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Yup, we're doing this again. Anyone else who's planning to drive may feel free to chime in; we'll be rolling down from Washington, but wherever you're coming from, welcome to post! More details as plans evolve, of course.

This is a bunch of minis in one. I was looking at my pygmy mammoth mini a couple of months ago and I just felt the need to dangle something from its tusks. I found some little bottles I had bought years ago from a Michaels or Joann and the rest of the ideas followed smoothly. I chopped some phosphorescent plastic from a little dino model you find in Fred Meyer and put those in the bottles and they do glow in the dark. I wasn't able to take a good photo of that, alas. I first saw the idea of a large pack animal with lanterns on it, traveling into an uncertain world, years ago when I saw this art: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/7638820 and fell in love with it. List of materials - Pygmy mammoth https://www.reapermini.com/search/mammoth/latest/44111 - Shadoweyes Catfolk rogue https://www.reapermini.com/search/cat rogue/latest/44118 - Adventuring accessories https://www.reapermini.com/search/02638 - Adventuring accessories II https://www.reapermini.com/search/02963 - green stuff (I used the silicone sculpting brushes and vaseline to get this level of detail) - little bottles from Michaels or Joann - phosphorescent plastic (I used the plastic support for the dino pieces from JARU, Inc. Dino World Glow Fossils - no dino pieces were harmed in the making of this mini) Here are more close up photos. And here is the making process. He even has a uvula :) I chopped off the platform and the swords from the rogue cat. And then I cut off its legs and tail so i could reposition them on top of the mammoth. And then I summoned the green stuff. It was really hard to detach the sacks from their metal anchor. I was basically chewing away at the metal with my pliers. But eventually they came off. Priming this was challenging. I sealed the base with a heavy layer of gloss sealer later on. Invoking more green stuff, this time for the cape, blanket edges and the harnesses. I used the cap on one of my new brushes to support the rolled up corner of the cape overnight otherwise it would have fallen flat. I smeared it with vaseline so it wouldn't stick and become a problem once the green stuff dried. Sculpted the edges of the blanket because just painting the dangly threads on the mammoth looked flat and most unsatisfactory. I think I'll name her Shen. And have her wreck havoc for my players in my D&D campaigns. I don't have photos for the harnesses because after staring at this mini for so long I got dizzy and had to lie down. And then I forgot to take pics and I finished the piece. The harnesses are just twisted long strips of green stuff. I measured the distance from the tusk to the hand and then made them and let them dry before attaching them. Hope you enjoyed this build :)

I have reached the point in my life where I am a bit tired of work travel. While it's nice to be away from the office, travel is disruptive to my personal life. In an effort to make some lemonade from the lemons, last year I started to assemble a kit that I could squeeze into my carry-on bag, so that I could get some hobby work done even when I wasn't home. I just got back from a trip last night, and had been posting some progress pictures to another forum. Since people over there were interested in the mechanics of the kit, I thought that I'd share it here too. So, here is where we start. There is a small stuff sack, my TSA-compliant one quart bag, and a small box for the work. The one quart bag has a little bit of space left in it, even after adding toothpaste and shampoo, but I currently have seventeen paint bottles. These are all dedicated to this purpose and are just left in the bag between trips. If I had to scrounge around for them, I'd be less likely to take the kit. The limited color selection does mean that I pick the work with that limitation in mind. In the stuff sack are the tools. My most recent addition is a mini Ottlite. Its zone of illumination is a bit small, but I liked the compact bar format for packing, and it is rechargeable, so can be plugged in or moved around away from an outlet as needed. Hotel room electrical outlets are often inconveniently placed. There is also a pair of extra closeup glasses left over from photography needs in lieue of an Optivisor which I use at home. I haven't worked out the travel wet palette yet, so there are a couple of container lids, my standard palette tool for the past 25 years. I have two sets of Games and Gears travel brushes, which store the bristles in the handle. Because they are somewhat pricey, I have brush soap to attempt to keep them in good shape. Here's a closer look at the brushes. One set has a 000, 00, 0, 1, and 2, and the other is a set of "technical" brushes acquired this past summer at Gencon, of which the heavy duty dedicated dry brushes have been seeing the most use. Whatever miniatures I'm going to work on are in the box, loosely wrapped in tissue. Here's what I had with me this week, mostly vintage figures, except for the Stonehaven gnome who didn't actually get any more paint. I don't usually brush on varnish at home, but I have a bottle with the travel kit to protect completed paint jobs in transit. As you can see, I finished three of the nine figures i had with me this week, which isn't lightning progress, but IS progress. I expect to be able to scrounge disposable cups for water and wash water, and some newspaper to protect the furniture. In action, it ends up looking something like this:

In just a few hours, I'll be flying out to meet up with my mother, and then come Sunday morning, we'll be spending 18 days in Japan! Ergo, my presence on the board will be sparse, and I'm missing ReaperCon. With the travel group, we'll be going to Tokyo, and then go south. With stops at Mt.Fuji, Nagano, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagasaki, Kobe, Hiroshima, and several other places. I plane on bringing back oodles of uniquely Japanese souvenirs. I'm particularly curious about their 200 flavors of Kit Kat bars. If I can find myself a nice nakiri vegetable knife, I'll be happy.

So as I am gathering things together to take to Reapercon, one of the things I pretty much need is a travel light.... I am looking at Ott lights, because I love how they work at home on my painting desk, and I have seen most of the members of NEMPA bring them to paint days.... So I am looking on the River site at the OttLite 290089 LED Handheld Task Lamp, and am wondering A- can I also use an AC adapter power source with this? (The page lists on in the bought together, but it is from Nokia? ) B- are the little LED lights better than / worse than / equal to the 13w fluorescent bulb in the OttLite 515003 Battery Task Lamp model? So opinions and experiences with these, or recommendations for others, would be awesome! Thanks! George

Figured after ShadowRaven's adventures last year it would be a good idea to post. If you were traveling or know of forumites who made it home in one piece feel free to post. I got home without incident 45 minutes ago.

Title kind of says it all. looks like I will be in the Northern Houston area for Thursday evening/Friday morning due to some conflicting schedules. If anyone is around, drop me a PM if you want to show off or hang out. Roo

Now that the wedding is out of the way, it's time for the wife and I to start planning (and saving) for our overseas honeymoon the the USA! The only two fixed events at the moment are ReaperCon at the start of the trip and seeing Blue Oyster Cult in Reno at the end. We've hashed out a plan of where we want to go and at what times, so I'd appreciate any advice on things to see and do in those areas. First of all we're looking at heading straight into Texas, stopping in Cross Plains before RCon to see the Robert E Howard museum (we're both big Conan fans). Then it's on to Lewisville and the con, with a couple of days allocated after for adventures around the area. From there the plan is a road trip through to New Orleans, which will apparently take us through Cajun country. We'll spend a few days there doing a lot of eating, while a ghost tour and the voodoo museum sound interesting, but not a lot else in the way of concrete plans. We'll fly back towards the east coast, staying a couple of days in Las Vegas. We have literally nothing planned for Vegas, so totally open to suggestions here. Kind of just want the experience of having been there. Then we're looking at busing over to LA, particularly Anaheim to check out some amusement parks, something which just doesn't exist over here in NZ, as well as going to Medieval Times because JOUSTING AND FOOD. This will probably include a day trip to San Diego to check out the zoo, which is one of the things wifey is particularly looking forward to. Next up to San Francisco for two or three days with not much planned other than a visit to the big science museum whose name I can't remember right now but I definitely remember reading about in that pamphlet we got from the nice travel agent, before heading over to Reno for BOC and then back home to Kiwiland. So - any suggestions? Rhi's pretty keen on visiting big museums, zoos and art galleries while I'd be really keen to scope out various FLGS's around the place (especially successful and long-standing establishments so I can probe for ideas and tips), but really anything kind of geeky is probably going to be right up our alley, as well as suggestions for where to eat. Not so much interested in outdoorsy activities or going to see typically touristy monuments and such. Thanks for any ideas you all have!

Wanted to create a thread so I could let those of you that asked about my trip could see some of the photos. aha; I have to get images from another location to post. I'll solve that problem tomorrow, little too late to be hunting for the photos. Jay

I find myself considering the logistics of travel to Texas. What were people's experiences and how did they pan out? I am a rather poor traveler, prone to vertigo and epic motion sickness if I am not extra diligent. But I do love visiting places. I have not flown on a plane since September 3rd, 2001 (and I would rather not go into that at the moment, thanks), but I have discovered some wonderful and far-flung places via automobile and train and boat. So how did people get There and Back Again, and how did it work out?

So, the week before Reapercon, I find out the Monday and Tuesday before I leave to drive to Reapercon, I will be driving 6 hours each day to Lexington KY for a 2 hour meeting on Tuesday afternoon. On my drive home, my boss texts me that I had better check my email before I head out. He had tried to schedule me for meetings on Tuesday, only to find out the I already had meetings scheduled, in Lexington for the Tuesday after Reapercon... When I don't get back to Greenville until Monday afternoon.... So, anyone in the Lexington area up for dinner on Tuesday night?

So the husbandish and I are trying to make plans to come to RC '14 and I can't find any of the informational threads about RC '13. I assume they were deleted or archived which means I need some help from you guys. What hotel(s) are used by most people attending? What hotel was used by Reaper for some of the events of RC? When does check in start? What is the start time/day of activities? When do most people get there? What is the end time of activities? It's looking like we'll be able to make a 2 week vacation (road trip) out of the con so I want to make sure we are looking at reserving rooms at the right hotel. (anyone out there that might want to share a room with a guy that snores??) TIA for the help!!