Black Heart News for April 2020

Corona Virus Update: The pandemic that is COVID19 has completely disrupted the lives of folks all over the world. The experts tell us that things will get worse before they get better. With more testing, we’ll see confirmation of significantly more cases.

We hope folks will take care to follow the advice of responsible public health officials and our local, state and federal leaders. Our world returning to some semblance of normalcy depends upon folks being smart and taking appropriate precautions to avoid contracting and spreading the virus.

A number of significant national and international events and gatherings have been postponed or cancelled during the last several weeks. That includes hobby- related events that we attend every year. AdeptiCon in Chicago was scheduled for March 26-29 but has now been cancelled for public health concerns. We have heard of a number of other hobby shows and conventions having cancelled. As we learn more from the organizers of the various conventions on our tentative schedule for this year (WonderFest, G-Fest, GenCon, Reaper-Con, JerseyFest and MaskFest), we will keep you posted of our plans and any changes that might be made.

As a result of AdeptiCon’s cancellation, a number of participants (instructors, producers, vendors, painters, social networking folks, hobbyists, gamers and other convention-goers) are collaborating to keep the weekend from being a total shutdown and shut-in. The collaboration is called “AdeptiCan’t 2020”. It can be found on Facebook under that name and will run through March 29. Folks participating are posting finishing tips and demos and articles; pics of recent and current projects; live-streaming painting demos; posting how-to articles; and hosting sales through the weekend. Black Heart will also be participating with a sale for the weekend which offers 20% off all Black Heart kits.

Purchasers will get the 20% discount automatically at checkout. The sale ends Sunday March 29 at midnight.

2020 Badger/Black Heart Airbrushing and Finishing Class at WonderFest

We are in touch with the organizers of WonderFest which runs May 29-31. They are paying close attention to the advisories from their local health and government officials. At this time, the show is still on and we still plan to conduct our airbrushing and finishing class with Gordon Oberman and Jeff Camp as scheduled. However, if there is any change in the convention’s plans or our plans for the class, we will let participants know immediately. We are doing contingency planning in case of a cancellation or in the event that some of class participants choose to not attend the convention because of health concerns. We will be in touch with participants in the next two weeks to flesh out options. We will not allow folks to miss out on getting a great deal on finishing Black Heart’s Gorgon bust.

Class instructors Gordon Oberman and Jeff Camp

The Gorgon

NEW STUFF Coming in April are our microMANIA™ busts of Star Trek characters from the original series. Kirk, Spock, Uhura and Khan were sculpted by Jeff Yagher and stand between 6 and 6-1/2 inches tall. Each retails at $30. Shipping is $10 in the U.S. The cost for the whole set is $100 plus $15 U.S. shipping.

Coming in May is our Purgatory set of microMANIA™ busts sculpted by Joe Simon. This line of original busts features characters “atoning” for their sins and being purged of evil impulses, desires, and predilections.

The Whisperer The Knucklehead The Voyeur

The Idle Mind Available now is our microMANIA™ Nyarlathotep (“N’Hotep”) bust sculpted by Greg Onychuk. This bust is inspired by the H.P. Lovecraft character of the same name. The bust and stands 5-1/2 inches and retails for $32.50 plus $10 U.S. shipping.

Also available now is our microMANIA™ Predator figure sculpted by Daniele Danko Angelozzi. The figure stands 4 inches tall and is available in gray resin for $35 plus $9 U.S. shipping and in clear resin for $40 plus $9 U.S. shipping.

This microMANIA™ Predator figure is the same scale as our microMANIA™ Planetary Orbital Drone (POD ) kit also sculpted by Daniele Danko Angelozzi and available for $125 plus $20 U.S. shipping. The POD comes with a seated pilot at the controls and can be built with the canopy open or closed.

T IPS & ADVICE Check out our T & A page with more than 50 articles with kit-finishing tips, painting techniques and effects from some of the most experienced and talented artists in the kit-building hobby. Our latest article is a tutorial by Amazing Figure Modeler magazine writer, Dave Prosser, on Black Heart’s POD kit The POD was designed by Steve Wang and sculpted by Daniele Danko Angelozzi.

CUSTOMER GALLERY Check out our Gallery page with more than 2000 photos of finished Black Heart kits sent to us by customers from all over the world.

microMANIA™ Styracosuarus painted by microMANIA™ Carnotaurus painted by Kevin Fannin of KEFA Studios Dinosaur Dungeon @Dinosaur Dungeon

microMANIA™ Morticia Addams and Lily Munster painted by Neil Vickers of Creator Worx

The Gorgon painted by Matsugoro of Roswell Japan

microMANIA™ Sil painted by AlwaysBePainting (@be_painting)

microMANIA™ Medusa painted by Lyn Stahl of Metal Head Minis

microMANIA™ Smaug painted by Neil Vickers of Creator Worx The Wolf Man painted by Steve Parke

Creator Worx Talos sculpted by Neil Vickers; painted by GeoS

Tentative Convention Schedule for 2020

May 29-31, 2020 Crowne Plaza Louisville Airport Hotel 830 Phillips Lane, Louisville, KY 40209

WonderFest is a weekend of hobby escape that is held every summer in Louisville, Kentucky. WonderFest features movie special effects guests; the largest model contest in the U.S. for sci-fi, horror & comics-related subjects; model and toy dealers galore; and seminars to entertain and improve modeling skills. Check out the Badger/Black Heart airbrushing and model finishing class at this convention each year For more information, go to https://wonderfest.com/ ______G- FEST July 10- 12, 2020 Rosemont, IL G-FEST is the largest regular gathering of Godzilla and Japanese monster fans in the world. Held each summer, it typically attracts more than 1000 attendees, but has seen a gradual increase in attendance over the past few years.

G-FEST is a family-oriented convention which caters to a wide variety of interests within the kaiju genre. G-FEST features presentations and Q & A sessions by actors and crew from the Japanese Godzilla films, fan presentations on topics of interest, contests and gaming, new and classic kaiju movies, the western world’s largest kaiju-oriented dealers room, and lots of kaiju fun and camaraderie.

For more information, go to http://www.g-fan.com/html/gfest_xxvi/registration_xxvi.php. ______July 30-August 2, 2020 Indianapolis Convention Center Indianapolis, IN 46225

Gen Con is the original, longest-running gaming convention in the world! Founded in 1968, Gen Con hosts the largest consumer hobby, fantasy, science fiction, and adventure game convention in North America. With 500 exhibiting game companies, award-winning authors and artists, vibrant costumes, thousands of events, family entertainment, food trucks, a beer garden, and the debut of hundreds of exciting new games, Gen Con truly is The Best Four Days in Gaming™.

For more information, go to: https://www.gencon.com/ ______

September 2020

Newark, New Jersey

JerseyFest is the best model kit and statue fair on the east coast, a show which caters to hobbyists and collectors of busts, figures, model ships and vehicles based on horror, sci-fi, comic, and fantasy subjects. The show offers sculpting classes, airbrushing classes, painting classes and assorted seminars and demos by some of the top artists in the hobby.

For more information about this annual convention, check out http://jerseyfestfair.com/. ______

September 2020 Indianapolis, Indiana

MASK-FEST is a family-friendly convention that celebrates the artistry of MASKS, MAKE-UP, MONSTERS, and HALLOWEEN! At MASK-FEST, you'll witness aisle upon aisle of independent artists selling, demonstrating and displaying collectible masks, makeup fx, props, model kits and busts, and every other sort of monstrous goody you can imagine.

For more information, go to https://www.maskfest.com/events.shtml. ______

Labor Day Weekend 2020 Hilton Denton Convention Center Denton, Texas

ReaperCon is a four-day celebration of miniatures and miniatures painting sponsored by Reapers Miniatures. The convention features hosting some of the best talent in the miniatures and gaming industry--world-class sculptors , painters and illustrators, and four days of classes, seminars, games, a painting contest and other fun stuff.

For more information go to: https://reapercon.com/.

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