Friday, March 25, 2016

Write for Black Library!


For fans of 40k fluff, from now until April 29th, Black Library is soliciting writing samples from aspiring authors. So if you've ever read a story set in the universe of Warhammer 40k and thought "I could write something like this" now is your chance. Stop by the Black Library website today to find out more.

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Moving time for Pig Iron Productions


It has come to my attention that Pig Iron Productions, a manufacturer of quality 28mm Sci-Fi models and accessories is closing shop. They had this to say on their Facebook page:

Pig Iron - Time to move on…
After much deliberation and soul searching both myself and Lisa have decided to close down Pig Iron at the end of March 2016.

We've been wrestling with this decision for many, many months but the constant pressure of running two businesses at the same time has taken its toll on us both and we feel its time, after nearly fifteen years, to take a step back and live a more 'normal' and relaxed life. On top of the business side of things we’ve both felt the need to explore other areas outside of the gaming industry but the constant 'background noise' of Pig Iron has always taken priority.

Wargaming, sculpting, painting and scenery making will still play an important part of our lives so we’ll be keeping the Facebook site open to keep in touch with the wider gaming world.

Moving forward, it would be a shame for the miniatures to disappear and we’re currently exploring ways of keeping the ranges going with other parties and we’ll keep you updated on any developments over the next month or so. Any suggestions are most welcome so please get in touch on: enquiries@pig-iron-productions.com.

All current and new orders will be fulfilled until we close the webstore down but we won’t be getting any more stock from Griffin Moulds. If you need to get in touch regarding your order please email us at the address above (Don’t forget to check your spam folder for any replies).

The last fifteen years have been an exciting challenge and very rewarding plus we’ve met some great people along the way and hopefully made some cool miniatures for your games.

Sincere thanks to all the people who have purchased our miniatures and supported us in other ways over the years.

Lets not say goodbye, lets say, “Stay in touch…”

Simon and Lisa - Pig Iron.

Anytime a manufacturer of quality products in the miniatures market closes shop it's truly a loss to the gaming community. So do yourself, and Simon and Lisa, a favor and order up some quality models or bits while they last! I ordered a squad of System Troopers which I'll use as Storm Troopers for my IG.

Monday, March 21, 2016

WIP - Ork Terrain

I felt inclined to make some more terrain and wanted to go Ork. I have a giant box of sprue which I planned on using to frame the structures and a bunch of cardstock and scrapbook paper to flesh out the buildings.

I started by cutting out a 1'x1' square of 1/8" MDF. I then rounded out the edges and drew my layout on top. I'm imagining this to be an Ork trading post. It will have corrugated steel walls, a bar serving "Boooz", a "Wepunz" trader, and a lookout tower. I had planned on making a "Gazz" station but decided on the "Wepunz" trader instead. I figured I had more bitz on hand to flesh out that idea.


I cut out some cobblestone textured scrapbook paper to shape and glued that down to the board to add some texture to the roadway.



I then went to town on cutting up sprue and boxing out the buildings and walls. 


I'm using corrugated scrapbook paper to build the walls and a mixture of materials to line the buildings. Cardstock, styrene, aluminum, and plenty of gift cards and loyalty cards are being put to use on the walls.


My 'Wepunz" trader will eventually be stocked full of spare bitz.


The watchtower is coming along nicely. There's a door at the bottom and a ladder coming out to the top. I made the ladder out of more sprue which I heated with a lighter and bent.




Going forward I plan on fleshing out the bar including access points for the roofs and a snappy sign. I also want to pipe filler into each of the walls, top it with gravel, insert some sharpened toothpicks and top the walls off with some constatine wire. All the ground and edges will be detailed with debri and sand. I also plan on throwing in lots of other bits like crates, barrels, and spare parts.

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

ValleyCon 2016

I spent this weekend in  Southern California for this year's ValleyCon. This model contest was organized by the Pasadena Modeler's Club in cooperation with the Peterson Automotive Museum. My sister-in-law did a great deal of the work putting this event together, and although I am admittedly biased, it came out great. What better location is there for a model show than in the middle of an Automotive Museum showroom floor?

There were many categories and subcategories, over 160 competitors, and around 600 entries. I brought 6 entries of my own: my Imperial Knight Titan, Ork Dakka Jet, Space Wolf Rhino, Ork Pilot Bust, Tauros Venator, and my Dune Crawler.

The Sci-Fi category covered 8 tables and included sub-categories such as: Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and more. I had entries in both the "All other Sci-Fi" and "Creatures/Robots/Figures" categories.

This C3-PO was part of a collection and one of my favorites. That metallic sheen looks 100% authentic!

Machinen Krieger made several appearances at the show.




 This little Gundam tagging the water tower was quite ingenious.

 These amazing pinups were all scratch built!

 Battlestar Galactica had some great entries. The lighting on the president's freighter and the weathering on this viper were especially well done.






 The Star Wars category was well represented.

There were a lot of great custom or scratch built models.

When it came time for judging my fingers were crossed and it paid off. My Imperial Knight Titan took home 1st Place in the Sci-Fi Creatures/Robots/Figures category.



Monday, March 7, 2016

The Independent Characters is Back!


Carl Tuttle and crew are back for an all new episode of my favorite Warhammer 40k podcast, The Independent Characters. So take a moment to visit The Independent Characters website or download the new episode from iTunes today!

Friday, March 4, 2016

Chapter House Studios is Alive and Well


You may have heard rumors that Chapter House had closed... I had. Fortunately for us all the rumors were just that, rumors. Chapter House Studios posted an retourt on their website to the misinformation:

February, 2016 update.

There has been a lot of rumors going around that Chapterhouse is out of business.  While we have not had the resource or time to release anything new lately we are still taking orders and producing kits.  Many kits are being recast as we speak, such as the conversion kits for the Storm Raven, Razorback and Land Raider tanks.

We just shipped out 50 orders that were waiting...

So do yourself a favor and check out their lineup of quality resin bits and kits for all your wargaming needs. I highly recommend the wheeled conversion kit for use with the Games Workshop Imperial Guard Chimera.