Progress of Modelling.

Hi dear peeps,

I am back with updates on pretty much everything.
This past few weeks, I have been really working real hard on various models both from Warhammer and Military.

Its been one hardcore season of doing stuff and I can safely say that you guys are in for a treat of new models, military stuff and Warhammer. With Warhammer releasing their new 8th edition, I figured why not give a brief overview of what i have been up to with Warhammer for this entry.

First of all, I have completed my Men-at-Arms regiment. trying some new techniques of painting and going from my "clean slate" type of one colour, one dimension painting to a mroe dirtier and more shading and drybrushing technique in my later models. I have yet to perfect blending and other better painting technique but i can safely say I have improve over the years i guess.

Have been basing my old Warhammer stuff and trying to salvage the ugly looking models and making them look better. I won't deny there is a lot more to continue on but I can say that its been fulfilling.

Here's a few of the stuff that i have assembled so far,


Angry Doggie. (Dry Brushed)


Wanted to Colour the lady in "real" colours but I felt that the metallic coating gave the Statue a more "gothic" feel to it. Noticed that the candles are sorta drybrushed and I tried painting the flame to look a lil more "LIFE"-liked.


Here is the Flagbearer of my Men-at-arms. Looking rather old from the inking that I have done on his face. Loving the Mustache on him though. :p Really gotta say He looks good in it :).


General Overlook of the Flagbearer.


Assembling all my Men-at-arms.

These pictures do not do justice to the amount that I have been doing. All I can say is stay tune to many many more stuff from me. And that doesn't include the awesome stuff that Joshua will be featuring too.

Till then, Glad of all the support and stay tune to many more stuff.

Cheers!

Simian Snipers

"Gorilla Warfare"

Some of the funniest crap I've seen on the Internet so far...alleged 'reports' that the Taliban is training monkeys to fight US troops, and they are rewarded with bananas and peanuts for their services in liberation Afghanistan. Also, it's mentioned that it was 'inspired' by previous US attempts to train monkeys back in Vietnam...



The news report's in Mandarin, and I really do not think it was actually real news broadcasted over television networks. Also, it's using the traditional form of Chinese, so the video's most likely from Taiwan.

I guess animals have been routinely used by armed forces before, with Russian dogs strapped with bombs to destroy German tanks (failed btw, the dogs simply returned to their masters), and dolphins trained by the US Navy...and are perhaps best known for their appearance in C&C Red Alert 2.


But not all of this is just utterly bullcrap. Very interestingly, the US Navy does have a full-fledged and formerly classified animal training program called the US Navy Marine Animal Program, which deployed dolphins and sea lions to perform a variety of tasks...even during Operation Iraqi Freedom to scan for mines (which proved highly successful). As of 1990, 140 animals were under active deployment by the US Navy, but being an American organization...once it became de-classified and known to the public, it soon came under fire for its mistreatment of animals. However, the Navy maintains it keeps to strict standards in ensuring animal welfare.

Also (being in America), news reports were quick to speculate on dolphins being equipped with attack capabilities, and the best yet was: during Hurricane Katrina, a nearby US Navy facility was damaged, and the dolphins which escaped were equipped with poison dart guns to shoot divers resembling terrorists. The Navy's quick to point out that dolphins are prized for sonar capabilities, but do not differentiate between friend/foe...and even respond compassionately toward human distress, making them rather lousy naval killers.

Soviet Russia, also had a similar program that even developed parachutes for dolphins, since they can deploy much faster and longer than human divers. However, the Dolphin Division (as with most of Russia) fell onto hard times, sold most of their dolphins to aquariums overseas, and are even contracted to capture more dolphins for clients. Do note that the Russians did design a device for dolphins to 'bump' into transgressing divers (before returning back to base to warn the base), which clamps around the diver and can be remotely activated to send a lethal CO2 shot into the guy if attempts to capture him/get him to surrender do not succeed.

So I guess in CoD:MW2 we should have had dolphins at that incredibly awesome oil rig mission, starting off with dispatching soviet dolphins before boarding the oil rig and spilling some blood...which would make MW2 an even more controversial game than it already is.

Imperials at Sunrise

Hey Everyone

Hope summer has been going on well for you all! We're almost done with our current batch of photos and we'll be taking more new ones as they come. Expect to see more figures that weren't showcased before, as we even acquired/painted several minis. For one, JQ has GHQ naval units and Chaos Khorne knights...while on my side I have some Dark Elves and a couple of jets (Su-27 and F104) to share. It'll be the first time we're operating separately (we're usually in Singapore at the same time to do shoots), and hope the pictures will turn out all right!

For this entry, we present a picture of our empire spearmen in the sunset, forming a steady formation as they draw their weapons and proudly don their livery into battle in the name of the Emperor and SIGMAR!!!

Dragon Age and Game Sequel Thoughts

Anyone out there who's a fan of fantasy RPG computer games? Right now I'm playing Dragon Age: Origins (completed once) and I have to say it's one of the best RPGs I've played for quite some time. Good original content/fluff, interesting plot that folds around very tough ethical choices you have to make, and it had some radical departures from 'mainstay fantasy lore' such as the human enslavement of the elven population, and the censorship of magic. One of the best points of the game was that you could choose your own 'origin' story, which affected where you started from, and how NPCs will interact with you throughout the game, ensuring a good replayability factor in the game.

You can tell the game's pretty well-polished (cinematics and plot details), but I believe the game was rushed ahead of time and some quests were solid grinding against repeated enemies (namely Deep Roads and the Finale). The only other thing that's going against DA:O is the unbalanced power of mages in the game. As long as you play your mage well, you'll probably own your enemies very well compared to other classes (rogues and warriors).


There's news of Dragon Age 2 coming out next year (2011), and this time you're gonna be limited in your character choices...much like Mass Effect, your character is a human by the name of Hawke, but you're still free to choose classes/gender etc. Advantage: your character will be referred by name in spoken dialogue. Disadvantage: feeling of limitation is kinda of a bummer after the first one allowing you a much higher degree of freedom.

On a side note, I think games are getting published too fast man, with sequels following the originals within a span of a year plus. Compared to 10 years ago, game development now is really hectic and I am not sure if the overall quality of games has dropped in recent years with this mass-production of games...especially if they are rushed to meet sales deadlines.

Don Cheadle?

Did a photoshot of the a Todd McFarlane Military Figure.
If you guys are wondering, Todd McFarlane is the creator of Spawn. He became famous for his works with the Spiderman franchise.

Later on, Todd Mcfarlane created the occult anti-hero that was Spawn. He simultaneously released his comics with the action figures that were personally overseen by him and sculpted to his preference. (I remember I bought the first issue of the comic that came along with the Action Figure. It was really great quality for its time, which was 18 years ago or so. Back when computers were still not capable to let me blog here) Presently though, Todd has focused more on his business and passion of making action figures that are of exceptional quality and spread his line of toys around many gaming scenes. From Halo 3 to Baseball icons to Military Figures, Todd Mcfarlane's toy company has sculpted many life-like figures that look pretty darn awesome

Today, I will be showing the African-American edition of the Military Series for the Special Operator.




Special Ops Guy on white background.

One thing that you can always expect from McFarlane Toys is that all its figures come with such high quality detail. Hardly anything i needed to modify or repaint as it looked amazing. The best thing of it is that it is affordable and not off-the-scale expensive.




Here is the Special Op guy trekking amidst a stormy weather condition. Special Forces Operators have been playing a significant role in Military Operations in many conflict areas. This is especially so under the US Armed Forces. While it does not specifically state whether this action figure is under the Navy Seals or the Green Berets, one thing that applies to Special Op personal is their non-standard gear that they donned.



Unlike their military infantry counterparts, special operators hold many non-standard weaponary of the standard soldiers. Many of their weapons are personalized and sighted by themselves. Furthermore, they do not wear fatigues or uniforms that would distinguish themselves for their main purpose is stealth. Dark fatigues or clothing that would blend themselves with the surroundings is something iconic with special forces.

Furthermore, they usually tend to suit up in combat gear that will enable high performance and dexterity in operations as can be seen in the figure.


Heres a funny thing though, The more i looked at the figure, the more I can't help thinking that Todd Mcfarlane sculpted it with Don Cheadle in mind. I would say a lighter colour skin tone version of Don Cheadle.



Have I got it wrong? Comment

C130 Hercules

Good day to everyone again.

For today, We feature the C130 Hercules. This bird of the sky has remain an endearing part of many Major Air-forces in the world today. Primarily used for Military Transport, the Hercules can carry 92 passengers or 64 paratroopers. It can also have the option fit 2 Hummers or 2 M113s in its cargo storage area.



However, What makes the Hercules so special is that it has the capability of being a multitask aircraft that fulfills many roles. From Air Refueling platform to Transport to even Gunship support, the C-130 is able to achieve optimal performance for these various roles.



There are few planes that are as widely used as the C-130 Hercules. And while it might not appeal to the young kids who are interested in fighter jets like the F22 and F18 Hornet, you will hardly see a militarized zone without these planes performing their roles and serving other purposes like rescue and humanitarian aid. And truth be told, it has its own sense of appeal to me.


Fly by in the Sky


Overview look of the "Micromachine Military" C-130 Hercules




Come to think of it, I have encountered this aircraft in Call of Duty: MW, and it also can be seen in its sequel Modern Warfare 2. Furthermore, in Left 4 Dead, it is the escaped route for the "Dead Air" campaign.

Other than the common fighter jets, What planes appeal to u?

P.S: On a side note, I have started to proceed on to doing my model kits and collating what to proceed with first and what to do later. Personally, I thought I was at a point where I had little left to do and I can go on my spree of getting new model kits. But after looking at the boxes of unfinished model kits and the amount left to be done, I have realized that I am in over my head and that there is still too many that I have left to complete. (But, I am guessing, All modellers suffer the same problem. :p)

Being in Singapore where space is not a luxury, I am also suffering from the result of running out of space to put my hobby stuff. :(. It really really sux... But I dunno how do people who share the same problem with me solve this issue.

Any suggestions?