Frank Reade: Adventures in the Age of Invention

I can't say this post is an actual book review. I haven't actually seen Frank Reade: Adventures in the Age of Invention in person, but I thought you guys would be interested to hear about it. Next month Abrams is releasing a book about the American pulp hero fiction of the late 19th century. The authors discuss the adventures found in dime novels which are the precursor to today's steam punk genre. These stories were full of robots, air ships, battles, etc. The interesting thing about this book is that they present the historic illustrations along with modern-day reimagined art. See some of these interior images and a review on Publishers Weekly.

A Medieval lord walks the streets at night

This grumpy fellow is one of the 28mm townsfolk sold by Mega Miniatures.

Chocolate D&D dice

A friend spotted this how-to guide for chocolate dice on a bridal site (the author of the post was making them as wedding favors).

Scratch-built model plane

Check out this scratch-built plane my 80-something neighbor made. Everything is custom, and the propellers actually spin. He used little motors from an old DVD player. The wing span is something like 2 feet across. He used the ends of a plastic thread spool as the steering wheels, so that should give you an idea of the scale. Coo, huh?

My neighbor Marvin was a tank mechanic in Korea. That's him on the right.

Living Plastic Army Men

Last month a high-end toy store in São Paulo, Brazil had a cool promotion: real-life people costumed as green plastic army men. See a video and more photos.

Hobby Blog Review: Paul's Bods

It's been ages since I took the time to paint and post anything around here. I hate to leave this blog fallow for so long, so I think I'll do a series of reviews of other guys' hobby blogs.

First up: Paul's Bods.

If you have any interest at all in 1/72 models, then you must see Paul's work. He paints or constructs his models almost every day. Everything is well-made, well-painted, and expertly photographed. There are the expected army posts, but what I love are his unique (often whimsical) vignettes, custom conversions, and how-to tutorials.

Paul takes on a wide variety of time periods, but he tends to focus on Medieval and ancient models (which are my favorites). Check it out!

P.S. Paul, I hope you don't mind me showing a few of your photos here to promote your blog!

Do things by hand and your brain will thank you

Check out this article on The Ladies Home Journal: Want to Be Happier? Try Making Your Life a Little Harder: ...Do things by hand and your brain will thank you.

"We are programmed to reward ourselves when we accomplish things with our hands."

—Marie Pasinski, MD.

The article is all about how our brains release dopamine and serotonin after you've created something with your hands. I think it applies very well to our hobby of sculpting, hand-building, and painting models.