Monday, October 11, 2010

Drummer, 2nd West India Regiment, 1815

Here is the latest figure completed. It's a pretty random subject, and slightly unusual for me. The inspiration came from an osprey book I was flipping through, and decided it make a neat figure, albeit an extremely static and 'dull' one. However, the way I choose to look at it, it is as a challenge to paint a figure which cannot 'hide' behind a dramatic or dynamic pose. With that said, I am not sure as to what success I performed the task. It was a lot of fun either way!


And a couple of images of the sculpt




Friday, October 8, 2010

My friend Dave Harper

I'd like to say a few words about my friend Dave Harper. As some of you may know, he fought a battle with Cancer for the past couple of years. He got much better for a time and then the cancer returned, stronger then ever. I saw him about 3 weeks ago, he told me that he was back doing the Chemo treatments but he was doing well, just a little tired from the intense treatments. I never saw him down, he never complained, and was his own happy go lucky self. Well, it turns out he was not doing so well after all. His liver had started to give out, and when they realized what was happening Dave went into the hosptial again. There he went into a coma and never woke up. Dave passed on to greener pastures on October 1, 2010.


The first time I met Dave was back in 2003, at the annual VLS competition  Mastercon. I went to the regristration table, and inquired about where to enter my figures. Dave showed me where to go and what to do. It was only later that he told me that the first time he saw me, he thought "I was a punk ass kid there to destroy stuff". As weird as that sounds, it is a very fond memory. After Mastercon we stayed in touch and he offered for me to sculpt a few figures for Warriors. As a result I would drive up to their home at least once a month to stay for the weekend and talk shop and sculpt figures. This continued for a couple of years until they moved down to Texas, (where ironically I would end up as well) and we became good friends. I would not be where I am today if it was not for Dave, it is as simple as that. There are a lot of things I am wanting to share, but not really sure how to put it into words. Even though we did not speak every week, we always just picked up where we left off the last time. I concider him a close friend and he will be very much missed. See you on the other side D-Man.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Daaaang! What a summer!

Wow...has been an intense summer so far. Life on a Ranch during Summer time is busy, busy busy! But in reality, that's no excuse for not being productive and dilligent enough to keep the blog updated. But, things are slowing down and I hope to be able to resume the constantly evolving blog!

Horan figure of the week will also continue, still have hundreds of pictures to share. However, the day of the week has to be moved as Wednesday are the busiest days of the week at the moment. So stay tuned for more updates!

I would also like to pick up where we left off with the sculpting videos. The problem is it is extremely time consuming to go through all the footage and edit it into 10 minute sections. However, it has been very popular and have received many great emails in support so will continue this for sure, just a matter of allocating time to get with it.

As far as what I have managed to accomplish during the blog down time is actually quite substantial. Have several new pieces to post on here and will do so in the coming days. But for now I will post a few pictures of whats to come. Will post several pictures as well as inprogress shots of each piece. Still got a few more up my sleeve and will post them when able!

54mm Original, Officer of the Bavarian Cuirassiers


54mm Original, Private, Närke-Värmland Regiment, Narva 1700



54mm Original, Amos Humiston, APG Auction figure



Legionarius - Young Miniatures



Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Horan Figure of the Week, 11th Hussars, 1854



Click images for larger version

Thursday, June 17, 2010

"Awaiting a Rank one" Finished Andrea 54mm Conversion

Here are some pictures of the finished cowboy figure. Once again I have to point out what an awesome sculpt the original kit is, another winner by Joaquin Palacios!!
 Click images for larger version.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Horan Figure of the Week, The Last Request, Spion Kop, 1899

Click images for larger version




Monday, June 14, 2010

My other past time...

Here are some images of my colt Lucero. Was going through some pictures on the hard drive and saw these. Thought it might be interesting to share! He is not yet quite broke, but is in the process of becoming so! As a side note to my fellow equestrian freinds, I would not normally mount a horse by grabbing the saddle horn, but when mounting a colt, with tendencies to pitch, I want to have a chance to get on him and have half a handle incase something goes south.  Though the horn is about the last thing you want to hold on to when sitting on the hurricane deck of a rank pitcher, it is a good way to get on fast and have half a hold before getting the right foot in the stirrup. Giddy Up...





Figure of the Week -Van Gils Construction Company-

As you may have noticed the last two weeks these pages has been blank with regards to the Horan Figure of the week. Some of you may think this is due to no more pieces to show, however, I can gladly discredit that theory! There are plenty more to show, it is just that Summer time on a Ranch is a very busy time! So to make up for lost time it seems appropriate to start off the week with one special piece of modelling! This piece, undoubtedly one of the most creative and spectacular figures of all time, created by Marijn Van Gils a few years back, is probably known by most of you. Marijn brought the piece to MFCA this year and I had the oppertunity to take pictures of it, and with Marijn's permission you will now also be able to look at this magnificant piece in detail. The pictures are big, keep in mind the size of the construction workers, the figure is a 54mm figure! The pictures will show why this piece has received many honors, including best of show at Euro Militaire. Ok, enough babble from your's truly, please do enjoy!

Click images for larger (very large) version.