ULU - Developing the Metaverse

First of all  want to say BIG THANK YOU for you Adsense clicks :)

In another "Behind the Scenes" post about ULU, I want to tell you more about its Universes. Please note that I will be posing all "work in progress" posts in this blog and only stories, finished maps and information about characters, vehicles and places will go to "ULU the 15mm Metaverse" blog. 

For now I will be telling stories about three different places in three Universes. The first place have code name Earth80. Its an alternative near future Earth setting in style of 80's movies like Robocop and Escape from New York. In this Universe humans do not have interstellar drives and can only travel within a Solar System. Here my own imaginative characters may encounter Robocop, Snake Plissken or other famous characters from 80's sci-fi movies. So its not very original, but very interesting setting. 

The second place is a generic sci-fi Universe. Its inhabitants are 15mm figures from different manufacturers like Khurasan Miniatures, Rebel Minis, 15mm.co.uk and many more. Here Earth Force Marines from Rebel Minis can fight Khurasan Space Demons or Retained Knight from 15mm.co.uk. This Universe is my attempt of creating another unified 15mm sci-fi background. Again not original but fun setting.

The third Universe, the Great Cold is a completely new and original setting. Here I WONT BE USING any names, characters or places from any book, movie or a game!. Lots of things will will be original in Great Cold and I may only borrow some things from our Earth, like names of some tribes or ethnic groups (Inuits, Masai, Neandertals), some animals from different eras (wolfs, raptors, mammoths), but all planets will be my own creations. Also ALL MAPS of this Universe (and any other ULU settings) will be made by me, and not taken from any artists galleries.On the picture above you can see the map I just started making for The Great Cold.

I will be using 15mm miniatures from different manufacturers but paint them in imaginative colours or give them imaginative names. For example I may use Zulu War British as soldiers of Inara Empire but they may wear green and not red uniforms. 

This is very weird setting. Firstly each star may have maximum of one planet that is not bigger than our Moon, but have same gravity as Earth. Secondly all planets and stars are separated not by light years, but millions of miles, so even with standard rocketship it is possible to reach another star. Thirdly there is no vacuum in space and the whole Universe is filled with strange gas, and astronauts can leave spaceships in scuba dive suit. And fourthly this Universe is VERY old and survived several cosmic cataclysms. There is a mix of different technological levels in a Universe. So it is possible to tell a story where Masai tribe from planet Savanna have found an old abandoned outpost filled with evil Mechanouds. Or about Cro-Magnons that made a great campfire to attract Space Dolphins. They want to tame the Doplhins and use them for space travel. Cro-Magnons will cover their bodies with fat of Four-Tusked Walruses to protect their bodies from space cold and use Na'Lar Jellyfishes as oxygen tanks.     

I also decided to place planet of Sayal from this post in "The Great Cold" Universe and use Niana System map (with renamed Sayal) for 15mm sci-fi Universe. 

ULU - Earth80 - Developing the Future part1

This is the first Behind the Scenes post for Earth80, the part of ULU 15mm Metaverse. Here I will try to show the aesthetics of this imaginative world. Earth80 is near future alternative Earth in style of 80's sci-fi movies like Robocop and Escape from New York. To keep 80's feel, I decide to take clothing, weapon, vehicle and building style from these films. Thankfully 15mm.co.uk and Khurasan miniatures have plenty of figures suitable for conversion. 

Also because of my Soviet Union childhood, I missed lots of these 80's films, where I was a kid, so if you know some good and bad movies, that can inspire this project, please let me know :)

The first inspirational movie I am gonna to introduce is Trancers (1985). The film is about Jack Deth a police trooper from 2247 who has been hunting down Martin Whistler, a criminal mastermind who uses strange psychic powers to make people into zombies that carry out his every desire. This film portrays a method of time travel: People can travel back in time by injecting themselves with a drug which allows them to take over the body of an ancestor. Whistler escapes back in time to kill ancestors of High Council members and Jack have been sent to capture him.

Although there are only 20 minutes of future in Trancers, this film still can give you an inspiration and it have an amazing 80's style soundtrack. I REALLY LOVE 80's music but this synthesizer music is my all time favorite style. If you know more music in this style, PLEASE let me know.

Cafe in 2247, typical example of "used future" style. 

The earthquake have destroyed Los Angeles and now its called Lost Angeles. There is a beautiful LA theme in Trancers soundtrack

Guardsmen and their weapons. I really like their uniforms.

Police Trooper in grey uniform and Scuba suit.

Amazing retro future car (I will convert it into 15mm 3D printable model) and High Council of Western Territories. Why there is wet floor in Council Chambers?

Hologram and time travel room.

NEW BLOG! ULU the 15mm Metaverse

I decided to create a new blog, where I will be posting short stories with lots of pictures about my 15mm figures. I really hope to capture the style of Jay from Jays Miniature Enterprises (its sad that computer viruses deleted his awesome old posts). Pleas bear in mind that English is not my first language, so these graphical stories will be good storytelling practice.

The new blog is called "ULU the 15mm Metaverse" and its huge 15mm meta-universe with countless of planets and dimensions, where I can tell you stories about different settings and time periods. 

Don't worry, the "15mm World" is still my main blog, I just wanted to separate storytelling posts from it. I will also be posting Behind the Scenes posts about different ULU setting in this blog. I am currently working on two ULU settings: Harool and Earth80. 

Sayal is a remote planet in Niana system. Most of Sayal is covered with ice, and only equatorial areas can support life. Its populated by prehistoric creatures from Earth's past and primitive human tribes. 

Earth80 its code name for alternative near future Earth. With this setting I really want to capture the feel of old sci-fi movies from 80's like RoboCop (1987), Trancers (1985), Escape from New York (1981). The Earth80 story starts in year 2100. The world have survived World War 3, Los Angeles is destroyed by an earthquake, Cops in bullet proof vests are fighting criminals in North American cities, Mega Corporations are developing new weapons, and Soviet Union is still a threat to the Free World.

PS: If you want to support these blogs, please click on my Adsense banners from time to time :)

Two new Full Throttle pages!

Pages Eleven and Twelve are on Full Throttle blog. Enjoy!

Started working on 15mm T-18 (MS-1)

I started making T-18 (or MS-1) - Soviet light tank of 20's. Based on Renault FT-17 and armed with 37mm gun and one MG, T-18 was first tank developed by Soviet Union . 

T1 Cunningham is PRINTED!

I am glad to tell you that T1 Cunningham is PRINTED and ready for cleaning. With lots of different parts you can assemble four different Cunningham variants. On the photo below you can see T1 compared with Bradley (not mine) and 15mm figures

Jays Miniature Enterprises

I want to advertise a great blog called Jays Miniature Enterprises. Jay, the blog owner have created a very unique world - mix of sci-fi, fantasy and rednecks. What I LOVE in this blog is that almost every post contain story about its inhabitants, that have their names and personalities.

Toy soldiers dance party and new ERA on this blog.

I started rebasing my Lead Mountain Army. All my little lead men were so happy about their new shiny bases, so they decide to have a party on my painting table! Some even brought tanks and cars with them to have a ride around the table :) Its nice to see my little guys happy, and from now on I decided to write short stores about them in my future posts like Jay does. I introduced a new "STORY" label, so if you are interested in life of 15mm World inhabitants, just click on this label.

Zulu War Brits are having a friendly firefight with Great War Brits on a lamp, while their fans from different time period are watching. Remember, that toy soldiers cant harm each other and treat all fights like fun games. Battles and skirmishes on wargame tables are their favorite sport.

Ottoman Turks are watching the fight behind barbed wire barrier. Turks want to become the popular army among other toys soldiers, but they need more training.

Riders preparing for a friendly race. They want to show Americans that their lead horses are better than modern cars. 

T-34 driver having a chat with giant crab. I am wandering what common topics they have :)

Soldiers, civilians, robots and aliens are dancing!

 M113 gunner and Colonial Security (French Foreign Legionaries painted in blue and grey) are watching Lone Wanderer's Futterwacken dance

Laserburn Vehicles in Resin

Sharing great news from 15mm.co.uk

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Classic Laserburn Vehicles Remastered and in Resin now releasing! We have a special new and old release today.  Old because it concerns classic Laserburn 15mm scale vehicle models and new because we have withdrawn the original white metal molds and castings and replaced them with high quality resin castings.   Alternative Armies and by extension 15mm.co.uk now has a functioning resin plant which is producing the first two re-mastered Laserburn vehicles as of this week.  We have given ourselves a little round of applause and a pat on the back as its been a wee trek to get to this point but now on with the show! Here you can see our deep blue tone test castings of the Partizan Wagon, Hover Van and Hover Support Wagon along with a medium lift disc for placing under any of these vehicles.  We use a superior grade of polyurethane resin with a flat grey tone for all production castings.  We will be re-releasing in resin the rest of the re-mastered  Laserburn vehicle range over the coming weeks.  Note there has been a price reduction on these codes due to their new production material and method. On a different note The Ion Age continues apace with the release of the first of many scupted packs of 15mm Shia Khan Legion infantry.  Yes, you read this correctly Legion infantry which are one of the most requested designs ever on 15mm.co.uk.  So once again it proves that I do listen and react to wargamers suggestions and in this case I kept it a little surprise for The Ion Age.  More information below. Thanks for Reading! Gavin Syme

V101 Flit Cars (2 Resin Vehicles) This code contains two high quality clean grey tone polyurethane resin castings of the Laserburn Flit Car along with two small lift discs.  These are one piece models to which the supplied lift discs can be attached if you desire a floating vehicle or left off if you want it parked and inactive.  Dimensions of this vehicle are approx 30mm in length and 15mm wide.  Supplied unpainted and unassembled. Price per pack is 3.00GBP. Follow the link below for more information. RESIN FLIT CARS

V103 Hover Vans (2 Resin Vehicles) This code contains two high quality clean grey tone polyurethane resin castings of the Laserburn Hover Van along with two medium lift discs.  These are one piece models to which the supplied lift discs can be attached if you desire a floating vehicle or left off if you want it parked and inactive.  Dimensions of this vehicle are approx 40mm in length and 20mm wide.  Supplied unpainted and unassembled. Price per pack is 4.00GBP. Click on the link below to learn more. RESIN HOVER VANS

LITKO bases have arrived!!!!

Firstly, thanx for your Adsense clicks :) All donations are REALLY appreciated.

And now my big news for today! At last, my order of 15mm clear acrylic bases from LITKO have arrived!!! Now I can rebase all my figures and share photos with you. While waiting the parcel, I painted lots of figures, so be prepared for lots of new posts :)

Here is my LITKO list: 

600 - 15mm bases

10 -25mm bases

500 - 20mm bases

50 - 30mm bases

25 - 45mm bases

More than enough for my Lead Mountain Army :)

PS: Sharp eyed blog readers may notice Inuit dog sledge on the left side of photo, squad of WW1 era British soldiers on a lamp, M60, M113, some US soldiers and 28mm Goblin from Hobbit, near the Ducktape.

Adsense banners :)

If you like this blog and you want to help its metal and plastic inhabitants to get new brothers and sisters, please click on my Adsense banners from time to time :) All donations will be spended on supporting different 15mm miniature manufacturers by buying more and more 15mm miniatures.

15mm Inuits - part 1

The fifth time for this month, the giant white bear have attacked the peaceful village, stealing the fish supplies, and no one could stop the beast. The villagers have asked Akikak the brave lone hunter to track and kill the Qupqugiaq, and save the village.   

The figure on the photo above is 15mm Inuit with bow from Mick Yarrow from "Inuit2 Bows" pack

Ze Britisher kommen!

Funny remake of Stare Dad Comics made by my friend Daniel Mitchell. He took this comics and added WW2 flavor to it by changing uniforms and German language.

Giant Crab!

A group of fantasy warriors have encountered a giant crab in remote valley. Swords and spears vs giant claws and rock hard shell! Who shall win?

In this post I want to share a source of 15mm giant pre-painted crabs. Cheap, but great in quality and details. Suitable for gaming Mysterious Island (1961) style games.

 Just look at photo above - the detail level is amazing! I bet they used real crab for mold making :) Please bear in mind that I haven't painted the crab (it was pre-painted), but I washed crab a bit to highlight the details.

If you go to this Ebay shop you will find three types of crabs: Red crab, Crab with long claws and Orange crab. For the photo above I used not-washed and not repainted crabs. So this is what you'll get from parcel.

Glyptodon from Mick Yarrow

Just painted 15mm Glyptodon - the giant armadillo of Pleistocene epoch. Like in my previous post I included Merc from Laserburn range for size comparison. With its rounded, bony shell and squat limbs, Glyptodon superficially resembled turtles, and the much earlier dinosaurian ankylosaur, as an example of the convergent evolution of unrelated lineages into similar forms. 

Glyptodon is 30mm long and he is really nice figure. He is available from Mick Yarrow Miniatures Ice Age range.

SHM Range and Litko

I am at the middle of my rebasing progress, and I want to share some results with you :) On the photo above you can see three SHM Range alien creatures: Thing from Abyss, Tentacled Brain Monster and Avarep Cobra. All figures are based on 1.5mm thick Clear Acrylic bases from Litko.

Here you can see Tentacled Brain Monster and Merc with assault rifle from Laserburn range painted in Australian cmouflage. I glued each tentacle to the base using blob of superglue. While glue was wet, I added small amount of sand around tentacles. Merc was based on 15mm wide base and creature on 30mm base.

The same Merc with Avarep Cobra. Looking like a furry Terran snake the Avarep is a dangerous foe indeed. Capable of near flight by coiled jumping, its beak is as hard as iron. Found on many worlds. There are hundreds of Avarep Cobra species, each have its own fur and skin colour.

4 Variants of T1 Cunningham

I decided to make a render of 4 T1 Cunningham variants. With 7 parts it is possible to assemble: T1 prototype, T1E1, T1E1 with late turret, T1E2 with long gun.

Amazing BTR from Armies Army

Keith Armstrong have sended me .STL file of amazing near future BTR that going to be available from Armies Army. I imported STL into 3ds Max to help render some angled shots :) Cant wait for this beauty to be printed and sold. Armies Army sells great near future figures, and I am advising you to buy some :)

PS. Please note that I only rendered this vehicle and I am not its modeller :)

 

AT-ST model

I want to share render of AT-ST I made. Please bear in mind that this is a STUDENT MODEL, so I simplified some elements because of lack of time.

Thing from Abyss

Sharing photo of painted Thing from Abyss monster from SHM Range. One of my earliest 15mm sculptures :)