tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46356843214221148992011-11-27T17:27:32.755-06:00Oh I've been sweatin' in the glue mine...Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.comBlogger1521100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-61553123102040892752011-02-28T08:07:00.001-06:002011-02-28T08:08:48.292-06:00

I went to Anachrocon in Atlanta this past weekend, and had a fuckin' blast. Made a bunch of new friends, saw a ton of old friends, got drunk off my ass (why is the rum gone!?!) and danced with pretty girls when I wasn't making them laugh. I even got to present on a few of the panels, for leather working and prop painting/finishing effects. This was the first con of the season for me, and blew

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-70027663631163010652010-10-19T10:36:00.002-05:002010-10-19T10:39:44.982-05:00

OK, I'm still working on pics from DragonCon 2010, so at some point I'll finish that and post them. I still haven't rolled a dice in anger in months, so no new gaming news to speak of. But I've gotten the movie making bug again, so to go with that I've posted up some older projects.First up is this piece, shot at DragonCon 2005. I never really finished it, but now its done, because I say

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-27595019353711586102010-08-10T12:34:00.004-05:002010-08-10T12:42:30.463-05:00

I can't believe I forgot to post these... the diving helmet made a big splash at PlayOn Con, where it successfully made its first public dive with all the paint on.It was a ton of fun, but one glairing design flaw remains: the air pump is just too weak. Even with all the seals in place and the hose very firmly attached (no leaks) the pump I'm using just can't push hard enough to offset more than

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-56702883306072793602010-07-13T11:11:00.004-05:002010-07-13T11:26:13.075-05:00

Birmingham played host to PlayOn Con again this past weekend, and I finally had a chance to put the diving helmet through its paces in front of a live studio audience. PlayOn's more of a gaming and party convention than a costuming convention, so there wasn't quite as much camera work for me at this as there are at some other shows. But it was a good time, and I totally got to show off.I don't

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-68711890169170812872010-07-09T10:27:00.005-05:002010-07-09T11:28:18.062-05:00

So, I got the nutty idea in my head to make a diving helmet, and I just sorta ran with it...Thing is, I didn't want to make a costume helmet, I wanted to make a working helmet. I'm not trying to show BP how to fix things, but I did want to be able to play with it in a swimming pool. I wasn't really sure how to do that -- I have NO dive training or experience -- but I just sorta got in there

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-550459424916879472010-07-07T15:44:00.002-05:002010-07-07T16:07:11.138-05:00

Well, this post wasn't too long in the making...This one is a pure gallery post. These shots were taken at our "Zombie Prom" themed Halloween party in 2009, then processed in the GIMP. We staged most of the action in front of a blue plastic tarp, thinking this would make composting easier. Alas, this turned out not to be the case, and the texture of the tarp and blue-tinted reflected light

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-68969882520197744042010-05-28T10:44:00.008-05:002010-05-28T20:40:07.857-05:00

The con season continues, with Birmingham playing host to its local party, ImagiCon. Now, this con has some issues, not least of which being its trying to play in freain' Birmingham, and this town sucks. A friend of mine says Birmingham has an identity crisis, and there may be some truth to that. I do know its got some pretty disparate groups of people, and they really don't care for each

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-74920906813221120502010-05-25T23:00:00.009-05:002010-05-26T09:43:53.227-05:00

MondayThis was it. The Big Apple.Never been there.Well, I have now.We did the whole damn show, dude. Got up early, put on our marching boots (well, Nate wore old sneakers) and got on a train.We actually went through Penn Station much later in the day, but it illustrates the point.Since it was close, and kinda the thing you do, we walked from the station under Madison Square Garden to

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-90833017904112580582010-05-25T16:21:00.019-05:002010-05-26T09:44:53.790-05:00

So, I didn't got to New Jersey just for a con. I went up there to visit some of my oldest friends in the world. And man, I gotta say, they know how to host! Nate took time off work to hang out and show me the sights, so passing them along here is the least I can do. Here's the good pics, with a daily run down of the adventure.ThursdayThursday was mostly a travel day. All told, it was about 7

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-59884271720581127872010-05-24T12:19:00.006-05:002010-05-24T13:39:18.509-05:00

The convention season, it has begun!Just over a week ago (I know, posting way too slow) I took an adventure to New Jersey. Nate and Brooke, some of my oldest, closest friends moved up there a while back, and I finally got around to planning a visit. And, since we were just picking a date out of the hat, why not go on a con weekend? Thus I found myself able to attend the SteamPunk Worlds Fair

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-26366963760998348612010-05-11T22:26:00.002-05:002010-05-11T22:39:30.772-05:00

I'm about to go off and get my summer convention season started, which pretty much means little fiddly stuff is going on the back burner. Fortunately, I managed to get a few projects wrapped up before the shift. As a for instance, there was this little project I was working on, something with paratroopers, and its finally done, wrap, fine, completed. Even took pics of them all, I just haven't

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-22930453767785382142010-04-05T13:48:00.002-05:002010-04-05T14:01:13.574-05:00

A few weeks ago, Dylan and I played us a city fight. Here are some pics.Here's Dylan!Tactically speaking, this game played about like you'd expect a city fight to go. I made ready to advance up either side of the table, with a good punch extra on one side with my Shermans, matched on that same side by his Panzer IVs.You can see here the Shermans getting into position to support the infantry

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-1173801043531388262010-03-29T21:16:00.009-05:002010-03-30T08:34:43.147-05:00

Squad LorenzoI've got some other stuff I've been meaning to post, recent games and tomfoolery and the like, but I've been working on these long enough that I'm really anxious to get 'em up here. So, finally, here's my first "real" platoon of Terminators from the new Space Hulk. I gotta say, I'm pretty happy with them. I wanted to go all-out on these guys, and see what I could really do on a

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-12036234450125749652010-03-11T08:44:00.003-06:002010-03-11T10:16:15.600-06:00

Well, that sucked.Flooded my mother fucking game room!It could have been worse, but it sure as hell coulda been better. When I got there it was standing about 1.5 inch deep. We don't keep too much shit on the floor that isn't in a plastic tub or raised up on metal shelves, and the floor is rather uneven, which saved my book cases from the worst of it. So I get down with the shop vac and

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-15886968893886409932010-03-09T13:34:00.003-06:002010-03-09T14:07:30.050-06:00

I ran another teaching game of Flames of War in the basement this past weekend, this time with my old buddy, Walt. I didn't put quite as much time into the table for this one, so its not quite as fancy, but it sure was dense! Probably a little too dense, but hay, he's the one who out out all the tree stands. We played "No Retreat," from the Firestrom: Bagration book. I did a good bit of

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-38918357343179108092010-03-08T13:37:00.005-06:002010-03-08T14:17:46.424-06:00

Artists Acrylics for WarGamersThis is something of an expanded answer to a question from the local game forum, where someone asked me which of their bewildering array of products I used as the basis for mud on vehicle fenders. Since I use a decent handful of their products, I figured I'd comment on a few of them and how they might be useful for the wargamer and miniature painter. Liquitex has

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-61072128663570096672010-03-03T12:36:00.004-06:002010-03-03T13:16:51.199-06:00

My buddy, DJ Dildonic, has taken an interest in Flames of War, and we've been playing a few little games, but it was finally time to roll it all out and play big. So we went all out on the table lay out, and he pushed around my Panzergrenadiers while I got some advanced training in parachute assaults. We played using whatever they call the Airborne assault mission in D-1, "Seize and Hold," or

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-13620588534102436432010-03-02T08:24:00.012-06:002010-03-02T12:08:58.527-06:00

OK, so right off the top, some folks call this kind of thing "Folk Metal," but I'm going with the more generic and open term "Viking Metal," by which I mean heavy riffs and heavy armor, the sort of band best suited to the nexus between metal and LARP.I'm personally not too into the lighter Epic Metal, stuff like Blind Guardian -- too much hair metal in there, not enough brutality. It is nice

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-19751383949276206382010-03-01T12:23:00.018-06:002010-03-02T12:09:34.907-06:00

I haven't kept up with music like I used to since I got out of school -- the Rave thing was dieing out, Industrial was stuck in a rut, and NuMetal sucked, so for a while there I just kept listening to the same old CDs. I eventually got bored with them and music listening kind of petered out over all, aside from my habit of picking up a new Goth band at every big convention I go to (I always did

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-87362053006448073372010-02-02T09:17:00.003-06:002010-02-02T09:23:59.824-06:00

As promised, Space Hulk test figures. These are me trying to remember how to paint red, only this time so it looks good (not like when I'd try and paint colorful shit in highshool). I always did my own colors back in the day, but for this go around on Space Hulk I wanted pure, as per the fluf, GW Approved Blood Angel Space Marines, just like on the box cover. So here we go, First Edition Space

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-5516025642371923362009-12-28T14:08:00.003-06:002009-12-28T14:25:14.050-06:00

Hay, I found pictures!I took these back in the summer at the meet up at Ex Libris's place. I meant to post them then, and well... I'm posting them now! I took some others, but for whatever reasons (mostly them just being snapshots of dubious quality) these are the ones I felt like sharing. I've got a group shot, random folks, a good batch of the Huntsville crew, and I even show up in a few

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-19641952855702391852009-12-18T11:48:00.002-06:002009-12-18T11:55:34.951-06:00

This here's the big one... I call her Eunice, after my cantankerous old grandmother.Its a modded Nerf Vulcan, but I think I've gone a bit beyond the typical repaint -- and dear god, did this project involve a lot of masking! The metallic color of the main gun parts was "air mixed" onto the gun, meaning I held a can of spray paint in each hand, one of them a purple metallic and the other copper,

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-27231426317124515692009-12-16T12:52:00.002-06:002009-12-16T12:55:05.716-06:00

The newly discovered technology of the pulsating electronic magnet, or PEM, has offered us another tool to use in the control and containment of otherwise rogue automaton and other mechanical and electrical devices -- an issue of growing importance as these contraptions are employed an an ever increasing rate.Simply pull the pin and toss the device (called a "PEM bomb" by the boys in the field)

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-64368174542828718252009-12-15T16:43:00.002-06:002009-12-15T16:50:33.833-06:00

Over the summer I started playing around with making holsters and such from raw leather. These were the first ones I made (after the holster that goes with the Duck Hunt gun).My process is as simple and intuitive as can be. I make a prototype loosly shaped like the gun in paper, and transfer that to the leather with plenty of room to spare. Then I rivet the whole thing together -- I just don't

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-17826169057353055702009-12-11T13:50:00.002-06:002009-12-11T13:55:15.321-06:00

I came up on an ugly, beat up old foot locker at a thrift store for $5. It was fugly... blue and purple fake leather... but it had promise. After buffing off all the crud from the metal fittings, and recoating the old ugly fake leather with new less ugly fake leather, I printed up a bunch of old hotel luggage tags and travel stickers and the like. A quick dip in some milk a run through the

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-3327731190440699222009-12-11T13:32:00.002-06:002009-12-11T13:37:55.958-06:00

OK, new guns!Well, they were new guns back in August, but I never got around to posting them...So, I came up with a new, totally top secret way to put a nice fake wood pattern on repainted plastic toys. I like it, and I kinda just took it and ran with it... so here's the heat the wife and I were packin' at DragonCon:We'll go ahead and start with the Lady's pistol. Now, there's a joke behind

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-36123217949208341872009-12-09T11:58:00.001-06:002009-12-09T11:58:33.749-06:00

Well, crap.My grandfather died night before last. I found out last night. He'd been sick for a long time, so I'm not really "sad," about it in the simplest sense of the word. Honestly, I'd have been far more upset of someone was taking a diabetic, blind, deaf, 83 year old with a broken hip and forcing kidney dialysis on him. He had the option, and opted out. My own father had a chance to talk

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-5564980429062044412009-12-02T08:24:00.001-06:002009-12-02T08:24:55.113-06:00

No hady pics just yet, but I'm putting the finishing touches on an away party featuring classic Trek Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Yeoman Rand.Edit: OK, figured out what I've got here. The figures are pretty shit, full-on ancient (1978, according to the casting tabs), and looked like this when I started:That's supposed to be Kirk, His Yoeman, Scotty, and Sulu according to this blog:http://

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-23052692039550961052009-11-05T12:37:00.011-06:002009-11-05T16:33:48.977-06:00

DragonCon 2009 Posts:DragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, Thrusday and FridayDragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, SaturdayDragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, Sunday and MondayDragonCon 2009 Costumes: Super HeroesDragonCon 2009 Costumes: Star WarsDragonCon 2009 Costumes: misc.DragonCon 2009 Costumes: SteamPunkDragonCon 2009 Gun BabesDragonCon 2009 - The Ladies of DragonConHere we are, at

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-56024743497122267442009-10-27T12:37:00.008-05:002009-11-05T16:34:48.212-06:00

DragonCon 2009 Posts:DragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, Thrusday and FridayDragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, SaturdayDragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, Sunday and MondayDragonCon 2009 Costumes: Super HeroesDragonCon 2009 Costumes: Star WarsDragonCon 2009 Costumes: misc.DragonCon 2009 Costumes: SteamPunkDragonCon 2009 Gun BabesDragonCon 2009 - The Ladies of DragonConSo, Sunday night I

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-6854834825685165082009-10-20T12:42:00.006-05:002009-11-05T16:34:53.564-06:00

DragonCon 2009 Posts:DragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, Thrusday and FridayDragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, SaturdayDragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, Sunday and MondayDragonCon 2009 Costumes: Super HeroesDragonCon 2009 Costumes: Star WarsDragonCon 2009 Costumes: misc.DragonCon 2009 Costumes: SteamPunkDragonCon 2009 Gun BabesDragonCon 2009 - The Ladies of DragonConOK, kids. This

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-85472433359635207222009-10-19T12:38:00.004-05:002009-10-19T13:16:54.304-05:00

Hold the phone, y'all.The Paratroopers are painted.I say again, the fucking paratroopers are fucking painted!I'd like to draw your attention to this dusty old post, just to properly set the time line here. Now, its not like I've been working on these things flat-out, non-stop for three long years. Hell, if nothing else this blog may serve as a record of all the things that distracted me from

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-26316535944968344932009-10-15T17:02:00.016-05:002009-11-05T16:34:58.435-06:00

DragonCon 2009 Posts:DragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, Thrusday and FridayDragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, SaturdayDragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, Sunday and MondayDragonCon 2009 Costumes: Super HeroesDragonCon 2009 Costumes: Star WarsDragonCon 2009 Costumes: misc.DragonCon 2009 Costumes: SteamPunkDragonCon 2009 Gun BabesDragonCon 2009 The Ladies of DragonConAnd now,

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-59873205113770349692009-10-15T12:04:00.008-05:002009-11-05T16:35:06.359-06:00

DragonCon 2009 Posts:DragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, Thrusday and FridayDragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, SaturdayDragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, Sunday and MondayDragonCon 2009 Costumes: Super HeroesDragonCon 2009 Costumes: Star WarsDragonCon 2009 Costumes: misc.DragonCon 2009 Costumes: SteamPunkDragonCon 2009 Gun BabesDragonCon 2009 - The Ladies of DragonConStar Wars --

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-91796783713117294662009-10-15T11:57:00.002-05:002009-10-15T11:59:16.936-05:00

This is beyond fucking stupid.Basically, there were some hairy protests in Pitsbourg over the G20 shit, and this dude was twittering police movements to better coordinate protesters. Call that good tactics, call it obstruction of justice, really just which side of the fence you're on. Also, the dude in question is an avowed anarchist and writer for Steampunk Magazine.Anyway, he's up on felony

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-36018777038999697412009-10-13T12:51:00.011-05:002009-11-05T16:35:12.070-06:00

OK, so I've gotten all the long-winded narrative out of the way, but I've still got a bunch of pictures I'd like to post, and will do so via a few themed galleries. But I'm not even going to try and blog every single picture I took, so here's a link to the big photobucket with all my DragonCon 2009 photos.DragonCon 2009 Posts:DragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, Thrusday and FridayDragonCon

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-78849411199728670082009-09-30T10:30:00.033-05:002009-11-05T16:35:17.235-06:00

DragonCon 2009 Posts:DragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, Thrusday and FridayDragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, SaturdayDragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, Sunday and MondayDragonCon 2009 Costumes: Super HeroesDragonCon 2009 Costumes: Star WarsDragonCon 2009 Costumes: misc.DragonCon 2009 Costumes: SteamPunkDragonCon 2009 Gun BabesDragonCon 2009 - The Ladies of DragonConA Note On Picture

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-65825317675276821112009-09-30T10:19:00.033-05:002009-11-05T16:35:24.405-06:00

DragonCon 2009 Posts:DragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, Thrusday and FridayDragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, SaturdayDragonCon 2009 - After Action Summary, Sunday and MondayDragonCon 2009 Costumes: Super HeroesDragonCon 2009 Costumes: Star WarsDragonCon 2009 Costumes: misc.DragonCon 2009 Costumes: SteamPunkDragonCon 2009 Gun BabesDragonCon 2009 - The Ladies of DragonConI'm not even going

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-62586560882138428482009-09-28T15:08:00.055-05:002009-11-05T16:35:32.109-06:00

DragonCon ruled, as always. And here I am, a few weeks later, trying to go back and blog about it. But, ah ha! I have PICTURES! (If you don't know what DragonCon is or why I care about it, look at older entries. Or hell, just read this stuff and look at the pictures, it ought to sell itself. Or, ya know, google it.I liked the format I came up with last year, so I'm going to stick with it.

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-57723527875573560622009-09-25T09:51:00.004-05:002009-09-25T09:55:01.696-05:00

I've finally got all the pics I took at DragonCon cleaned up, so I'll be posting them over the next chunk of linear time. And that means instead of looking at LeVar Burton with a bunch of kids, you can look at me with a pair of slave Leias. Now you tell me, which is better?(The actual posted pictures are higher resolution than this preview shot.)

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-77356081565382222852009-08-31T15:31:00.003-05:002009-08-31T15:35:07.505-05:00

Man, did y'all know they canceled Reading Rainbow today? I can trace my love (not only of books) of gluing together mismatched model kits directly to the Reading Rainbow ep. that was basically a behind the scenes of Star Trek The Next Generation, where in they showed a small shuttle pod to be old model car parts with Gilette razors on the sides. And I've been sniffin' glue ever since.http://

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-36695269718603056052009-08-18T09:30:00.003-05:002009-08-18T09:32:40.026-05:00

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-88286682398857812782009-08-07T13:45:00.017-05:002009-08-07T17:05:30.391-05:00

Fueled by the living essence of the fae creatures trapped inside, these handy devices will power any infernal contraption to which the intrepid (and morally flexible) inventor sees fit to attach them. Each Faerie was captured fresh in the wild (efforts continue to achieve breeding of captive specimens) before being inserted into our patented life support and energy extraction system.Each battery

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-78900899865189693182009-06-12T12:26:00.002-05:002009-06-12T12:30:38.419-05:00

Fuck you, Photobucket, you god damned piece of shit!My pics are all fucked up (bandwidth limit exceded) until the 22nd. Which I guess is one way to find out the people are actually looking at them...

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-59789322327679021562009-06-03T13:59:00.002-05:002009-06-03T14:05:33.017-05:00

Since I've had so much fun playing with toy guns lately, I went ahead and finished this:It's a Peacekeeper Pulse Pistol from Farscape. Gods, I loved that show... Anyway, I picked the resin kit up at DragonCon last year and only now got around to assembling and painting it. Its a butt-simple kit, just clean and fill casting problems (none were major, just a few burrs and bubbles) and glue on

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-55961775470529763772009-05-19T16:34:00.002-05:002009-05-19T16:42:03.345-05:00

I picked up a pair of old crystal-based headphones at an antique shop in Huntsville a few weeks ago. Now, there are those who would loose their minds at me tearing up an old antique, but fuck it. They didn't work anymore. Not like an old sextant or something that still did its job but there were new ways to do it, I mean these things were just junk. Attractive junk, but junk none the less.

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-76537167826769912722009-05-06T16:54:00.003-05:002009-05-07T15:03:41.670-05:00

I’ve been saving the best for last.Out of this first batch of 1:1 scale releases from the workshop, I started this one first and finished it last. It was the most fun, uses the most “real stuff,” (that being actual metal and such, not plastic crap painted to look like metal), almost kinda sorta pretends to work, looks the best… I really like this one. In fact, I liked it so much that I failed

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-36114582274951031722009-05-06T12:52:00.004-05:002009-05-06T13:11:06.422-05:00

This item comes from the hand of my lovely assistant, Artemiss. All I did was spray paint the thing, all the construction and detail work is hers. Personally, I'd have gone a bit further with the detailing and brought out all the molded hydraulics and such, which she felt would make it look too busy. But it’s a cute little bugger, so here it is. Inspired by the clock work owl in Clash of

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-45284629660322647352009-05-04T14:43:00.012-05:002009-05-11T08:57:03.651-05:00

This is the cheeseiest thing I’ve ever made. But it sure was a crowd pleaser!I don’t have a cool name made up for this or anything like that, it just seemed to make something tongue in cheek seem too serious. I originally came up with the idea to do this for a few reasons:1. I wanted to test the vinyl contact paper over lager, flatter surfaces2. I like the idea of making every day item look

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-91792102230322353582009-05-01T16:55:00.002-05:002009-05-01T16:59:17.934-05:00

We’ve finally got some finished projects rolling out of the workshop in the new, exciting world of 1:1 scale! No more crappy cell phone cam pics, we’ve got something decent to look at today. So, without further ado, let make with some pics! First up, we’ve got a batch of toy guns. These were done mostly as paint tests – being as how I planned to make such extensive use of spray paint on more

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-81572005744010013802009-05-01T16:42:00.002-05:002009-05-01T16:47:39.035-05:00

OK, here's the finished version of the magnetic patch I put on the Honda, as described here. No more crappy phonecam pics, and it shows the final detail, the screw heads. I think they really sell the "I bolted this chunk of old wood to my car," look. Before, it just looked like a sticker.The screws are simplicity itself, and continued the All Recycled Parts theme of this piece. I took a 1 1/4

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-86397289669686320342009-04-24T14:41:00.005-05:002009-04-24T15:26:45.250-05:00

Here's a few little things I've been working on lately.Coming up out of last weekend's scrap run, comes this lovely set of fireplace tools. They looked like hell when I picked them up, but a few turns of a screw driver, a little Brasso, and no small amount of elbow grease and they are good to go.They are just the right amount of tacky to appeal to me, and since my fireplace is flanked by

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-68908762552237841472009-04-18T10:31:00.009-05:002009-04-18T15:51:18.482-05:00

Some days, its good to live in Redneckia.I don't know what they call it, but once or twice a year the city says it will haul off to the dump anything you can drag down to the street in front of your house. Maybe its got something ironic to do with Earth Day. At any rate, there are piles like this one every few houses on ever road in my neighborhood. Its like a big drive-through thrift store

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-67030584172463130092009-04-16T14:02:00.005-05:002009-04-16T14:05:17.381-05:00

Here's a crappy cell phone shot of what's about one or two more sittings worth of work away from finished -- a SteamPunked Guitar Hero controller. Goofy, yes. Also, fun, and a really good test piece for that fake wood action that I'm wanting to use later for something else. Anyway, I just wanted to have something up here related to what I've been spending so much time on lately. This weekend

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-50770807444952086902009-04-15T08:56:00.020-05:002009-04-21T13:49:50.541-05:00

We spent our Easter weekend in Atlanta with the fine partiers of FroliCon! We've been eye-balling this con for years, but never mustered up the courage to go. Well hot damn, am I glad we finally ponied up! This was not the camera-fest that I usually partake in at cons. Not that there wasn't anything worth taking a picture of, I just had other things to do with my hands, and the vibe is

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-65120015387858767022009-04-13T13:31:00.002-05:002009-04-13T13:33:31.042-05:00

Got in a game of HeroScape Thursday with a buddy and his son. It was fun, one of those classic passing of the torch to the next generation of geeks kind of evenings. Good times.

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-70336950244393610842009-03-30T14:19:00.008-05:002009-03-30T17:52:57.385-05:00

So, ya... ImagiCon was this past weekend. It was technically a first time con, though it pretty much grew up from the ashes of OmegaCon. And, like... no one came. Seriously, I'm having a hard time giving any actual opinion on how well prepaired the con was, or how much fun they had lined up for anybody, because no one showed up. Like, at all. I mean, OK, a few people did. I forgot my real

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-15733748880185839782009-03-30T13:56:00.015-05:002009-05-19T16:34:35.205-05:00

Somehow, this never got posted, and just sat at "Edit." Oh well. Here it is.About a month ago, we got an unseasonal snow. Actually, just about any snow is unseasonable for Alabama, so when you get it you play with it. This snow lasted all of like 8 or 10 hours, so there wasn't much time to plan or get anything really put together -- just grab some toys and a camera and get out to play before it

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-85249141465014596382009-03-30T10:05:00.005-05:002009-03-30T12:28:37.772-05:00

So we've been hitting pretty much every Thrift store, garage sale, junk shop, and scrap pile we can find lately. For the most part, there's not much to blog about in the "we went antiquing again," category, at least not for a Red Blooded American Man like myself. But there have been a few little gems. For one, I can tell you now that Huntsville is an undiscovered SteamPunk gold mine. Makes

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-16341490072951890122009-03-17T10:21:00.001-05:002009-03-17T10:46:00.202-05:00

OK, here's one that you lot should have some good ideas on. I'm putting together an Ultimate Utility Belt. Think less Bat Man, and more Bug Out Kit for day-to-day action. Items must be real and functional, so no comics nonsense or anti-vampire bullshit. I'm also more interested in minor day-to-day micro-catastrophies than the end of the world. Sure, all this shit would be useful if the

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-16327105436963250962009-03-09T10:15:00.003-05:002009-03-09T10:18:37.908-05:00

I learned to solder this weekend!You'd think I'd have picked up that skill somewhere, but it never happened. So I ordered up a kit from make: that had a beginner and a slightly less beginner kit with a soldering iron and how-to book, and cranked out the amazingly useful breadboards you see above. One of them worked, the other, well... I lost a resistor in the carpet and couldn't find one handy to

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-52959957787720659292009-02-19T13:48:00.006-06:002009-02-19T14:42:10.574-06:00

I'm so frackin' bored with painting olive drab! Actually, I'm kinda bored with painting miniatures in general. And pretty damned burned out on WWII as a whole, at least the version of the war fought without benefit of daemons and jet packs.So, its time for something different. Actually, there's a lot swirling around on this one, and the timing is all sort of coming together for me. I've been

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-70531201242092378652009-02-02T14:07:00.001-06:002009-02-02T14:08:22.699-06:00

I'm gonna start updating this thing again, I swear I am! Look, look, I made a list of minis I wanna buy, right over there to the right and down a bit!

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-48614259429863922332008-11-03T10:48:00.005-06:002008-11-03T11:28:10.457-06:00

I came across a few little clips I'd intended to post after Dragon, so here they are. I had another set of pics I'd intended to post, too, and maybe I'll get a link up for that soon since I'm not sure I want to do another DCon post.Melissa at DragonConRandom DragonCon Belly DancersSinging Tesla Coils at the Mad Scientist's Ball

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-89263872983293278592008-10-21T08:35:00.001-05:002008-10-21T08:36:30.053-05:00

Hells ya! Never got one before, but I got notice from photobucket that I'm approaching my monthly bandwidth limit. Y'all must be eatin' up some pics. Hit counter down there's been going crazy, too. This pleases Utini.

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-71894441725599775622008-10-12T15:37:00.002-05:002008-10-12T15:45:40.589-05:00

Maybe I'll write something about it later, but I took 2nd place with two 6-1s and a 2-5 loss. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon. Here are the two shitty pics I took with my camera (I took the wrong camera bag to the shop, and its batteries were dead) and a link to the forrum post where Caesar posted his:Steel City Crucible write up

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-60623464569766248292008-10-08T15:11:00.000-05:002008-10-08T15:20:52.147-05:00

I'm inventing a new hobby.With all the ways the world could end at any given moment -- gas crisis, financial collapse, unending war, zombies, global warming, the list goes on and on -- something's gonna give at some point and we'll all be in the crapper. I'm not saying this is a certainty, or that I know how it will all fall apart. But I do know that sh|t is wierd enough at this point that if

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-21882784880077731102008-09-23T13:03:00.029-05:002009-03-31T08:55:15.997-05:00

EDIT: Unless I misread my admin pages, I somehow forgot to actually post this back in the day, so here it is, out of "Draft," mode, and onto the blog. Where it may already have been, who knows.OK, so this obviously ended up getting split into two posts.... and I'll start this one with the cutest little cat girl you ever did see.And just to be sure you don't think its all sunshine and daises over

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-57530698614757815532008-09-23T12:38:00.028-05:002008-09-23T16:29:45.775-05:00

Obviously, this one's going to be my catch-all post for fancy dressed up people who don't really fit into one of the bigger categories. There are a lot of these, so I may split it into two posts. We'll see.First off, I fuckin' love this shot:I saw the kids shuffling along like zombies, and then they saw the ambulance and all had the same idea at the same time. A few of us with cameras saw 'em

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-77702349558326323462008-09-22T13:13:00.006-05:002008-09-22T13:44:35.776-05:00

Always a popular theme, somehow there were even more folks in the mood to dress up as comic book characters at the end of Summer, 2008... wonder how that might have happened?I really liked this one spot for taking the pics:It just sort of seemed natural for urban tights-wearing crime fighters.Also, I mentioned earlier how there were fewer Storm Troopers this year. I think this might be what a

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-56858264788927603812008-09-22T12:37:00.006-05:002008-09-22T13:08:06.815-05:00

Without a doubt, this year at DragonCon SteamPunk was the new hotness. Which was a lot of fun, because almost nobody knew what it was! In case you're among the uninitiated, here's what Wikipedia has to day about it:Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and speculative fiction that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-42102036665514195732008-09-19T12:42:00.005-05:002008-09-19T13:22:26.407-05:00

Time for another post!I took so many pics of people in costume that I'm breaking them up across multiple posts. I think I'll start with Star Wars. I always have since 1977, so why stop now.First, we have the droid builders. Anyone got a link for these guys?Naturally, there were plenty of Jedi. I really like the idea of the blind Jedi:But this idea is pretty good, too:I am, however, less sure

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-418117844691501902008-09-18T12:50:00.010-05:002008-09-18T13:44:19.792-05:00

Ah, the DragonCon parade... something about the idea of cops stopping traffic in a major metropolitan area for a bunch of guys dressed up as stormtroopers just makes me smile. One year, I think it was 2006, I saw some random normal person who'd accidentally gotten caught up with the costumes, and had to just sit there and idle along with a bunch of elves. She looked... frustrated.Anyway, here

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-65052120505427725702008-09-17T13:07:00.011-05:002008-09-26T21:00:47.766-05:00

When asked to describe DragonCon to folks who don't know, I often tell them something along the lines that its the gathering of all nerd tribes. Every faction is represented, and anything in this earth that I'd call my own is out in force.Which means that I owe pictures to a bunch of you. So here goes, the Tribal shots from 2008, in no particular meaningful order, with my comments and

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-58987879984904472532008-09-02T09:35:00.041-05:002008-11-03T11:28:05.848-06:00

After-Action ReportWe is home.Got invites from Axl and missed the parties anyway, but had a kick ass, holy shit what was that, dear god my feet hurt, met some new folks, found old friends, see ya again bad ass kilt wearin' steampunk lovin' bondage flirtin' faerie-wing dodgin' mother fucking tesla-coil singin' name takin' pick snappin' good time!I'm workin' on getting pics up. Ya know, soon.

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-45705449123263399562008-08-27T15:27:00.003-05:002008-08-27T15:32:54.553-05:00

Just for fun, and to sort of fill an ancient request, here are a few extreme close-up shots of my swamp tile. As always, click to make 'em bigger (someone let me know if that doesn't work, OK?)

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-58157583219620601132008-08-27T12:02:00.008-05:002008-08-27T13:23:31.106-05:00

Uncle Ben's Instant D&D in a Box.The Game - DescentThat's how I've been summing up Descent from Fantasy Flight Games. There are reviews for this game all over the place, so I'm not going to really write another one, other than to say that if you once played RPGs, and got burned out on them when everyone else got all StorryTeller and you just wanted to push minis, so you dropped RPGs for WarGames

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-25051767239080958202008-08-26T11:34:00.002-05:002008-08-26T11:41:57.356-05:00

OK, its been a while on these, but I finally got around to painting them up. These shots don't show all the little details, I'm really just trying to show you how the mesh gunked up during painting, but how that wasn't the end of the world. Take a look.In these few, painted with just an air-brushed basecoat (and maybe a little highlighting), you can see how bad some of it looked. Here's a

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-87639080935457892282008-08-25T11:39:00.002-05:002008-08-25T11:44:13.264-05:00

A while back, I needed to let someone know what I had in terms of terrain tiles, so I took these pics. In case this ever comes up again, I'm posting them here.These are all 2 x 2 foot, 1.75 inch thick.

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-76450546134739746952008-08-25T11:20:00.004-05:002008-08-25T11:30:40.273-05:00

So, I got all the tokens painted up, with clever little plugs in them to hold them up. I even got a bunch of the guys together to put the map together (so everyone gets to place tiles). We got it all hung on the wall...And that's about it. I think this one is going to end up still-born, because Fantasy Flight has kicked the shit out of the small-end of gaming lately. Descent is pretty much

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-58769232564373442362008-08-24T19:53:00.005-05:002008-08-24T20:00:39.966-05:00

OK, so I'm just a little bit late putting pics up for this. Rickroll me. Anyway, its so long ago that I don't really remember many particulars of any given fight, and who cares -- I cheated big time on my one glorious victory of the day, anyhow. But I did get some nice pictures of cute little toy tanks, so here's a few of them.I thought my objective looked spiffy sitting with its little bit of

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-91010982856617046722008-08-23T14:41:00.016-05:002008-08-24T12:34:59.290-05:00

The other day a hand full of us got together up at the FLGS to run through a three-player match for one of the battle's in Caesar's SANTA BORRACHA Campaign. Set in a bizarro 1946 South America under chaotic and drunken civil war, so far its been an exercise in uncontrolled chaos. I love it -- none of that mamby-pamby campaign paper work around here! For details, check various threads here:?

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-19752041862021551322008-07-07T08:55:00.003-05:002008-08-24T12:29:02.991-05:00

Very brief post, just to say that I went to Play On Con this weekend. Hay, it was local. It was also friggin' tiny. Like, maybe 150 people tiny. I had fun, but that was mostly because of all the running around I did back and forth to the con, and other comic shops, and to Sammys, a local gentleman's establishment. The con itself was sort of on the cusp between "con" and "nerd kegger." So,

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-27410988178163709422008-06-16T14:40:00.005-05:002010-03-05T13:34:36.189-06:00

Man, I hate writing "Army Histories" for wargames. I love telling these stories with other gamers, but I think they are best when told verbally over the post-game bull session. Besides, I graduated from college so I wouldn't have to write stupid papers any more. Granted, ya, folks need to read the history and not everyone is doing that on their own, so I can see how they came up with the idea,

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-72606167897493512462008-06-10T20:03:00.002-05:002008-06-10T20:08:37.630-05:00

Seriously, the total lack of new posts has been due to me workin' on too much stuff, and not stopping to make blog posts. I took some pictures, I was gonna post 'em... See there's this point where that whole more-efficient-to-paint-in-mass thing breaks down, and I think its when you stop trying to work on things a platoon at a time, and start thinking in terms of simultaneously produced

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-18529045230499734672008-03-17T11:42:00.016-05:002008-08-24T12:31:07.255-05:00

This weekend saw the first in what will hopefully prove to be an annual event, OmegaCon, Birmingham, AL's very own comics/ scifi/ costume/ gaming/ nerd con. So, lets do the run-down on the Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful.The GoodOverall, I had a blast! Its about time Birmingham played host to its own con. Its been about 12 years since the last time anyone did anything like this, and it was a

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-46083909573904811642008-03-16T22:29:00.007-05:002008-08-24T12:33:20.695-05:00

Again with the slow posting... the month and a half delay on writing this up isn't going to do me any favors in the detail department. But my notes show that over the weekend of February 8 - 10, 2008 I was in Kennesaw, GA attending WarFair 2008 and competing in the Flames of War tournament hosted at same. Most of the folks I've come to look forward to seeing at these kinds of things were there

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-38768258831270700112008-03-16T19:36:00.007-05:002008-08-24T12:35:24.191-05:00

3 Feb 2008As a kick-off for what is intended to be the first of a monthly event, we all got together and played a mega battle. That meant Soviets vs. Germans, no lists, anything painted. A lot of the old hands didn't show, but we made up the slack in new guys, which is exactly what you need to have happen some times. Many of the Germans are mine, with lots of heavy tank support by the

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-88324983850145490652008-01-25T13:22:00.001-06:002008-08-24T12:35:33.705-05:00

Intro:As part of their efforts to not get blown up in Russia, the German army in WWII mounted all manner of stand-off armour to the sides of their tanks. Called schurzen, these plates were never intended to stop cold incoming AT rounds, but rather to cause shaped-charge AT explosives to blow up several inches away from the armour. While they didn't do anything to high-velocity munitions, they

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-22596695753532467872008-01-24T16:02:00.001-06:002008-08-24T12:36:03.158-05:00

Through the ruins of an unspecified European metropolis, the armoured soldiers of the Rustungmacht stalk the night. Their eyes glow red in the gloom as they pick their way over piles of broken bricks, their boots crunching into gravel beneath knee deep water. If the underground factories can only produce enough of these powerful suits of infantry armour then none of the allied pigdogs will make

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-21884816915174137782008-01-24T14:45:00.001-06:002008-08-24T12:36:18.669-05:00

General IntroTo begin with, let me just say that Iron Tom has set the standard on herding gamers along through a large event. If he had any serious problems along they way I couldn't tell. At 48 players, this was the largest event like this that I've participated in, but everything ran smoothly.The best part of the event was the people. Asside from getting to know some of the local and regional

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-70263127950377835432008-01-24T14:38:00.000-06:002008-01-24T14:44:04.480-06:00

The combination of technical difficulties (rebuilt home PC, dead net connection, and can't find photoshop) and a bussy tournament and painting schedule have combined, such that I have a ton of new stuff and I've been very slow to update. So, here's what you can expect in the short-term:WolfKrieg'08 -- Table and Army picturs, full AAR, and road trip pics of our run up to Kentucky for THE Flames

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-48255461449069269122007-12-31T15:19:00.001-06:002008-08-24T12:37:50.829-05:00

Here's a basic run down on the idea I'd like to kick out to the group for consideration. Like I said, I want to encourage phunky gaming, not hard-core competitive gaming, so Campaigns are inherently more interesting to me than Leagues or Tournaments. However, I don't think anybody is chomping at the bit to handle all the paper work for a year-long 24 player mega campaign or anything like that.

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-5340422971072277412007-12-31T14:30:00.000-06:002007-12-31T14:33:43.532-06:00

Here at the WorkShop, we're shifting gears. It’s been damn near nothing but paint for months now. And ya, you've gotta paint the stuff, but seriously, my love is truly for the modeling end of things. I love the little nicks in the finger tips, crust of superglue under the finger nail, and dust dust dust as I grind away metal and resin. Ah, modeling time....Not that there hasn't been some painting

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-50841350002682785572007-12-10T18:22:00.000-06:002007-12-10T18:26:54.799-06:00

Actually, its been a little bit of this, and a little bit of that since finishing up the Chinese hoard, but here's the basic rundown:Back on the Paratroopers with a vengence -- I just finished my basic 105mm artillery battery, and have the mortars and MGs also 100% painted. All they need is flock and snow, which will happen to the entire army all at once at the end. At this point, I've decided

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-35411480099248594642007-11-22T11:17:00.001-06:002008-08-24T12:38:19.022-05:00

Finally, we come to the last article on the modeling and converting of Easy Company -- the Officers and hero characters for the unit. Obviously this group had some of the most evocative images to draw upon from the Band of Brothers miniseries, and several of them screamed for justice. I really had a lot of fun making the independent teams for my paratrooper company, and had such a hard time

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-31122637201351815882007-11-22T11:05:00.001-06:002008-08-24T12:38:38.175-05:00

It’s been a brief season of completion around here -- my 10mm Ancient Chinese army is finished. As in, 100% totally done with everything I'm ever gonna do to them. How often do ADD wargamers get to say that? They are cleaned, primered, painted, varnished, based, textured, and flocked. All 1400 or so of 'em. I even went back and painted little Chinese characters for "soldier," "horse," "arrow

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-48816327730342022282007-11-22T10:20:00.001-06:002008-08-24T12:38:48.585-05:00

Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007Itypically refrain from bogging any personal life type stuff on here. I'd really rather keep things on topic, and we're here to talk about toy soldiers, not real life, right? That said, there has just come to pass an event in my life that I feel worthy of remembrance -- I have completed the test to be recognized as a Student of the Physical Forms in Shen Lung Kung Fu.That

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-28476358080171933692007-10-30T12:43:00.001-05:002008-08-24T12:39:00.821-05:00

One of these days, I'm going to settle down and actually learn to read the rule book. The quick summation: I won one and lost two, and I think half the reason I won the one I did was operating in such a spastic manner that I just threw the other guy off his rocker. So here's the run down, illustrated with pictures shamelessly stolen from Caesar.The basic setup: a few of us showed up the night

Utini420http://www.blogger.com/profile/16606250842681561181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4635684321422114899.post-67954446653775723542007-10-24T16:26:00.001-05:002008-08-24T12:39:14.598-05:00

Ah, the inglorious bastards of the airborne glider troops. Same risks and hazards as the paratroopers, plus a crappy glider ride, without the sexy boots or jump pay. Ain't war grand? Plus, as a bonus, years after the war some punk kid will jump them all together under a single blog post!The glider-based units in my army provide most of the heavy weapons and support elements. For my army, that

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