Old dog, new tricks - A 2017 hobby blog

[Vargr]

I've started hobby threads in the past, more recently they've stalled for a number of reasons that are a mix of both good and terrible excuses.  My wife and I are expecting the birth of our first child within the next two months, so I've been extremely busy trying to finish our renovations so that we can move house and have some room to breathe!  Beyond that, I've had my issues with my mental wellbeing, where I've let my paranoia and anxiety build to the point where it'd started to really affect my social life (and was bordering on impacting my work life, if I'm entirely honest).  It did mean that I feel like I haven't been able to enjoy the hobby for a long while, and recently it has meant that I found myself unable to attend a tournament that I'd desperately wanted to go to.  I pulled out the morning of the tournament, citing very real reasons as my excuses for not going even though I knew full well that they weren't the actual reason that I wasn't going - and all the while I felt sick to the pit of my stomach and deeply ashamed about the "true" reason.  For me, as someone who ten years earlier was about as outgoing as I could be, it's been a slow and painful descent, and I've found myself increasingly leaning towards negativity and a whole lot of bitterness (as anyone I've spoken to for more than a while can attest).  Over the last couple of months, it really came to a head and I'm now starting to try and pick myself back up again.  I'm not too good at identifying the positives in my life, and the last ten years really have seen quite a bit of positivity - I got out of a dead-end job to go to Uni when I figured out what I wanted to do (and dropped out because it turned out not to work for me), I met my now wife, accidentally found a job that's somehow turned into a fantastic career, we own our own home outright (though there is a bigger mortgage coming) and I have a bub on the way which has me so incredibly excited and terrified.  There's more positives, I know, but this is supposed to be a hobby blog after all!

To that end, I've decided on making a blog that I plan to stick with, as a way of being able to chart my own hobby progress.  So what am I up to?  I've picked up quite a few models for Malifaux, which will form a "proper" silly project, and just today I received an order for some SLA Industries figures (by Daruma Productions) for their upcoming miniatures game.  I went into their recent Kickstarter pretty heavily, as I've loved the setting for nearly 20 years, so I'm looking forward to receiving that in the next few months or thereabouts.  I’m also going to finish off the Land Raider conversion that I started four months ago in a different thread, but as I haven’t played 40k in a few years it’ll still be a while before I go back to it.  I’ve also got a few other personal (gaming/hobby) projects that I’m very slowly working on that I’m not ready to announce, though it’s my hope that I’ll be able to get a bit more traction with them in the year to come.

Now, onto some pictures:
Malifaux purchases:

SLA Industries purchases:

The plan so far is to convert the Malifaux figures into something unique, which had been driving me up the wall for some time.  Eventually, I stumbled across an idea while browsing the figure, and like seeing too much of a relative or colleague at a party, I couldn't un-think it.  While looking at the Ophelia crew box, I suddenly realised that a good number of the models seemed to resonate a Disco vibe!  From there, I started looking at other models in the range, seeing the Wong box as a Rap/Hip-Hop themed crew and punk/rock themed pigs.  Throwing caution to the wind, I started hacking up a spare Wong model I had lying around from a previous tournament, and began to believe it was possible.  I ordered a stack of figures which arrived shortly after Christmas, and have begun work on the Wong box as my first project.  Progress is slow, having only finished the conversion of one figure, but I've got another four in progress so I'm happy with how it's proceeding.  Current WIPs are:

What you’ll be able to see above are my finished Wong figure (apologies that it’s part painted, making it difficult to see all the modifications – baseball cap, resculpted right wrist, and a microphone added to his left hand), 3x Lightning Bugs models, which are being converted to have hoodies, caps and bandanas, and Burt Jebsen who is being converted to become an imitation of Kid Rock (with hat, hair, pants extended and a goatee all sculpted in Green Stuff).  I’m debating including converting him to be holding his handcannon sideways, but I’m not really convinced I want to effectively resculpt both hands.  Still to go on each of these are some sculpted necklaces/gold chains, and I’m looking at converting the Mancha Roja figure to resemble Biggie Smalls (possibly even going so far as to convert the Gremlin he’s swinging to resemble Tupac).  I’m not going to be converting Wong’s totem, as she’s already entirely suitable for the theme IMHO.  After that, I’ll be working on converting the disco Ophelia crew, which will have plenty of challenges!

The SLA Industries figures (which is a 2x player intro pack with a couple of extras) will be assembled without conversions, and I must say that I'm very pleasantly suprised with the quality of the sculpts and the scale - which is more or less on par with the original Infinity figures.  I'll be looking at running some demo games once they're done and we're settled into our new house, for anyone that might be interested.  I’ve cleaned up the Halloween Jack character bust (only very minor flash and two small bubbles, easily filled), and will be priming and painting it very soon as I can't resist - it’s a beautiful sculpt of an absolutely badass character.  Pics of these figures will come shortly, but for now I'll share a pic of the bust (which is 65mm tall):

So that's it for my blog’s first post, I do have plans to return to the Landraider conversion sometime after we move to our new house (when we find and buy it, that is).  Until next time, see ya 'round!

[Loftybloke]

Hi mate

Welcome to the community  Hobbying is a great catharsis for stuff that's going on around (for me at least) and I really find my zen when I'm painting. Hope it can help you relax with all the other stuff you have going on!
 

I can't see the pictures you posted as I'm at work, but it sounds like you know where you're going with your concept, so keep it up!

I am also doing a part-time 40k modelling project (that I probably wont end up playing many games with), which I will be updating on my blog and another forum if you're interested.

Cheers