Dragons Teeth Tank Traps

A month or so ago I used some 3D software to design some tank traps aka "Dragon's Teeth" and I gave some to my dad who built some scenic pieces.  I've been casting those up and I must say they look pretty cool when all stuck together!

There are straight sections, and corner sections. Each corner section is made up of 3 pieces, one being 15 degrees, another being 30 degrees and the final one being a 45 degree angle. There is also an outside corner piece for curving the other way (makes sense when you see it).


The Casting Bore...
I get bored of casting as the first cast is always held back as a "master" as the original piece sometimes gets broken when de-moulding. I then need to cast up a set for painting/displays, and then I need some to "destroy" a bit with weathering, war stuff etc. Finally after all those are cast I can start casting for selling... It's a lengthy process and not too bad if only one cast is needed, but when a set include 4 or 5 of the same item, it means I have to cast up tons before I can even start casting items to sell. Gahhhhhh... gotta get done!

Season Greetings!
Finally I'd just like to wish everyone who stumbles across this page a Merry Christmas or happy holidays for whatever you celebrate this time of year. ...and if you don't celebrate anything this time of year, then I hope you have a great few days anyway!

Barriers, Barrels and a Vacuum Chamber

I'm back! Not sure for how long as stuff seems to get in the way, but I'll try and do updates again as much as I can.

Ok, so over at Grekwood Miniatures I've been learning to use 3D design programs as I thought it would be a good thing to get into. I started off with basic shape items that I thought would work well for an apocalyptic style world and therefore came up with the below items.

Before I write about these items, I just want it noted that most of these items have been done by other companies over and over. So while it's nothing "new", the dimensions will be different, plus what I plan to do with them (and their prices) will also make them unique.

Tall concrete walls - I made walls which are 55 (or 60cm, can't remember!) high. I plan to destroy some to have bullet holes, cracks etc. I also plan to do extreme damage, like broken ones which can all be replaced as and when they are destroyed in games.

Jersey Barriers -  I originally made these to scale, but realised that since the figures are on bases, it made them look small. So I scaled them up a bit to compensate the base, and now they look more "correct". I have made the main barrier and a sloping end piece.

Tank Traps (Dragons Teeth) - I decided to do these as they were simple shapes to get used to using the 3D programs. I also noticed that many companies only do one or two shapes which can look a bit boring. After some quick research I saw that there were many shapes and sizes, so I thought, why not do them all! Variety is good, right? There are 6 varieties.

Oil Barrel - I have always wanted to create some cool scenery, like supply dumps, barricades etc, so I thought an oil barrel would be a perfect addition into those things. I plan to do a lot of different scenic items with them.

Good news is, everything is casting up well, so hopefully they will all be available later this month as I need to build up a large enough stock. 

15mm
Other good news is all these items will be available in 15mm scale. Again, I thought I may as well produce stuff in 15mm if I can.

Pinzguaer
Oh it's probably worth mentioning, for those that don't know, I've been making a Pinzguaer model (6x6). I also plan to make a shorter 4x4 version. Hopefully these will be available soon too. Depending how they sell, I may make more as the vehicles I used to stock from S and S Models have all been discontinued.

Vacuum Cegassing Chamber

I bought one! After a few years of struggling with air bubbles in resin, I finally had the funds to buy a vacuum chamber. It's basically a glorified cooking pot, with a thick acrylic lid, some funky pipes/gages and a pump. The good news is it seems to work really well!

I used to have tons of trouble with the hospital beds I made. Casting them was a pain as there was always an air bubble somewhere because of the fine detail. But after a few tests, the chamber seems to solve the problem!

Right Oh, as always thanks for stopping by, and apologies for the absence of posts!

Blast-Tasitc 2014

Yesterday we headed to Bristol for a new wargames show called "Blast-Tastic". It was a show purely about Sci-fi, which was cool to see as so many have historical figures everywhere.

Overall it was a decent day. We left Cardiff around 07:20, and got there around 08:10-20 which gave us plenty of time to set up our stand (see image right). As soon as we finished setting up, we got our first order, and from then on there was a steady flow of customers throughout the day. There were a couple of quiet moments, which were welcomed (always nice to have a sit down!), but in general it had a nice relaxed atmosphere which was great from a traders point of view.

Amongst greeting customers, I finally met Colin from "Down Among the Lead Men", he's been a great supporter of Grekwood Minis, so it was cool to meet him. We started to have a chat and then I had to deal with a customer, so we only had a brief chat, but I'm glad I finally met someone from the blogs!

There were quite a few games going on, which we slowly watched from behind our stand. My dad (who is in one or two of the photos) had a look around and said he saw some pretty cool stuff happening. I didn't really get a chance to have a close look around, but I guess there's always next year! The table next to us (Precinct Omega.. above photo) had developed some rules for the Dreamforge figures which we stock, so that was pretty cool!

So yeah, great day! We'll definitely be going next year. I just want to say a big thank you to Michael Stockin of Angel Barracks who organised the show. Also to everyone who bought from us or came along to say hi, thank you, your custom is always appreciated!

Aliens, Guns and Pirates

I have come to realise that I don't use this blog as much as I used to when I first made it, which makes me sad, but I just don't seem to get time to write stuff like I used to or check out other blogs, so for that I apologise! On that note, I finally decided to post some stuff, so it's quite a long blog...

Lets start off with some Grekwood Minis stuff!
I haven't released anything which I have sculpted since the Fancy Dress Zombies last year. Lately I've been working on some guys/sci fi aliens to make the Bioblyte range more complete. They look different to the current Bioblytes on the website, but that's intentional. They are meant to be different as they have different purposes! The Bioblytes on the website are more "support" weapons with heavier guns. (It's not the best photo...sorry!)

The armoured guys are the regular infantry, whereas the claw guys are more expendable and are there to cause disruption amongst the enemy. I'm not sure whether they would be clones or not yet, but then i guess that's not for me to decide!

Project Zeke Miniatures
I started discussing things with Simon a few months ago, but wasn't in a position to buy in new stuff. So a few months later, I have some extra cash and started to stock some of PZM's figures! I thought they were pretty cool, and sell for an extremely good price, so why not!

I'm sure most on here have already seen them, but here they are on the right!

I believe they are most perfect for post apocalyptic games, or even during a virus outbreak! I really do like the SWAT/Security team!

Now for non-Grekwood Minis stuff ...but still rather cool...

My first Pistol Prop!

I recently started making props for cosplayers or general collecting. I decided I wanted to start off with something easy-ish. So I created a gun known as the "Paladin Pistol". It can also be used as a "Carnifex Pistol" since they are the same body, just painted up differently, and houses a different coloured LED. Furthermore, with the addition of a suppressor on the upper barrel, (and again painted differently with a different colour LED), it becomes a gun called the "Suppressor Pistol". So it's kinda 3 guns in one!


Once built, I used grey primer to show up any flaws, sanded it down, resprayed etc etc.

I decided it wasn't good enough as it is, so I decided that I was going to introduce electrics to it! Towards the front (on the sides) there's a groove where a light should be, so I will wire up some LED's and add a switch so they can be turned on or off :)

I plan to make a resin mould of this, so I can make more than one if needed ;)





Captain Hook:
I also made a cosplay costume based on a TV show called Once Upon A Time, and a character named Killian Jones/Captain Hook! I think I have posted the costume before, but just in case you haven't seen it, here's some photos (click to enlarge).

I realised a couple of days ago that I was missing the necklace which he wears, so I sculpted that too, and I think it turned out pretty well:

Well that's all for now. If anyone would like to see regular updates, go check on my "Sutherwood Photography and Cosplay" page on Facebook. It's a combination of Rovanite Cosplay and my "Carl Sutherwood Photography".

Thanks for reading everyone!

Ritual/Summoning Circles

Hi everyone,

It's been a while again since I wrote a blog. I don't really come here much any more as I get occupied with Facebook or other matters, so apologies for not "getting involved" with things.

I uploaded a few more items to our website. So here they are:

Ritual Circles (http://www.grekwoodminiatures.co.uk/RitualCircles.php)
These come in 3 sizes (S M and L), the smaller ones are perfect for markers or for placing underneath a characters base. The M and L ones are perfect as more of a centrepiece or something eye catching on a table. They can be used to summon demons/spirits, cast spells, make sacrifices, or even used as teleportation devices to get from one realm to another... or just to get from one part of the table to another.

For all you zombie fans, maybe it could be a place where the darkness originated and spawns from?!

So anyway, here's some photos (Click them for size info and bigger pictures).

 

 

Clear Police Box and Solid Post Box (http://www.grekwoodminiatures.co.uk/StreetFeatures.php)

Below is a clear resin police box. The clear resin means the it can be painted and the windows can be left clear to give a "real" glass effect.

Also below is a nicely detailed UK post box! It's a perfect combo along side out telephone box, so go check it all out!

Cheers guys!

Grekwood Minis - 2 Years Old!

It's been a while (again!) so here's another update. This post will be a mini update for everything over the past month and future plans:

Grekwood Minis is 2 years old next month!
Yup! I've managed to stay around for 2 years! Huzzah! Hopefully there's another year or two in it. I've expanded like crazy over the past 2 years. I started with only 25-ish minis (as you may remember) and the site has grown considerably, which is awesome!

I am trying to increase the number of followers on my Facebook page since it's where I do most of my advertising/updates. I tried posting a message for people to share, but only a couple did (which I thank those who did), but it only generated about 6 new likes. So I think the only way people are willing to "share" something is if there is a chance to win something. So I'll have to think of something to "give-away" to a winner...

1. Police Boxes and Telephone Boxes
These were released last month. If you haven't seen them then they are very worth checking out. They are larger than the Fenris/Hasslefree one, but about the same price I believe. They come in blue resin, so with some blue highlights they can look pretty amazing! The telephone boxes are extremely accurate, and even have hinges, door handles and a solid pannel at the back where the telephone goes. Again, a great piece of scenery.

2. March

March saw the release of some Shadowforge miniatures. 10 individual characters which are spread out across the different categories of our website. They have been around a while, but there are some great minis in there.

4. April 1st

Heading into a new financial year, I will be releasing quite a few minis! I'll be starting off with some Crooked Dice "Detectives and Lowlifes". I recognise similarities for 3 of them, but the guy with a hat is totally lost on me...any ideas? Either way, great looking figures!

urther more I will be releasing more Shadowforge minis. this time some sci-fi females! I really like the look of these figures, so will be taking some for myself. I like the futuristic style of the armour.

I also had some great news, that being that these three fellows would be joining my website as soon as they are launched. So I'm really excited for these (I'm sure you know why!). I do feel that the guy on the left needed to be a bit thinner/taller, but apart from that these are superb!

Ok, so that's my plan for April 1st and sometime after (with the giveaway).

Cheers for reading!

It's been a while...

So it has come to my attention that I haven't written a blog post since December when the "Zombie & Survivors" rules went online (which are still free by the way!). So I thought it was about time to write a blog and do a little update on me, the business, and aliens....ok, less of the aliens!

Business Stuff:

On January (25th) we (my dad and I) went to Crusade Wargames Show/Convention! We originally bought a 12' table, but the guy next to use didn't turn up, so the guys who run the show gave us a free table! We now had 18' of table space. We already had out display almost set up (it was about 30 minutes before opening time), so we had to re-juggle everything to make it work.

Anyway, the whole day was a success! We had a turnover which was almost 3 times that of our first year (last year) and we had double the amount of orders. We were able to meet new customers, and existing ones (which is always good!), so overall it was a great day.

Future:
Currently I'm looking at bringing some more minis to the UK from outside of Europe. There are roughly 100 figures all from one company. The minis I am going to stock have been around for a long time (some not so long but the majority a long time), but I like some of them, and my dad likes some of them, so why not stock them and have a set for ourselves! I'm mainly hoping that some people are unaware of them. But even if everyone has them, there will always be new customers and our website gets to grow even further. I plan to sell them cheaper too...that's always good...right?

Personal Stuff:
Nothing much is going on with me really (I'm boring!). I have started making a long leather coat (it's not real leather). It's meant to be like the one "Killian Jones aka Hook" wears in "Once Upon A Time" TV show. It's cool, so I thought I would try and make one. Maybe even sell them if I find it easy enough. Below (left) is the WIP so far (with a dodgy photo of me pulling a face for no real reason).

Also the Mass Effect armour is coming along nicely, but I lost my "mojo" with it a bit, so I need to get back to finishing it off... But here's how it looks at the moment (right):

Apart from that nothing is really happening with me. Just plodding along doing this and that, and shouting at the xbox when I get shot on Battlefield 3... Good times...

Anywho, cheers for reading, and I apologise for not getting around the blogs much at all. I do most of my online stuff through Facebook!