

A bounty hunter (the dual pistols are fucking awesome!) and a bounty hunter's ship - the Kuat Drive Yards D5 Mantis

A Sith Inquisitor - has the ability to stealth - Im assuming this will be like the Rogue's stealth ability in World Of Warcraft.  This is an 'opening move' coming out of stealth.

A picture of space combat - from a presentation at the PAX Expo this year (I think).

Three Imperial Agent pics - sexy!

Ive already been thinking of what type of character I want to play - I already know I want to play on the Sith faction side (who will fight vs the Republic - Jedis, Smugglers, etc), but at this point, im totally torn on which class I will want to play.  Each class eventually splits into two specializations:

The Sith Inquisitor, which splits into the Sith Sorcerer and Sith Assassin
The Bounty Hunter, which splits into the Mercenary and Powertech
The Imperial Agent, which splits into the Operative and the Sniper

Ive narrowed down my choices to Sith Assassin, Mercenary, Operative, or Sniper.  :)  Way to narrow it down, huh?

More info to come as I learn more about the game!

Gut Pak

My wife and I just got back from Texas.  While there, we experienced our first 'Gut Pak' - fritos, cheese, meat, beans, bbq sauce, pickles, onions, jalapenos.  More like a 'Gut Bomb'...

http://www.viteksbbq.com/

Al Qaeda from Liberation Minis

Terrorists, fundamentalists - just general assholes.  But they paint up nicely!

Work sucks.

My quote to 'Corey's Corner' today:

Redacted :)  Corey, you are welcome.  I guess I need to be careful when the comments are about work hehehehe  "Meanwhile i sit here making some faggot motherfucker rich while I see no return. I love my job."

TIME MAGAZINE COPIED ME!!!!

Check out this week's cover of Time Magazine :) :)

They copied me!!!  I should have copyrighted my work!!!  Mine looks better :)

Wonder if Time needs artists????

1/285 Sherman Tanks

Shermans from GHQ.  I love GHQ stuff, but they are just so damned expensive for what you get....

The models are very nicely detailed though.

Multicam - the toughest camo I have painted

I finished up 3 fire teams of US Op Enduring Freedom from Liberation Minis over the weekend, and I painted them in Multicam.  Recently, the US has decided to move to Multicam from ACU that won the camo competition a few years back.  Any new units that go to the 'Stan will have Multicam, at least for the time being,

It is, by far, the toughest camo I have painted.  I feel like its decent, and while it may not look exactly right, I think I caught the feel of it.

Late with April's totals!

Its been an eventful week here in the good ole US of A.  The death of bin Laden has been a very surreal event.  Serious props go out to the men and women of the US armed services, but especially to the Navy SEAL team who dropped in to the compound in Afghanistan to deliver their well wishes.

Ive seen two quotes over the past few days that I really like:
"We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm." - Winston Churchill

"Only God can decide if terrorists are right or wrong.  Its our job to arrange the meeting." - unnamed US Navy SEAL

Now, on to the totals!  A good month for painting - I finished a lot up this month.  If you have been keeping up with my blog, I discovered 20mm miniatures, and im totally hooked.  I spent a couple hundred dollars on new figures, and also several 1/72 modern vehicles (a couple Humvees, a Bradley, and an Abrams tank).

The figures include a few packs of US soldiers from the 2004ish era of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and also several packs of more recent US soldiers, as well as some afghans, Iraqi militants, and some other generic terrorists.  I finished the OIF soldiers, and started on the more recent figures, attempting Multicam camo, which Im working on now.

I also finished up some Predators, a 15mm Humvee, and a few 'zombie hunter' types.  As usual, my ADD kicked in, and I put aside several of the 15mm vehicles I had been working on, as well as the spaceship and US Navy vessels.  Im taking them off of the 'In Progress' list, because its unlikely Ill get back to them this month.

Completed, for April, 2011:

28mm infantry completed: 12
3 "Zombie Hunters" (Recreational Conflict) 
8 Hunter Aliens (Predators) (Copplestone Castings)
1 Hellhound (Heresy Miniatures)

20mm infantry completed: 16 
16 US Army, Operation Iraqi Freedom (Elhiem Miniatures)

15mm Modern Armor completed: 1 
1 HMMWV (Irish Serb) 

In progress, April/May, 2011:
1/285 Armor in progress: 5
5 M4 Sherman tanks (GHQ Miniatures)  

20mm Infantry in progress: 14
14 US Army, ultra modern (Liberation Miniatures)

Im really starting to hit my stride on the 20mm figures.  It took me about a week of work on the 16 OIF figures (maybe 10 hours?) and I have started on the US Army modern figs from Liberation Minis - they are nearly complete after 5 or 6 hours of work so far.

As I mentioned earlier, I dropped a couple hundred bucks this month, all on 20mm figures and models.

Yearly Completed Totals:

25-28mm infantry completed: 38
25-28mm cavalry completed: 3
20mm infantry completed: 16
15mm infantry completed: 33
15mm armor completed: 1
1/1200 naval vessel completed: 1
Turtle Tank completed: 1

Purchases in April, 2011:

Great Models (1/72 models) - ~$100
Syr Hobbs Miniatures and RH Models (Elhiem and Liberation Miniatures) - ~100

Total Purchases, 2011

~$892