Hanger 18 Kickstarter Progress

The Hanger 18 Kickstarter is moving along quite nicely at this point, currently approaching 17.5K which will release three more miniatures to choose from. There are now some painted samples as well as master casts being shown off so I thought I would post them here just to wet your appetite.

Here is the Kickstarter link: Bawidamann Style

Their progress from a sculpting standpoint

Death from Above in Color

The Death from Above sculpt in both 54mm and 32mm.

The cosmonaut, I love this piece

Army Ranger in 32mm

These are the current six miniatures that will be available in the smaller 32mm size

I think every one should just throw caution to the wind and jump in on this one!

ReaperCon 2014 - Day 4 Wrapping it Up

Sunday is my day at the convention. I think I managed to sleep in till almost 7am with nothing on my schedule in the morning. I spent a lot of time in the contest room giving miniature critiques and I was able to talk to a couple of the artists whose pieces I really admired (and had judged as well). I think I started off with Tonya Lynn's (Nissiana in the Reaper Forums I think) ReaperCon Sophie (I think this is the 2005 or 2006 convention Sophie). Its a beautiful piece and I had a good time talking to her about what was great and what could be improved. I think I followed that with getting to talk with Erin Hartwell (Corporea I think) about her New Ride diorama. And yes it has a few flaws and it could be improved but its a fabulous piece and earned every award it was given.

After that it was auction time, where I get up to face my fears about standing in front of a large audience and auction stuff away. I love every minute of it. There was some great stuff on the table too, hardwood dice from Artisan Dice, a painted miniature from Corporea (Erin Hartwell), A prototype resin master of Dragons Don't Share II (coming as part of Reaper's 2nd Kickstarter; The Return of Mr Bones), a prototype resin master of Nethymaul (in the original larger size) and of course a ton of stuff with the Reaper and convention logos on it. The show ends with the end of the auction and I think its great that we end on such a high note rather than the show just fading away as people leave.

A few more pictures, mostly from the artists' area and some misc. I'm sure I have a few more on my camera when I get around to downloading the card.

Jason Wiebe and Tre Manor, they might be discussing sculpting, but more likely its along the lines of "I killed a bear with my bare hands" kind of conversation.

Angela Imrie and Rhonda Bender already talking about painting

Gene Van Horne, soon to be moving back to Colorado!

Adrienne Hawkins, she keeps things running smooth...or else

Heidi (Pixel) in her first game of the con, I believe her dinosaur is about to eat Shannon (ReaperBryan's wife). Yea, it was that kind of game.

James Wappel, attending the show for the first time. I don't think we scared him off. Was able to talk with him on Sunday night for quite a while about painting. Really has some great ideas.

Hanger 18 Reboots their Kickstarter

I see this morning that Hanger 18 rebooted their kickstarter. I read through it and I think they are definitely on the right track this time and I expect it to be quite successful. A big plus is it looks like a fair number if not all of the sculpts are finished so they shouldn't have a problem hitting their delivery dates unless the whole thing just explodes.If you don't like 54mm there is an option for smaller 32mm versions as well. I'm in the midst of a job change right now so I'm not sure I have the funds to jump in but if you like the bawidamann art style for pin ups I think you will love these. I have seen a couple of the prototypes up close and personal and I think they are going to be great! 

modern-pinup-miniatures-bawidamann-style

ReaperCon 2014 - Day 3

Saturday is a pretty busy day for me at ReaperCon. There wasn't really time to take a lot of pictures. I had one vendor coming in today that had to be setup and had to arrange for some demo tables in the vendor room as well. I'm not fond of stuff getting thrown at me at the last minute. I also spend a good portion of the day judging miniatures as well. The Saturday entries had to be judged (although there weren't that many) as well as decisions about Best Display, Best Theme, Judges Choice (for something that was really cool in our opinion), Reaper Sophies (Gold, Silver and Bronze) for single miniature, diorama and open (these had to be or constructed exclusively from Reaper Miniatures). 

The Artists banquet was Saturday night and I shared a table with Pixel (Heidi J), Gene Van Horne, Anne Foerster, Bob Ridolfi, and Julie Guthrie. After that it was out to the main room for the awards ceremony. I think the only pictures I have from Saturday are from the ceremony.

If it wasn't for this set of screens in the main room I would never know what is going on. The entries into the painting competition were shown all weekend on these screens. This time though we had a slide show prepared. 

Ron making a view annoucements

Anne getting up her nerve

A quick huddle away from the microphone. That's Rhonda Bender on the left, Ali Bailey in the back, Jessica Rich (In the Tardis dress) and, of course, Ann Foerster.

Anne thanking the painting crew. Some how I got demoted and Rhonda Bender was the 2nd in command (as it were). Next year she can do all the extra work!
I believe she said that we gave out 258 awards at this show. I'll have to find out what the breakdown was. I know that we had to cast more silver medals earlier in the day.

Who wants to go first?

Lined up and ready to hand out boxes of medals.

My Last Flight for Work

One last prepared post before I get back to my ReaperCon posts.

I had a tough interview last week with a new company and I thought I had blown it. I just felt that I didn't give them the answers that they were looking for. I was shocked when I had an offer the next day. The drawback is that its a six month to hire gig so I'll be hourly not salaried till November at which point, hopefully, they will bring me on as a salaried employee.

So my flight to Baltimore this week is kind of special so I figured I would post the pictures going to the east and maybe do a part two heading back to the west, although most of that flight will be in the dark.

Dawn at DIA, Concourse C

The rising sun at 39,000 Feet

Clouds catching the morning sun

Midway Airport. I have never been to this airport, so I got to check another one off my list. There are a lot of airports that I haven't been to, so the list is long.

As we circled to land at Midway I spotted a number of railroad classification yards. Fascinating to see these from the air.

Based on the grade, I think this is a hump yard.

Midway terminal, apparently they don't believe in windows, I had to change planes at Midway.

It is called Midway so its only fitting that they have an SBD Douglas Dauntless on display. I found this on my way to the most isolated gate at the airport, A4B (well and A4A). It feels like an after thought its basically a hallway.

A random river on the way to Baltimore