Blue Moon Zombies 02

Following on from my last post, here are the second batch of ten 28mm scale zombie figures from Blue Moon Manufacturing's boxed set BMM111A Box 7 "I Just Can't Seem to Get a Good Night's Sleep." Whereas the first ten figures from this set that I reviewed were armed with melee weapons, this batch are all unarmed.

 At the far left of the two photos above is a female, whose face is extremely skull-like. Her long, crimson dress hangs in tatters as she lurches forward with her right arm stretched out to grab someone. Her limbs are covered in bites, cuts and scratches. She is the only unarmed female in this set and I think she's a terrific zombie, who appears to have been dead (or should that be undead?) for a very long time.
I mentioned last time that this set included four nude male zombies, who were all missing genitals and ears. I sculpted the missing appendages back on to this figure and I gave him an Afro hair-do as he was originally bald. Plus, I wanted to paint him as an African-American zombie. His wounds include a bite to his neck, which explains why his head leans to one side, and a few cuts and minor bites to his legs and torso. I have covered his right hand in TCR (Tamiya Clear Red) to indicate that he has used it to rummage around inside a victim to pull out a nice juicy internal organ.
There's an interesting tale about the figure in the middle of this group. He is the zombie who doesn't exist. If you look on the box cover or on the Blue Moon website for this figure you won't find him. Someone at BMM has made a boo-boo and replaced him with a zombie woman in a red dress. The woman also appears on the cover of Box 9, which is where she should be, as that is the set that includes her. I noticed this slip-up when I was looking to see how BMM's artist had painted him and couldn't find him anywhere. I opted for a simple colour scheme of white shirt, blue jeans and black shoes. There is a massive wound to the front and left side of his torso. Look closely and part of his rib cage is exposed. He also suffers from a large bite to his right thigh and a few minor bites to his arms.
The fourth zombie in line is my favourite out of this set. I used him to represent BMM in my size comparison photos. This semi-naked zombie, isn't just fat, he's obese. Such is the size of his massive belly that it can support three vicious wounds, one of which is deep enough to allow his innards to leak out. Strips of flesh have been ripped from his shoulder blades and he appears to have been shot in his right shoulder. I gave him a broken nose and finally, he has a deep cut to his left leg. I wouldn't want to mess with him!
Last in line is a sight you rarely see - a zombie monk. Thoughts of an undead Friar Tuck immediately sprang to mind when I saw this figure. However, it is worth noting that monks still exist today so there is no reason not to use him in a contemporary setting. He's dressed in a traditional monk's garb and is bare-footed. His only visible wound is to his left knee. A chunk of flesh has been bitten off to reveal the kneecap below.

And so we come to the final five figures from the set. Starting at the far left of the two photos above is a zombie in a very animated pose. He is crouching down in what could be a fighting stance. His hair is very long. I painted his trousers as faded denims and he is another zombie who is lacking any footwear. Most of his wounds are on his back and arms and are quite severe.
The zombie standing next to him is unusual in that he wears a hat. You don't see many men (or women) wearing hats these days. His arms are held rigidly by his sides as he bends forward with his mouth fully agape. He has lost his right shoe but still wears his left shoe. Another unusual feature of him, is that he wears a cravat, another item of clothing you don't see very often. A chunk of flesh has been torn from his right cheek. He has a cut and a small puncture wound to his back but his most severe wounds are to the thighs of both legs.
Moving to the centre of this group is a zombie with a severe stoop, captured by the sculptor in a shuffling pose as he advances remorselessly. Like a lot of zeds in this set, he is bare-footed. His shirt has been ripped to shreds and most of it has gone. Large chunks of flesh have been torn from his back, stomach and left shoulder and his left cheek has been sliced open.
The next zombie in line is stooped over even further. His hands are clutched in front of his belly... perhaps to hold up the robe that is draped around his lower torso, although modesty is not an emotion you associate with zombies. The most noticable aspect of this particular zombie is that his lower jaw has been ripped off, which ought to make biting very difficult if not impossible! His other wounds are relatively minor, consisting of a few bites and cuts.
Last of all, is a zombie crawler, whose body is covered in bite wounds. He wears nothing more than a loincloth. He is another zombie with an almost skull-like head and he is totally bald. As with all of the zombies in this range, he is extremely well sculpted.
If you order this boxed set of twenty 28mm scale zombies directly from Blue Moon Manufacturing it will cost you $40.00. Good news for those of you living in America. However, I ordered mine from Old Glory, based not too far from where I live in England and they cost me £30.00. This meant that I could order all three boxed sets from them and not worry about getting ripped of by H.M. Customs.
As I mentioned last time, I held off from buying these for a long time as I was put off by the melee weapon armed zombies. But now that THW have introduced smart zombies to ATZ, I'm really glad I bought them. Their integral metal bases are just short of 25mm in diameter, meaning you don't have to base them if you don't want to. I did, but only to tie them in with my other 28mm scale figures.
One thing that I particularly like about these zombies is the fact that they look old. By that I don't mean that they look like old age pensioners. No, they look like they've been dead for a long time. These do not appear to be freshly created zombies. If you're after zombies who have been shuffling around for years after the outbreak, these are the figures to go for. It's a subtle distinction but it is worth pointing out and I think they are all the better for it.
I'll review the second boxed set very soon, as I'm sure that most of you will want to see what Team Vampifan gets up to in my next ATZ batrep more than another figure review!

Blue Moon Zombies 01

It's my birthday today - happy birthday, me! Coming up soon will be one of the biggest ATZ batreps I've ever done. I spent four days from  last Friday to this Monday playing it. The scenario is called Blackout and it lasted far longer than I expected. It's so long I'll have to use two posts to cover it. In the mean time I'm going to review 40 zombies that I've just recently painted. These guys helped push my horde over the 500 mark to its current total of 525.

These zombies are made by Blue Moon Manufacturing, an American firm, and are part of BMM111A Box 7 "I Just Can't Seem to Get a Good Night's Sleep" - a boxed set of twenty 28mm scale figures. Half of the figures in this set are armed with a variety of melee weapons, and they are the ones I'm going to review today.
I'll start with the guy at the far left of the two photos above. He's armed with a meat cleaver and a big knife. He wears a pair of trousers, which are held up by a length of rope. Perhaps, he couldn't afford to buy a belt! His most noticable wound is on his head. The top of his skull has been removed to reveal his brain. He has a bandage wrapped around his head, which seems to be a bit superfluous to me. A large piece of flesh has been chewed off his back.
Next in line, is the first of four nude males included in this set and it was with these four figures that I encountered a problem. All four were missing genitalia and their ears. I can understand the omission of their dangly bits as full frontal nudity upsets more Americans than it does Europeans, but why miss out their ears? Very strange! Well, as you know, I can sculpt figures as well, so I made all four figures anatomically correct by adding the missing bits. This guy is holding a dagger aloft in a threatening pose. His wounds are minor compared to others in the range, consisting mainly of numerous small cuts and bites.
Staying with the nudity theme, the zombie in the centre of this group is a semi-naked female, displaying a fine pair of breasts. A long dress or gown is literally hanging from her. In her right hand is a long knife but I must admit, I have no idea what she's holding in her left hand. It could be a spanner or a two pronged fork or something else entirely. She has a very nasty wound to her right side and her legs are covered in bite wounds.
Moving on, the fourth figure in line is the the first of three zombies armed with a wooden club.I like the stooped pose of this figure. He too, is wearing a pair of trousers held up with a piece of rope. However, he has lost his socks and shoes. His wounds are very minimal, consisting of nothing more than a couple of cuts and puncture wounds.
The last zombie out of this batch of five wields a club that looks to have been torn or cut off a tree. He is dressed in boots, loincloth and waistcoat, which is an odd combination for a contemporary setting but not so out of place in a fantasy setting. Yet again, his wounds are minor in nature apart from the large piece of flesh missing from his right knee.

In the second batch of melee weapon armed zombies, I'll start off with the third of three zombies wielding a wooden club. This guy is almost naked apart from a strategically placed piece of cloth wrapped around his body. This unfortunate gentleman has been subjected to lots of bites, the worst being the one on his left leg, which reveals his kneecap and part of his femur.

To his left is the only child zombie in the boxed set- a young girl holding a teddy bear and a walking stick. It is unusual to see her wearing a pair of jeans underneath her dress. Her face shows real evil and she reminds me of Linda Blair's character, Regan, in the film The Exorcist when she is possessed by the devil. She appears to have been shot or stabbed a few times in the body. She is an ace sculpt.

Next in line, is the second of the male nudes and the first of three zombies armed with a two-handed weapon. Again, I have rendered him anatomically correct with the aid of some small pieces of modelling putty. He has a tight hold of a large scythe. This guy certainly suffered before he died. I counted thirteen bite wounds on him!

Fourth in line is a zombie holding a two-pronged pitchfork. He was also one of Blue Moon's strange mutant nudes. This time, as well as adding his dangly bits and ears, I gave him a head of hair. All four nudes were bald, so I wonder if they were some kind of mutant clones. This guy is also covered in bite wounds although not quite as numerous as the previous zed. 

Finally, I come to the spear armed zombie. His clothing suggests he originates from a Middle Eastern country or perhaps India or Pakistan. His face is almost skeleton-like, with just a thin covering of flesh. His pose suggests he is almost running or at the very least, advancing purposefully. His two-handed spear is almost long enough to count as a pike. He has two deep wounds to both shoulders and to his right knee.

When I first looked at these a few years ago, I was put off buying this set because of the ten figures I've reviewed here. The notion of melee armed zombies for a contemporary setting did not sit well with me. They're fine for fantasy gaming, I thought, but not ATZ. And then THW released I, Zombie and suddenly I had a use for them - smart zombies! I found a firm selling them in the UK and ordered them, along with their other boxed sets of zombies.

It should be noted that these figures come with integral metal bases, which are circular and only slightly smaller in diameter to a 25mm diameter plastic slottabase. I've stuck mine on slottabases, purely to keep them uniform with the rest of my horde, but you might want to leave them as is. There's no reason not to, as their bases are quite chunky and very solid.

I'll review the second ten figures from this boxed set next post and I'll give you the price details then along with my overall verdict, which I can tell you will be complimentary.

Zombie Apocalypse! by Stephen Jones

I've just finished reading this novel - Zombie Apocalypse! by Stephen Jones. For a big zombie fan like myself, that was just the sort of title to grab my attention. Running to 512 pages, this is a weighty tome indeed. The story is set in the near future, starting off in London as the British government attempts to restore national pride with a New Festival of Britain. But things go disastrously wrong at a construction site on the grounds of an old church. Health and safety concerns are ignored, corners are cut and no one bothers to do a proper research of the burial site of the church that is being excavated. A centuries old plague, believed to have been responsible for the Black Death, is released, turning its victims into flesh-hungry zombies, whose bite or scratch passes the contagion on to others. This supernatural virus has the power to revive the dead. Soon what starts out as a local incident centred around the church spreads all across London and the whole country descends into chaos. When drastic measures fail to eradicate the outbreak at its source, the plague spreads quickly to mainland Europe and then across the rest of the world.
Much like Max Brooks' World War Z is told by numerous eyewitnesses, so too is Zombie Apocalypse!, although this covers many different formats to tell the complete story - text messages, e-mails, blogs, letters, diaries and transcripts. Also, it should be noted that Stephen Jones has gathered about twenty other authors to lend their voice, making this as much an anthology as a single work of fiction. It is a device that works very well as it adds authenticity to the many contributors included in this document.
As with most anthologies, some stories work better than others and this is certainly the case here. One of my favourite accounts comes near the start of the novel. It is written by Paul Finch in the style of a police sergeant's report of the events of one unforgettable and incident-packed night. There is a palpable sense of menace in the narrative and you just know that things are going to get a lot worse... and they do.
Most anthologies fail to link their stories in such a cohesive and meaningful way as Zombie Apocalypse! does. The stories, accounts and reports are laid out in a chronological order, each with their own layout style and font, making this a very visually attractive book. With so many authors involved the tone of the narratives vary from sad and sombre to laugh out loud funny (Kim Newman, I'm talking about you here. His zombie novelty track selection near the end of the book had me in stitches!).
Zombie fans ought to have a treat reading this highly recommended novel. I found it very hard to put down once I got into it. The stories are all fairly short, some just a page in length, that it is so easy to carry on reading to the next story, and the one after, and the one after that and so on!
Zombie Apocalypse! is published by Robinson and costs £7.99. Once again, I'd advise you to shop around online, where you can get it much cheaper. I ordered my copy from Amazon.UK for just £5.69, saving me over two quid. It is a book that should find a place on the bookshelves of all fans of zombie literature.

Tengu Models Zombies 02

 

 

Tengu Models continue to add to add to their range of 28mm scale zombies. These finely sculpted figures are from a new range they have introduced called Dark Foam. This range features figures from the 1920's and concentrates on H.P. Lovecroft's Call of the Cthulhu world. This is set DF01 The Great Zedsby, a nice play on The Great Gatsby, and features the three figures shown above.

First up, is a city gent, dressed in a smart three-piece suit and hat. he suffers what could be a bullet wound to the stomach, as well as less severe cuts and/or bites to his right arm, left leg and the cheeks of his face. His pose is nicely animated and slightly off-centre, suggesting he is shuffling forward.

In the centre of the group is an iconic "flapper girl." She, too, is smartly dressed and has accessorised her dress with a pearl necklace. She has suffered cuts to both lower legs and upper right arm, as well as a small wound to her neck and a small bullet hole in her left shoulder blade. I like the way her head is tilted to one side. Note that she has lost her shoes.

The third figure of the group is from the lower class of society, as can be determined by his choice of clothing. He carries a wooden club, but whether he knows how to use it (smart zombie, perhaps?) or is just carrying it around, unaware that he is actually holding it is for you to decide. His wounds are the most extreme of the group. Most of the left side of his torso is exposed. The back of his right arm is just a bloody mess and he has a bloodied right knee. Once again, the sculptor has given him a shuffling pose, so distinctive of slow-moving zombies. He has lost a shoe but kept the other.

Speaking of the sculptor, I mentioned in my first review of the Tengu Models zombies that I'd like to know who he was so that I could credit and praise him here. Shortly after posting that review, he got in touch with me and I can reveal that he is Iain Colwell, one of my blog followers. Iain told me he not only sculpts the figures, he also paints them. As he said, he is a one man band. He is doubly talented in my eyes and a thoroughly nice bloke.

This set of three figures costs a very reasonable £6.00 from the Tengu Models website. I know that these are 1920's style zombies but I have no problem in including them in my horde of contemporary zombies. I highly recommend them.

Finally, speaking of zombie hordes, I said at the start of the year that I hoped to have over 500 fully painted 28mm scale zombies completed by the end of 2010. Cue trumpet fanfare. This week I have passed the 500 mark. My total stands at 525 and there are more zombies on my painting table right now, so who knows what the tally will be come December 31st? In the words of 2000AD's Slaine, I didn't think it too many!

Zombies: A Hunter's Guide by Joseph A. McCullough

This is only my second book review of 2010 and the fifth since I started my blog. Most of the fiction books that I read nowadays are either about vampires or zombies. This book Zombies: A Hunter's Guide by Joseph A. McCullough is certainly fictional but it is definitely not a novel. In tone, it reminds me of the excellent Zombie: CSI by Jonathan Maberry. To quote the blurp on the back cover "Since World War 2, the number of zombie outbreaks has increased every year, while governments desperately try to cover up the facts. Zombies: A Hunters' Guide contains all of the information necessary to recognise and combat this growing threat. Beginning with an explanation of the historical origins of zombies, it follows their history through to the threat they pose in the world today. All varieties of zombie are catalogued and examined, giving their strengths and weaknesses, with a special emphasis on recognition and elimination. Finally, the book covers the tactics and equipment used in zombie fighting, from the man on the street with his sharpened hockey stick to the latest fully automatic shotguns and anti-undead armour employed by top secret government "Containment Teams." Accompanied by numerous full-colour reconstructions to help with identification, this book is a must for anyone on the frontlines of the Zombie Wars."
Its premise is that zombies are real and have been around for millenia, much like Max Brooks' Zombie Survival Guide. The zombies covered in the book include Necromantic Zombies, Voodoo Zombies, Nazi Zombies, Revenants, Atomic Zombies (the most popular and prevalent kind), Viral Zombies (the fast moving zeds), Zombie Masters and Viral Hounds and other Zombified Animals. There are some fascinating stories told here. I particularly liked the Re-killing of Billy the Kid, who apparently came back as a revenant. Apparently, Billy's grave is covered by a steel cage (there are photos showing it as it is today) and it posits that the cage is to keep Billy in, not to keep sightseers out!
There is a small section in the chapter on Zombie Hunter Weapons and Equipment that I'd like to share with you. It is headed Reaper 1 and Reaper 2 and will surely appeal to gamers everywhere. "During the 1988 Cerro Gordo, Iowa outbreak, local landscaper Neil Bower used a John Deere combine harvester to single handedly eliminate a 300-strong zombie horde. The incident did not go unnoticed by the US government. Three years later, the military began field testing Reaper 1, a purpose built zombie harvester. Initial trials found that the blades had a tendency to gum up after the first few dozen zombies, and the designers had greatly underestimated the "splatter effect," which sent potentially deadly zombie-infected matter in all directions.
By 1996, the military had created Reaper 2 as the ultimate zombie-fighting weapon, incorporating the lessons learned from Reaper 1. Smaller than a full-sized combine harvester, Reaper 2 still towers twelve feet above the ground. It has a cockpit team of two, a driver and the commander, who also rides shotgun, picking off any zombies that manage to survive the blades and cling onto the side. The vehicle can also carry six passengers and a full communications array. The designers created Reaper 2 so that it could be disassembled into eight component parts, allowing it to be airlifted to trouble spots. While the deployment of Reaper 2 remains highly classified, there is evidence that it has been used on at least five different occasions in the last fifteen years."
Okay, who else wants a model of Reaper 2? I think that is awesome! Sadly there are no pictures of the vehicle but it makes me think - just what would it look like? Also, what a prize to acquire in a game of ATZ!
Speaking of which, the book ends with a far too brief look at recommended books, comics (actually only one, and yes, it is The Walking Dead) games and movies that may interest the zombie fan. It was nice to see ATZ included in the list of zombie games.
If I have one criticism to make of the book, it is that it is far too short. With a page count of just 80 pages, it only scratches the surface. On the plus side, the writing is first rate, as it takes the subject very seriously. There is some nice humour in the book. Check out the Indiana Jones reference in the section on Nazi Zombies! Add in some gorgeous artwork, especially the full colour plates, and you end up with a book that ought to appeal to zombie fans everywhere. It is published by Dark Osprey Productions and retails for £10.99 or $17.95 if you live in America. I ordered my copy from Amazon.UK for a mere £6.42. It pays to shop around!

Size Comparison Photos - Zombies part 1

I hope you will find this post very useful. I'm going to compare the sizes of zombie miniatures from 32 different companies. Most of them are 28mm scale but some are taller and some are smaller.This is something I've wanted to do ever since I started my blog. However, at that time I was missing a lot of zombies from what is available now, plus since then, quite a few new companies have sprung up. A number of my followers have been clamouring for such an article, so don't say I don't deliver!
All of the figures will be photograhed alongside my figure of Vampifan, whom you can see is exactly 28mm tall. You'll notice a slight gap on the chart, below the figures' feet to allow for the height of their bases. I stick all of my figures on circular plastic slottabases. Some figures come with integral metal bases, which raises their height a bit more. Others are fitted with slotta tabs and for these I have inserted small pieces of card under them so that the soles of their feet are at the same level as the other figures. However you base your figures is not important here. What matters is the size of the figure from the soles of their feet to either their eyeline or top of head. There is still a great deal of debate in the gaming community about how to measure the height of figures. I'm not going to say who is right or wrong - I merely want to present you with photographic reference of as many zombie figures as I can. Where possible, I have chosen an upright male zombie from the companies' ranges. They are listed alphabetically from Alpha Forge to Zombiesmith.

From left to right the zombies are from Alpha Forge Games, Black Hat Miniatures, Black Orc Games and Blue Moon Miniatures.

From left to right the zombies are from Citadel (old style with integral base), Citadel (current style with slottatab), Cold War Miniatures and Copplestone Castings. Just note how small the old style Citadel figures were before scale-creep crept in.

From left to right the zombies are from Crocodile Games, East Riding Miniatures, Eureka Miniatures and Fortress Figures (one of the tallest available).

From left to right the zombies are from Four A Miniatures, Frothers UK, Grenadier (now sold by Mirliton) and Griffin Miniatures. The Frothers zombies are no longer available but ocassionally pop up on e-Bay.

From left to right the zombies are from Hasslefree Miniatures, Heresy Miniatures, Horrorclix and Mega Miniatures. Horrorclix are noted for being oversized.

From left to right the zombies are from Musketeer Miniatures, Ral Partha, RAFM, and Rezolution Miniatures. Quite a few of RAFM's USX range of contemporary/near future figures are heroically scaled.

From left to right the zombies are from Spinespur Miniatures, Studio Miniatures, Tengu Models and Twilight Inc. The Twilight Inc. zombie should be 1 or 2mm shorter. The problem for me was, he comes on such a thick integral base it has raised him higher than everyone else. He is close to 25mm in height and the smallest zombie readily available at present.

From left to right the zombies are from Victory Force Miniatures, Wargames Factory, West Wind Productions and Zombiesmith.

There are gaps in this list. Don't worry, I am aware of it. I have zombie figures by Eolith Miniatures and Mantic currently waiting to get painted. I know there are other ranges I've yet to buy. I do intend on buying zombies from every figure manufacturer who produce them in 28mm scale (or thereabouts). Me, obsessed by zombies? Er, I can't honestly deny it! This is why I titled this post part 1, as it's just the start. I definitely plan on doing size comparison photos of vampires and werewolves in the future... plus updates of the zombie ranges. I'm not sure about doing survivors, gangers, cops or military types. If there's a call for them, I will, otherwise I'll just stick with the undead. I've labelled this post "Size Comparison Photos" so that you can easily find it if need be in the future.

eM4 Bikers on Motorbikes

 I've been a fan of motorbike gangs ever since I first saw Mad Max and Mad Max 2: the Road Warrior at the cinema many years ago. These eight bikers that I'm going to review are based on two figure sets available from eM4 Miniatures, although when I purchased mine, they were produced by Grenadier Models, now sadly defunct. I'm going back many years now to the 1980's.
First in line is 0460 Street Bike and Rider with Katana. I'm sure that this rider was inspired by one of the Yakuza bikers from the film Black Rain, which came out shortly before this figure was originally released. I think this is an excellent figure. A biker with katana is so cool! Red and black are a good colour combo for bikers. This figure would work equally well as a Ganger or a Survivor.
Next up, I've used the rider armed with an Uzi, that you get with the trail bike shown in the lower two photographs. Swapping riders is a doddle as they fit well on either bike. Again, I've gone for the red and black colour scheme but this time red is the dominant colour. You can see by the logo at the bottom of the bike's body that he rides a Kawasaki. Whether this is an actual Kawasaki bike or not doesn't bother me. I just think it looks cool.

Third in line is my blue and white bike and rider. The rider on this bike came with the trail bike as an alternative choice to the rider with the Uzi. Sadly, eM4 don't make him anymore, so I suspect you'll have to check with someone like e-Bay if you really want him. To be honest, he works better on the trail bike than the street bike but what the heck - he gives me an extra rider and boosts my bike gang.
The last of the riders on a street bike is totally unique, so don't go searching the Internet for her. She is based on an obscure comic book character called Big Berta (note spelling - there is no "h" in her name) who appeared in a few issues of Crisis comic shortly before it folded. I took an instant liking to her. She was an anarchic slut, who lived in a near future city called Cicero. She often accosted strangers, took them back to her place for sex and afterwards fed them to her pet shark called Pythagoras! Her catchphrase was "Yammy! It's penetration time!" which had a variety of meanings depending on the circumstances. I made a few alterations to the bike to make it look more like hers and I sculpted the figure myself. I also sculpted a dismounted version of her. I've scoured the Internet for any references of her but there's none. Wherever I search I'm asked "do I mean Big Bertha?" Nope, it's Big Berta!

The next batch of figures are based on eM4's 0461 Trail Bike and Rider with Uzi. When I first saw him I was immediately reminded of Arnie from the first Terminator film. Hence, I painted him to look like Mr. Schwarzenegger's iconic movie character. Painting the bike black was a no-brainer as well. The rider is well sculpted and nicely posed. He is a worthy addition to any bike gang.
To his left, I've kept the same rider but made a couple of simple conversions. First I cut his head off and replaced it with a helmeted head that I sculpted out of modelling putty. I left his gun arm off and sculpted a new one on that is holding the handlebar. I went for the easy option and painted both bike and rider black.

Next in line, is the rider who was wielding the katana in the first two photos. As I said, the riders swap with one another very easily. I left his left arm off, along with the scabard on his back. I sculpted a new left arm, very similar to the previous biker, gripping the handlebar. This was slightly harder to sculpt in that the arm has tassles running down it. I painted the bike and the rider's helmet in gloss purple. Looking at the small photo above it looks black but if you left click on the photo to blow it up to full screen size you can see it is purple.

Finally, we come to the third rider that Grenadier made but which eM4 don't make. He fits much better on the trail bike and he looks like a scrambler biker. I added a second saddlebag to the back left of the bike, which you can clearly see in the above photo. I gave the rider red leathers and painted the bike and the rider's helmet in gloss crimson.

So there we have a rather nice bike gang and hopefully, this article will inspire you to buy more than just one of the two eM4 bikes and riders that are available. Both sets cost a very reasonable £2.50 each. I still have a few more bikes and riders to show you. Also, I haven't started making my 10 West Wind bikers or the West Wind Brotherhood and Sisterhood bikers. Sigh, so much to do, so little time! I try to get my lead mountain down to a reasonable size but too often I get lured by new stuff that I want.

Look out for my next post. It's something a lot of you have asked for - size comparison pics!