Vampifan's Views 24 - Monthly Musings 10

Vampirella by Julie Bell in a dynamic pose

It's the end of another month and once more it is time for me to reflect on the past four weeks and to let you know what I have planned for the near future. Currently on my painting desk are 16 Grekwood Minis 28mm scale hospital zombies and the second set of 4 Studio Minis 28mm scale Left4Dead mutant zombies. I should finish them in the next day or two. I have just finished making two WWG 28mm scale construction vehicles from their old Mayhem Junkyard set. One has the crane arm and the other has the digger arm. Incredibly, I initially only printed one set out and actually thought about which version to make. I was favouring the crane over the digger. Thankfully, I got hit with a dose of common sense and I printed out a second set so that I could make one of each. D'oh! What was I thinking of?
Next up, I'll paint my second set of 25 Victory Force zombies from their first horde collection. In case you missed my comment to Joe/Zabadak in my review of the West Wind Zombie Rock Fans, let me just repeat here that I have ordered VF's Zombie Horde II. That's another 100 figures to add to my collection of zeds. I am very confident of reaching my goal of 1,000 individual (i.e. no duplicates) zombies before the end of 2012. On the card modelling front I'm torn between making another Dave Graffam ruin (I quite fancy the Ruined Church) or making my first Stoelzel's Structure model (possibly the Cottage because it'll be such an easy project). Yes, I will end up making them both, but I'm not sure which one will get made first.
This month I finished reading two excellent novels - Assassin's Code by Jonathan Maberry and Siege by Rhiannon Frater. Assassin's Code is volume 4 of the Joe Ledger series and sees Joe going up against vampires in Iran. It's another fast paced and action packed rollercoaster ride. Siege was one of two novels that I was eagerly awaiting this year. The other one is Blackout by Mira Grant. Both are part three of a trilogy. Siege brings to a close the As the World Dies trilogy and was most enjoyable. The survivors have to face a zombie meta-horde! Nuff said, although expect a much longer review very soon.
I got to see three films at the cinema this month and I enjoyed all three immensely. First up was Avengers Assemble, easily the best superhero film I've seen. The Hulk just steals the film and had me laughing out loud at times. Next was The Cabin in the Woods, a horror film that looks familiar (five teengers stay in a cabin on a weekend break, far from civilisation and one by one meet a grisly end) but is full of surprises as all is not what it seems. Thankfully, it doen't cop out with the ending either. Finally I saw the Indonesian martial arts movie, The Raid. Extremely brutal and violent. A team of 20 SWAT troopers raid a multi-storey apartment block run by a vicious criminal element. What they don't know is that their mission has not been officially authorised, meaning they are on their own with no chance of back up.
Whilst I was in Newcastle city centre I called in at Wilkinson's supermarket and bought these -

This is a Wilko 1/43 scale car and caravan set priced at £4.39. Yes, I admit it is a tad too large, but I really wanted it for the caravan, which I think is excellent.

The cars come in a choice of three colours - blue, red and metallic grey. As you can see, I bought one of each. The cars are die-cast metal and feature opening doors and interior detail. The caravans have plastic bodies and are all the same colour - beige. They feature retractable tow-bars but sadly, not opening doors and the darkened windows means you can't see inside. With these three I have the start of a caravan park or more importantly, mobile accomodation for three groups of survivors in my ATZ campaign.
I had more good news regarding model vehicles when right out of the blue I received a parcel from my good friend and fellow blogger, Lucky Joe. Inside were these four superb vehicles -

These were a thank you present for me sending Joe a free copy of the Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse? novel by Max Brallier. I told Joe there was no need to send me anything but he insisted and I must admit, I am absolutely ecstatic at receiving them.

Note that as per a request from one of my followers (that's you, Zabadak) I am now including a figure in all of my vehicle and scenery reviews from now on. Naturally, I chose my Vampifan mini-me figure to give you a sense of scale. I hope you all appreciate it.

The above photo shows Vampifan standing between a fast food van and a fire department SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle). I love the interior detail of the fast food van, and the SUV has opening doors, which I always like.

Here's a closer look at the camper van and the sheriff's department patrol car. The camper van, or RV (Recreational Vehicle) has a fully detailed interior that is beautifully sculpted. Vampifan has to get himself one of these! The patrol car comes with opening doors. Once again, many thanks, Joe. You are a true star!
Finally, I'd like to leave with an announcement. Fellow zombie gaming blogger, Morbious, is running a contest on his blog http://showcaseterrain.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/contest.html to create a zombie-themed diorama. You can find all the details on his blog-site. I'd urge you all to give it a try. As Morbious stresses, this is more about having fun than technical ability. There's plenty of time to enter, so don't let that put you off.