I have been meaning to load up these pictures for a long while now and have only just found the time to do so. If you've seen my hobby posts before you'll have seen my Lone Wolf mark 1 prototype terminator armour sculpt and casts. Well i got some time to make some more and even start work on my planned Njal Stormcaller sculpt to. So, I'm not going to say too much so here are a load of pictures with minimal writing.

As you can see in the pictures the storm bolters have been modified to be combi-weapons. It's a bit fiddly t trim the parts properly but i think it works and is worth it. i'm really liking the way they look and i only have a couple more to make for my first squad. I will also be making a a whole Space Hulk squad based on the ones from the new release of the games. I will try to have them in similar poses too, but make them more Space Wolf-ified. That's going to be a fun project in itself and one for another time though. Now, what about Njal Stormcaller?  Oh, alright... here you go!

None of these pictures are in order of process, but you can see what i've done to this point in the pictures series. I decided to go with the original staff for Njal. It was exceedingly flexible though and i was very worried about braking it so i set about drilling a hole right down the centre of it from stem to stern and inserted a steel rod in the centre. This made it a lot more sturdy and made me a lot more confident that it wouldn't break easily. I found the pose to be a bit too rigid too so after i did this rough together i tooka second set of legs and cut them both apart to fit them together again in a better pose.

So, this is currently how he stands on the side waiting for me to get around to finishing him off. The pose looks a lot better and once the base is done it'll look like quite a dynamic piece. You can see where I've added some pelt detail under his belt, and i think i'm going to extend that down a bit further. He will also have a wolf pelt head that will sit to the the right of centre from his perspective.

I have tied the cables to go around to the back and there still needs to be a bit more work done here. Not too sure how to tackle it, but i'll make it work. It may be that the pelt when it drapes down from the topr right hand side of the image will cover a multitude of sins. I'll also be extending the pelt down further at the back as well as the front.

I added a chapter symbol to the right hand side of the model as you would on most terminator armour. I thought that using a press mould of a vehicle icon would work well, and it has.

On the other shoulder he has the standard terminator honours sculpted on. It needs a little more work to look right, but it's almost there.

... and last but not least here's a bit more of a close up of the front detail. I'm pretty happy with it considering. I think i may have him finished and painted long before the other terminators are done. It's been a lot of fun making him. When i have him finished i'll also hopefully have the 'Razorback' moved forward a bit more too. It would be really nice to have the 5 man terminator squad as well as Njal Stormcaller and one of the Razorback models finished before the end of this year, which is scarily approaching at warp speed. Anyway... i hope you enjoyed this instalment of my progress and as always any feedback is always appreciated. Catch you next time.

New Dweorg miniatures competition

Hi guys,

We're running a competition over on the Gidran Miniatures Facebook page to win a set of models and some bases. Go check it out to be in with a chance of winning!

We haven't got the models up and running for sale yet, but we will do by tomorrow afternoon.

Good luck guys!

New Dwarf work

So, 2015 has been the year where i have been able to really push forward with the Dwarf miniatures. Looking back all those years ago it is nice to now see my ideas coming to life as it were. With three current releases of my science fiction space dwarf miniatures available and a ton of other models in development, waiting to go to the casters, or currently being sat on the 'inbox' or stack flow counter, whatever analogy you want to use, it's looking good for the rest of this year and into next year. We decided to not do any shows this year as we weren't happy with the amount of items we would have for sale, but next year may be different. we'll see. So we released these guys yesterday:
 

... and i must admit i was a little excited to be having them up to show everyone. We only announced their release on our Facebook page (click to see or facebook page) as this is always our first point of call these days. We'll be disseminating it over the rest of our social media once the items are actually up for sale on the eBay and website stores.
 







One of the perks of being the sculptor and one of the first people to see the miniatures when they get back is that i also get to play when the do arrive. I've long been a fan of squa... i mean, space dwarves and so couldn't resist converting a few to fit in with my other figures in my private collection. Though they're a bit larger than Games Workshops race of a similar nature they still fit with my Bob Olley models and the Mantic ones too. Here are some side by side comparison photos...
   

Left to right: Krieg Dwarf standard bearer, Gidran Miniatures mine guard, Bob Olley trooper.

 

Left to right: Mantic Forge Father (Freya), Gidran Miniatures mine guard, Games Workshop Squat.

 

Left to right: awesome dwarf sculpt, Gidran Miniatures mine guard, Werewolf Miniatures Dvarg.

We're hopefully going to have a sergeant model ready for you soon (sculpt is done just awaiting casting) along with another species as support for the Dweorg forces. To give you an idea of things to come though, here are a few quick snaps of what's on the way.

above: Some more bits and pieces that are getting the resin treatment.

above: a sneak peak at some of the other bits being done.

above: Some heads and... what's that in the background?

So that's pretty much where i am at the moment regarding the recent models i've been working on. are in mind that the pictures you've seen are a few weeks old so the works in progress you've seen are a lot further along if not already complete. Anyway, let me know what you think... it's always nice to have feedback, and catch you all again soon.

Engineseer with a difference

So, recently i've been putting together (collecting the parts) to put together a Vostroyan First Born Imperial Guard force. It's something i want to add to slowly over time and add my own sculpts to also. However, as much as i love the GW (Games Workshop) Engineseer models and have a few already i wanted to do something different for my command squad. I had seen many people using the Cairn Wraith in conversions for their Mechanicus armies and always wanted to do something similar with the model so whilst in the Warhammer store in Cardiff i picked up a copy of the miniature and set to attacking it. I had loads of parts left over from my Mechanicus force so took some parts from there to modify it. I also had a spare techmarine axe and backpack servo arm so used those.



You can see a cool little mechanical hand has been used on the left arm which is taken from leftover pieces from a Blight Wheel miniature. I used a miss cast Martian/Desert 32mm base for putting the miniature on using some clear rod. The bottom of the shroud of the Cairn Wraith has more than ample space to drill a hole for a 3mm piece of rod. The only things left to do is fitting the servoarm and then doing some greenstuff work on it like tubes from the underside of the head to the chest plate. At the moment it looks like it's just a floating head, which could work but i'd prefer the cables. I'll post some pictures when it's done but for now that's it.

Personal projects

I've been working on some personal projects recently that are more hobby based, but the images below will give you an idea.

You can view more on these projects by heading over to my personal website where i tend to post things these days instead of posting up on here. I will be trying to sort out some way of automatically duplicating the posts here, but for now my website is the place to find them.

Female puppet and an update

It March and my first post in 2012. I've been excptionally busy this year so far doing far more than i have time to put in this blog.

Its been a while now since i've had the chance to do any animating and one of my new years resolutions was to remedy that so i have taken a couple of weeks out of my busy life to do just that. In the image you can see the drawing of an armature for a character i will be introducing you guys to very soon. The armature is 65% complete and i am hoping that she will be finished by monday. Test animations and set concepts will follow shortl after and then hopefully a nice littl animated short which will be available to watch over at www.approachingstormfilms.com once complete.

Thats all for now folks but check back soon for more updates!

Oh, hello 2012!

It's been over 6 months since my last post in this blog and there has been a lot going on. I am currently working on two web based projects that are going to be aired on the Approaching Storm Films website later this year as well as my continuous work with Wytchfire Studio. There are some photos to show you of some of the work I've been doing. First off there has been some scenery for 28mm war gaming that i have done (below)



Also i have been working on the props for one of the two Approaching Storm Films which is currently entitled project 12. Project 12 if a near future Sci-Fi project which means I'm able to make some pretty cool props. The image in my previous post was one of the earlier props being made, but you'll have to wait a while before i can release any pictures of the current props or design work.

I have also, in my spare time, been working on the puppets for the next Swynshire animation. The only image i have at the moment is of a character called Howrith, which has history going back to 2003 but is going to be making his debut in puppet form in the next short.



(Above: Howrith next to Thomas from the first short entitled "The Collector")

There will be more pictures as time goes on, but for now i shall leave you with these two.