This week was going to be busy with all the help I had promised to different people, but would still allow a decent amount of hobby time, until Monday ! Over the last two years my website has been under attack from someone trying to hack into the backdoor, up until now it hasn't been a great worry as they were trying user names that I would never use, that was until Monday when they stumbled on the right user name, but got blocked because they hadn't got the password right. As soon as I saw this I set up a new email and user account, and then went in and deleted the old one, unfortunately in my rush to do so, I ended up erasing most of the pictures on the site ! More haste and less speed would have saved me a lot of work ! I have now spent the last week repopulating the website with the necessary pictures required and also upgraded some, I also found a couple of sets missing and have added in the biker gang options as well.
Which leads into the small amount of work I have got done this week. A while ago my good friends at Minaturemen sent me a package of bikers from Mongoose Judge Dredd Kickstarter, as they knew how much I liked this genre, this was a very kind gift, as I'm sure they would have had no problem selling them on their Ebay store. The bikers were great, and I easily had a use for them, utilising the bikes I produce to tie in with the models from my range, but what to do with the bikes ? The design on the bikes themselves looked odd to me, and probably sculpted by someone who A) never rode a bike and/or B) had no idea about the mechanics of a bike. So I decided I would make them into parked bikes to go outside a biker bar I've got planned for some scenery, as I didn't want to waste any part of a gift.
The first job was to add a kickstand so the bike would support itself, this was achieved with a metal pin and some greenstuff, then a simple paint scheme to finish off.
The second one had the same process, out of the two designs I think this is the worst !
While I was painting up these, I started painting a squad of Jetbikes from my range, to make up a unit of Robot bikers using both my range and the ones I was sent, which I intend to paint up as part of my "Paint What You Got" Challenge in January. Hopefully I can get the Robots I already have painted on the bikes before the challenge starts so I only have the new bikers and bikes to do.
That's all for this time, so until next time stay safe and have fun !
Cheers Dave
Oh man, sorry to hear about the hacking attempt. What a pain in the arse, and what a sad twat the hacker is for attempting it. My old blog I had from 2004-2014 was hacked and I had a hell of a time sorting it out and blocking the git. And then I lost the domain name LOL!
ReplyDeleteLovely job on all those bikes and I have to say that the red one isn't that bad a model; the front fairing has a decent retro-futuristic look to it. But each to their own :-)
Thanks Matt, it's unfortunate that hackers exist, but there will always be someone who wants to profit from someone else's work, like recasters !
DeleteThe problem I have with the bikes isn't so much aesthetics but practicality, with positioning of foot pegs lack of space between the seat and the pegs, even the fact of the red one's front fairing wouldn't stop any spray from flinging up onto the rider ! LOL Lets not start on the fact that the handlebars would have limited movement, sorry my engineering background kicking in ! LOL
Ah, I don't have an engineering background so I'm looking more at the aesthetics. But looking at what you mentioned I can see how the red one wouldn't be too much fun to ride if it was real!
DeleteI used to build custom bikes and cars before my illness, which helps when creating pieces ! LOL
DeleteThat's a pain no doubt Dave & hopefully that will be the end of it, the bikes turn out well but it funny how we sometimes use our knowledge of how things work in real life to see that a model just won't work 😂
ReplyDeleteThank you Frank, hopefully so, as I don't want to have to do that again ! LOL Indeed knowledge can change the way we see a model, over the years I have seen some great bikes model wise, that truly take the concept further, these unfortunately feel more like what can I shove on ! LOL
DeleteThese look great , much better than my small (read very small) collection of bikes. Good choices of colours too, but whilst the red bike 's colour is probably my favourite, the bike itself is far too 'futuristic' for my tastes.
ReplyDeleteThank you Joe, bikes seem to be a very misrepresented section in wargaming models, something I hope to do my part to correct. The red was achieved with a little experiment, using the normal reds, then giving it a coat of blood for the blood god by GW, was pleased with the colour.
DeleteHackers are the scum of the earth mate (well basically anyone who leeches off of someone else's hard work tbh), soor to hear of your web-site woes.
ReplyDeleteYes the bikes are a little "off", I remember buying the Grenadier future warrior bikes from the factory years ago, they were /are really well sculpted by Mark Copplestone, though it might have helped that his RGV250 (that he had at the time ) was parked outside! 😉
Don't know why but that first bike (the blue one) made me think of the old Hanna Barrera cartoon "Motor Mouse and Auto Cat" might have to google pic's to see why 🤨
Mice painting on all three though mate, Cheers Roger.
Thank you Roger, and indeed they are ! LOL
DeleteHandy Mark had his bike outside for reference, and I bet it showed in the sculpt. I know trying to make something look futuristic you need to look past the current form, but it still needs to be practical and look like it would function well, which is where these two failed in my opinion .
Vaguely remember that cartoon, so will now have to go and look as well ! LOL
Sodding hackers…. Although the experience caused you unnecessary extra work with the pictures I’m glad you managed to thwart the bastard.
ReplyDeleteThe bikes are silly for sure in design, but… eh. It’s “sci-fi”, I think they can work somehow.
Thank you Dai, yes no damage from them, plus I updated some of the pictures that look a lot better, so looking on the positive, I've made improvements, I wouldn't have necessarily got to ! LOL
DeleteIndeed mate, plus I wouldn't let a gift go to waste ! LOL
Well, I like how you saw the bright side of the hacking attempt, so at least you got something positive! You made the right decision with the bikes. I can see what you say about them, but having them just standing solves the problem, so well seen!
ReplyDeleteThank you Suber, always try and find a positive where I can ! LOL Still got another 6 of these bikes to do, so might do a crash with a couple
DeleteI'm relieved that you thwarted your hacker friend, mate! That would be bad if they got through. The bikes look great and I'd be curious to see how some minis look next to them in the future too. They look quite small but I'm sure they're well suited for whatever minis you want to use with them.
ReplyDeleteThank you Jeff, I'm not the best with computers, but muddle my way through ! LOL will certainly do some shots on another post with models stood next to them for you, as they are actually quite large as bikes go.
DeleteSorry to hear about the Hacking attempt mate, glad you managed to block 'em - have some people got nothing better to do!
ReplyDeleteThe bikes look good and I can imagine them now, all lined up in front of Rock City, just waiting for someone to play dominoes!
I reckon the red one has an electric motor - I could never imagine Judge Dredd ever riding such a thing🤔
Thank you Justin, unfortunately there will always people who choose the easy route and try and benefit from someone else's work !
DeleteHopefully I can get to the bar soon, and then show the whole concept. Agree JD would never ride a bike like these, his knee pads alone wouldn't allow him to bend his legs enough to get on them ! LOL
Great work on the ...interesting bikes! Good to hear that the pricks didn't get in. I occasionally get alerts that someone has tried to get into some of my various accounts. Luckily I've got 2-factor authentication on most things these days...
ReplyDeleteThank you Azazel, they are a bit more on the strange side ! LOL
DeleteHeld at bay for the time being and they are well away from the mark currently, so should not have too much trouble for the time being.