Salute here we come!

We are now on our way 'up country' as they say to the great, magnificent Londinivm. Really looking forward to the show tomorrow, and should hopefully get a chance for some moules frittes tonight and a beverage with some good friends at the hotel later.

Models are safely packed and on the table in front of me. I'll try to get some more updates later.

Plinths and nameplates

The plinths and nameplates arrived for my salute entries yesterday and I just wanted to share...

Name-It! and Oakwood-Studios have come out trumps for me at short notice to sort me out a couple of plinths and some nice name plates. This is a bit of a new foray for me as I don't usually leave my plinths wood coloured (I almost always go black), and I've never bought a nameplate, but I think these look pretty good...

The nameplates are gloss black with gold detailing, but have a thin protective plastic film on at the moment. They should really stand out when I pull it off. I might not do that until Saturday morning.

Whilst we are talking about the Name-it has a really old school website, and no automated online store, and I must say, that is partly why I have never used them. Being a bit of a techno-phile, I was unsure about the sort of service I would get... I must say though, I would definitely use them again. The website tells you to print out an order form, fill it in and send it to them which really wasn't a great option considering I had just one week before the competition - time was at a premium... However, after dropping them an email it ended up being a very easy process - I emailed them with what I wanted and they sent me the stuff! The slightly scary bit was that I didn't hear from them for a few days after confirming my order by email - I had pretty much given up (not that I would get my goods, but that I would get them before Salute). But Monday I had an email letting me know the nameplates were in the post! Thanks go to Julie at Name-It!

The Oakwood-Studio plinths are also pretty good. The edges are really sharp, and the larger one in the photo above (with the pig-man) has some really nice grain in it. I know that there is a certain amount of luck involved in that, but it makes me feel confident that Richard at Oakwood-Studios has a pretty good eye for the wood he uses. I also think that the best customer service isn't necessarily perfect service, but the way you handle any issues which may arise. This was the case with Oakwood. They accidentally sent me the wrong plinth for my pig-man, but after I contacted them to let them know, they made a real effort to get me my replacement before the show on Saturday - thanks Richard at Oakwood-Studios!

Anyone else heading to Salute?

One good orc deserves another...

I am going through a bit of a greenskin phase at the moment... I just can't get enough of them. This one, however, is a Wrath of Kings House Teknes Union Worker (or as I like to call it, 'pig-man') painted up more like a classic D&D pig-faced orc.

The model is straight from the box and absolutely crammed full of character - I loved him the moment I saw him in the cabinets at Adepticon last year, and bought him pretty much immediately! It was a great resin cast miniature, and there are a number of other pig-men to go alongside him (including a six-eyed one being ridden by a dwarf!)... so naturally I have a few more to do in the future!

The base is scratch build from plasticard and foamboard with some squadron white (a air-dry putty that comes in a toothpaste style tube) layered on top for the texture and carved into to make the stone pattern, and the door is balsa wood carved/textured slightly with sculpted Rackham-esque swirly hinges added with greenstuff. Big shout out to the Apes over at Massive Voodoo for their 'Creating Realistic Arrows' tutorial - very useful!

I will  be bringing this guy to Salute on Saturday, so you'll get to have a look if you are there - he'll be in the painting comp cabinets... wish me luck (I'll be the guy in a purple Platoon Britannica shirt with 'Avicenna' on the back)!

For anyone who is that way inclined, I have added these photos to my Cool Mini or Not and Putty and Paint Galleries - please pop over and vote

Coolmini: http://www.coolminiornot.com/330326
P&P: http://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/1771

Anyway, on with the photos - I hope you like him!

"...and this little piggy went to...

WAR!"

'Editors Choice' on Putty and Paint!

Now, I'm not one to blow my own trumpet, but the Orc bust is doing me proud - he has been picked by the bosses on Putty and Paint to be one of their 'Editors Choice' minis and shown on their homepage! (woohoo!) The extra visibility seems to be helping the number of votes he's had too, as in just 4 days, he already has more votes than any of my other entries on the site. You can take a look and see how he is doing here: http://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/1666

He is also doing quite well over on Cool Mini or Not - the best I've done for quite some time, and is currently in my top 5 of all time. Hopefully he will stay there as I am really very pleased with the way he has turned out. Any of you crazy voting types can do that here: http://www.coolminiornot.com/329241 (6 more votes until the magic 50!)

For those of you who want to see the pics here, rather than on P&P or CMoN, here they are:

Enjoy!