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!