Things You See in the Wasteland

Another Vault-Tec storage container, this time painted green and yellow; a Red Chinese footlocker; and two rusty old mailboxes. My inventory of unpainted models continues to slowly shrink. 
 

Dad's 80th

If Dad were still on this mortal plane, he would have been 80 years old today. Here he is in 1960, age 18. We still miss him. 

 

Vault-Tec Storage

Blue seems to be Vault-Tec's primary colour, but just for the sake of variety I painted these three Vault-Tec storage containers red and white. Maybe there are Canadian vaults. 

 

Barrels of Yuk

This is the second set of leaky barrels I've painted. This time, I decided to go with a red and green colour scheme for extra shock value. The dripping ooze on the middle barrel turned out quite nicely! 
 

Chem Station

In Fallout 4, you use cobbled-together workstations like these to craft your own "chems," the catchall term for the various drugs in the game. 

Red Robot, Red Robot

Sean gave me a cool new pulp miniatures tactics game along with some new minis to support the game. Tonight I painted one of them, a robot modelled on the Securitrons from Fallout: New Vegas. I painted this one red and black, with some gold highlights, and glued on an extra telescreen "face" from my Wasteland Warfare Securitrons. 

 

Vampy Vampire

About an hour ago I painted this vampire from the Pulp Figures collection. Initially, I gave her a silver dress and red hair. But then I visited Pulp Figures to find a photo reference. 

Seeing the professionally painted miniature inspired me to emulate that artist's example. I knew I needed the teeniest brush possible if I were to have any hope of replicating the necklace and makeup effects in the reference photo. 

While I think the necklace turned out okay, the lipstick was obviously a disaster, even though I applied what I thought was a truly microscopic amount of paint. I've left the figure as-is for two reasons: the mini actually looks fine on the table when its faults aren't magnified by the camera lens, and even this way you can argue it's a bunch of blood on her lips, given her vampiric nature. 

 

Pony Progress

I really didn't like the look of these ponies yesterday, so just now I drybrushed some white highlights onto each one. That still didn't seem right--it looked too artificial--so I added a thin layer of a bronze-toned ink wash. That seems to have done the job of blending the various colours more naturally, although I haven't captured that very well in this photo; shooting minis is hard in my office light! 
 

My Little Ponies

This pair of pack animals is part of a set of three miniatures; a prospector comprises the missing third. I put these ponies on a base together to make the final miniature a little easier to handle. I probably should have used a larger base in order to get all three on one solid footing together, but...what's done is done. 

I began by giving the ponies a basecoat of mixed rust-brown colours, then drybrushed them black. I'm feeling now that I should have done it the other way around. Or maybe the drybrush layer should have been white . . . ? Maybe I'll try that. I have to fix the hooves anyway, and an off-white seems sensible for those. 

 

A Couple More Corvegas

Here's another pair of nuclear-powered sedans for Fallout: Wasteland Warfare. This time, I painted one black with silver highlights and another green with gold highlights. Abandoned for hundreds of years, these old relics have naturally accumulated a lot of rust. 

I really hope the next Fallout computer game comes with working vehicles to drive around the wasteland and to modify and repair at your home base. I'd love to be able to carry around more cargo and supplies, not to mention the ability to drive over enemies. 

Knocking at Fort Knox's Door

Is that James Bond peeking through one of the windows of this Fort Knox model? Hope Goldfinger doesn't spot him. . . 
 

Lair Status Display

If you build your villainous lair inside a volcano, you run the risk that the volcano will erupt. Looks like that's what's happening here, according to this 3D display. 
 

Scanning Europe

No villain's lair is complete without giant screens displaying the hapless continents they wish to conquer. Painting the teeny-weeny buttons was the most challenging aspect of this project, but my hands are getting steadier with practice. I dry-brushed Europe green, and I like the painterly look of the continent, something I don't think I would have achieved if I were actually trying; instead, the lack of paint on the brush left behind those pleasing black spaces. 
 

I, Eyebot

Why am I better at painting monsters and robots and unliving furniture than people? It disturbs me. On the other hand, I like the metallic feel of this Fallout eyebot. The wood grain on the debris of the base looks pretty authentic, too. 
 

And We're Back!

For reasons unknown, my domain name somehow wasn't connecting to the actual address of my blog, so anyone who's tried to visit for the last three days has encountered an unfortunate DNS error. Something to do with Google, I guess? Who knows. 

On to happier business. Here is Fallout's Mysterious Stranger, painted this weekend by Yours Truly. As far as human figures go, I'm happier than usual with this one. 

Funky Furniture

Originally I was going to paint this easy chair and couch green, but the black primer looked so good that I simply left it in place and painted the pillows. Perhaps the easiest paint job ever, and I'd say the results are excellent. 
 

Trapped Behind the Walls of Blogger

 I am writing today's post from an unusual angle. Normally I visit earljwoods.com to fashion each day's post, but today I get a "This site can't be reached" error. However, if I just go to Blogger, all of a sudden I can access the blog's content management system, which is how I'm posting this. 

Has anybody seen my blog today? Comment below! And if you have any insight into the problem, please let me know. I know my earljwoods.com domain is current and paid for. 

Piper

So here's Piper, one of the companions you can take along with you as you adventure through Boston in Fallout 4. As ever, human miniatures present me with the most challenge, although Piper looks...okay, I guess. Good enough to be recognized as the character if you've played the game, at least. 

Red Mirelurks

Or, as some call them, "Canadian mirelurks." I don't think they're as nice as my original green mirelurks, but it's nice to have some variety on the table. 
 

Escape from Gilligan's Island: The Miniatures

I finally cashed in my rewards for supporting HeroForge's 3D-printed colour miniatures initiative. I used my rewards to design 28mm-scale miniatures for the castaways of Gilligan's Island, suitable for any roleplaying game set in the modern era, but of course meant primarily for my own Escape from Gilligan's Island. The S.S. Minnow pictured here is a present from my brother; I painted it a couple of months ago. 

Here's a closer look at the minis: 

With Gilligan!

The Skipper too!

The millionaire and his wife!

The movie star!

The Professor and Mary Ann!

They're all here, on my blog. 

Anvils and Meter Sticks

Here's a freshly-painted pair of workbenches for Fallout: Wasteland Warfare. I try to give identical terrain pieces different colour schemes for variety's sake; in this case, I think the black and green version outshines the black and white. I like that I was clever enough to paint one meter stick yellow and one silver to suggest a wood and a metal meter stick, respectively. 
 

What a Revoltin' Development

I don't know why, but I take great amusement in switching around action figure heads to different bodies. In reality, Ben would need a bigger suit of armour. 
 

King Trooper

Workbenches and Cash Register

Last night, I painted three workbenches for Fallout: Wasteland Warfare and a cash register for . . . well, any number of modern-era games, I suppose. I don't think these workbenches are as nice as some others I've painted in the past, but I was experimenting with different colour schemes and weathering ideas. I think the chem station at right is the best of these experiments; the fluid tank looks pretty rusted out, and I was hoping, and the overturned beaker looks pretty authentic. 
 

Steampunk Desert Fortress Corner Wall

A few months ago, Sean gave me some Warhammer terrain pieces he wasn't using. I've been turning them into what I think is going to be part of an outer wall of an abandoned steampunk desert fortress. Lots of earth tones, accented with bronze, gold, and silver, and highlighted with weathering effects--chiefly some sandblasting and mud here. The pod at the top looks to me like some kind of air conditioning unit or maybe a moisture collector. 

This is the third piece I've finished out of five. Thanks, Sean!
 

Desert Home

Earth tones seemed like the right choice for this small desert home. 

Nothing really fancy here, just an exercise in trying to paint "between the lines." 

This was a pretty cheap model, so it's lacking playability features such as functional doors or windows. However, the roof comes off if your adventurers feel the need to duck inside to hide from enemies (or ransack the place). 

A Spiffy Skiff

I painted a 28mm-scale skiff and its base of frothy water. But it has no rigging! I've purchased dowels and brown thread, and I have rigging instructions. I have to admit, though, the task intimidates me. Sails? Pfft. Not this time. 
 

Amok Truck

Sean kindly gave me this amped-up truck model several months ago, and last weekend I finally painted it. the scheme is fairly simple, but hopefully effective: I painted the body red, the engine parts steel, and the tires and tread black. I also smeared some artificial mud on the wheels and body. 

A Colourful Magic Shoppe

Last month I painted a little fantasy-themed building in a rainbow of colours. 

Painting every individual rock took a lot of time, but I think the final result was worth it. 

Here`s the inside. 

And here`s the rainbow-hued roof. Well, almost rainbow-hued; there are only seven colours in ROYGBIV, so I added pink. 

Hopes and Dreams for 2022

Number one, I hope we can arrange a really nice birthday celebration for Mom's 80th this summer. Number two, which, of course, has a large impact on number one, I hope we bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control. Number three, I'd love to hear some more good news in general, some hope that civilization can still save itself. 

Go big or go home, right? 

Movies I Watched in 2021

 

I know, I know, over 3,000 movies is too many movies to watch in one year. Please remember that at least half of these are shorts ranging from 10 seconds to 20 minutes in length. 

To my surprise and disappointment, I still haven't seen a movie in theatres since 2019 (The Rise of Skywalker, blech). 

Some of my favourites from 2021, along with a graph of when I was watching.

In 2021, I continued my efforts to broaden the geographical and genre range of the films I watch. The United States still dominates, but I'm glad to see strong representation from Japan and Europe. I need to watch more Indian films. My ratings follow a pretty typical bell curve, and I think that's because I'm not seeking out good or bad films in particular; I'm just watching anything that seems interesting. 

You'll probably remember a lot of these faces from last year. Mel Blanc, James Stewart, Cary Grant, John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, Bruce Willis, and Gary Cooper made my most-watched list last year and return this year as I work to complete their filmographies. Tracking down their older and lesser-known films can be pretty challenging, but between streaming services, YouTube, TCM (before we cut our cable), and physical media, I've managed to screen virtually all of the well-known works and a sizeable portion of obscuria. 

I really want more women on my all-time stars list, hence Bette Davis' strong showing here. It helps that she's great. But who's John Livingston? Well, in a fit of nostalgia, I tracked down and watched all of those Hinterland Who's Who you might remember from Canadian television back in the 70s and 80s. John Livingston narrated them all. 

There are a lot of big names on this list, but I'm betting most audiences today will only recognize Woody Allen, John Ford, and maybe Neill Blomkamp. Anime fans will recognize Hideaki Anno; he's here because I watched all of his Evangelion work and went on from there to watch some of his earlier efforts. Ford and Allen are here because I'm working through their filmographies; the rest mainly because I'm watching many, many films from the 1890s to the 1910s. Alanis Obomsawin is an Indigenous Canadian; she's here because I spent some time exploring films from the NFB. 

Here's the map for 2021. North America, Europe, and Oceania dominate the numbers, but I did try to add more movies from South America, Africa, India, Russia, and the Middle East. 

If you're masochistic enough to be curious about what I watched in 2021, you can find the entire list on my Letterboxd page in reverse chronological order. 

My New Year's Resolution for 2022: fewer movies, more books. This is not a diss on movies; it's just that I clearly need more balance in my leisure time.