For sale: SOLD

Both armies have been sold. Thanks for taking a look!

It's that time for me to make space in the apartment and make some bank in the process. I'm offering for sale a couple of my small Back of Beyond armies (all Copplestone sculpts.)

Price is $200 for each set (discounted if someone buys both sets together.) These are fully painted and based forces (and will come with the Chessex cases they're enclosed in.) Shipping is included in the price (U.S. addresses only.) First-come, first serve.

I've included a few pics to give you an idea of the level of painting. And no, these weren't painted or organized to historic standards; my original intent was to use these in pulp games. Send an email to evilcartoonist at yahoo if you're interested.

British Column

The British Column includes:
20 infantry
4 officers
2 Lewis gun teams (well, 3 gunners and one guy carrying the extra ammo.)
4 unpainted Sikhs
2 Rolls Royce Armored cars
2 converted armored car tenders
1 "Commmand" car
(All vehicles are Models of Yesteryear, die cast.)
- Chessex figure case included
- Shipping included in price


Bolshevik Army

The Bolshevik army includes:
20 infantry
10 Siberian rifles
2 officers
1 commissar
1 standard bearer
2 maxim guns and crews
1 cannon with crew
1 unhistoric scratchbuilt armored car (another Model of Yesteryear)

- Chessex figure case included
- Shipping included in price

Low Life: Pack Slowg

Here's my finished pack slowg to add to the eventual collection of Low Life Miniatures. I added some baggage to his load. Except for paint, nothing else changed on this little fellow.

Low Life: My own fan sculpt

So I'm jazzed for the new Low Life RPG miniatures Kickstarter project. So much so, that I decided to make my own sculpt (not yet having read much of anything past the usual promo, and a bit about the races of Mutha Oith.) 

Among those races are the Tizn'ts which are combinations of different animals ("Tizn't a giraffe, and tinzn't a fish ...") so I made what I call a Tizn't Pack Slowg.

The Slowg is a great pack beast for Mutha Oithians, and is able to carry hundreds of pounds of gear. The only drawback to using a Slowg is that it is one of the slowest beasts around. In fact, you have to send it from a week to months ahead of your own departure time.

As well as three eyes to the front, the Slowg has an eye at the back of its body that can see into the future. That way, the Slowg knows a few days in advance (the time it needs) to start moving over to allow faster Oithians by. A Slowg also secretes a sticky goop along its path. Any Oithian dumb enough to step into this goop will find itself suddenly slowed and unable to pass the Slowg anyway; the Slowg rarely has to move over to allow others to pass.

No one knows why the Slowg has all those horns. Some surmise the horns are all for reproductive purposes, but that's only because someone once described (and someone else misunderstood) all Slowgs as being horny.

By the way: Have you visited the Kickstarter for Low Life minis yet? Have you pledged? Holy Crap, you haven't?! *subliminal* Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. *end subliminal*

Disclaimer: This isn't one of the available minis for the Low Life Kickstarter; this is my own personal sculpt done for the same reason everything should be done: Fun.

Crappy Miniatures

I'm finally feeling the itch to paint something other than cars; I have a feeling it'll be a few random bits here and there. But one thing I look forward to painting in the future (early next year) are some miniatures created specifically for the Lowlife RPG (Savage Worlds system.)

They are currently over at Kickstarter. Unfortunately, there are no pics of minis yet (only concept art), but I have faith these will be some fun minis- I think it'll be difficult to mess up these sculpts. (I'm even thinking of trying out my own sculpts for the game.)

So have a quick visit over at the Lowlife minis' Kickstarter site to see if there's anything you like; and yes, these are not everybody's cup of tea, but the whole Lowlife concept is done in the name of insane, crazy fun.

("Crappy Miniatures, Carmen?"  Yep, such is the nature of Mutha Oith.)

Machinas: Jack Slade's Driving Fortress

Oh man, did I enjoy putting this one together. It took a lot longer than the other cars, but then again, it's a lot longer than my other cars.

I used some brass tubing this time around for the guns - all seven of them (twin turret guns, twin tailguns, two waist guns and the forward gun.)

The tailgun assembly was fun to do it's just a whole lot of green stuff slapped on and shaped into a nice large mount over the back trunk, from the back window to the gun barrels. I carved a panel line around the back of the tailgun "tube" so that I could paint a ribbon of silver around it to help combine it with the Cadillac's back end.

The turret was easy this time around (I did a smaller version for one of my other cars earlier.) The turret is made up of green stuff that I let cure before drilling out a couple holes for the gun tubes. Then I glued a length of brass wire to the bottom to serve as a swivel, so that the gun can traverse. (I'll learn to make elevating gun mounts later.)

The waist guns are the least attractive, but took the most work (which is ok; they were needed to complete the full effect of a driving fortress.) I had to take apart the car, build a couple mounts on the separate internal chassis floor plate, drill out the bottom of the assembled guns, set them onto the pivot points, and then reassemble the car while guiding the guns through the windows and without the guns falling off their mounts (The top of the windows now hold the guns down onto their mounts.) It was a lot of work, but it actually wasn't too difficult. Even the reassembly went fairly well, taking only a couple tries.

This die cast car being from M2 Machines, was put together with screws (instead of flathead rivets used by Hot Wheels), so taking it apart and reassembling it are a cinch. And since I took out all the internal bits I didn't need, I ended up with a few extra spare parts, including an air filter, driver seat and a complete engine.

Thanks to Lasgunpacker for the idea on the mutant nose art! That really accents and completes this whole piece. I think it was going to feel just like another car without it. It wasn't the easiest to paint up (freehand), and it's not the best looking, but it's the best I can do, and I think it's still efffective. (I offset it to make it easier to paint without that gun getting in the way.)

Wooden Wars: H.G. Wells would be proud

Over on Kickstarter, Thomas Foss, of Skull and Crown, has started a project called Wooden Wars. The game consists of two wooden armies facing off, where the weapon is a simple rubber ball used to knock down the opposing forces.

This looks like a great game for the young generals in your family. One of the aspects I like is that the laser-etched soldiers look like a mix between a miniature and a coloring book illustration; this serves as a fantastic segue to get children into figure painting. Check out Skull and Crown and the Kickstarter links for more information.

If you have kids, I think you should give this one a try.

Hmm, I wonder if I can get a hold of a laser wood etcher to make some post apocalyptic road trash for Max to throw rubber balls at ....

Machinas: Slade's Driving Fortress WIP

Across the Wasteland, there were rumors of random books and pages detailing flying machines, and one in particular was called the "Flying Fortress." 
Among the marketplace debates, Jack Slade, the defacto criminal leader of the Nomadic Towns, asserted his own position that there were absolutely no such things as flying machines. He said the priests must have made a mistake in translating those stories, and that, in fact, "Flying" should have been translated to "Driving."
To further prove his point, Slade had his personal mechanics build a fully functional "Driving Fortress."
Now, Jack Slade and his gang rumble across the northern plains in his Driving Fortress, bristling with guns, strengthening his influence over the Nomadic Towns and defying the edicts of the Oak Street Church.

Here is my work in progress on Jack Slade's Driving Fortress. It is a 1/64 scale 1959 Cadillac limousine (Auto-stretch Rod by M2 Machines.) The first thing I did with it was to take it apart and discard the parts I wouldn't need; this gave me plenty of spare bits, but also opened up the interior so that I could build my two pintle mounts for the waist machine guns.

This beast will need some planning, because, to allow the machine guns to traverse and the doors to open and close, I need to paint the interior before reassembling the car. Once the car is reassembled (with waist and forward gun in place), I can begin construction on the exterior, including a couple pieces of armor as well as the tail gun.

And yes, this car is inspired by the B-17 bomber. Since there's no room for a chin gun, I opted to represent the B-17's nose gun (in the bombardier's bubble) in the windshield of the car (though, the windshield will be replace with a metal plate.)

Once assembled, I plan on painting the whole thing as an aluminum shell. The trunk and fins will get a swath of color to help the chrome bumper contrast with the tail gun. Everything will get a regular coat of rust and dust. And, if I get ambitious enough, I might try to paint some pin-up art on the hood. Might.

Machinas: A few finished cars

This latest bunch of vehicles started as an order for a set of "Lowboyz" Hot Wheels cars. The other cars were thrown in to lower shipping costs (Amazon.) This is one of the better bunches of vehicles I've ordered.

Among the new vehicles is another truck to add to my Vestal Mechanics (the yellow and black truck); a '56 Mercury (red and white with the rocket tubes on top) with one of the better weapon fairings I've made; and a funny car which I believe is another Mercury custom. 

And then there are two of the three Lowboyz cars (the third one I'm probably going to sell or give away.) 

The first Lowboy was simply labelled (on the box) as "Mercohaulic." It's based off of a 1939 Mercury. I didn't want to change its look too much, so I added just one gun on the driver's side, aimed between the fender and the hood.

The other vehicle I is labelled "Triclopz," and is based on the Tucker Torpedo. In the background of my world, this car is called the Nuntius (Messenger), and serves as sort of a Pony Express or a herald for the Church and governments of the Wasteland. It's not armed, preferring speed to outrun any rogue attackers. It does, however, have a nice slab of metal across its back to stave off weapons fire from pursuers until they can be outrun.

Cars in the pipeline

I'm working on the next batch of Machinas cars. I was looking at my collection and saw that many of them were drab and faded blacks and dark blues, so I decided to add a shock of color with this batch.
This group includes another pickup for my group of "Vestal Mechanics" (For those following my background for these cars, the Vestal Mechanics are responsible for restoring and repairing the Oak Street Church's Infernals.)

Also, this evening, I was looking around eBay and discovered this beauty (By M2). A friend of mine was with me when I purchased my very first batch of cars for this project, and he said I needed a limousine. This one will fit in perfect with my cars. (Note: In my world, the apocalypse took place in 1959, so I'm limiting myself to car models from 1959 and previous years; This limo is a '59 Cadillac.)

This limo is gonna be fun. I already have a plans for it. Big plans.

Machinas: Vindicta and Artifex Rex

A couple more Machinas cars (and more on the way) to add to the collection. The first one is a '58 Edsel I've named Saint Edsel's Vindicta (revenge -- a reference to the original Edsels being a market failure, and this one returning to show it is not a failure.) I'm happy with its twin cannon, even if they look like a little more than this car can hold. (I actually saw an original Edsel in town last week- it is a LARGE car, that could perhaps sport a pair of old tank guns.)

The other vehicle turned out better than I though. I settled on the paint scheme just a few minutes before loading the brush. This will actually be a race support vehicle (I'm not quite sure how I'll incorporate it; perhaps it'll be some nice scenery.) I like the scheme and might use it on one or two other vehicles, converting them to support vehicles. This vehicle is based on a 1959 Chevy delivery car/van. I've added a push bar/slab and a few .50s on the roof.

As for the Machinas background, this Chevy is the car of the Artifex Rex, the chief priest of the Vestal Mechanics, who are responsible for restoring and repairing all the cars found throughout the Wasteland. The Artifex's car is armed because he must go on frequent trips to races in other cities or to far flung areas where new vehicles have been discovered, and there are hazards across the Wasteland that only a trio of .50s can solve.

The Artifex Rex leads his Vestal Mechanics to a discovery on the Capyooa Plains.

Machinas WIP: Special delivery and Edsel's revenge

Since Two Hour Wargames has a couple rules in the pipeline dealing with battling cars, I decided that was reason enough to get a few more cars (I've already far exceeded the carrying capacity of my figure case devoted to this set.) 

The first here is a 1959 Chevy Delivery van. I gave it an armored cow catcher and triple .50s.

The other car is a 1958 Edsel with twin cannons poking out of the cabin. And I'll be painting the windshield to look like armor, so don't worry, not all of that window glass is supporting those heavy cannon barrels. I'm also going to file/clean away that superglue condensate (the white stuff around the left side barrel) before painting.

And in the mail are a 1956 Mercury, and three very strange but very "Machinas" looking cars. They come from a set called the "Lowboyz." The cars are inspired by the art/designs of Ed Newton (I've never heard of him, either.) One of the cars, known as "Triclopz") is based on a 1948 Tucker Torperdo. I'm going to give is a ram similar to the Chevy shown here, as well as a slab of metal for the back end, which looks slightly too modern for the Machinas world. I've already planned a name for it: Nuntius, which means "Messenger." In the Wasteland, this car will take messages at high speeds across the desert from city to city. No weapons; they would only weight the nuntius down. Only a ram to clear away the rabble, and a metal slab on the back to protect from random gun fire.

I haven't decided what to do with the other two cars yet. I also don't plan on adding weapons to any of them. I figure these cars will be purely Machinas speed racers. They'll all get the Machinas paint job (though, the Nuntius may get a little more color. I haven't made a decision on what color yet.)

One more goblin

And here's the last goblin.

The Happy Kobold

Just some more art. This one is a little larger than my postcard size goblins. This kobold is 9x12". He's painted with ink, watercolor and a little bit of acrylic on parchment-style paper.

More goblins

Here are a couple more goblins for my friend Jeff. I've got one more planned to complete the little procession.

Goblin playing piscephone

I'm still slowly working on some minis, but I can blast these goblins out pretty easily, so here's another one. I think I might sketch myself up a little parade of goblins.

Watercolor interlude

While I work on minis, here's a little art interlude for my readers. This goblin, inspired by those from the movie "Labyrinth," is done in watercolor and ink on a little 3"x5" card. 

The heart was done on request; a friend of mine's little daughter liked my art, so she asked if I could draw her a heart; no one told her I had a degree in medical illustration. Watercolor and ink, 5"x7".

The painting below is of my front yard (and was actually done a few months ago.) I do these because I usually have the itch to move around some watercolor paint. These are fun little pieces that help to loosen me up and let my brush fly. The goblin took about an hour, the heart about 30 minutes, and the landscape about two hours.