Wednesday 29 February 2012

Vampifan's Views 20 My Monthly Musings part 7

A sultry Vampirella by Joe Jusko
No question about the big news this month - I have finished making my World Works Games 28mm scale Mayhem City Police Station. It has taken me well over a year to make it  and whilst making it I lost my card-modelling mojo as I found that making so much furniture for it became such a chore that I couldn't face making any more. Fortunately, I got my mojo back and was more determined than ever to get this sucker finished. Just over a week ago I completed it.
I am sure there are two questions you'd like answering and the first and most important one will no doubt be, when can we see it? The answer to that is very soon. I'll be photographing it later on today. So, I'll probably post part one of my review this Sunday. Given that it is such a large building I will have to split my review into two parts. The review will be very heavy on photos and it just makes sense to split the review into two posts.I imagine that part one will cover the exterior plus the interiors of the upper two floors. Part two will cover the interior of the ground floor.
The second question I'm envisaging is, what are you going to make next? That's fairly easy. I've started work on making four WWG police patrol cars. I don't have any and now that I have the police station I want some patrol cars to go with it. After I've made them I shall make another building, but at this moment I don't know what exactly. I have so many to choose from. I want to make them all but I can only make one at a time. I do have a shortlist of what I'd like to make and I'll probably make a decision in the next few days.
Alas, my figure painting has very much taken a back seat this month, as I so much wanted to finish making my police station. You can't blame me for making that my number one priority. So I spent more time modelling than painting and only managed to finish painting one figure out of twenty - a Eureka 28mm scale Victorian schoolboy. He has been tucked away with my WW2 civilians, as he fits in well with them. So, still sitting on my desk are 4 West Wind bikers, 4 West Wind vampire rock stars, 4 West Wind zombie rock fans, 2 Battle Bunker zombies, 4 Studio Minis mutant zombies and a Studio Minis Santa survivor. They are almost finished, so I should get them done within a week.
This figure that you  see to the right of here and further down is my Horrorclix SWAT Trooper that I recently converted. He first appeared in my review of the RAFM SWAT Troopers that I posted a week ago. I cut off his rocket launcher and replaced it with a Foundry 9mm Heckler and Koch MP5A Sub-Machine Gun. It was a simple conversion, because being made of plastic made the removal of his original weapon very easy. I wish all conversions were this easy.
Moving on to other news now, I am currently reading Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris. This is the 12th volume of the Sookie Stackhouse series - the books that the TV series, True Blood, is based on. I finished reading two zombie books earlier this month - Zombies - a Record of the Year of Infection by Dr. Robert Twombly and Can You Survive a Zombie Apocalypse? by Max Brallier. Both were good reads and I may do a full review of them soon.
Whilst I am on the subject of books, I'd like to tell you that when I reviewed Domain of the Dead and Remains of the Dead by Iain McKinnon a couple of weeks ago, I received a number of comments from the author, which I must admit did surprise me, as my review was far from complimentary. Still, fair play to Iain, he was very kind and courteous and we struck up a converstion that went on longer than I could have imagined. I mention this because his comments appeared a good while after I had posted my review, meaning hardly anyone will have read them. So, if you want to see our chat just go back to my review of his books and click on "comments." Anyone who collects e-books will be particularly interested in his fourth comment. I must admit that I have a much greater respect for Iain after our chat.
Film news now, and I saw two films at the cinema this month - The Muppets and One For The Money. Okay, I confess, I am a huge fan of the Muppets. I have been ever since they first appeared on TV. This new movie made me laugh, made me cry and kept me entertained from start to finish. What more can you ask of a movie? One For The Money got slagged by the film critics but I didn't care. The film is based on the first Stephanie Plum novel by Janet Evanovich. I happen to be a big fan of the Stephanie Plum series and so I wanted to see if the film did the book justice. Well, in my opinion it did, and once again, I was thoroughly entertained. Which just goes to prove what I always say about films - the only critic that counts is yourself!
Well, that's a wrap for this month. I'm hoping to get a game of ATZ played towards the end of March. That's something I'm very much looking forward to. I can tell you now that the police station will NOT be appearing in that scenario but will feature prominently in the one after it. Take care, folks!

26 comments:

  1. great stuff, something to look forward to. i liked the muppits it was very funny. I never listen to film critics, most of my favorite films got panned by them

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    1. That is so true, Shintokamikaze! If I'd taken notice of the film critics I'd have missed many of my favourite movies. You have to make up your own mind about a film as we all have vastly different tastes.

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  2. I'd really like to write a clever and entertaining comment, but that picture of Vampirella...err, who am I?

    Whiteface / Oliver

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    1. Ha, ha, ha! Vampirella has that affect on a lot of people, Oliver!

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  3. Good update my friend and yes I am looking forward to the one year long police station pictures....."Am I a Muppet or a man" or back when I was doing a little security in Ireland a Muppet was a Mentally Unbalanced Person Posing an Everyday Threat!

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    1. Well, I've never heard that acronym before, Fran. I shall certainly keep that in mind.

      Hey, "Am I Man or a Muppet?" won an oscar for best song at this year's awards ceremony. Cool, huh?

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  4. Can't wait to see the reviews of the station. Sounds like you've got a fair bit of painting on your desk at the moment too.

    I'm going to check out your comments with Iain now too.

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    1. I like to paint about 20 figures at a time. That's about as much as I can fit on my desk. My actual work space is severely limited. I should finish off these 19 fairly quickly now that the police station is no longer a concern.

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  5. Your musings make a great read, knowing what people are up to and shows that we're all not just obssessed with Z's !
    Muppets though ? I think I've been surrounded by my fair share of them all my life.

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    1. Obsessed with zeds? Good God, no! I like to think that I have many interests outside of the World of the Undead... like, erm, the Muppets!

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  6. Thanks for the update. I too look forward to the views of a police station as it is a model that I was thinking of purchasing.

    Glad to hear that you got your mojo working.

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    1. Irqan, I'm not sure if my upcoming review will inspire you when you see just how cool this model is, or if it'll put you off buying it when you see the amount of work and the amount of detail I've put into this project.

      I'm glad I've got my mojo back! My enthusiasm for card-modelling is as high as when I first began my Mayhem City project three or four years ago.

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  7. Yeah Police Station!! :D

    Really liked the Muppet? I'm pretty curious...

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    1. Yes, at long last you get to see my police station in all its glory!

      The Muppets? Go see the film! It's just sublime.

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  8. Yay! Police Station unveiling soon! I'm looking forward to that. I love seeing the exacting attention to detail of your builds and you always go so many extra miles. It's a wonder you ever find your way back. :)

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    1. Joe, I think you have been my biggest fan for the police station project and I can tell you now, that I truly appreciate your support. I think when you see it in a few days time you'll be blown away by the level of detail, especially on the interior. Yes, it's fair to see that I went way beyond the extra mile on this project. But now that it's completed I feel immensely proud and so elated. I can't wait to share it with you all.

      I have just come back from photographing it and I took a total of 47 photos. I hope you can now appreciate why my review has to be split into two parts.

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  9. Can't wait to see the finished station Bryan. I bet you drank a few beers to celebrate!

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    1. Actually, Simon, I'm teetotal. I have been since 2000 because of the meds I have to take. To be honest I don't miss alcohol as I was never a heavy drinker. Even so, I had a celebratory orange juice. Not the same I know, but hey, what can you do?

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  10. Good to hear that you've managed to finish the station and even better to hear of your conversation with that author!

    Looking forward to the review of the copshop Bryan!

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    1. Thanks, Colin. I'm looking forward to the review as well!

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  11. Now I have something else to look forward to on Sunday.

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    1. Thanks, Lead Legion. By the way, I've left a reply to your comments on "Fighting to Survive."

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  12. Finally finished that Police station !! Hurrah ! bring on the photos mate, look forward to them.

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    1. Yes. I've finally finished it. Photos will follow in a few days time.

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  13. Pleased to hear that you have your mojo back Bryan. Can't ait to see the police station. Having met Iain I can attest that he is indeed a really nice bloke.

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    1. Not long to wait for the police station now, Adam.

      Iain certainly came across as a very nice chap - one of the good guys, I say.

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