Here be Dragons!

[noahtonkin]

So Chaps and chapesses it's time for another update......

Update 11!
If music be the food of love... err, not sure where this is going...



After the franticness of SCGT, followed by a week of horrible night shifts I thought it best to get back on the bus and do some modelling.

No, not that kind, although you may see something similar later in this blog if I have time...

Instead I mean painting/modelling small grey plastic elves and dragons.

As an aside, I stuck my iTunes on random this morning and am amazed at some of the crap I own.
I shall periodically be inserting song title and artist as something classic comes on. Please note, I'm not going to be listening to all of the song if it's bad...
eg, right now Atomic Kitten-Whole Again..WHY!!!
Skip on. Richard Cheese-Nookie. Better. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l0IbaOr6go


So project 1 was a new dragon.
This I did by getting my grubby mitts on a brand new but horribly cheap dark elf hydra (seriously, £20 on ebay, bargin!)
It's a failcast model so although it was brand new and not stuck together 2 of the heads were missing, hence the fact it went cheap on ebay probably.




So what I did (really should have taken some WiP pictures shouldn't I...)

Step 1. clean up model.

Step 2. Finecast model meet stupidly hot tap!
So 1st off I stuck the tail and legs on. After this was dry I heated it up under a tap. (Papa Roach-Between Angels and Insects. OLD SCHOOL!!!)
1st I bent the back legs so the hydra was rearing up, then the rest of the legs to match this. unfortunately there's some discrepancy between how low each leg can get, but this'll be easy to sort out with the bases.
Next I bent the tail so that when on a base it wouldn't be past the floor.


Step 2. neck time.
So I selected which necks to use and where to put them. this involved some chopping and changing as the ones I had available weren't designed to go where I wanted them to go. But thankfully this is easy with fine cast.
(Rollin' by Limp Bisket...keep rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin'. skip on! Riverboat Song-Ocean Colour Scene. Better)
after attaching the heads and necks to the model I broke out the hot water again and started to manipulate the necks to where I wanted them to go.





A few quick tips.
1. heat the model for a while to make sure it's bendy enough.
2. move it into the position you want by slow constant pressure. trying to suddenly yank it won't work. it takes time.
3. once its in place seal it. Keep hole of the model in the place you want it and run it under cold water. if you let go it'll springback into it's original position.
4. I found the easiest way was multiple small movements rather than trying to make a huge change in 1 go.




Now the model is nice and twisted it's time for some wings.

I had an old set of dragon wings lying around from when 1 of the pegs snapped. I'd tried magnets but just failed. tried pins, same.
in the end bought a set off a bits site but had these lying around.

I drilled some holes in the wings and pinned them to the body, then covered the gaps with green stuff.
they need a second layer of green stuff to sculpt, but that's for a later time.
anyway, here are some pics of the finished product.










It looks cool. And quite nasty. And was actually surprisingly easy to do.

But for some reason I just don't love it.
I think it looks a bit thin which is a massive shame since it would have been a laugh to pose the heads in lots of different positions.
(The Donnas-It's So Hard. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9wlWiCWHm8 Used to be my favorite band. hame they're not together any more. Will warn you, they're not that good, but punk rock all girl band who were quite hot, what's not to love! Plus come from the school of AC/DC lyrics, slight sexual innuendo.... eg. It's so Hard to be on you're own, when you're holding it all alone, and you've been working it to the bone....)

So, I've made the 1 hydra dragon, but am now waiting on an Azhag Wyvern from eBay.
The whole Targaryen Dragon idea is still very much a go. In the AGOT books the dragons have only got 2 legs, not 4, so are effectively wyverns. Hence the plan to get hold of hopefully a chea one and give it a go.
I've also been considering an O&G army as a second project once I flog the Ogres, so if this doesn't work out as well I can always use it in them.







So that's it for dragons, now on to other.
(See above bracket about innuendo lyrics, now got AC/DC-Crabsody in Blue... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPZhkBYaJ6I)

In other I have been mostly makeing Ellyrion Reavers.
This Milton Keynes thing coming p uses tempest comp. so revers and silver helms as core.
This lets me do an all mounted army, core being 4x5 reavers. 2 with bows and spears, 2 with just bows.
Only theoryhammer at present but my god does it make for a maeuverable army. vanguard and fast cav means I can effectively redeploy the army before turn 1 if I so choose.
and the joys of fast cav letting me flee, rally and then keep on moving=just what I need!

So as with the other units I've built them up, shaved off mold lines etc then made up some bases and stuck them to the cork.
Need to get down to the club to pick up a few bits and peices to make a musician and SB for each unit, but here's 2 almost done so far....











OK, so iTunes just went weird. Sam Cooke- Only 16 (about a girl who's 16, obviously), followed by AC/DC Let Me Put My Love Into You (about sex), followed by Sam Cooke, again, Chain Gang (about, well, being on a chain gang, presumably for doing something you shouldn't), followed by AC/DC, again, Jailbreak (which actually has the line 'ain't breaking no rocks on the chain gang'!

I've also chopped the spears off 1 unit. not to tricky a job, especially with plastic models. Here's some comparisons of 2 of the same model from each unit.
The only really annoying thing is the single pose models, but since all my archers are 4th Ed single pose I don;t really see that as a massive issue!




(It Wasn't Me. Shaggy feat Richardo Ducent... SKIP!!! I See Girls Studio B. I remember this on the music channel when I used to work in a wine bar in york, very funny video, but not really what I want to listen to right now, so SKIP!!! The Hives. Idiot Walk. Acceptable)

So, after a slightly failed modelling project and a couple of units, looks like things are still up and running in the land of dragons.
As an aside if I ever have to do fluff for a tournament (don't think any uk ones do this any more, but just in case) I'd thoguht of saying they were from one of those little islands on the map of where there are high elves. And because there werent any dragons on the island they had tamed the local wyvens
And by using magic They can rebuild them. They do after all have the technology. They can make them better than they were. Better...stronger...faster... (Ie More of a connon magnet....unable to complete charges....and overall fluffier)

Something else I've been up to is dice ordering.

My dice are generally god awful with the exception of the odd game. However I have noticed that the bigger dice i've got as charity dice from tournaments roll slightly better.
Maybe it's just me but supersticion is a cruel misstress.So with this in mind i thought maybe some custom dice to match the army/are bigger anywaymay help. plus it's just more proof of my insanity.

So I sent an email to Chessex about some custom dice. (Nice Guys Finish Last Green Day... Yeah!!!)
Sent them a few designs for some dice not being too sure how much detail they could get.
got an email back with some pics of a sample.



They look ace, so have ordered a bunch. hopefully it'll be the key to me winning all my future games... Hmm.

(B*Witched C'est La Vie Skip- No, not the dance like them, the song! Monty Python-Always Look On The Bright Side. Hmm. these 2 songs have very similar messages, and yet this I can listen to. strange!)


So there we go everyone.
A slight insight into the kind of crap I get p to when sleep deprived and devoid of normal healthy person human contact.

Tarra for Now!

(Truely Madly Deeply, Savage Garden....AAAAaaaarrrrggghhhh! Skip, skip skip skip!!!! I Just Died I Your Arms Tonight. Cutting Crew. How 80's!!)



















PS. Please note. Th above mentioned songs were not all that played, just what I though needed a mention.
I didn;t say how many times soundtracks of Tron, Tron Legacy, Conan...all 3, Starship Troopers, Green Lantern, Ironman (you get the picture) came on.
When You've got 51 days of music including all the Now! albums up until Now! 67 there's bound to be a lot of rap in you're music collection. That and It's an amalgamation of music collected over the past 9 years, covering multiple ex's who had access to my music collection and so added stuff they wanted to listen to because they didn't want to hear repeated plays of Punk Pop, rock, Punk Folk or Dance depending on my current musical tastes




PPS. Do They Know It's Christmas Time Band Aid...SKIP!!!! The History of Everything Barenaked Ladies.Ie Big Bang Theme tune. That's ok.

[noahtonkin]

OK, so iTunes just went weird. Sam Cooke- Only 16 (about a girl who's 16, obviously), followed by AC/DC Let Me Put My Love Into You (about sex), followed by Sam Cooke, again, Chain Gang (about, well, being on a chain gang, presumably for doing something you shouldn't), followed by AC/DC, again, Jailbreak (which actually has the line 'ain't breaking no rocks on the chain gang'!

Does this happen to anyone else? No, just me then.
Am now listening to every song thinking 'what could iTunes play next that's just wrong?
Percy Sledge-When a Man Loves a Woman followed by The Kinks-Lola?....
no it was instead followed by Why Can't We Be Friend's by Smash Mouth (think it's on the soundtrack to Baseketball) Equally funny though!

[cunningmatt]

My ASBO prevents me listing what tracks I'm listening too whilst blogging. But suffice to say I have the Now albums you are missing!

I think the Hydra/Dragon looks great. But if you think it looks too thin, maybe it needs some smaller wings - they are quite dominant on it?

Games Workshop do a load here:

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/armySubUnitCats.jsp?catId=cat440125a&rootCatGameStyle=

Though you may get them cheaper on eBay. I used the Winged Nightmare Wings on my Jabberslythe - they may be a better scale?

[noahtonkin]

WTF?! What happened to all my pics?!

Grr, bloody photobucket.

right, point of this mini rant...

completely forgot about this guy!



He's plastic so carving up shouldnt be too much of an issue.
Would need a head swap to something more dragony, but the wings shold be easily detachable so transport should be ok too!

thoughts?

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat750029a&prodId=prod1500532a

[maelzch]

With a more dragony head, that'd be ace!

[fatolaf]

I have that model and used it to (WIP) make a Jibber Jabber, would make an ace dragon, very Wyvern esque...

[noahtonkin]

So, for those who saw my tweet today.
thought I'd best let people know details.

Current job ends beginning of june. I'll be around london for a bit longer than that.

But clearly I need a job to go to.
As fun as London is (and you lot do make it so) I don't want to stay around here forever.
Need to get my career back on track.

Had an interview yesterday for a 1 year job in A&E in manchester, got a phone call this morning offering me the job.
I'm still waiting on some other interviews but those are all up north as well.

So there we go. I'll be off up north at some point. will still be around and likely to come down for a waagh or 2. plus I'll see you all at tournaments.

[Tom Loyn]

Sadface, good for you though buddy!

Oorr...Cornwall? That's where I'm going ;) does anyone else find it funny that on the same page GW have Pegasus wings for £7.20 they advertise a 'have you got' whole Pegasus for £6.65 :)

[fatolaf]

Will be v sad to see you go buddy, been losing too may orginal Oggers of late 

[noahtonkin]

Shall update soon. But....