June Update....(Pulp Nazis, Sailors, Characters and Counting)....

Well it's been a while dear readers since I updated this blog.

June wasn't a particularly fruitful month. A dear friend of mine was put into hospice and then passed away two weeks later. I've also had to make two out of state work trips, so my weekend time has been pretty much worked over...I'm afraid that July is really not looking that much better, although to be honest, I am hoping the July 4th weekend will be more geared towards painting and reducing my lead pile

Speaking of lead pile.....

1:  The Lead Pile...

Last month I do believe, I sat down one day and was going to paint and instead ended up with the "swell idea" of counting and inventory my 28mm figures.

Foolish idea....

You know what they say "the road to hell is paved with", right?

It wasn't an easy task....as the picture below shows....

Trying to count 28mm figs....and having a good cry....WHERE did all of this lead come from???.....

But in true fashion and form I got it done...

Here is my current count:

Total unpainted lead figures: 872

This is broken down in the following:

1: Misc: 15
2: Gangsters: 21
3: Pirates: 223
4: VSF/Colonials: 37
5: Cowboys/Old West/19th Century ACW: 220
6: Sci-Fi: 27
7: Pulp: 123
8: Horror: 73
9: Fantasy: 44
10: WWII: 11
11: 18th Century: 69
12: Cannons: 10

There are indeed more around here....I just know it....

2: Figures I have gotten done, (WIPS):

Here are some of the Pulp figs I got done during May (which was a pretty good month for painting figs), and for June, (which in good karmic balance, wasn't so good)....

Nazi Agents, Herr Statler und Herr Waldorf...always ready to serve The Third Reich in manners most foul...

After the Nazis come my first few hillbillies....(These are the BlueMoon "Hardfelts" that I picked up from The Little Wars Convention last year)...

Go ahead...you can sing the theme song...you got it running through your head..."Come and listen to the story 'bout a man named Jed..."

And somehow or another "MORE" Nazi's got painted....

"Sturmbannfuerher Ilsa's Valkure Liebenmaidens..."

Ilsa's "Special Squad"...These frauleins have deep deadly desires....

Sturmbannfuerher Ilsa herself.  She doesn't like weak willed people and believe firmly in "Discipline with A Passion"...

Hilda; who prefers "old school brownshirts" (they iron better and starch up nicer), She is deadly with her Mauser and many an unfortunate fellow has fallen in her sights. Before the war she was the Apfel Strudel Baking Champion for her region of Bavaria for three years in a row. Oddly enough she is very romantic and believes that "The way to a mans heart is through his stomach...with either her strudel or her bayonet..."

Meanwhile, back at the household, we have Gibbets, The Butler.....

He's always there and ready to serve a much needed drink, as well as dispensing unwanted advice, and opinions on all matters; as well as letting visitors know that "Their presence is no longer needed, desired, or wanted within the household", while he cheerfully guides them to the door..

And of course to keep the cars running we have Phillip the Chauffeur....

 He keeps the Dusenberg and the Rolls-Royce spotless, gassed up, and in tip-top shape....
He also keeps a little notebook in which he jots down "Things he just happens to overhear or see while doing his duty."...
He considers it his future "insurance policy" in case something unpleasant ever comes up of his preference for dressing in women's clothes when he is on his own personal time....

Remember when you saw those recruiting posters that said "Join The Navy and See The World!" ???

Well these guys did....

Here's my first batch of sailors from the "Special Gunboat" USS Galveston...

"Join The Navy and See The World!" was what the posters and the recruiters said...
What they "didn't" say was that these sailors would be "somewhere overseas" and up to their eyeballs in "things going on...."

LTJG Pulver comes from a "Navy Family". He lost an uncle during The Great War, and one of his grandfathers was almost drowned nine times during his naval career of six short years, (the tenth time, he wasn't so lucky)…

Following in the family footsteps of his male ancestors before him, he leads this band of "All American Boys" wherever they are ordered to go…

He dreams of one day leaving The Navy, (before it kills him), and going back home to Delaware, and getting a nice soft safe job somewhere, a nice gal, and learning oil painting…

But those days are yet to come….Right now, he's got his .45 locked and loaded, and ready for whatever comes around the bend….

And every good officer (or not so good officer), needs a good, secondary....

Gunners Mate 1st Class Holloman has been in The Navy since 1928. He prefers overseas service to duty stateside, as it gives him more leeway for the crap games that he runs after hours as well as for his extensive black-market deals that he is involved in. He can smell a fast buck to be made as easily as some folks smell coffee early in the morning…

With his tattooed arms, (a heart for his mom on his left arm, and an anchor for The Navy on his right arm), and his preference for Tommy Guns, he's ready to follow LTJG. Pulver where they need to go, and to help deal with whatever could be out there that's cutting into his profits.

And finally...where would any crime ridden, corrupt, greedy city be without a corrupt "boss" behind the scenes pulling the strings???.....

Enter Mr. Hugo "Boss" Dowling....

"Boss Dowling" is in charge of the unions in the city, as well as approximately 1/2 of The City Council. It's said that he runs both groups with an iron fist.

The political candidates that he backs usually get elected whether they were favored or not. It's not uncommon for certain areas to have lots more votes than registered voters but you know…mistakes can happen…

Everyone pays their union dues, whether they are members of the union or not.

While he usually lets his boys handle the "dirty jobs", he's not above getting his hands dirty by applying a red hot clothing iron to the side of someones face to teach him (and others) a lesson about "Messin' wit him." and to let folks know "Who's the boss…"

He likes good cigars, good bourbon, good horses, and good women.

For him the definition of "good women" can leave a lot to the imagination of many a man…

That's only some of the figs I have painted up right now....

I'll be posting more, (and hopefully painting more) in the near future....

If "Life" doesn't get in the way too much.....

Thanks for checking it out!