Merry Christmas!! :)

I want to start by thanking those who have recently started following my blog. I also want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays) to all those who celebrate something this time of year.

Ok, so not too much to say apart from we've been working on more roads. I think I may create a page on the website just for road downloads. We want them to be as versatile as possible, and are therefore creating all options you might need.


I have recently uploaded a new set of "Town" roads (right). You'll notice that this pack has paved pavements, which are those that are more seen in towns.

We also have the "town" packs which include single yellow lines and double yellows. So keep an eye out for those as they will probably be online in the next few days or so.


My Laptop
So, it's known that me and laptops apparently just don't work. I have no idea why. Here's a brief history:

2005 - Went from PC to laptop. The screen eventually broke, and turned all whites yellow. (So nothing I did). I think my mum had this as she didn't mind about the screen. But it eventually broke down a couple of years ago.

Second Laptop (2006- end of 2008) I bought this to replace the other one. I think the hinge on the screen broke, and then the laptop got a virus (my mistake!!). The hinge was always flimsy. But yeah... virus was my fault. I was expecting a parcel from Fed Ex, so it only seemed ok to open the attachment as I thought it was my order. Epic fail! But again, I never open up stuff I don't know, but this seemed legit as I was expecting an email from Fed Ex...

3rd laptop (2008 - present) - Given to me by the university ... it still works! But I eventually gave this laptop to Kate, and had to change the hard drive after a "blue screen of death".

4th - (end of 2009 - 2012) I bought this one as Kate now had my Uni one. The screen eventually broke on that one this year, and then for some reason it stopped working all together. No idea why.

May this year (2012 to present)... I bought my current laptop. Last week the charger connection stopped working unless I put loads of pressure on it, which was difficult to charge, and involved placing heavy books on the laptop charger connection, whilst the laptop was standing on its side.

So bought a new cable, and that didn't work. So I knew it was an internal issue. So I opened up the casing (which isn't so difficult when you know how! ... Google..) and I noticed there was a slight gap in one of the bits of solder. Now I'm talking microscopic, it was SO small. So I got out my soldering kit (I have one as I rewired two of my guitars a few years ago), and I put solder on the joint.

The laptop didn't work at all then! So I removed some of the solder, but not all of it, and now it works...whooooo Huzzah! So yay, the laptop lives... which is good because it's not even a year old!!

So yeah, not really sure why they break so much. Maybe it's because I use them all day every day..

Anyway.... Merry Christmas, and have a great new year :)

Supermarket Zombies Finished!

So the supermarket zombies are complete. They won't be available until early next year, but rest assured they are finished and on their way! I took some very quick photos, and because of the multicoloured putty used, I changed them to black and white. So apologies if that makes them a little difficult to see. They were just quick photos and not "promotion" photos.

What Next?
So what to do now they are finished? Well I have plans... important plans!

I have been asked by a couple of people about whether I will create a supermaket PDF. I have also been asked about supermarket accessories especially carts (I guess they mean shopping trollies??)

So... after some consideration, I have decided to build a supermarket PDF. It seems like that's going to become a theme, make some figures, and create a building to compliment them!

Shopping carts are a little more complex. Whilst they may seem easy to make. They will not cast in resin so easily because they are so small. Even card ones would prove tiny and fiddly to make. If there was a "train" of trollies, as in when they are all pushed together, then that might be a bit easier, but still awkward to make, but I'll see what happens.

More roads!!
On another note, we have 2 more road section PDFs to upload soon in the next couple of days. I just need to photograph them for the website, and combine all the PDFs into one file. The two packs are the "riser/fillers" pack, featuring squares of grass, tarmac, cobble stones, paving slabs and so forth. The other is similar to the residential roads pack, but rather than having tarmac pavements it will have paving slabs. This is to accommodate for different roads, as towns and such don't have tarmac pavements like residential areas! A screen shot is shown below...

Again these will only cost £1.50 each, and the will work perfectly with each other.
Finally, there has been no news on any of the castings I sent off (Dalek warrior/princess, Hammerman, Grekwood mini, and the sci fi alien dude), so no idea when those will be available, which makes me a bit sad as I wanted them for the show in January, but I'm thinking it may be unlikely..Ok, so that's it for now

Cheers for reading, comments are always welcome!

11 Zombies (WIP)

Here's 11 of the supermarket bunch. I have another 5 in progress, so hopefully I can finish them very soon.

From Left: Female warehouse worker in a high vis jacket. Next is a tall (purposely made slightly taller) worker. He is a bit of an everything, so a cleaner, trolley collector, or whatever else they might want him to do! In the middle is a male warehouse guy, again in a high vis jacket. Finally the two on the end are from the office/management of the supermarket.

I have two more office people to finish, and one cleaner which is almost complete.

From Left: Fish Monger! He's a bit torn up. Then a butcher, again he was made slightly taller as I wanted him to be quite a strong looking character. 3rd is a chef with a rolling pin! Now the last 3 are general workers, so cashiers, shelf stacker's and so on.

I have one "cheese counter" type female to finish, and one female worker.


ROADS
They are now available on the website. We plan to release quite a lot of variations of these. So there will be different paths (tarmac, paving slabs etc), different road types, so plain, single yellow, double yellow, etc.

It's to make it easier to customise your own road.

DISCOUNT
There re only 13 days left on the 10% discount. So if you are in need of sculpting putties, or trees for scenery, or glue, or ball bearings, then go check it out.

Cheers.. Comments always welcome!

Roads PDF

First off I'd like to thank and welcome all the new people who have start following my blog. I hope you will find it plenty of interest here in the future :)


PDF Roads
Later today I will be uploading the "residential roads" PDF download to the website. They will cost £1.50 to buy. The PDF will consist of 6 sections: straight main road, side straight road, T junction, Cross-roads, corner and dead end (everything in the photo). In the documentation I have explained how to convert them so they can be either "flat" or the pavemens raised to a different thickness. It also explains how to fix everything up.


We have also created a couple of "place fillers" to be placed between the road sections to help bring them up to the same level as the pavements, and to fill in any gaps around buildings and so forth. They are there to help with the appearance of the playing board instead of having a bare table, and a cheaper alternative to buying grass mats and all that (also, they are 6 x 6 inch squares). They include: Grass, Mud, paving area, smaller paving stone area, and finally a some tiny stones, so possible could be used as cobblestones and finally a tarmac area.

The below image shows a corner of the full piece. I didn't want to post the "full" piece as people can just print it from the photo. So I cropped them all to show part of it. So the selection is below. They will also be £1.50 (I think... need to check up on that).

Ok, so hopefully the roads will be online later tonight, and the "filler" things will be online some time during the week. I just need to finalise a few things.

Hospital Beds
These have proved to be extremely popular. However, as we are casting more and more, the undercarriage is causing problems with casting (wheels not coming out right and so forth). We are throwing away about half of what we cast. So after a LOT of calculations and thinking, I have decided to redesign the undercarriage, and get them cast in metal. This is a more expensive option, but we are currently getting a lot of miss-casts, so it's very time wasting. Therefore, getting them made in metal will free up our time for other things, and also, we will get a 100% casting result.

As I am redesigning them, I can add a bit more detail and change the design slightly  as a casting machine will pick it up better than hand casting. It also means I will need to increase the cost of each pack by a little bit. No much though, so they will still be relatively cheap to buy.

Anyway, I think that's it for now, So keep an eye out for those roads! We are planning to produce a few varieties, so stay tuned!

Cheers!

10% Discount, and Zombie WIP Photo!

In the spirit of Christmas I have decided to give a 10% discount on a couple of items. They include all sculpting putties, glues/conditioner pens, ball bearings and Trees.

Much of our stuff is already discounted or it is sold relatively cheap, so it's really difficult finding stuff to discount without loosing money. So the trees, being the most expensive items on the website, seem like a good idea to discount, along with the putties as every sculptor/converter needs putties. Glues and ball bearings are just random additions... glue is always useful right?! Also... good glue (which it is) is even better :)

So spread the word if you know of anyone who may be interested in any of those items. Offer ends December 20th.

On a side note, we are working on making some other roads printouts. We are designing ones with paved pavements (instead of tarmac), cobble stone roads etc etc We are thinking of selling them for about £1.50 for 6 road sections and a cool documentation written by me. It's probably worth mentioning that I haven't created the road sections. My dad decided to make some for a wargame he's planning with the zombies. So I've been the printing and testing guy, whilst he's put them together.

Finally, here is some more zombie WIP of two different characters. One is a "Fish Monger" and the other is a general workman/cleaner with a long overcoat. He is bald, and has some sticky out teeth :P

Any thoughts about what he should be dragging (if anything)... I was thinking a fish, but I might leave his hands bare.

Click to ZooOOMM

Until next time, thanks for reading! :)

Residential Roads PDF

I want to start by showing off the "new" logo. I redesigned the monk part to incorporate Gareth more, as he is of course "Grekwood". The old one never quite looked finished as it was more of a "sketch" look. So this is a proper picture now.

Now...for those roads!

As mentioned in an earlier post, we have been creating some roads for personal use, but have decided that since they have been made, why not pop them on the website for others if they want them. If not, we haven't lost anything as we wanted them to begin with, So it's a win win!

We made 6 basic road pieces which should allow for the creation of most road scenarios. The plain roads with no lines are for side streets. It's probably worth pointing out, these are for residential areas and not cities or towns. 

Click to zooOOMM

I have almost finished a documentation/instructions, so they will most likely be online soon. Finally, the corner was made as a "right angle" to make it easier to build and you don't get waste paper/cardboard which you do when cutting out a curved corner.

Each piece is 6" by 6", with the pavements being 1" and the roads being 4" wide. The pavements are also designed to be "raised" by 5mm. But this can be changed. I will explain how to do a conversion in the documentation, but it is really simple to do. So it means you can either have them flat, raise the pavements by 5mm, or anywhere in between.

That's it for now, cheers for reading, comment as always are welcome!

WIP Zombies, and 50 Posts!!

I have reached 50 posts!! That's quite a few I think since I only started in April/May 2012!

So I would like to thank everyone who has followed me so far and commented on my posts. Here's to another 50! *holds up imaginary beer*.

To start with, Brummie from Brummies Wargaming Blog has nominated me as one of his 5 nominees for the Liebster Award! So thanks!!

So, umm, What is it??
To be honest, when I read this I had no clue what it was, so I had to Google it. Turns out it is a meme, a bit like one of those *pass on to 10 of your friends and you'll receive a cool message at midnight* type thing (which I assume never happens), but at least this one is nicer and actually has a point to it.

Now for the difficult part.. I read that it is not obligatory to pass this on, which kinda make this easier as I need to choose 5 people to pass this on to. Now I only follow a handful of blogs, or at least a handful which do regular updates. Pretty much most I follow have already been nominated as the one's I follow are all within the same circle, or have over 200 followers! So choosing 5 is pretty much impossible! But I do appreciate the thought! :)

Zombies
So here's some more WIP:

Hopefully you will see my sculpting is getting better, and hopefully it will continue to do so. So from left to right. We have a classic style butcher with sausages around his neck and one of those old style hats. Then we have a female management person with a walkie talkie. Finally there is a male manager, who seems to be a bit torn up!

Finally

On a different note, I decided to confront people on a forum who said my figures were "average" and cared little for them. I thought it was just a little rude as it was meant as an insult. So, I decided to join the forum, and reply. I said: Thanks for the compliment! Average means they are not as good as some, but it also means they are better than some out there. Which, when you consider I only started sculpting a year ago, with no prior experience or art background, that's pretty damn good from my point of view, as most have been sculpting far longer and are from art backgrounds.

Turn an insult into a positive, always good :)

Ok, that's all for now, oh I guess more WIP will be up on my next blog. I did plan to post some photos of the roads we have in the pipe line, but that will have to be on my next blog as I need to take photos.

Righty oh then, Cheers for reading and the support! :)

WIP Zombies, and Roads...

Once again it has been over a week since my last bog, so here's another one! I don't have a huge amount to talk about as I've just been busy jumping between a few different projects.

I sent off the 4 figures, HammerMan, Princess Bexi, Grekwood in a Fez, and, finally the sci fi alien. They are currently with a caster, but not sure when I'll get those back.

"Roads, where we're going we don't need roads!" (Back to the Future)...
We are currently working on some "road sections" which are designed to be mounted to foamboard (for pavements) and for the base. Although you can use thinner card for the road part. Either way, the pavements have to be on foam board (I guess if you wanted to you could alter it some how).

We plan make them for ourselves, but as I have a webstore, I may as well pop them online in case anyone else would like them! We will make a few different versions, such as tarmac roads with residential style tarmac pavements. Then roads with yellow lines, and then some with paved pathways etc etc. So we should be able to mix and match and get every combo we need.

Next Batch of Zombies: WIP
Here's a little WIP of the current batch of zombies, which is going well. A few of them are finished (such as the ones to the left on black bases). The two in the photo are almost there. The photo is a little old (like a few days), as the two figures have progressed since then. So remember, they are WIP, which means what you see isn't how the final thing will look... It's just a taster.

Clik to zoooOOOOMM

CGD Society Get Together Weekend

Here's a photo of me and Kate from the CGD weekend get together we went to last month... I should have worn the wig... but it was too hot in there! Anyway, who says a pirate can't look after their hair?? :P

Click to zooOOOMM

Ok, that's all for now! Comments as always are welcome :)

Zombie Apocalypse Guy Finished!

In my last blog I posted some work in progress of an apocalyptic fellow I was working on. Today I finally finished him, so here's a photo:

I made the image "Greyscale" as I used 3 different coloured putties on him, plus the brass parts, so by making it grey in tone it makes it blend a lot better.

The figure will come in 4 parts because of casting reasons. The main figure is one part, but the hooks on his lower back, the hammer, and the chain are all separate parts which will need to be glued in place. Alternatively, the weapon doesn't need to be "glued" as it can be swivelled around to either be a hammer of an axe.

The chain will come separate which I will provide off a large reel of chains. This is because chains are often difficult to cast because of all the holes. So the buyer will be able to wrap the chain around the hammer however they think looks best. I like to think of it as customisation!

The hooks on the back may also cause casting difficulties, so for that reason again I have left them off (I used blue-tac in the photo haha). So again, it can either be left off, or for added detail it can be glued into place under his belt.

Finally, I will also be sending off the Grekwood sculpt along with the "not dalek" figure, who I shall name after the person it is based on, so Princess Bexi, to the casters. Hopefully these will not take too long to produce.

My full attention can now get back to those zombies!!

WIP Apocalypse Guy...

Here's a little WIP on the 45mm figures I have been making the past week...or so.

Here's a size comparison with a 28mm zombie nurse. He is meant to be around 9ft tall (ish), so he is in scale with all 28mm figures (and every other figure) we make :)

He is not finished yet, but he will hopefully be completed next week. He has a large weapon which will have a large hammer (with the appearance of a meat hammer ... you know that thing with those spikes/bumps on it that you hit meat with when you are angry.. I mean trying to tenderise it :P)

He has a long apron, which I will extend and make torn at the bottom. He have huge spikes impaled through his back. His head is covered with a bag/mask to help hide his identity and make him more creepy.

I shall call him... HammerMan. He's perfect for an extra addition in a zombie game ;)

Ok, that's all for now. I think I mentioned before that I am going to a show, wel that show has been confirmed and it is called "Crusade" right here in Cardiff. It's at the end of January, so I'm busy stocking up!

Comments welcome as always!

Supreme Dalek Princess

I have released to the world of Facebook my Supreme Dalek Princess! Here she is below:

I'm happy with how she has turned out, and Bexi (who it is based on) seems to be very happy and excited about it too, so yay! 

I have one last figure to complete (the 9ft tall man with an axe/hammer thingy-ma-bob). He is coming along nicely, and I am aiming to finish him by next week. Then, it's off to get them moulded along with the Grekwood Mini sculpted by Inso. Hopefully if all goes to plan, these will be available in time for Christmas.

In other news, the Hospital PDF has now be adjusted for American "Letter" size paper. I never thought about converting it from the UK paper size until the other day, as a customer from America bought everything hospital related on my website, so I decided to re-arrange some of the longer printouts so that they fit on American size paper.

So for future note, if anyone from America reads this, the PDF is now available in "Letter" size!

Finally, zombie progress is...progressing. I have focused my time on getting the big 45mm guy and the princess finished so they can go off for casting. But as soon as they are done, I'll be back onto the zombies.

If you haven't already, sign up to the newsletter too (if you want!).

Cheers...

Zombies and a Man with an Axe

We have recently just organised our first show!! In January we will be heading to "Crusade" here in Cardiff. It seems like a perfect place to start shows as it's only a few minutes away, which means cheap travel and no overnight expenses, so pretty much just the table cost!

So yeah, 26th (I think) of January, Crusade!!!!

In other news, progress on sculpting is going well. As I plan to go to a show/convention in January, I have decided that I want to have a few of the "extras" I've been working on ready. They include the Grekwood sculpt (Sculpted by Inso), the Dalek Princess, which I am thinking of making the "Bioblyte Princess" for my mutant guys which I plan to make into a range some time, and finally the 45mm guy who carries a large axe/hammer thing... he's also linked to zombies :P

I will also ave the 16 new zombies ready in time for christmas...hopefully!

Umm I better start getting ready soon; at lunch time we are leaving for Surrey for the CGD weekend! Should be fun, I get to test out my costume... which looks like this:

Righty oh then, oh if you want to subscribe to our newsletter for updates whenever something is released, then go to the main page of our website and fill out your name and email address of the form!

As always, cheers for ready :)

28mm Zombies, Mutants, Bases and a Newsletter!

Hey all,

I'll start quickly with a photo of some painted 28mm Bioblytes. I don't think I've posted this on the blog, so here they are. They are painted similar to some of the monsters in Mass Effect 3 (as you know I love that trilogy).

Click to ZOOOOM

Newsletter
I decided to add a "newsletter" to the website on the front page. So if you want to be alerted when new items are on-line, then feel free to go to the main page and fill out the small "newsletter" form.

I only plan to send out emails when new things are released, or if something changes on the website. So similar to the blog, just less often and more to the point! I mainly thought about the people who are not on Facebook or Blogger, so the best way for them to keep up to date is through email.

Here's the link: http://www.grekwoodminiatures.co.uk/

Website Photos
I finally retook the big bundle deal photo for the zombies. The previous one had the old bandaged nurses in it, so it now has the newer nurses in there. The photo is better in general too, more colour and slightly closer.

Here it is:

Click to ZOOOOOM

Sculpting
Yesterday I finally finished posing another 16 figures (zombies). I have finished sculpting 3 and 2 others are almost complete. I'm hoping to get these all done before xmas (in time for christmas), but we shall see.

I'm also working on another 45mm miniature. But I can't say too much at this stage. It is however zombie related in some form. Think along the lines of our "Executioner Steve", the "not silent hill" guy, but for that other popular video game/Movies.

Rock and Timber Bases
We have some bases in a number of sizes 50, 40, 30 and 25mm. I was thinking of finally adding them to the website. It would be bases like the one shown below (but in different size and shape rocks). They would be cheap like the other bases, as resin does not cost much to produce compared to metal.

Shows/Convensions
I'm contemplating going to a show here in Cardiff next January. It seems like a good place to start shows as it's only about 20-30 minutes away, so no overnight stays or any other costs. I just have to see how much it all costs.

I have also looked into those portable credit/debit card devices to hire for the show. Anyone ever had any experience with them as a trader (not a buyer)?

CGD Trip and a Pirate
So the CGD trip is next week, should be fun. I have my pirate costume almost complete, I just need to sort out the boots. I have decided not have a hat, just a bandanna will be good enough I think! This is mainly because I don't have a hat which is good enough!

Ok that's all for now... I think! Have a great day everyone :)

Zombies... And A PDF Hospital

I have finally finish the PDF's for the Hospital and I have uploaded it all to the website http://www.grekwoodminiatures.co.uk/PDFBuildings.php.

It costs £4, which is postage free as there is no postage! It consists of 3 files, which once purchased I will send through e-mail. Can't quite work out how to automatically do it. So please allow up to 24 hours for it to be delivered as I'm not ALWAYS on the internet... even though it may seem that way! haha

Ok so here's some painted zombie nurses!! I think they look pretty decent. I painted/made the bases (which are also available on the website). I've now uploaded this to the website :)

I need to do one last photograph with these for the big bundle deal as I think the old bandaged face nurses are in the "buy all 4" photo... eek! So expect photos of that soon.

Righty oh then, I think that's all for now. So until next time, have fun, and don't get bitten by any zombies!! ..arrgghhh

PDF Hospital Building, Zombies, and Armless Beings

Yesterday I went to my parents house to set up the single story, two ward hospital. It went pretty well. We set up the table with a grass mat, then placed the hospital down, and placed some trees around the perimeter. There was a gap at the edge of the table, so we placed some buildings at the end of the table to make it look like the edge of a town.

So here's a photo of the end product:

I think it turned out really well. We used some resin roads which my dad made a long time ago for a war game with my brother Gareth a.k.a Grekwood. 

Here's a view of the inside. We set up some hospital beds inside, along with some doctors and nurses, but we didn't have any normal doctors or nurses, so they are all zombies... but they aren't meant to be!! That'll be saved for the derelict version (post apocalyptic version) to come at a later date!

Finally I shall end with a photo of  how the table as a whole looked. We  arranged the trees in a way so that they were all in frame. We thought there was no point filling the whole table if it wasn't going to be in the photo. So that explains the weird arrangement of trees below!

I will finalise things today and the PDF file will be uploaded (hopefully) tomorrow or the over the weekend. I'll update the blog/Facebook when this is done!

Oh and here's an image of the Armless Beings now they are all painted :)

Cheers for looking, all comments are welcome as always!

Hospital PDF Coming Next Week!!

I have been working extremely hard to get the documentation for the PDF Hospital finished. It's almost there.

Below is a screen show (from MS Word) which shows the documentation/instructions. It is about 23 pages long. I know this probably sounds crazy, but I made it as detailed as possible as not all customers have English as their first language. Therefore there are step by step photographs as well as a description.

It is quite a big build (even though it is a small hospital... I plan to bring out expansion packs/apocalyptic versions). It tells you how to build two full wards, two hallway end pieces, a center entrance piece, and finally some entrance steps, not to forget all the different roofing pieces to go with it. Remember, you don't have to print it out as the images can be zoomed in on when on a computer!

I am in the process of designing some signs which will be on a separate page for people to cut out and stick where they want. I want them separate so when they are glued in place, they can be stuck to the wall however you want, for example: at an angle, with an edge curled up and so forth. It's a bit of personalisation. I also have multiple door signs, so people can choose if they want one room to be a storage room or a kitchen or even a staff room or office.

I think on Wednesday I will be heading to my parents to photograph the 2 ward hospital with some proper scenery. We opened up a few bags of trees (from our tree range here: Grek Trees), so we can make a bit of a woods in the background on the image. Once this has been done, I should be ready to upload it to the internet! I have been advised that for this size and complexity, I should charge about £4, but it will be postage free of course.


We are currently in the process of casting some more hospital beds as we have almost run out. I'm also trying to promote the page on Facebook as much as I can, so if you are on Facebook, remember to "like" and share it to anyone who may be interested.

Cheers, and have a great day!

28mm Scale Hospital Almost Ready!

This is my 40th post. I didn't realise I had posted 40 already! Seems like only yesterday I arrived at blogger.

Hospital PDF
Yesterday I started some work on the hospital building documentation. I really want to just get this sorted and online. So I spent most of yesterday doing it and I managed to finish the instructions for building the ward. Only bits left are the roof, and the joining hallway which I will do in the next day or two. I'm hopefully looking at an upload of the PDF files (there will be 2) next week, early if possible.

When I say 2, I mean one set of instructions, and then another file with all the printouts. The documentation is long, but it is a step by step guide which has step by step photos. Hopefully this will make it easier to follow and construct. I plan to release the hospital as just a building, so no interior furniture.  One day I plan to create some resin furniture to be released at some point in the future but for now I want to get this done quickly as I want to "move on" from the hospital setting and onto different things!

Here's a photo example of one of the steps, so you can see what I mean. I photographed it on my pool/snooker table. I thought the green worked well hehe

Grekwood Sculpt, Dalek Princess and more!
I have decided that when I get the Grekwood sculpt cast, I will put him in a mould with the Dalek Princess (in previous post), 8 figures from a new range, which will include a horse, and then maybe an extra one or two "special" figures, possibly zombie related. No idea when this will be done though, but if I work hard I can aim to get it done before Christmas. When casting figures I tend to fill up the mould as rubber for the mould is very expensive, and it just works out cheaper this way (which as a new hobby/business I need to keep costs down). Maybe when I am established like the big companies out there, I can bring things out quicker! I'm currently working on another 16 zombies, so I will work on everything else here and there.

In case you didn't see my last post, here's the Dalek Princess I am talking about.

Click to ZOOOOM

Kate - She's on TV!
I realised I never gave an update about Kate. Her liver biopsy was confusing and didn't specifically pin point anything. So they gave her some steroids (not those anabolic ones!), and that seems to be bringing the levels down.

On a plus, she went to Tenby (South Wales) yesterday as she is filming as an extra in a TV series which I think will air next year. So gotta watch that to see if I can spot her!

Long hair no more!
After just over a year, I got my hair cut. I went from a pirate look, to more of a Dr Who look, something in-between the current doctor (Matt Smith) and the previous one (David Tennant). It took around an hour to cut (longest it's ever taken). I apparently had so many kinks in it that they had to use a hair dryer (to dry the water they put in), then hair straighteners and tons of spray, all to make it easier to cut and help get rid of the kinks! It looks better now :)

Righty oh, have a great day!

A Pirate, A Princess and an Xbox360 Walk into A Bar

Ok, so it's not a joke, but those things are in this blog, so bare with me!!

I spent the past few days making a waistcoat for my costume. I bought some cheap material on eBay, along with some gold buttons. I cut it up and sewed it all together and this is the final product. It looks pretty awesome under all the belts and sashes! I have a few things left to do but it's coming along nicely.

Click to ZOOOOOM

As I have been lacking in the "Miniatures" area lately due to the house move, I have decided to reveal a little something I started working on about a day or two before I moved. It's not finished, so it still needs a lot of work, but I think it looks cool. I have a friend who made a costume which was Dr Who related (part dalek, part human), so I decided to make her into a figure and sell once complete.

Click to ZOOOOM

Xbox360

On a sad note, the Xbox360 stopped functioning properly. The usual green lights are now red, which means it has issues. There are 4 lights, each taking up a quarter of a circle. 4 lights (full circle) means hardware problems, and that it's pretty much stuffed. 3 lights is either overheating problemss, or battery problems. Not sure what 1 or 2 lights mean. Anyway, mine shows 3 red lights. So I took it all apart (which was actually quite difficult despite what tutorials show), and now I just need to put some "thermal compound" underneath the heat radiators/sinks and onto the processors. This should help cool it back down quicker and make it wok again *fingers crossed* as the old thermal compound has been depleted (dried up). I guess photos of that will be in my next blog as I'm still waiting for the compound to be delivered..

So until the compound is here...cheerio!

Pirate Accessories and 28mm Scale Hospital!

This week I have been working on my pirate costume. It was in need of a sword and a gun, so using some Amazon vouchers which my wife got for doing some surveys, we purchased a nice cheap gun and sword all for under a tenner (so for free with the vouchers!).


The gun was all silver when it arrived as seen in this photo: (that's not my hand.. it's taken from the Amazon website as I forgot to take a "before" photo...). So, I wasn't keen on the silver finish, or the orange tip, so I decided to give it a make over.

As you can see, I sprayed it gold, then gave it a brown wash over the detail. I then painted the inside of the gun black, and "aged" the tip to give it that "used" look.

I think it looks much better and looks less "plasticy".

What do you think?

Second up is the sword! I bought this for two reasons. Most looked small (short) and kinda of childish (as they are toys!). This one had a longer blade, and quite a cool looking handle compared to bare metal.

However, when it arrived the blade was broke. So I had to pin it, glue it, and stuff some Miliput over the join to make it stronger. The join is noticeable, but at least it wont break now.The blade was also black and not silver like Amazon shows. So I didn't like that. Also the skull needed something... so in my next photo you'll see the difference!

I painted the teeth, and put in a gold tooth, and also painted the blade silver. I wasn't liking that black colour!

Here's the finished stuff... well, the gun still needs some painting on parts (trigger area and such). But I think I have made cheap toys look better :)








Ok, so here's some pictures of the hospital which I thought I posted, but apparently not. There was some questions about whether it was one piece or many. The answer is, it can be either. It's designed to be separate as shown (for easy storage and moving).

BUT!! If you are up to the task, it can easily be made as one large piece as shown below: It would just need some calculations to get the floor and roof as one piece, but it shouldn't be too difficult. Ideally it comes apart as this version is only small, and it's designed to eventually be bigger. But that's your choice :)

In the documentation I will provide all the measurments to make it one piece or separate. So it's up to you then how you want to make it. But keep in mind I will be expanding the hospital with new parts ad so forth.

Anyway, that's all for now. Sculpting has once again begun, so yay for that. I'll do some more in a bit. I tend to split my time between quite a few things (not all business!). Anyway, I hope that helps with whoever had those questions or thoughts.

Feel free to leave comments as usual, but until then, over!

Haribo and a CGD Trip!

I want to start this blog by saying a big thank you to Colin Nash who sent me a parcel the other day. I managed to pick it up yesterday and was happily surprised to see a huge bag of Haribo!! They were sent to me to keep the Grekwood Miniatures customers happy, and so they shall! So anyone who orders from me will receive a packet of Haribo courtesy of Colin hehe (whilst stocks last of course!).

So once again, cheers Colin!

Sculpting News:
Yesterday I picked up some sculpting stuff and I now have enough here to keep me going for a little while. So it'll be good to get back into it all and start producing miniatures again!

CGD Trip!
For those who don't know, both my brother and I have a rare genetic disorder which affects the immune system. It pretty much means that anyone with CGD (Chronic Granulomatous Disorder) is unable to fight infections easily without the help of extra antibiotics. Even the simplest of infections can prove to be fatal.

In October I have been invited to go to a CGD  "get together weekend" for 3 days (2 nights) in Surrey. It's a chance for people who have CGD to have a chat with other people who have CGD. It also helps newly diagnosed families learn more about things related to it, such as inheritance (as there are different forms), medications, and generally anything to do with it. Apart from this there will be a chance to have fun with Halloween themed nights an activities!

There will be a monster ball, where fancy dress is welcome. Therefore, as I have quite a few things here, I have decided to dress up as a pirate! I thought it would make a change from being the "good guy". I spent 3 years straight dressing as David Tennant's version of "The Doctor" from Dr Who, and last year when we were in Florida I was Marty McFly, so to be a pirate this year will be a good change! I'll post photos once I have finished putting it together.

I think I am one of the oldest people in the UK with CGD. I could be wrong, but out of everyone I talk to on the CGD Facebook page, I believe this to be true. There are older in America, but only a small handful.

Righty oh then, cool pirate costume to come in the next couple of blogs!

Ok, that is all for now, so i'll update soon!

New Apartment!

It's been almost another week since my last blog so I feel I should write one.

House/Apartment Move
As you know, last Friday we moved to a new place 10 minutes from my parents place (where we were previously). The move went well, nothing got too damaged which is always good! The new place is taking shape slowly. We still have no sofa or internet connection of our own. The sofa will be delivered on the 24th of Sept, and we are currently logging onto my parents internet through one of BT's "Hot Spots". Luckily we are in the middle of a decent "hot spot".

If a customer is signed up to BT broadband or BTInfinity, then part of their connection (say for example 10%) is reserved to create a "hot spot". When a few of these connections in the same area are together it makes the signal stronger and the range/hotspot bigger (I think, im not 100% sure). Anyway, it allows you to log onto "your" internet (using your BT details) at a slower speed, but using someone elses hub.

So that's what we are doing. It means we have a slower download/viewing speed than normal, but at least we have access!

Grekwood Miniatures
Everything has pretty much halted over the past week. I've done no sculpting, building or work of any kind :( My dad has helped to finish building the hospital wards, so I think we have 10 of those now for out large hospital! Apart from that nothing is happening...Gahhhhhh Hopefully this will change soon as I have none of my sculpting stuff here. I'll pick some up on the weekend and start doing stuff again :)

I think I will be happier when we have the internet is properly sorted as it's limited to a few hours a day at the moment, and I'll be FAR happier when I have somewhere comfy to sit. Kitchen table chairs are not comfy for long term sitting lol

Righty oh, sorry for no progress, hopefully there will be some soon!
Cheers...

I'm moving!

I just noticed it's been 8 days since my last post! First of all, thank you to all those who have recently started following me.

I have been very busy the past week packing everything up as we are moving house tomorrow. We are moving to a place about 5-10 minutes away by car, so not too far. I'm not sure how long it will take to get the internet back. BT Internet (people my parents use at this house) apparently say they can't send someone out to sort out the internet until October 10th... they are having a laugh if they think I'm going without the internet for that long! So we are checking out alternatives.

If that is the case with everyone, this might be the last post for a little bit. If I am without the internet I'll have to pop back to my parents house, or get someone here to check my email for me. Business will hopefully not be affected too much, I just need to keep on things!

Ok that's all for now... sorry for the pretty poor blog! I'm sure the next one will be better...hopefully hehe

Oh I sent some figures off to get painted, so maybe this month I'll be posting them online...(assuming I have the internet!).. so stay tuned, and farewell for now ... ok maybe not, I'll always find a way to get online!! :D

Until next time...

Cheerio!

Video of the 28mm scale Hospital Building

I have pretty much completed the Basic Hospital and I am pretty happy with the way it's turned out. I was a little bored after I stopped for the day, so I decided to make a video with some interesting music from Mass Effect (first one).

 

 

 

The filming is jumpy, and not "flowy", but it's not meant to be taken seriously, it's just a bit of fun!

 

 

I still have a couple of things to add to the hospital, minor things such as sky lights and roof stuff but by the time I write a new blog it will be complete (that's the plan). I made a mini entrance for this version but I will eventually make a larger entrance/concourse area for bigger versions of the hospital.

 

Ok, so that's all for now. I didn't plan to write a blog today but I couldn't resist posting my ever so awesome (ha!) video hehe

 

On a sad note I have to take my wife to hospital tonight. She needs to have a liver biopsy and will be away for the night (possibly longer...but hopefully not!). Hopefully it's nothing serious and they can sort out why the levels in her liver have been abnormally high the past 2 months. She hasn't been well for the past two month, so I'm hoping this will finally sort things out.

 

So anyway, enjoy the video, and I'll write a new blog in a few days :)

 

Cheers...

 

 

28mm Hospital almost complete!

Here are some more WIP photos of the hospital I am building.

A day or two ago I decided to finally put a roof onto the building. So I spent part of yesterday putting all the wall pieces together on the computer, printing them out, then glueing them to the ceiling wall sections. So here are the photos.

Front Angle: in the middle of the "link" hallway, I will be putting an entrance door. maybe a small step to get into the building, maybe even a ramp for disabled people (need to cover every possibility!).

Rear Angle: That's pretty much all it is!!

 Front: The entrance will be in the centre. I still need to put the paving stones around the top of the "ceiling wall". There are some already on at the back of the left ward.

Finally here's a photo of how it all breaks down for easy storage. We plan to have 10 wards made (full scale ward for a game (2 story building). So they all stack nicely on the top shelf of a cabinet.








I have had a bit of trouble making this, not because it is complicated, but because the foam board I was using was dodgy. It's meant to be 5mm thick, but I found myself working with 6mm and even 7mm thick foam board (from "The Range"), which varied in thickness from one end to the other. So when putting the building together there are some gaps. Anyway, it's designed for 5mm foam board. So as long as that is used there should be no problems.

My dad bought a few sheets from Hobby Craft about a week ago (it was less than £3 for an A2 size sheet). They are all 5mm, so my dad is helping to build a few extra wards as I'm busy packing (house move), and trying to get a bit of sculpting in here and there. I have build 5 so far, my dad is going to make 4, and I need to make one more to take photos of for the documentation (which is almost written).

Anyway, that's it for now, oh that figure in the photo is a new sculpt, but you probably can't see it that well as it's far away.

Cheers for reading :) I'm hoping to have the "basic" singe story hospital online in September.

Hospital Building Progress

Here are some photos of the hospital. I have positioned them in some different layouts to give ideas of what can be done.

  To the left is the "basic" hospital. I plan to pop the PDF online with one ward colour (grey), and the 3 hallway parts shown (which are shown in grey). It will allow the builder to create a ground floor, 2 ward hospital for smaller games. This is perfect for the "Mega deal" of hospital beds as each ward fits 8 beds (so 16 altogether!).

 An expansion pack will be released later which will include a 4th bit of hallway (the part connecting to the green ward). This allows the ward to go as wide as you like. It will also include a stairs/lifts to get to a further floor, and new wall prints for the "longer hallway" part, which will accommodate for the lifts/stair doors.

As the expansion pack allows you to go wider and taller, I will also provide a "fire escape" stairs to connect to the exterior (left).

Photo to the right shows the the "basic" size, which goes up to a second level. I will also be working eventually on an entrance pack, which will connect to the mid section. It's not essential, it's just something hard core gamers might like as an "add-on".






To the left is the "ultimate" layout. It will have 3 wards along the back, and two wards on the front, and an entrance in the middle. This is the design I am aiming to build, although it will take up

Right: Shows how the lift/stairs and entrance would connect to the centre piece of hallway/corridor.

Finally, an alternate layout which I might do one day. I'm only doing this as a side project when I get bored of sculpting and stuff.

That's all for now with the hospital. I'll probably start uploading stuff to the website for it next month. Ohh totally forgot, so a few weeks ago I was talking about moving and houses all going too quickly. About a week after I wrote that blog, a new apartment popped up online, we went to see it and agreed to it there and then! It has a great sized 2nd bedroom, which is perfect to make as a proper office/workroom. It has a master bedroom with ensuite, main bathroom, and an open plan kitchen/lounge. The lounge is a little on the small side, but it should be good enough to get a sofa and dining table in there (with the TV and bookcase of course!). We get the keys on Sept 6th, but we plan to move in on the 7th. So we've been packing things up, which means a lot of my sculpting/hobby/business stuff has been packed up!! But it's ok, I'm keeping a bare minimum of stuff out to keep me going!

Righty oh then, that's all until next time. Cheers again to everyone who has bought some of the recent items!