It's the end of May and things have finally started to warm up in my neck of the woods.  Monster May(hem) continues over at the Angry Piper.  And I will continue to paint a monster or two to support this effort.

This past week see me paint up some monsters of the "smaller" variety.   They are commission pieces to I'm not sure of the manufacturer of one of them.  But without further ado....

 This Displacer Beast is a metal figure.  I'm not sure of the maker but I can say that it didn't go together quite right and needed some filling to cover the seams.  Still, I like the face on this one and the lean nature of the cat..

                                            Here is the same beast along side another one.

 This is the second Displacer Beast.  It is a DnD miniature made by Wizards of the Coast.  It's made out of a sort of plastic material.  They claim you can paint straight on it without priming.  But I primed anyway.  I like the muscular nature of this figure and the dynamic tentacles.

Finally, I have a minotaur by Reaper Miniatures.  He's a big fellow.  I'm not a fan of the choice of weapons.  Minotaurs need something two handed to fight with!  Still, it's a nice figure and it was fun to paint. The Greek Hoplite and the rabbit were thrown in just for fun.  But the Greek is a Warlord plastic figure and the rabbit is a Skull and Crown figure.  I like rabbits.....

Enjoy....

I'm not Drag-on

Over at Dead Dick's Tavern and Temporary Lodging (angrypiper.com), there is a monster theme going on for the month of May.  Now, I've been known to paint a monster or two on occasion so I thought it would be fun to participate.  And it gives me a reason to get a few projects back on course.

I've had this miniature for quite a long time now.  It's a Grenadier miniature, 25mm scale (although how can one really determine "scale" on something like this?).  This miniature has a bit of a long history.  I believe I purchased it decades ago, one day painted it is a gift, that gift made it back to me in pieces, and then I striped off the old paint and gave it new life.  I like it better this way.  Hopefully you will like it too....

The young lady is for size reference only.  But, if you're interested, she's a 25mm figure from Reaper Miniatures.  One of those "Bones" figures.  Not sure how I feel about that material but that is a discussion for another day.  Make sure you head on over to www.angypiper.com to see all the other cool miniatures being painted.  Enjoy....

Back at it...

Looking to get the blog revived.  And to do that will require some investment in time and energy on my part.  There are only so many hours in the day and much of my free time is spent on painting or on hobby related projects.  But I do find myself on social media more than I would like.  So my plan is to reduce social media time and increase sharing time here on the blog.  And maybe use the extra spare time to paint more miniatures. 

Here are a few things that I painted to get ready for Huzzah!, Maine's premier gaming convention.  Unfortunately, with viruses and shut down orders, Huzzah! 2020 was cancelled.   But I continue to work on the projects with the hopes that one day the games will happen again.  Enjoy!

Moving along in the studio

My studio is nothing elaborate.  Just a spare room in my house.  But, from time to time, we change things around in the house.  Invariably, that causes me to make changes in the studio as there is either a complete change in the layout of my space or the extra influx of items causes a reorganization of my space.  As my space is limited, this usually forces me to make decisions on what to keep out and what to pack up and put into storage.  As of this writing I am still trying to clean up the studio from a move of about a month and a half ago.  Ugh.  Of course, when I'm in the studio it's always easier to pick up a paint brush than to clean and organize.

Let's see what sort of work I've done instead of organizing, shall we???

 Above are some 25mm Old Glory British commanders for the colonial era.  

 Large scale resin pirate ogres.  This is a special commission and I'll give more details on these later.

 28mm Trojan War figures.  From left to right, Foundry, Black Tree Designs, Black Tree Designs, and Redoubt.  

 28mm Gripping Beast Normans.  Hand painted shield designs.  

28mm Warlord Polish for World War Two.  

That's it for this week.  Next week shall be more of the same.  But I am working on a special commission that needs to be done in a week's time.  Wish me luck.  

Until next time, keep painting....

Another week...

Miniature painting is a bit like meditation for me.  It can be very relaxing and I sometimes find myself doing some odd things that I wouldn't normally do in a public setting.  Singing being one of them.  I usually put on some music to paint to and find myself singing along to a song all the while applying paint to a figure.  My music choices vary.  I'm not sure if it affects my painting.  If it does I apologize for painting country on a death metal, spikey bit figure!

 Above you'll find an assortment of fantasy figures.  I couldn't tell you the manufacturer but I can tell you they are 25mm.  These are for a gentleman who was just looking to get a few things painted.

 A Gripping Beast 28mm Norman knight.  He will be part of a larger unit for the game SAGA.

 28mm Warlord.  World War Two Poles.  I would be curious to see how these compare to the new Polish range from Crusader.  

 28mm Wargames Foundry.  World War Two Luftwaffe Pilots/Aircrew.  I quite like these figures.  Perfect for any scenarios where a downed aircraft is in play.  

 28mm Warlord Early War Germans.  These figures are from the plastic set offered by Warlord.  Plastic figures seem pretty durable.  And they paint up just as easy as metal.  My biggest complaint is the lack of variety offered in box sets.  6 torsos per frame.  One is prone.  Another is in a silly running pose.  One is kneeling.  So that leaves 3 in an upright and sensible pose.  Only so much you can do with those unless you want to start cutting legs to get other positions.  But I am probably being too picky.  I'm sure Warlord sells plenty of sets and others make them work just fine.  

Lastly, something different.  I painted up this dragon to use at our local school.  It is made out of rigid foam.  The same stuff we gamers use for scenery.  I thought it came out pretty cool so I'm including it.  Until next time, keep painting!

The Return....

I'm back!   After far too long I have decided to get back to showing off some miniature work and to get back to adding things to this page.  I won't go into details on my absence.  There were many reasons but mostly it was probably laziness.  A terrible excuse, I know.  Let's get into the miniatures...

 Above you see some World War Two Polish figures from Warlord.  Nice figures.  Good detail.  I found several painting guides and took the ideas that I thought best when it came to choosing colors.  These guys are part of a squad I am painting for skirmish gaming. 

 These are 28mm Gripping Beast Bretons.  They are mercenaries for the game SAGA.  They will be part of a Norman force.  All shields are hand painted.  Sure, I could have used decals.  But then, they would be the same as everybody else who uses the same decals.  Go for individuality if you have the chance! 

 More Warlord 28mm World War Two.  This time a German SS sniper team.  These guys are just an added unit to a platoon of SS.  No political statement is being made here.  Just painting some miniatures. 

Finally, for something different, here are some Games Workshop Lizard Men.  These are Fire Salamanders and their Skink handlers.  Games Workshop makes some really nice figures.  But they are pricey.  Second hand or on sale is what I recommend.  But I have many interests and limited funds.  These guys will actually wind up in a force for the game Dragon Rampant. 

Well, that's all for this week.  I hope to have more completed next week and get pictures posted then. 
Until next time.....Keep painting!

An Experiment in sales

On a forum for Maine war gamers, there was a question posed that asked if you can make money selling painted miniatures on E-bay or similar auction sites.  I maintained that one could make money but probably not with a large profit.  Of course, this also brings to mind if one can make money painting on commission and, if so, how much per hour?

I never really timed myself during a project to see how much I actually do make per figure.  So I decided to make a project of doing so.  I will take a project, from beginning to end and log it here.  This is a personal project and does not belong to anyone but me.

For this experiment I've chosen to paint up a DBA army.  A 15mm Carthaginian army made by Essex miniatures, specifically.  DBA (De Bellis Antiquitatus) is an ancient/medieval rule set for fighting out battles on a small scale.  Armies are limited to 12 elements (or units) with very small figures required. This army is an army pack that Essex offers and is something I picked up years ago.

There are 57 figures in this pack.  That includes horses and elephants (always charge separately for them).  To purchase it, new, from Essex would cost you $37.23.  Add to that $10.98 shipping to the US and I have already put $48.21 into just figures.  If I was to paint this army on commission I would charge $171.00 to paint.  Add in a bit for bases and I am hoping, at the end of this project, to make $230.00.  How much per hour this will translate to will remain to be seen.  I would like my time to come out to about $15.00 per hour but we will see.  Without further ado, lets begin.....

I cleaned and organized all the figures.  Essex miniatures are getting a bit long in the tooth, so to speak so there was a bit more flash and seam lines than one would see from new moulds.  But, they use a softer alloy in their castings so cleanup isn't too bad.  There was some assembly that needed to be done with the elephants and with a few shields that needed to be glued on.  Additionally, I glued all riders to horses.  Normally I save this after painting is done but the amount of time spent is still the same.  Also, I didn't have to but I filled in the seams on the elephant's backs.  I felt it would help in photographs later on.

Here is my running totals on time and money spent....

Time spent up till now : 2 hours, 30 minutes
Money spent      $48.26   (I figured about 0.5 cents in glue and filler.  Hidden costs one must worry          about)

Next time...primer and paint!