I'm BACK!
sort of.
It's been a while since my last "real" update back in June. Time flies. During that time I've moved twice, finished having a house built, had one car die, bought another one, survived the holidays, and everything else that life throws at you to steal away hobby time.
So what I have been able to with the little time (and lack of real painting area) is to work on assembling some models, building miniature storage, and eventually setting up my hobby area in my new house. I don't have any more painting pictures to share, but here's a handful of other shots.
Many years ago my buddy came up with his version of portable miniature cases. They are boxes made of plywood, with shelves that slide out. Each shelf is a piece of plexiglass that slides in and out on grooves cut into the interior sides of the box. There is also a groove in the interior back side to help with any "sagging" that occurs. A larger piece of plexi slides onto the front of the case "closling" the box. Each plexiglass shelf holds a rectangular piece of foam of appropriate thickness. The foam is then cut by hand to hold specific miniatures. This is the most time-consuming part. But the end result is a custom case/shelves that can be swapped in and out as needed.
Picture shows my 5 cases. The two reds were the prototypes, and the 3 black ones are my main cases. Right now the black cases are holding about 60% of my Chronopia figure collection, and the rest of them are in a rubbermaid bin.
Most of my assembling work lately was piecing together my Firstborn. Here they are lying out on foam shelves in preparation of some foam-cutting sessions.
My plan for this summer is to build a large storage shelf that is on wheels. Basically a taller version of the individual cases that wont be portable....probably about the size of 3 portable cases on top of one another. Then I'd use the existing cases for transporting to games. But that project will wait until the weather warms up, and I get my saws back (they are patiently waiting for me at my mom's garage 2 hours away!)
Here I'm working on cleaning up some rare wolf clan dwarves I picked up from Josh last summer, getting them ready for appropriate storage:
FINALLY in our new house, I built a light-duty workbench in the utility area. The perfect place for miniature assembly!
In the last couple weeks, been working on assembling some larger minis:
A second Horned Totem, so my first one has a buddy:
Stygian crawler (side note: I only play 1st ed, I don't think this mini as built was in 1st ed....any 2nd edition players want to clue me in?)
A few other odds-n-ends that needed to be glued and/or need foam storage...including some wacky looking birds from Alaska...
A Goblin chariot that has needed assembly and storage for several years:
Trying to decide what is going to go onto the painting table next. I"d really like to start a new faction (probably stygian). But I'm really tempted to grind out all the Dwarf Totems first. And if I did, I would paint two of each. I don't have all of them. I need to proxy the Wolf totems, and pick up another Hordes "Lug and Cragback" which I'm using for the Bloodbone totem. But for now I'm easing my way back into the hobby. Still have lots of unpacking to do, family vacation coming up, other stuff to keep me busy.
Including cheering my UMD Bulldogs at the NCAA Frozen Four! (any college hockey fans in here? Didn't think so....)
Until next time,
Daargrim
